DuPont 4Q profit falls, as year-ago results had 1-time boost
DOVER, Del. -- Chemicals maker DuPont said Tuesday fourth-quarter earnings fell 37 percent from a year earlier, when one-time items bolstered the bottom line.
But excluding those items, profit rose sharply and exceeded Wall Street expectations as the company's international business surged.
Net income slid to $545 million, or 60 cents per share, from $871 million, or 94 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
Excluding a series of gains in each period, earnings rose to 57 cents per share from 45 cents per share last year. That result exceeded estimates on Wall Street, where analysts expected 49 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial.
The company said sales to developing markets such as India and Brazil rose 20 percent. U.S. sales rose 5 percent, depressed by the weak housing and automotive markets but boosted by higher prices. Sales also benefited from an increase in foreign currency values.
Total net sales rose 11 percent to almost $7 billion, up from about $6.3 billion last year. Wall Street expected $6.67 billion. Volumes climbed 10 percent in the Asia-Pacific region and 5 percent in Canada and Latin America, but were flat in the U.S. and down slightly in Europe.
Sales increased 23 percent in the company's agriculture and nutrition unit, with volume and prices both up 11 percent. Volume increased 7 percent in the electronic and communication technologies unit but dropped 2 percent in performance materials, although higher prices led to a 12 percent jump in sales.
"This is a strong quarter fueled by top-line growth and good cost control," Carl Lukach, DuPont vice president for investor relations, said in advance of a conference call with analysts.
DuPont chairman and chief executive officer Charles Holliday Jr. said fourth-quarter results reflect the company's global presence and diversity of products.
Lukach said the "old DuPont," a less diverse company that relied heavily on petroleum-based ingredients for products such as the synthetic fiber Nylon, would have had a difficult time posting positive results in a climate of $100-a-barrel oil and the slump in the U.S. housing and automotive markets.
"Five years ago, DuPont couldn't have done this ... The old DuPont really would have been decimated by those three factors," he said.
Excluding significant items, full-year earnings increased 14 percent to $3.28 per share, compared with $2.88 in the prior year.
Profit fell 5 percent to $2.99 billion, or $3.22 per share, down from $3.15 billion, or $3.38 per share, in 2006. Sales increased to $29.4 billion from $27.4 billion.
"We recognize that these are challenging times, as the macroeconomic and global political environment creates concerns among investors about the outlook for business profitability and growth for companies," Holliday wrote in a letter to shareholders. "While such concerns are real, the multiyear transformation of DuPont and our improved performance have put us in a better position to meet these challenges."