Cooper earnings, sales drop in first quarter

FINDLAY, Ohio (April 19)—Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. suffered double-digit drops in income and sales in the first quarter, as markets for both tires and automotive parts weakened significantly. Thomas Dattilo, Cooper chairman, president and CEO, called the first-quarter result an "anomaly" and said the company expects to take advantage of "a much improved selling environment...throughout the rest of the year." First-quarter operating profit of $25 million was a drop of 65.4 percent from the first quarter of 2000. Sales overall fell 18 percent from a record performance a year ago to $758 million. Net income fell 88.4 percent to $3.6 million. Tire and related products sales were off 13 percent to $388 million, as unit sales fell 18 percent primarily due to the soft North American replacement tire market. Cooper also blamed the fall in profits on higher raw material and energy costs, as well as charges of about $19 million for litigation and product liability provisions.