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Dow reported lower year-over-year and sequential financial results, reflecting softer pricing, reduced volumes, and seasonally lower demand across all operating segments, partially offset by cost reduction efforts.
Highlights:
- Net sales were $9.5 billion, down 9% year-over-year, reflecting declines in all operating segments. Sequentially, net sales were down 5%, led by local price and volume declines from normal seasonality.
- Volume decreased 2% year-over-year, led by declines in Packaging & Specialty Plastics, driven by lower merchant olefins sales in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India (EMEAI) following the idling of a cracker in the region earlier in the year. Sequentially, volume decreased 2%, led by normal seasonality across building & construction.
- Local price was down 8% versus the year-ago period and down 3% sequentially.
- GAAP net loss was $1.5 billion. Op. EBIT1 was $33 million, down $421 million year-over-year. This was primarily driven by price declines and lower operating rates, which were partly offset by tailwinds from the Company's cost reduction program. Sequentially, Op. EBIT decreased $147 million, driven by margin compression and seasonally lower demand, partly offset by lower fixed costs.
- GAAP loss per share was $2.15; operating earnings per share (EPS)1 was a loss of $0.34, compared to $0.00 in the year-ago period and a loss of $0.19 in the prior quarter. Op. EPS excludes significant items totaling $1.81 per share, led by impairment charges associated with the Polyurethanes & Construction Chemicals business and non-cash pension settlement charges.
- Cash provided by operating activities – continuing operations was $298 million, down $513 million year-over-year, primarily driven by lower earnings. Sequentially, it was down $832 million, primarily driven by advance payments received for low-carbon solutions and other long-term supply agreements in the prior quarter.
- Returns to shareholders totaled $251 million of dividends in the quarter.
- The Company delivered full year net sales of $40.0 billion in 2025. GAAP net loss was $2.4 billion, down from income of $1.2 billion in 2024. Operating EBIT was $0.4 billion, down from $2.6 billion last year. Cash provided by operating activities – continuing operations was $1.1 billion compared to $2.9 billion in 2024. The Company delivered returns to shareholders of $1.5 billion in dividends.
CEO Quote
"Dow's self-help measures continue to gain traction and were evident in our fourth quarter results," said Jim Fitterling, Dow chair and CEO. "In 2025, we achieved well over half of our more than $6.5 billion in near-term cash and cost support actions, including the accelerated delivery of more than $400 million in cost savings from our $1 billion program. As we move forward, Transform to Outperform represents a comprehensive and radical simplification of our operating model. It aims to deliver step-change productivity across every business and function and growth with our customers. We expect these efforts to provide at least $2 billion in additional near-term earnings while helping Dow set new competitive standards and improve shareholder returns."
Packaging & Specialty Plastics segment net sales in the quarter were $4.7 billion, down 11% versus the year-ago period1. Local price decreased 9% year-over-year, primarily driven by lower downstream polymer prices. Currency increased net sales by 1%. Volume decreased 2% year-over-year, driven by lower merchant olefins sales in EMEAI following the idling of one of our crackers in the region earlier in the year. On a sequential basis, net sales declined, primarily driven by lower prices for downstream polymers, which were partly offset by higher licensing revenue.
Equity losses for the segment were $5 million, an improvement of $10 million compared to the prior year, primarily driven by lower fixed costs at Sadara. Sequentially, equity earnings were flat as improvements at Sadara following an unplanned outage last quarter were offset by lower earnings at the Thai joint ventures.
Op. EBIT was $215 million, a decrease of $232 million compared to the year-ago period, driven by lower integrated margins and operating rates, partly offset by lower fixed costs. Sequentially, Op. EBIT increased by $16 million, driven by lower fixed costs, partly offset by margin compression.
