CANTON, OHIO — The Timken Co. reported record sales of $1.1 billion for the second quarter of 2004, up 14 percent from the prior year. Sales increases in all three of its business groups drove strong earnings performance in the quarter, the company said.
Timken reported earnings of 28 cents per diluted share, up from 5 cents a year ago. Excluding costs associated primarily with the integration of the Torrington acquisition, adjusted earnings per diluted share were 33 cents, or 83 percent higher than last year. This was above previous company estimates of 27 to 32 cents per diluted share, excluding special items. The company had $7.6 million of pretax expense in the second quarter of 2004, compared to $17.9 million of pretax expense a year ago, primarily related to the Torrington integration.
Both reported and adjusted earnings per diluted share for the second quarter of 2004 included a negative effect of 5 cents per share, resulting from the approximately $7.7 million pretax impact of clean-up costs and estimated business interruption losses due to an unplanned shutdown of the Faircrest steel plant.
For the second quarter, Automotive Group sales were $404 million, up 7 percent from $377 million in the second quarter of last year. Strong demand and increased penetration in the light truck and medium/heavy truck sectors in both North America and Europe accounted for most of the growth. North American light truck production in the second quarter was up approximately 5 percent, while medium/heavy truck production was up approximately 27 percent. Partially offsetting this increase was a 6 percent decrease in North American passenger car production.
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) for the second quarter were $6.6 million — down from $7 million the prior year. Despite higher production levels and improved operating efficiency, Automotive Group EBIT margin of 1.6 percent was negatively impacted by higher material costs. The company said it expects to continue to aggressively pursue recovering these costs through surcharges and price increases.
For more information about Timken, go to: www.timken.com.
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