PPG reports profit gain
on sales of $4 billion for 2Q
PPG Industries reported sales for the second quarter 2011 of $4 billion, an increase of 15 percent versus the prior year’s
second quarter. Each major region and reporting segment achieved volume and
price gains. Income for the quarter increased to $340 million. Second quarter
2010 sales were $3.5 billion, and income
was $272 million.
“Our strong execution during the
quarter enabled us to deliver excellent fi-
nancial performance, including record
earnings for any quarter,” said Charles
Bunch, PPG chairman and CEO. “We
implemented further pricing initiatives
and managed our businesses aggressively
to overcome continued input cost infla-
tion, a global economy that has only
partially recovered and several transitory
impacts to some businesses’ volumes
early in the quarter.”
Performance Coatings segment sales
for the quarter were $1.2 billion, up $119
million, or 11 percent, versus last year’s
second quarter. Segment earnings grew
$14 million to an all-time quarterly record
of $204 million.
Industrial Coatings segment sales rose
$136 million, or 14 percent, to $1.1 billion versus last year’s second quarter. Segment earnings for the quarter were $115
million, an increase of $3 million from the
prior year’s second quarter.
Sales for the Architectural Coatings -
EMEA segment for the quarter of $611
million increased $111 million, or 22 percent, versus the prior year. Segment earnings of $50 million matched the prior year.
During the quarter, the company finalized the acquisitions of Equa-Chlor and
Ducol Coatings and announced its agreement to acquire Dyrup A/S.
AkzoNobel reports dip in Q2
profits as costs rise
AkzoNobel reported that rising commodity costs, weak consumer demand,
maintenance stops at its chemicals fac-
tories, and a strong euro combined to reduce second quarter earnings by 1.8 percent from a year ago. Net profit was
€268 million ($381 million), down from
€273 million in the same period a year
earlier, even though revenues rose 4. 9
percent to € 4. 10 billion on the back of
volume increases. The company said raw
material costs spiked by 20 percent from
a year ago. AkzoNobel, which is Wal-Mart’s paint supplier, and owns the
Dulux brand among dozens of others,
also repeated the outlook it gave in a
June profit warning, that full year profits would be flat “assuming no further
deterioration” in its business.
“I am not satisfied with our perform-
ance in the quarter, despite positive vol-
ume and pricing developments,” chief
executive Hans Wijers said. “The recent
months have been challenging and it
does take time for price increases to
work through.”
Wijers retires next year and is due to
be replaced by 45-year-old Ton Buchner,
previously CEO of Swiss industrial con-
glomerate Sulzer AG.
Sherwin-Williams 2Q net falls
1.4 percent
Sherwin-Williams’ second-quarter earnings fell 1.4 percent as price increases and
sales growth couldn’t fully mitigate rising
raw material costs. The company reported
a profit of $179.1 million, down from
$181.7 million, a year earlier. Sales increased 9. 9 percent to $2.35 billion, while
same-store sales rose four percent.
Sales in the paint stores group increased 4. 3 percent to $1.30 billion in the
quarter. Segment profit decreased to
$206.6 million in the quarter from $212
million last year due primarily to continuing raw material cost increases only partially offset by selling price increases.
Sales in the consumer group decreased 8. 4 percent to $375.6 million in
the quarter. Segment profit decreased to
$61.4 million in the quarter from $80.7
million last year.
The global finishes group’s sales increased 39. 5 percent to $678.9 million in
the quarter on the back of acquisitions while
segment profit in the quarter increased to
$46.1 million from $40.0 million.
“Earnings in the quarter were at the
low end of our guidance range due to high
raw material costs versus the timing of
our price increases,” said Christopher
Connor, chairman and CEO.
RPM reports double-digit gains
across the board in fiscal 4Q
RPM International reported double-digit
gains in sales and net income for its fiscal 2011 fourth quarter ended May 31,
2011. Sales of $981.8 million were up
1.1 percent from the $971.5 million reported in the fiscal 2010 fourth quarter.
Consolidated EBIT grew 16 percent to
$119.8 million from $103.3 million in
the same period last year. Net income of
$70.2 million was up 16 percent from
the $60.5 million earned in the fiscal
2010 fourth quarter.
“Our strong fourth-quarter perform-
ance reflects the resilience of our operating
companies in the face of stiff headwinds
generated by escalating raw material
costs, continued weakness in the domes-
tic housing market and a commercial con-
struction market that is only gradually
recovering from depressed levels,” said
Frank Sullivan, chairman and CEO. “Our
deliberate strategic balance between in-
dustrial and consumer markets once again
proved effective in addressing challenging
market conditions.”
Industrial segment sales grew 14. 4 per-
cent to $625.9 million in the fiscal 2011
fourth quarter from $547.1 million a year
ago while EBIT improved 23. 5 percent to
$70.3 million from $56.9 million in the
fiscal 2010 fourth quarter.
Sales for RPM’s consumer segment
grew 5.1 percent to $355.9 million from
