DuPont Co., a maker of chemicals and plastics products, posted higher sales and profit totals in 2024.
Full-year sales for Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont were up 2.5 percent vs. 2023 to almost $12.4 billion, as profit surged almost 60 percent to $738 million. Plastics products made by DuPont include Tyvek protective film, Kevlar fibers and Styrofoam expanded polystyrene goods.
"DuPont closed out a year of strong financial performance with solid fourth-quarter results, as we saw continued strength in electronics end-markets and a return to year-over-year top-line growth in Water & Protection," CEO Lori Koch said in a news release. She added fourth-quarter growth in Water & Protection was driven by improvement in water and medical packaging end-markets.
Sales at DuPont's Electronics & Industrial unit were up 11 percent to more than $5.9 billion in full-year 2024, with Water & Protection sales down almost 4 percent to just over $5.4 billion.
In operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the year, E&I saw a gain of almost 17 percent to just over $1.7 billion, while W&P saw a 2 percent reduction to just under $1.4 billion.
DuPont plans to spin off its electronics business into a separate public company by the end of 2025. In May 2024, the firm had announced plans to spin off both its electronics and water units. But on Jan. 15, officials said the water business would stay with the remaining DuPont company.
"The company evaluated all strategic alternatives and concluded the best path to generate value is for the water business to remain in the DuPont portfolio," they added. "This also enhances DuPont's ability to continue optimizing its portfolio following the Electronics separation."
Looking ahead, Koch said DuPont's "value creation opportunities" will center around "the high growth businesses of water and health care, along with other market-leading industrial product lines."
In 2022, DuPont sold most of its plastic materials businesses — including nylon resin, which had been invented by the firm — to Celanese Corp. for $11 billion in cash. Those businesses had annual sales of about $3.5 billion.
That deal didn't include Tedlar fluoropolymer, Multibase silicone additives or Delrin acetal brands. DuPont then sold 80 percent of the acetal business to private equity firm TJC LP in 2023. That business has since been renamed Delrin USA LLC.
In 2023, DuPont agreed to pay $400 million to U.S. water suppliers for issues related to PFAS chemicals. The firm also has agreed to pay $27.5 million to the state of Ohio for similar issues.
In June 2024, DuPont took another step in its downstream transformation into medical device manufacturing when it acquired Donatelle Plastics Inc., a New Brighton, Minn.-based injection molder.
That deal followed DuPont's 2023 purchase of Spectrum Plastics Group. While terms of the Donatelle deal have not been disclosed, DuPont previously announced that it paid $1.75 billion for Spectrum.
DuPont officials said Donatelle adds complementary technology and capabilities including medical device injection molding, liquid silicone rubber processing, precision machining, device assembly and tool building.
Donatelle capabilities also include micromolding and prototyping. Plastics News estimated Donatelle's 2022 sales at $88 million, but did not estimate the firm's 2023 sales. When DuPont finalized the purchase of Alpharetta, Ga.-based Spectrum in August 2023, it said the business had 2,200 employees and annual sales of about $500 million.