Westlake Chemical's Q1 profit slips

03 May '07

3 min read

First quarter 2007 net income increased $5.3 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, from the $14.4 million net income, or $0.22 per diluted share, reported in the fourth quarter of 2006. First quarter income from operations increased $24.2 million from the income from operations of $8.5 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2006, while net sales increased by $194.9 million from the $523.9 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2006.

The increase in net sales and income from operations was primarily due to higher sales volumes for all major products, which was partially offset by lower selling prices. In addition, the fourth quarter of 2006 was negatively impacted by an unscheduled outage at one of the ethylene units in Lake Charles, Louisiana which was down 55 days beginning September 1, 2006.

During the downtime, a major maintenance turnaround was completed, as well as tie-ins of portions of a previously announced project to upgrade the feedstock flexibility of one of the company's ethylene units.

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