DuPont Posts 3Q Profit vs. Loss

Wilmington, DE, October 26–DuPont Co. posted a third-quarter profit versus a year-ago loss on strong demand despite high energy costs, the second-largest U.S. chemicals maker said on Tuesday.

Net income was $331 million, or 33 cents a share, compared with a loss of $873 million, or 88 cents a share, a year ago, when pension and raw material costs hurt results

In the third quarter of 2003, DuPont had a $987 million writedown of its Invista synthetic fibers business. DuPont sold the unit in April to Koch Industries Inc. for $4.2 billion.

Before items, the Wilmington, Delaware, company earned 25 cents a share. Analysts, on average, expected DuPont to earn 24 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.

Quarterly sales fell to $5.7 billion from $6.1 billion.