Element Solutions Inc Reports Record Results for Third Quarter 2026

Element Solutions Inc (NYSE:ESI) (“Element Solutions” or the “Company”), a global and diversified specialty chemicals technology company, today announced its financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026.

Executive Commentary

Chief Executive Officer Benjamin Gliklich commented, “Our team continued to execute exceptionally well and delivered another quarter of record results. We are translating the tailwinds in the Electronics market to profitable growth, and seizing the opportunities created by the pace of technological change to gain market share. Demand across AI infrastructure and other high-performance electronics applications drove broad-based double-digit organic growth in each of our Electronics verticals. This growth is the product of several years of focused investment in technology, customer engagement, capacity expansion and operational excellence, which have strengthened our competitive position in the fastest-growing and highest-value areas of the electronics ecosystem. As our customers continue to build capacity and our supply chain continues to bring forward advanced technologies, we are investing alongside them. We are accelerating our own innovation, adding capacity in high-growth product lines and deepening strategic supply chain relationships to continue delivering for our customers and shareholders.”

Mr. Gliklich continued, “I am particularly proud of this quarter’s results considering the risk of distraction from the proposed and subsequently terminated Solstice transaction. Our team did not miss a step. Reinforced by yet another consecutive record quarter, we are moving forward with greater focus, urgency and confidence. Our standalone, independent trajectory has only improved, and, as a result, we are raising our 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance to approximately $720 million. This should translate to adjusted EPS growth in excess of 20% for the full year, driven by sustained momentum in Electronics and meaningful contributions from our recent acquisitions. Our formula of operational excellence and prudent capital allocation continues to deliver.”

Third Quarter 2026 Highlights (compared with third quarter 2025)

• Net sales on a reported basis for the third quarter of 2026 were $995 million, an increase of 52% over the third quarter of 2025. Organic net sales increased 13%.
  • Electronics: Net sales increased 68% to $780 million, including 30% from acquisitions. Organic net sales increased 18%.

  • Specialties: Net sales increased 13% to $216 million, including 12% from acquisitions net of divestitures. Organic net sales increased 1%.

• Third quarter of 2026 earnings per share (EPS) performance:
  • GAAP diluted EPS was $0.27, as compared to $0.16 for the same period last year.

  • Adjusted EPS was $0.50, as compared to $0.41 for the same period last year.

• Reported net income for the third quarter of 2026 was $66 million, as compared to $39 million for the third quarter of 2025, an increase of 67%.
  • Net income margin increased by 60 basis points to 6.6%.

• Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2026 was $191 million, as compared to $147 million for the third quarter of 2025. On a constant currency basis, adjusted EBITDA increased 29%.
  • Electronics: Adjusted EBITDA was $148 million, an increase of 46%. On a constant currency basis, adjusted EBITDA increased 45%. The Micromax business had a positive impact of 19% on constant currency adjusted EBITDA growth.

  • Specialties: Adjusted EBITDA was $43 million, a decrease of 6%. On a constant currency basis, adjusted EBITDA decreased 6%. The EFC Gases & Advanced Materials business had a positive impact of 16% on constant currency adjusted EBITDA growth.

  • Adjusted EBITDA margin increased by 50 basis points to 28.2%.

Updated 2026 Guidance

The Company now expects full year 2026 adjusted EBITDA to be approximately $720 million, inclusive of full year contributions from the Micromax and EFC acquisitions and assuming stable exchange rates and metal prices, and an adjusted EPS growth rate of over 20% for the full year.

Recent Developments

Solstice Transaction – On July 6, 2026, the Company entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with Solstice. On August 27, 2026, the Company and Solstice entered into a Termination Agreement pursuant to which the parties mutually agreed to terminate the Merger Agreement, which, subject to customary exceptions, mutually released the parties from any claims of liability to one another relating to the contemplated merger transaction.

Conference Call

Element Solutions will host a webcast/dial-in conference call to discuss its 2026 third quarter financial results at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Thursday, October 22, 2026. Participants on the call will include Chief Executive Officer Benjamin H. Gliklich and Chief Financial Officer Carey J. Dorman.

To listen to the call by telephone, please dial +1 833-461-5787 and provide the Conference ID: 705 163 823. The call will be simultaneously webcast at www.elementsolutionsinc.com. A replay of the call will be available after completion of the live call at www.elementsolutionsinc.com.

About Element Solutions

Element Solutions Inc is a leading global specialty chemicals technology company whose businesses supply a broad range of solutions that enhance the performance of products people use every day. Developed in multi-step technological processes, these innovative solutions enable customers’ manufacturing processes in multiple high-value industries, including semiconductor fabrication, high-performance computing, automotive systems, consumer electronics, power electronics, communications and data storage infrastructure, aerospace and defense, industrial surface finishing and offshore energy.

