Dow Inc.’s fourth-quarter earnings got here in nicely beneath Wall Avenue expectations and the fabric sciences firm mentioned Thursday that it’s slashing 1,500 jobs globally in an effort to chop prices as gross sales stagnate.
The layoffs quantity to about 4% of Dow’s workforce, based on information agency FactSet. Dow mentioned the workers reductions are a part of a broader plan to chop $1 billion in prices, citing “persistently weak macroeconomic situations.”
Shares of Midland, Michigan-based Dow tumbled almost 8% in morning buying and selling.
Dow posted a lack of $35 million within the fourth quarter. Adjusted for one-time bills, per-share earnings within the interval have been zero. That is down from final yr’s earnings of 43 cents per share and nicely in need of the 24 cents-per-share revenue that analysts have been anticipating. For the complete yr, Dow recorded earnings of $1.71 per share, down from 2023’s $2.24.
Gross sales within the quarter and yr additionally fell from a yr in the past, dragged down by its packaging and specialty plastics enterprise, which accounts for greater than half of the corporate’s income. Dow mentioned that gross sales in its largest phase fell 6% within the fourth quarter and for the complete yr.
Complete gross sales for the quarter fell near 2%, whereas full yr 2024 gross sales fell 3.6% to $43 billion, down from $44.6 billion in 2023.
Concerning the restructuring, Dow expects to put up prices within the first quarter totaling $250 million to $325 million for severance and different associated prices
“Whereas these choices are troublesome, we should proceed to take proactive actions to scale back prices whereas we navigate by way of this ongoing slower-than-expected macroeconomic restoration,” mentioned Dow CEO Jim Fitterling.
Virtually two years in the past to the day, Dow introduced that it was reducing 2,000 jobs — 5% of its workforce — in an effort to succeed in $1 billion in financial savings.
