MOSCOW (MRC) -- US conglomerate DuPont announced that its first quarter GAAP earnings per share rose 9% on a yearly basis to USD1.52 on 5% higher revenues of USD7.7 billion, said Nasdaq.
The Delaware-based company's operating earnings per share jumped 30% to USD1.64.
The statement said the highest increase in sales was recorded in agriculture, performance materials and electronics and communications. Agriculture sales grew 4% due to "benefits from local price and volume." It was the sector that best performed with operating earnings rising 12% to USD1,236 million.
"The strength of our new product introductions and increased demand in key markets together resulted in top-line increases in almost every business," said the chemical corporation's chief executive and chairman Ed Breen. He added that they "expect to close the merger [with Dow] in August of this year and quickly begin working on the 500-plus projects already identified to deliver the targeted $3 billion in cost synergies."
The stock added 0.92% upon the release of the first quarter results while it soared over 20% in the past year.
DuPont, in its fourth-quarter call, said that it expects earnings (on a reported basis) for first-quarter 2017 to decline roughly 18% year over year. The guidance includes an expected charge of about 15 cents per share for transaction costs related to the planned merger with Dow Chemical DOW .
The company expects adjusted earnings for the first quarter to increase around 8% year over year factoring in the benefits of cost saving actions and the impact of the change in timing for seed deliveries, mostly related to the southern U.S. route-to-market change in Agriculture, partly masked by an expected reduction in planted corn acres in the U.S. DuPont also expects flat sales for the first quarter on a year over year basis.
MRC