Element Solutions - Earnings Call - Q3 2025

Executive Summary

• Record quarter: Net sales $656.1M (+2% reported, +5% organic), adjusted EBITDA $146.9M (record; +3% YoY) and adjusted EPS $0.41; Electronics reached record revenue, marking a sixth straight quarter of high-single-digit organic growth.
• Guidance raised: FY25 adjusted EBITDA narrowed to $545–$550M (from $530–$550M in Q2; from $520–$540M in Q1); FY25 adjusted FCF ~ $280M. Q4 adjusted EBITDA implied at ~$135–$140M as smartphone seasonality normalizes and EV remains soft while AI/data center demand stays robust.
• Versus S&P Global consensus, ESI beat revenue and adjusted/“Primary” EPS; EBITDA comparison depends on definition (S&P EBITDA actual differs from company adjusted EBITDA), see Estimates Context [GetEstimates]*.
• Strategic catalyst: Announced ~$500M acquisition of Micromax (Celanese unit), expected to be >5% accretive to adjusted EPS and contribute ~$40M adjusted EBITDA on a full-year basis post-close (target Q1’26), deepening solutions for data centers/advanced electronics; ESI will fund with cash and modest debt, keeping leverage comfortably below its 3.5x ceiling.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

• What Went Well

  • Electronics strength and mix: Electronics organic +7% on AI/data center and smartphone prebuild; segment sales +11% to $465.2M; record segment revenue. Circuitry grew 13% organically, benefiting from high-layer-count server boards (pulse plating) and seasonal smartphones.
  • Margin resiliency ex-metals: Adjusted EBITDA margin +30 bps to 22.4%; excluding ~$125M pass-through metals in Assembly, margin would have been ~28% (+100 bps YoY) per CFO.
  • Industrial & Specialty profit improvement: Despite flat organic sales, adjusted EBITDA +3% and margin +420 bps YoY to 23.7% on procurement/productivity/portfolio actions and Energy Solutions strength.

• What Went Wrong

  • Power electronics softness tied to EV: Semi power electronics volumes weighed on Semiconductor Solutions; management still sees share gains and broader application pull in 2026.
  • FX and intercompany FX noise: GAAP showed FX losses (-$11.0M in Q3) and FX adjustments were a notable non-GAAP add-back; S&P EBITDA vs company adjusted indicates definition differences matter for comparability.
  • Industrial volumes still below prior peaks: Underlying industrial demand remains sluggish in Western markets; growth is mix/price/productivity-led rather than volume-driven.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Element Solutions Financial Response Conference Call. I will now turn the call over.

Please, go ahead.

Good morning.

Quarter 25 Thomson conference call joining.

In.

call will be available on the company's website during today's call.

Results, these statements.

Are based on assumptions of future events which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Please refer to the earnings release supplemented by most recent filings on our website for material factors that could potential results.

Differ from our expectations and predictions.

Today's materials also include financial information.

Has not been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

Please refer to the earnings release and supplemental slides for definitions and reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to comparable GAAP financial measures. It is now my pleasure to introduce our CEO Benjamin Gliklich.

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

Thank you.

Good morning everybody. Thank you for joining. This is an exciting morning for us. When we launched ESI, we talked about a value creation model marrying operational excellence and prudent capital allocation. Today is a solid proof point showcasing our ability to do both. In addition to reporting record results yesterday, we're also announcing the acquisition of Micromax, a highly accretive strategic transaction and a value enhancing addition to our electronics portfolio. Before we get into that though, I want to give proper due to our operating results. This was an outstanding quarter. We set multiple records despite selling our graphics business. This was our highest quarterly adjusted EBITDA since the inception of Element Solutions Inc. Our electronics segment posted its sixth consecutive quarter of high single digit organic growth and achieved a record level of revenue. Excluding the impact of graphics, adjusted EBITDA growth would have been 10%.

