Lubrizol lift slightly in Q1


Additives specialist Lubrizol has show improved figures for Q1 this year, although this was tempered by costs from the Berkshire Hathaway takeover.

Earnings improved from $162.3m in Q1 last year to $169.5m in 2011 on overall sales of $1.52bn - a 15.5% uplift on sales volumes year-on-year.  However the results were dampened by around $9m of costs relating to Lubrizol's £9.7bn takeover by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway company earlier this year.

Despite higher raw material costs, such as crude and feedstocks, which increased by around 15% in the first three months according to Lubrizol, the company's additives operation remains on target to contribute a 24% to 26% share of the business by 2013.

Overall, earnings were helped by a number of factors including price and product range as well and increased sales volumes.