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[February 2004]
Ferro Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results
On 5 February 2004, Ferro Corporation (Cleveland, OH, USA) announced that revenue from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of 2003 increased by 11.3% to US$407.4 million, compared with US$366.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2002. During Q4 2003, favourable foreign currency exchange rates, improved macroeconomic conditions in North America and stronger demand in several key end markets helped to offset the impact of continued sluggish economic conditions in Europe.
Revenue from continuing operations for the full year 2003 increased by 6.1% to US$1.62 billion, due mainly to favourable foreign currency exchange rates.
For Q4 2003 income from continuing operations was US$2.8 million, which included an after-tax charge of US$2.2 million related to consolidation and restructuring costs. The figure for Q4 2002 was US$7.1 million which included an after-tax charge of US$700,000 related to the dmc2 integration.
For the full year 2003, Ferro reported income from continuing operations of US$17.4 million compared with US$33.7 million in 2002. Chairman Hector Ortino said: "The fourth quarter provided positive signs that macro economic conditions are strengthening. Overall demand in North America improved in many of our key end markets, following two consecutive quarters of soft demand.
"Market conditions in the Asia-Pacific region, which is an important element in our growth strategy, remained robust through most of the year, including the fourth quarter. I was particularly pleased with the market reaction and performance of our two springboard businesses, electronic materials and pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals. Unfortunately, several of our businesses continued to be challenged late in the year by increased raw material costs and sluggish economic conditions in Europe. We took further action in the quarter to improve our cost structure and implemented price increases where appropriate to help offset higher raw material costs."
ENDS