Joy Global caps a strong year

Milwaukee-based Joy Global Inc. today reported fourth quarter net income of $172.3 million, or $1.61 per share, up from $146.3 million, or $1.39 per share, in the same period a year ago.
The mining equipment manufacturer’s quarterly net sales grew to $1.3 billion from $1.0 billion a year earlier.
For the full fiscal year, Joy Global’s net income rose to $609.7 million, and its net sales grew to $4.4 billion.
"Our fourth quarter was a good finish to an exceptional year," said Mike Sutherlin, president and chief executive officer of Joy Global. "Bookings were strong as our customers continue to move ahead with mine expansion projects. Sales were up almost 18 percent from last year and exceptional operating leverage delivered margins of almost 23 percent, excluding the impact of acquisition related activities.
"The strong fourth quarter performance enabled us to deliver a record year in most categories. Bookings for the year were up over 40 percent, and allowed us to grow sales by more than 20 percent and still carry strong backlogs into fiscal 2012,” Sutherlin said. “Even after funding this strong growth, we generated $500 million in cash from operations in fiscal 2011. Operating margins for the year were 21 percent, including all acquisition costs. In fact, margin improvement was essentially the same with or without the acquisition activity, as LeTourneau’s five months of reported results all but covered the costs related to all three transactions. This demonstrates the continued operational efficiency of our core businesses, and the positive contribution of the LeTourneau loader product line from day one.”