Menomonee Falls-based Magnetek Inc. reported a fourth quarter net loss of $33.8 million, compared with net income of $373,000 in the fourth quarter of 2013.
The company, which manufactures digital power and motion control systems, recorded an operating loss of $33.3 million, compared with operating income of $951,000 in the same period a year ago.
Fourth quarter revenue totaled $29 million, up 15 percent from $25.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2013. The increase was driven by higher sales of material handling and elevator products.
“We experienced continuing strength in our end markets during the fourth quarter, manufacturing activity in the U.S. remained healthy, and we performed at a very high level in closing the fiscal year,” said Peter McCormick, president and chief executive officer. “Continued strong demand, along with our focus on cost control and efficiency, combined to deliver exceptional year-over-year gains in both gross profit and adjusted operating income.”
For the full year, Magnetek reported a net loss of $27.3 million, compared with net income of $3.1 million in 2013.
The company recorded an operating loss of $25.7 million in 2014, compared with operating income of $4.8 million a year ago.
And 2014 revenue was $109.7 million, up from $103.3 million in 2013.
Magnetek recorded a non-cash pension settlement charge of $37.1 million in 2014. Its pension obligation has now decreased by $21 million.
“We continued to focus on organic growth while maximizing profitability and cash flow during 2014,” McCormick said. “Conditions in our end markets were conducive to growth for most of 2014, and we experienced increasing demand and growing sales as the year progressed. In addition, our sales mix in 2014 shifted to include several large scale projects. We implemented a number of actions in terms of pricing, repositioning, and cost reductions late in 2013 and into early 2014 to better assure acceptable levels of profit at that time. We retained discipline in terms of spending as our sales increased, which resulted in significant operating leverage in the business and exceptional profitability over the past few quarters. We also generated sufficient cash to fund our organic growth initiatives and meet our pension obligations. Regarding our pension, we contributed $19 million in cash and $7 million in Company common stock to plan assets during the year in an effort to further improve the funded status of the plan, and we again made meaningful progress toward that goal during fiscal 2014. As a result, we expect the improvement in our pension to favorably impact our earnings and cash flow going forward.”
