DuPont Chair and CEO Ellen Kullman recently told investors that DuPont's market-driven science and disciplined execution will help increase revenues to $33-34 billion in 2011 from about $31 billion this year. The company also has set its 2011 earnings per share (EPS) outlook at a range of $3.30 to $3.60
From 2010 through 2015, DuPont expects to generate underlying EPS growth of about 12% compounded annually, and annual top-line growth of about 7%.
"We effectively repositioned the company in 2009 and emerged stronger in 2010. We met or beat all our 2010 financial targets and expect to deliver 50% growth in underlying EPS for the year," says Kullman. "We're proud to pull forward our original 2012 EPS outlook range one year ahead of plan."
Kullman said science-powered innovation is critical to DuPont's success, and one R&D metric the company monitors is sales from new products. This year, DuPont is on track to get 30% of sales, or about $9 billion, from products that were introduced within the past four years. Productivity also is core to DuPont's success, and the company is ahead of plan to deliver $400 million each in fixed cost and working capital productivity this year.
Kullman highlighted several new offerings including next-generation photovoltaics products under the Solamet and Tedlar brands; Zytel Plus polymer that reportedly boasts exceptional performance under extended exposure to heat and chemicals; Isceon, a low-global-warming-potential refrigerant; and Kevlar AP and Kevlar XP, providing additional strength at lower weight. Kullman indicated that the company's Cooper River Kevlar plant expansion will start-up in late 2011 with commercial production in 2012.
[sidebar id="1"]In addition to the good financial news, DuPont was named to NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability Index in November 2010.
"We have been on a journey to integrate sustainability into our business for two decades," says DuPont Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer Linda J. Fisher. "The index reflects the growing dynamic between companies and their customers to answer society's call for sustainable solutions," adds Fisher. (To read DuPont's sustainability reports, visit: http://www2.dupont.com/Sustainability/en_US)
The NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability Index is comprised of 100 companies that have taken a leadership role in disclosing their carbon footprint, energy usage, water consumption, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, employee safety, work force diversity, management composition and community investing.
More recently, DuPont announced that it completed its purchase of MECS from affiliates of American Securities LLC. The transaction is said to strengthen the DuPont clean technologies portfolio and will provide access to additional high-growth markets, particularly in developing regions such as Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.
MECS, based in St. Louis, is a global provider of process technology, proprietary specialty equipment and technical services for sulfuric acid producers. Its offerings help customers – primarily in the fertilizer, non-ferrous metals, petroleum refining and chemical industries – reduce air emissions, improve operational efficiencies, and lower energy use. In addition, MECS produces air-pollution-control scrubbing systems and mist eliminators for reducing particulate emissions in a variety of industries.
Per the agreement, MECS became a wholly owned subsidiary of DuPont and part of the company's Sustainable Solutions business effective Dec. 31, 2010. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
According to James R. Weigand, president – DuPont Sustainable Solutions, "This acquisition enables us to diversify our clean technologies portfolio in significant ways. As a result, we estimate an increase in the addressable market for our clean air and clean fuel offerings from approximately $200 million to $1 billion. This action also is aligned with our corporate goals that call for using our science and technology to protect people and the environment and to address the needs of developing regions."
