Dow Chemical 3Q Earnings Off

Midland, MI, October 25, 2007--Dow Chemical reported lower-than-expected third-quarter profit, hurt by a change in German tax law and a charge for acquisition costs.

Net income declined to $403 million, or $042 a share, from $512 million, or $0.53 a share, a year earlier, when Dow took charges to shut down several of its operations.

The latest results included charges of $0.38 a share from the change in German tax laws and $0.04 for the acquisition of research and development assets.

Excluding special items, the company  posted quarterly earnings of $0.84 a share. Analysts on average were expecting $0.91.

Quarterly sales rose 10% to $13.59 billion, ahead of Wall Street's forecast of $12.65 billion.

The company is focused on increasing its more profitable specialty businesses, while expanding its commodity chemicals operations through a lower-cost joint venture strategy.

"Global economic conditions remain reasonably healthy, even though there may be some concerns about the resilience of the U.S. economy going forward," Chief Executive Andrew Liveris said in a statement.

Liveris said there was particularly strong demand in emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

However, he cited concerns about volatile feedstock and energy costs.