Sales at Olin Corporation’s Winchester Ammunition segment increased 11.8 percent in the second quarter, to $500.3 million, compared to $447.6 million in the 2025 second quarter. The increase was said to be primarily due to higher commercial ammunition sales and higher military project revenue as year-over-year demand improves and pricing initiatives to offset rising metals costs start to gain traction, according to comments from Olin Corporation President and CEO Kenneth Lane on a Thursday conference call with analysts.
“At Winchester, self-help actions taken in late-2025 disciplined cost and working capital management and a recovering commercial ammunition market continue to support improved performance,” Lane said. He added that domestic and international military ammunition and project sales continue to be strong.
“Winchester continues to increase prices to offset rising raw material costs, particularly copper and brass,” Lane shared. “Both of these have resulted in year-over-year improvement to adjusted EBITDA.”
Second quarter 2026 earnings for the Winchester segment were $28.1 million, up 12.4 percent compared to $25.0 million in the second quarter 2025. The increase in segment earnings was said to be primarily due to higher commercial ammunition pricing and volume and higher military project revenue, partially offset by higher raw material costs, primarily commodity metal costs, and higher operating costs.
Winchester second quarter 2026 results included depreciation and amortization expense of $8.8 million compared to $7.9 million in the second quarter 2025.
“Winchester is continuing its disciplined approach to working capital and inventory management as we see our commercial backlog grow,” the CEO said. “The third quarter is typically our strongest for commercial ammunition demand due to the fall hunting season, and we expect that to drive sequential earnings improvement.
Looking ahead, Lane said Winchester third quarter results are expected to improve, driven by higher commercial volumes and pricing, partially offset by higher metals costs. “We’ll continue to remain focused on working capital discipline,” he stated.
He told analysts that Olin expects a “modest earnings improvement” at Winchester, although corporate costs are expected to be a sequential headwind. Overall, he suggested that Adjusted EBITDA should again be in the range of $160 million to $200 million.
Lane said that Winchester was “doing very well” with the company’s $30 million in planned cost outs. “We’ve already recognized a pretty significant part of that $30 million that we’ve committed to through efficiency improvements,” he continued. “You heard us talk about in the fourth quarter of last year, we were doing things to rightsize our shifts and make sure that we make sure that we were operating as efficiently as we could at all of our sites, and we’ve made a lot of very good progress there.”
He said they have also just kicked off with their “Beyond250” efforts, where they are bringing in some outside expertise to help further improve the efficiencies, particularly at the Lake City facility in Missouri.
“We’re confident in the $30 million that we have out there,” Lane said. “In fact, I would even say that for Winchester, we’re likely to exceed that number once we get a little bit further down the road with assessing where we’re at in Lake City.”
During the Q&A segment of the call, Lane was queried if a lower import competition on the commercial side that Lane had mentioned was related to the wars outside the U.S., metal costs or something else that is reducing the competition.
“So the lower imports are related to tariffs,” Lane said. He responded that when looking at the tariffs that have been placed on imported ammunition, it has fluctuated a little bit, but it’s now 20 percent or more in some cases. “So we continue to see that being a tailwind for the commercial business for Winchester.”
Lane said they have faced a lot of headwinds related to the tariffs around copper and brass. “And so we’ve been having to fight that with our price increases,” the CEO said. “But it’s now good to see that the imports are getting tariffs that are going to help give us a little bit of support here.”
In the six months, sales at the Winchester segment rose 16.2 percent to $970.8 million from $835.6 million in the Q2 period a year ago. Income before taxes slid 9.4 percent to $43.3 million from $47.8 million a year ago.
Companywide, Olin’s reported a net loss of $13.3 million, or 12 cents a share, compared to a net loss of $1.3 million, or 1 cent, a year ago. Second quarter 2026 adjusted EBITDA of $191.3 million excludes depreciation and amortization expense of $122.1 million, acquisition-related costs of $10.6 million, and restructuring charges of $10.5 million. Second quarter 2025 adjusted EBITDA was $176.1 million. Sales in the second quarter 2026 were $1,741.9 million, compared to $1,758.3 million in the second quarter 2025.
In Olin’s other segments, Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls sales for the quarter were $819.5 million, compared to $979.5 million in the second quarter 2025. Second quarter segment earnings were $53.4 million, compared to $64.9 million in the second quarter 2025
Epoxy segment sales for the quarter were $422.1 million, compared to $331.2 million in the second quarter 2025. Second quarter 2026 segment earnings were $16.0 million, compared to a segment loss of $23.7 million in the second quarter 2025.
Ken Lane, Olin’s president and CEO, said, “The Olin team delivered sequential improvement in adjusted EBITDA in a highly volatile environment. Our Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls business benefited from improved caustic soda and ethylene dichloride pricing and from favorable operating performance driven by our Beyond250 structural cost actions. However, partially offsetting this performance was an unplanned shutdown of the vinyl chloride monomer plant in Freeport, Texas. Operations have resumed at reduced rates. The disruption reduced second quarter adjusted EBITDA by $40 million, with an estimated $20 million impact expected in the third quarter as full rates are planned to resume late in the quarter. Epoxy continued to improve as margins expanded despite persistent weak demand conditions in Europe. Winchester’s sequential improvement was driven by stronger commercial demand and pricing actions implemented to offset commodity metals and raw materials cost inflation.
“Looking ahead, we expect our Chemical businesses’ third quarter 2026 results to be comparable to the second quarter, as reduced operating rates at the vinyl chloride monomer facility and weaker ethylene dichloride pricing offset expected stronger caustic soda volumes. In our Winchester business, seasonally improving commercial demand is expected to support sequential earnings growth. With continued significant global volatility, third quarter 2026 adjusted EBITDA is forecast to be in the range of $160 million to $200 million,” Lane concluded.
Corporate And Other Costs
Other corporate and unallocated costs in the second quarter of 2026 increased $5.4 million compared to the second quarter 2025 primarily due to an unfavorable impact from foreign currency, partially offset by lower stock-based compensation, which includes mark-to-market adjustments. PROPOSED
Merger of Equals
On June 16, 2026, Olin and Huntsman Corporation announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine in an all-stock merger of equals to form a combined company, OlinHuntsman Corporation. Second quarter 2026 results included acquisition-related costs of $10.6 million related to this pending merger. Completion of the merger, which is expected to occur in the first half of 2027, is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including the receipt of required regulatory approvals and approval of the merger by both Olin shareholders and Huntsman stockholders.
Liquidity
The cash balance on June 30, 2026, was $177.4 million. Olin ended the second quarter 2026 with net debt of approximately $2.85 billion and a net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 5.0 times. On June 30, 2026, Olin had available liquidity of approximately $1.2 billion, including unrestricted access to the undrawn portion of its revolving credit facility. Working capital increased $183.0 million in the first half 2026. In addition to the normal seasonal working capital built in first half of the year, which we expect to liquidate during the second half, Olin paid approximately $93 million, including previously accrued reserves, to resolve legacy Shintech litigation matters and expect to pay the remaining approximately $100 million in the second half of 2026.
Image courtesy Winchester Ammunition
