Afton Chemical continued its strong performance in the second quarter of this year with operating profit of $97.8 million, an improvement over second quarter operating profit last year of $96.9 million. Sales of petroleum additives for this years second quarter were $581.3 million compared to sales for the same period last year of $584.2 million, with shipments up one percent.
For the first half of this year, operating profit was $199.8 million compared to operating profit for the same period last year of $204.1 million. Sales for the first half of this year were $1,139.7 million compared to sales in the first half of last year of $1,141.9 million, while shipments were essentially flat period to period.
Aton Chemical's parent NewMarket Corporation's net income for the second quarter of 2013 improved to $64.0 million compared to net income of $55.3 million for the second quarter of 2012. For the first half of 2013, net income increased to $131.8 million compared to net income of $121.8 million for the first half of last year.
"We are pleased with the performance of our business for the first half of this year and we are proud of our teams efforts. Sales volume was softer than expected due to a slower than expected economic recovery in our customers markets. We continue to make investments in research, development and facilities to support our customers around the world. We believe the fundamentals of how we run our business a long-term view, safety-first culture, customer-focused solutions, technology-driven product offerings, world-class supply chain capability and a regional organizational structure to better understand our customers needs continue to pay dividends to all of our stakeholders" stated President and Chief Executive Officer, Thomas E. Gottwald.