Despite some of our legacy end markets remaining below prior peak volume levels, a weaker EV outlook and a soft macroeconomic backdrop in Western industrial markets, our teams are executing well on their strategies. In our industrial segment, portfolio optimization, productivity initiatives and high margin wins in both verticals drove strong profit growth. Despite a flat top line, the segment saw meaningful margin improvement and excluding the impact of our graphics divestiture, adjusted EBITDA growth would have been almost 30%. On the electronic side, we've built a unified platform of technologies to solve emerging customer pain points. Just as burgeoning investment in data centers and their associated infrastructure accelerates demand for innovative material solutions, our portfolio is uniquely positioned to provide those solutions.

From metallization chemistries for high-,layer count printed circuit boards to specialized thermal management materials used in assembly to advanced packaging chip-scale chemistries, Micromax will add to those solutions its portfolio in electronics inks and pastes. With a specialization in the highest performance, most technically challenging applications such as aerospace, defense and healthcare, it is a great fit for Element Solutions Inc. The acquisition broadens our offerings to our supply chains and enhances our value propositions to OEMs and specifiers. In 2019, our electronics business was just over $1 billion and with this transaction it will exceed $2 billion. Like our business, Micromax is a leader in niche electronics markets reliant on innovation that is co-developed with customers and requires high levels of applications expertise. Its products are known for durability and performance in harsh environments and provide mission-critical solutions in highly specialized end markets.

Micromax sits at the intersection of our assembly and circuitry businesses. Its metals-based manufacturing resembles assembly solutions, but its products are used more in circuit pathway applications. Like our circuitry solutions business, these products also fit our core competencies in formulation and our high-touch, low capital intensity operating model. The business has a proven team of experienced, highly technical leaders who add depth and expertise to our electronics business. The transaction meets our robust acquisition criteria and is consistent with our strategy of disciplined investment in markets we understand and in growth businesses that we believe are better under our ownership. We expect the Micromax transaction to be more than 5% accretive to adjusted EPS and, based on its projected 2025 results, contribute approximately $40 million of adjusted EBITDA on a full-year basis. Adjusted EBITDA margins are subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

We expect to close in the first quarter of 2026, and we're looking forward to welcoming the Micromax team into the Element Solutions family and to capitalizing on the unique value opportunities associated with this combination. Shortly you'll hear more from Carey on our results, but to me the most exciting thing about the quarter is what it means for our future. We've been able to generate great organic outcomes while ramping up investment in future internal and inorganic opportunities. While growing nicely in 2025, we're simultaneously building levers to accelerate that growth going forward. Those include several new product introductions in high-value categories in 2026, the accretive, highly strategic acquisition of Micromax underway, and substantial remaining balance sheet capacity to put to work should the right opportunities present themselves. The outlook is quite positive.

Carey,

Carey Dorman (CFO)

thanks Ben. Good morning everyone. On slide 4, you can see a summary of our third quarter financial results. Organic sales grew 5%, and adjusted EBITDA would have increased 10% when adjusting the graphics business out of both the 2024 and 2025 periods to account for that divestiture. Adjusted EBITDA was a record $147 million and exceeded our initial guidance for the quarter of $140 million to $145 million. Electronics organic growth of 7% was driven by solid performance in semi and assembly and exceptional volume growth in circuitry solutions through economic and industry investment cycles. We benefit from diversification within the electronics supply chain.

This quarter our circuitry business was a.

Primary beneficiary of AI related investment as our market leading pulse plating products are used to support fabrication of high layer count server boards. This demand, along with a sequential ramp in smartphones, allowed us to deliver high single digit organic growth for the segment even as customer related volume weakness weighed on power electronics growth in our semiconductor business. The addition of Micromax should further enhance end market diversification and increased opportunities to deliver on customer led growth across a broader manufacturing landscape. Our core industrial surface treatment business has demonstrated stable or growing adjusted EBITDA for several quarters even as volume has been under pressure this quarter. Underlying volumes improved as a result of strong growth in Asia and new business wins ramping in the Americas. At the same time, margins benefited from improved fixed cost absorption, portfolio optimization and ancillary business lines, and favorable product mix.

ESI's adjusted EBITDA margin improved roughly 20 basis points year over year in constant currency terms and was negatively impacted by higher pass through metal prices. Excluding the impact of roughly $125 million of pass through metal sales in assembly solutions, our adjusted EBITDA margin would have been 28%, a 100 basis point improvement year over year. Foreign exchange provided modest favorability of about $3 million in the quarter and at current rates should provide a similar level of year on year benefit in the coming quarter as well. On Slide 5, we share additional detail on the drivers of organic net sales growth starting with electronics in assembly. The third quarter saw an increase in China volumes associated with smartphone activity as well as continued growth from customers serving the high performance computing and telecom infrastructure markets.

