Air Products Swings to a Loss on Write-Down
April 28 2016 - 7:01AM
Dow Jones News
By Austen Hufford
Air Products & Chemicals Inc. swung to a write-down driven
loss for the quarter and posted a sales decline Thursday, but also
raised its adjusted profit outlook for the year.
Chief executive Seifi Ghasemi cited, "challenging economic
conditions and a weak manufacturing environment."
Air Products upped its yearly profit forecast, now expecting
$7.40 to $7.55 in adjusted earnings per share, up from the $7.25 to
$7.50 it expected previously. For the current quarter, Air Products
expects adjusted per-share earnings of between $1.87 and $1.92.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings per share
of $1.90.
Earlier this month, Air Products said it would be shutting down
its troubled energy-from-waste business after it couldn't
efficiently resolve operational and design challenges. Air Products
couldn't figure out how to efficiently solve problems with the
technologically advanced project. During the quarter, Air Products
took a $945.7 million charge related to the closure.
The company swung to a loss of $473.3 million, or $2.17 a share,
from a profit of $290 million, or $1.33 a year prior. Excluding the
write-down from the energy-from-waste business and other charges ,
per-share earnings from continuing operations increased to $1.82
from $1.56.
Revenue declined 5.9% to $2.27 billion, as the company faced
currency headwinds and lower energy pass-through. Volumes were
unchanged, the company said.
Analysts had expected adjusted earnings per share of $1.81 on
revenue of $2.37 billion.
The company's cost of sales fell at a steeper pace than revenue,
decreasing 11% to $1.52 billion, as its selling and administrative
expenses decreased 14%. Operating margin for the quarter increased
to 22.6% from 15.6% during the same period last year.
Industrial gas sales decreased by 10% in the Americas and by
6.4% in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. In Asia, sales
climbed 3.4%. Sales in the company's materials segment fell 7.3% to
$494.3 million.
The company said it intends to spin-off its materials
technologies business, to be known as Versum Materials, and is
currently "assessing market conditions to determine favorability
for a spin-off."
Shares, up 25% in the last three months, were inactive in
premarket trading.
Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 28, 2016 07:46 ET (11:46 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024