UPDATE: Rohm & Haas Fourth-Quarter Profit Falls 82%

By Christopher Hinton

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Rohm & Haas Co. said Monday its fourth-quarter earnings plunged more than 80% as demand for its specialty materials for the construction, electronics and consumer product markets foundered.

For the recent quarter, the Philadelphia chemical and materials company said earnings fell to $32 million, or 17 cents a share, from $180 million, or 91 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

On an adjusted basis, the company said it earned 69 cents a share, while analysts polled by FactSet Research expected 66 cents a share, on average.

A maker of adhesives, coatings, printed circuit boards and other products, Rohm & Haas said sales fell 13% to $2 billion from $2.3 billion, driven by accelerating market declines across all its business units save salt.

Shares of Rohm & Haas closed Friday at $56.50. The stock is up about 5% for the year as the company is the target of a Dow Chemical Co. acquisition, though the timing of the deal is now in question following the collapse of a Dow-Petrochemical Industries Co. joint venture and turmoil in the financial markets. .

That same turmoil has also caused a sharp contraction in the global economy, leading to a significant slump in manufacturing and construction, and resulting in the layoffs of millions on North American workers.

Rohm & Haas said specialty materials group, its largest chemical business, saw its net sales fall 17% to $974 million due to decreased demand and a negative foreign currency exchange rate. Adjusted pre-tax earnings plummeted 68% to $31 million.

"The impact of softer demand, higher raw material and energy costs, and the negative operating impact of volume shortfalls were partially offset by prior pricing actions," the company said in a statement.