TRELLEBORG, Sweden—Trelleborg A.B. reported its net sales for the second quarter of 2014 increased by 2 percent to about $835.8 million.
Operating profit, excluding the participation in TrelleborgVibracoustic and items affecting comparability, increased 11 percent to about $117.1 million, equivalent to an operating margin of 14 percent, the group's highest ever for a single quarter.
Operating profit in the quarter for TrelleborgVibracoustic, excluding items affecting comparability, rose 26 percent to about $52.5 million. This corresponded to an operating margin of 8.9 percent, the highest to date for the company for a single quarter.
“Sales performance was favorable in all geographic markets except for Europe,” President and CEO Peter Nilsson said.
“The negative trend in Europe was primarily due to a weaker OEM market for agricultural tires, delays of deliveries of projects and ongoing repositioning to more value-creating niches in certain product segments,” the executive added.
Trelleborg said market outlook for the third quarter is expected to be similar to the second quarter.
“As yet, we have not received any indication of a general improvement in the demand situation, and we believe that third-quarter demand for the Group as a whole will be on par with the second quarter of the year,” said Nilsson. “We are continuing to carefully monitor the economic developments and are maintaining high preparedness to address fluctuating market conditions.”