Pity Dow Chemicals.

Just days after learning that its dalliance with the Rohm and Haas firm could come back to bite it, Dow has warned of a $1.55 billion loss for the last quarter of 2008. Ouch.

If you stacked that much money in $100 bills it would still be a mile high.

Andrew Liveris, Dow’s chairman and CEO, says “the financial results are very disappointing and a reflection of the demand deterioration we saw in global markets and the turmoil in the financial world” (statement).

Demonstrating once again the vagiaries of the stock market, AP reported yesterday:

The fourth quarter loss was larger than expected and revenue came in below Wall Street projections. But Dow Chemical shares rose 55 cents, or 5 percent, to $11.60 in midmorning dealings after trading at a 52-week low of $10.50 earlier in the session.

It’s not all plain sailing though. Reuters says lawyers think Dow’s attempt to pull out of a deal for it to buy Rohm and Hass is going to prove difficult, with Rohm appearing “to have the stronger argument” in the pending court case.

In court documents released yesterday, Dow says “Forcing a merger under the present circumstances will cause irreparable harm to both Dow and Rohm and Haas.”

Rather darkly, it also says:

For those employees in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Midland, Michigan and the hundreds of other communities in which Dow, Rohm and Haas and their many customers and suppliers do business, the viability of the merged entities and their prospects for creating value are vital. The interests of all who make up Dow and Rohm and Haas, and not just the narrow interests of some, must be balanced carefully before the drastic remedy of specific performance [ie Dow buys Rohm – ed.] is ordered.

Previously on The Great Beyond

Rohm to Dow: Du Haas mich – January 27, 2009

Welcome to the Dow of Tomorrow! – December 09, 2008