NEW YORK -- Standard Motor Products (SMP) has reported today its consolidated financial results for the three months ending March 31.

Consolidated net sales for the first quarter of 2010 were $179.4 million, compared to consolidated net sales of $172.2 million during the comparable quarter in 2009. Earnings from continuing operations for the first quarter of 2010 were $2.9 million or 13 cents per diluted share, compared to $787 thousand or 4 cents per diluted share in the first quarter of 2009.

Commenting on the results, Lawrence Sills, Standard Motor Products' chairman and CEO, stated, "The positive sales trend that we saw in the latter part of 2009 continued through the first quarter of 2010. Excluding the $6.7 million volume from our European distribution business, which we divested in November of 2009, first quarter sales were 8.4 percent ahead of the first quarter of 2009. Breaking it down still further, Engine Management sales were up 10.3 percent while Temperature Control sales, where the season has not yet really begun, was flat.

Sills noted that overall, the aftermarket appears quite healthy. He said SMP is seeing Engine Management increases in all three channels of its business — traditional, retail and OE/OES. The positive sales trend continued into April.

"One of our strategic goals is to increase production in low-cost countries. Our facilities in Mexico and Poland are doing well, and we continue to add product lines to them. They now represent over 50 percent of our total production hours, and we anticipate additional growth in the future.

"Further, we have announced plans to consolidate two of our smaller facilities this year and relocate their operations to other existing locations. Our electronics operation in Hong Kong will be merged with our electronics facility in Orlando, Fla., while our Hayden fan clutch operation in California is moving to our Four Seasons factory in Grapevine, Texas. The combined savings of the two moves is estimated at $4 million annually, with one-time costs of $4 million. We expect that the moves will be completed by year-end."