Koppers Holdings said net income fell by 36 percent in the third quarter, to $16.4 million, or 80 cents per share, from $25.5 million, or $1.24 per share in the third quarter of 2008.

Sales for the manufacturer of chemicals and wood treatment products declined by 22 percent.

Adjusted net income, excluding charges for a plant outage in the third quarter, was $16.6 million, or 81 cents per share, easily beating Wall Street analysts' projections that averaged 62 cents per share.

Walter Turner, Koppers' president and chief executive, said the company remained profitable in part because of cost-cutting initiatives to deal with the economic downturn.

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