DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Huntsman Corp.'s (HUN) profit soared on a gain from its failed
buyout while demand continued to slump for the chemicals company,
with results falling short of expectations.
Shares recently dipped 0.5% premarket to $7.32. The stock has
more than doubled this year as uncertainty ended about the
takeover. Still, the stock is down 48% the past 52 weeks.
In June, Huntsman ended a year of legal wrangling when the
company, Credit Suisse Group (CS) and Deutsche Bank AG (DB) settled
their lawsuit over the collapsed buyout of Huntsman, with Huntsman
receiving $632 million and an extension on a $1.1 billion loan on
favorable terms.
Apollo Management LP's portfolio company Hexion Specialty
Chemicals Inc. (HXN) originally agreed to buy Huntsman in July 2007
for $6.5 billion.
The award was lower than the $4.65 billion in damages originally
sought by Huntsman, which accused the banks of conspiring with
Apollo to scuttle the deal. The banks said they balked because the
combined Hexion-Huntsman would be insolvent.
Meanwhile, the chemicals industry has been beset by the woes
facing major customers in the construction, automotive and textile
industries.
Huntsman's profit rose to $406 million, or $1.51 a share, from
$24 million, or 10 cents a share. Excluding items such as the $844
million buyout gain, the company swung to a loss from continuing
operations of $64 million, or 27 cents a share, from year-earlier
profit of $20 million, or 9 cents a share.
Revenue skidded 36% to $1.87 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently were looking
for a loss of 13 cents on revenue of $1.96 billion.
Gross margin fell to 12.7% from 13.2%.
At the polyurethanes business, the biggest by sales, sales slid
40% while earnings tumbled 42%.
-By Mike Barris, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2330;
mike.barris@dowjones.com;