TOKYO—Zeon Corp. has seen both sales and profits lifted in the fourth quarter of its financial year ended March 31, due to a recovery in the synthetic rubber demand.
The Japanese group's fourth quarter sales grew 62 percent year-on-year to $783 million, while operating income was up 78 percent at $112 million.
For the full year, operating income was up 28 percent at $304 million, on 6 percent lower sales of $2.7 billion, Zeon reported April 29.
Zeon's elastomers business, which manufactures rubber, latexes and rubber chemicals, saw fourth quarter operating income lifted more than six-fold to $64 million, on 9 percent higher sales of $430 million.
For the full year, the division reported 27 percent higher operating income at $112 million, on 10 percent lower sales of $1.6 billion.
During the fourth quarter, Zeon said sales volume recovered with the elastomers division seeing an overall 17 percent increase in volumes to 176,000 metric tons.
Rubber volumes were up 12 percent year-on-year at 99,000 tons, while latexes and chemicals posted 9 percent and 6 percent increases to 37,000 tons and 41,000 tons, respectively.
Fourth quarter sales of rubbers rose 9 percent to $291 million, while latexes jumped 28 percent to $46 million. Chemicals registered a 2 percent decline in sales for the three-month period to $80 million.
