DOW Dow Inc

By Joshua Jamerson 

Dow Chemical Co. said its revenue fell sharply amid pricing and currency headwinds in the latest quarter, as the company works to complete its merger with DuPont Co.

Still, the results, including adjusted per-share profit, topped expectations.

Dow on Thursday blamed local price declines in hydrocarbons and energy for the first-quarter sales decline, in addition to the stronger dollar, which makes its products more expensive abroad.

Dow Chief Executive and Chairman Andrew Liveris said he saw "strong demand signals in North America, gradual recovery in Europe and ongoing sustainable urbanization in China," though he warned that "pockets of volatility will persist, including near-term geopolitical and economic uncertainty, most notably in Brazil."

Midland, Mich.-based Dow, a giant in the chemical and agriculture industries and maker of products ranging from corn seeds to plastic, in December struck a deal to combine with rival DuPont into a $120 billion company that will have about $90 billion in sales.

The deal, which would create a company with a combined market value of about $104 billion, aims to eliminate $3 billion in combined costs before separating into three publicly traded companies within three years.

DuPont Chief Executive Ed Breen said this week that regulatory reviews of the deal in the U.S., Europe, China and Brazil are proceeding on schedule. Mr. Breen said U.S. regulators looking over the DowDuPont merger plan should clear it by the end of June, and that special shareholder meetings to vote on the merger would likely happen by the end of the second quarter.

Mr. Liveris said Thursday that the DuPont transaction was "on track."

In the March quarter, Dow's plastics segment, its largest, was reported sales of $4.2 billion, down from $4.3 billion a year ago, hurt by lower hydrocarbon pricing.

Over all, Dow reported a profit of $254 million, or 15 cents a share, down from $1.48 billion, or $1.18 cents, a year earlier.

Excluding items, such a 70 cents a share on a legal settlement, per-share earnings were 89 cents.

Revenue declined 13% to $10.7 billion. Analysts had projected 83 cents in adjusted earnings per share on $10.66 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.

Write to Joshua Jamerson at joshua.jamerson@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 28, 2016 07:41 ET (11:41 GMT)

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