DuPont cuts revenue view on sluggish demand, flags restructuring

By Seher Dareen

(Reuters) -DuPont on Wednesday reduced its full-year revenue forecast as the chemical and materials maker struggles with lower demand across its businesses and predicted “restructuring actions”.

Fourth-quarter margins could also take a hit as the company aligns inventory with demand, DuPont (NYSE:) said, joining chemical makers such as Dow and Eastman Chemical (NYSE:) in flagging pressure in the second half from weakness in key markets like China and Europe.

“We’re not doing it (restructuring) in response to what’s going on … we’ll get going on it by the middle of December,” CEO Edward Breen said on a conference call.

The company trimmed its full-year revenue forecast to $12.17 billion from an earlier range of $12.45 billion to $12.55 billion.

DuPont also highlighted volume headwinds from its network of distributor destocking following excess inventory built up during the COVID-19 pandemic, and said it expects the destocking effects to cease by the second quarter of 2024.

“Semiconductors and electronics are about to turn the corner on destocking, and I think majority of chemicals will see end of destocking in the first half of 2024. This is also true for DuPont’s water and protection segment,” said KeyBanc Capital’s senior analyst Aleksey Yefremov.

CFO Lori Koch in the conference call said DuPont’s business with Taiwan Semiconductor Materials saw “nice growth” in the quarter as the semiconductor company continued to expand its advanced nodes.

DuPont’s revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 came in at $3.058 billion, missing estimates of $3.153 billion, according to LSEG data.

Its adjusted earnings of 92 cents per share were higher than estimates of 84 cents.

The company forecast annual earnings per share of $3.45, compared with prior expectations of between $3.40 and $3.50, and expects to buy back more shares next year.