Wilmington, Delaware
April 22, 2008
Highlights
- First quarter 2008
earnings were $1.31 per share compared to $1.01 in the prior
year.
Excluding a significant item charge in the prior year,
earnings per share increased 22 percent.
- Sales grew 9 percent to
$8.6 billion, reflecting 6 percent higher local selling
prices and 5 percent currency benefit, partly offset by 1
percent lower volume and a net 1 percent reduction
principally due to a chemical business divestiture. Local
selling price gains more than offset higher ingredient
costs.
-
Sales in Agriculture & Nutrition increased 18 percent and
earnings grew 21 percent, reflecting strong demand for the
company’s production agriculture products.
- Sales in emerging markets
grew 25 percent, led by Brazil, China, India and Eastern
Europe.
- Reduced demand in the
United States for the company’s products sold into
construction and motor vehicle markets moderated results in
the Safety & Protection and Coatings & Color Technologies
segments.
- Segment pre-tax operating
income (PTOI) increased to $1.9 billion. Excluding
significant items, segment PTOI margin improved 1 percentage
point to 21 percent.
“We’re off to a strong start for
the year,” said DuPont
Chairman and CEO Charles O. Holliday, Jr. “Our investments in
agriculture and emerging markets enabled us to capitalize on
robust growth in those areas which, when combined with gains
from our productivity improvement programs, more than offset
higher ingredient costs and weakness in certain U.S. markets.
We’ll continue to drive faster revenue growth from
science-based, high value-added products and greater
productivity.”
“Despite the impact of weaker demand in certain U.S. markets,
this quarter is a good first step toward achieving our
accelerated growth objectives,” Holliday said. “We’re taking the
right actions in attractive markets to maximize value for
shareholders.”
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