DuPont profit jumps, all business lines strong

DuPont Co's quarterly profit rose 25 percent on higher sales of chemicals used in wiring and computer components, the No 2 US chemicals maker said on Tuesday.
The Wilmington, Delaware, company posted strong sales across all of its business lines, helped by a weak dollar that offset higher raw material costs.
DuPont, industry leader Dow Chemical Co and other chemical makers are seeing business rebound as demand and pricing improve after a five-year slump.
"DuPont is riding the wave that everyone else is," said Michael Barr, an analyst with Victory Capital Management, which manages $47 billion in assets.
EXCELLENT START: DuPont posted first-quarter net income of $668 million, or 66 cents per share, up from $535 million, or 53 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding charges for legal costs and other one-time items in the 2004 period, DuPont earned 96 cents a share, beating Wall Street expectations by a penny.
Revenue rose 15 percent to $8.1 billion. Excluding the benefit of the weak dollar, which boosts the value of overseas sales when converted into US currency, sales rose 9 percent.
Overall volumes rose 7 percent, while prices edged up 1 percent.
"We are off to an excellent start in 2004," said Charles Holliday, DuPont chairman and chief executive, noting better-than-expected results across all of its businesses and regions.
Earnings from electronics and communications nearly tripled to $92 million on a 21 percent rise in sales.
The business makes circuit board and wire components, and materials for flat-panel displays, whose production is rising with the increase in technology spending.
DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH: The company's other businesses - coatings, farm chemicals and seeds, safety and security materials, and plastics - all notched double-digit sales growth.
Results also got a boost from strong pricing in farm chemicals and seeds, which benefited from the springtime planting season in North America.
Earlier this month DuPont raised its first-quarter earnings forecast to 95 cents a share from a prior estimate of 65 cents to 75 cents, citing the rebounding US economy, which has helped boost demand for chemicals.
As previously announced, DuPont expects a second-quarter charge of 17 cents to 19 cents a share from a $900 million cost-cutting program announced late last year.
The reductions include 3,500 job cuts, or 6 percent of the company's work force. DuPont cited higher raw material costs for the cuts.