Wilmington, DE, Jan. 28--DuPont Co. had a sharp drop in fourth quarter profit on depressed chemical demand and higher energy costs. The company is seeing "modest growth" in many of its businesses, but still expects first quarter earnings before one time items to be about the same as the $0.55 a share it reported last year.
The firm had net income of $350 million, or $0.35 a share, compared with net income of $3.92 billion, or $3.82 per share last year.Year ago figures included a huge gain from the sale of its pharmaceuticals business.
Excluding special items, the company earned $0.34 a share. On that basis, Wall Street forecast earnings of $0.30 to $0.35 a share, with a consensus estimate of $0.32 a share, according to research firm Thomson First Call.
Revenue rose to $5.68 billion from $5.23 billion in the prior year quarter.
DuPont earlier this month warned of disappointing fourth quarter earnings but noted the decline would be offset by the effect of a lower income tax rate.
The company has already cut jobs and closed plants over the past two years in order to cope with soaring energy prices and lower spending by manufacturers.
Analysts say the high price of oil and natural gas will continue to squeeze profit margins for companies like DuPont, which depends on raw materials to make chemicals and cannot pass the higher costs on to industrial customers, who are struggling themselves in the weak U.S. economy.
DuPont also expects 2003 earnings to be between $0.34 and $0.39 lower due to increased pension and other postretirement benefit costs.
