Westlake - Q4 2025
February 24, 2026
Transcript
Operator (participant)
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Westlake Corporation fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings conference call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, you will be invited to participate in a question-and-answer session. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, this conference is being recorded today, February 24, 2026. I would now like to turn the call over to today's host, Jeff Holy, Westlake's Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer. Sir, you may begin.
Jeffrey A. Holy (VP and Chief Accounting Officer)
Thank you, Amber. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Westlake Corporation conference call to discuss our fourth quarter and full year results for 2025. I'm joined today by Albert Chao, our Executive Chairman, Jean-Marc Gilson, our President and CEO, Steve Bender, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and other members of our management team. During the call, we will refer to our two reporting segments, Housing and Infrastructure Products, which we refer to as HIP or Products, and Performance and Essential Materials, which we refer to as PEM or Materials. Today's conference call will begin with Jean-Marc, who will open with a few comments regarding Westlake's performance. Steve will then discuss our financial and operating results, after which Jean-Marc will add a few concluding comments, and we'll open the call up to questions.
During the fourth quarter of 2025, we wrote off inventory and accrued expenses totaling $495 million, related to the decision to shut one styrene and three chlorovinyl facilities in North America and our epoxy facility in Pernis, Netherlands, in PEM. We also recognized $16 million of accrued expenses within our HIP footprint optimization actions and the sale of a compounding business. We refer to these expense items, which in aggregate were $511 million, as the identified items in our earnings release and on this conference call. References to income from operations, EBITDA, net income, and earnings per share on this call exclude the financial impact of the identified items. As such, comments made on this call will be in regard to our underlying business results using non-GAAP financial measures.
A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP financial measures is provided in our earnings release, which is available in the investor relations section of our website. Today, management is going to discuss certain topics that will contain forward-looking information that is based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. These forward-looking statements suggest predictions or expectations and thus are subject to risks or uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties are discussed in Westlake's SEC filings. We encourage you to learn more about these factors by reviewing these SEC filings, which are also available on our investor relations website. This morning, Westlake issued a press release with details of our fourth quarter and full year results. This document is available in the press release section of our website at westlake.com.
We have also included an earnings presentation, which can be found in the investor relations section on our website. A replay of today's call will be available beginning today, two hours following the conclusion of this call. This replay may be accessed via Westlake's website. Please note that information reported on this call speaks only as of today, February twenty-fourth, 2026, and therefore you are advised that time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of any replay. Finally, I would advise you that this conference call is being broadcast live through an internet webcast system that can be accessed on our webpage at westlake.com. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Jean-Marc Gilson. Jean-Marc?
Jean-Marc Gilson (President and CEO)
Thank you, Jeff. Good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us to discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2025 results. Our fourth quarter EBITDA of $196 million is net of $511 million of identified items that reflect our announced plan to restructure the businesses and reset our cost position to address the persistent macroeconomic challenges and volatility in trade policies we are experiencing. Despite continued industry pressures, we have taken decisive action to strengthen our global manufacturing footprint, and we continue to deliver on our commercial commitments while executing our three-pillar strategy, which we expect to contribute $600 million of growth earnings improvement in 2026, while maintaining a focus on our long-term strategy of value creation.
Westlake's cost-saving measures gained significant traction across every business in 2025, we delivered over $170 million of structural cost reductions. Looking at our fourth quarter results, HIP performed well while experiencing the typical seasonal decline in sales volume and earnings and the added impact of lower construction activity in the fourth quarter. The year-over-year decline in sales reflected lower new housing construction activity in North America. That decline was partially offset by solid municipal pipe sales volumes as we benefited from the growth in infrastructure spending in cities across North America. Turning to PEM, the fourth quarter was a continuation of the trends that we witnessed throughout 2025, with results reflecting a decline in volume and price, with margin compressions across our product portfolio as we serve the stable global industrial and manufacturing base.
As we discussed in December, global overcapacity in certain products created downward pressure on the sales price for many of PEM's products, leading to a sharp decline in PEM's profitability compared to historical levels. These pricing pressures continued in the fourth quarter, with a further 5% decline in PEM's average sales prices compared to the third quarter of 2025. Our three-pillar strategy, which I outlined in December, is expected to contribute a $600 million improvement in earnings in 2026. Let me summarize each of these pillars, as significant steps have already been taken to drive this earnings performance strategy forward. First, we have taken decisive actions to close higher cost PEM assets that largely sold products into low-priced export markets.
We closed an epoxy manufacturing site in Pernis, the Netherlands, a non-integrated PVC plant in China, three North American chlorovinyl assets, a styrene asset, and three HIP fabrication sites. These actions contributed to a 6% reduction in our head count and an even more significant reduction in our contractor workforce in 2025. Having now shuttered all of these assets, we expect to see an improvement in earnings of $200 million in 2026 from footprint optimization. Second, we have redoubled our efforts to address reliability in plant operation. Thus, we expect to deliver a $200 million year-over-year EBITDA improvement from better plant reliability in 2026. Third, building on the successful structural cost reduction efforts achieved in 2025, we have implemented an additional structural company-wide cost reduction program that we expect will deliver $200 million in 2026.
These decisive steps and the commitment to deliver improved financial performance through these self-help actions will deliver better utilized assets and an improved cost structure to compete in a global marketplace. I would like now to turn our call over to Steve to provide more detail on our financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2025. Before I do that, I would like to make an additional comment. As you may have seen in the 8-K we issued yesterday, our colleague and long-serving Chief Financial Officer, Steve Bender, has informed us that he plans to retire later this year, once his replacement has been appointed and appropriate transition has occurred. We are tremendously grateful for the countless contributions that Steve has made to the company over the years.
