DuPont profit rises, beats expectations
DuPont Co. said Tuesday that strong agriculture sales and emerging international markets helped fuel a rise in second-quarter profit by helping to offset weak domestic housing and auto markets.
Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont earned $1.08 billion, or $1.18 per share, during the quarter ending June 30, compared with profit of $972 million, or $1.04 per share, during the previous year's quarter. A lawsuit settlement and a lower tax rate from a one-time tax settlement accounted for 7 cents of the quarter's per-share earnings.
Excluding one-time items, the company posted an adjusted per-share profit of $1.11, topping Wall Streets' average view by 4 cents per share.
Revenue rose 12 percent to $8.83 billion from $7.88 billion a year earlier.
DuPont Chief Executive Charles O. Holliday Jr., said the company was able to overcome accelerating costs of raw material and energy with strong growth in agriculture and emerging markets.
Five years ago, we could not have delivered these results in this environment," Holliday said. "We are a very different company today."
DuPont operates a plant at Washington, W.Va.
