Breen had taken over the position after Ellen Kullman had quit from this post in the early part of this month.
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“Amid the current challenging macro environment, our priority is to aggressively manage what is within our control, including taking a fresh look at DuPont’s cost structure and capital allocation strategy to identify ways to further improve shareholder return”, said Ed Breen, DuPont Interim Chair and CEO.
Asked about a possible breakup of DuPont, Breen said only that he has “a very open mind” and will do what’s right for shareholders. The company stated its net sales reduced by 17.5% down to $4.87 billion dollars within the third quarter concluded on September 30, thus skipping on the average expert estimates of $5.3 billion.
One industry analyst said his company would be shocked if the management team at DuPont did not at least give the agriculture business at Dow a look, but such a large business as Dow has, rarely changes hands.
Cost cuts resulted in 10 cents of the 13 cents of the operating earnings for DuPont during the third quarter, which beat analyst’s estimates of 10 cents.
DuPont’s third-quarter profit narrowed as the chemical giant struggled against weak agricultural markets and adverse exchange rates.
Shares in the company, down about 14% this year, were inactive premarket.
Net income attributable to DuPont almost halved to $235 million, or 26 cents per share, in the quarter ended September 30. Earnings, adjusted to account for discontinued operations and non-recurring gains, were 13 cents per share.
Ms. Kullman brought Mr. Breen on as a DuPont director earlier this year during her proxy battle with activist fund Trian Fund Management LP, which sought four board seats and had called for the company to cut costs and consider breaking itself up. Year-to-date sales were $19.8 billion, down 12 percent versus prior year due to negative impacts from currency (7 percent), portfolio (2 percent) and volume (3 percent).
The chemicals and seed producer is already targeting about $1.6 billion in annual savings by 2017. DuPont reported Tuesday that its third-quarter earnings declined by almost 50%. Peltz said that DuPont could save between $2 million and $4 million in costs annually through separating its materials businesses, which are volatile, from its more stable businesses.
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Analysts projected 10 cents in per-share earnings on $5.30 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.
