Tronox Revises 2026 Cash Flow to a Use After Conflict Costs

The Tip Desk · November 11, 2026 · 4 min read

Adjusted EBITDA reached $101 million in the third quarter, and the titanium dioxide maker now expects a $25-50 million use of free cash for the full year.

Tronox Holdings plc (TROX), the integrated titanium dioxide and zircon producer, reported third-quarter revenue of $827 million, up 18% from a year earlier, and said results were in line with prior guidance.

Adjusted EBITDA was $101 million, a 36% increase from $74 million a year earlier, with margin at 12.2%. Sequentially, Adjusted EBITDA rose 38% from $73 million in the second quarter, when the margin was 8.4%. The company said the sequential gain reflected higher average TiO2 and zircon selling prices including mix and lower corporate costs, partly offset by lower sales volumes and higher production costs.

Income from operations was $12 million, compared with a $43 million loss a year earlier and a $21 million loss in the second quarter. Net loss attributable to Tronox was $55 million, or $0.34 a share, versus a $99 million loss, or $0.63 a share, a year earlier. Adjusted net loss was $54 million, or $0.34 a share.

TiO2 sales were $653 million, up 19% year over year on 10% higher volumes and 9% higher average selling prices including mix. Sequentially, TiO2 sales fell 7% as volumes dropped 11% and prices including mix rose 4%. Zircon revenue was $93 million, up 58% year over year on 49% higher volumes and 9% higher prices including mix; sequentially it fell 4% as volumes dropped 13% and prices including mix rose 9%. Other products revenue was $81 million.

Chief Executive Officer John Romano said pricing actions announced in the second quarter were implemented in the third, supported by antidumping initiatives and industry supply dynamics. He said the unforeseen prolonged conflict in the Middle East unfavorably impacted third-quarter demand and drove supply-chain disruptions that raised raw-material input costs, including natural gas, sulfur and sulfuric acid. Operating rates at the Yanbu pigment facility were affected by unplanned downtime after a temporary closure of Saudi Arabia’s East-West natural gas pipeline; the company said the site is back up.

The company said it successfully ramped the Namakwa furnace and the West Mine to support demand and improve future inventory availability, particularly for zircon. Pigment operating rates increased sequentially, though production was adjusted in response to lower-than-anticipated demand. Romano said the cost-improvement program remains on track to deliver more than $175 million of run-rate savings by the end of 2026, exceeding the high end of the original target.

Free cash flow was $5 million, versus a $137 million use a year earlier and $60 million of generation in the second quarter. Capital expenditures were $57 million. Tronox ended the quarter with $3.2 billion of total debt, $3.1 billion of net debt and a net leverage ratio of 10.5x on a trailing twelve-month basis. Available liquidity totaled $509 million, including $136 million in cash and $373 million under revolving credit agreements. The next significant debt maturity is not until 2029.

The company guided fourth-quarter 2026 Adjusted EBITDA to $80-$90 million, below the $95-$115 million range it had set for the third quarter. It said the range reflects about $15-20 million of higher-than-expected input costs and lower TiO2 sales revenue than previously anticipated. TiO2 volumes are expected to decline sequentially in the high-single to low double-digit percentage range, primarily on seasonality and lower demand in Europe and Asia Pacific. Zircon volumes are expected to soften moderately on inventory availability. TiO2 pricing gains are expected to be sustained; zircon pricing is expected to rise sequentially in the mid-single-digit range.

Full-year 2026 free cash flow was revised to a use of $25-50 million from an earlier expectation of meaningful positive free cash flow, which the company attributed primarily to the prolonged Middle East conflict, unanticipated raw-material price headwinds and weaker sales volumes. Fourth-quarter free cash flow is expected to be a source of $20-45 million. The company said it plans to reduce full-year 2026 capital expenditures by about $30 million.

Tronox also announced a 50/50 cooperation and investment agreement with JX Advanced Metals to fund about $32 million in aggregate for a feasibility study of a proposed Australian cracking and leaching facility, a pre-feasibility study for a proposed US refinery, and a US-based pilot facility for high-purity rare earth oxides.