By George Gill
Lubrizol’s additives segment and Ashland’s Valvoline
division reported lower sales but hefty increases in operating income for the
quarter ending Sept. 30, while the lubricant division at SK Energy saw a decline
in both, compared to the year-ago quarter.
Lubrizol
Lubrizol’s additives segment on Thursday reported operating
income of $256.5 million for the third quarter, up 151.2 percent from $102.1
million in 2008’s third quarter.
“Additives and advanced materials generated very strong
results in the quarter as both segments continued to deliver valued technology
to customers while also managing margins and controlling discretionary
expenses,” said Lubrizol CEO James Hambrick. “We anticipated potential earnings
upside from improved sequential volumes, and both segments did benefit from
higher than expected shipments.”
The Wickliffe, Ohio-based manufacturer said additive
revenues declined almost 5 percent to $914.5 million in the third quarter, from
$961.9 million in the year-earlier period.
Lubrizol’s overall net income for the third quarter reached $170.5
million, on revenues of $1.3 billion, or $2.46 per diluted share. That was up
from net income of $63.2 million, on revenues of $1.4 billion, or 92 cents per
diluted share, in the year-earlier quarter.
Valvoline
Parent company Ashland said Valvoline reported operating
income of $72 million for the three months ending Sept. 30 (the fourth quarter
of Ashland’s fiscal year), up almost 454 percent from $13 million for the same
period a year earlier. Valvoline’s sales and operating revenues for the quarter
reached $414 million, down 8.8 percent from a year earlier.
The company stated that while total lubricant volume
decreased by 3 percent versus the prior-year quarter, primarily due to lower
private-label sales, U.S. branded-lubricants volume increased 3 percent. “Gross
profit improved to 35.5 percent of sales in the September 2009 quarter, driven
by a combination of pricing actions that began in 2008, lower raw materials
costs in the quarter, cost-savings initiatives and a continued shift in mix
toward sales of premium brands,” Ashland noted. Same-store sales at Valvoline
Instant Oil Change in the fourth quarter increased 7 percent over the
year-earlier quarter.
For its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, Valvoline had operating
income of $252 million, up 203.6 percent from $83 million for fiscal year 2008.
Valvoline’s sales and operating revenue for 2009 was virtually unchanged at
$1.7 billion, compared to the previous year.
Covington, Ky.-based Ashland as a whole reported operating
income of $133 million million on revenues of $2.1 billion in the quarter. For
the fiscal year, Ashland’s net income totaled $390 million on $8.1 billion in
revenues.
SK
Seoul-based SK Energy’s lubricants division reported a 33 percent
loss in operating profit for the three months ending Sept. 30, to 45.5 billion South
Korean won (U.S. $38.4 million), down from 67.7 billion won ($57.1 million)
during the year-earlier period.
Revenue for SK’s lubricants segment dropped 34 percent to 386.4
billion won ($325.8 million) in the third quarter, down from 589.1 billion won
($496.8 million) a year earlier.
The company said it expected to see continued earnings
improvement from rising base oil prices and increasing automobile demand.
SK noted that future earnings from the lubricants business
will be reflected as equity method gains, with the establishment of the SK
Lubricants spin-off having become effective Oct. 1.
