Afton Chemical, the petroleum additives segment of NewMarket Corp., posted operating profit of $84.1 million for the first quarter of 2018, down 11.8 percent from the same period in 2017. The company attributed the decrease mainly to higher raw material and conversion costs, partially offset by changes in selling prices, and product and regional mix.

During the quarter, we continued to see raw material prices increase as they have over the past several quarters. While we have made progress toward adjusting our selling prices to offset the effects of those higher costs, we have been unable to adjust often and fast enough to compensate for the pace of cost increases we have seen, NewMarket stated in a news release.

The Richmond, Virginia-based company said sales revenue reached $586.9 million, up 8.7 percent.

Petroleum additives saw record shipments in the first quarter, with a slight improvement over the same period a year earlier, which was its prior record for quarterly shipments. The increase was primarily due to increases in lubricant additives shipments, partially offset by decreases in fuel additives shipments, the company stated.

NewMarket posted first quarter net income of $60.6 million, or $5.14 per diluted share, down 5.3 percent from $63.9 million, or $5.39 per diluted share, for last years first quarter.

Quaker Chemical

Quaker Chemicals net income jumped to $12.7 million, up 81.4 percent from $7 million in the first quarter in 2017. Its net sales in the first quarter rose 9 percent to $212.1 million.

Conshohoken, Pennsylvania-based Quaker said in its earnings news release that the first quarter 2018 net sales benefited from increases in volume as well as selling price and product mix, in addition to a positive impact from foreign currency translation.

Quaker Chemical Chairman, CEO and President Michael Barry said the company still awaits regulatory approvals in the United States and Europe for its acquisition of Houghton International. Announced in April 2017, the deal would combine two of the worlds largest suppliers of metalworking fluids. The good news is that we are in general agreement with the regulatory authorities on what remedies have to be made, and these remedies are consistent with our original expectations, Barry said in the earnings news release. We continue to progress through the regulatory process and expect approval as well as closing to be over the next few months.

Milacron

Cincinnati-based Milacrons Fluid Technologies segment, which supplies metalworking and industrial fluids, reported operating earnings of $6 million for the first quarter of this year, up 30.4 percent from the same period last year.

The segments sales for the first quarter reached $32 million, up 10.3 percent from $29 million in the same period a year earlier. Excluding $2.4 million of favorable effects from currency movements, sales increased 2.1 percent compared to the prior year period.