DuPont reports higher quarterly profit

DuPont Co., the second-largest U.S. chemicals maker, on Tuesday said its fourth-quarter profit rose 82 percent, after recording a large gain for the sale of its clothing and carpet fiber business.

The Wilmington, Delaware, company posted net income of $636 million, or 63 cents a share, compared with $350 million, or 35 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.

Excluding special items, the company reported earnings of 29 cents a share. On that basis, analysts, on average, had forecast DuPont would earn 25 cents per share, according to Reuters Research, a unit of Reuters Group Plc.

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Net sales rose 14 percent to $6.48 billion.

DuPont issued a bullish outlook for 2004, saying it expects a cyclical recovery in the major industrial economies, in addition to continuing growth in emerging economies.

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"This is expected to support global real GDP growth of 3.6 percent in 2004, which would be the largest full-year increase since 2000. The company also expects that -- in contrast to recent years -- the manufacturing sectors of the developed industrial economies will grow at rates stronger than their regional GDP," DuPont said in a release.

Assuming that oil and natural gas prices stay in line with 2003 average levels, DuPont forecast 2004 first quarter earnings per share to be between 65 cents and 75 cents per share. Its profit outlook for the full year is between $2.00 and $2.20 per share.

"We saw strong economic growth in the fourth quarter and believe it will continue to gain momentum in 2004," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Charles Holliday. "We believe that 2004 may provide the best global economic improvement we've seen in several years."