Independent refiner Calumet Specialty Products improved profitability on reduced sales for the third quarter compared to a year earlier, while German lubricant supplier Fuchs Petrolubs net profit for the first nine months declined from a year ago.
Calumet Specialty Products Partners L.P. Nov. 4 reported net income of $4 million for the quarter ending Sept. 30, compared to a $12.5 million net loss in 2008s third quarter. Sales revenue for the third quarter was $492.4 million, down 32 percent from $724.4 million in the year-earlier period.
Calumets specialty products segment – base oils, waxes, solvents and asphalts – saw gross profit reach $33.5 million in the third quarter, down almost 50 percent from $66.1 million in the year earlier period. Specialty products segment gross profit quarter over quarter was primarily impacted by lower overall specialty product selling prices in relation to crude oil prices compared to the 2008 quarter, due to lower demand resulting from the economic downtown, Calumet said. Specialty products segment gross profit was negatively impacted by lower sales volume in lubricating oils, solvents and waxes due to economic conditions impacting product demand.
Indianapolis-based Calumets production volumes of specialty products changed little in the third quarter, compared to the year-earlier period. In the third quarter, base oil output decreased 1 percent to 13,118 barrels per day, solvents increased 1.9 percent to 7,923 b/d, and wax production decreased 17.5 percent to 941 b/d, all compared to 2008s third quarter.
Fuchs Petrolub AG on Thursday reported net profits of 81.8 million (U.S. $121.7 million) for the first nine months of 2009, down 13.1 percent from 94.8 million ($140 million) during the first nine months of last year. The Mannheim-Germany-based company reports cumulative financial data over the course of its fiscal year, instead of by individual quarter.
Sales revenue for 2009s first three quarters reached 873.2 million ($1.3 billion), down 19.4 percent from 1.1 billion ($1.6 billion) in the year earlier period.
By region, sales revenues for Fuchs in 2009s first three months fell 25.5 percent in Europe, and was virtually unchanged in Asia-Pacific and Africa, compared to the first three quarters of last year. In North and South America, revenue declined 15.6 percent in the first three quarters of this year, compared to the year-earlier period.
Fuchs noted a nearly 50 percent increase in earnings in the Asia-Pacific and Africa region to 38.5 million ($57 million) for the first three quarters this year, compared to the year-earlier period. The companies in the Middle East, China and South Africa were the key contributors to the increase in earnings, in the region, the company stated.