W.R. Grace third-quarter net income falls to $69.4 million; sales down

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Oct. 23 - W. R. Grace & Co. posted third-quarter net income of $69.4 million, or $0.89 per diluted share, down from net income of $75.5 million for the third quarter of 2012, or $0.99 per diluted share, according to a company news release.

"Our business segments demonstrated solid performance in the quarter," chairman and chief executive officer Fred Festa said in the release.

"Materials technologies and construction products delivered strong quarters with double-digit increases in operating income. Catalysts technologies operating income was slightly better than we expected.

"Our new catalyst technologies have been well received by customers, and our investments in catalyst technologies, including the Unipol polypropylene catalyst acquisition, position us well for a stronger 2014."

The company said third-quarter net sales were $771.3 million, a 0.7% decrease compared with the same period of last year. W.R. Grace said the decrease resulted from lower pricing and unfavorable currency translation, partially offset by higher sales volumes.

According to the release, sales for the nine months ended Sept. 30 decreased 3.1% to $2,284,000,000 as lower pricing and unfavorable currency translation partially were offset by higher sales volumes.

Net cash provided by operating activities for the first nine months of 2013 was $291 million, compared with $292.4 million in the first nine months of 2012.

Meanwhile, adjusted free cash flow was $238.7 million for the first nine months of 2013, versus $286.1 million in the same period of last year.

The company said adjusted free cash flow benefited from a significant improvement in working capital in 2012 because of lower rare earth costs, which did not recur to the same extent in 2013. Grace expects adjusted free cash flow of roughly $400 million for the full year.

As of Wednesday, Grace said it affirmed its outlook for 2013 adjusted EBIT in the range of $560 million to $570 million and adjusted EBITDA in the range of $685 million to $695 million.

W.R. Grace, a Columbia, Md.-based specialty chemicals company, filed for bankruptcy on April 2, 2001 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Its Chapter 11 case number is 01-01139.

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