DowDuPont Q4 Loss Widens; Increases Cost Synergy Commitment

(RTTNews) - DowDuPont (DWDP) reported that its fourth-quarter net loss available for common stockholders widened to $1.26 billion or $0.54 per share from $33 million or $0.03 per share in the prior year.

Adjusted earnings per share increased 41 percent to $0.83, compared with pro forma adjusted earnings per share in the year-ago period of $0.59. Adjusted earnings per share excludes significant items in the quarter totaling net charges of $1.26 per share, as well as a $0.09 per share charge for DuPont amortization of intangible assets.

Net sales increased 13 percent to $20.1 billion, with gains in all operating segments and geographies, from pro forma net sales of $17.7 billion in the year-ago period. The primary sales growth drivers by division were: Materials Science - Industrial Intermediates & Infrastructure (27 percent) and Packaging & Specialty Plastics (17 percent); Specialty Products - Transportation & Advanced Polymers and Nutrition & Biosciences (10 percent each); and Agriculture (5 percent).

Regional sales increases were led by Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) (25 percent) and North America (10 percent), with gains in all divisions, led by the Materials Science operating segments.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.67 per share and revenues of $19.55 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

The company achieved an annual cost synergy run-rate of more than $800 million and more than $200 million of realized savings in the fourth quarter. DowDuPont announced today that it is increasing its cost synergy commitment from $3 billion to $3.3 billion.

The company said that it has updated the timing and sequence of the intended separation of the companies: Materials Science is expected to separate by the end of the first quarter of 2019, and Agriculture and Specialty Products are expected to separate by June 1, 2019.