Ecovyst (ECVT) 10-K2020 FY Annual report

PQ Group Holdings Inc. (“PQ Group Holdings” or the “Company”) was incorporated in Delaware on August 7, 2015. PQ Holdings Inc. (“PQ Holdings”), a manufacturer of specialty catalysts, chemicals and services, was incorporated in Delaware on June 22, 2007. Founded in 1831, our business has a nearly 200-year history of innovation, enabling environmental improvements in areas such as fuel efficiency and emissions, and healthier personal care products, while improving the sustainability of our planet. On May 4, 2016, we consummated a series of transactions (the “Business Combination”) to reorganize and combine the businesses of PQ Holdings and Eco Services Operations LLC under a new holdings company, PQ Group Holdings. On October 3, 2017, PQ Group Holdings completed its initial public offering (“IPO”). Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock ticker “PQG”. Unless the context otherwise indicates, the terms “PQ Group Holdings Inc.,” “we,” “us,” “our,” or the “Company” mean PQ Group Holdings Inc. and our subsidiaries.

On December 14, 2020, PQ Group Holdings completed the sale of its Performance Materials business to Potters Buyer, LLC (the “Purchaser”), an affiliate of The Jordan Company, L.P., for a purchase price of $650 million, which was subject to certain adjustments for indebtedness, working capital, and cash at the closing of the transaction. The results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows for the Performance Materials businesses are presented herein as discontinued operations. Except where noted, any tables, percentages or metrics included within this filing exclude the results of our former Performance Materials business. Refer to Note 4 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

On March 1, 2021, PQ Group Holdings announced the entry into a definitive agreement to sell its Performance Chemicals business to a partnership established by Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. and Koch Mineral & Trading LLC for a purchase price of $1.1 billion, which is subject to certain adjustments including for indebtedness, cash, working capital and transaction expenses. The transaction is expected to be completed in 2021.

We believe we are a leader in each of our business segments, holding what we estimate to be a number one or number two supply share position for products that generated more than 90% of our 2020 sales. We believe that our global footprint and efficient network of strategically located manufacturing facilities provide us with a strong competitive advantage in serving our customers both regionally as well as globally.

We believe, with our long history of established partnerships with our customers and our reputation for providing reliable, quality of products and solutions, our products deliver significant value to our customers, as demonstrated by our profit margins. Our products typically constitute a small portion of our customers’ overall end-product costs yet are critical to product performance.

We have a near 200-year track record of innovation that is reflected in our technical and production expertise in silicates, silica, zeolites and catalyst technologies.

We are highly diversified by business, geography and end use. In 2020 the majority of our sales were for applications that have historically had relatively predictable, consistent demand patterns driven by consumption or frequent replacement cycles.

As a result of our competitive strengths, we have generally maintained stable margins through changing macro economic cycles.

We intend to capitalize on our strong business foundation, market-based approach, and experienced management team to grow sales profitably, maintain high margins, deploy capital efficiently and generate free cash flow in order to create shareholder value. We believe that our long history of operational excellence and proven reliability, technology leadership, strong customer relationships, innovation track record and consistent business execution developed from our almost two centuries of combined industry experience positions us well to execute our business strategy.

Our industry is characterized by constant development of new products and the need to support customers with new product innovation and technical services to meet their needs, coupled with consistent product quality and a reliable source of supply in a safe and environmentally sustainable manner. Products sold to our customers can be high value-add even when they represent a small portion of the overall end product costs, and success can be achieved by helping customers improve their product performance, value, and quality. As a result, operating margins in this sector have historically been high and generally stable through economic cycles. In addition, many products in the specialty chemicals industry benefit from economics that favor incumbent producers because the capital cost to expand existing capacity is typically significantly less than the capital cost necessary to build a new plant. The combination of attractive operating margins and generally predictable maintenance capital expenditure requirements can produce attractive cash flows.

We focus on serving end use applications where we believe significant future growth potential exists. Our products address our customers’ needs, which are typically driven either by regulatory requirements or consumer preferences, on a global basis. In 2020, a majority of our sales were to end uses such as fuels and emission controls, consumer products and industrial applications that generally do not exhibit as much cyclicality as other applications. We believe that our products incorporate innovative environmental and safety solutions to address evolving customer demands, examples of which include the following:

Increased use of plastics as a substitute for heavier and less versatile materials, such as glass and metal, is driving increased global demand for polyethylene capacity expansions and production. Further, we are seeing expansions shift towards silica-based technology, which we believe will drive growth for our Silica Catalysts product group within our Catalysts segment.

Light- and heavy-duty diesel engines are subject to a broad set of regulatory requirements and are subject to increasingly strict standards. We believe these trends present global opportunities for the Zeolyst Joint Venture to support our customers in meeting these standards through our sales of emission control catalysts. While the US Environmental Protection Agency and European Union have led other nations in terms of standards that limit the amount of nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and other emissions for diesel engines, other emerging regions are implementing similar standards, specifically China, with the China VI (equivalent to Euro VI) emission standard enacted in 2020.

Given stringent fuel efficiency standards that are driving the design of new engines and the resulting higher-octane gasoline requirements that can be achieved through alkylate blending, we believe that our Refining Services segment is well positioned to benefit from any related growth in demand for alkylates.

We also believe we have opportunities to displace other less environmentally friendly materials for industrial and consumer good applications through our business segments. Our Refining Services segment is the largest North American recycler and one of the largest consumers of refinery by-products of sulfur, enabling them to be converted to other applications. In our Catalysts segment, we are helping our customers meet evolving regulatory requirements for the reduction of sulfur from diesel fuel and reduction of NOx emissions from diesel engines through our custom zeolites. Similarly, our specialty zeolites and silica supported catalysts are enabling our customers to improve fuel economy and utilize renewable resources through development of improved lubricants, lightweight polymers and renewable transportation fuel. Our Performance Chemicals products are manufactured from commonly found materials such as industrial sand and soda ash, which are more environmentally friendly than carbon-based products.

We believe that we maintain a leading supply position for certain products sold within each of our segments, holding what we estimate to be the number one or two supply share position in 2020 for products that generated more than 90% of our sales. We believe that our global footprint and efficient network of strategically located manufacturing facilities provides us with a strong competitive advantage in serving our customers both globally and regionally, and that it would be costly for our competitors to replicate our network.

In our Catalysts segment, we primarily compete on a global basis. We are a leading supplier of refinery hydrocracking catalyst finished and support catalysts used to remove sulfur, and emission control catalysts used in the heavy- and light-duty diesel industries to reduce nitrogen oxides emissions. We are also a global supplier of silica catalysts and supports for polyethylene manufacturers and the exclusive supplier of methyl methacrylate (“MMA”) catalysts used in the patented Alpha process practiced by a global MMA leader.

In our Refining Services segment, we hold an estimated number one supply share position in the United States in sulfuric acid regeneration based on 2020 sales volume of greater than 50%.

A key competitive advantage is derived from our depth of expertise in silicates, silica, zeolites and catalysts technologies. Further, we have the ability to tailor and scale specialty grades to meet changing demands and technical support for large scale commercialization. Many of our products require close customer collaboration to address constantly evolving customer application challenges. Given the long lead-time required for product development and commercialization, which can be up to ten years, we work closely and build long-term relationships with our customers. In many cases, our relationships have spanned decades given our ability to meet customized specifications and performance characteristics while also maintaining strict quality standards.

These long-term relationships have allowed us to innovate together with our customers to meet evolving demands. For example, we have developed zeolite-based catalysts that are an effective and efficient method to reduce pollutants from heavy- and light-duty diesel engines and enable our customers to meet increasingly stringent vehicle emission standards worldwide. In personal care applications, we have collaborated with leading consumer products companies over a number of years to develop a family of gentle silica-based dentifrice abrasives that produce more effective cleaning toothpastes. In addition, our proprietary silica catalyst has enabled development of a high strength high-density polyethylene (“HDPE”) resin that is used for making lightweight plastic gasoline tanks for automobiles.

We collaborate with leading multinational companies that often seek global solutions. Our customers include large industrial companies such as ExxonMobile, BASF, and Unilever, and global catalyst producers such as Albemarle and W.R. Grace. We also supply catalysts to leading chemical and petrochemical producers such as BASF, Dow Chemical, Lucite, LyondellBasell, and Shell. We supply personal care ingredients and additives to leading consumer products companies such as Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive. We have long-term relationships with our top ten customers, based on 2020 sales, that average more than 50 years. In addition, our customer base is diversified, with our top ten customers in 2020 representing approximately 30% of our sales for the year ended December 31, 2020 and no customer representing more than 5% of our sales during this period.

We have been able to mitigate the impact of raw material or energy price volatility using a variety of mechanisms, including hedging and raw material cost pass-through clauses in our sales contracts and other adjustment provisions. For the year ended December 31, 2020, approximately 30% of our Performance Chemicals sales (mostly comprised of sodium silicate sales) were derived from contracts that included raw material pass-through clauses. Most of our Refining Services contracts feature minimum volume protection and/or quarterly price adjustments for items such as commodity inputs, labor, the Chemical Engineering Plant Cost Index and natural gas. In 2020, approximately 80% of our Refining Services segment sales were sold under contracts that included some form of raw material pass-through clause. These price adjustments generally reflect our Refining Services actual cost structure in producing sulfuric acid, and tend to provide us with some protection against volatility in labor, fixed costs and raw material pricing. Freight expenses are generally passed through directly to customers.

Our products are predominantly inorganic and carbon-free, and are produced from readily available raw materials such as industrial sand and soda ash, which prices have historically been less volatile than oil. We also use natural gas in our furnaces where our North American facilities have benefited from the plentiful supplies of shale gas. In addition, we have long-term supply contracts with many of our key raw materials suppliers across all our business segments.

We partner with many of our customers under long-term contract agreements, mutually exclusive product supply arrangements and/or specified products for certain license production processes. In our Refining Services segment, approximately 50% of our production capacity serves customers with staggered five to ten year “take or pay” contracts with potential for value pricing resets and cost pass-through for our regeneration services product line that enhances sales and margin predictability and stability. Excluding contracts with automatic evergreen provisions, approximately 40% of our sulfuric acid volume for the year ended December 31, 2020 was under contracts expiring at the end of 2021 or beyond.

In our Catalysts segment, we are either the sole or dual supplier to key global customers under various term agreements up to 10 years for each of polyolefin catalysts and silica catalysts supports. Further, we are an exclusive multi-year supplier of MMA catalyst to a leading global producer. In our zeolite catalysts product group, we operate with a mix of evergreen and various term contracts depending on the product customization with value pricing ranging from 1 to 3 years to supply catalysts and zeolite powders for the refining, petrochemical and chemical industries and nitrogen oxides control catalysts for diesel transportation industries. These terms, in line with industry standards, provide us with flexibility in satisfying customers. Our Performance Chemicals segment operates under key customer supply contracts with material cost pass-through ranging from 1 to 5 years, largely depending on terms for customer demand given regional and/or product solution needs.

Our manufacturing platform is based on furnace technology and proprietary knowledge developed from almost two centuries of combined experience applying silicates chemistry production and the development of applications across a broadening set of end uses. All of our segments produce materials through our furnace process, other than our silica catalysts and zeolite catalysts product groups, which are derivatives of our Performance Chemicals segment. We believe we have a differentiated capability around furnace operations that enables us to operate more efficiently than most of our competitors.

We have demonstrated the ability to maintain stable margins while continuing to grow in different macroeconomic environments given secular trends supporting many of our business segments. We believe that the stability of our margins and cash flows is also aided by long term sales contracts and material cost pass-through. Our ability to enter into favorable contracts and terms with customers is driven by our long history of collaborative relationships and track record of providing value-added products and services. We believe that our value-added products and services have proven to be critical to the performance of our customers’ products, and typically represent only a small portion of our customers’ overall end-product costs.

Our cash flow generation has been driven, in part, by our disciplined capital investment as well as tax attributes that provide us with cash flow benefits. As of December 31, 2020, we had $263.7 million of tax deductible intangibles and goodwill with respect to Eco Services Operations LLC of which provides us with cash tax savings as we generate taxable income.

The table below summarizes certain information regarding our three reporting segments for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Our Refining Services segment is a leading provider of sulfuric acid recycling (Regeneration Services) and end-to-end logistics to North American refineries for the production of alkylate, a high value gasoline blending component required for meeting gasoline specifications and producing premium grade fuel. We are also a leading North American producer of on-purpose virgin sulfuric acid for water treatment, mining, and industrial applications. By providing regeneration services, as well as purchasing by-product sulfur from customers as a source of energy and for use in manufacturing virgin sulfuric acid, we believe that we provide our refining customers with a complete solution for their sulfuric acid needs.

Trends for increased alkylate production are being driven by: rising demand for premium gasoline used in smaller, more efficient turbocharged engines, which requires higher octane rated gasoline with an alkylate content of approximately 35%-45%, as compared to the 12% alkylate content in regular gasoline; the need for more alkylate to meet the minimum octane ratings in regular gasoline following the continued significant share growth of shale oil refining in the U.S.; the full implementation of Tier 3 gasoline sulfur standards in the United States was enacted for 2020, which requires the blending of additional low sulfur high octane gasoline components such as alkylate; and rising gasoline exports, which generally contain no ethanol and will generally require more alkylate to replace the ethanol in order to meet the minimum octane requirements for the destination countries.

Our Refining Services segment is highly regionalized due to shipping costs and our customer integration requirements. Our network of facilities is concentrated in the Gulf Coast and the state of California, where approximately 68% of the United States refining capacity is located. The strategic locations of our plants in these key refining regions contribute to our highly efficient supply chain networks with our customers, including in some cases captive pipelines connecting us to our refinery customers. Alternatively, product can be shipped by barge, rail and truck.

Our primary product groups include Regeneration Services and Virgin Sulfuric Acid.

Regeneration Services serves a critical need for refining customers. Sulfuric acid serves as a catalyst in the alkylation process. The resulting spent sulfuric acid needs to be regenerated, which is no longer a core competency of most refiners. Since storage space for fresh and spent acid is typically limited, and the cost to refineries of interruption to their alkylation units would be significant, refineries seek to have a continuous and reliable source of supply for sulfuric acid.

Our end-to-end regeneration service offering takes the spent acid from the refinery, through our network of plants and transportation systems, and recycles the acid into a high strength fresh acid for reuse in the alkylation process. Because of the number and strategic locations of our plants, and the breadth of our transportation logistics, we believe we bring the highest reliability and flexibility to our refining customers, allowing them to focus on their core competency by optimizing their alkylation capacity.

Virgin sulfuric acid is created either through the burning of sulfur in furnaces, or as a by-product of other industrial processes, primarily the smelting of copper and other base metals. We produce a range of high quality virgin sulfuric acid products by burning sulfur in our plants for supply into a diverse set of end uses. Sulfur-burned acid is generally considered to be of higher purity and quality than smelter-produced acid and, as a result, smelter-produced acid is not suitable for some industrial users including several of our larger customers who require higher quality and differentiated sulfuric acid products, such as super-saturated sulfuric acid (oleum) and other high purity specialty acids. Virgin sulfuric acid is produced at all of our facilities utilizing the same production equipment as our regeneration services.

Given our strategic presence on the Gulf Coast and in California, and our relationships with leading refineries, we estimate that our regenerated sulfuric acid supply share is substantially larger than our closest competitor. We compete in the North American refining services industry with competitors such as Chemtrade and Veolia. We compete on the basis of price, reliability, and responsiveness to changes in customer demand, which is a function of scale, proximity to customer locations and operational expertise. We believe that we benefit from industry economics that favor incumbent producers because the capital cost and regulatory challenges to expand existing capacity are typically significantly less than to build a new plant. In addition, existing robust supply chains, including captive pipeline connections and other transportation logistics add to the competitive advantages available to incumbent producers. As a result, we believe that our integrated and strategically located network of facilities and end-to-end logistics assets in the United States provide us with a significant competitive advantage and would be costly for our competitors to replicate.

We produce regenerated sulfuric acid and virgin sulfuric acid through our furnace operations. Regenerated sulfuric acid is produced by thermally decomposing the spent acid in our furnace into a clean gas stream which is converted into sulfuric acid. Virgin sulfuric acid is produced by burning sulfur and certain sulfur-rich components at high temperatures within a furnace. The chart below summarizes the manufacturing platform for our Refining Services segment.

We are a leading global provider of customized and innovative catalyst products and process solutions to leading producers and licensors of polyethylene, or PE, and methyl methacrylate, or MMA. Our finished silica-based catalysts and catalyst supports are necessary to produce high strength and high stiffness plastics used in packaging films, bottles, containers, and other molded applications. Global consumer demand for high strength lightweight plastics is expected to continue in the near to medium term driving increased production capacity expansions. Our zeolite-based emission control catalysts enable the removal of nitrogen oxides from diesel engine emissions as well as sulfur dioxide from fuels during the refining process. The continued expansion of stricter global regulations for reducing sulfur in all fuel pools is expected to drive the ongoing demand for our products.

Our product groups include Silica Catalysts and Zeolite Catalysts. Zeolite Catalyst products are sold through the Zeolyst Joint Venture.

Silica Catalysts supplies both the finished catalyst and catalyst supports, which are critical catalyst components for the production of HDPE, a high strength and high stiffness plastic used in bottles, containers, and molded applications and LLDPE used predominately for films. We also produce a catalyst that is used globally for the production of MMA, the monomer for acrylic engineering resins, a clear scratch-resistant plastic used in sheet or molded form to replace glass and as a durable surface coating. Because these catalysts are highly technical and customized for our customers to produce resins with specific properties, they are often covered under long-term supply agreements and, in some cases, we are a customer’s sole source supplier. In addition, we produce silica anti-blocking products that are used to prevent opposite faces of polyolefin and polyester films from adhering to one another during manufacturing and in use.

The Zeolyst Joint Venture, (formed in 1988 specifically as Zeolyst International and Zeolyst C.V., our 50% owned joint venture with Shell Catalysts & Technologies, an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell plc. or “Shell”), supplies critical high technology specialty zeolite and zeolite-based catalysts to customers in three end uses: refining (primarily hydrocracking catalyst and dewaxing), petrochemicals, and emission control systems for both on-road and non-road diesel engines. We also supply custom zeolites to catalyst companies who compete in similar industries. The Zeolyst Joint Venture leverages each partner’s technology and production expertise, including Shell’s expertise in hydrocracking catalyst to maximize liquid product yields, especially distillate while at the same time removing sulfur, and PQ’s expertise in zeolite technology. We also believe the Zeolyst Joint Venture is a first mover in zeolite fuels and emissions control technology and we expect continued expansion as environmental emissions standards increase globally.

To meet sulfur emission control standards, hydrocracking catalyst is the most economic method for refiners while maintaining yields for one of the most profitable product streams. The Zeolyst Joint Venture is the sole supplier of hydrocracking catalyst to Shell, but a majority of sales are to third-party refineries. We also provide precursor supports to many of the hydrocracking catalyst suppliers, positioning us as a leading supplier in the global hydrocracking catalyst supply chain.

To meet nitrogen oxides (NOx) emission control regulations that are expanding globally, many of our zeolite powders are used in an advanced emission control technology called selective catalytic reduction, largely focused on heavy duty diesel (HDD) transportation. This process uses ammonia to react with engine exhaust gases via our catalysts in order to convert NOx, a pollutant, into nitrogen and water. We believe that our zeolite catalysts can enable selective catalytic reduction technology to reduce the amount of nitrogen oxides in such exhaust gases by more than 90% and is one of the most cost-effective methods to reduce diesel engine emissions.

Our Silicia Catalysts product group primarily competes with W.R. Grace. The Zeolyst Joint Venture competes with global catalyst producers such as W.R Grace, BASF, UOP, Axens, and Haldor Topsoe, while at the same time providing many of them customized zeolite solutions for their product offerings. Some direct competition with niche companies exists, including competitors such as Tosoh and Clariant. We typically compete on the basis of performance, product consistency, reliability, and responsiveness to changes in customer demand.

We manufacture our catalyst products using sodium silicate liquids purchased directly from our Performance Chemicals segment or silica sol liquids made by others from Performance Chemicals sodium silicate to make specialty zeolite and silica products. These zeolites and silicas are either used directly to produce catalysts or are sold as precursors to other catalyst manufacturers.

Our Performance Chemicals segment is a leading global producer of sodium silicates, and downstream specialty silicas as well as other silicate derivative products. These products are used in a wide variety of industrial and consumer applications such as matting agents in surface coatings, clarifying agents for edible oils and beverages, precursors for green tires, additives for dental cleaning and personal care products, and as feedstock for our additives and catalyst platforms. Given our products are derived from quartz sand, which makes them natural and inert materials, we believe they have the environmental and safety profile to address evolving customer demands to replace certain other chemicals. Silicates and silicate derivatives are recognized on the Safer Chemicals Ingredients List of the EPA’s Safer Choice program, which we believe positively impacts our ability to compete in consumer product applications.

Given the breadth of our global infrastructure in terms of scale operations, geographic diversity and production know-how, we are a leading global supplier to key multi-national industrial and consumer product companies. While we are global, our network is highly regionalized in silicate products and strategically located to support customers in a cost effective manner because of the expense of shipping sodium silicates extended distances due to their water content. We believe that we are the only global silicates producer who can supply all of the major regions, excluding China, and we estimate that we hold at least two times the sodium silicates supply share as our nearest competitor based on 2020 sales volume.

Our product groups include Sodium Silicates, Specialty Silicas and Other Silicate Derivatives.

Sodium Silicates have functional attributes that are used as additives and ingredients to enhance product performance as binders, detergent-builders, pH buffers, adhesives or as chemical feedstock and are in extensive diverse customer applications for construction, cleaning, water treatment, pulp & paper, foundry & refractory, green tires, electronics and refining catalysts.

Specialty Silicas are used as ingredients in consumer products such as personal care products, food, edible oils and beer where customers are seeking more environmentally friendly products without loss of effectiveness or performance. In industrial, uses include gloss control and corrosion control in coil, wood, general industrial leather, and other high-performance surface coating applications.

Other Silicate Derivatives include metasilicates, spray dried silicates, and magnesium silicates and potassium silicates which supply diverse uses in cleaning, specialty fertilizer, oil & gas, mining, paints, food, and cosmetics. We also produce zeolites, by reaction with aluminum trihydrate, which are used as builders in detergents and in other applications as stabilizers in the production of polyvinylchloride (PVC) applications.

In our Performance Chemicals segment, we primarily compete with other global producers such as OxyChem, Grace and Evonik. We believe that we have a leading industry position and technical expertise that provides us with a competitive advantage over competitors who manufacture only in particular end uses. Further, we believe that it would be costly and difficult for a new entrant or existing competitor to replicate our breadth or economies of scale in the production of sodium silicate.

We believe that our network of strategically located manufacturing facilities, with operations in North America, Europe, South America and Africa, allows us to serve our customers at a lower cost than our competitors and with quicker delivery times for our products. In the industry, we compete primarily on the basis of performance, product consistency, quality, reliability, and ability to innovate in response to customer demands.

Performance Chemicals’ products are produced through an integrated supply chain beginning with regional and large scale upstream production of sodium silicates and downstream derivatives. Sodium silicates are produced regionally because of the expense of shipping sodium silicates extended distances due to their water content. Our sodium silicates are produced by fusing readily available industrial sand and soda ash in our proprietary furnace operations. We dissolve the molten silicate from the furnace into water and sell these products in liquid form. Downstream derivatives are produced through a variety of chemical operations that create aqueous, solid, and gel forms for our products.

For the year ended December 31, 2020, approximately 50% of our North American silicate sales, which represented a significant portion of our Performance Chemicals segment sales, were derived from contracts that included raw material cost pass-through clauses. Under these contracts, there is usually a time lag of between three and nine months for cost changes to pass-through, depending on the magnitude of the change, industry dynamics and the terms of the particular contract.

The chart below summarizes the manufacturing platform for our Performance Chemicals segment.

We estimate that our raw material costs represent approximately 40% of total cost of goods sold in the year ended December 31, 2020. Our products are predominantly inorganic and carbon-free, and are produced from readily available raw materials such as industrial sand and soda ash, which prices have historically been less volatile than oil. We also use natural gas in our furnaces, with our North American facilities benefiting from the plentiful supplies of shale gas. In addition, we have long-term supply contracts with many of our key raw materials suppliers across our segments. We have also been able to mitigate the impact of raw material or energy price volatility using a variety of mechanisms, including hedging and raw material cost pass-through clauses in our sales contracts and other adjustment provisions.

We are able to negotiate our supply agreements for our key raw materials based on our leading industry position and global scale in an effort to achieve competitive pricing. We also maintain a raw material quality audit and qualification program designed to ensure that the material we purchase satisfies stringent quality requirements. Key raw materials for our segments include:

We have entered into several long-standing joint ventures to supplement our businesses and access other geographic locations, minimize costs and accelerate growth in areas we believe have significant business potential, with the most significant of these joint ventures including the following:

We evaluate on a case-by-case basis how best to use patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and other available intellectual property protections in order to protect our products and our critical investments in research and development, manufacturing and marketing. We focus on securing and maintaining patents for certain inventions such as composition-of-matter, while maintaining other inventions such as process improvements as trade secrets, derived from our market-based business model, in an effort to maximize the value of our product portfolio and manufacturing capabilities and reinforce our competitive advantage. Our policy is to seek appropriate intellectual property protection for significant product and process developments in the major areas where the relevant products are manufactured or sold. Patents may cover products, processes, intermediate products and product uses. Patents extend for varying periods in accordance with the date of patent application filing and the legal life of patents in the various countries in which the patents are registered. The protection afforded, which may also vary from country to country, depends upon the type of subject matter covered by the patent and the scope of the claims of the patent.

In most industrial countries, patent protection may be available for new substances and formulations, as well as for unique applications and production processes. However, given the geographical scope of our business and our continued growth strategy, there are regions of the world in which we do business or may do business in the future where intellectual property protection may be limited and difficult to enforce. Moreover, we monitor our competitors’ products and, if circumstances were to dictate that we do so, we would vigorously challenge the actions of others that conflict with our patents, trademarks and other intellectual property rights. We maintain appropriate information security policies and procedures reasonably designed to ensure the safeguarding of confidential information including, where appropriate, data encryption, access controls and employee awareness training.

We own or have rights to a number of patents relating to our products and processes. As of December 31, 2020, we owned 39 patented inventions in the United States, with approximately 286 patents issued in countries around the world and approximately 69 patent applications pending worldwide covering more than 11 additional inventions. As of December 31, 2020, we also had trademark rights in approximately 379 trademark registrations worldwide, including approximately 44 U.S. trademark registrations. We also have approximately 21 pending trademark applications, which include applications in the United States and worldwide. In addition to our registered and applied-for intellectual property portfolio, we also claim ownership of certain trade secrets and proprietary know-how developed by and used in our business. Including our joint ventures, we are party to certain arrangements whereby we license in the right to use certain intellectual property rights in connection with our business.

We are focused on the safety of our employees. We continued our flagship health, safety and environmental program - PQ Perfect Days (“Perfect Days”). The Perfect Days program targets at-risk behaviors and celebrates positive health, safety and environmental performance across the organization on a daily basis. As part of that program, we have set annual Perfect Day and Total Recordable Incident Rate goals and targets that link to performance and drive accountability. We concluded 2020 with no material environmental and safety incidents or accidents and achieved our 2020 target of ACC top quartile total case incident rate performance based upon 2019 benchmark data. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced another level of health and safety performance concerns in 2020 as the entire globe entered the COVID-19 pandemic. We quickly introduced, and have maintained protocols to minimize risk of exposure and transmittal within all of our work sites so that we could continue to provide for all of our customers while keeping our employees safe and healthy.

Our executive leadership across the organization, led by our Chairman and CEO, formed our COVID Rapid Response Team (CRRT). The team has worked to maintain our health and safety standards while effectively managing COVID-19 impacts to the business and our sites. The team’s responsibilities include tracking and implementing government requirements and CDC guidelines to enable appropriate actions be taken; leading communications to our employees, customers, and entire supply chain; and sharing best practices and lessons learned from our response. Business leadership executed established business continuity plans, which included our market response with the primary goal of safeguarding the health and safety of our people and supporting the needs of our customers, while also maximizing productivity for the Company.

Further in 2020, the leadership and rapid response teams prepared guidance for all sites and functions, which included preventative measures and return-to-work procedures. Operations shifts were adjusted, up to and including temporary shutdowns as necessary, to minimize exposures and to protect all personnel. Most of the practices remain in place today and are now part of our preparation standards.

Our flagship “Success through people” program furthers our strategy by acknowledging our workforce is key to our success. We offer highly competitive salaries, benefits, developmental opportunities and work/life balance. We proactively seek to attract, incentivize and retain a talented and motivated workforce. Our global succession planning process is designed to provide sufficient talented personnel to fill key leadership, innovation and manufacturing roles well into the future and to better prepare employees for their future at the Company. In order to enable a pipeline for our leadership, we maintain a robust Emerging Leaders program to identify top talent to build leadership capabilities and provide the fundamental skills we believe every leader needs to generate passion and productivity in their team. The program also provides an important networking opportunity that creates a connected community of leaders at the Company.

We actively promote diversity within the Company and seek to have a workforce that reflects the diversity of the societies in which we operate. We strive to hire candidates from diverse backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities.

Building on a global footprint that spans across 16 countries, we benefit from our talented and dedicated employees that make up a diverse population, where more than half of our workforce of 2,274 employees are located outside the United States. As of December 31, 2020, we had 2,274 employees worldwide, of which 1,019 were employed in the United States, 343 were employed in Canada, Mexico, and Brazil, 735 were employed throughout Europe, 37 were employed in South Africa and 95 were employed in Indonesia. Our remaining employees are dispersed throughout Asia, primarily in Thailand. As of December 31, 2020, approximately 49% of our employees were represented by a union, works council or other employee representative body. We believe we have good relationships with our employees and their respective works councils, unions or other bargaining representatives. Further, at December 31, 2020, approximately 25% of our U.S.-based executives, managers and professionals were women.

This international strength, supported by our core values of integrity and fairness, fosters a rich culture founded on diverse of thought. We firmly believe that success is achieved through the intellect and commitment of our people, so we employ a long-term human capital program to attract, retain and develop talent for the future. We are proud of our highly collaborative teams that enable an inclusive workplace where employees are encouraged to bring their own experiences to promote innovation from all levels of the organization. This constructive work environment has been re-enforced with the recent implementation of a fully integrated on-line performance management process that improves the communication of aligned goals, encourages consistent feedback and furthers employee engagement. Today, there are women on the management teams of each of our businesses as well as in all our functions: R&D, Finance, HSE and Human Resources.

While the COVID-19 pandemic limited the opportunities for in-person engagement in our communities, our sites continued to support food security programs and people in need across our global network. For example, our Hammond site supported efforts to stock food pantries through their participation with the local United Way and Heels for Meals programs. The Malvern office continued its support for local families with donations to the Pennridge FISH Organization.

Our governance programs and policies can be found in the Company’s Ethics section of the sustainability webpages, which is routinely updated and includes our policies on child labor, human trafficking, anti-harassment, antibribery, and cyber security all of which are evaluated by third-parties, including Ecovadis. Our 2020 Ecovadis Assessment scored PQ’s Ethics response in the top quartile of our sector category, basic chemicals. We continue to provide annual Code of Conduct training to all our global employees and have enhanced our delivery with online learning modules.

We are subject to extensive, evolving and increasingly stringent national and local environmental laws and regulations, which address, among other things, the following:

We apply the principles of the Environmental Management standard of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 14001) at our facilities throughout the world. For chemical facilities in the United States, we also adhere to the Responsible Care RC14001 Technical Specifications of the American Chemistry Council.

We maintain policies and procedures to monitor and control health, safety, and environmental risks, and to monitor compliance with applicable state, national, and international health, safety, and environmental requirements. We have a strong health, safety, environmental organization. We have a staff of professionals who are responsible for environmental, safety, health and product regulatory compliance. We have implemented a corporate audit program for all of our facilities. However, we cannot provide assurance that we will be in full compliance at all times with all applicable environmental laws and regulations. We expect that stringent environmental regulations will continue to be imposed on us and our industry in general. Evolving chemical regulation programs throughout the world could impose testing requirements or restrictions on our chemical raw materials and products.

We also have implemented a Health, Safety and Environmental (“HSE”) organizational structure with executive committee level leadership and dedicated environmental experts. We have Regional HSE Specialists and Managers who are embedded in the field and provide HSE expertise and support to operating sites. Certain, larger sites may have dedicated environmental or safety personnel.

 

We have established a Product Safety and Product Stewardship management system that is compliant with the RC14001 technical specification and is supported by two highly skilled Product Stewardship Managers, one of which is a REACH Specialist. We conduct Product Stewardship reviews as part of new product development and routinely evaluate product safety risk for raw materials, intermediates, and products.

As a chemical company, we are subject to extensive and evolving regulations regarding the manufacturing, processing, distribution, importing, exporting, and labeling of our products and their raw materials. In the European Union, the REACH regulations came into effect in 2007, with implementation rolling out over time. Registered chemicals then can be subject to further evaluation and potential restrictions. Our high-volume chemicals have been registered under REACH; lower-volume chemicals (mainly catalysts) were registered by the applicable 2018 deadline. To date, no further testing has been required.

Since the promulgation of REACH, other countries have enacted or are in the process of implementing similar comprehensive chemical regulations. These programs include the Korea REACH law, which is requiring registration and

We remain alert for any regulatory changes which may impact our products and their end uses. In the EU, we are actively working with other industry partners to challenge the recent draft proposal concerning potential listing of silica on Annex II of the regulation on cosmetic products (substances prohibited in cosmetic products).

Our Corporate Governance Guidelines, Code of Business Conduct and the charters of the Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and Health, Safety and Environment Committee of our Board of Directors are also available on our website and are available in print to any shareholder upon request by writing to PQ Investor Relations, 300 Lindenwood Drive, Malvern, PA 19355. In accordance with SEC rules, we intend to disclose any amendment (other than any technical, administrative or other non-substantive) to the Code of Business Conduct, or any waiver of any provision thereof with respect to any of our executive officers, on our website within four business days following such amendment or waiver.

In addition to the other information contained in this Form 10-K, you should carefully consider the following risks that we believe are the material risks that we face. The risks described below could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations, and should be read together and in conjunction with the forward-looking statements and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included in Item 7 of this Form 10-K, and our consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes thereto.

We have significant operations in many countries, including manufacturing sites, research and development facilities, sales personnel and customer support operations. As of December 31, 2020, we operated 40 manufacturing facilities across five continents. For the year ended December 31, 2020, our foreign subsidiaries accounted for 40% of our sales. Our operations are affected directly and indirectly by global regulatory, economic and political conditions, including:

We sell performance chemicals, catalysts and services that are used in manufacturing processes and as components of, or ingredients in, other products and, as a result, our sales are correlated with and affected by fluctuations in the level of industrial production and manufacturing output and by fluctuations in general economic activity. Producers of performance chemicals, in particular, are likely to reduce their output in periods of significant contraction in industrial and consumer demand, while demand for the products we manufacture often depends on trends in demand in the end uses our customers serve. General economic conditions and macroeconomic trends, including economic recessions and inflation, could affect overall demand for our products and any overall decline in such demand could significantly reduce our sales and profitability. In addition, volatility and disruption in financial markets could adversely affect our sales and results of operations by limiting our customers’ ability to obtain the financing necessary to maintain or expand their own operations. For example, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the associated economic downturn affected our financial results during 2020, and the prolonged continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic could result in a sustained or further economic downturn that may continue to affect our operations and financial results.

As a result of our international operations, for the year ended December 31, 2020, we generated 40% of our sales and incurred a significant portion of our expenses in currencies other than U.S. dollars. We incur currency transaction risk whenever we enter into either a purchase or sale transaction using a currency other than the local currency of the transacting entity. The main currencies to which we are exposed, besides the U.S. dollar, are the Euro, British pound, Canadian dollar, Mexican peso and the Brazilian real. The exchange rates between these currencies and the U.S. dollar have fluctuated significantly in recent years and may continue to do so in the future. In many cases, we sell exclusively in those jurisdictions and do not have the ability to mitigate our exposure to currency fluctuations through our operations. Accordingly, to the extent that we are unable to match sales made in such foreign currencies with costs paid in the same currency, exchange rate fluctuations could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In the past, we have experienced economic loss and a negative impact on earnings as a result of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations and any future fluctuations may have similar or greater impacts. We expect that the amount of our sales denominated in non-U.S. dollar currencies may increase in future periods. Given the volatility of exchange rates, there can be no assurance that we will be able to effectively manage our currency transaction risks or that any volatility in currency exchange rates will not have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.”

Additionally, because our consolidated financial results are reported in U.S dollars, the translation of sales or earnings generated in other currencies into U.S. dollars can result in a significant increase or decrease in the amount of those sales or earnings in our financial statements, which also affects the comparability of our results of operations and cash flows between financial periods.

Doing business on a worldwide basis requires us and our subsidiaries to comply with the laws and regulations of the U.S. government and various international jurisdictions, and our failure to successfully comply with these laws and regulations may restrict our operations, trade practices, investment decisions and partnering activities and may expose us to liabilities. Such laws and regulations apply to companies, individual directors, officers, employees and agents.

In particular, our international operations are subject to U.S. and foreign anti-corruption laws and regulations, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and the U.K. Bribery Act (“UKBA”). The FCPA prohibits us from providing anything of value to foreign officials for the purposes of influencing official decisions or obtaining or retaining business or otherwise obtaining favorable treatment, and requires us to maintain adequate record-keeping and internal accounting practices to accurately reflect our transactions. As part of our business, we may deal with state-owned business enterprises, the employees and representatives of which may be considered foreign officials for purposes of the FCPA and UKBA. In addition, some of the international locations in which we operate lack a developed legal system and have elevated levels of corruption. As a result of our international operations, we are exposed to the risk of violating anti-corruption laws.

In addition, we are subject to applicable export controls and economic sanctions laws and regulations imposed by the U.S. government and other countries. Changes in such laws and regulations may restrict our business practices, including cessation of business activities in sanctioned countries or regions or with sanctioned entities or individuals, and may result in modifications to compliance programs. Violations of these legal requirements are punishable by criminal fines and imprisonment, civil penalties, disgorgement of profits, injunctions, debarment from government contracts, loss of export privileges and other remedial measures.

We have established policies and procedures designed to assist us and our personnel in complying with applicable U.S. and international laws and regulations. These policies and procedures are codified in our Code of Conduct and other various policies. However, there can be no assurance that our policies and procedures will effectively prevent us from violating these laws and regulations in every transaction in which we may engage, and such a violation could subject us to governmental investigations and adversely affect our reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations.

Many of the products that we sell are used in manufacturing processes and as components of or ingredients in other products and, as a result, changes in our customers’ end products or processes or alternative technologies may enable our customers to reduce or eliminate consumption or use of our products. For example, the ongoing shift in customer preferences in the detergent industry from powders to liquid has resulted in lower demand for certain types of zeolites. Additionally, shifting consumer preference could result in a significant reduction in the future use of fossil fuels, which would have a negative impact on our zeolite catalysts and refining services. If we are unable to respond appropriately to such new developments, such changes could seriously impair our ability to profitably market certain of our products.

The industries in which we operate are subject to periodic technological changes and ongoing product improvements. In order to maintain our margins and remain competitive, we must successfully develop, manufacture and market new or improved products. As a result, we must commit substantial resources each year to new product research and development. Ongoing investments in new product research and development could result in higher costs without a proportional increase in revenues. Additionally, for any new product program, there is a risk of technical or market failure, in which case we may need to commit additional resources to the program and may not be able to develop the new products needed to maintain our competitive position. Moreover, new products may have lower margins than the products they replace or may not successfully attract end users.

We also expect competition to increase as our competitors develop and introduce new and enhanced products. As such products are introduced, our products may become obsolete or our competitors’ products may be marketed more effectively. If we fail to develop new products, maintain or improve our margins with our new products or keep pace with technological developments, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows will suffer.

We purchase significant amounts of raw materials, including soda ash, industrial sand, aluminum trihydrate, sodium hydroxide (commonly known as caustic soda) and sulfur (including hydrogen sulfide), in our Performance Chemicals and Refining Services segments, and we purchase significant amounts of natural gas to supply the energy required in our production process. The cost of these raw materials represents a substantial portion of our operating expenses and our results of operations have been, and could in the future be, significantly affected by increases in the costs of such raw materials. In addition, we obtain a significant portion of our raw materials from certain key suppliers. If any of those suppliers is unable to meet its obligations under current supply agreements, we may be forced to pay higher prices to obtain the necessary raw materials. Furthermore, if any of the raw materials that we use become unavailable within the geographic area from which we currently source them, we may not be able to obtain suitable and cost-effective substitutes. Any interruption of supply or any price increase of raw materials could adversely affect our profitability.

While we attempt to match raw material price increases with corresponding product price increases, our ability to pass on increases in the cost of raw materials to our customers is, to a large extent, dependent upon our contractual arrangements and market conditions. There may be periods of time during which we are not able to recover increases in the cost of raw materials due to our contractual arrangements or weakness in demand for, or oversupply of, our products. Specifically, timing differences between price adjustments of raw materials, which may occur daily, and adjustments to our product prices, which in many cases are adjusted quarterly or less often, have had and may continue to have a negative effect on our profitability. Even in periods during which raw material prices decline, we may suffer decreasing profits if customers seek relief in the form of lower sales prices or if the raw material price reductions occur at a slower rate than decreases in the selling prices of our products. Furthermore, some of our performance chemicals customers may take advantage of fluctuating prices by building inventories when they expect product prices to increase and reducing inventories when they expect product prices to decrease. Such volatility can result in commercial disputes with customers and suppliers with respect to interpretations of complex contractual arrangements, the adverse resolution of which could reduce our profitability.

In the past, we have entered into long-term supply contracts for certain of our raw materials, including for certain of our North American soda ash purchases. As these contracts expire, we may not be able to renegotiate or enter into new long-term supply contracts that will offer similar protection from price increases and other fluctuations on terms that are satisfactory to us or at all. For example, a contract for the supply of caustic soda expired at the end of 2019 and we incurred increased costs to obtain caustic soda in 2020 because the replacement contract increased the price we paid for that raw material.

Our competitors may improve their competitive position in our core end use applications by successfully introducing new products, improving their manufacturing processes, expanding their capacity or manufacturing facilities or responding more effectively than we do to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements. Some of our competitors may be able to lower prices for products that compete with our products if their costs are lower. In addition, consolidation among our competitors or customers may result in reduced demand for our products or make it more difficult for us to compete. Some of our competitors’ financial, technological and other resources may be greater than ours or they may have less debt than we do and, as a result, may be better able to withstand changes to industry conditions. The occurrence of any of these events could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Our credit procedures and policies may not be adequate to minimize or mitigate customer credit risk. Our customers may experience financial difficulties, including bankruptcies, restructurings and liquidations. These and other financial problems our customers may experience, as well as potential financial weakness in the industries in which we operate, may increase our risk in extending trade credit to customers. A significant adverse change in a customer’s financial position could cause us to limit or discontinue business with such customer, require us to assume more credit risk relating to such customer’s receivables or limit our ability to collect accounts receivable from such customer, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.

A loss of any significant customer, including a pipeline customer, or a decrease in the provision of products to any significant customer could have an adverse effect on our business until alternative arrangements are secured. Any alternative arrangement to replace the loss of a customer could result in increased variable costs relating to product shipment. In addition, any new customer agreement we enter into may not have terms as favorable as those contained in our current customer agreements, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. For the year ended December 31, 2020 our top 10 customers represented approximately 30% of our sales and no single customer represented more than 5% of our sales.

Refineries, which represent a sizable subset of our Refining Services segment, have undergone significant consolidation and additional consolidation is possible in the future. Such consolidation could further increase our reliance on a small number of customers and further increase our customers’ leverage over us, resulting in downward pressure on prices and an adverse effect on our profitability.

Many of the customer contracts in our Refining Services segment are multi-year agreements. Sulfuric acid regeneration customer contracts are typically on five- to ten-year terms and virgin sulfuric acid customer contracts are typically on one- to five-year terms, with larger customers typically favoring longer terms. Excluding contracts with automatic evergreen provisions, approximately 40% of our sulfuric acid volume for the year ended December 31, 2020 was under contracts expiring at the end of 2021 or beyond. In addition, our sulfuric acid regeneration contracts with major refinery customers typically allow for termination with advance notice of one to two years. We cannot provide assurance that our existing contracts will not be subjected to early terminations or that our expiring contracts will be renewed at the end of their terms. If we receive a significant number of such contract terminations or experience non-renewals from key customers in our Refining Services segment, our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows may be materially adversely affected.

We have made and continue to make significant investments in each of our businesses. These projects require us to commit significant capital to, among other things, implement engineering plans and obtain the necessary permits before we generate revenues related to our investments in these businesses. Such projects may take longer to complete or require additional unanticipated expenditures and may never generate profits. If we fail to recover our investment, or these projects never become profitable, our ability to implement our business strategy may be materially and adversely affected.

Even though we are generally a materials and services supplier rather than a manufacturer of finished goods, the sale of our products involves the risk of product liability claims and voluntary or government-ordered product recalls. For example, certain of the products that we manufacture provide critical performance functions to our customers’ end products and are used in and around other chemical manufacturing facilities and other locations where personal injury or property damage may occur or are used in certain consumer goods such as beverages, personal care products and medicinal applications. While we attempt to protect ourselves from product liability claims and exposures through our adherence to standards and specifications and through contractual negotiations and provisions, there can be no assurance that our efforts will ultimately protect us from any such claims. A product liability claim or voluntary or government-ordered product recall could result in substantial and unexpected expenditures, affect consumer or customer confidence in our products and divert management’s attention from other responsibilities. A product recall or successful product liability claim or series of claims against us in excess of our insurance coverage and for which we are not otherwise indemnified could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. We have product liability insurance in amounts that we believe are adequate to cover this risk. However, our insurance may not provide adequate coverage against all potential liabilities. If a claim is brought against us, we might be required to pay legal and other expenses to defend the claim, as well as pay uncovered damage awards resulting from a claim brought successfully against us and these damages could be significant and have a material adverse effect on our financial condition. Furthermore, whether or not we are ultimately successful in defending any such claims, we might be required to direct significant financial and managerial resources to such defense and adverse publicity is likely to result.

We compete in industries in which we and our customers are subject to federal, state, local, international and transnational laws and regulations. Such laws and regulations are numerous and sometimes conflicting, and any future changes to such laws and regulations could adversely affect us.

In order to obtain regulatory approval for certain of our new products, we must, among other things, demonstrate to the relevant authority that the product is safe and effective for its intended uses and that we are capable of manufacturing the product in accordance with current regulations. The process of seeking approvals can be costly, time-consuming and subject to unanticipated and significant delays. Any delay in obtaining, or any failure to obtain or maintain, these approvals would adversely affect our ability to introduce new products and to generate sales from those products, and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Our products, including the raw materials we handle, are subject to rigorous chemical registration and industrial hygiene regulations and investigation. There is risk that a key raw material, chemical or substance, or one of the end products of which our products are a part, may be recharacterized as having a toxicological or health-related impact on the environment, our customers or our employees. Industrial hygiene regulations are continually strengthened and if such recharacterization occurs, the relevant raw material, chemical or product may be banned or we may incur increased costs in order to comply with new requirements. Changes in industrial hygiene regulations also affect the marketability of certain of our products, and future regulatory changes may have a material adverse effect on our business.

New laws and regulations, and changes in existing laws and regulations, may become effective in the future and could prevent or inhibit the development, distribution and sale of our products, including, but not limited to, the imposition of additional compliance costs, seizures, confiscation, recall or monetary fines. For example, as discussed in more detail in “Business-Environmental Regulations” and “Business-Chemical Product Regulation,” we may be materially impacted by regulatory initiatives worldwide with respect to chemical product safety such as the 2016 amendments to the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act, the E.U. regulation “Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals” (“REACH”), and/or similar regulations being enacted in other countries (e.g., China REACH; Korea REACH). Additionally, the current U.S. administration may seek to tighten current environmental standards and regulations, including, but not limited to, the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, which could have a material adverse effect on our sales into the fuels and emission controls industries.

Like other chemical companies, our operations and properties are subject to extensive and stringent federal, state, local and foreign environmental laws and regulations. U.S. federal environmental laws that affect us include the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”), the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”). These laws govern, among other things, emissions to the air, discharges or releases of hazardous substances to land, surface, subsurface strata and water, wastewater discharges and the generation, handling, storage, transportation, treatment, disposal and remediation of hazardous materials and petroleum products. We are also subject to other federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations regarding chemical and product safety as well as employee health and safety matters, including process safety requirements. These laws and regulations may become more stringent over time and the failure to comply with such laws and regulations can result in significant fines or penalties.

We have in the past been and currently are the subject of investigations and enforcement actions pursuant to environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act. Some of these matters were resolved through the payment of significant monetary penalties and a requirement to implement corrective actions at our facilities. For instance, we remain subject to a 2007 Consent Decree that resolves certain alleged Clean Air Act violations at our seven refining services operating locations involving New Source Review, Prevention of Significant Deterioration and New Source Performance Standard obligations under the U.S. federal rules for the pollutants sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid mist. The Consent Decree required Solvay (the owner at the time) to pay a $2 million penalty and spend approximately $34 million on air pollution controls at our facilities, the majority of which was received from customers in contractual arrangements. Work under the Consent Decree has proceeded since 2007, and we believe that all of the significant capital improvements related to the Consent Decree have been completed. One of our operating locations has been released from the scope of the Consent Decree and we are seeking release of the other locations covered by the Consent Decree.

We are required by these environmental laws and regulations to obtain registrations, licenses, permits and other approvals in order to operate, to make disclosures to public authorities about our chemical handling and usage activities and to install expensive pollution control and spill containment equipment at our facilities, or to incur other capital expenditures aimed at achieving or maintaining compliance with such laws and regulations. We are in the process of implementing a substantial environmentally-driven capital improvement project over the next three years and failure to complete this project or to timely identify and implement other capital projects required to achieve or maintain compliance could expose us to enforcement and penalty.

Under CERCLA and analogous statutes in local and foreign jurisdictions, current and former owners and operators of land impacted by releases of hazardous substances are strictly liable for the investigation and remediation of the contamination resulting from the release. Liability under CERCLA and analogous laws is strict, unlimited, joint, several and retroactive, may be imposed regardless of fault and may relate to historical activities or contamination not caused by the affected property’s current owner or operator. We could be held responsible for all cleanup costs at a site, whether currently or formerly owned or operated, regardless of fault, knowledge, timing or cause of the contamination. Further, under CERCLA and analogous laws, we may be jointly and severally liable for contamination at third party sites where we or our predecessors in interest have sent waste for treatment or disposal, even if we complied with applicable laws. In addition, we may face liability for personal injury, property damage and natural resource damage resulting from environmental conditions attributable to hazardous substance releases at or from facilities we currently own or operate or formerly owned or operated or to which we sent waste. As such, a product spill or emission at one of our facilities or otherwise resulting from our operations could have adverse consequences on the environment and surrounding community and could result in significant liabilities with respect to investigation and remediation.

Our facilities have an extended history of industrial use, and soil and groundwater contamination exists at some of our sites. As of December 31, 2020, we had current investigation, remediation or monitoring obligations at several of our current or former sites, including Rahway, New Jersey; Dominguez, California; Martinez, California; and Tacoma, Washington. As of December 31, 2020, we had established reserves of approximately $2.7 million to cover anticipated expenses at these sites, all of which have reached relatively mature stages of either the investigation, remediation or monitoring process. Actual costs to complete these projects may exceed our current estimates. In addition, we have unresolved liability at several sites to which we or our predecessors allegedly arranged for the disposal or treatment of hazardous wastes. For example, at the Boyertown Sanitary Disposal site in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, we are participating in a group of parties who disposed of materials at the site to fund investigatory and remedial work.

As of December 31, 2020, our total reserves associated with environmental remediation and enforcement matters were $4.1 million. In addition to the ongoing remediation and monitoring activities discussed above, there is risk that the long-term industrial use at our facilities may have resulted in, or may in the future result in, contamination that has yet to be discovered, which could require additional, unplanned investigation and remediation efforts by us for which no reserves have been established, potentially without regard to whether we knew of, or caused, the release of such contaminants. Discovery of additional or unknown conditions at our facilities could have an adverse impact on our business by substantially increasing our capital expenditures, including compliance, investigation and remediation costs. Such environmental liabilities attached to our properties, or for properties that we are otherwise responsible for, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

Certain of our operations result in emissions of greenhouse gases (“GHGs”), such as carbon dioxide. Growing concern about the sources and impacts of global climate change has led to a number of domestic and foreign legislative and administrative measures, both proposed and enacted, to monitor, regulate and limit carbon dioxide and other GHG emissions. In the European Union, our emissions are regulated under the E.U. Emissions Trading System (the “E.U. ETS”), an E.U.-wide trading scheme for industrial GHG emissions. The E.U. ETS is anticipated to become progressively more stringent over time, including by reducing the number of allowances to emit GHGs that E.U. member states will allocate without charge to industrial facilities. In the United States, the EPA has promulgated federal GHG regulations under the Clean Air Act that affect certain sources. For example, the EPA has issued mandatory GHG reporting requirements, under which our Dominguez, California and Baton Rouge, Louisiana facilities currently report. Moreover, California has enacted the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (“Assembly Bill 32”), a law that establishes a comprehensive program to reduce GHG emissions from all sources throughout the state and contains reporting requirements under which our Dominguez and Martinez facilities currently report. Our Dominguez facility also participates in the emissions trading market established under Assembly Bill 32. Although we believe it is likely that GHG emissions will continue to be regulated in at least some regions of the United States and in other countries (in addition to the European Union) in the future, we cannot yet predict the form such regulation will take (such as a cap-and-trade program, technology mandate, emissions tax or other regulatory mechanism) or, consequently, estimate any costs that we may be required to incur in respect of such requirements, which could, for example, require that we install emission control equipment, purchase emissions allowances, administer and manage our GHG emissions program or address other regulatory obligations. Such requirements could also adversely affect our energy supply or the costs and types of raw materials that we use for fuel. Accordingly, regulations controlling or limiting GHG emissions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations, including by reducing demand for our products.

We recognize that sustainability is a growing global environmental concern. Continuing political and social attention to the issue of sustainability has resulted in both existing and pending international agreements and national, regional or local legislation and regulatory measures to increase sustainability. As a result of heightened public awareness and attention to the issue of sustainability as well as continued regulatory initiatives, demand for certain of our

Certain of the hazards and risks associated with our manufacturing processes and the related storage and transportation of raw materials, products and wastes may disrupt production at our manufacturing facilities and the distribution of products to our customers. These potentially disruptive risks include, but are not limited to, the following:

These hazards could expose employees, customers, the community and others to toxic chemicals and other hazards, contaminate the environment, damage property, result in personal injury or death, lead to an interruption or suspension of operations, damage our reputation and adversely affect the productivity and profitability of a particular manufacturing facility or our business as a whole. Such hazards could also result in the need for remediation, governmental enforcement, regulatory shutdowns, the imposition of government fines and penalties and claims brought by governmental entities or third parties. Legal claims and regulatory actions could subject us to both civil and criminal penalties, which could affect our product sales, reputation and profitability.

If disruptions at our manufacturing facilities or in our distribution channels occur, alternative options with sufficient capacity or capabilities may not be available, may cost substantially more or may require significant time to start production or distribution. Any of these scenarios could negatively affect our business and financial performance. If one of our manufacturing facilities or distribution channels is unable to produce or distribute our products for an extended period of time, our sales may be reduced by the shortfall caused by the disruption and we may not be able to meet our customers’ needs, which could cause them to seek other suppliers. Furthermore, to the extent a production disruption occurs at a manufacturing facility that has been operating at or near full capacity, the resulting shortage of our product could be particularly harmful because production at the manufacturing facility may not be able to reach levels achieved prior to the disruption. Such risks are heightened in our Refining Services segment, which has operations and customers primarily located in the Gulf Coast, which is susceptible to a heightened risk of hurricanes, and Northern California, which is susceptible to a heightened risk of earthquakes. For example, in August 2017 we shut down our Houston and Baytown refining services facilities in coordination with our refinery partners in anticipation of Hurricane Harvey. The operational interruption at these facilities negatively impacted our sales in 2017 by approximately $7.7 million.

We maintain property, business interruption, casualty and other types of insurance, but such insurance may not cover all risks associated with the operation of our business or our manufacturing process and the related use, storage and transportation of raw materials, products and wastes in or from our manufacturing sites or distribution centers. While we have purchased what we deem to be adequate limits of coverage and broadly worded policies, our coverage is subject to exclusions and limitations, including higher self-insured retentions or deductibles and maximum limits and liabilities covered. Notwithstanding diligent efforts to successfully procure specialty coverage for environmental liability and remediation, we may incur losses beyond the limits or outside the terms of coverage of our insurance policies, including liabilities for environmental remediation. In addition, from time to time, various types of insurance for companies in the industries in which we operate have not been available on commercially acceptable terms or, in some cases, at all. We are potentially at additional risk if one or more of our insurance carriers fail. Additionally, severe disruptions in the domestic and global financial markets could adversely impact the ratings and survival of some insurers. Future downgrades in the ratings of enough insurers could adversely impact both the availability of appropriate insurance coverage and its cost. In the future, we may not be able to obtain coverage at current levels, if at all, and our premiums may increase significantly on coverage that we maintain.

Our products provide important performance attributes to our customers’ products. If a product fails to perform in a manner consistent with quality specifications, or has a shorter useful life than that which was guaranteed, a customer could seek replacement of the product or damages for costs incurred as a result of the product failing to perform as guaranteed. A successful claim or series of claims against us could cause reputational harm and have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations and could result in a loss of one or more customers.

We may selectively pursue complementary acquisitions, such as the Business Combination, and joint ventures, such as the Zeolyst Joint Venture, each of which inherently involves a number of risks and presents financial, managerial and operational challenges, including:

In addition, we may encounter unforeseen obstacles or costs in the integration of acquired businesses. For example, the presence of one or more material liabilities of an acquired company that are unknown to us at the time of acquisition may have a material adverse effect on our business. Our acquisition and joint venture strategy may not be received positively by customers, and we may not realize any anticipated benefits from acquisitions or joint ventures.

We may also opportunistically pursue dispositions of certain assets and businesses, which may involve material amounts of assets or lines of business, which could adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity. If any such dispositions were to occur, under the terms of the agreements governing our outstanding indebtedness, we may be required to apply the proceeds of the sale to repay such indebtedness.

In addition, our strategic acquisitions and dispositions may also affect the diversity of our assets and our capital structure. As a result, our acquisitions and dispositions could affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity. Further, all the risks associated with our acquisitions and dispositions may not be immediately known to us, and the anticipated benefits of such acquisition or disposition may not be fully realized.

On December 14, 2020, we completed the sale of our Performance Materials business to Potters Buyer, LLC, an affiliate of The Jordan Company, L.P., for a purchase price of $650.0 million, which was subject to certain adjustments for indebtedness, working capital, and cash at the closing of the transaction.

On March 1, 2021, we announced that we entered into a definitive agreement to sell our Performance Chemicals business to a partnership established by Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. and Koch Mineral & Trading LLC for a purchase price of $1.1 billion, which is subject to certain adjustments including for indebtedness, cash, working capital and transaction expenses. The transaction is expected to be completed in 2021, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

We currently participate in a number of joint ventures and may enter into additional joint ventures in the future. The nature of a joint venture requires us to share control with unaffiliated third parties and we sometimes have joint and several liability with our joint venture partners. If our joint venture partners do not fulfill their obligations, or if differences in views among the joint venture participants results in delayed decisions or failures to agree on major issues, the affected joint venture may not be able to operate according to its business plan. For example, the Zeolyst Joint Venture is structured as a general partnership in which we are equal partners with Shell Catalysts & Technologies, an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell plc. or “Shell”. Accordingly, we do not control the Zeolyst Joint Venture and cannot unilaterally undertake strategies, plans, goals and operations or determine when cash distributions will be made to us. Furthermore, we are liable on a joint and several basis with Shell Catalysts & Technologies, an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell plc. or “Shell” for all of the partnership’s liabilities if it does not have sufficient assets to satisfy such liabilities. Such factors may adversely affect our results of operation and force us to dedicate additional and unexpected resources to our joint ventures.

Protection of our proprietary processes, methods, compounds and other technologies is important to our business. We depend upon our ability to develop and protect our intellectual property rights to distinguish our products from those of our competitors. Failure to protect our existing intellectual property rights may allow our competitors to copy our products and may result in the loss of valuable proprietary technologies or other intellectual property. Failure to protect our innovations and trademarks by securing intellectual property rights could also result in our having to pay other companies for infringing on their intellectual property rights. We rely on a combination of patent, trade secret, trademark and copyright law as well as regulatory and judicial enforcement to protect such technologies and trademarks. In addition, the laws of many foreign countries do not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. As of December 31, 2020, we owned 39 patented inventions in the United States, with approximately 286 patents issued in countries around the world and approximately 69 patent applications pending worldwide covering more than 11 additional inventions. Some of these patents are licensed to others. In addition, we have acquired certain rights under patents and inventions of others through licenses. Should any of these licenses granted to us by third parties terminate prior to the expiration of the licensed intellectual property, we would need to cease using the licensed intellectual property, and either develop or license alternative technologies. In such a case, there can be no assurance that alternative technologies exist or that we would be able to obtain such a license on favorable terms.

Competitors and third parties may infringe on our patents or violate our intellectual property rights. Defending and enforcing our intellectual property rights can involve litigation and can be expensive and time consuming. Such proceedings could put our patents at risk of being invalidated and confidential information may be disclosed through the discovery process; these costs and diversion of resources could harm our business.

We cannot provide any assurances that any of our pending applications will mature into issued patents, or that any patents that have issued or may issue in the future do or will include claims with a scope sufficient to provide any competitive advantage. Patents involve complex legal and factual questions and, therefore, the issuance, scope, validity and enforceability of any patent claims we have or may obtain cannot be predicted with certainty. Patents may be challenged, deemed unenforceable, invalidated or circumvented. Patents may be challenged in the courts, as well as in various administrative proceedings before the United States Patent and Trademark Office or foreign patent offices. We are currently and may in the future be a party to various adversarial patent office proceedings involving our patents or the patents of third parties. Such challenges can result in some or all of the claims of the challenged patent being invalidated, deemed unenforceable, or interpreted narrowly which, in the case of challenges to our own patents, may be adverse to our interests. Accordingly, the issuance of patents is not conclusive of the validity, scope, or enforceability of such patents. Moreover, even if valid and enforceable, competitors may be able to design around our patents or use pre-existing technologies to compete with us.

We also rely upon unpatented proprietary know-how, continuing technological innovation and other trade secrets to develop and maintain our competitive position, which may not provide us with complete protection against competitors. Misappropriation or unauthorized disclosure of our proprietary know-how could harm our competitive position or have an adverse effect on our business. While it is our policy to enter into confidentiality agreements with our employees and third parties to protect our intellectual property rights and we strive to maintain the physical security of our properties and the security of our IT systems, there can be no assurances that:

In addition, there can be no assurances that others will not obtain knowledge of these trade secrets through independent development or other access by legal means.

Measures taken by us to protect these assets and rights may not provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets or proprietary manufacturing expertise and adequate remedies may not be available in the event of an unauthorized use or disclosure of our trade secrets or manufacturing expertise. In addition, as noted above, our patents and other intellectual property rights may be challenged, invalidated, circumvented or rendered unenforceable.

Furthermore, we cannot provide assurance that any pending patent or trademark application filed by us will result in an issued patent or registered trademark or, if patents are issued to us, that those patents will provide meaningful protection against competitors or against competitive technologies. The failure of our patents or other measures to protect our processes, apparatuses, technology, trade secrets and proprietary manufacturing expertise, methods and compounds or trademarks and provide us with freedom to exclude competition could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. See “Business-Intellectual Property.”

Our industry is characterized by vigilant pursuit of intellectual property rights, particularly with respect to our silica catalysts and zeolite catalysts product groups. Like us, our competitors rely on intellectual property rights to maintain profitability and competitiveness. As the number of products and competitors has increased, the likelihood of intellectual property disputes has risen. Although it is our policy and intention not to infringe valid patents of which we are aware, our processes, apparatuses, technology, proprietary manufacturing expertise, methods, compounds and products may infringe on issued patents or infringe or misappropriate other intellectual property rights of others. Accordingly, we continually monitor third-party intellectual property to confirm our freedom to operate. Nevertheless, we may be subject to legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of our business, including claims of alleged infringement of the patents or trademarks or infringement or misappropriation of other intellectual property rights of third parties by us or our licensees in connection with their use of our products. Intellectual property litigation is expensive and time-consuming, regardless of the merits of any claim, and could divert the attention of our management and technical personnel away from operating our business. If we were to discover that our processes, apparatuses, technology, products or trademarks infringe the valid intellectual property rights of others, we might need to obtain licenses from these parties or substantially reengineer or rebrand our products in order to avoid infringement. We may not be able to obtain the necessary licenses on acceptable terms, or at all, or be able to reengineer our products successfully or at an acceptable cost. Moreover, if we are sued for infringement and lose the suit, we could be required to pay substantial damages and/or be enjoined from using or selling the infringing products or technology or using the infringing trademark. Additionally or alternatively, we may seek to challenge third-party patents in administrative proceedings before the United States patent office or one or more foreign patent offices. Any of the foregoing could cause us to incur significant costs and prevent us from selling our products, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Even if we ultimately prevail, the existence of lawsuits could prompt our customers to switch to alternative products. In addition, we have agreed, and will continue to agree, to indemnify certain customers for certain intellectual property infringement claims related to intellectual property relating to our products and the manufacture thereof. Should there be infringement claims against our licensees, we could be required to indemnify them for losses resulting from such claims or to refund amounts they have paid to us.

We use computers and telecommunication systems to analyze and store financial and operating data and to communicate within our company, with outside business partners, and across international borders. These systems can be subject to technical system flaws; power loss; cyber attacks, including viruses, malware, phishing, ransomware, terrorism, and surveillance; unauthorized access; malicious software; intentional or inadvertent data privacy breaches by employees or others with authorized access; hacktivism; ransomware; physical or electronic break-ins; fires or natural disasters; supply chain attacks; and other cyber security issues. We have no assurance that our systems are appropriately redundant to withstand these events. Accordingly, such events could cause adverse effects and material disruptions to our operations or systems or those of our business partners; compromise the security, integrity, availability, and confidentiality of customer information, employee information, strategic projects, product formulas and other trade secrets, other business or personal sensitive data, including third party confidential information in our possession. Release of third party confidential information could materially harm our reputation, affect our relationships with such parties and expose us to liability. Although we have introduced many security measures, including firewalls and information technology security policies, these measures may not offer the appropriate level of security. A security breach or other compromise of our information security safeguards could expose our confidential information, including third party confidential information in our possession (such as customer information) to theft and misuse, which could in turn adversely affect our relationships with such third parties and have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In addition, a disruption, blockage, failure or a cyber breach of software or operating systems we use, or of the networks and infrastructure on which they rely, could damage critical production, distribution and/or storage assets, delay or prevent delivery to markets, and make it difficult or impossible to accurately account for production and settle transactions.

These impacts may adversely affect our relationships with such employees and third parties and may have an adverse effect on our business reputation, competitiveness, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, including damage to our operations, employees, or other third parties, resulting in remediation costs, litigation or regulatory actions. Although we have introduced many security measures, including firewalls and information technology security policies, these measures may not offer the appropriate level of security. We routinely experience attempts by external parties to penetrate and attack our networks and systems. Although such attempts to date have not resulted in any material breaches, disruptions, financial loss, or loss of business-critical information, our systems and procedures for protecting against such attacks and mitigating such risks may prove to be insufficient in the future. As technologies evolve and these cyber security attacks become more sophisticated, we may incur significant costs to upgrade or enhance our security measures to protect against such attacks, and we may face difficulties in fully anticipating or implementing adequate preventive measures or mitigating potential harm.

The non-GAAP financial information included in this Form 10-K includes information that we use to evaluate our past performance, but you should not consider such information in isolation or as an alternative to measures of our performance determined under GAAP.

Our operations are conducted through our subsidiaries and joint ventures. As a result, our ability to make future dividend payments, if any, is dependent on the earnings of our subsidiaries and joint ventures and the payment of those earnings to us in the form of dividends, loans or advances and through repayment of loans or advances from us. Payments to us by our subsidiaries and joint ventures will be contingent upon our subsidiaries’ or joint ventures’ earnings and other business considerations and may be subject to statutory or contractual restrictions. We have not and do not currently intend to pay regular dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future; however, we paid a special cash dividend in December 2020 and have announced an intent to pay a special cash dividend of $2.50 to $3.25 per share, subject to board approval and declaration, to be financed with the cash proceeds from our anticipated sale of our Performance Chemicals business. To the extent that we determine in the future to pay dividends on our common stock, the agreements governing our outstanding indebtedness significantly restrict the ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends or otherwise transfer assets to us.

We are required to test goodwill and any other intangible asset with an indefinite life for possible impairment on the same date each year and on an interim basis if there are indicators of a possible impairment. We are also required to evaluate indefinite-lived intangible assets and fixed assets for impairment if there are indicators of a possible impairment.

There is significant judgment required in the analysis of a potential impairment of goodwill, identified intangible assets and fixed assets. If, as a result of a general economic slowdown or deterioration in one or more of the industries in which we operate or in our financial performance or future outlook, or if the estimated fair value of our long-lived assets decreases, we may determine that one or more of our long-lived assets is impaired. An impairment charge would be determined based on the estimated fair value of the assets and any such impairment charge could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial position.

We performed our annual impairment test on its goodwill on October 1, 2020, and determined that an impairment existed with respect to our Performance Chemicals segment. As a result, we recorded a non cash goodwill impairment charge of $260.0 million.

We are subject to taxes in the U.S. as well as foreign jurisdictions where our subsidiaries are organized. Due to economic and political conditions, tax rates, tax laws and other non-tax legislation, such as economic substance regulations, our business may experience significant impacts as a result of prospective changes. Our future effective tax rates may be affected by changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in available tax credits or tax deductions, as well as changes in tax and other non-tax laws or their interpretation. Additionally, our organization is engaged in a number of cross-border intercompany transactions, subject to local transfer pricing regimes currently in place. We believe the economics of these transactions have been clearly reported, and the appropriate local transfer pricing documentation is contemporaneously available, although tax authorities may propose and potentially sustain adjustments that could result in changes to our mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”), which represents a coalition of member countries, is supporting changes to numerous long-standing tax principles through its base erosion and profit shifting (“BEPS”) project. This project focuses on a number of issues, including the shifting of profits cross-border amongst affiliated entities. Given the scope of the Company's international operations and the fluid and uncertain nature of how the BEPS project might ultimately lead to future legislation, it is difficult to assess how any changes in tax laws would impact the Company's future income tax expense.

Our tax returns and other tax matters are subject to examination by local tax authorities and governmental bodies. We regularly assess the likelihood of an adverse outcome resulting from these examinations, in order to determine any resulting impact to our provision for taxes. There can be no assurance as to the outcome of these examinations. If our effective tax rates were to increase as a result of a tax examination, or if the ultimate determination of the taxes owed by us is for an amount in excess of amounts previously accrued, our operating results, cash flows and financial condition could be adversely affected.

On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) was enacted into law. The TCJA mandated significant changes to U.S. corporate taxation. Notable legislative changes include a reduction of the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, new additional limitations on the tax deductibility of interest, extensive changes to the regime governing the taxation of foreign earnings, immediate deductions for certain investments instead of deductions for depreciation expense over time, as well as modification or repeal of certain business deductions and credits. While our current tax accounting is complete based on existing legislative guidance relating to the TCJA, further interpretive guidance of the TCJA's provisions may result in further adjustments that could have an impact on our future results of operations, cash flows or financial positions.

We maintain defined benefit pension plans covering employees who meet age and service requirements. While some of our plans have been frozen, our net pension liability and cost is materially affected by the discount rate used to measure pension obligations, the longevity and actuarial profile of our workforce, the level of plan assets available to fund those obligations and the actual and expected long-term rate of return on plan assets. Significant changes in investment performance or a change in the portfolio mix of invested assets can result in corresponding increases and decreases in the valuation of plan assets, particularly equity securities, or in a change in the expected rate of return on plan assets. Assets available to fund the pension and other postemployment benefit obligations of our plans as of December 31, 2020 were approximately $362.7 million, or approximately $56.4 million less than the measured pension benefit obligation on a GAAP basis. In addition, any changes in the discount rate could result in a significant increase or decrease in the valuation of pension obligations, affecting the reported funded status of our pension plans as well as the net periodic pension cost in the following years. Similarly, changes in the expected return on plan assets can result in significant changes in the net periodic pension cost in the following years.

We also contribute to one multi-employer pension plan on behalf of certain of our employees in the United States pursuant to union agreements that generally provide defined benefits to employees covered by collective bargaining agreements. A total of approximately 3 employees currently participate in such multi-employer pension plan. Funding requirements for benefit obligations of multi-employer pension plans are subject to certain regulatory requirements and we may be required to make cash contributions to one of these plans to satisfy certain underfunded benefit obligations. Absent an applicable exemption, a contributor to a U.S. multi-employer plan is liable upon its withdrawal from, or the termination of, a plan for its proportionate share of the plan’s underfunding, if any.

We also provide certain health care and life insurance benefits to certain of our employees and their dependents in the United States upon the retirement of such employee from us pursuant to union agreements. Costs of these other post-employment benefit plans are dependent upon numerous factors, assumptions and estimates.

We have substantial indebtedness, which, as of December 31, 2020, totaled approximately $1,426.4 million. Our substantial indebtedness, combined with our other financial obligations and contractual commitments, could have important consequences, including:

Although the terms of the agreements governing our outstanding indebtedness contain restrictions on the incurrence of additional indebtedness, such restrictions are subject to a number of important exceptions and indebtedness incurred in compliance with such restrictions could be substantial. If we and our restricted subsidiaries incur significant additional indebtedness, the related risks that we face could increase.

The indentures governing our outstanding indebtedness contain a number of restrictive covenants that impose significant operating and financial restrictions on us and may limit our ability to engage in acts that may be in our long-term best interest, including restrictions on our ability to incur additional indebtedness, make investments, acquisitions, loans and advances, sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of our assets or incur liens. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Financial Condition, Liquidity and Capital Resources—Debt.” In addition, the restrictive covenants in the agreements governing our senior secured credit facilities require us to maintain specified financial ratios and satisfy other financial condition tests. Our ability to meet these financial ratios and tests can be affected by events beyond our control.

A breach of such covenants could result in an event of default unless we obtain a waiver to avoid such default. If we are unable to obtain a waiver, such a default may allow our creditors to accelerate the related debt and may result in the acceleration of, or default under, any other debt to which a cross-acceleration or cross-default provision applies. In the event our lenders or noteholders accelerate the repayment of our borrowings, we and our subsidiaries may not have sufficient assets to repay that indebtedness.

LIBOR, the London interbank offered rate, is the basic rate of interest used in lending between banks on the London interbank market and is widely used as a reference for setting the interest rate on loans globally. Our senior secured term loan facilities and asset-based revolving credit facility use LIBOR as a reference rate such that the interest due to our creditors under those facilities is calculated using LIBOR. As of December 31, 2020, we had approximately $1,131.4 million of debt outstanding that was indexed to LIBOR. In addition, we have entered into a LIBOR-based interest rate caps to manage our exposure to interest rate movements resulting from changes in the benchmark interest rate of LIBOR. The interest rate cap agreements extend from July 2020 through July 2022 on $500.0 million of notional variable-rate debt and from August 2020 through August 2023 on $400.0 million of notional variable-rate debt.

On July 27, 2017, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates LIBOR, announced that it intends to phase out LIBOR by the end of 2021. It is unclear if LIBOR will cease to exist at that time or if new methods of calculating LIBOR will be established such that it continues to exist after 2021. The U.S. Federal Reserve, in conjunction with the Alternative Reference Rates Committee, a steering committee comprised of large U.S. financial institutions, is considering replacing U.S. dollar LIBOR with a new index calculated by short-term repurchase agreements, backed by Treasury securities. The future of LIBOR at this time is uncertain and any changes in the methods by which LIBOR is determined or regulatory activity related to LIBOR’s phaseout could cause LIBOR to perform differently than in the past or cease to exist. If LIBOR ceases to exist, we may need to renegotiate our credit agreements and/or interest rate cap and cross-currency swap agreements, which may result in interest rates and/or payments that do not correlate over time with the interest rates and/or payments that would have been made on our obligations if LIBOR was available in its current form.

As of December 31, 2020, investment funds affiliated with CCMP beneficially owned approximately 45% of our outstanding common stock and INEOS beneficially owned approximately 24% of our outstanding common stock. For as long as affiliates of CCMP and INEOS continue to beneficially own a substantial percentage of the voting power of our outstanding common stock, they will continue to have significant influence over us. For example, they will be able to strongly influence or effectively control the election of all of the members of our board of directors and our business and affairs, including any determinations with respect to mergers or other business combinations, the acquisition or disposition of assets, the incurrence of additional indebtedness, the issuance of any additional shares of common stock or other equity securities, the repurchase or redemption of shares of our common stock and the payment of dividends.

Additionally, CCMP and INEOS are in the business of making investments in companies and may acquire and hold interests in businesses that compete directly or indirectly with us. CCMP and INEOS may also pursue acquisition opportunities that may be complementary to our business, and, as a result, those acquisition opportunities may not be available to us.

Since launching our IPO in September 2017, the price of our common stock, as reported on the New York Stock Exchange, has ranged from a low of $8.50 on March 16, 2020 to a high of $18.90 on March 9, 2021. In addition, the stock market in general has been highly volatile. As a result, the market price of our common stock is likely to be similarly volatile, and investors in our common stock may experience a decrease, which could be substantial, in the value of their stock, including decreases unrelated to our operating performance or prospects, and could lose part or all of their investment. The price of our common stock could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to a number of factors, including those described elsewhere herein and others such as:

In addition, broad market and industry factors may negatively affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance, and factors beyond our control may cause our stock price to decline rapidly and unexpectedly. We are exposed to the impact of any global or domestic economic disruption that may occur, including the economic effects of COVID-19.

In the past, securities class action litigation has often been initiated against companies following periods of volatility in their stock price. This type of litigation could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention and resources, and could also require us to make substantial payments to satisfy judgments or to settle litigation.

Our board of directors has the authority, without action or vote of our stockholders, to issue all or any part of our authorized but unissued shares of common stock, including shares issuable upon exercise of options, or shares of our authorized but unissued preferred stock. Issuances of common stock or voting preferred stock would reduce your influence over matters on which our stockholders vote and, in the case of issuances of preferred stock, would likely result in your interest in us being subject to the prior rights of holders of that preferred stock.

As of December 31, 2020, there were 136,318,557 shares of our common stock outstanding. Approximately 45% and 24% of our outstanding common stock is held by affiliates of CCMP and by INEOS, respectively.

Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales will occur, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock and make it difficult for us to raise funds through securities offerings in the future.

Investment funds affiliated with CCMP may require us to register shares of our common stock held by them for resale under the federal securities laws, subject to reduction upon the request of the underwriter of the offering, if any. Registration of those shares would allow the investment funds affiliated with CCMP to immediately resell their shares in the public market. Any such sales or anticipation thereof could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

In addition, we have registered shares of our common stock that are reserved for issuance under our 2016 Stock Incentive Plan and 2017 Omnibus Incentive Plan, as amended and restated.

In addition to investment funds affiliated with CCMP’s and INEOS’s beneficial ownership of a substantial percentage of our common stock, provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and Delaware law could make it harder for a third party to acquire us, even if doing so might be beneficial to our stockholders. These provisions include a classified board of directors and the ability of our board of directors to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval that could be used to dilute a potential hostile acquiror. Our certificate of incorporation imposes some restrictions on mergers and other business combinations between us and any holder of 15% or more of our outstanding common stock other than INEOS and investment funds affiliated with CCMP. As a result, you may lose your ability to sell your stock for a price in excess of the prevailing market price due to these protective measures, and efforts by stockholders to change the direction or management of the company may be unsuccessful.

Our certificate of incorporation provides that, subject to limited exceptions, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for:

In addition, our certificate of incorporation provides that if any action the subject matter of which is a Covered Proceeding is filed in a court other than the specified Delaware courts without the approval of our board of directors (each, a “Foreign Action”), the claiming party will be deemed to have consented to (i) the personal jurisdiction of the specified Delaware courts in connection with any action brought in any such courts to enforce the exclusive forum provision described above and (ii) having service of process made upon such claiming party in any such enforcement action by service upon such claiming party’s counsel in the Foreign Action as agent for such claiming party.

The United States has in recent years renegotiated a number of trade agreements, such as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”), imposed tariffs on goods imported from China and certain other countries, and increasingly levied sanctions and export controls on China and other countries. All of these actions have resulted in retaliatory action, including retaliatory tariffs and other restrictions by China and other countries. These changes, as well as any other changes in social, political, regulatory and economic conditions, or further changes to foreign or domestic laws and policies governing foreign trade (including export, import and sanctions), manufacturing and development and foreign direct investment in the territories and countries where we or our customers operate could adversely affect our operating results and our business.

Additionally, in June 2016, the United Kingdom held a referendum and voted in favor of leaving the European Union and, on January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom exited the European Union and the implementation period or transition period ended on December 31, 2020. This referendum and exit has created political and economic uncertainty, particularly in the United Kingdom and the European Union, and this uncertainty may last for years. Our business could be affected during this period of uncertainty, and perhaps longer, by the impact of the United Kingdom’s referendum and exit. In addition, our business could be negatively affected by new trade agreements between the United Kingdom and other countries, including the United States, and by the possible imposition of trade or other regulatory barriers in the United Kingdom. These possible negative impacts, and others resulting from the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, may adversely affect our customers’ businesses and our operating results.

Our success depends, in part, upon the continued services of our highly skilled personnel involved in management, research, production and distribution and, in particular, upon the efforts and abilities of our key officers. Although we believe that we are adequately staffed in key positions, we may not be able to retain such personnel on acceptable terms or at all, and such personnel may seek to compete with us in the future. If we lose the service of any of our key personnel, we may not be able to hire replacements with the same level of industry experience and knowledge necessary to execute our business strategy, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

As of December 31, 2020, we had 2,274 employees globally, approximately 49% of which were represented by a union, works council or other employee representative body. As of December 31, 2020, approximately 40% of our U.S. unionized employees were covered under collective bargaining agreements that will expire on or before December 31, 2020. Failure to reach agreement with any of our unionized work groups regarding the terms of their collective bargaining agreements or annual pay increases may result in a labor strike, work stoppage or slowdown. In addition, a large number of our employees are employed in countries in which employment laws provide greater bargaining or other rights to employees than the laws of the United States. Such employment rights require us to work collaboratively with the legal representatives of the employees to effect any changes to labor arrangements. For example, many of our employees in Europe are represented by works councils that must approve any changes in conditions of employment, including salaries, benefits and staff changes, and may impede efforts to restructure our workforce. Although we believe that we have a good working relationship with our employees, a strike, work stoppage or slowdown by our employees or a dispute with our employees could result in a significant disruption to our operations or higher ongoing labor costs. In addition, our ability to make adjustments to control compensation and benefit costs, or otherwise adapt to changing business needs, may be limited by the terms and duration of our collective bargaining agreements.

We cannot predict with certainty the cost of defense, the cost of prosecution or the ultimate outcome of litigation and other administrative and regulatory proceedings filed by or against us, including remedies or damage awards, and adverse results in any litigation or other administrative and regulatory proceedings may materially harm our business. Litigation and other administrative and regulatory proceedings may include, but are not limited to, actions relating to intellectual property, commercial arrangements, environmental, health and safety matters, joint venture agreements, labor and employment matters, domestic and foreign antitrust matters or other harms resulting from the actions of individuals or entities outside of our control. In the case of intellectual property litigation and proceedings, adverse outcomes could include the cancellation, invalidation or other loss of material intellectual property rights used in our business and injunctions prohibiting our use of our processes, apparatuses, technology, trade secrets and proprietary manufacturing expertise, methods and compounds that are subject to third-party patents or other third-party intellectual property rights. Litigation based on environmental matters or exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace or from our products could result in significant liability for us. For example, we are currently subject to various asbestos premises liability claims that relate to employee or contractor exposure to asbestos contained in certain building materials at our sites. Furthermore, our international operations expose us to potential administrative and regulatory proceedings in foreign jurisdictions. Antitrust authorities in Brazil have publicly announced that they are investigating alleged cartel activities by Brazilian silicate manufacturers, including our Brazilian subsidiary (“PQ Brazil”). The authorities allege that the activities occurred over an approximately 10-year period beginning in the late 1990s, which is prior to the time we owned PQ Brazil. PQ Brazil is fully cooperating with the authorities. Adverse outcomes in any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended, our management is required to report on, and our independent registered public accounting firm is required to attest to, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. This assessment includes disclosure of any material weakness identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting. In addition, we are required to comply with the SEC’s rules implementing Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires management to certify financial and other information in our quarterly and annual reports, and we are required to disclose significant changes made in our internal controls and procedures on a quarterly basis.

If we identify a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to remediate the material weakness identified in a timely manner or maintain all of the controls necessary to remain in compliance with our reporting obligations. If we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an unqualified opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting in future periods, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our common stock could be negatively affected, and we could become subject to investigations by the New York Stock Exchange, on which our securities are listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 contains provisions to improve transparency and accountability concerning the supply of certain minerals, known as conflict minerals, originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (the “DRC”) and adjoining countries. The SEC requires annual disclosure and reporting requirements for those companies who use conflict minerals mined from the DRC and adjoining countries in their products. We incur costs associated with complying with these disclosure requirements, including for diligence to determine the sources of conflict minerals used in our products and other potential changes to products, processes or sources of supply as a consequence of such verification activities. These rules could adversely affect the sourcing, supply and pricing of materials used in our products. As there may be only a limited number of suppliers offering “conflict free” conflict minerals, we cannot be sure that we will be able to obtain necessary conflict minerals from such suppliers in sufficient quantities or at competitive prices.

None.

Our operating headquarters are located in Malvern, Pennsylvania and our primary research and development facility is in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. As of December 31, 2020, we had 40 manufacturing facilities in 13 countries on five continents. We also had 9 administrative facilities and 4 research and development facilities located in 6 countries. Our joint ventures operated out of 5 facilities located in 2 countries, including 3 manufacturing facilities. We also own or lease other properties, including office buildings, warehouses, testing facilities and sales offices.

The table below presents summary information regarding our principal manufacturing facilities as of December 31, 2020.

From time to time we may be subject to various legal claims and proceedings incidental to the normal conduct of business, relating to such matters as personal injury, product liability and warranty claims, waste disposal practices, release of chemicals into the environment and other matters that may arise in the ordinary course of our business. We currently believe that there is no litigation pending that is likely to have a material adverse effect on our business. Regardless of the outcome, legal proceedings can have an adverse impact on us because of defense and settlement costs, diversion of management resources and other factors.

Not applicable.

Our common stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “PQG” on September 29, 2017. As of March 12, 2021, there were 80 shareholders of record of our common stock. A substantially greater number of holders of our common stock hold their shares in “street name” through banks, brokers and other financial institutions.

On December 14, 2020, we announced that our board of directors had declared a special cash dividend of $1.80 per share, using after tax cash proceeds and cash on hand from the sale of the Performance Materials business. The dividend was paid to our stockholders of record at the close of business on December 21, 2020.

We have announced an intent to pay a special cash dividend of $2.50 to $3.25 per share, subject to board approval and declaration, to be financed with the cash proceeds from our anticipated sale of our Performance Chemicals business upon the anticipated close in 2021.

We have not and do not currently intend to pay regular dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. The declaration and payment of any future dividends by our Board of Directors is subject to compliance with the covenants contained in the agreements governing our credit facilities, the indentures governing our outstanding notes, applicable law and other considerations. See Note 17 to our consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K for details regarding covenant restrictions on the payment of dividends under our debt agreements.

The graph below shows the cumulative total shareholder return of our common stock for the period from September 29, 2017 to December 31, 2020 as compared to the cumulative total return of the Russell 2000 Total Return Index and the S&P 1500 Specialty Chemicals Index, assuming an investment of $100 made at the respective closing prices on September 29, 2017. The information contained in the graph below is furnished and therefore not to be considered “filed” with the SEC, and is not incorporated by reference into any document that incorporates this Form 10-K by reference.

We are a global provider of specialty catalysts, chemicals and services with leading supply positions across our portfolio. We compete in the global specialty chemicals and materials industry where we seek to focus on attractive, high-growth applications. Our products and services provide critical performance to our customers’ products and we are able to offer many of our customers regionally sourced materials to reduce costs and improve delivery logistics. We provide our customers with a combination of product technology and applications knowledge, global supply chain capabilities, and local production and logistical support.

We conduct operations through three reporting segments: (1) Refining Services, (2) Catalysts (including our 50% interest in the Zeolyst Joint Venture) and (3) Performance Chemicals.

Refining Services: We are the leading provider of sulfuric acid recycling services to North American refineries for the production of alkylate, an essential gasoline component for lowering vapor pressure and increasing octane to meet stringent gasoline specifications and fuel efficiency standards. We are also a leading North American producer of on-purpose virgin sulfuric acid for water treatment, mining, and industrial applications.

Catalysts: We are a global supplier of finished silica catalysts and catalyst supports necessary to produce high strength and high stiffness plastics used in packaging films, bottles, containers, and other molded applications. We are also a leading global supplier of zeolites used for catalysts that remove nitrogen oxides from diesel engine emissions as well as sulfur from fuels during the refining process.

Performance Chemicals: We are a leading global supplier of silicate and derivative products which serve as an environmentally friendly substitute for materials used in a variety of applications. These include end uses such as matting agents in surface coatings, clarifying agents for edible oils and beverages, additives for paints and coatings, and in cosmetics to improve feel attributes.

In 2020, we served over 2,000 customers globally across many end uses and, as of December 31, 2020, operated out of 40 manufacturing facilities, which are strategically located across five continents.

On December 14, 2020, we completed the sale of our Performance Materials business to Potters Buyer, LLC (the “Purchaser”), an affiliate of The Jordan Company, L.P., for a purchase price of $650 million, which was subject to certain adjustments for indebtedness, working capital and cash at the closing of the transaction. The results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows for the Performance Materials businesses are presented herein as discontinued operations. Refer to Note 4 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

In March 2020, the outbreak of COVID-19 was declared a national emergency by the United States. COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the world and has adversely impacted economic activity and contributed to volatility in financial markets. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government, various states, local and foreign governments have issued decrees and orders that have disrupted many businesses and implemented social distancing, travel and other restrictions. In response to these restrictions, we have taken a variety of actions, including an international travel ban, distribution of personal protective equipment to employees, and work-at-home requirements for many of our employees who are not an integral part of our manufacturing operations. We have also implemented and refined our existing business continuity plans in an effort to minimize disruptions to our operations. These measures remain in place as of December 31, 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to unprecedented disruptions within the macro economy, with lower sales volume demand during 2020, including the fourth quarter. The timing and magnitude of the impact to sales volume demand varied across our portfolio of businesses due to the many end uses.

Most of PQ’s end use customers experienced improved demand during the fourth quarter, largely driven by a recovery of consumer products ranging from packaged products to automotive sales. The construction and mining segments also demonstrated improving demand. The company continues to match costs and production with the pattern and pace of demand recovery, which remains variable across end use subsectors.

During the year ended December 31, 2020 we took actions to mitigate the slowdown in our business as a result of the effects of COVID-19, including adjusting our production levels to meet anticipated customer demand, reducing discretionary spending, furloughs, delaying headcount additions and deferring capital maintenance expenditures.

Key end use trends in our business segments during the year and expectations are described below:

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, our manufacturing facilities have continued to operate and have been providing critical materials necessary to aid in combating the COVID-19 pandemic and products we manufacture for other essential businesses. Our manufacturing plants require a limited number of on-site employees in order to continue to operate effectively. We have not experienced any material production issues to date, but have had limited and temporary shutdowns or slowdowns in some of our facilities. We have also seen limited disruptions in the availability of certain of our raw materials and other supplies, which to date have not had a material impact on production.

On March 27, 2020, the CARES Act was signed into law. The provisions of the CARES Act provide substantial stimulus and financial assistance measures intended to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including certain tax relief provisions. As permitted within the CARES Act, we began deferring payment of the employer portion of social security taxes in the second quarter and continued to defer through the end of 2020, with 50% of the deferred amount due December 31, 2021 and the remaining 50% due December 31, 2022. This deferral provided approximately $4.5 million in additional liquidity in 2020.

The impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and associated containment and remediation efforts is rapidly evolving. We expect the duration and magnitude of the virus’s impact on the levels of economic activity in the United States and globally to affect the magnitude of its impact on our results of operations, which could be material.

You should not consider adjusted EBITDA or adjusted net income in isolation or as alternatives to the presentation of our financial results in accordance with GAAP. The presentation of adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income financial measures may differ from similar measures reported by other companies and may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures. In evaluating adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income, you should be aware that we are likely to incur expenses similar to those eliminated in this presentation in the future and that certain of these items could be considered recurring in nature. Our presentation of adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by unusual or nonrecurring items. Reconciliations of adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income to GAAP net income (loss) are included in the results of operations discussion that follows for each of the respective periods.

Our Refining Services and Catalysts segments' sales have grown primarily due to expansion into new end applications, including emission control catalysts, polymer catalysts, and refining catalysts, as well as continued supply share gains. Sales in our Refining Services and Catalysts segments are made on both a purchase order basis and pursuant to long-term contracts.

Historically, our Performance Chemicals segment has experienced relatively stable demand throughout economic cycles, due to the diverse consumer and industrial end uses that our products serve. Expansions into new applications, including personal care and consumer cleaning, as well as share gains in existing end uses, have added to our sales growth. Product sales from our Performance Chemicals segment are made on both a purchase order basis and pursuant to long-term contracts.

Most of our Refining Services contracts feature take-or-pay volume protection and/or quarterly price adjustments for commodity inputs, labor, the Chemical Engineering Index (U.S. chemical plant construction cost index) and natural gas. Spent acid for our Refining Services segment is supplied by customers for a nominal charge as part of their contracts. Over 80% of our Refining Services segment sales for the year ended December 31, 2020 were under contracts featuring quarterly price adjustments. The price adjustments generally reflect actual costs for producing acid and tend to protect us from volatility in labor, fixed costs and raw material pricing.

For the year ended December 31, 2020, approximately 50% of our North American silicate sales, which is a significant portion of our Performance Chemicals segment sales, were derived from contracts that included raw material pass-through clauses. Under these contracts, there generally is a time lag of three to nine months for price changes to pass through, depending on the magnitude of the change in cost and other market dynamics. Freight expenses are generally passed through directly to customers.

While natural gas is not a direct feedstock for any product, all businesses use natural gas powered furnaces to heat raw materials and create the chemical reactions necessary to produce end-products. We maintain multiple suppliers wherever possible, hedge exposure to fluctuations in prices for natural gas purchases in the United States, make forward purchases of natural gas in the United States, Canada, and Europe to mitigate our exposure to price volatility, and structure our customer contracts when possible to allow for the pass-through of raw material and natural gas costs.

We account for our investments in our equity joint ventures under the equity method. Our largest joint venture, the Zeolyst Joint Venture, manufactures high performance, specialty, zeolite-based catalysts for use in the emission control industry, the petrochemical industry and other areas of the broader chemicals industry. We share proportionally in the management of our joint ventures with the other parties to each such joint venture.

As a global business, we are subject to the impact of gains and losses on currency translations, which occur when the financial statements of foreign operations are translated into U.S. dollars. We operate a geographically diverse business with approximately 40% of our sales for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Because our consolidated financial results are reported in U.S. dollars, sales or earnings generated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar can result in a significant increase or decrease in the amount of those sales and earnings when translated to U.S. dollars. The foreign currencies to which we have the most significant exchange rate exposure include the Euro, British pound, Canadian dollar, Brazilian real and the Mexican peso.

The following is a summary of our financial performance for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared with the year ended December 31, 2019.

The decrease in volumes was due to lower regeneration services demand from refinery utilization rates driven by COVID-19. The unfavorable pricing was driven by pass-through of lower sulfur costs.

The increase in sales was due to higher customer demand within our polyolefin catalysts product line.

The decrease in sales was a result of lower volumes sold for consumer products and industrial and process chemicals applications and the unfavorable effects of foreign currency translation driven by the stronger U.S. dollar.

Gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $273.4 million, a decrease of $25.0 million, or 8.4%, compared with $298.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease in gross profit was due to lower volumes of $37.7 million, unfavorable average selling price of $11.9 million, and the unfavorable effects of foreign currency translation of $4.2 million, partly offset by favorable manufacturing costs of $30.9 million.

The decrease in volumes was due to a decline in sulfuric acid sales and lower sales for consumer and industrial products applications. Unfavorable customer pricing was primarily a result of pass-through of lower sulfur costs. The unfavorable effects of foreign currency were driven by the stronger U.S. dollar. The favorable change in manufacturing costs were driven by lower labor costs and the timing of plant maintenance projects.

Equity in net income of affiliated companies for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $21.2 million, a decrease of $24.8 million, compared with income of $46.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease was primarily due to $26.7 million of earnings generated by the Zeolyst Joint Venture during the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to $52.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, which was a result of the timing of hydrocracking catalyst change-outs and lower demand for custom catalysts and emission control catalysts in heavy duty diesel production driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Summarized Segment Adjusted EBITDA information is shown below in the following table:

A reconciliation of net (loss) income attributable to PQ Group Holdings to Segment Adjusted EBITDA is as follows:

The adjustments to net (loss) income attributable to PQ Group Holdings Inc. are shown net of applicable statutory tax rates.

The following is a summary of our financial performance for the year ended December 31, 2019 compared with the year ended December 31, 2018.

The following is our consolidated statement of income and a summary of financial results for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018.

The decrease in volumes was due to lower demand for virgin sulfuric acid and unexpected customer plant outages. The favorable customer mix was driven by the roll-off of a below-market contract and other contract renewals in our regenerated sulfuric acid and virgin sulfuric acid product lines.

The increase in sales was due to the timing of customer orders for methyl methacrylate catalyst and higher customer demand and pricing within our polyolefin catalysts product line.

The decrease in sales was a result of lower volumes sold to the consumer products and industrial and process chemicals industries and the unfavorable effects of foreign currency translation driven by the stronger U.S. dollar, which was partially offset by higher pricing to cover raw material cost increases.

Gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2019 was $298.4 million, a decrease of $5.0 million, or 1.6%, compared with $303.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The decrease in gross profit was due to lower volumes of $31.7 million, unfavorable manufacturing costs of $22.0 million, and unfavorable foreign currency translation of $5.2 million, which was partially offset by favorable customer pricing of $45.1 million and favorable product mix of $8.3 million.

The decrease in volumes was due to a decline in sulfuric acid sales and lower sales to the consumer and industrial products industries. The unfavorable change in manufacturing costs was driven by the higher labor costs, timing of plant maintenance projects and increased transportation costs during the year ended December 31, 2019. The unfavorable effects of foreign currency were driven by the stronger U.S. dollar. Favorable customer pricing was primarily a result of a roll-off of a below-market contract in our virgin sulfuric acid product line. Favorable product mix was driven by increased volumes of higher-margin Silica Catalysts products.

Selling, general and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2019 were $129.5 million, a decrease of $1.9 million, or 1.4%, compared with $131.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The decrease in selling, general and administrative expenses was due to lower research and development expenditures and a decrease in professional fees, which was partially offset by an increase in compensation-related costs.

Other operating expense, net for the year ended December 31, 2019 was $21.4 million, an increase of $5.0 million, or 30.5%, compared with $16.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The increase in other operating expense, net was primarily due to the impact of non-recurring gains in the current year as compared to the prior year. During the year ended December 31, 2019 we realized a gain of $11.0 million on the disposition of assets related to a non-core product line as well as a gain of $7.1 million on the sale of property. During the year ended December 31, 2018, we recognized non-recurring gains on the termination of a customer supply contract of $20.6 million and insurance recoveries totaling $6.5 million related to losses sustained as a result of Hurricane Harvey in August 2017 (of which $5.5 million was recorded in other operating expense, net).

Equity in net income of affiliated companies for the year ended December 31, 2019 was $46.0 million, an increase of $8.4 million, compared with income of $37.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The increase was primarily due to $52.2 million of earnings generated by the Zeolyst Joint Venture during the year ended December 31, 2019 as compared to $42.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 which was a result of higher year-over-year growth in hydrocracking catalyst and specialty chemical event-driven sales.

Interest expense, net for the year ended December 31, 2019 was $87.1 million, a decrease of $3.7 million, as compared with $90.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The decrease in interest expense was due to lower average debt balances.

Debt extinguishment costs for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 were $3.4 million and $7.8 million, respectively.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, we prepaid $210.0 million of outstanding principal balance on the Term Loan Facility (as defined below). In connection with this prepayment, we wrote off $1.0 million of previously unamortized deferred financing costs and original issue discount of $2.4 million as debt extinguishment costs.

During the year ended December 31, 2018, we prepaid $100.0 million of outstanding principal balance on the Term Loan Facility (as defined below). In connection with this prepayment, we wrote off $0.6 million of previously unamortized deferred financing costs and original issue discount of $1.3 million as debt extinguishment costs.

Other (income) expense, net was income of $2.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, a favorable change of $13.0 million, compared with expense of $10.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The change primarily consisted of $2.3 million in sales and use tax refunds received during the year ended December 31, 2019 and $10.1 million of lower foreign currency losses primarily related to the non-permanent intercompany debt denominated in local currency and translated to U.S. dollars.

For the foregoing reasons and after the effect of the non-controlling interest in earnings of subsidiaries for each period presented, net income attributable to PQ Group Holdings was $79.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 as compared to a net income of $58.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Summarized Segment Adjusted EBITDA information is shown below in the following table:

A reconciliation of net income attributable to PQ Group Holdings to Segment Adjusted EBITDA is as follows: