Canton, Ohio-based The Timken Company, parent of the Gaffney Roller Bearing Plant, continued to lose money in the fourth quarter of 2009 and reported a fullyear loss of $134 million.

Yet quarterly losses narrowed from a year ago and the company, which is one of Cherokee County’s largest employers, is forecasting a brighter outlook for 2010.

Overall, the company is anticipating the economy to grow this year, resulting in an increase in sales of five to 10 percent.

For the fourth quarter, Timken reported $774.6 million in sales, which were down 29 percent from a year ago. Lower sales and the cost of discontinued operations and special items resulted in a net loss of $20.2 million for the quarter, the company reported.

For the full year, the company’s net loss stood at $134 million on sales of $3.1 billion, which were down 38 percent from 2008.

However, financial documents show the bulk of the full-year-loss was related to Timken’s efforts to cut costs and realign the company during the economic downturn, among them the loss of $37.8 million on the sale of Timken’s needle roller bearing line of business and $56.4 million in severance costs related to workforce reductions.

Without the special items included, Timken would have had a net income of $30.7 million on the year and $38.9 million for the fourth quarter.

“The global economic environment made 2009 an extremely challenging year for The Timken Company, which is reflected in the reduction in our sales and earnings,” James W. Griffith, Timken’s president and chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement. “However, we responded quickly to the downturn, taking actions that helped generate record free cash flow. “

Timken predicts that increased sales in 2010 will be driven by stronger sales in its steel group. It also predicts slight increases in its mobile industries and process industries groups, but a slight decline in its aerospace segment.