MOSCOW (MRC) -- Westlake Chemical Corporation has reported net income for the three months ended December 31, 2013 of USD171.0 million, or USD2.54 per diluted share, compared to net income of USD95.3 million, or USD1.42 per diluted share, reported for the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the company's report.
Net sales for the three months ended December 31, 2013 of USD951.6 million increased USD150.6 million compared to net sales of USD801.0 million in the same period of 2012, primarily due to higher sales prices for polyethylene, styrene and PVC resin and higher sales volumes for most of our major products.
Income from operations was USD257.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to USD156.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2012. The increase in income from operations in the fourth quarter of 2013 was primarily a result of higher polyethylene and PVC resin sales prices as well as lower ethane costs, which were partially offset by higher propane costs as compared to the same period in 2012.
For the year ended December 31, 2013, net income was USD610.4 million, or USD9.09 per diluted share, an increase in net income of USD224.8 million, or USD3.34 per diluted share, from 2012 net income of USD385.6 million, or USD5.75 per diluted share.
Net sales for the year ended December 31, 2013 increased USD188.5 million to USD3,759.5 million compared to net sales for 2012 of USD3,571.0 million, primarily due to higher sales prices for most products, higher sales volumes for styrene, caustic and PVC resin and sales contributed by the specialty PVC pipe business, which was acquired in May 2013.
Income from operations was USD953.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2013 as compared to USD615.4 million for 2012, an increase of USD338.1 million. Income from operations benefited mainly from higher olefins and vinyls integrated product margins, predominantly due to a significant decrease in ethane costs as average industry ethane prices decreased 34.3% in 2013 as compared to 2012. The increase in income from operations in 2013 was partially offset by the lost production and unabsorbed costs associated with the planned turnaround and expansion of one of the Lake Charles, Louisianaаethylene units in the first quarter of 2013.
Albert Chao, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are pleased to report a strong finish to a record year for Westlake. We continue to benefit from lower-cost, ethane-based ethylene production resulting from increased North American natural gas liquids production, which we expect to continue for the foreseeable future. Our Olefins segment achieved record annual income from operations while our Vinyls business continues to improve, as we see gradual recovery in the construction industry. In 2013, we completed the expansion of one of our ethylene units at our Lake Charles, Louisiana site in the first quarter and also started-up our new world scale Geismar, Louisiana chlor-alkali plant in the fourth quarter. The completion of these two projects and the planned conversion to ethane feedstock and expansion of our ethylene and PVC capacity at our Calvert City, Kentucky facility in the second quarter of 2014 are expected to improve the profitability of our Vinyls business."
As MRC informed before, Westlake Chemical held a dedication ceremony on 19 February 2014 for its new chlor-alkali plant in Geismar, Louisiana. This new chlor-alkali plant has the capacity to produce 350,000 electrochemical units (ECU's) annually and utilizes state of the art membrane technology. The plant is adjacent to the existing vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) facilities at the Geismar complex.
Westlake Chemical Corporation is a manufacturer and supplier of petrochemicals, polymers and building products with headquarters in Houston, Texas. The company's range of products includes: ethylene, polyethylene, styrene, propylene, caustic, VCM, PVC resin and PVC building products including pipe and specialty components, windows and fence.
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