Afton Chemical, NewMarket Corporation's petroleum additives segment, posted operating profit of $85.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2014, an improvement of 6.9% over operating profit for the same period last year of $80.0 million. Sales of petroleum additives for the fourth quarter of 2014 were $547.9 million, down slightly from sales in the fourth quarter of last year of $553.9 million. Shipments were up about 1%. Petroleum additives operating profit for 2014 was $385.1 million, up 2.6% versus last years operating profit of $375.3 million. Sales for the year increased 2.4% to $2.3 billion, and shipments were up 4.2%.
NewMarket Corporation reported net income for the fourth quarter of 2014 of $52.1 million compared to net income of $54.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2013. Net income for 2014 was $233.3 million compared to net income of $264.7 million for 2013. Earnings for 2013 included the results from operations of a discontinued business and the related gain on the sale of the discontinued business. Excluding these items, fourth quarter 2014 earnings were $53.7 million compared to $53.0 million in the prior year quarter, and earnings for the year 2014 were $237.6 million compared to $238.2 million last year.
"The results we have seen in the last few years reflect the hard work, dedication and extensive capabilities of NewMarket employees around the world. After having posted record results for each of the past 10 years, we expect that our petroleum additives segment will continue to deliver solid results in 2015. We believe our business fundamentals, including 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, are core to our success" said Thomas E. Gottwald, NewMarket Corporation Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
