On this page of StockholderLetter.com we present the latest annual shareholder letter from LyondellBasell Industries N.V. — ticker symbol LYB. Reading current and past LYB letters to shareholders can bring important insights into the investment thesis.

 •  4/11/2025 Letter Continued (Full PDF)
 •  4/7/2023 LYB Stockholder Letter
 •  4/8/2024 LYB Stockholder Letter
 •  More "Chemicals" Category Stockholder Letters
 •  LYB Benford's Law Stock Score = 100

LYB Shareholder/Stockholder Letter Transcript:

Sharpening
our focus
2025 Annual General Meeting Proxy Statement
2024 Annual Report

   At LYB, we continue
to sharpen our focus
to achieve lasting
value creation.   
Peter Vanacker
Chief Executive Officer
Dear shareholders,
2024 was a year of resilience and transformation for LYB.
Last year, we sharpened our focus on creating sustainable value,
successfully navigating a global down cycle amid prolonged
volatile market conditions by executing our strategy. Our
portfolio transformation continued in earnest, with key initiatives
underway to strengthen and upgrade our core businesses. In
addition, we continued building our Circular and Low Carbon
Solutions (CLCS) business, while maintaining our culture of
excellent customer service and best-in-class safety performance.
Thanks to our strong cash generation and disciplined capital
allocation strategy, we have a robust, investment-grade balance
sheet. 2024 was our 14th consecutive year of dividend growth, and
we returned approximately $1.9 billion to shareholders through
dividends and share repurchases, underscoring our commitment
to returning value to shareholders. Despite the difficult business
environment, we fully funded all capital expenditures and
shareholder returns with cash from operations.
I am pleased to share with you select highlights from our
achievements in 2024. Our efforts prime LYB for long-term
success, as we continue to evolve our portfolio in line with
our strategic direction.
Growing and upgrading the core
The first pillar of our long-term strategy is to grow and upgrade
our core by investing in businesses where LYB holds a competitive
advantage. This approach includes prioritizing growth around our
advanced technologies and strengthening our presence in select
geographies. In 2024, we focused on optimizing our portfolio,
reallocating capital to higher-value opportunities and aligning
our assets with our core. These actions enable us to pivot to high
value opportunities and respond more effectively to changing
market dynamics.
In May 2024, we completed the sale of our ethylene oxide and
derivatives business in Texas, which allowed us to redirect working
ii
capital to support reinvestment in the core. We also launched
a strategic review to evaluate some of our European olefins,
polyolefins, intermediates and derivatives assets in the context
of our long-term strategy.
We expanded our core polypropylene business by acquiring
a 35 percent stake in National Petrochemical Industrial Company
(NATPET), a propylene and polypropylene joint venture based
in Saudi Arabia. NATPET leverages advanced LYB process
technology and our global market positions, giving LYB access
to advantaged feedstocks, high-growth regions and additional
product marketing volumes.
We also continued to invest in our propylene oxide/tertiary butyl
alcohol (PO/TBA) technology and business. In 2023, we brought
our newest PO/TBA unit in Texas online and, on average, operated
the asset in 2024 above our target operating rates. We believe our
proprietary PO/TBA technology and assets will continue to position
LYB to capture opportunities from demand growth.
In the first quarter of 2025, we exited the refining business. While
winding down the business, we remained focused on safe and
reliable operations, achieving strong safety results.
We continue to assess future options for the site to support
our circularity and low carbon initiatives. Alternatives under
consideration include building a second, commercial-scale
chemical recycling unit with our proprietary MoReTec technology.
Other options range from exploring the production of renewable
and bio-based feedstocks, to supporting our growth in low-carbon
feedstocks and products. As detailed below, we view the
development and scalability of these options as central to our
value-focused approach to capture lasting and sustainable growth.
Building a profitable CLCS business
The second pillar of our strategy is to build a profitable CLCS
business by creating solutions to address demand for circular
and low carbon products.

Our CLCS business is targeting one billion
dollars of incremental EBITDA1 from 2
million metric tons of annual volumes2
by 2030. Despite the challenges in the
chemical industry over the past year, we
are making margin and volume progress
toward our 2030 plan. Last year, LYB
produced and marketed more than
200,000 metric tons of recycled and
renewable-based polymers2. Since 2019,
volumes of our recycled and renewablebased polymers have rapidly grown at a
compound annual growth rate (CAGR)
of 57 percent.
We continue to build this business through
a disciplined, capital-efficient strategy that
leverages our existing infrastructure and
competitive advantages. These advantages
include our leading technologies and
valuable positions in growing markets
with a global network of deep customer
relationships. We are investing across the
value chain to access advantaged circular
and renewable feedstocks, process plastic
waste, develop chemical recycling
technologies, and produce and market
recycled and renewable-based polymers.
Critical to our ambitions in the CLCS space
is our proprietary MoReTec technology,
a catalytic, chemical recycling process,
which converts mixed plastic waste into
raw materials to produce new polymers.
This technology enhances our circular
solutions portfolio and positions LYB for
durable growth in a lower-carbon economy.
In September 2024, we began construction
of our first, commercial-scale MoReTec
plant at our Wesseling, Germany site.
Expected to start up in 2026, the unit is
designed to recycle the amount of post-use
plastics generated by 1.2 million German
residents every year, and demonstrate the
scalability of this technology.
LYB also took other steps to build out
our CLCS business in 2024, including:
    Forming differential collaborations
with global brand-owners and
automakers;
    Acquiring mechanical recycling assets
in Southern California;
    Making the final investment decision for
the expansion of our Genox joint venture
in China, which will more than double its
mechanical recycling capacity;
    Starting up plastic waste sorting and
recycling operations at our Source One
Plastics joint venture   s facility in
Germany; and
    Acquiring solvent-based recycling
assets in Germany for processing
hard-to-recycle, flexible plastic
waste materials.
In parallel to these efforts, we furthered
our commitment to being a leader in
value creation from low carbon products,
delivering solutions that advance our
customers    climate ambitions and reduce
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from
our global operations and value chain
compared to fossil-based alternatives.
In 2024, we secured power purchase
agreements (PPAs) with an aggregate
generation capacity that will enable us
to meet our goal of procuring at least 50
percent of our electricity from renewable
sources by 2030 3. Our approach to PPAs
balances fixed and floating price
structures to mitigate risks associated
with energy price volatility and supply
uncertainties. Additionally, this helps us
improve operational resiliency and
supports our value-creating sustainability
ambitions tied to low carbon products
and GHG-emission reduction.
Stepping up performance and culture
The third pillar of our strategy is to
step up our performance and culture.
Integral to this pillar are our LYB workforce
competencies, which provide a framework
for how we behave day to day and allow
LYB to achieve our strategic goals and
advance our culture. Across the enterprise,
we see our culture transforming through
initiatives like the Value Enhancement
Program (VEP) and our focus on
embedding equity and promoting
inclusion.
VEP is a company-wide program that
empowers employees to harness their
expertise to identify opportunities for
continuous value creation and implement
solutions from the bottom up. These
initiatives make LYB more nimble and
competitive by fostering an inclusive
culture of lasting improvement and
collaboration. In 2024, VEP delivered a
year-end run rate of more than $800
million of recurring, annual EBITDA
improvement 1.
Other attributes of our culture, including
our best-in-class safety practices,
customer focus and ability to innovate, are
essential strengths and will remain a top
priority for us. We are also committed to
championing our global workforce,
1. See Appendix A of the 2025 Proxy Statement for information about our non-GAAP financial measures and discussion
of the company   s use of these measures, including CLCS incremental EBITDA and recurring annual EBITDA.
2. Production and marketing includes: (i) joint venture production marketed by LYB plus our pro rata share of the remaining
production produced and marketed by the joint venture, and (ii) production via third-party tolling arrangements.
3. Based on 2020 procured levels.
including attracting, retaining and
developing our talent. In fact, 74 percent
of our senior-leader openings were filled
with internal talent in 2024, and our
employee turnover rate decreased by
about 3 percentage points since 2022.
In concert with our Board of Directors,
our management takes an intentional
approach to succession planning,
including for members of our executive
committee. In the last quarter of 2024, we
announced that Agustin Izquierdo would
succeed Michael McMurray as our Chief
Financial Officer, effective March 2025.
Agustin previously served as our Senior
Vice President, Olefins & Polyolefins
Americas & Refining, and I am confident
he will provide strong leadership to our
finance organization.
Looking ahead
Our 2024 achievements demonstrate
our continuing commitment to durable,
sustainable value creation and reflect
the hard work of our global team. In
recognition of our progress across the
company   s three strategic pillars, LYB
received top marks from industry
benchmarks in 2024. We ranked first
among plastics producers in Bloomberg
NEF   s 2024 circular economy company
rankings and retained our leading AA ESG
rating by MSCI. These achievements
further distinguish LYB as an industry
leader in aligning sustainability with
shareholder value.
Looking ahead, the Board of Directors
and I are confident LYB is well positioned
to deliver on our enterprise objectives and
reward shareholders with generous returns.
During 2025, we expect to unlock
additional value by continuing to execute
our strategy and strengthening our core
businesses. We anticipate incremental
growth of the CLCS business, additional
profitability from VEP, and transformation of
our Advanced Polymer Solutions business.
At LYB, we continue to sharpen our focus
to achieve lasting value creation, and I look
forward to updating you on our strategy
and performance as the new year unfolds.
Peter Vanacker
iii

2024
highlights1
$1.4 B
Net Income
$2.1 B
Focused on
shareholder returns
Diluted EPS
returned to
shareholders
Dividend
USD per share
Approx. 5.8% CAGR
Net Income
excluding
identified items
$4.15
$1.9 B
Our capital allocation strategy prioritizes the
return of capital through a strong and sustainable
dividend while investing in reliable operations
and disciplined growth supported by an
investment-grade balance sheet.
$4.20
$4.44
$4.70
$5.20
$4.94
$5.27
$6.40
Diluted EPS
excluding
identified items
$3.5 B
EBITDA
$4.3 B
EBITDA
excluding
identified items
$3.8 B
Cash from
operating
activities
$1.9 B
Dividends and
share repurchases
1. Identified items include adjustments for lower of
cost or market (LCM), gain on sale of business, asset
write-downs in excess of $10 million in aggregate
for the period and refinery exit costs.
2. Year-end run-rate is estimated based on 2017-2019
mid-cycle margins and modest inflation relative to
a 2021 baseline.
See Appendix A of the 2025 Proxy Statement for
information about our non-GAAP financial measures
and discussion of the Company   s use of these measures
including EBITDA and EBITDA, diluted earnings per share,
and net income excluding identified items.
iv
2020
2021
Regular dividend
2022
2023
2024
Special dividend
Value Enhancement Program
Targeting at least $1 B in recurring annual EBITDA2 by year end 2025 through an
evergreen culture shift empowering employees to pursue value creation via select,
bottom-up iniatives.
$800+
MM
year-end recurring
annual EBITDA2

Circular and low carbon
solutions growth
Strong volume growth in 2024 despite challenging environment
LYB recycled and renewable-based polymers1
Acquired
(thousand metric tons)
mechanical
recycling assets in
California
+57%
CAGR
Acquired solventbased recycling
technologies and
assets for low density
polyethylene in
Germany
2019
2021
123
203
2023
2024
1. Production and marketing includes: (i) joint venture production marketed by LYB plus
our pro rata share of the remaining production produced and marketed by the joint
venture, and (ii) production via third-party tolling arrangements.
Pursuing sustainable
growth with our
MoReTec technology
In 2024, we began construction of our first, commercial-
50%
lower carbon
footprint2
80%+
yield3
scale catalytic chemical recycling unit in Europe.
Located at our Wesseling site in Germany, MoReTec-1
is integral to our Cologne-area CLCS hub, together with
upstream investments in waste sorting and our existing
olefins and polyolefins assets. MoReTec   1, a first-of-itskind, commercial-scale chemical recycling plant, will
use our proprietary MoReTec technology to convert
post-consumer plastic waste into circular feedstock for
the production of new polymers. The circular feedstock
is a replacement for fossil-based feedstock.
2. Feedstocks produced via the MoReTec process (pyrolysis oil and gas) displace fossil-based
feedstocks in the olefins cracking process; the stated carbon footprint reduction is based on a
comparison of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results for (i) pyrolysis oil and gas produced by the
MoReTec technology, and (ii) fossil-based naphtha feedstock. LCA for pyrolysis oil and gas based
on MoReTec pilot plant data. LCA for fossil-based naphtha includes carbon emissions associated
with the production of fossil-based naphtha feedstock, plus incineration of the equivalent amount
of mixed plastic waste required to produce pyrolysis oil and gas via the MoReTec process.
50 kt
annual capacity
3. Yield depending on the quality of the waste plastic feedstock. We define yield as the percentage by
weight of the waste plastic (with >85% polyolefin feed) fed to the process that is converted into
liquid and gaseous products (pyrolysis oil and pyrolysis gas) that can be used to produce new
polyolefins.
v



 4/11/2025 Letter Continued (Full PDF)