Calumet Specialty Products Partners first quarter income rebounded, compared to the year earlier quarter. Independent lubricant blender Fuchs also saw an improvement in profits compared to 2010s first quarter.
For the quarter ending March 31, Calumet Specialty Products Partners posted net income of $4.2 million, compared to a $13.1 million loss in the year earlier period.
First quarter sales for Indianapolis-based Calumet totaled $605.2 million, up nearly 25 percent from $484.6 million in 2010s first quarter.
Specialty products sales volumes in the first quarter reached 33,622 barrels per day, up 23.3 percent from the year earlier period. Calumet said the increase was due primarily to higher throughput rates at its Princeton and Shreveport refineries quarter over quarter, as well as increased volumes under its specialty products agreements with LyondellBasell, partially offset by planned turnaround activities at Calumets Shreveport refinery during the first quarter of 2011.
Net profit for Fuchs Petrolub Group totaled 47.1 million (U.S. $70 million) for 2011s first quarter, up 16 percent from 40.6 million in the same period last year.
Total sales revenue reached a Fuchs-record 409 million for the quarter, up 23.8 percent from sales in the year-earlier quarter.
The increase in sales revenues in the first quarter was demand-based and influenced by significant increases in the costs of raw materials since mid-2010, stated Fuchs of Mannheim, Germany. A disproportionate increase in the cost of sales of 28.8 percent left the gross margin of 37.7 percent, which is below its level in the same quarter of the previous year of 40.1 percent.
Each of Fuchs three regions saw growth in revenues for the first quarter, compared to 2010s first quarter. In 2011s first quarter, revenue rose 22.7 percent to 249.8 million ($363.6 million) in Europe, increased 22 percent to 102.1 million in Asia-Pacific and Africa, and grew 29 percent to 68.9 million in North and South America.