BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Baton Rouge-based specialty chemicals maker Albemarle Corp. reports its first-quarter earnings dipped to $43.1 million, or 40 cents per share, compared to $56.6 million, or 71 cents per share, a year ago.
However, after adjusting for its Rockwood Holdings acquisition, including a higher value of Rockwood's inventory, Albemarle earned $127.2 million, or $1.17 per share. Adjusted earnings for the first quarter of 2014 were $78.4 million, or 98 cents per share.
The Rockwood deal also helped lift Albemarle's sales to $884.4 million, compared to $599.8 million a year ago.
Albemarle also raised its full-year per-share earnings projections to a range of $3.65 to $4.05. The company's earlier guidance was in the range of $3.15 to $3.70.
