By Tess Stynes
Dow Chemical Co. said its first-quarter earnings rose 41% on
asset-sales gains and volume growth despite revenue getting hit by
lower selling prices, crude oil prices and negative currency
impacts.
The petrochemical maker's shares rose nearly 2% to $51 in recent
premarket trading as profit excluding certain items beat
expectations.
The Midland, Mich., company recently agreed to spin off a
significant portion of its chlorine business to smaller chemicals
maker Olin Corp. in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $5 billion,
part of a multiyear effort to shift its focus to higher margin
products from commoditized basic chemicals.
Overall, Dow Chemical reported a profit of $1.48 billion, or
$1.18 a share, up from $1.05 billion, or 79 cents a share, a year
earlier. Excluding asset-sales gains, transaction-related expenses
and other items, per-share earnings were 84 cents. Revenue
decreased 14% to $12.4 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of
76 cents and revenue of $13.04 billion.
Dow has faced criticism from activist hedge fund Third Point
LLC, which began pressuring Dow in early 2014 to pursue a breakup
that would go further than the restructuring it had already
outlined.
Dow and Third Point settled a looming proxy fight last November,
with Dow adding four directors including two proposed by Third
Point.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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