Nova Chemicals Corp. reported on Friday that it earned $57 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 and $544 million for the entire year.
Those number are both down from 2011, when the petrochemical company had profits of $77 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, and $615 million for the entire year. It attributed the decreases to reduced margins in its olefins/polyolefins business unit.
However, Nova also said that its operating activities generated $250 million in cash during the final quarter of 2012, as compared with $241 million for the same period of 2011. For the entire year, cash from operating activities reached $1.15 billion, up from $950 million.
The company said these increases were the result of strong earnings and reduced working capital.