NEW YORK (AP) — DuPont swung to a fourth-quarter profit though sales slipped as it attempts to solidify its merger with Dow Chemical.
The company earned $265 million, or 30 cents per share, compared with a loss last year. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 51 cents per share, which easily surpassed Wall Street's per-share forecast of 42 cents, according to a survey by Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue fall 2 percent to $5.21 billion as lower crop prices cut into agricultural sales, a key moneymaker.
Revenue in the agricultural unit fell 10 percent to $1.39 billion, mainly because of off timing for seed sales, according to DuPont.
In July of 2016, DuPont shareholders approved the merger with Dow Chemical, a deal valued at about $62 billion. The company, after merging, would split into three separate, publicly traded companies, one focusing on agriculture, one on material science, and one on the production and sale of specialty products.
Even broken apart, the deal will face heavy antitrust review in the U.S. and in Europe. Late last year, the EU Commission reviewing the proposed merger put its work on hold as it waits for more information from the companies.
For all of 2016, DuPont Co. earned 2.95 billion, or $2.85 per share on revenue of $24.6 billion.
DuPont, Wilmington, Delaware, expects earnings to fall 18 percent in the first quarter as the results will include charges associated with the Dow Chemical merger.
DuPont shares have fallen nearly 1 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen 1 percent.
