Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania - Chemical company Air Products achieved an 18-percent increase in sales in its performance materials business for the fiscal third quarter, ended 30 June 2011. The group's Performance Materials unit makes polyurethane prepolymers, additives, intermediates and curatives.
In Electronics and Performance Materials, the company had sales of $602 million, a 21-percent rise over the prior year on higher volumes. Operating income of $109 million increased 75 percent on higher volumes and continued strong cost performance. Electronics sales increased 24 percent, and Performance Materials 18 percent versus the prior year, and Air Products said this quarter's results "represented record sales, profits and margins for the segment."
The company reported a 15-percent increase in net income, reaching $318 million in Q3. In a 22 July report, Air Products said that Q3 revenues increased by 14 percent year-on-year to $2578 million.
"We continued to see strong volume growth across a number of our businesses. Growth in the Asia merchant business and more broadly in the energy and electronics markets was strong, while both the US and Europe Merchant businesses were slower," said John McGlade, Air Products ceo.
The company, whose core business is in bottled gas supply, said it expects top line growth of 11 percent to 13 percent per year over the next four years, which would bring its total revenues to more than $15 000 million in 2015.
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