Eastman Chemical Targets Growth

Eastman Chemical plans to double earnings by 2012 to $10.00 per share. The company says the pair of coal gasification projects it is planning on the U.S. Gulf Coast will start up by 2011 and yield about 20% of earnings by 2012. Engineering and financing for the projects are expected to be concluded by the end of this year. The company also seeks a 50% operating earnings increase in its specialty plastics segment by 2009. It plans to convert some polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resins capacity to specialty copolyester resin output and expand production of cellulose esters, used in liquid-crystal displays. In the PET business, where Eastman is retrenching to the U.S., the company is shuttering older capacity in South Carolina and replacing it with production based on its IntegRex PET technology. The company is planning an acetate fiber capacity increase in the U.K. and is mulling plans to expand that business in Asia as well.