DuPont Posts Higher Quarterly Earnings, Buoyed by Latin America

Posted by |27 October 2011

DuPont reported higher-than-expected third-quarter earnings, powered by strength in Latin American agricultural product sales, leading the American chemical manufacturing giant to boost its profit outlook for the year.

Agriculture easily outperformed DuPont’s other business segments in quarterly sales. It cited the strong, early start to the planting season in Latin America for a 41-percent rise in its Agriculture unit sales from a year ago, to $1.4 billion. Overall, the company’s sales rose 32 percent to $9.2 billion.

The company’s Pioneer corn and soybean seeds posted both volume and price growth during the quarter. Crop protection sales increased across all regions and market segments, it said, led by continued strong demand for Rynaxypyr insecticide.

“Despite turbulent global economic and market conditions, we delivered solid growth through innovative products and process technologies, disciplined execution and continued productivity gains,” DuPont Chair and CEO Ellen Kullman said in a statement.

The company’s reported earnings per share for the quarter totaled 48 cents, compared with 40 cents per share a year earlier. Given the strong performance in the third quarter, it raised its expectations for full-year 2011 earnings to a range of $3.97 to $4.05 per share excluding significant items.