Tenneco announced a first-quarter loss Thursday as vehicle production plunged amid a deep recession, Reuters reported.
The company posted a net loss of $49 million, or $1.05 per share in the quarter, compared with a profit of $6 million, or 13 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items such as restructuring costs, the company posted a loss of 61 cents in the quarter.
Revenue fell 38 percent to $967 million.
“This was a very challenging quarter as production volumes continued to decline to extremely low levels with no region of the world unaffected,” said Gregg Sherrill, chairman and CEO, Tenneco. “However, restructuring actions and our employees’ concerted efforts to aggressively reduce costs and generate cash were instrumental in helping to offset the impact of this severe industry downturn.”
Tenneco’s efforts to conserve cash while continuing to invest in technology, capabilities and assets for future growth resulted in capital spending in the quarter of $25 million, a 52 percent decrease from $52 million in first quarter 2008, the company said.
“We are very pleased with our cash performance given the headwinds we faced this quarter,” continued Sherrill. “We are executing on our cost reduction and cash management plans and managing liquidity through working capital improvements, significantly reducing capital expenditures and eliminating discretionary spending.”
