Menomonee Falls-based Actuant Corp. today announced fiscal first quarter net earnings of $36.3 million, or 49 cents per share, down slightly from $37.2 million, or 50 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
The company’s quarterly net sales slipped to $377.2 million from $392.8 million a year earlier.
Robert Arzbaecher, chairman and chief executive officer of Actuant, said, “Actuant’s first quarter results reflect our customers’ cautious approaches to spending and managing inventory levels in light of economic uncertainty. Despite the benefit of prior year acquisitions and continued core growth in both the Industrial and Energy segments, overall revenue declined. This was primarily the result of significant customer production declines across various OEM markets such as heavy-duty truck and off-highway equipment to reduce inventories, as well as weak solar sales in the Electrical segment. During the past 90 days, we initiated both temporary and structural cost reduction actions to allow us to continue to invest in long-term growth while protecting earnings in the current weak environment.”
Looking ahead, Arzbaecher said, “We expect fiscal 2013 sales to be approximately $1.600-1.625 billion, with core sales for the year down 1 to 3 percent. In summary, we continue to expect a challenging first half of fiscal 2013, followed by modest growth in the second half of the year. We remain confident in the fundamental strength of the Actuant businesses, have the right long-term growth strategies in place, and the operating experience to manage through the current environment.”
