Dupont posts loss issues warning:
siliconinvestor.com
Jul 25 7:54am ET
WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - DuPont Co. , the No. 1 U.S. chemical company, on
Wednesday posted a second-quarter loss and warned that business will not improve in
the third-quarter as the economic downturn is hurting demand for chemicals and
plastics.
DuPont posted a loss of $213 million, compared to earnings of $688 million in the
period a year ago. Before one-time items, income fell to $432 million, or 41 cents a
share, from $949 million, or 90 cents a share a year ago, which was in the range of
lowered estimates on Wall Street.
"Industries important to many of our customers -- electronics, automotive, textiles and
chemicals -- have been particularly affected by the economic downturn," said Charles
O. Holliday, Jr., DuPont chairman and chief executive officer. "This has temporarily
reduced fundamental demand for our products."
Consolidated sales fell to $7.0 billion from $7.9 billion.
Along with other chemical companies, DuPont has been hit by the U.S. economic
slowdown, which it has said is spreading to Europe, South America and parts of Asia.
DuPont shares rose 18.5 percent in the second quarter, outperforming the 12.1
percent rise in the S&P chemical index, on hopes that the chemical business was
nearing a bottom and would soon rebound.
But DuPont said Wednesday that business will continue to deteriorate in the
third-quarter. It said the third-quarter "will be substantially more challenging than the
second quarter," adding that it expects to post a sequential decline in earnings.
To combat the downturn, DuPont announced a restructuring earlier this year, in which
it will cut 5,500 jobs and another 1,300 contract workers.
Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call had forecast
second-quarter earnings of 35 cents to 45 cents a share, with a mean estimate of 40
cents. Earlier this month, before DuPont warned of an earnings shortfall. |
