DuPont Aligns Businesses By Markets, Technologies; Forms Textiles & Interiors Subsidiary
Taking the next step in its transformation to a sustainable growth company, DuPont today announced the alignment of its businesses in five market- and technology-focused growth platforms and the creation of a textiles and interiors subsidiary.
The growth platforms are: DuPont Electronic & Communication Technologies; DuPont Performance Materials; DuPont Coatings & Color Technologies; DuPont Safety & Protection; and DuPont Agriculture & Nutrition.
"Consistent with our long-term strategy and direction, our growth platforms will be more tightly focused on markets and technologies. This will enable faster execution and improved capability for innovation and shareholder value creation," said DuPont Chairman and CEO Chad Holliday.
DuPont Intends to Separate Subsidiary The new wholly owned subsidiary, called DuPont Textiles & Interiors, will include nylon fibers, polyester fibers and Lycra® brand fiber businesses, plus their intermediates and joint ventures. DuPont will consider a full range of options for DuPont Textiles & Interiors, including an initial public offering (IPO), with the ultimate intent of separation by year-end 2003, market conditions permitting. The company has engaged Morgan Stanley to assist in the evaluation process.
"A company can operate successfully for 200 years only by continually reinventing itself," Chad said. "DuPont people in all of our businesses know this is key to a strong future. Each of the five growth platforms has the critical mass to pursue our strategies of integrated science, knowledge intensity and productivity improvement while capitalizing on strong market positions, quality products and powerful brands. At the same time, our new Textiles & Interiors subsidiary will have the scale, global reach and flexibility to be highly successful in an industry undergoing fundamental structural change."
New Subsidiary Will Be a Global Leader DuPont Textiles & Interiors will be the world's largest integrated fibers company with annual segment sales estimated at USD 6.5 billion. This represents about 23 percent of 2001 total DuPont segment sales, which includes transfers and the company's pro rata share of sales by equity affiliates. The subsidiary will be structured to grow shareholder value by aligning resources with market opportunity and establishing an industry-competitive cost structure.
As the global leader in product categories representing 75 percent of its revenue, DuPont Textiles & Interiors will have significant cash and earnings growth potential based on growth in key branded platforms such as Lycra® brand fiber, Stainmaster® carpet and Antron® nylon carpet, significant cost reduction opportunities, a robust innovation pipeline and strong market channel access.
DuPont Textiles 38; Interiors will be led by DuPont Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Richard Goodmanson and an experienced team including Group Vice Presidents Steve McCracken and George MacCormack.
"Our nylon, polyester and Lycra® businesses have played a very important role in DuPont for many decades," Chad said. "They have served our company, our shareholders and our customers extremely well. Now, with rapidly changing industry dynamics and tough market realities, we believe the course we have chosen is necessary to allow them to succeed in the future."
Concurrent with these actions, DuPont will offset all residual costs from the separation of the DuPont Textiles & Interiors subsidiary by aggressively reducing its cost structure for corporate and support services. Leading this effort will be Don Johnson, group vice president – Operations and Services.
Leveraging Markets and Technology Each of the five growth platforms has strong capabilities, large market opportunities and leadership focus and accountability. A priority will be to leverage across the platforms as needed for market access and technology extension.
The five growth platforms are:
DuPont Electronic & Communication Technologies. With about USD 2.7 billion in segment sales, this group is a world leader in electronic materials. It has the ability to capitalize on development of innovative technologies that improve the form and functionality of electronic components in a wide range of applications for the information and communications industries. The group comprises DuPont Electronic Technologies; DuPont Displays Technologies; DuPont Imaging Technologies; and DuPont Fluoroproducts, which includes fluoropolymers, fluorochemicals and fuel cells. These businesses will be led by Diane Gulyas, currently vice president & general manager – DuPont Advanced Fibers Systems, who will become group vice president. DuPont Performance Materials. With segment sales of about USD 4.7 billion, this group will focus on high-performance materials substitution in areas where DuPont has a unique advantage. It includes DuPont Engineering Polymers; DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers; and DuPont interests in the DuPont Dow Elastomers and DuPont Teijin Films joint ventures. Group Vice President Craig Naylor will lead these businesses. DuPont Coatings & Color Technologies. With segment sales of about USD 4.9 billion, this group of businesses will extend the company's global industry leadership position in coatings and color through superior product development and productivity advances. It includes DuPont Performance Coatings and DuPont White Pigment and Mineral Products. Group Vice President Ed Donnelly will lead these businesses. DuPont Safety & Protection. With segment sales of about USD 3.6 billion, this group of businesses is well positioned to address high growth opportunities, capitalizing on the company's unsurpassed capability in safety, security and protection, while integrating knowledge and products in solutions-based offerings. It includes DuPont Safety Resources; DuPont Advanced Fibers Systems; DuPont Nonwovens; the DuPont Chemical Solutions Enterprise; and DuPont Surfaces. These businesses will be led by Group Vice President Ellen Kullman. DuPont Agriculture & Nutrition. With segment sales of about USD 4.3 billion, this business group will leverage DuPont strengths in crop protection chemicals, seeds, biotechnology, food ingredients and safety to provide solutions for growers and the global food industry. It comprises DuPont Crop Protection; Pioneer Hi-Bred International; and DuPont Nutrition & Health, which includes DuPont Protein Technologies and DuPont Qualicon. These businesses will be led by Group Vice President Howard Minigh. The five growth platform leaders will report to John Hodgson, currently group vice president, who is appointed executive vice president. DuPont external financial reporting will be realigned to reflect the new management structure. Estimated sales data shown above are based on 2001 segment sales.
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