Pre-tax operating income (PTOI) for DuPont’s Coatings & Color Technologies segment was $282 million versus $153 million earned in the hurricane-impacted fourth quarter 2005. Excluding significant items, PTOI increased 31% due to higher titanium dioxide sales and a gain on the sale of assets, which together more than offset the impact of lower automotive OEM coatings volumes.
Fourth quarter sales of $1.6 billion were up seven percent. Higher volumes in the titanium dioxide business and higher prices in the coatings businesses more than offset lower volume in automotive OEM coatings.