SEC Company Response from Huntsman CORP (HUN) (CIK 0001307954) (HUN) — Jan 7, 2022
Huntsman CORP (HUN) (CIK 0001307954)
Date: Jan. 7, 2022 · CIK: 0001307954 · Accession: 0001104659-22-002393
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
File numbers found in text: 001-32427, 333-85141
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CORRESP
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filename1.htm
January 7, 2022
Philip M. Lister
Executive Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer
Via EDGAR Transmission
Office of Life Sciences
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
Division of Corporation Finance
100 F. Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20549
Attn: Sasha Parikh and Kevin Vaughn
Re: Huntsman Corporation
Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2020
Filed February 12, 2021
File No. 001-32427
Huntsman International LLC
Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2020
Filed February 12, 2021
File No. 333-85141
Ladies and Gentlemen:
On behalf of Huntsman Corporation and Huntsman
International LLC (collectively, the “Companies”), this letter is submitted in response to the letter, dated December 29,
2021, containing the comments of the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (the “Staff”) of the Securities and Exchange
Commission with respect to the Companies’ periodic filings referenced above. For your convenience, we have repeated the Staff’s
comments below in the order and following the numbering presented in the Staff’s letter of December 29, 2021, followed by
the Companies’ responses.
Huntsman Corporation Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended
December 31, 2020
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of financial
Condition and Results of Operations
Outlook, page 30
1. Please address the following regarding your presentation of
adjusted tax rate:
· At
the bottom of page 30, you present adjusted effective tax rate as 19% without presenting
the actual effective rate or providing a reconciliation. Please revise accordingly to comply
with Item 10(e).
· You
also disclose that your forecasted adjusted effective tax rate for 2021 is expected to be
approximately 22% to 24%. We note your disclosure on page 35 that you are unable to
provide accurate calculations or estimations of reconciling items. Tell us how you determined
it was appropriate to present the forecasted adjusted effective tax rate without presenting
the forecasted actual effective tax rate for the period in question. Further, tell us how
you determined your presentation was appropriate if you are unable to provide accurate calculations
or estimations of the reconciling items.
Companies’
Response:
We respectfully acknowledge the Staff’s
comment, and we will ensure that our future filings include the presentation of our effective tax rate when we present our adjusted effective
tax rate for historical periods.
We respectfully acknowledge the Staff’s
comment regarding the disclosure of our 2021 forecasted adjusted effective tax rate. Our forecasted adjusted effective tax rate is calculated
based on our forecasted effective tax rate and, as of the filing of our Form 10-K, the approximately 22% to 24% range of our forecasted
adjusted effective tax rate equaled the range of our forecasted effective tax rate. Our decision to disclose the forecasted adjusted
effective tax rate range of approximately 22% to 24% was based upon a recognition that we could not adequately forecast certain one-time
items and events that had not yet occurred as of the time of such disclosure that would impact our forecasted effective tax rate (“adjustments”),
such as:
· business
acquisition and integration expenses,
· purchase
accounting inventory adjustments,
· merger
costs,
· certain
legal and other settlements and related expenses,
· gains
on sale of businesses/assets, and
· certain
tax only items, including tax law changes not yet enacted
and, therefore, disclosing a forecasted effective tax rate could confuse
a reader, and lead such reader to understand that such items were contemplated for the upcoming year and that we had taken them into
account in a forecasted effective tax rate. This reinforces our belief that the forecasted adjusted effective tax rate is a meaningful
measure to improve comparability between periods through the exclusion of these items that management believes are not indicative of
the businesses’ operational profitability and may obscure underlying business results and trends.
In future filings, we will include an explanation
similar to the response above so that readers will more clearly understand that the disclosed forecasted adjusted effective tax rate,
in our view, represents the forecasted effective tax rate on our underlying business operations, but does not reflect any of the types
of adjustments that might occur in the upcoming year that could cause our effective tax rate to differ.
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
Note 27. Operating Segment Information, page F-61
2. Your presentation of Total Segment Adjusted EBITDA does not
comply with ASC 280-10-50-30(b) as the inclusion of ‘Corporate and other’
does not represent the total of the reportable segments’ measure of profit or loss.
As such, Total Segment Adjusted EBITDA would represent a non-GAAP measure which is specifically
prohibited in your financial statement footnotes by Item 10(e)(1)(ii)(c) of Regulation
S-K. Furthermore, the total of your reportable segments’ measure of profit or loss
should be reconciled to consolidated net income/(loss) before income taxes. Accordingly,
please revise your presentation of your reportable segments’ measure of profit or loss
and the accompanying reconciliations as well as your discussion of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
on page 34. This applies to your Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30,
2021 and your press release furnished as exhibit 99.1 to your Form 8-K filed October 29,
2021 as well.
Companies’
Response:
We respectfully acknowledge the Staff’s
comment regarding our presentation of Total Segment Adjusted EBITDA and the reconciliation of the total of our reportable segments’
measure of profit or loss to consolidated income before income taxes and discontinued operations. As requested and as reflected below,
we intend to revise our presentation of the total of our reportable segments’ measure of profit or loss and the accompanying reconciliations
in our Operating Segment Information footnote and will provide this revised footnote presentation in our Form 10-K filing for the
fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 along with this additional disclosure: “We have revised our prior years’ presentation
below to reconcile total reportable segments’ adjusted EBITDA to income from continuing operations before income taxes in addition
to net income, and removed “corporate and other costs, net” from the total reportable segments’ adjusted EBITDA and
included such amounts in the reconciliation to income from continuing operations before income taxes.”
2
Year ended
December 31,
2020
2019
2018
Huntsman Corporation:
Segment
adjusted EBITDA(1):
Polyurethanes
$ 472
$ 548
$ 809
Performance Products
164
168
197
Advanced Materials
130
201
225
Textile Effects
42
84
101
Total reportable segments’ adjusted EBITDA
808
1,001
1,332
Reconciliation
of total reportable segments’ adjusted EBITDA to income from continuing operations
before income taxes:
Interest expense, net—continuing operations
(86 )
(111 )
(115 )
Depreciation and amortization—continuing operations
(283 )
(270 )
(255 )
Corporate
and other costs, net(2)
(161 )
(155 )
(171 )
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests
32
36
81
Other adjustments:
Business acquisition
and integration expenses and purchase accounting inventory adjustments
(31 )
(5 )
(9 )
Merger costs
—
—
(2 )
Fair value adjustments to Venator investment
and related loss on disposal
(88 )
(18 )
(62 )
Loss on early
extinguishment of debt
—
(23 )
(3 )
Certain legal and other settlements
and related expenses
(5 )
(6 )
(1 )
Gain (loss) on sale of businesses/assets
280
(21 )
—
Income from transition services arrangements
7
—
—
Certain nonrecurring information technology
project implementation costs
(6 )
(4 )
—
Amortization of pension and postretirement
actuarial losses
(76 )
(66 )
(67 )
Plant incident remediation costs
(2 )
(8 )
—
Restructuring,
impairment and plant closing and transition (costs) credits
(52 )
41
6
Income from continuing operations before income taxes
337
391
734
Income tax (expense) benefit—continuing operations
(46 )
38
(45 )
Income (loss) from discontinued operations,
net of tax
775
169
(39 )
Net income
$ 1,066
$ 598
$ 650
3
Year ended
December 31,
2020
2019
2018
Huntsman International:
Segment
adjusted EBITDA(1):
Polyurethanes
$ 472
$ 548
$ 809
Performance Products
164
168
197
Advanced Materials
130
201
225
Textile Effects
42
84
101
Total reportable segments’ adjusted
EBITDA
808
1,001
1,332
Reconciliation
of total reportable segments’ adjusted EBITDA to income from continuing operations
before income taxes:
Interest expense, net—continuing operations
(88 )
(126 )
(136 )
Depreciation and amortization—continuing operations
(283 )
(270 )
(252 )
Corporate
and other costs, net(2)
(155 )
(150 )
(167 )
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests
32
36
81
Other adjustments:
Business acquisition
and integration expenses and purchase accounting inventory adjustments
(31 )
(5 )
(9 )
Merger costs
—
—
(2 )
Fair value adjustments to Venator investment
and related loss on disposal
(88 )
(18 )
(62 )
Loss on early extinguishment of debt
—
(23 )
(3 )
Certain legal and other settlements
and related expenses
(5 )
(6 )
(1 )
Gain (loss) on sale of businesses/assets
280
(21 )
—
Income from transition services arrangements
7
—
—
Certain nonrecurring information technology
project implementation costs
(6 )
(4 )
—
Amortization of pension and postretirement
actuarial losses
(79 )
(70 )
(71 )
Plant incident remediation costs
(2 )
(8 )
—
Restructuring,
impairment and plant closing and transition (costs) credits
(52 )
41
6
Income from continuing operations before income
taxes
338
377
716
Income tax (expense) benefit—continuing operations
(46 )
41
(41 )
Income (loss)
from discontinued operations, net of tax
775
169
(39 )
Net income
$ 1,067
$ 587
$ 636
(1)
We use segment
adjusted EBITDA as the measure of each segment’s profit or loss. We believe that segment adjusted EBITDA more accurately reflects
what the chief operating decision maker uses to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segments and assess
their financial performance. Segment adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income of Huntsman Corporation or Huntsman International,
as appropriate, before interest, income tax, depreciation and amortization, net income attributable to noncontrolling interests and
certain Corporate and other items, as well as eliminating the following adjustments: (a) business acquisition and integration
expenses and purchase accounting inventory adjustments; (b) merger costs; (c) fair value adjustments to Venator investment
and related loss on disposal; (d) loss on early extinguishment of debt; (e) certain legal and other settlements and related
expenses; (f) gain (loss) on sale of businesses/assets; (g) income from transition services arrangements related to the
sale of our Chemical Intermediates Businesses to Indorama; (h) certain nonrecurring information technology project implementation
costs; (i) amortization of pension and postretirement actuarial losses; (j) plant incident remediation costs; (k) restructuring,
impairment, plant closing and transition (costs) credits; and (l) income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of tax.
(2)
Corporate and
other costs, net includes unallocated corporate overhead, unallocated foreign exchange gains and losses, LIFO inventory valuation
reserve adjustments, nonoperating income and expense and gains and losses on the disposition of corporate assets.
4
We also intend to revise our presentation of the
total of our reportable segments’ adjusted EBITDA in our Segment Analysis within Management’s Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations to conform to the changes made in Footnote 27, Operating Segment Information, and will
provide this revised presentation reflected below in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and future Form 10-Q
filings as well as in our future earnings releases furnished as exhibits to our future Form 8-K filings.
Percent
Change
Year ended
December 31,
Favorable
(Dollars in millions)
2020
2019
(Unfavorable)
Huntsman Corporation
Adjusted
EBITDA(1)
Polyurethanes
$ 472
$ 548
(14 )%
Performance Products
164
168
(2 )%
Advanced Materials
130
201
(35 )%
Textile Effects
42
84
(50 )%
Total reportable segments’ adjusted
EBITDA
808
1,001
(19 )%
Corporate and other
(161 )
(155 )
(4 )%
Total adjusted EBITDA
$ 647
$ 846
(24 )%
Huntsman International
Adjusted
EBITDA(1)
Polyurethanes
$ 472
$ 548
(14 )%
Performance Products
164
168
(2 )%
Advanced Materials
130
201
(35 )%
Textile Effects
42
84
(50 )%
Total reportable segments’ adjusted
EBITDA
808
1,001
(19 )%
Corporate and other
(155 )
(150 )
(3 )%
Total adjusted EBITDA
$ 653
$ 851
(23 )%
NM—Not meaningfu