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Eastman Chemical quarterly profit jumps despite October 2017 coal plant blast

Eastman Chemical Co. reported 2017 fourth quarter net earnings of $581 million, up from $116 million in the year-ago period.

Diluted earnings for the quarter came in at $4.01 per share, up from 79 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2016. The repairs, reconstruction and disruption at the company's Kingsport coal gasification facility due to an explosion in October 2017 lowered Eastman Chemical's fourth-quarter pretax earnings by $112 million, while revenue losses related to the incident were limited to approximately $40 million.

Changes in the U.S. tax law contributed a $421 million increase in the company's fourth-quarter earnings.

Fourth-quarter 2017 net sales were $2.36 billion, higher than the $2.19 billion figure from the previous year, led by the $854 million in sales of additives and functional products. Revenue from Fibers fell year over year in the quarter to $200 million from $230 million of 2016.

For the full year 2017, the diversified chemicals company booked net earnings of $1.47 billion, or $10.09 per share, up from $854 million, or $5.75 per share, in 2016. Sales for the year rose to $9.55 billion from $9.01 billion in 2016, while operating earnings reached $1.55 billion in 2017, up from $1.38 billion in the previous year.

Eastman Chemical expects adjusted EPS to grow by 8% to 12% for 2018.