Mubasher: DowDuPont on Tuesday announced that its operating earnings dropped by 17.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019, while its net sales fell by 8.6%.

The company’s income from continuing operations before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at $4.01 billion in Q1-19, compared with $4.87 billion in Q1-18.

Net operating income declined to $571 million in the first quarter, versus 1.14 billion in the same quarter of the previous year. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) went down to $0.23, from $0.47.

DowDuPont, which was formed by the $130 billion the merger of chemical titans Dow Chemical and DuPont in 2017, generated $19.64 billion in the period between January and March, versus $21.51 billion in the comparable period of last year.

“Each business aggressively managed the levers within our control and benefitted from the strong foundations we have put in place in the face of discrete headwinds, including the effects of unprecedented bad weather, margin compression in key value chains, and sluggish auto and smartphone market conditions,” DowDuPont’s CEO Ed Breen said.

Looking ahead, DowDuPont expected its net sales during the second quarter would retreat into the mid-single digit range for its specialty products division.

In addition, organic revenue growth will lose steam, entering the low-single digit percentage range.

Adjusted earnings for its agriculture division will probably see a drop within the range between 3% and 5% over the first half of this year.