Furon Earnings Show 45% Drop in 3rd Quarter : Revenue: Chairman J. Michael Hagan says, however, that an unexpected rise in orders, to offset the quarterly bad news, is ‘the first positive sign we have seen in a long time.’
Looking for the silver lining in an otherwise downbeat financial report, the chairman of the Furon Co. said Monday that while fiscal 1992 third-quarter earnings were off 45% from a year earlier, things had improved from the preceding quarter.
And Furon Chairman J. Michael Hagan said the manufacturer of Teflon products and other industrial plastic components was encouraged by an unexpected rise in orders during the third quarter. “It’s the first positive sign we have seen in a long time,” he noted.
He added, however, that Furon does not expect increased revenue in the fourth quarter, traditionally the company’s weakest period.
For its third quarter ended Nov. 2, Furon earned $1.2 million, or 14 cents a share. That compares to net earnings of $2.2 million, or 26 cents a share, for the corresponding period last year. Revenue of $77.4 million was down 2% from $79.1 million.
For the first nine months, Furon earned $3 million, or 35 cents a share, down 61.5% from the year-earlier $7.8 million, or 95 cents a share.
Revenue of $233.2 million for the first nine months was off 7% from $251.5 million.
Hagan said the third-quarter results represented a significant improvement from the second quarter, when Furon reported earnings of just $148,000, or two cents a share, on revenue of $74 million.
“Unlike other quarters, where there were good and bad months within each period, we are taking a little heart (because) third-quarter orders stayed pretty constant throughout,” Hagan said.
He added that inventories shrank during the quarter and that this “contributed to a positive cash flow of $2.9 million.” As a result, he said, the company is poised to take advantage of any future upturn in business.
He noted that the company has laid off 350 employees, representing 12% of its work force, since January. It now has 2,650 employees, with 450 of them based in Orange County.
