January 23, 2008

DuPont's fourth quarter profits beat analyst expectations at US$6.98 billion

DuPont company's sales in the last quarter of 2007 rose 11 percent to US6.98 billion, pushed by increased volumes and high local selling prices.

On Tuesday, DuPont announced that the remarkable fourth-quarter earnings were in part attributed to its strong agricultural sales in Brazil.

Net income was US$545 million, or 60 cents a share. In the quarter a year ago, which included tax benefits and insurance recoveries, profit was US$871 million, or 94 cents a share.

Analysts, on average, had forecast earnings of 50 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates. Some analysts, however, did note that a lower-than-expected tax rate added 5 cents a share to earnings in the quarter.

Jeffrey Zekauskas, an analyst at JPMorgan, said that each of the company's five operating units were better than expected, but most notably in agricultural and performance materials.

DuPont is a science-based products and services company operating in more than 70 countries, serving markets including agriculture and food.