Net sales for Baton Rouge-based specialty chemical maker Albemarle during the first quarter shot up 47% to $884.4 million, compared to the first quarter last year, due to the completed $6.2 billion acquisition of New Jersey-based Rockwood Holdings Inc.
That helped push Albemarle’s adjusted earnings up to $127.2 million, or $1.17 per share, during the first three months of this year—a 62% increase over adjusted earnings of $78.4 million, or $0.98 per share, in the first quarter of 2014.
Albemarle President and CEO Luke Kissam says in a prepared release that the company’s strong first quarter performance has led it to raise its adjusted earnings per share estimates for the remainder of the year.
“Given the strong operational start to the year, the one-time foreign exchange gain related to cash on hand in quarter one and our confidence in continued good performance, we are both raising and narrowing our guidance for 2015 from adjusted EPS of $3.15-$3.70 to $3.65-$4.05,” Kissam says.
The deal to acquire Rockwood—one of the largest takeovers of a diversified chemicals company ever—was initially announced in July 2014 and was completed on Jan. 12. As Business Report detailed in a feature earlier this year, the deal increases the size of Albemarle’s operations by more than 60% and positions it as a major player in the international market for lithium, the key ingredient in the lithium-ion battery—the most commercially dominant energy storage technology on the planet.
As of 10:25 a.m. shares of Albemarle were up $4.25, or 7%, to $64.25 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Get more details on Albemarle’s first quarter report.
—Steve Sanoski
