DuPont's sales and earnings drop in third quarter

WILMINGTON, Del. — Citing a stronger dollar and weakness in the agriculture market, DuPont (DD) announced lower third-quarter sales and earnings Tuesday as interim CEO Ed Breen vows to "aggressively" examine the company's expenses.

The Wilmington, Del.-based company reported net income of $235 million, or 26 cents per share, compared with $433 million, or 47 cents per share, a year earlier.

Sales were $4.9 billion, down 17% from the third quarter in 2014.

Operating earnings, adjusted to exclude one-time charges, were 13 cents per share, down from 39 cents per share during the same quarter a year earlier. The results beat the 11 cents Wall Street analysts were expecting, according to Zacks Investment Research.

Year-to-date sales also were down, totaling $19.8 billion. That represents a 12% drop from the third quarter in 2014.

Nick Fanandakis, executive vice president and CFO of DuPont, said the company was "not pleased with our results this quarter." The results are the first quarterly earnings report since former CEO Ellen Kullman stepped down earlier this month.

The company's agricultural unit struggled in the third quarter reporting an operating loss of $210 million. Decreased sales volume, reduced demand for pesticides and a $40 million loss from the shutdown of DuPont's LaPorte, Texas, plant after the death of four workers all contributed to the decline.

Both the Performance Materials and Safety & Protection units recorded quarterly earnings decreases. Performance materials' operating earnings were $317 million, a 13%, or $49 million drop form the 2014 third quarter, while Safety & Protection's operating earnings fell to $156 million, a 20%, or $39 million drop from the same quarter last year.

Three DuPont units reported earnings increases in the third quarter. Electronics & Communications earned $104 million, a $14 million, or 16%, increase from the third quarter last year; Industrial Biosciences earned $52 million, up $10 million, or 24%; and Nutrition & Health reported earnings of $102 million, up 3%, or $3 million, from the previous third quarter.

Breen said the company will take steps to reduce costs. DuPont has already pledged to cut $1.6 billion from its budget by 2016, cuts deeper and earlier than initially announced.

"Amid the current challenging macro environment, our priority is to aggressively manage what is within our control, including taking a fresh look at DuPont's cost structure and capital allocation strategy to identify ways to further improve shareholder return," Breen said.

Contributing: The Associated Press.