Valspar reports a 36 percent rise in Q2 profits
The Valspar Corporation reported its results
for the second quarter ended April 27,
2012. Second-quarter sales totaled $1.03
billion, a four percent increase from the second quarter of 2011. Net income for the
second quarter of 2012 was $76.5 million,
up from $56.3 million a year ago. “We were
pleased with our performance in the quarter,” said Gary Hendrickson, president and
CEO, Valspar. “Our earnings growth was
driven by new business in our industrial
product lines, better price-to-cost balance,
productivity improvements and benefits
from last year’s restructuring actions. Our
volume trend improved sequentially in both
our coatings and paint segments in the
quarter. Looking ahead to the rest of the
year, we are raising adjusted full year earnings per share guidance to $3.20 to $3.30,
reflecting our expectation of further volume
growth and continued execution of our key
operational initiatives.”
BASF reports six percent growth
in sales over last year’s Q1
BASF had a solid start to 2012. Sales were
higher than in the very good first quarter of
the previous year and rose six percent to
€ 20. 6 billion. Income from operations
(EBIT) before special items decreased as ex-
pected and, at €2.5 billion (down seven per-
cent), was slightly below the same quarter
of the previous year. “Increased raw mate-
rial costs could not be fully passed on in all
business areas, which put pressure on our
margins. Our Oil & Gas and Agricultural
Solutions segments increased their earnings
significantly,” said Dr. Kurt Bock, chairman
of the board of executive directors of BASF,
at the annual shareholders’ meeting in the
Congress Center Rosengarten in
Mannheim. After a weak fourth quarter in
2011, BASF’s business recovered in the first
quarter of 2012. However, higher raw ma-
terial costs could only be partly passed on.
The company expects global economic
growth to continue over the course of 2012.
Uncertainty on the financial markets damp-
ens growth prospects. Positive stimulus for
the chemical industry will mainly come
from the emerging markets. Sales increased
in the Chemicals segment, mainly due to
positive currency effects and sales to Styro-
lution Group companies. Sales in the Per-
formance Products segment were at the
level of the very good previous first quarter.
Demand was slightly lower. Sales in the
Functional Solutions segment increased
slightly as a result of higher demand from
the automotive and construction industries.
3M reports four percent
growth in net income with
record sales in Q1
3M reported record first-quarter sales of
$7.5 billion, up 2.4 percent year-on-year.
On a segment basis, sales increased 8. 6
percent in Industrial and Transportation,
5. 5 percent in Safety, Security and Protection Services, 4. 3 percent in Consumer
and Office and 2.0 percent in Health
Care. Sales declined 3. 4 percent in Electro
and Communications and 11. 8 percent in
Display and Graphics, both impacted by
the consumer electronics industry. On a
geographic basis, sales grew 8. 4 percent in
Latin America/Canada, 6. 3 percent in the
United States and 0.1 percent in Europe.
Sales declined 1.9 percent in Asia Pacific.
First-quarter net income rose four percent
year-on-year to over $1.1 billion. “We are
off to a very good start in 2012 with
record first-quarter sales and strong earnings,” said Inge Thulin, 3M president and
CEO. “3M employees everywhere did an
outstanding job of managing in a challenging environment for growth.” CW
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