He joined Westlake in 2005, not long after the company's 2004 initial public offering, and he has been instrumental to the significant growth in the company that the company enjoyed since then. Steve will be with me on several more earnings call in 2026. This is not yet a goodbye. Nonetheless, we wanted to take this moment to express our gratitude to Steve. Now, let's turn to the fourth quarter and full year 2025 financial results. Steve?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Thank you, Jean-Marc, for those comments. Thank you very much, good morning, everyone. As a reminder, my comments regarding income from operations, EBITDA, net income, and earnings per share all exclude the financial impact of the identified items. Westlake reported a net loss of $33 million or a loss of $0.25 per share in the fourth quarter on sales of $2.5 billion. The net loss in the fourth quarter of 2025 was $5 million lower than the third quarter of 2025, primarily due to lower average sales prices and lower sales volumes. For the fourth quarter of 2025, our utilization of the FIFO method of accounting resulted in an unfavorable pre-tax impact of $2 million, compared to what earnings would have been if we reported on the LIFO method.
This is only an estimate and has not been audited. We delivered an additional $60 million of cost reductions in the fourth quarter, thereby achieving the $170 million of total cost reductions in 2025 and accomplishing our 2025 target of structural cost reductions. For the full year of 2025, we reported a net loss of $116 million and EBITDA of $1.1 billion. Compared to our 2024 results, 2025 sales of $11.2 billion declined 8%. The lower full year of 2025 sales were the result of a 5% decline in sales volume, driven primarily by PVC resin and epoxy resin, and a 3% decline in average sales price, driven primarily by pipe and fittings and PVC resin.
Before I discuss the details of our segment results, I want to provide some high-level thoughts on the quarter and the year as a whole. Our HIP segment performed very well, and we were very pleased with the stability and resiliency of the portfolio businesses that we've assembled. At the same time, as we discussed in December, our PEM segment was impacted by global overcapacity, particularly in polyethylene and the core vinyls chain, that drove lower average sales, prices, and margins. As Jeanmark discussed, throughout 2025, we took the necessary actions to adjust to the changing global balance of supply and demand and to position our PEM segment for improved profitability in 2026 and beyond. Moving to the specifics of our segment performance, HIP sales in the fourth quarter declined 8% year-over-year, driven by a decrease in sales volumes.
The sales volume decline was mostly driven by PVC compounds and exterior building products, which were most exposed to lower residential construction activity and was only partially offset by the continued solid sales volume in pipe and fittings. HIP's EBITDA margin of 16% in the fourth quarter of 2025 was below the prior year period due to unfavorable changes in sales mix and some higher costs. Shifting focus to HIP's full year 2025 results, EBITDA of $839 million and EBITDA margin of 20% were in line with our guidance and expectations.
While HIP's 2025 sales and EBITDA were below the prior year, we're pleased with its ability to manage the slower new residential construction environment better than the overall industry, due to its broad geographical footprint and deep product offering that make it a supplier of choice for many large national home builders. HIP's resilient sales and EBITDA in 2025, also supported by strong customer adoption of our innovative PVC-O pipe, as well as continued solid demand growth for municipal pipe in general. Moving to PEM segment, fourth quarter EBITDA of $45 million decreased by $45 million from the third quarter of 2025.
The sequential decrease in EBITDA was the result of 5% lower average sales price, driven primarily by polyethylene and PVC resin, and a 2% lower sales volume due to seasonal customer inventory destocking, which was partially offset by a $27 million benefit from annuitizing certain pension obligations, among other small one-time items. PEM's fourth quarter EBITDA margin of 3% declined from 5% in the third quarter of 2025, driven by lower average sales price, which was partially offset by a $26 million benefit from sequential lower planned turnarounds and unplanned outages. Shifting focus to PEM's full year 2025 results, EBITDA of $267 million was lower than 2024 due to higher feedstock and energy cost, and an elevated level of planned and unplanned outages and lower global sales price.
Weak global industrial and manufacturing activity, combined with overseas capacity additions, created global overcapacity in certain materials in 2025. This global overcapacity drove lower average sales prices and margins in PEM, particularly for polyethylene and chlor-alkali and core vinyls. In response, we made the necessary decision in December to close three of our non-integrated and higher-cost North American core vinyl assets that sold into low-priced export markets. As we discussed in December, we expect these actions to provide an annual EBITDA benefit for PEM of approximately $100 million, starting in 2026, by reducing our exposure to the low-priced export market. Turning to the balance sheet and cash flows. As of December 31st, 2025, cash and securities were $2.9 billion, and total debt was $5.6 billion. Our balance sheet continues to be well-positioned with a 16-year average debt maturity life.
For the fourth quarter of 2025, net cash provided by operating activities was $225 million, while capital expenditures were $241 million. For the full year of 2025, we returned $335 million to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. We continue to look for opportunities to strategically deploy our balance sheet in order to continue to create long-term value for our shareholders. Turning our attention to 2026, let me address some of your modeling questions and provide some guidance for the year ahead. Our three-pillared strategy, which was outlined in December, is expected to contribute $600 million of improvement in earnings in 2026. Through these self-help structural actions, we are better positioned to serve our valued customers and navigate the current macro environment.
We have revamped our operating model and now have better-utilized assets and a lower cost structure to compete in the global marketplace with improved financial performance. Turning to our guidance for HIP, housing and industry consultants and a consensus of economists forecast that housing starts to range between 1.3 million and 1.4 million in 2026, and for home affordability, based on lower interest rates, to improve. We expect HIP to benefit in 2026 from the recent acquisition of ACI, with a now expanded compound product offering and strong customer relationships. The strong 2026 structural savings that we've initiated and the benefits from plan optimization actions taken in 2025.
Thus, based on our current view of demand and prices, we expect 2026 revenue in our HIP segment to be between $4.4 billion and $4.6 billion, with an EBITDA margin of 19%-21%. For 2026, we expect a $100 million year-over-year reduction in our capital expenditures to approximately $900 million, similar to our depreciation run rate. For the full year of 2026, we expect our effective tax rate to be approximately 17%. We also expect cash interest expense to be approximately $215 million. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Jean-Marc to provide the current outlook of our business. Jean-Marc?
Jean-Marc Gilson (President and CEO)
Thank you, Steve. 2026 represents an inflection point. Following the actions we have taken to optimize our manufacturing footprint, streamline our cost position, and operate our assets to serve our customers. We have positioned Westlake for a stronger, more resilient, and profitable future as we navigate the challenging macroenvironment with our three-pillar action plan, together with our long-term strategy and our investment discipline. Turning to our outlook for demand, we expect a rebound from the seasonal lows of the fourth quarter. We are also seeing signs of improvement in global industrial and manufacturing activity to start the year. The January U.S. ISM reading of 53 was the first month in expansionary territory in a year, and the average 30-year mortgage rate sits at 6.2% today, down from 7% a year ago, which improves the affordability of new houses.
