Dow Chemical Co. said Thursday its profit fell 21.3 percent in the third quarter due to changes in German tax laws, higher domestic tax rates and charges for research and development, REPORTED AP. The chemical manufacturer posted net income after paying preferred dividends of $403 million (¤283.2 million), or 42 cents per share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $512 million, or 53 cents per share. The quarter was weighed down primarily by a provision for income taxes of $659 million (¤463.11 million), which was substantially higher than a tax provision of $137 million a year earlier. Excluding items, Dow reported profit of 84 cents per share for the three months that ended Sept. 30. Sales rose 10 percent to $13.59 billion (¤9.55 billion) from $12.36 billion a year earlier, boosted by a 19 percent jump in Dow's agricultural sciences segment, a 12 percent increase in plastics and a 7 percent rise in chemicals. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial, on average, expected earnings of 90 cents per share on revenue of $12.65 billion (¤8.89 billion). Demand was strongest in the Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America regions, Dow said. «Global economic conditions remain reasonably healthy, even though there may be some concerns about the resilience of the U.S. economy going forward,» Dow Chief Executive Andrew Liveris said in a statement. For the first nine months of this year, the company reported a profit of $2.42 billion (¤1.7 billion), or $2.49 per share, compared with $2.75 billion, or $2.82 per share, during the same period in 2006. Dow had sales of $39.29 billion (¤27.61 billion) from January through September, compared with $36.89 billion during the first nine months of last year.
