Japan's Shin-Etsu Chemical full-year net profit falls 46%

TOKYO (ICIS news)--Japan’s Shin-Etsu Chemical has posted a 46% year-on-year decline in its full-year net profit to yen (Y) 83.9bn ($892m) as sales across its businesses fell, the chemical producer said on Friday.

Operating profit in the full year to 31 March 2010 was halved to Y117.2bn from Y232.9bn the year before, while net sales were down 24% to Y916.8bn.

The company said its US subsidiary Shintech, which produces polyvinyl chloride (PVC), was impacted by the long and ongoing slump in the housing industry in the US, but the subsidiary's shipments of organic and inorganic chemicals increased elsewhere.

Its Netherlands' operations, as well its domestic PVC business, had been weak given declines in demand, Shin-Etsu said.