BUSINESS NEWS
11 May 09. Kaman Corp. (Nasdaq: KAMN – News) today reported financial results for the first quarter ended April 3, 2009. Net earnings for the first quarter of 2009 were $5.4m, or $0.21 per share diluted, compared to $8.9m, or $0.35 per share diluted, in the first quarter of 2008. Net sales for the first quarter of 2009 were $294.0m compared to $285.8m in the first quarter of 2008. Neal J. Keating, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Our performance in the first quarter reflects the benefits of our business diversification. Stability in our Aerospace Group, driven by our involvement in secure long-term military programs, helped to counterbalance the challenging conditions facing the industrial distribution marketplace. Against this backdrop, we continued to grow our sales, manage our costs and execute against our long-term operating plan. However, the quarter was not without challenges, as the industrial distribution market continued to deteriorate during the quarter, which, combined with costs of implementing expense reduction initiatives, acquisitions, and other investments in the business, led to a significant decline in profitability. In addition, the performance of our Precision Products business was disappointing due to delays in Joint Programmable Fuze (JPF) shipments from the first quarter into the second and third quarters of 2009.” T. Jack Cahill, President of Kaman Industrial Technologies (KIT) added, “The impact of the current economic environment is being felt industry-wide, and KIT is no exception. The market softness we experienced at the end of 2008 continued in the first quarter of 2009. In response, we have taken a number of actions to reduce our operating costs, scale the business to match the marketplace conditions and protect profitability, with the costs of some of these steps affecting segment performance during the period. Despite the decline in the overall market, KIT continues to gain market share, as customers look to work with a partner having the geographic presence, product breadth and financial
stability to meet their needs. We remain active in pursuing national accounts and renewed a number of relationships during the period, a testament in these uncertain times to our customers’ perception of the value provided by our services.”
08 May 09. Curtiss-Wright Corp. (NYSE: CW – News) was caught in a classic economic squeeze during Q1-09: Sales were off a bit, while expenses generally went the other way; consequently, EPS were down a lot. Net Sales were off by 2.2% to $423.8m; further, Organic Sales were off by some 4% as incremental sales from recent acquisitions contributed around $8m during the quarter. Gross Profit was down by 2.0% to $135.8 million, while the Gross Margin remained constant at 32.0%. R,D,T&E Expense rose by 2.2% to $13.1m and, as a percent of Sales, it was a smidgeon higher at 3.1% versus 3.0%. S,G&A Expense was up by 7.8% to $91.5m; as a percent of Sales, it went from 19.6% to 21.6%. Operating Income dropped dramatically by 23.5% to $31.1m and the Operating Margin went from 9.4% down to 7.3%. Interest Expense did drop by 8.5% to just over $ 6.9m; on the other hand, the Income Tax Rate climbed from 35.2% to 35.5%. Net Income was down by 27.4% to $15.8m and the Net Margin dropped from 5.0% to 3.7%. EPS were 35¢ versus 48¢, down by 27.1% on 0.5% more shares. The Company attributed the lower results to the slowing in general industrial, oil & gas and commercial aerospace sectors, which was not offset by organic improvement in the commercial power, naval and ground defense sectors. With respect to the Company’s three segments, Flow Control sales were up by 4.6%
to $230.4m, while Motion Control declined by 3.3% to $140.7m and Metal Treatment sank by 22.0% to $52.7m. Flow Control Operating Income
was down 6.3% to $13.3 million, while Motion Control rose by 4.1% to 14.3m…but only because of a $5.4m favorable foreign currency
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