Lubrizol profit jumps as Berkshire slams Sokol

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Specialty chemicals maker Lubrizol Corp LZ.N, which is being bought by Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N)(BRKb.N), said its first-quarter profit rose 4 percent, helped largely by higher selling prices.

Separately, Berkshire Hathaway said it may sue David Sokol, a former Berkshire executive, for questionable purchases of Lubrizol shares before pushing Berkshire Chief Executive Warren Buffett to buy the chemical maker for $9 billion.

The buyout is still on track to close in the third quarter, a Lubrizol spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

For the first quarter, Lubrizol posted net income of $169.5 million, or $2.57 per share, compared with $163.3 million, or $2.32 per share, a year ago.

Excluding charges related to the Berkshire deal, Lubrizol earned $2.71 per share. By that measure, analysts, on average, had expected earnings of $2.53 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 16 percent to $1.52 billion. Analysts, on average, had expected $1.39 billion.

Ohio-based Lubrizol said product prices and volumes, or the physical amount of product sold, both rose during the period. Lubrizol said that rising crude oil costs posed a challenge but it would raise its prices to counteract the higher costs.

Lubrizol's prodigious cash generation and ability to weather commodity cycles initially attracted Buffett to the company, which makes engine lubricants.

Lubrizol shares fell 0.2 percent to $134.75 in after-hours trading. The stock has gained 49 percent in the past 52 weeks, most of which came when Buffett announced the deal last month.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; editing by Andre Grenon)