ROGERS, Conn. (April 29)—Rogers Corp.'s net income slipped 58.1 percent in the first quarter, due mostly to lower sales and earnings in its printed circuit materials segment.
Sales and earnings in the high-performance foams segment, by contrast, were both up measurably, with operating income nearly doubling to $1.3 million. Sales rose 6 percent to $23.4 million on strong sales of the firm's Poron polyurethane materials and slightly improved sales of Bisco silicone foams. Sales of polyolefin foams fell.
Sales of polymer materials and components—which includes the elastomers business segment—fell 23 percent to $23.5 million, in part because of extraordinarily high first-quarter 2004 sales as customers built inventories of elastomer components in advance of Rogers' moving some business to China.
Rogers began shipping product from the China plant at the end of the quarter, and the firm expects this new operation to be profitable by year-end.
Overall, earnings fell to $5.13 million on sales of $86.5 million.