PPG records Q3 income, sales increases

Pittsburgh-based PPG Industries posted third-quarter net income of $311 million, up 18.7% from $262 million in the third quarter of 2010. Net sales for the quarter totaled $3.8 billion, up 8.6% from $3.5 billion in the prior-year period.

“This is the fifth consecutive quarter in which we eclipsed our prior quarterly earnings record,” said Charles Bunch, PPG chairman and CEO. “This consistent improvement in performance, especially in light of today’s economic backdrop, demonstrates the value of our management’s aggressive focus on operations and the continuing benefit of the structural changes that we have made to the company the past few years, including lowering our cost base and expanding in emerging regions. In addition, these results reflect the continuing benefits of our disciplined deployment of our strong cash position.”

According to Bunch, all 13 PPG businesses employed higher pricing this quarter to counter higher input costs. “PPG’s overall volumes were flat year-over-year,” he said. “Demand in most markets in North America was up modestly and fairly consistent with the prior quarter’s growth rate. Continued volume gains in emerging regions such as Asia/Pacific and Latin America offset lower demand in Europe, which was driven principally by the company’s consumer-oriented businesses.”

Looking ahead, Bunch is expecting normal “seasonal fourth-quarter patterns” and said the company will implement additional price increases in a number of businesses.