By David Reed, UT EditorMiddlebury, Connecticut-"We are far from declaring victory … [and] cannot confidently see much beyond the second quarter," thus Robert L. Wood, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Crompton Corp, in a 26 April statement announcing the firm's first quarter results.While first quarter sales for the diversified chemicals and polymer products and equipment company rose 6 percent on the same period of the previous year, to almost $590 million, net earnings were just $20.4 million, down a whopping 66 percent from the same period last year and representing just 3.4 percent on total sales.However, Crompton's polymers business-which covers its polyurethane prepolymers activities-had net sales of $94.5 million for the quarter, up 16.4 percent on the same period in 2004. This contributed to a 6.8-percent rise in total net sales for the firm's polymer products unit, at just under $512 million. The polymers unit also incorporates polymer additives and polymer processing equipment activities, which had first-quarter sales of $381.4 million and $40.4 million, respectively. Operating profits for these business were more mixed, with the additives unit reporting a $46.4 million profit, up five-fold on the prior year's $8.9 million, while the equipment unit showed a $470 000 loss, an improvement over the $1764-million loss in the same period last year.Operating profit from the polymers business more than doubled in the period, to $20.5 million, the results statement showed, with total operating profit for the whole polymer products unit reaching $66.4 million, an almost four-fold increase on the $17.4 million in the same period of the prior year.The results included a $3.2-million payment representing the fine under US anti-trust regulations following allegations of price-fixing in both the firm's EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer and polyurethane prepolymer businesses.As noted at the start, the firm recognises its difficulties, but "we are focused on delivering solid results from our existing portfolio while undertaking thorough integration planning to unlock the potential of the new company we are building," Wood concluded."