More information about the Company is available at www.elementsolutionsinc.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release is intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as it contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements will often contain words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “project,” “will,” “should,” “believe,” “intend,” “plan,” “assume,” “estimate,” “predict,” “seek,” “continue,” “outlook,” “may,” “might,” “aim,” “can have,” “likely,” “potential,” “target,” “hope,” “goal,” “priority,” “guidance” or “confident” and variations of such words and similar expressions. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements, beliefs, projections and expectations regarding the Company’s

investments; customer innovation; expected benefits of recent acquisitions, including their contributions to the Company’s full year 2026 adjusted EBITDA; metals prices volatility; foreign exchange rate fluctuations; capital deployment; profitability; market trends, conditions and demand expectations; full year 2026 guidance for adjusted EBITDA; and full year 2026 adjusted EPS growth expectations. These projections and statements are based on management’s estimates, assumptions or expectations with respect to future events and financial performance, and are believed to be reasonable, though are inherently uncertain and difficult to predict. Such projections and statements are based on the assessment of information available as of the current date, and the Company does not undertake any obligations to provide any further updates. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements if one or more of the underlying estimates, assumptions or expectations prove to be inaccurate or are unrealized. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the war in Ukraine, the Iran conflict and other hostilities in the Middle-East as well as actions in response thereto and their impact on market conditions and the global economy; increases in tariffs and/or imposition of new tariffs and other changes in trade policy, in the U.S. and other countries, and other economic factors that may affect cost structure and demand, including the cost and availability of raw materials and precious metals; capital requirements and need for and availability of financing; the impact of government regulations on our ability to conduct operations; the impact of changes to privacy, cybersecurity, environmental, global trade, tax and other governmental regulations; impairments, including those on goodwill and other intangible assets; price volatility and cost environment; inflation and fluctuations in foreign exchange rates; the Company’s liquidity, cash flows and capital allocation; funding sources; capital expenditures; outstanding debt and debt leverage ratio; shares repurchases; debt and/or equity issuance or retirement; expected returns to stockholders; and the impact of acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, refinancings, impairments and other unusual items, including the Company’s ability to integrate and obtain the anticipated benefits, results and synergies from these items or other related strategic initiatives. Additional information concerning these and other factors that could cause actual results to vary is, or will be, included in the Company’s periodic and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Non-GAAP Measures

To supplement its financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, Element Solutions presents in this release the following non-GAAP financial measures: EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA growth, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted EPS, adjusted common shares outstanding, free cash flow, organic net sales growth, full year 2026 guidance for adjusted EBITDA, and full year 2026 adjusted EPS growth expectations. The Company also evaluates and presents its results of operations on a constant currency basis.

Management internally reviews these non-GAAP measures to evaluate performance and liquidity on a comparative period-to-period basis in terms of absolute performance, trends and expected future performance with respect to the Company’s business, and believes that these non-GAAP measures provide investors with an additional perspective on trends and underlying operating results on a period-to-period comparable basis. The Company also believes that investors find this information helpful in understanding the ongoing performance of its operations as well as their ability to generate cash separate from items that may have a disproportionate positive or negative impact on its financial results in any particular period or that are considered to be associated with its capital structure. These non-GAAP financial measures, however, have limitations as analytical tools, and should not be considered in isolation from, a substitute for, or superior to, the related financial information that Element Solutions reports in accordance with GAAP. The principal limitation of these non-GAAP financial measures is that they exclude significant expenses and income that are required by GAAP to be recorded in the Company’s financial statements, and may not be completely comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies due to potential differences in calculation methods. In addition, these measures are subject to inherent limitations as they reflect the exercise of judgment by management about which items are excluded or included in determining these non-GAAP financial measures. Investors are encouraged to review the definitions and reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most comparable GAAP financial measures included in this press release, and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate the Company’s businesses.

The Company provides full year 2026 guidance for adjusted EBITDA and full year 2026 adjusted EPS growth expectations on a non-GAAP basis only. Reconciliations of such forward-looking non-GAAP measures to GAAP are excluded in reliance upon the exception provided by Item 10(e)(1)(i)(B) of Regulation S-K due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting and quantifying, without unreasonable efforts, certain amounts that are necessary for such reconciliations, including adjustments that could be made for restructurings, refinancings, impairments, divestitures, integration and acquisition-related expenses, share-based compensation amounts, non-recurring, unusual or unanticipated charges, expenses or gains, adjustments to inventory and other charges reflected in its reconciliations of historic numbers, the amount of which, based on historical experience, could be significant.

Constant Currency:

The Company discloses net sales and adjusted EBITDA on a constant currency basis by adjusting results to exclude the impact of changes due to the translation of foreign currencies of its international locations into U.S. dollars. Management believes this non-GAAP financial information facilitates period-to-period comparison in the analysis of trends in business performance, thereby providing valuable supplemental information regarding its results of operations, consistent with how the Company internally evaluates its financial results.

