Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Dow Chemical Co.<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=DOW%3AUS>, the largest U.S. chemical maker, had a $1.55 billion loss in the fourth quarter, trailing analysts' expectations for a profit, as the economic recession slashed demand for plastics and industrial products.
The net loss of $1.68 a share compares with net income<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=DOW%3AUS>of $472 million, or 49 cents a share, a year earlier, Midland, Michigan-based Dow Chemical said today in a statement. Excluding certain items, the company had a loss of 62 cents a share. The average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was for profit of 8 cents. Sales dropped 23 percent to $10.9 billion. Chief Executive Officer Andrew Liveris<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Andrew+Liveris&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>said the company has been hurt by a "global economic crisis" and is planning on the recession lasting throughout 2009. Sales volumes and prices plunged for basic plastics and chemicals, prompting Dow to cut factory operating rates to the lowest in more than 25 years. "It's a very nasty set of results," said Hassan Ahmed<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Hassan+Ahmed&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>, a New York-based analyst at HSBC Securities. "Everyone says January has been tracking December, so you can make a valid case that the first quarter could be far worse than the fourth quarter." He rates the shares "overweight." Dow Chemical fell 74 cents, or 6.7 percent, to $10.31 as of 6:47 a.m. in trading <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=DOW%3AUS> before the official opening of the New York Stock Exchange. Fourth-quarter net income included $1.06 a share in charges for items including restructuring, goodwill impairment and expenses related to the company's $15.4 billion takeover of Rohm & Haas Co. and a canceled petrochemicals venture with Kuwait. Dow didn't provide an update on the status of the merger, which is now the subject of a court case in Delaware. Sales Volumes The revenue decline included a 17 percent drop in sales<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=DOW%3AUS>volumes and a 6 percent drop in global prices, Dow said. Demand declined in all segments and in all regions. Prices dropped 15 percent in the basic-plastics unit and 6 percent in basic chemicals. Dow ran its plants at 44 percent of capacity in December, the lowest ever, and at 64 percent for the full quarter. "With a global economic crisis unfolding during the quarter, we responded with speed and urgency to get ahead of the demand destruction that continued to accelerate as we approached the end of the year," Liveris said in the statement. Dow in December said it is eliminating about 5,000 jobs, or 11 percent of the global workforce, permanently closing 20 facilities and idling 180 plants. Dow's contractor workforce is being cut by 6,000 globally. U.S. Economy The U.S. economy, the world's largest, may contract at a 5.5 percent annual pace this quarter after declining at a 3.8 percent rate in the last three months of 2008, according to a forecast by economists at Morgan Stanley in New York. Last quarter's drop was the biggest since 1982. The U.S., Japan and Europe are simultaneously in a recession for the first time since World War II. The International Monetary Fund last week projected global growth this year at 0.5 percent and said losses from the credit crisis will total $2.2 trillion. Costs for petroleum-derived raw materials and energy fell 23 percent from the year-earlier quarter, the company said. Dow uses oil and natural gas to power factories and as raw materials. Dow, founded in 1897, makes 3,200 products, including plastics, Styrofoam insulation, pesticides and chlorine, at more than 150 production sites in 37 countries. Agriculture Profit The agriculture unit, which makes seeds and pesticides, reported profit of $34 million compared with a $38 million loss a year earlier. Profit rose 40 percent in the performance- chemicals units amid price gains and increased demand for some products, such as water-treatment membranes. The basic-plastics segment had a $315 million loss compared with profit of $394 million a year earlier because of tumbling demand and prices for products such as polyethylene<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=POLYETHY%3AIND>plastic, used in bags and packaging. Basic chemicals had a $237 million loss compared with profit of $309 million a year earlier, largely because of a 33 percent drop in sales volumes. The performance-plastics segment lost $479 million, compared with profit of $158 million a year earlier, because of weak demand, including for resins used in industrial coatings and plastic car parts and polyurethane foams used in cushions and bedding. Rohm & Haas sued Dow last week in Delaware Chancery Court to force the completion of the transaction, which was supposed to close on Jan. 27. Judge William B. Chandler III set the first day of trial for March 9 in Georgetown, Delaware. Lending Terms Dow, still committed to the merger<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=DOW%3AUS>, is seeking new terms from Citigroup Inc. and other lenders that have committed $13 billion in bridge financing for the acquisition, Liveris said last week. Liveris had planned to finance the deal with the loan and $4 billion in equity investments by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and the Kuwait Investment Authority. Moody's and Standard & Poor's cut Dow's ratings<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=DOW%3AUS>on Dec. 29, after the Kuwait deal failed. S&P reduced Dow's rating to BBB, two grades above junk, from A-. Moody's cut Dow's rating from A3 to Baa1, three levels above junk. Kuwait's Petrochemical Industries Co. was to pay $7.5 billion for a 50 percent stake in Dow's basic-plastics unit, the world's largest producer of polyethylene. The resulting joint venture, known as K-Dow Petrochemicals, would have paid each partner $1.5 billion, boosting Dow's proceeds to $9 billion. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aAm1Bi07ad9c&refer=home -- Fill the brain with high thoughts, highest ideals, place them day and night before you, and out of that will come great work. Swami Vivekananda --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""GLOBAL SPECULATORS"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalspeculators?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