Advanced solder paste volumes for various computing applications continue to grow as well. Circuitry solutions sales grew 13% organically. This was driven by continued demand for data center applications, a seasonal ramp in mobile phone activity, and circuit board demand in the Asian EV market. Data center growth is also increasing demand for data storage, which drove sequential acceleration in our memory disk business that should continue through year end. Semiconductor solutions organic net sales grew 5% as continued double-digit growth in wafer-level plating was offset by lower power electronics sales from a softer evolution market. Copper plating products for foundry and tier 1 OSAT customers continue to see sustained demand. We also saw a rise in products with high precious metals content such as gold and palladium in our semi business, which drove negative mix impact to margins overall.

While we saw a year-on-year decline in power electronics from EV demand dynamics, we continue to win business with new customers and the outlook for this business remains compelling. Industrial and specialty organic net sales were flat year over year. Underlying chemistry volumes for the industrial solutions vertical were up mid-single digits as we saw strength in Asia, modest improvement in Europe, and a roughly flat end market in the Americas, which grew due to the contribution of new account wins. Reported revenue growth in this business was impacted by a large customer equipment deal in the third quarter of last year, which is tied to a high-value multi-year chemistry contract. Excluding this impact, organic sales would have been up 4% year over year. The offshore business continues to grow nicely on the back of market strength, pricing, and competitive wins. Slide 6 covers cash flow and the balance sheet.

We generated $84 million of adjusted free cash flow in Q3. This included a $22 million investment in working capital, primarily driven by accounts receivable on the back of sequential revenue growth and slightly higher inventory values driven by metal inflation. Our days of inventory continue to improve, reflecting progress we have made to drive efficiencies in inventory management. After several years of supply chain disruption, CapEx in the quarter was $17 million, primarily going towards compelling growth investments such as our first manufacturing site for Kouprion. We expect to invest roughly $65 million on a full-year basis in line with our prior forecast. Now turning to the balance sheet, our net leverage ratio at the end of the quarter was 1.9 times and our capital structure remains fully fixed at an effective interest rate of roughly 4%.

We expect to fund the Micromax transaction with a combination of cash on hand and modest incremental debt. Assuming no further capital deployment this year, pro forma net leverage at year end would be roughly 2.5 times. This is comfortably below our 3.5 times long-term target ceiling, which leaves us with plenty of further financial flexibility to continue deploying capital should the right opportunities appear. With that, I will turn the call back to Ben.

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

Thank you, Carey. As you've heard, our strategy and execution are driving record results at Element Solutions, and we're nicely ahead of our plan for the year. Despite real end market volatility over the.

Course of the year, we now expect.

Full year 2025 adjusted EBITDA to be between $545 and $550 million at the high end of the guidance range we provided last quarter. This translates to fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA of roughly $135-$140 million. This quarterly expectation incorporates lower EV volume, the end of the seasonal smartphone ramp, and targeted incremental OpEx investment in support of high growth initiatives by Kouprion. We expect leading edge electronics driven by high-performance computing and data centers to remain robust and have assumed stable industrial demand through year end. We're pleased to have found a solid outlet for some of the balance sheet capacity we've been building. Micromax meets our high bar for acquisitions. It's a growing business that matches our asset-light, customer-intimate, people-intensive attributes.

It'll be a great addition to our portfolio and reinforces our conviction that we can continue to find high value inorganic opportunities to accelerate per share earnings growth. We have capacity for more but will continue to be disciplined about quality and fit. I'll close, as always, by thanking all of our stakeholders for their continued support of Element Solutions. Most importantly, let me express my deep gratitude for our people around the world.

For their effort and commitment.