The impact of foreign currency translation is calculated by converting the Company’s current-period local currency financial results into U.S. dollars using the prior period’s exchange rates and comparing these adjusted amounts to its prior period reported results. The difference between actual growth rates and constant currency growth rates represents the estimated impact of foreign currency translation.

Organic Net Sales Growth:

Organic net sales growth is defined as net sales excluding the impact of foreign currency translation, changes due to the pass-through pricing of certain metals and acquisitions and/or divestitures, as applicable. Management believes this non-GAAP financial measure provides investors with a more complete understanding of the underlying net sales trends by providing comparable net sales over differing periods on a consistent basis.

The following table reconciles GAAP net sales growth to organic net sales growth for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026:

For the three months ended September 30, 2026, Electronics’ consolidated results were positively impacted by $94.4 million of pass-through metals pricing and $138 million of acquisitions, which includes $93.1 million of net sales from pass-through metals, and Specialties’ consolidated results were positively impacted by $23.4 million of acquisitions. For the nine months ended September 30, 2026, Electronics’ consolidated results were positively impacted by $303 million of pass-through metals pricing and $331 million of acquisitions, which includes $226 million of net sales from pass-through metals, and Specialties’ consolidated results were positively impacted by $33.9 million of acquisitions net of divestitures.

Adjusted Earnings Per Share (EPS):

Adjusted EPS is a key metric used by management to measure operating performance and trends as management believes the exclusion of certain expenses in calculating adjusted EPS facilitates operating performance comparisons on a period-to-period basis. Adjusted EPS is defined as net income adjusted to reflect adjustments consistent with the Company’s definition of adjusted EBITDA. Additionally, the Company eliminates amortization expense associated with intangible assets, incremental depreciation associated with the step-up of fixed assets and incremental cost of sales associated with the step-up of inventories recognized in purchase accounting for acquisitions, as well as the incremental depreciation associated with facility closures.

Further, the Company adjusts its effective tax rate to 20%, as described in footnote (10) under the reconciliation table below. This effective tax rate, which reflects the Company’s estimated long-term expectations for taxes to be paid on its adjusted non-GAAP earnings, is consistent with how management evaluates the Company’s financial performance. The Company also believes that providing a fixed rate facilitates comparisons of business performance from period to period. This non-GAAP effective tax rate is lower than the average of the statutory tax rates applicable to the Company’s jurisdictional mix of earnings, primarily because it reflects tax benefits derived from U.S. tax attribute carryforwards, which consist of operating losses and tax credits.

The resulting adjusted net income is then divided by the Company’s adjusted common shares outstanding. Adjusted common shares outstanding represent the shares outstanding as of the balance sheet date for the quarter-to-date period and an average of each quarter for the year-to-date period, plus the shares issuable upon exercise or vesting of all outstanding equity awards (assuming a performance achievement target level for equity awards with targets considered probable).

The following table reconciles GAAP “Net income” to “Adjusted net income” and presents the number of adjusted common shares outstanding used in calculating adjusted EPS for each period presented below:

Adjusted Common Shares Outstanding at September 30, 2026 and 2025

The following table shows the Company’s adjusted common shares outstanding at each period presented:

EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin:

EBITDA represents earnings before interest, provision for income taxes, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA, excluding the impact of additional items included in GAAP earnings which the Company believes are not representative or indicative of its ongoing business or are considered to be associated with its capital structure, as described in the footnotes located under the “Adjusted Earnings Per Share (EPS)” reconciliation table above. Adjusted EBITDA for each segment also includes an allocation of corporate costs, such as compensation expense and professional fees. Adjusted EBITDA margin is defined as adjusted EBITDA divided by net sales excluding the value of certain pass-through metals in the Electronics segment. Adjusted EBITDA margin excludes the impact of certain pass-through metals in the Electronics segment as we believe the fluctuations in these metal prices do not reflect underlying operating results. Management believes adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin provide investors with a more complete understanding of the long-term profitability trends of the Company’s business and facilitate comparisons of its profitability to prior and future periods.

The following table reconciles GAAP “Net income” to “Adjusted EBITDA” for each of the periods presented:

Free Cash Flow:

Free cash flow for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025 is defined as net cash flows from operating activities less capital expenditures, plus (1) proceeds from the disposal of property, plant and equipment, (2) professional fees, non-recurring expenses and taxes paid in association with acquisitions and divestitures and (3) non-recurring payments associated with a multi-year tax settlement in the first quarter of 2025. Management believes that this non-GAAP metric, which measures the Company’s ability to generate cash from its business operations, is an important financial measure for evaluating the Company’s liquidity. Free cash flow should be considered as an additional measure of liquidity to, rather than as a substitute for, net cash provided by operating activities.

The following table reconciles “Cash flows from operating activities” to “Free cash flow” for the periods presented: