Solutia Reports Second Quarter Loss of 20 Cents Per Share and Provides Litigation Update

This compares to income from continuing operations for the second quarter of 2002 of $11 million, or 10 cents per share, on net sales of $585 million.Solutia's operations for the second quarter versus the year-ago period were negatively impacted by elevated raw material and energy costs, increased interest expense and severance costs associated with workforce reductions, offset to some extent by higher sales prices, favorable currency exchange rate fluctuations and improved manufacturing operations.The second quarter net loss included charges of approximately $7 million after tax resulting from several events.The Company eliminated approximately 280 positions during the quarter, incurring severance charges of $5 million after tax. In addition, the Flexsys and Astaris joint ventures, in which the Company has a fifty percent ownership stake, incurred restructuring charges during the quarter. Solutia's share of these charges was approximately $2 million after tax.

"Notwithstanding quarterly sales revenue of $611 million, our earnings continued to be adversely impacted by persistently elevated raw material and energy costs and significant over capacity in the market place. The pace of the economic recovery in North America has yet to spark increased demand," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Hunter. "We continue to take necessary actions to offset these circumstances, such as streamlining our Acrilan acrylic fibers product line to focus on specialty products, reducing headcount, managing discretionary spending and passing along cost increases when possible," Hunter said.