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DuPont, which gets about 60 percent of its sales from outside
North America, said net sales fell 17.5 percent to $4.87 billion
in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, missing the average analyst
estimate of $5.3 billion.
However, lower costs helped the company post a
bigger-than-expected quarterly profit.
DuPont has speeded up cost cuts to counter weakening sales and
to appease activist investor Nelson Peltz, who has criticized
the company's cost structure and its inability to meet financial
targets.
Cost cuts contributed 10 cents per share to third-quarter
operating earnings of 13 cents, helping the company beat the
average analyst estimate of 10 cents.
"Amid the current challenging macro environment, our priority is
to aggressively manage what is within our control, including
taking a fresh look at DuPont's cost structure and capital
allocation strategy to identify ways to further improve
shareholder return," Edward Breen, DuPont's interim chief
executive, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Breen, who took over after Ellen Kullman stepped down from her
post earlier this month, is expected to take a more aggressive
approach to cost-cutting.
DuPont is targeting about $1.6 billion in annual savings by the
end of 2017.
The company's agriculture business was a major drag on
third-quarter earnings as weak demand for seed and crop
protection products in a competitive market hurt the business.
DuPont expects sales in the unit to fall by "low-teens" in
percentage terms in the current quarter.
The strong dollar also contributed to the weakness in DuPont's
agriculture business and weighed on four of its other five
units.
Net income attributable to DuPont nearly halved to $235 million,
or 26 cents per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30.
(Reporting by Amrutha Gayathri and Sneha Banerjee in Bengaluru;
Editing by Maju Samuel)
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