Exhibit Number: 99.1

Exhibit 99.1

NORTHFIELD, Illinois, October 31, 2007 -- Stepan Company (NYSE: SCL) today reported third quarter results for the period ended September 30, 2007.

Net income decreased 49 percent to $3.1 million, or $0.31 per diluted share. Pretax income declined by $4.6 million (50 percent), primarily due to a $1.6 million ($1.0 million after tax) increase in deferred compensation expense, a $1.4 million ($0.9 million after tax) charge for a pension plan freeze and a $1.3 million ($0.8 million after tax) increase of foreign exchange losses due to the sharp decline in the U.S. dollar versus other currencies.

Gross profit declined by $1.0 million (three percent) on sales volume that was down by less than one percent. The lower gross profit included the $1.3 million of costs related to freezing the Millsdale, Illinois plant's pension plan and replacing it with a defined contribution plan.

Operating expenses increased $2.0 million, or eight percent, for the quarter. The increase was primarily due to the $1.6 million increase in deferred compensation expense. The accounting requirement for the Company's deferred compensation plan results in expense when the price of Stepan Company stock or mutual funds held in the plan rise and income when they decline. During the quarter, mutual fund appreciation accounted for most of the expense.

Foreign exchange losses, included in the other, net line of the income statement, were $1.2 million during the quarter compared to $0.2 million of gains in the prior year quarter. The quarterly loss was attributable to the significant decline in the U.S. dollar versus most other currencies. The majority of the loss related to U.S. dollar denominated receivables held by the Company's Canadian subsidiary.

Net sales increased 12 percent due to higher selling prices (nine percent) and foreign exchange impact (three percent), while slightly lower volume reduced sales by less than one percent.

Net income for the year was $13.5 million, or $1.34 per diluted share, compared to $12.2 million, or $1.23 per diluted share, last year. Pretax income grew $2.4 million (14 percent). The pretax income improvement resulted from a $6.5 million increase in gross profit (six percent), partially offset by a $2.4 million (three percent) increase in operating expenses and a $1.8 million increase in foreign exchange losses. Also included in pretax income are the gain on a product line sale of $4.3 million ($2.7 million after tax) and the goodwill impairment expense of $3.5 million (also $3.5 million after tax), both recorded in the second quarter.

The $6.5 million (six percent) improvement in gross profit came from increases in all three segments. See segment results below.

Net sales increased 12 percent to $988 million due to improved volume (six percent), higher selling price (four percent) and foreign exchange impact (two percent).

Surfactant gross profit declined $1.9 million (eight percent) for the quarter, while growing by $3.2 million (five percent) for the nine months. Biodiesel gross profit declined by $3.5 million for the quarter and $6.0 million for the year. Improved product mix and volume in North America partially offset the effect of the weaker biodiesel results. European surfactant gross profit improved for the quarter and year-to-date on higher volume. Latin America reported lower gross profit for the quarter and year-to-date due to lower margins brought about by outsourcing and delays in recovering higher raw material costs in our selling prices.

Polymer gross profit declined $0.8 million (seven percent) for the quarter, while growing $1.0 million (three percent) for the nine months. The quarterly decline was due to lower phthalic anhydride earnings caused by production outages. The year-to-date improvement reflects significant polyol volume growth.

Specialty Products gross profit grew by $1.1 million (52 percent) for the quarter and $1.9 million (32 percent) for nine months. The improvement reflects higher sales volumes in both pharmaceutical and food ingredient markets.

Operating expenses rose $2.0 million, or eight percent, for the quarter due to the $1.6 million increase in deferred compensation expense. For the nine month period, operating expenses increased three percent. Research costs rose five percent and included $0.6 million of new product registration costs in Europe for our biocide product line.

Interest expense rose three percent and ten percent for the quarter and nine months, respectively, due to higher average debt levels and interest rates.

The loss from our equity in the Philippine Joint Venture decreased slightly. Fabric softener volume is increasing and efforts to improve the product mix in order to restore profitability are progressing.

Other, net is largely attributable to the previously explained foreign exchange losses caused by the sharp decline in the value of the U.S. dollar.

The year-to-date effective tax rate rose to 33.12 percent from 31.79 percent due to the goodwill impairment recorded during the second quarter for which no tax benefit was realized.

"We expect results from operations in both the fourth quarter and full year to exceed prior year results," said F. Quinn Stepan, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer. "Surfactants volume and margin improvement are expected to overcome the projected decline in fourth quarter biodiesel profitability. Polymers is expected to overcome the phthalic anhydride production problems and should exceed its year ago performance, driven by higher global polyol volume. As we close out 2007, we expect that both the surfactant and polymer segments will deliver further earnings improvement in 2008," said Mr. Stepan.

Stepan Company will host a conference call to discuss the third quarter results at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on October 31, 2007. To listen to a live webcast of this call, please go to our Internet website at: www.stepan.com, click on investor relations, next click on conference calls and follow the directions on the screen.

Stepan Company, headquartered in Northfield, Illinois, is a leading producer of specialty and intermediate chemicals used in household, industrial, personal care, agricultural, food and insulation related products. The common and the convertible preferred stocks are traded on the New York and Chicago Stock Exchanges under the symbols SCL and SCLPR.

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