Lydall Talks Finances, Jobs in Connecticut
Posted on November 9, 2010
Lydall has released their third quarter finances and gave some insight into opening up jobs in Connecticut.
Net sales for the third quarter ended September 30, 2010 were $83.8 million compared with $66.1 million for the same period in 2009. Excluding the negative impact of foreign currency translation, net sales increased by $20.7 million, or 31.3%, in the third quarter of 2010 compared with the third quarter of 2009.
The Company revised prior period financial statements due to errors detected in the third quarter of 2010. None of the revisions were considered material to the periods impacted, as further described below. All figures in this press release are provided as revised.
Net income for the current quarter was $1.5 million, or $0.09 per share, compared to a net loss of ($0.5) million, or ($0.03) per share, in the third quarter of 2009. Net income in the third quarter of 2010 included a net tax benefit of $1.8 million, or $0.11 per share, and a gain on sale of product line of $0.4 million, or $0.02 per share.
Operating income in the third quarter of 2010 was $0.1 million compared to an operating loss of ($0.4) million in the third quarter of 2009. The current quarter was negatively impacted by the results of the Company’s North American automotive (“NA Auto”) facility, which continued to experience manufacturing inefficiencies associated with production of fiber products, as previously identified at the end of the second quarter.
Dale Barnhart, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We are pleased by the positive trend in revenues resulting from market revitalization and certain share gains. For two consecutive quarters we have exceeded our highest reported revenues since the third quarter of 2008, and we continue to report strong backlog. We are disappointed with the performance of our NA Auto facility, but believe the corrective actions will start to show improvements in the fourth quarter. Our Performance Materials segment and our Affinity business, as well as our European automotive facilities, executed well during the quarter and are benefiting both from the positive trend in revenues and from their ongoing focus on lean manufacturing.
“In the Performance Materials segment, we continued to see greater demand for our filtration and industrial thermal insulation products. Net sales in the third quarter of 2010, excluding foreign currency translation, increased by 31.1% compared to the third quarter of 2009. Excluding the gain on sale of our electrical papers product line, this segment reported an operating margin of 17.4% for the third quarter of 2010 compared to 11.1% in the prior year. Performance Materials has done an excellent job of realigning manufacturing capabilities among the production sites which has enabled us to better optimize the use of existing capacity and also to free up capacity to grow the business organically.
“In the Thermal/Acoustical segment, the second quarter’s demand for the Company’s products continued into the third quarter. While segment net sales increased by 28.0%, excluding foreign currency translation, in the third quarter of 2010, sales of automotive parts increased by 48.5% compared to the third quarter of 2009. The manufacturing inefficiencies we encountered at our NA Auto facility towards the end of the second quarter continued to challenge us in the third quarter, and contributed to the segment’s operating loss of ($3.2) million. During the second and third quarters of 2010, we responded to a rapid acceleration of orders with a plant expansion, implementation of new equipment, hiring and training a significant number of new employees, and fabrication of a great deal of new tooling, and all at the same time as we increased output to meet our customers’ demand.”
Consolidated gross margin percentage for the third quarter of 2010 was 14.9% compared with 17.0% for the same quarter of 2009. This decrease in gross margin percentage was driven by the manufacturing inefficiencies associated with production of fiber products in the Thermal/Acoustical segment. Partially offsetting the negative impact on gross margin percentage from the Thermal/Acoustical segment was improvement in gross margin percentage from the Performance Materials segment.
Selling, product development, and administrative expenses were $12.7 million, or 15.2% of net sales, for the third quarter ended September 30, 2010, compared with $11.7 million, or 17.6% of net sales, for the same quarter of 2009. This increase was primarily due to salaries and benefits, sales commission, severance related charges, and consulting services totaling $1.5 million and partially offset by the reversal of accrued incentive compensation expense of $0.4 million.
