Dow Chemical 2011 Annual Report Download - page 4

In 2011, Dow’s transformation continued as we reached new
levels of profi tability and further positioned your Company for
long-term, sustainable growth.
• We delivered double-digit gains in revenue and earnings
per share during the year, and posted record revenues at
a Company level, as well as in emerging geographies.
• We launched game-changing investments and partnerships
that will allow us to bring our solutions to strategic sectors,
positioning us to capture more demand in the world’s
fastest-growing regions – all from back-integrated,
cost-advantaged positions.
• We commercialized new solutions that anticipate and
address the needs of our customers, while solving
challenges in energy, agriculture, transportation and
infrastructure, as well as the needs of a growing
consumer society. Our R&D pipeline is stronger than
ever before, and more importantly, our innovations
are delivering real value to the bottom line – today.
• Finally, we retired $4.8 billion of debt in 2011, generated
nearly $4 billion of cash from operating activities, and
brought our net debt to total capitalization ratio to
40.8 percent – ahead of our projected path to delivering
our 2012 net debt goal.
Dear Stockholders,
We delivered these results in the midst of an often unpredictable
economic environment, which is validation of the resilience of
our Company. In this time of great change, Dow sees enormous
opportunity to combine our world-class science expertise, global
understanding and unmatched creativity to deliver real solutions
to the world, and real value to our stockholders.
As a result, Dow is not the same company you knew just two
short years ago.
• Our innovation pipeline is unsurpassed. We have delivered
$400 million of EBITDA1 from innovation since 2009, and we
expect to reach $2 billion by 2015.
• Our formidable feedstock advantage provides us with a solid
foundation for the next many decades, as we are the world’s
largest ethylene producer. In fact, we are bolstering our
industry-leading integration strength – moving quickly and
taking signifi cant actions to fully realize the benefi t of shale
gas fundamentals in the United States … driving down costs
and enabling higher and more consistent margins.
• Our vast geographic reach and our diversifi ed portfolio are
further strengthened through strategic joint ventures such as
Sadara, our landmark project with Saudi Aramco, which will
drive profi tability in rapidly growing regions of the world.
• And fi nally, we have strengthened our balance sheet and
continue to drive effi ciencies throughout the Company, which
gives us even greater fl exibility to execute on our strategy.
The Dow Chemical Company
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