МОSCOW (MRC) -- Dow Chemical continued its positive surprise streak with solid earnings beat in the first quarter of 2016. The U.S. chemical giant registered adjusted earnings of 89 cents per share for the quarter that outstripped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 83 cents. The results were driven by strong margins, aided by the company's cost-management actions, as per company's press release.
The quarterly results exclude charges (of 70 cents per share) associated with legal settlements and costs related to portfolio and productivity actions. Including these items, the company logged profit of USD169 million or 15 cents per share, a roughly 88% plunge from USD1,393 million or USD1.18 per share recorded a year ago.
Dow's EBITDA margin (as adjusted) reached the highest level in more than a decade in the quarter with gains recorded in most operating segments, notably Consumer Solutions and Agricultural Sciences.
However, Dow's revenues dropped roughly 13% year over year to USD10,703 million with declines witnessed across the board. Lower pricing and currency headwinds (stemming from a stronger dollar) hurt revenues in the quarter. Sales, however, came ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of USD10,478 million. Volumes (excluding divestments and acquisitions) rose 4% in the quarter.
As MRC informed earlier,F ilm extruder Transilwrap Co. Inc. has bought the specialty films business of Dow Chemical Co. for an undisclosed price. The deal includes production plants in Hebron, Ohio, and Drusenheim, France. The business makes films based on polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene for numerous medical and packaging applications such as beverage closer liners, ostomy bags, window envelope films, labels and protective fabrics.
The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene (PS), polyurethane, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and synthetic rubber.
MRC