“We delivered on our commitment to shareholders, while navigating through some very difficult business conditions,” said DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman. “We see overall sequential improvement in our industrial businesses as market conditions begin to firm. With a more streamlined organization, permanent fixed cost reductions, and increased productivity, DuPont is well-positioned to capitalize as markets improve. We will continue to leverage our market-driven science across the company to deliver products customers want around the world. We are focused on growth and our rigorous operational discipline in order to deliver continued earnings improvement.”
Net Income and Global Consolidated Sales
Net income attributable to DuPont for the third quarter 2009 was $409 million versus $367 million in the prior year. The prior year included a $146 million after-tax hurricane-related charge.
Net income reflects the benefit of significantly lower costs, partly offset by lower sales volume. Third quarter 2009 consolidated net sales of $6.0 billion were 18 percent lower than prior year, reflecting 12 percent lower volume, 2 percent lower local prices, a 3 percent negative impact from currency exchange rates and a net 1 percent reduction due to portfolio changes. While year-over-year volume declines have slowed, lower sales volume continued to reflect generally weaker economic conditions than prior year.