Trelleborg Wheel Systems reported improved operating earnings for the three and six months ended June 30, but sales were down 4.9 and 1.7 percent, respectively, for the periods.
For the quarter, Trelleborg Wheel reported operating income of $22.5 million, a gain of 7.3 percent, on sales of $161.9 million. For the half year, operating earnings were up 5 percent to $45.2 million on sales of $334.3 million.
The second quarter earnings ratio of 13.9 percent was the highest ever recorded, parent company Trelleborg A.B. reported.
Trelleborg attributed the earnings gains to “efficient cost management, high productivity and sustained price discipline,” but said the revenue declines reflected a “temporary point of saturation” in the European agricultural market in terms of investment in equipment.
Trelleborg said organic sales dropped 9 percent, largely on falling original equipment business. Aftermarket sales in Europe remained stable, the company said, and grew in the extra-large ag tyre segment.
Sales in North America were down from the 2013 periods, Trelleborg said, but business showed signs of picking toward the latter weeks of the period.
Trelleborg said it expects production of ag tyres at its new plant in Spartanburg, S.C., to “gradually commence” starting in the second half of 2015.
Overall, Trelleborg A.B. reported double-digit growth in both operating and net income for the quarter and half-year periods, while sales increased by 2 and 3 percent, respectively. Trelleborg Wheel Systems represents 18.5 percent of Trelleborg A.B.’s revenues.