ArvinMeritor on Thursday said its third-quarter profit slipped 10%, rattled by higher steel costs and restructuring expenses that offset improved sales.
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According to the Associated Press (AP), the company also said it had extended the timeframe for completing the sale of its light-vehicle aftermarket business into fiscal 2006.
Quarterly income fell to $US46 million, or 66 cents per share, from $51 million, or 74 cents, a year ago. Excluding restructuring charges, income from continuing business amounted to $48 million, or 70 cents per share, the company reportedly said.
The Associated Press noted that ArvinMeritor’s adjusted earnings came in ahead of the average estimate of 66 cents per share from analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
Sales reportedly totalled $2.41 billion, an increase of 15% from $2.1 billion a year earlier and topping the analysts’ consensus target of $2.29 billion.
According to AP, ArvinMeritor said sales of light vehicle systems inched up 5% to $1.29 billion, while commercial vehicle systems surged 30% to reach $1.12 billion for the period.
The upbeat results in its commercial segment prompted ArvinMeritor to raise its projected annual North American truck production a slight 1% to 310,000 units. However, ArvinMeritor trimmed its Western European heavy- and medium-truck volume by 1,000 units to 420,000, AP added.
Looking forward, the company held expectations for yearly income to be at the high end of a previous range of $1.40 to $1.60 per share, with sales reaching about $8.8 billion, the report said.
The Associated Press said analysts currently predict annual profit of $1.57 per share on $8.81 billion in sales. In 2004, ArvinMeritor earned $1.93 per share and had $8.03 billion in sales.
