CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Feb. 2, 2012)—Carlisle Cos. Inc. reported a 40.3-pecent jump in pretax operating income for fiscal 2011, although earnings at the company's transportation products business—which includes Carlisle Tire & Wheel—fell 58 percent during the year.
Carlisle reported pretax earnings of $275.1 million for the year on record sales of $3.22 billion, a 28-percent increase over 2010. The operating margin increased slightly to to 8.5 percent.
Carlisle attributed about half the sales increase to organic growth and half to acquisitions. Net income rose 23.8 percent to $180.3 million.
Carlisle expects sales growth in 2012 of about 10 percent, including contributions from recent acquisitions, and an improvement in the pretax earnings margin. Carlisle also said it anticipates “significant” earnings improvements from its tire and wheel business after resolving start-up issues at the unit's tire plant in Jackson, Tenn.
Operating income at Carlisle Transportation Products dropped to $9.1 million on higher operating costs, especially for raw materials and the sale of higher-priced inventory during the fourth quarter. Sales rose 6.9 percent to $732.1 million.
The transportation unit, which also includes the power transmission business, reported an operating loss in the fourth quarter of $3.8 million on sales of $154.1 million.
Carlisle declined to comment in detail on the start-up issues at the Jackson plant—which contributed to unit operating loss of $8.9 million in the third quarter—but Carlisle Chairman, President and CEO David Roberts said scrap rates at the plant have dropped to less than 1 percent from more than 6 percent in the second quarter and plant efficiency has risen to 74 percent from about 50 percent.
The company budgeted $65 million in 2010/2011 to convert a former Whirlpool Corp. plant in Jackson to tire production and relocate capacities from plants in Carlisle, Pa., Bowdon, Ga., and Buji, China, to the facility.