The US chemicals and services operation General Chemical Group Inc. continued its 1996 trend and reported higher sales and net income in the fourth quarter of 1996. For the three months ended 31 Decem…
The US chemicals and services operation General Chemical Group Inc. continued its 1996 trend and reported higher sales and net income in the fourth quarter of 1996. For the three months ended 31 December 1996, sales increased 15% to US$ 157 million and net income improved to US$ 15.6 million, or US$ 0.67 per share. In 1995, the company achieved fourth quarter sales of US$ 136.7 million and net income of US$ 4.9 million, or US$ 0.25 per share, after excluding a non-recurring tax charge of US$ 17.1 million, or US$ 0.87 per share. Commenting on the results, Richard R. Russell, president and CEO, said, “This past year demonstrated the strength of all our product lines as performance improved across the board leading to record fourth-quarter and full-year 1996 sales and earnings. While our industrial chemical product lines benefited from higher soda ash pricing, volume gains and improved product mix throughout our derivative product and service product lines and improved earnings for the manufacturing segment also significantly boosted our results.” For the full year of 1996, The General Chemical Group sales increased 13% to US$ 623.6 million and net income improved 42% to US$ 54.2 million, or US$ 2.47 per share, before taking into account the non-recurring charges. Net income for 1996 after reflecting the non-recurring after-tax charge of US$ 7.6 million, or US$ 0.34 per share, recorded in the second quarter related to the initial public equity offering, was US$ 46.6 million, or US$ 2.13 per share. For 1995, the company had sales of US$ 550.9 million and net income of US$ 38.2 million, or US$ 1.94 per share, excluding the non-recurring tax charge of US$ 17.1 million.