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[October 2009]
Significant Improvement for Refractories Segment at Minerals Technologies
Minerals Technologies Inc (New York, USA) has reported third quarter diluted earnings per common share of US$0.47 compared with a loss of US$2.18 per share in the second quarter of 2009. Earnings per share, excluding special items from the company’s second quarter 2009 restructuring, were US$0.53 compared to US$0.15 per share in the second quarter. Net income for the quarter was US$8.9 million compared to the US$40.9 million net loss recorded in the second quarter of 2009 largely as a result of restructuring.
“Our financial results improved significantly over the second quarter, with sales increasing across all of our major product lines, reflecting our best performance since the recession severely affected our operations in the fourth quarter of last year,” said Joseph Muscari, Chairman and CEO. “In addition, the restructuring program we announced in July is ahead of schedule to meet the projected $16 million to $20 million in annualized savings in 2010, and we have achieved near-term productivity improvements to better position the company for improved profitability.”
The company's worldwide sales in the third quarter increased 12% to US$234.3 million from US$208.6 million in the second quarter. Income from operations was US$12.8 million compared to a loss of US$41.6 million in the second quarter. Excluding special items, income from operations was US$14.2 million, a 158% increase over the US$5.5 million recorded in the prior quarter. This growth was primarily due to volume increases in both business segments, with the most significant improvement delivered by the Refractories segment, and to the benefits from the restructuring programme.
The Specialty Minerals segment's worldwide sales in the third quarter increased 7% to US$162.5 million from US$152.0 million in the prior quarter. Income from operations, excluding special items, increased 20% to US$15.8 million from US$13.2 million in the second quarter. This increase occurred in both the PCC and Processed Minerals product lines.
Worldwide sales of PCC, which is used primarily in the manufacturing processes of the paper industry, were US$137.5 million, an 8% gain over the US$127.7 million recorded in the prior quarter. This growth was attributable to increased volumes, primarily in North America and Europe, the largest markets, and to the favourable impact of foreign exchange of US$3.0 million or 2 percentage points of growth. Worldwide unit volumes of Paper PCC were up approximately 4% from the second quarter.
In Processed Minerals, third quarter sales increased 3% to US$25.0 million from US$24.3 million in the prior quarter. Volumes were up 6% from the second quarter of 2009. This product line returned to profitability in the third quarter after a break-even performance in the second quarter and operating losses in the two previous quarters. This business serves the residential and commercial construction markets which typically experience a seasonal decline in the fourth quarter.
In the company’s Refractories segment, sales for the third quarter were US$71.8 million, a 27% increase over the US$56.6 million recorded in the second quarter. Excluding special items, the segment recorded an operating loss of US$1.1 million compared to a loss of US$7.1 million in the second quarter, an 85% improvement.
Sales of refractory products and systems, used primarily in the steel market, increased 22% in the third quarter to US$56.8 million from US$46.7 million in the second quarter of 2009. This increase was attributable to improved production rates in the worldwide steel industry, which resulted in 17% higher volumes in refractory products. Sales in the metallurgical product line increased 52% sequentially to US$15.0 million from US$9.9 million in the previous quarter due to volume increases of 80%.
ENDS