Huntsman Q3 Profit Surges, Beats View; But Revenues Miss

(RTTNews) - Huntsman Corp. (HUN), a manufacturer of differentiated chemical products, on Monday reported a profit for the third quarter that almost tripled from last year, helped by a tax benefit and slightly higher revenues. Adjusted earnings per share for the quarter beat analysts' expectations, while revenues missed their estimates.

Peter Huntsman, President and CEO of Huntsman Corp, said, "We continue to see growing demand for key products such as MDI polyurethanes, amines, maleic, aerospace composites and environmentally friendly textile dyes and chemicals. Third quarter EBITDA from these products increased more than $30 million compared to the prior year."

Third-quarter net income attributable to company was $188 million or $0.76 per share, up from $64 million or $0.26 per share in the comparable quarter last year. The latest quarter's results include a tax benefit of $94 million, resulting from foreign tax credit elections.

Adjusted net income for the quarter was $147 million or $0.60 per share, compared to $132 million or $0.54 per share in the prior-year period. On average, 12 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.54 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter grew 1 percent to $2.88 billion from $2.84 billion in the prior-year period. Analysts expected revenue of $2.91 billion for the quarter.

Revenues in the company's polyurethanes division increased 1 percent from the year-ago period to $1.32 billion, primarily due to improved MDI sales partially offset by lower PO/MTBE sales volumes.

Revenues in the Performance Products division declined 2 percent from last year to $762 million, due to lower sales volumes partially offset by higher average selling prices. Sales volumes decreased primarily due to the sale of the company's European surfactants business in the second quarter of 2014, partially offset by increased sales volumes in amines and maleic anhydride.

Revenues of $310 million in the Advanced Materials division for the quarter was essentially unchanged from the same period last year.

Textile Effects division for the quarter grew 12 percent from the year-ago period to $221 million, primarily due to higher average selling prices, partially offset by lower sales volumes.

Pigments division revenue rose 3 percent to $318 million, primarily due to higher sales volumes, partially offset by lower average selling prices.

Huntsman added, "Recently, we successfully completed the acquisition of Rockwood's performance additives and specialty titanium dioxide businesses. We have plans to deliver $130 million of annual synergies by the middle of 2016 at which point we believe this acquisition will yield approximately $0.70 of earnings per share to shareholders."

HUN is trading at $23.07, down $1.43 or 5.84 percent on a volume of 1.76 million shares.