SQM Reports Earnings for the Twelve Months Ended December 31, 2019.

SANTIAGO, Chile: Highlights

SQM reported net income for the twelve months ended December 31, 2019 of US$278.1 million.

Revenues during 2019 were US$1,943.7 million, lower than revenues reported during 2018.

Adjusted EBITDA margin for the twelve months ended December 31, 2019 reached 33%.

SQM will hold a conference call to discuss these results on Tuesday, March 3 at 10:00am ET (12:00pm Chile time).

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM) (NYSE: SQM; Santiago Stock Exchange: SQM-B, SQM-A) reported earnings today for the twelve months ended December 31, 2019 of US$278.1 million (US$1.06 per ADR), a decrease from US$439.8 million (US$1.67 per ADR) reported for the twelve months ended December 31, 2018. Gross profit reached US$560.1 million (28.8% of revenues) for the twelve months ended December 31, 2019, lower than US$780.2 million (34.4% of revenues) recorded for the twelve months ended December 31, 2018. Revenues totaled US$1,943.7 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2019, representing a decrease of 14.2% compared to US$2,265.8 million reported for the twelve months ended December 31, 2018.

The Company also announced earnings for the fourth quarter of 2019, reporting net income of US$66.9 million (US$0.25 per ADR) compared to US$108.6 million (US$0.41 per ADR) for the fourth quarter of 2018. Gross profit for the fourth quarter 2019 reached US$137.8 million; lower than the US$201.1 million recorded for the fourth quarter 2018. Revenues for the fourth quarter 2019 totaled US$472.2 million, a decrease of approximately 16.5% compared to the fourth quarter 2018, when revenues amounted to US$565.2 million.

SQM's Chief Executive Officer, Ricardo Ramos, stated: "Our 2019 year-end results were lower than numbers reported last year. Lower sales volumes of potassium chloride and lower average prices in the lithium business line were the main drivers of these results. We saw positive price dynamics in the iodine and derivatives business line where our average price increased when compared to 2018".

"We believe that lithium demand grew approximately 14% in 2019, a significant market growth, but lower than originally expected given some delays we saw in the penetration of electric vehicles in some key markets. We believe that the fundamentals behind demand growth in the lithium industry are stronger than ever, different automakers around the world are fully committed to the electrification of their fleet. At the same time...