The Week in Review offers a snapshot of the most read stories of the week as seen on aftermarketNews. To access the complete stories, simply click on the highlighted links. If you missed reading one of our daily news emails, click on any of the dates listed at the bottom of the page to begin catching up on the latest industry news.
Our weekly analysis of the most read stories on aftermarketNews (AMN) this week showed high interest for our exclusive report from the Automotive Distribution Network’s annual convention, which took place last week in Las Vegas . More than 1,400 independent auto stores, service dealers, WDs and their vendor partners attended Fusion ’07, the first-ever Network International Convention, held at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas on February 11-14.
Another highly read story on AMN this past week told of UK-based car parts maker Tomkins plc and the impact that the slowdown in the U.S. automotive market is having on its business. Tomkins announced it would sell three U.S. divisions, including windshield wiper brand Trico. The company warned that the slowdown in the U.S. automotive market coupled with the weakness of the dollar would hurt profits for the first half of this year.
Readers were also very interested to see how CSK fared during the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2006. Net sales in the fourth quarter ended Feb. 4, (fourth quarter of fiscal 2006) increased 17.2 percent to approximately $464 million compared to approximately $396 million in net sales in the fourth quarter ended Jan. 29, 2006 (fourth quarter of fiscal 2005). Preliminary net sales in fiscal 2006 increased 15.2 percent to approximately $1,868 million compared to approximately $1,621 million in net sales for the fiscal 2005.
Also on the financial side, Motorcar Parts of America’s report of its financial results for the third quarter and fiscal year 2006 was included in this week’s list of most read articles on AMN. The company attributed additional sales to new and existing customers as the reason it reported revenues of $33.3 million for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2006 . This is up 10.5 percent from $30.2 million in the same quarter last year. For the nine months ended
Also on this week’s ‘most read’ GPC said its sales increased 7 percent in 2006. The company said sales in 2006 were $10.5 billion, up 7 percent compared to 2005. Net income for the year was $475.4 million, an increase of 9 percent compared to $437.4 million in 2005. Earnings per share on a diluted basis were $2.76, up 10 percent compared to $2.50 in 2005.
To view all of the news from the past two weeks, simply click on the link for each corresponding day: