Weakening Europe again whacks Dow Chemical profit

(Reuters) - Dow Chemical Co , the largest U.S. chemical maker by sales, reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday as demand for chlorine, plastics and electronic parts plunged around the world.

Its shares fell 3 percent to $29.35 in premarket trading after the results.

"Weak demand due to a slowdown in global growth drove declining prices," Dow Chief Executive Andrew Liveris said in a statement. "This, coupled with an unusually high turnaround season for Dow and a large currency effect, pressured margins in the quarter."

The global economy, Liveris added, is not improving as fast as he had previously thought.

The results were weakest in Europe, as it has been for the company in recent quarters and for many of its peers.

For the second quarter, Dow reported net income of $649 million, or 55 cents per share, compared with $982 million, or 84 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts expected earnings of 64 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue dropped 10 percent to $14.51 billion. Analysts expected $15.69 billion in revenue.

Sales fell in all Dow's businesses except agricultural sciences, where demand for pesticides and other farming products jumped during the North American spring planting season.

The results were reported the day before the opening ceremony for the London Olympics. This is the first Olympic Games where Dow is a global sponsor.

In May an arbitrator ruled Kuwait's state-run chemical company must pay Dow $2.16 billion for wrongly canceling a planned plastics joint venture in 2008.

Dow said it plans to use the proceeds partially to cull debt and remunerate shareholders.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum and Maureen Bavdek)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dow-chemical-quarterly-profit-drops-34-percent-110459715--finance.html

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