DuPont reports 4Q loss, steps up cost cuts ahead of Dow deal

Also, excluding the impact of currency, the guidance for full-year operating EPS, including expected benefits from cost savings and share repurchases, represents a 17% to 23% increase year over year.

Sales fell across all business segments and in all regions, mostly because of negative currency impacts, although volumes declined in North America, as well as the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. China presents longer-running challenges as the country’s economy shifts from industrial to service and consumer sectors, Mr. Fanandakis said on the conference call. Sales fell 11 percent in the agriculture and also the performance materials segments.

For the full year, DuPont reported EPS of $2.77 on revenues of $25.13 billion, compared with 2014 EPS of $3.51 and revenues of $28.41 billion. Fourth-quarter operating earnings per share were $0.27, in line with expectations, versus $0.57 in prior year. Analysts projected 26 cents in adjusted earnings per share on $5.53 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.

For the year, the company expects to earn $2.95 to $3.10 a share, including a higher-than-anticipated 64 cents per share in cost savings.

Shares in the company, down 12% over the past three months through Monday’s close, were inactive premarket.

DuPont and Dow Chemical are now going through the process of merging that would create a new company that would have a market capitalization combined of $130 billion as of early December when the merger was first announced. Executives are analyzing ways to meld warehouse and computer networks while setting up financial reporting frameworks of the three spinoffs, Mr. Breen said. In Ag, DuPont did achieve some price/mix improvement (+6%), but not almost enough to offset massive 16% FX headwinds, which could have implications for Dow Chemical and FMC’s results.

Dow and DuPont have said the specialty products business will be based in Wilmington, while the material science business will be based in Dow’s hometown of Midland, Michigan.

“Current hard global economic conditions in agriculture and slower growth in emerging markets are expected to continue, challenging the company’s sales growth in 2016”, DuPont said in the statement.

Lisa Beilfuss contributed to this article.