February 27, 2012 - IMM@BUCT

fourth quarter. Although sales grew 13.8%,
earnings fell by 29.8% to $325 million. CEO
Ellen J. Kullman blamed the weaker earnings
on a higher tax rate in 2011. To explain
low volume growth, she pointed to cautious
customers rather than slow economic
growth. Kullman reminded analysts in a
conference call last month that the company
had already revised its guidance in
December, when it warned about “market
softness in electronics and customers’
conservative year-end cash management
with further destocking in the polymer and
industrial supply chains.”
Meanwhile, both executives said the end
of the year was unusually good for their
agriculture businesses, thanks to strong
demand from Latin America. Dow’s seed
business enjoyed a sales increase of 22%
compared with the year-ago quarter. Du-
Pont’s sales of seeds and agricultural chemicals
increased 8% in the quarter and 23% in
the second half of 2011. In a note to clients,
Deutsche Bank analyst David Beg leiter said
DuPont’s strong finish in Latin America was
unexpected and helped the company beat
consensus expectations for the quarter.
THE SAME WAVE from the Southern
Hemisphere buoyed FMC Corp.’s results
in the fourth quarter. The company’s sales
of agricultural chemicals grew 22% in Latin
America on strong demand in Brazil and
new product introductions from a joint
venture in Argentina. FMC also benefited
from demand for its industrial chemicals,
especially from overseas buyers of soda
ash. In addition, the firm profited from
higher prices for peroxygens, after it shifted
its product mix toward specialty peroxygens.
Overall, FMC saw the second-highest
growth in earnings of the companies
tracked by C&EN, up 40.0% to $112 million.
In contrast, the destocking in the polymer
supply chain that plagued DuPont was
also evident at Albemarle. Slack volumes
for the firm’s polymer additives resulted in
5% lower sales, despite higher prices. Otherwise
the firm had a strong quarter, raising
sales and earnings by 17% apiece compared
with the fourth quarter of 2010. Higher
prices boosted sales of catalysts 25% in the
quarter. Both prices and volumes increased
in Albemarle’s fine chemicals segment.
Industrial gas customers made the fourth
quarter a good one at Praxair. In North
America, sales increased 7%, which the firm
attributed to growth in the manufacturing,
energy, chemicals, and metals markets.
Higher sales of specialty coatings for aviation
and oil and gas drilling applications also
contributed to earnings growth of 6.7%.
But at industrial gases rival Air Products
& Chemicals, seasonality in electronics,
performance materials, and merchant
gases pushed sales in the segment down by
7%, which was just about offset by higher
volumes in tonnage gases caused by the
opening of new plants. Overall, earnings
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slipped by a little more than 1% compared
with the year-ago quarter. “As we expected,
economic growth continued to slow this
quarter, depressing volumes and limiting
earnings growth,” commented Air Products
CEO John E. McGlade.
At Celanese, earnings declined 6.8% in
the quarter due in part to slow sales in Europe.
“This led to a sharp inventory destock-
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WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 25 FEBRUARY 27, 2012