Chemicals company FMC Corporation has reported first quarter revenue of $990.2 million, a 5% increase over the same period in 2012. The company reported net income of $130.9 million versus net income of $119.1 million in the first quarter of 2012.
Agricultural Products' first-quarter segment revenues of $495.2 million increased 9% versus the prior-year quarter, driven principally by strong performance in North America. First-quarter segment earnings of $163.3 million increased 25% versus the year-ago quarter driven principally by higher volumes and favourable mix in North America.
Specialty Chemicals' first-quarter segment revenues were $236.0 million, up 9% versus the year-ago quarter on higher volumes in the food and pharmaceutical product lines as well as contributions from recent acquisitions. First-quarter segment earnings increased 6% to $45.5 million due to strong volume growth in BioPolymer that was partially offset by lower volumes in Lithium.
Pierre Brondeau, FMC president, chief executive officer and chairman, announced that the company is realigning its portfolio.
"As we continue to implement our Vision 2015 strategic plan and position the company for future growth beyond 2015, we have evolved our view of FMC as a specialty chemicals company driven by three core platforms: agriculture, health and nutrition, and minerals,” he said. “This portfolio evolution increases our focus on strategic businesses and markets where we lead today, and where we expect to grow in the future. It also reflects the already disproportionate investment of resources in our two fastest growing businesses, Agricultural Products and BioPolymer, which will be supported by the strong cash generation of our cost-advantaged Alkali business."
As part of the realignment, FMC is exploring the divestiture of its Peroxygens business, including select Environmental Solutions product lines and related assets.
Beginning in the second quarter, the BioPolymer business will be moved into a stand-alone reporting segment, FMC Health and Nutrition. This change better reflects the company's strategic intent to continue to broaden its product and customer base in faster growing food and pharmaceuticals segments and to expand into nutraceuticals, personal care and similar markets.
"When we launched Vision 2015, we committed to actively manage our portfolio of businesses to optimize the long-term profitable growth of the company. These changes will simplify FMC's portfolio while maintaining our trajectory towards $5.5 billion in sales and $1.2 billion in EBIT by 2015," Brondeau said.
"For the full year 2013, we have raised our midpoint guidance by 9 cents, reflecting increased certainty in the full year outlook,” concluded Brondeau. “We expect stronger performance from our Agricultural Products segment driven by volume growth globally, particularly in North America, Latin America and Asia due to strong market conditions and growth in new products. In Specialty Chemicals, our BioPolymer business is expected to deliver continued volume growth from recent capacity expansions and full integration of acquisitions. In addition, we are implementing process modifications needed to achieve targeted post-expansion production rates in our Argentina Lithium operations, with benefits expected from these modifications beginning in the latter part of the year. In Industrial Chemicals, slower than expected pricing recovery in soda ash export markets will push segment earnings below 2012 results."
"We're excited about FMC's portfolio evolution and the strength of our three core platforms. We remain confident in our ability to deliver, consistent with our full-year guidance and to fully achieve our Vision 2015 goals while positioning the company for long-term growth."