Our combination of strong positioning, thoughtful strategy, and solid execution is entirely a product of our team, and our exceptional people continue to deliver for us. With that, Operator, please open the line for questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press Star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press Star one again. If you are called upon to ask your question and are listening via speakerphone on your device, please pick up your headset to ensure that your phone is not on mute. When asking your question, again, press Star one to join the queue. Our first question comes from Bhavesh Lodaya from BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Bhavesh Lodaya (Senior Research Analyst)

Hi, good morning Ben and team. Congrats on multiple fronts on Micromax. Could you share some thoughts on how you expect this platform to perform under the Element Solutions Inc umbrella just compared to prior ownership? Maybe opportunities with your existing customers? How should we expect the growth and synergies starting from that $40 million EBITDA mark?

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

Yeah, thanks for the question Bhavesh. We're really excited by the opportunity to bring Micromax into the Element Solutions Inc family of businesses and make it a part of our electronic segment, MacDermid Alpha Electronic Solutions. This is a business with a market growth algorithm in the mid single digits and just like with all of our other electronics businesses, we think we can outperform the market.

The benefit of having this business inside of Element Solutions Inc as opposed to where it's been most recently is the depth of our connectivity in the supply chain, in particular in the circuit board supply chain. This is a product category that really fits right in between our assembly and circuitry capabilities. There's a modest amount of customer overlap and there's a great deal of OEM and specifier overlap and our relationships can help accelerate that growth. From a cost synergy perspective, we would expect those to be modest because we're going to run it from a functional perspective and a supply chain perspective separately. We do believe we can accelerate the growth here and the value proposition to our supply chains, which should translate into value creation from a margin perspective and profit perspective for the company.

Bhavesh Lodaya (Senior Research Analyst)

Thanks.

Maybe stepping to Kouprion, can you give us an update around the commercialization activities there? Are we on track for, I believe.

The startup was planned for this quarter.

Any initial thoughts around earnings or EBITDA contribution next year from that?

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

Yeah, so Kouprion, you know, there are two major thrusts, I would say, commercialization and supply chain. Our mid-scale site where we ramped up investment meaningfully in the third quarter is on track to be operational at the end of the year, which will provide more product to both qualify and sell, and we should have some meaningful sales and profits into next year. Commercialization is really qualifying this product with our customers and the specifiers, and that also continues at pace. I would say that there's a handful of very compelling commercial opportunities that are working their way through the different layers of approval required to sell something into this high-value, high-performance supply chain. We should be getting some qualification milestones here in the fourth quarter.

Operator (participant)

Our next question comes from Josh Spector from UBS. Please go ahead.

Josh Spector (Chemicals Equity Research)

Hey, good morning and congrats on the Micromax deal. I wanted to ask on that one first. I don't know if you could provide any more color around the growth of that business from a top and bottom line perspective over the last couple of years, I guess. Would that have been accretive to ESI's growth over that time? Also, as you think about the stability of that growth, does it provide, basically, does it improve the stability of overall ESI growth in your view, or is it slightly more volatile? Any characterization there would be helpful, thanks.

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

Yeah.

The way to think about top line here is X Metals. Of the roughly $300 million of revenue here, about two thirds of that is metal value. There has been quite a bit of metal volatility and that's been impacting the, we'll call it SEC or GAAP revenue here. The profits have been very stable. I would say that there was a pretty significant drawdown in the electronics ecosystem. In 2022 and into 2023, this business fared better than our electronics business did through that period. It's a very sticky product portfolio, so it didn't have the same drawdown. They have a price lever as well that has been flexed reasonably well. We see opportunity associated with, on the way back from that drawdown. I would say the growth has been roughly in line with our assembly business, maybe a little bit faster over the past couple of years.

This business enhances stability for sure, certainly X Metal and on the profit line. We see an opportunity to accelerate growth going forward. The products that this company sells are really specialized for the most demanding applications. They've got a concentration in aerospace and defense, low earth orbit satellites, healthcare applications. We're just starting to see the pull into the data center complex. That as a market vector and also as a virtue of being inside of Element Solutions Inc and our access to that market should lead to an acceleration in earnings growth.

Josh Spector (Chemicals Equity Research)

Thanks, that's helpful. Just as a quick follow-up, you made comments in the release about still having capital flexibility. I think your 2.5 times is pro forma for the deal closing. I guess at first blush when that closes without those numbers, that leverage will go higher. Can you talk about your ability over the next six to nine months to deploy cash to the extent that there's maybe a bigger opportunity in your stock and a drawdown or otherwise, how high would you be willing to bring leverage in that scenario?