Overall, some signs of improvement in the markets, which has us cautiously optimistic that we will see sales volume growth in each of our segments in 2026. Sustainability and environmental stewardship remain critical to our mission at Westlake. Having established a target to reduce our carbon emissions intensity by 20% by the year 2030. I'm happy to report that in November, we released our 2024 sustainability report, which showed that we achieved our emissions reduction goal six years early. Before I open the call to your questions, I want to close by highlighting Westlake's foundational strengths, which continue to serve us well. These strengths include: a diversified and complementary portfolio of businesses, our vertically integrated business model, our globally advantaged feedstock and energy position in the U.S., and our investment-grade rated balance sheet with $2.9 billion of cash and securities.
We have streamlined our operating model and have reset our cost structure. As we navigate the cycle in PEM, we have a more competitive business that is positioned to grow more efficiently with our customers. The expected steady improvement in housing construction will provide HIP the ability to continue to capitalize on its very broad and deep product offering to grow our business and to create value for our shareholders. We remain focused on execution, cost discipline, and value-driven growth. Thank you very much for listening to our earnings call. I will now turn the call over to Jeff.
Jeffrey A. Holy (VP and Chief Accounting Officer)
Thank you, Jean-Marc. Before we begin taking questions, I'd like to remind listeners that our earnings presentation, which provides additional clarity into our results, is available on our website, and a replay of this teleconference will be available 2 hours after the call has ended. We'll provide that information again at the end of the call. Amber, we will now take questions.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. At this time, we will conduct the question and answer session. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from David Begleiter of Deutsche Bank. Your line is open.
David Begleiter (Analyst)
Thank you. Good morning. Jean-Marc and Steve, can you go back to the PEM business in Q4 and break down the beat versus what you announced back in mid-December of roughly $90 million? Thank you.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah. David, thank you very much for the question. As you could see, when we compare the results in PEM quarter-over-quarter, we did identify specifically some annuitization of some pension benefits. You can see that we also shuttered some of these assets in the fourth quarter. The three core vinyl plants had actually been down during the entire fourth quarter. The losses that we saw accruing during that period no longer were accruing. When I think about this, we had a volume reduction of only about 2% and a price reduction really in PVC and in polyethylene.
The beat was really attributable to beginning to take the proactive steps in our three-pillar initiative by removing the losses that we saw accruing from those sales in that low-priced market and begin to take some of those cost reduction initiatives at the tail end of 2025.
David Begleiter (Analyst)
Very clear. Just on polyethylene in February, what are your expectations around your announced price increases and potential realization? Thank you.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Well, as we think about 2026, you know, we have seen some improvement in demand and some improvement in price action, but remember, we also had some adjustments at the end of the year of 2025. The announced increase in polyethylene price that we saw in January of about $0.05 really begins to offset some of the non-market adjustment, which is a market adjustment at the end of last year. We've made further announcements in price actions for February. We'll see how February plays through, but we have another price announcement also on the table for February.
David Begleiter (Analyst)
Thank you.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
You're welcome.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from Patrick Cunningham of Citi. Your line is open.
Patrick Cunningham (Analyst)
Hi, good morning. I'm curious on your outlook for chlorovinyls and PVC chain in 2026. It seems, you know, maybe cautiously optimistic, you know, with some demand pull-through into the HIP business, but, you know, still dealing with some structural supply issues. How would you frame the supply and demand outlook and the sort of direction for price and margin in 2026?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Well, I think, Patrick, as you look at the price action that we've seen so far is indicative of some restocking that's going on. I would say that we remain cautiously optimistic. We've seen some, as I mentioned, some price action, you know, in PVC res, and we've seen some improvement in price, but we're still not fully recovered from the end-of-the-year price adjustments that we saw in PVC. We've seen an announcement also in February. And we've also noticed that inventory is, as I say, a restocking by some of our, some of our customers. I'd say we're still very cautious in terms of how we look out through the year, because I don't have that long-term availability of visibility.
I can only see out several months, but I think the early signs that we see in pricing initiatives in PVC and in caustic signal that we see some improvement in restocking, but it's hard to know whether this will play through the entire quarter, and for that matter, the entire year. You know, we've also seen. I'd also note that with the actions that we've seen in terms of a export market, export market prices have started to trend higher, and I think attributable to some of the reduction of duty drawback that certain markets like China are providing. It's going to affect in April, but the actions taken already suggest that prices have moved up in export market pricing.
Patrick Cunningham (Analyst)
Understood. Very helpful. Maybe just some clarification on the HIP guidance. I'm assuming that includes three-quarters of ACI. You have a slightly lower margin guide. Is the bulk of that coming from the dilutive margin impact there, or are there any other mixed impacts we should be monitoring?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
No, it's really not an impact of ACI. We closed that in January. I do expect that it'll be a contributor all year long. I would say, Patrick, it's really looking at the numbers that we've guided to 1.3 million-1.4 million starts in 2026, similar to 2025, and just recognizing that as we work through the starts numbers this year, that product mix can have an impact on the overall margin that we see in the HIP business. We still remain, to say, cautiously optimistic about the contributions that HIP will make this year in 2026.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Duffy Fischer of Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.
Duffy Fischer (Analyst)
Yeah, good morning, guys. First question.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Morning.
Duffy Fischer (Analyst)
-just on the $600 million of cost help this year? How does that play through the year? If you could kind of walk quarter by quarter, how do we add up to that $600 for the year?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Good question, Duffy. As we've taken the actions in 25, some of these savings that we achieved in 25 were attributable to the actions that we took in 25, and those will continue to play through for the year through 2026. Those actions that we've taken cover things such as logistics, procurement, a variety of other initiatives to really drive reductions in cost, which we think will be structural in nature. We think that as we think about the ratable benefit that we expect to see, we do expect to see that ratable benefit of cost reductions to play through the year.
