Albemarle Corporation, a specialty chemicals company, expects a 16 percent increase in its third quarter profit, curbed by low lithium performance, the company said in a preliminary earnings report Thursday.

The Charlotte-based company reported an expected net income of $155 million, or $1.53 per share on an adjusted basis, up from net income of $129.7 million, or $1.31 per share on an adjusted basis in the same quarter a year ago. The expected results fall below analyst expectations by 4 cents.

Lithium pricing was flat due to price pressure on lithium sales in China and delayed lithium shipments in September from Typhoon Tapah. The company also experienced tolling in La Negra, Chile and corrected an out-of-period adjustment regarding lithium carbonate inventory, the company said.

Lithium performance will be lower than previously forecasted for the fourth quarter, and a slight increase of bromine and catalyst sales will not offset the loss from lithium, according to the company. The current average earnings estimates for the fourth quarter is $1.79 per share.

As a result, the company cut its forecast for 2019 net sales and adjusted earnings per share. Albemarle now sees adjusted earnings per share of $6 to $6.20 for the year on net sales of $3.6 billion to $3.7 billion.

Albemarle also expects price pressure and a lack of online lithium capacity to lower its full-year 2020 EBITDA performance. It will provide an update on 2020 performance on its third quarter 2019 conference call scheduled for Nov. 7, 2019.

“While disappointed by third quarter performance in an otherwise strong year, we continue to put more robust processes in place to ensure greater operational rigor,” said Luke Kissam, Albemarle’s CEO. “To that end, we are initiating a program aimed at capturing significant and sustainable cost savings over the next two years.”

The company reiterated its previously announced initiatives to reduce its multi-year capital expenditure plan from $5 billion to $3.5 billion over the next five years to produce free cash flow in 2021.

Albemarle is a specialty chemicals company focused on lithium, bromine and refining catalysts. Its shares closed at $63.59 on Friday afternoon, down $5.86.

The filing can be found here.