MOSCOW (MRC) -- Westlake Chemical Corporation has reported net income for the third quarter of 2015 of USD183.6 million, or USD1.39 per diluted share, on net sales of USD1,188.0 million, as per the company's report.
This represents an increase in net income of USD15.8 million, or USD0.14 per diluted share, compared to the quarter ended September 30, 2014 net income of USD167.8 million, or USD1.25 per diluted share, on net sales of USD1,253.2 million.
Net income for the third quarter of 2015 was impacted by a lower effective tax rate and several plant outages as a result of maintenance turnaround activity.
Net sales for the third quarter of 2015 decreased by USD65.2 million compared to net sales for the third quarter of 2014, mainly due to lower sales prices for all our major products, partially offset by higher sales volumes for most of our major products and sales contributed by our specialty PVC resin business, Vinnolit, which we acquired on July 31, 2014.
Income from operations was USD254.0 million for the third quarter of 2015 as compared to USD306.8 million for the third quarter of 2014. The decrease in income from operations for the third quarter of 2015 was mainly attributable to lower integrated product margins, primarily as a result of lower sales prices in the third quarter of 2015, as compared to the prior-year period, and the lost sales, lower production rates, unabsorbed fixed manufacturing costs and other costs related to several maintenance turnarounds completed during the third quarter of 2015, partially offset by lower feedstock and energy costs, higher production rates at our Geismar, Louisiana chlor-alkali plant and the contribution from Vinnolit as compared to the third quarter of 2014.
Third quarter 2015 net income of USD183.6 million, or USD1.39 per diluted share, decreased by USD21.5 million from the USD205.1 million, or USD1.54 per diluted share, reported in the second quarter of 2015. Net income for the third quarter of 2015 was impacted by a lower effective tax rate and several plant outages as a result of maintenance turnaround activity.
Net sales in the third quarter of 2015 were USD1,188.0 million compared to net sales of USD1,185.0 million in the second quarter of 2015, an increase of USD3.0 million. The increase in sales was due to higher sales volumes for PVC and styrene, partially offset by lower sales prices for most of our major products and lower sales volumes for polyethylene.
Third quarter 2015 income from operations of USD254.0 million decreased USD41.4 million from the second quarter 2015 income from operations of USD295.4 million. The decrease was due to lower integrated olefins margins, primarily as a result of lower sales prices in the third quarter, and the lost sales, lower production rates, unabsorbed fixed manufacturing costs and other costs related to several maintenance turnarounds completed during the third quarter.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, net income was USD535.0 million, or USD4.02 per diluted share, on net sales of USD3,476.6 million. This represents an increase in net income of USD39.8 million, or USD0.33 per diluted share, from the nine months ended September 30, 2014 net income of USD495.2 million, or USD3.69 per diluted share, on net sales of USD3,279.5 million. Sales prices in the first nine months of 2015 were negatively impacted by the significant decline in crude oil prices.
As MRC informed previously, in December 2014, Technip was awarded a contract by Westlake Chemical to provide detailed engineering and procurement services to expand the recovery section of Westlake’s Petro 1 ethylene plant at its complex in Sulphur, Louisiana,
Westlake Chemical Corporation is a U.S. manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals and polymers, headquartered in Houston, Texas. The range of company's products includes ethylene, polyethylene, styrene, propylene, caustics, polyvinyl chloride and plastic products. Westlake is one of the major ethylene producers in the US and its Calvert City operation is a large integrated PVC site.
MRC