AGL 40.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
AIRLINK 127.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.03%)
BOP 6.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.9%)
CNERGY 4.52 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.22%)
DCL 8.55 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
DFML 41.78 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (0.82%)
DGKC 87.50 Increased By ▲ 0.65 (0.75%)
FCCL 32.55 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (0.84%)
FFBL 64.99 Increased By ▲ 0.19 (0.29%)
FFL 10.30 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.49%)
HUBC 109.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.37 (-0.34%)
HUMNL 14.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.2%)
KEL 5.09 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.79%)
KOSM 7.58 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.61%)
MLCF 41.40 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.05%)
NBP 59.62 Decreased By ▼ -0.79 (-1.31%)
OGDC 192.64 Increased By ▲ 2.54 (1.34%)
PAEL 28.20 Increased By ▲ 0.37 (1.33%)
PIBTL 7.79 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.51%)
PPL 151.00 Increased By ▲ 0.94 (0.63%)
PRL 26.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.56%)
PTC 16.10 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.19%)
SEARL 86.02 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.02%)
TELE 7.80 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (1.17%)
TOMCL 35.39 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.06%)
TPLP 8.25 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (1.6%)
TREET 16.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.06%)
TRG 53.30 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.02%)
UNITY 26.35 Increased By ▲ 0.19 (0.73%)
WTL 1.27 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.79%)
BR100 9,988 Increased By 104.4 (1.06%)
BR30 31,138 Increased By 537.6 (1.76%)
KSE100 94,161 Increased By 805.9 (0.86%)
KSE30 29,178 Increased By 246.6 (0.85%)

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.

Copyright Reuters, 2004

Comments

Comments are closed.