Crompton's Third Quarter Earnings Significantly Exceed Prior Year

23-Oct-2002

Crompton Corporation reported today third quarter earnings before special items of $17.2 million, or 15 cents per share, significantly exceeding the breakeven in the third quarter of 2001 and equaling the First Call consensus.

Special items for the quarter included an after-tax charge of $4.6 million, or four cents per share, for previously announced facility closures, severance and related costs. Including special items, earnings for the third quarter were $12.6 million, or 11 cents per share, compared to a loss of $68.2 million, or 60 cents per share, in the third quarter of 2001. Versus 2001, a reconciliation schedule of third quarter sales and earnings per share before special items has been included in the accompanying statement of operations.

Third quarter sales of $624.7 million were three percent above the prior year after adjusting for divested operations, despite sales declines of approximately 12 percent in both polymer processing equipment and EPDM. An increase in unit volume of four percent and favorable foreign currency translation of two percent more than offset unfavorable selling prices of three percent.

For the first nine months of 2002, the company reported net earnings before special items of $44.7 million, or 39 cents per share, compared to $29.8 million, or 26 cents per share, for the comparable period of 2001. Including special items and the cumulative effect of accounting change, the loss for the first nine months of 2002 was $285.9 million, or $2.47 per diluted share, compared to a loss of $38.5 million, or 34 cents per diluted share, for the first nine months of 2001. Year-to-date sales of $1.96 billion were four percent below the comparable period of 2001 after adjusting for divested operations.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/15347/crompton-s-third-quarter-earnings-significantly-exceed-prior-year.html