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

Yeah, we think about things on a pro forma basis. The 2.5 we have is pro forma for the expected contribution of Micromax and taking into consideration the full purchase price of Micromax. 2.5 would be the number at year end. Given the cash flow characteristics of our business and the growth opportunity we see into 2026, that number will be closer to 2 again by the end of 2026, barring any further capital deployment. We've always said that our long-term target ceiling for leverage is about 3.5 times. We see plenty of capacity even in the near term should something interesting become available to deploy incremental capital.

Operator (participant)

Our next question comes from Chris Parkinson from Wolfe Research. Please go ahead. Great.

Chris Parkinson (MD and Senior Industrials Equity Research Analyst)

Thank you so much, Ben. Given Micromax's history as part of DuPont, what would you say to somebody who perhaps would critique the business and say, why did they get rid of it in the first place? Essentially, what's evolved over the last five to 10 years and what ultimately makes Element Solutions the best owner or best home for the platform as it stands today?

Carey Dorman (CFO)

Yeah, thanks for the question, Chris. Look, we can't speak to DuPont's decision making as we really weren't a party to it. If I had to speculate, I'd probably say two things. The first is the SEC or the GAAP margins of this business, on the face of them, are lower than some of our other businesses and some of DuPont's other businesses. DuPont doesn't have other metals related businesses where they would make an ex-metals adjustment like we do.

To that point, on an ex-metals basis, the margins of this business are in excess of 40%, which really speaks to how highly valued these materials are to their supply chain. This is a business that is highly specified by its customer base, with substantial switching costs and very long qualification cycles. It's a very sticky business. It's a very high value business, even if the margins on the face of them, again on a GAAP basis, appear lower. The other reason may be that when DuPont chose to divest this business, the recent surge in innovation in the printed circuit board market, which has been away from the chip, innovation in the integrated circuit has moved back into packaging and onto the circuit board. That hadn't really started at that point.

As we sit here today, there's a huge amount of innovation and technology moving back from the chip to the circuit board, and these materials are an important part of that. Finally, I think it's worth noting that in the 12 to 16 hours since we announced this transaction, I've had many messages from DuPont and ex-DuPont people congratulating us on the acquisition and lamenting, frankly, that they no longer own it. This is a really good business. It's a market leader in a high value market with strong technology, solid growth outlook, great cash flows, and we've got several avenues to make it better. As part of Element Solutions, it sits within this really cogent portfolio of technologies that we have to support high value electronics.

Chris Parkinson (MD and Senior Industrials Equity Research Analyst)

That's a great color.

Thank you.

Just as a quick follow up, you know, Ben, as we start thinking on a preliminary basis about 2026, how should we think about the semiconductor growth side of it? The comments in the PowerPoint about software, power electronics, is that a singular customer that caused an issue? How should we think about the momentum into year end and ultimately over the next 12-18 months? Thank you so much.

Carey Dorman (CFO)

Yeah, absolutely. Within the semi business, there's really two prongs. There's semi assembly and our wafer-level packaging business. The semi assembly business has a strong capability in power electronics. We've all seen what's happened in the EV market and certainly with some of the larger participants in that market. That's what weighed on the semi business in the third quarter.

The wafer-level packaging business continued to grow in the teens and has a pretty compelling growth runway ahead from here. In the power electronics business, even with a weaker EV market, we see substantial customer wins as we gain share with our material over competitive, more legacy technology materials for power semis and power modules. There's a growth vector there as well. The semi business will continue to grow certainly above market and healthily as we get into 2026.

Operator (participant)

Our next question comes from Frank Mitsch from Fermium Research. Please go ahead.

Fran Mitsch (President and Senior Analyst)

Thank you. And congrats on Micromax. I'm assuming that given the quick time to complete the deal, looking at first quarter of 2026, that you're not anticipating any antitrust issues in terms of government approvals?

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

Yeah, as we've said, this is a complementary capability. While there's some customer overlap, there really isn't a technology or market share overlap. We don't anticipate substantial regulatory hurdles going forward.

Fran Mitsch (President and Senior Analyst)

Thank you. And nice job on the third quarter upside. What most positively surprised you relative to the guidance and how is that trending so far here in the fourth quarter?

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

Yeah, the industrial solutions business had a really strong third quarter. Even if you don't necessarily see it in the organic sales, we were lapping a period where we sold a big piece of equipment in Q3 of 2024.

When you adjust that out, which was a low margin sale, we actually had volume growth and organic growth in that business, which was mix favorable and positive. I think entering the third quarter, our expectations for industrial were probably weaker than what we ultimately delivered. If I had to call out one surprise, it would be that. As we sit here in the fourth quarter, we're almost through October, the momentum in the electronics side of the business has been a positive surprise thus far. We're seeing real strong continued momentum in electronics, and that's a positive indicator as we move into 2026.

Operator (participant)

Our next question comes from Alexi Misconish from KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Alexi Misconish (Investment Banking Analyst)

Thanks. Good morning, Ben. I realized you already talked a lot about Micromax, but I was hoping to give you opportunity to talk about growth synergies here, either on commercial side or technology or anything else.

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

Yeah, no, I appreciate it. Look, 70% of our business and correspondingly 70% of our people wake up every day thinking about the electronic supply chain and how they can add value to their customers and the specifiers.

Right.

We have a new capability that's highly strategic. It's a market leader in a high value market that we can add to the quiver of capabilities that we bring to bear to those suppliers. We're doing tech days with the largest OEMs, with the largest participants in the supply chain, bringing all of our capabilities to bear. Micromax will be one of those capabilities. That's not something that they had in their prior ownership. I believe that we will drive greater commercial traction through that. At the same time, the technologies they have are becoming increasingly important as the demands that are being placed on the printed circuit board versus the semiconductor versus the chip are changing and growing.

That is a market growth vector that will support this technology leader and we'll be able to get them into the right rooms and provide them with greater access than they would have had previously. This allows for, that should allow for this business to grow faster than its market and its market's already got a solid growth outlook.

Alexi Misconish (Investment Banking Analyst)

Thanks, Ben. Hopefully was hoping to look a little bit into 2026. On your electronic side, how do you feel about just volumes in general? Given there's been some destocking that occurred this year across several key products, do you see generally volume growth accelerating next year, about the same, or slower?

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

Yes. So, you know, we think about units and, you know, we have conviction that the growth we're seeing in high end electronics will continue into 2026. The growth that we've delivered in high end electronics year to date has been really strong, and I would say clearly above market, so we should continue to deliver that. The outlook for automotive units, in particular EVs, is really hard to predict at this point. We'd simply be speculating. We've got, especially on the power electronics side, plenty of market share to go after that should allow for us to outgrow that market. The question mark as we entered the third quarter was smartphones. We're seeing a healthy smartphone environment as we sit here today, probably better than we would have expected. We'll see what the pull through on that is into 2026. It's hard to call that right now.

All told, next year has promise to be another solid year of organic growth, and, you know, we've just added a strong impact from inorganic opportunities. You know, we're very optimistic about 2026 and beyond.

Operator (participant)

Our next question comes from Pete Osterland from Truist. Please go ahead.

Pete Osterland (VP and Equity Research Analyst)

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking the questions first. Just following up on Micromax. Do you view these assets as historically underinvested in? Do you see the need for any elevated capital spending initially in order for the business to reach the full potential you're looking for? Could you share what you're expecting in terms of one-time costs to stand up and integrate the business?

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

Surely, Pete. This business is just like our businesses. It's a people-intensive, technical, applications-oriented, employee base, customer-facing type of business, and correspondingly it's asset-light formulation. I would think this is about a 2% of sales capital business just like ours, and it's got the capacity it needs to support substantial incremental growth. We don't see this driving an uptick in CapEx across Element Solutions Inc nor requiring significant investment in physical assets.

There is a standalone cost dynamic which is burdened, which is in the approximately $40 million that we've communicated as the full-year contribution for this business of a few million dollars. We'll see synergies could come from that over a 12-18 month period driving the earnings here higher.

Pete Osterland (VP and Equity Research Analyst)

Very helpful, thank you. Switching gears on the industrial solutions business, the margin performance in the third quarter was very strong despite continued challenges in the overall industrial operating environment. My question is where can margins go in this business? In a more normalized demand environment, is there room to move margins meaningfully higher from the almost 24% that you put up in the third quarter?

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

Yes, is the short answer, Pete. The industrial business, while it had modest volume growth, is still very far dislocated from its prior peak volumes.

The productivity and procurement we're driving to drive those margins higher will contribute, I would say, a very strong incremental. As and when volume growth recovers, we get better absorption through our sites. The offshore business also continues to be strong and that's mix positive. There's room for further margin expansion. I'd note that when you look across the Element Solutions Inc complex, our electronics metal margins were 28% in the quarter. That's only 100 basis points off of our prior peak. We're continuing to invest in OpEx in anticipation of and in support of pretty significant margin accretive future growth. Across all of Element Solutions Inc we see material opportunity for incremental margin expansion from here.

Operator (participant)

Our next question comes from John Tanwanteng from CJS Securities. Steve, go ahead.

Jon Tanwanteng (MD and Senior Equity Analyst)

Great, thanks for the question guys and congrats on a nice quarter on the Micromax deal. I was wondering if you could drill down to the offshore business a little bit. How sustainable is the strength there? I think you mentioned that there are some good tailwinds, but I'm wondering were there any first fill programs there that might tail off and kind of what the demand outlook is as we go.

Off into next year?

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

Yeah, the offshore business is a longer cycle business. What drives that is a solid, stable energy price, which drives drilling activity, which subsequently translates into new producing wells. We get a large sale when you see a fill. When a drill is completed, there are ongoing, more annuity recurring, like monthly orders for each well in which our fluids are being used. Drilling rates are pretty good right now. I think that there is an expected low to some extent in drilling activity into 2026. I wouldn't count on it. You wouldn't have expected in a 70% electronics business for the fastest growing vertical to be offshore drilling. I wouldn't expect that to continue into 2026, but it's a healthy market, it's a healthy business. We've got a pricing lever there as well that's pretty compelling. We see sustained growth into 2026. We're probably not at these rigs.

Jon Tanwanteng (MD and Senior Equity Analyst)

Got it, thank you. Maybe a similar question but focused on just the margins in the electronic side and the EV specifically. Do you expect that headwind from, I guess, the larger customer there to continue for the foreseeable future, or is that something you expect to reverse out at some point?

How do you think.

About that market overall?

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

Look, I think it's safe to say EV volumes are likely to be down again year over year in Q4 globally. I think that the worst of it is past, and I see opportunity for again this power electronics business to continue to grow. We see a compelling growth opportunity in power electronics going forward into 2026. It's not just actually for EV applications. We're starting to see pull for these materials, these high thermal materials into other applications, network infrastructure and data center applications as well. We see a very strong pipeline for ArgoMax into 2026 and beyond.

Operator (participant)

Our next question comes from John Roberts from Mizuho. Please go ahead.

John Roberts (MD and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Thank you. MKS has decided to exit the Atotech industrial metal plating business as the main competitor. Was part of your volume pickup share gain opportunities as they go through that process?

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

Really can't speak to that, John. I would say that our industrial business has been growing really nicely, executing very well, and we've outgrown our market for sure. There has been some share gain. I don't think it's appropriate to speak about any specific competitors. We've got great capability there and a really good value proposition of the supply chain, and the team's been executing really, really well.

John Roberts (MD and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, and then maybe I missed this, but you described Micromax as fitting between assembly and circuitry. Will it be reported in either of those two subsegments or will it be reported standalone?

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

I don't expect it to be reported in either of the segments. I think it'll be standalone.

I would note that we will report this Business X Metals to give a better picture on organic volume and appropriate margin.

Operator (participant)

That concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the call.

Over back to Benjamin Gliklich for further remarks.

Benjamin Gliklich (President and CEO)

All right, great.

Thank you very much. Thanks to everybody again for joining, and we're looking forward to seeing many of you in the days and weeks to come on the road.

Have a great day.

Operator (participant)

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for joining.

You may now disconnect.