Of course, we've shuttered those assets at the end of the year for that second pillar. Certainly those operations are down, no longer exposed as heavily we were to that low-priced export market. I do expect those also to be coming through the course of 2026. The third pillar is reliability, and of course, we have to earn that each and every day. We're very confident we've made significant investments in our plants, significant training of our people. 2024 and 2025 were years of very elevated levels of planned turnarounds, and therefore, associated with some of those planned turnarounds were the unplanned outages as we brought those plants up or attempted to. 2026 will be a year with far fewer planned turnarounds. We do have a high expectation that we'll be able to deliver on that third pillar of reliability.
Duffy Fischer (Analyst)
Fair enough. At the midpoint of your HIP guidance, you're basically $60 million better on EBITDA than you were last year. Again, how does that portend for kind of each quarter? Are there still some quarters where you may be down year-over-year, even if you hit the midpoint, or maybe first half, second half, just to kind of help us get the shape for the HIP earnings this year?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Duffy, good question. The 4th quarter and the 1st quarter of each year tend to be, excuse me, tend to be weaker quarters just seasonally. I mean, those who are in the Midwest or Northeast have seen the heavy snowfall in the winter season play through. As we think about it slows down demand and the construction activity. The 4th quarter and the 1st quarter of each year tend to be a slower period of activity, but nevertheless, Q2 and Q3 tend to be much stronger. That same cycle that we see play through in 25 should be similar in terms of the shape of the curve, if you think about it, in 2026.
We do expect, you know, again, a cautiously optimistic outlook for HIP, and the guidance we have for starts is similar to those in 2025.
Duffy Fischer (Analyst)
Terrific. Thank you, guys.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
You're welcome.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from Josh Spector of UBS. Your line is open.
Josh Spector (Analyst)
Yeah, good morning. I wanted to just ask on HIP, where you guys continue to talk about, I think, relatively strong growth in the infrastructure segment around pipe and fittings. The infrastructure sub-segment sales are actually down more than the housing product segment, both year-on-year and sequentially. Does that mean that the composites business is down much more, or what am I missing between that more positive commentary and the segment results?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Good question, the answer is that a lot of that municipal pipe actually goes into neighborhoods and subdivisions, which actually are not in that subsegment. There are sales not only to cities and counties and states, but also into major developers who may be developing those neighborhoods and those subdivisions with infrastructure, pipe and fittings. It's really a mix between those two subsegments within the HIP segment. We are seeing really continued strong growth in the volume in that side of the business. When I think of and speak to municipal pipe, it isn't always necessarily in the infrastructure subsegment, 'cause some of that is in the housing subsegment related to nationwide builders who are building out infrastructure in their neighborhoods and subdivisions.
Josh Spector (Analyst)
Okay, thanks. No, that's helpful. Maybe actually a similar point to what Duffy was asking. If I look at the cost savings, is any of that being attributed to HIP? If EBITDA's up $60 million at the midpoint, you're doing an acquisition, is the organic up? Is there cost savings? Is there something else we're missing in the moving parts there?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, you know, as we think about the pillar that we talked about of cost reduction, yes, the HIP side of the business does have a meaningful contribution in that cost savings initiative. As we look forward, they and all the other functions are also contributing. There is a meaningful contribution, in that pillar, that HIP is making. I do expect them to continue to make those contributions in 2026.
Josh Spector (Analyst)
Okay, thank you.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from Frank Mitsch of Fermium Research. Your line is open.
Frank Mitsch (President and Senior Analyst)
Thank you, and let me echo Jean-Marc's appreciation for your job, Steve. It's been a pleasure working with you. Of course, we'll work with you, I guess, on another one or two calls. Steve, in 2025, Westlake registered negative free cash flow. I was wondering what your expectations are in terms of free cash flow for 2026.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, good question, Frank. Our objective really is to generate, you know, strong results to drive, you know, strong cash flows. You know, as you can see, a lot of the self-help that we have with these three-pillars is really focused, and the predominance really is on the PEM side of the business. You can see that our capital expenditure plan for 2026 is also $100 million lower than we had in 2025. Our real focus is really to drive free cash flow for the entire business as we go forward. While we have no real visibility beyond the next several months from our order book, I would say our real objective really is to drive real cost savings, improvement and reliability, and really make this business really a cash flow positive generating business.
As you know, we don't give necessarily direct guidance on a lot of those metrics, but that is clearly our objective.
Frank Mitsch (President and Senior Analyst)
Okay, terrific. I was wondering if you guys could opine on the news the other day. You know, following the Supreme Court decision on tariffs, the administration came out and said it was looking at it, putting emergency tariffs on several items, including plastic pipes. I'm curious if you could offer some comments there as to the necessity there and what expectations you might have in terms of tariff benefits, et cetera.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, Frank, good question again. I would say that our materials are all subject to the USMCA rules, guidelines. Therefore, the impact to tariffs has really been de minimis, really immaterial.
Frank Mitsch (President and Senior Analyst)
Okay, great. The fact that they called out plastic pipes-
... you know, among, I think, six or seven items. Is there something going on there where the domestic plastic pipe industry needs tariff protection?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Frank, I would say that what we've seen is saw throughout the course of 2025, and frankly, in the previous administration, that the current administration has really used the USMCA treaty as a way to make sure that those items that were embodied in that treaty are not hit with additional tariffs. That is our expectation.
Frank Mitsch (President and Senior Analyst)
Okay, all right. Thank you so much.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question is from John Roberts of Mizuho. Your line is open.
John Roberts (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Thanks as well, Steve, and also welcome Bob Patel to the board. OxyChem is a large competitor. Do you see any changes in how they compete after the change in ownership a couple months ago?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
We have not at this stage.
John Roberts (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Okay, your competitor cited weakness in domestic merchant chlorine. Did you see that weakness as well, and what's the near-term outlook for domestic merchant chlorine?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, as you know, we're a much smaller producer of domestic chlorine now with some of the actions, that we've taken in December. As we think about it, you know, our view is that the weakness in chlorine is driven. Excuse me. The weakness in chlorine we've seen is really attributable to some of the weakness that we've seen really in some of the vinyl side of the business. Of course, in the first quarter and the fourth quarter of the year, we also have a reduction in demand for water treatment and some of the precursors going into refrigerants. All of those speak to kind of the lesser pull on chlorine, whether it is construction materials, water treatment, or precursors to refrigerants.
It doesn't surprise that there is a slowdown in demand in fourth quarter and first quarter for those kind of materials.
John Roberts (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
All right. Thank you.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
You're welcome.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from Jeffrey Zekauskas of JP Morgan. Your line is now open.
Jeffrey Zekauskas (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Thanks very much. You talked about $600 million in benefits from plant reliability and cost reduction, footprint changes. I was wondering, what's the EBITDA base that these benefits should come from? Last year, your EBITDA was $1,140. You know, should a rational agent add $600 million to the $1,140 and get, I don't know, $1,740? Because business deteriorated through the course of 2025, the EBITDA base is lower than the $600 million in costs should be added to? Could you give us an idea of how to put the two numbers together?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, Jeff, as you think about it, the actions that we've taken, in December, impacted four of the North American plants, and frankly, the full shuttering of the Pernis facility wasn't completed until really very tail end of 2025. When you think about the contributions of that first pillar of site optimization, we really get that full benefit starting in 2026. In terms of the cost initiatives, yes, we achieved $170 million of cost reductions that were structural in nature, but the guidance we've continued to provide for to 2026 is an additional $200 million on top of those achieved in 2025.
Of course, the reliability issues, as I mentioned earlier, again, 2025 was an incredibly busy year of planned outages and a number of unplanned outages around those outages as well. Given that our plan for 2026 is far fewer planned turnaround activity or maintenance activities, I do expect that we'll see those benefits accrue in this year as well. Back to your question, I think that you could think of a starting point when we took those actions at the plants as a way to build that, build that math.
Jeffrey Zekauskas (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Okay. When you think about your opportunities in PVC volume in 2026, do you think you'll grow more in the export market or more in the domestic market? Do you think the growth rates will be comparable? How do you assess the volume opportunities in PVC for 2026?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Jeff, when you think about the vinyl demand that we see, it's really going into largely building products of one sort or the other, whether it is in pipe, fitting, siding, trim, and/or other applications. That's more than 50, closer to 65% of the overall vinyl resin demand. As you can see, our outlook for HIP is reflective really of a year of construction activities similar to 2025. We've seen a really thin level of inventories being carried by our customers all throughout 2025 because prices continued to trend lower. The restocking that we've seen in the first part of this year is reflective of some of the demand pull that we've seen in a rebuilding of those inventories. We've been able to nominate prices in vinyl.
As we look forward, we are again, cautiously optimistic as we see the demand pull on PVC resin going in the construction materials and some of the other compounded materials that we sell through our compounds businesses.
Jeffrey Zekauskas (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Can you comment on the opportunities in PEM and PVC?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah. In PEM, I, again, you know, we're selling a significant portion of our resin into our own HIP segment. Certainly, I think given our lower cost structure that we've achieved through these rationalization actions that we've taken in the plants, through our cost reductions, we think we have a much better cost structure, and certainly be looking to initiate sales initiatives with many of those customers going forward domestically. Given the fact that we've pulled back from exports through those actions that we took in December, I do expect our exposure to export volumes will be greatly diminished.
Jeffrey Zekauskas (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Okay, great. Thank you very much.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
You're welcome.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from Hassan Ahmed of Alembic Global Advisors. Your line is open.
Hassan Ahmed (Partner and Head of Research)
Morning, Steve and Jean-Marc. Steve, you know, I know a bit premature, but great working with you over the years and wishing you all the best, for your retirement.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Thank you very much.
Hassan Ahmed (Partner and Head of Research)
Now, a quick question around. I know a lot was discussed around HIP segments, EBITDA guidance, but just wanted to switch over to the sales guidance. I know you guys, you know, are talking about a return to sort of more normalized, longer term, sort of sales growth in 2026 or 5%-7%. Even though, you know, if I heard you correctly, you're assuming similar housing starts in 2026 to 2025. You know, sort of, flipping through the presentation, it seems a chunk of that growth you're expecting coming from the ACI acquisition as well as product innovations. I'm just trying to understand the significance of, you know, both those innovations as well as the ACI contribution to that growth.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
I do expect that ACI will be a very nice contributor. It brings a broader portfolio offering, rather than just adding to our existing PVC portfolio that we had. Brings an expanded portfolio in silicone and cross-linked polyethylene. It'll be a nice contributor. I would also say the innovations that we've seen in products such as our PVC-O plant, which will be starting up at the end of this year, such as other product innovations in our Westlake Royal exterior businesses, we think will continue to be a nice driver in not only the revenue growth, but also margin growth. This product innovation is certainly a huge element within the HIP side of the business, and it continues to have us be selected as supplier of choice by many of the nationwide builders.
That innovation remains very much key and central to the growth as we see in HIP, so that the long-term guidance that you highlighted is very much as we see it, still on track.
Hassan Ahmed (Partner and Head of Research)
Understood. Very helpful. As a follow-up, I know, you know, you guys have been busy sort of optimizing the footprint and the like, and obviously $200 million of incremental EBITDA coming from that. If we step back a second and, you know, you guys take a look at the broader portfolio, I mean, obviously, you know, you're getting deeper and deeper into building products. As you take a look at the ethylene, polyethylene side, you know, it seems, you know, fairly oversupplied. You know, if rationalization doesn't happen, it'll remain that way for a while. I'm just trying to understand, you know, from a portfolio perspective, do you guys still see, you know, a role for that part of the portfolio? Would you potentially consider divesting that at some stage?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Again, our focus, as you know as well, is to really be focused on value creation. As I think about opportunity sets in both the PEM side and the HIP side, the answer is, where we see the strength really continuing to play through and the fact that we've continued to underbuild in North America, we think that the opportunities to deploy capital on the HIP side of the business probably have the nearest term return potential. That does not mean that we would not invest in a valued opportunity on the PEM side of the business. It really is just where is the best investment opportunity for that dollar, be it in HIP or in PEM. Our focus remains very much value-oriented in driving really long-term value creation.
If that takes us into PEM or into HIP, and we see that opportunity, that's where the funds will be deployed. Given where we are in the various business cycles, I would say the predominance of the opportunities near term would probably be in HIP. That doesn't mean there couldn't be some opportunities on the PEM side. In other words, we continue to watch both.
Hassan Ahmed (Partner and Head of Research)
Very helpful. Thank you so much.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from Aleksey Yefremov of KeyBanc Capital Markets. Your line is now open.
Ryan Pirnat (Analyst)
Thanks. Good morning, guys. This is Ryan on for Alexi. I just wanted to ask the first question. In the deck, you mentioned competitive market pressures in pipe and fittings. I was just curious if maybe you could provide maybe some more color there. You know, how much was pricing down for pipe and fittings versus the broader HIP segment with flat pricing year-on-year?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah. As we think about, you know, the pipes and fittings business, it remains a really, a very good business. Certainly with some of the slowdown in construction activity, we've continued to make inroads from a volume perspective. Naturally, with some of the pressures on affordability and some of the slowdown in construction activity, there is gonna have to be some pressure on pricing... We do believe that we're at a point where we are, our product innovation, and I've mentioned PBCO earlier. Our product innovation, we think, allows us to really continue to penetrate that market with innovative products, which bring really solid margins to the business.
While there's always the ebb and flow in each region across the country in terms of volume and pricing, so it's hard to give you a direct pricing number because it varies by region across the country. I would say that the innovative products that we're bringing forth, specifically in our Pipe and fittings business, continue to drive really long-term good value there. I just want to remind you that we're really the only player in the U.S. markets that provides both the integrated solution of fittings and pipe, and I would add engineering. We're able to sit down with a customer and say, "We can engineer the project for you. We can deliver the pipe and deliver the fittings." There is an integrated value of providing the service as well as the products to provide an integrated solution to a customer.
I would say that we continue to see real good innovation in that business, and I expect to see future PBCO plants continuing to be built and grow that market space.
Ryan Pirnat (Analyst)
Okay, I appreciate the comprehensive answer there, Steve. Just, the last one from me, maybe can you just give us, you know, your thoughts on caustic soda? How do you kind of feel about market balance and pricing over the next couple of months? Thanks.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
You know, caustic is a market that we've seen begin to see some price traction. We've announced pricing initiatives of $75 a ton back in December and have had a second price announcement of $65 a ton that was announced just last month. We are seeing some ability to get traction on those price announcements. When you think of our two announcements that total $140 a ton, we do expect that we'll achieve some of that. That is really coming from some of the industrial and manufacturing demand that we see at the very tail end of the year and early this year so far.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from Matthew DeYoe of Bank of America. Your line is now open.
Matthew DeYoe (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Thanks. Steve, I guess just to follow up on that, and you mentioned earlier you were seeing some signs of an industrial recovery. Like, is Westlake seeing something specifically in its order books, or is this kind of just like the read on PMIs?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Well, it's both. When you think about the PMI, it certainly is a positive signal. We'd like to see more of those positive signals play through, but I would also say that the volumes that we're seeing in some of the infrastructure business that we mentioned earlier, continue to be constructive as we go forward. It's still early in the first quarter. As I mentioned, the first quarter is typically a slower demand period, we're wanting to take a look and see how does the rest of the year play through. As I say, we're cautiously optimistic, but there is a constructive view here as we look forward into 2026.
Matthew DeYoe (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Okay. Just to kind of follow up on Dave's question a bit, I don't know, maybe it's blunt, but, you know, we were walked down or the Street was walked down into 4Q on account of the unabsorbed fixed costs from the assets that were eventually closed. Clearly, we saw a lot of those charges hit GAAP income. Is the outperformance on an adjusted basis just like saving money faster once, you know, the assets were closed, or is it just some creative adjusting on the unabsorbed fixed costs?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
No, it.
Matthew DeYoe (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Sorry, Steve.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
I was just gonna answer the first part of your question. I would say what you're really seeing is the impact of being able to be really taking the actions that we announced in December and really taking the steps to really reduce our cost and shutter assets that were not creating real value. That's really what you begin to see play through in fourth quarter, and as we think about our three-pillared strategy, this is why we have the confidence that we can deliver on that three-pillared strategy. Sorry, did you have a rest of your question?
Matthew DeYoe (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
I was just gonna say, is it fair to say now that if you're seeing this faster in 4Q and we have a big, you know, beat here, does that mean like the tailwind for 2026 is less than $600 million, all else equal, because now you're gonna be comping some good savings in 4Q?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Well, no, I think the guidance that we provided was to achieve that $600 in those three-pillars throughout 2026. As you see, that we took actions in 2025 related to cost, related to optimizing our footprint, and I think we're still very comfortable that that $600 is going to get fully contributed over the course of the year.
Matthew DeYoe (Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Okay. Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from Arun Viswanathan of RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.
Arun Viswanathan (Equity Research Analyst)
Great. Thanks for taking my question. I'll echo all the other comments. Steve, great work with you over the last several years. Good luck in your retirement, and we'll be speaking again soon, obviously. Just wanted to follow up on that same line of questioning here. If we take your HIP guidance, you know, that implies around $900 million of EBITDA at the midpoint, if you say you know, 20% margins on $4.5 billion of sales. Your PEM guidance can be interpreted to be, you know, the $267 million that you did in 2025, plus maybe $600 million of increase. That would be $1.75 billion, maybe at the midpoint.
What would you call out as decrements to that or maybe other positive drivers? Are we missing anything else, or are those the most important components? Thanks.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Well, as Jean-Marc noted, you know, the $600 million is a gross number, so there will be some cost to achieve some of those initiatives that we've outlined here. As we think, you know, and again, setting the market conditions aside, because none of this is factoring in the market conditions. All of this is just really focused on the self-help initiatives of these three-pillars. As we look forward into 2026, you know, certainly we'll take the market conditions as they come, but certainly we'll be very focused on delivering these actions that we've outlined here on this three-pillared strategy. There will be some cost to achieve that $600 million savings initiatives in each one of those three-pillars.
