BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Industrial chemical maker Albemarle Corp. said its fourth-quarter net income jumped 17 percent to top expectations as the company raised prices on catalyst chemicals and other products.
Albemarle provides specialty chemicals and chemical testing services to big industrial clients like oil refiners and pharmaceutical makers. The company said it noticed a slowdown in some markets during the second half of 2011 because of global economic instability. But some sectors, like chemical sales to oil refineries, rose sharply toward the end of the year.
The company said it expects the markets it serves to stabilize or pick up in the second half of this year.
Albemarle said Monday that its net income for the quarter ended Dec. 31 rose to $99.4 million, or $1.11 per share, from $85 million, or 92 cents per share, during the same period last year.
Revenue during the quarter rose 17 percent to $707.4 million, compared with $605 million in the prior year period.
The results beat analysts' expectations for net income of $1.08 per share on $696.7 million, according to FactSet.
Fourth-quarter revenue was buoyed by Albemarle's catalyst division, which sells chemical to oil refiners. Revenue in that division jumped 25 percent from the prior-year period to $289.5 million in the fourth quarter. Much of the higher revenue came from price increases, the company said.
Revenue in Albemarle's fine chemistry division, which provides chemicals to pharmaceutical and agricultural companies, jumped 36 percent to $208.5 million on rising volume and higher pricing.
For the full year, Albemarle said its net income was $436.3 million, or $4.77 per share, compared with $323.7 million, or $3.51 per share, the year before. Net sales for 2011 rose to $2.9 billion from $2.4 billion for 2010.
Analysts had expected full-year net income of $4.74 per share on $2.88 billion in sales.
Shares rose 45 cents to close at $60.09.
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