Future looks less cloudy for Timken

Canton, Ohio-based Timken Co., parent company of the Timken Gaffney Roller Bearing Plant, lost $50.1 million in the last quarter and expects losses to continue for the remainder of the year amid continuing weak demand.

Investors, however, saw good news in the latest earnings report since losses mostly were attributed to the previously announced sale of one of Timken’s business lines and the company upgraded its future forecast, as losses for the full year won’t be as bad as previously expected.

That news sent Timken’s shares on the New York Stock Exchange up close to 10 percent by the close of trading on Thursday.

The company, which makes bearings and specialty steel products for other industries, such as the automotive and aerospace industries, reported in its third quarter earnings release Thursday that it had revenues of $763.6 million for the third quarter, which were down 43 percent from the $1.34 billion in revenue it took in at the same time last year.

Losses for the quarter stood at $50.1 million, though $30.8 million of that figure was related to the recent sale of Timken’s needle roller bearing line of business to a Japanese firm called JTEKT Corp.

“This quarter’s performance is more about how we’re managing the business than a shift in marketplace trends,” Timken’s president and chief executive, James W. Griffith, said in a prepared release.

Overall, Timken expects its 2009 sales to decline 35 to 40 percent compared to last year. The company attributed the decline to weaker demand in many of the company’s end markets and lower surcharges.

The third quarter results represented the second straight quarter of losses for Timken, as the company reported a $64.5 million loss last July.

Among cost-cutting moves announced by the company, Timken said earlier this month it will streamline its distribution footprint by closing a distribution center in Ohio and consolidating those operations with a distribution facility in South Carolina.