We think that we've got, you know, a good, a good effort underway in those three-pillars. We recognize for reliability, we have to earn that each and every day. The actions to rationalize the footprints that we've already taken and initiatives to negotiate reduced costs, and we'll be focused on that all throughout the rest of the year. As you would imagine, we're not just going to rest on those actions that we've taken in 2025. We'll continue to look for other opportunities to reduce our costs throughout the rest of this year, above and beyond those that we've outlined already.
Arun Viswanathan (Equity Research Analyst)
Okay, thanks. Understanding, you just completed an acquisition here. What else needs to be done, I guess, you know, from your portfolio standpoint? Would you be looking to integrate further downstream in building products, continue to grow out that business, or do you feel like your position now is quite set? What else are you guys kind of looking at from an M&A standpoint? Thanks.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Well, thank you for the question. I would say that starting with the HIP side of the business, certainly improving the portfolio depth and breadth is certainly a focus that we always have. ACI is a good example of adding both a geographical position as well as product breadth. As we think about the other components of our HIP business to add further depth and breadth is certainly something that we've talked about, and I mentioned innovation is a huge piece of our focus. That can come from both organic or inorganic growth opportunities. On the PEM side, you know, we certainly continue to look for ways where we can improve our positioning.
As we think about on the PEM side, there's still opportunities to further integrate the business and improve the logistics related to those businesses and improve the overall profitability by cost reductions. There are all kinds of efforts, both on the HIP side as well as on the PEM side, to improve the integrated model that we have, integrated not only from a product set, but also from a managing cost set perspective. It's really focused on both sides of the business to be able to integrate and run the business smoothly and effectively and cost effectively.
Arun Viswanathan (Equity Research Analyst)
Okay, great. Thanks a lot. I'll turn it over.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Welcome.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from Peter Osterland of Truist Securities. Your line is open.
Pieter Osterland (Vice President and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. I just wanted to start by following up on the profitability improvement plan. Just from the actions you've already announced and that are embedded in that $600 million of improvement this year, is there some amount that you would expect to be realized on a year-over-year basis in 2027? And could you size that?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
As you think about the initiatives that we've taken in 2025, $170 million, those were structural in nature, those in 2026 of an additional $200 million. We do expect, since these are structural benefits, to continue to have that carry through into 2027. As I mentioned earlier in my comments, we're continuing to look for areas where we can continue to find ways to reduce our cost. These can be in the manufacturing area, support area, logistics, and procurement. As we think about those, we'll continue to then enunciate those as we go forward over the course of 2026. Those changes that we've already announced, 2025 and 2026, are structural in nature, and I expect them to carry through forward into future years.
Pieter Osterland (Vice President and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Okay, great. Just on cash flow, do you expect free cash flow to be positive in 2026? I guess, what are some of the major drivers, aside from earnings growth, to be aware of? Could you highlight your working capital expectations or any non-recurring cash costs associated with asset closures this year?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, if we, as we think about 2026, working capital is always an issue that we need to kind of keep our eye on. As we think about, you know, some of the price initiatives, that can certainly have an impact on working capital. As we think about the overall cash generation of the business, as I say, as we think about that, looking at our CapEx program, our guidance for 2026 is $900 million. As we think about working capital and CapEx, we'll want to keep those a close eye on, because as I mentioned to one of the other callers earlier, we clearly recognize that generating free cash flow is critically important to our stakeholders, and that is always a strong objective as we go through any year, including this year.
That'll be our objective. That'll be our big focus.
Pieter Osterland (Vice President and Senior Equity Research Analyst)
Thank you.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
You're welcome.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from Matthew Blair of TPH. Your line is now open.
Matthew Blair (Managing Director)
Hey, hey, Steve. Congrats on your retirement. It's been great working with you over the years here.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Thank you. Thank you, Matthew.
Matthew Blair (Managing Director)
I want to circle back to your comments on the removal of the VAT rebate in China, which I think is scheduled for April 1st. I think China's PVC exports are nearly 10% of the global PVC market, and, you know, if you think that PVC is roughly break even in China, the rebate is 13%. It seems like this could be a pretty meaningful impact on the market, you know, meaningfully reduce volumes, export volumes coming out of China. Does that all make sense to you too? Do you agree with that, and is there anything else that you would add there?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
It's a good question. I was just looking at some statistics this morning. China represents about 15 or so percent of global PVC capacity and similar in caustic capacity, they're not exporting that much, not the 15% that I just mentioned. They're exporting much less than that as a percentage of their total domestic production. The focus that they've initiated on removing, effective April first, that VAT drawback or that duty drawback, is about a 13% impact in overall pricing. We've actually seen the benefits of that announcement play through in export pricing already. It's targeted in PVC, we've already seen export prices in PVC begin to rise because of the expectation that that duty drawback will not be available to them going forward.
I think it's an indication by the authorities there in China that they really need to find actions to rationalize some of those exports that are being disruptive to the market, both internationally, but also domestically.
Matthew Blair (Managing Director)
Great. Thank you. The incremental $200 million of cost reductions in 2026, I just want to clarify here, does that all stem from the asset closures that you already did in the fourth quarter of 2025, or will there be incremental cost reduction efforts as you progress through 2026?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
These are incremental above and beyond the actions taken in December or earlier in the year in 2025. As I think about these include initiatives in the manufacturing arena, initiatives in logistics, procurement, domestically as well as internationally, that add up to well over 50% of the $200 million that we've talked about in cost reduction initiatives. These are not solely only tied to those initiatives in footprint optimization.
Matthew Blair (Managing Director)
Great. Thanks for your comments.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
You're welcome.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from Vincent Andrews of Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open.
William Turner (Analyst)
Hi. Congrats, Steve. This is Turner on for Vincent. Since last year, consultants have been calling for pretty significant chlorine price declines this year, which I understand is driven largely by vinyls weakness. Has the situation evolved this year, perhaps due to, I don't know, the VAT export rebate elimination or perhaps something else on demand or orders? Could you provide color on how you see chlor-alkali and vinyls earnings trending this year?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, it's a good question. I would say that, as I mentioned earlier, given the demand pull that we're seeing in PVC going into construction activity, we see a similar year in 26 to 2025. The construction activity we see as being similar. The demand pull, I think there... I would say, though, that given the indications we've seen in industrial and manufacturing demand for caustic, we've actually seen those numbers tick up. That tick up in demand has driven them to re-inventory. That re-inventoring position has caused us to recognize that pricing has just gotten too low in caustic soda.
As you could see, and I mentioned earlier, we've initiated two price initiatives, the $75 a ton that we initiated in late December, and then another in January of $65 a ton, a total of $140 a ton. While I can see the consultants are speaking to caustic price increases, we do think we'll get some traction on that. On the chlorine front, I would say that, again, we'll have to see how the year plays through from a vinyl demand. As we sit through fourth quarter and first quarter, as I mentioned earlier in my commentary, that fourth quarter and first quarter tend to be weaker demand periods for chlorine, simply because of the slower construction season, pulling less on chlorine, lesser demand in the precursors for refrigerants, and frankly, lesser water treatment demand.
No surprise that we'd see some slowdown in pricing, slowdown in demand in chlorine. A lot is uncertain as we look forward into the year. I just don't have the visibility I wish I'd had for the midyear or the tail end of 2026. Our visibility really is more limited than that. I would say that as we look forward, we actually are fairly, you know, we see, again, some bright spots in pricing in caustic, bright spots, pricing in PVC, I don't want to then extrapolate that until we see more of how 2026 will play through.
William Turner (Analyst)
Thank you. That makes a lot of sense. Skipping over to the HIP segment, can you talk about some of the swing factors that could take us to the low end versus the high end of the 19-21% EBITDA margin guide, and any color on related drivers, such as price, mix, or synergies?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Yeah, I'd say it's really gonna be a function primarily in mix. You know, we've certainly have seen a lot of discussion on affordability over the course of the last several years, so to address affordability and be the producer of choice by many of the nationwide homebuilders, we have a good, better, best range of products, and each one of those range of products have a different margin associated with them. It's important that nevertheless, we're picked because of the quality and the ability to deliver those products. We have that range of products, so being able to have that volume is very important. A big swing could be simply product mix over the course of the year.
William Turner (Analyst)
Great. Thank you.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
You're welcome.
Operator (participant)
Our next question comes from Abigail Eberts of Wells Fargo. Your line is now open.
Abigail Eberts (Analyst)
Hi there. Thanks for taking my question. Looking at PEM, I'm curious about your expectations for the cost side. If you look at what the consultants have, obviously, polyethylene pricing is looking to be higher on a more or less apples-to-apples basis in 2026. On the flip side, integrated margins are looking like they might be down up to double digits. Is that around in line what you're looking for? Also, for your February price increase, are you around $0.05 in line with your peers?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
It, you know, certainly, as you know well, we're also a buyer of ethylene, and that ethylene goes into our production of PVC. We have seen elevated pricing in ethylene. Ethane has been pretty volatile over the last several months. Run-up in natural gas and ethane has followed the run-up and also some pullback in pricing, but ethylene has remained pretty elevated. From a pricing perspective, in polyethylene, we did see a recognition of $0.05 in January. Remember, in December, we also saw some price adjustments to in the non-price or in the December's.
Jean-Marc Gilson (President and CEO)
Reset.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Reset. Thank you. We do have an announced increase in February of $0.05. We'll see how the market plays through over the course of February and into March. We have announced an additional increase in February.
Abigail Eberts (Analyst)
Got it. Thank you.
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Welcome.
Operator (participant)
Our last question comes from Kevin McCarthy of Vertical Research Partners. Your line is now open.
Kevin McCarthy (Partner)
Yes, thank you, good morning. Steve, it's been a real pleasure over the last 21 years. Wish you all the best. Most of my questions have been asked and answered. Maybe a couple to probe here. First, I wanted to ask you about asset utilization. You know, if I look at slide four, your $200 million of savings from footprint optimization, I think, was crafted before we saw the PMI and, you know, the incremental goodness in your order book.
I guess my question would be: If I look at it on an apples-to-apples basis, do you think what you're seeing now would, you know, support a contention that you would see an uplift in utilization, let's say, in chlorovinyls and polyolefins, you know, irrespective of your rationalizations, that could help earnings more than the $200 million would suggest?
Jean-Marc Gilson (President and CEO)
Yeah. I will take the. You know, the asset utilization has been a little bit uneven across the business last year. After the big turnaround in ethylene, polyethylene chain, we saw really good performance in the second half of the year. With no turnaround in 2026 and maybe one in 2027 for LACC, we are expecting that our olefin business will continue to run at very high utilization rate. Last year, most of the issue were on the chlorovinyl side. The combination of better operating performance and the shutdown of assets, I think will lead to a significant improvement into operating rates, and operating rates where, that we think will be conducive, together with all the cost savings, to much better results in 2026.
Kevin McCarthy (Partner)
Okay. Thank you, Jean-Marc. Steve Bender, maybe a small question for you on the tax line. I think you guided to a 17% rate for 2026, which was a little bit lower than we might have guessed. Has your tax rate come down on a structural basis? If so, what is driving that?
Steve Bender (Executive VP and CFO)
Kevin, question, good question. The answer is because of our operating performance in 2025, I have some net operating losses that I'm able to utilize in 2026. What you see in my effective tax rate of 17% is really overseas, taxes overseas, international tax rates, and I'm actually trying to utilize those in a wells generated in 2025 and 2026.
Kevin McCarthy (Partner)
I see. Okay, thank you so much.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. At this time, the Q&A session has ended. I would like to turn it over to Jeff Hawley for closing remarks.
Jeffrey A. Holy (VP and Chief Accounting Officer)
Thank you. Thanks, everyone, for participating in today's call. We hope you'll join us again for our next conference call to discuss our first quarter 2026 results.
Operator (participant)
Thank you for your participation in today's Westlake Corporation fourth quarter and full year earnings conference call. As a reminder, this call will be available for replay beginning 2 hours after the call has ended. The replay can be accessed via Westlake's website. Goodbye.
