Carpenter Technology's Q2 sales of US$431 million compares to US$441 million reported in the first fiscal quarter of 2013.
Carpenter says that there is still strong demand for its Premium and Ultra-Premium products sold into the Aerospace and Energy markets, but weaker demand in lower value product lines.
The earnings increase versus Q2 2012 was driven primarily by the acquisition of Latrobe, which is delivering higher-than-expected synergies and improved overall pricing/mix actions, Carpenter noted. Meanwhile, the reduction in earnings versus Q1 2013 is due to weaker Performance Engineered Products (PEP) segment performance, softer demand for lower value mill products, and the impact of production balancing within Specialty Alloys Operations (SAO).
“We continue to see strong end-market demand for our Premium and Ultra-Premium products where we remain capacity constrained, and are delivering above target near-term Latrobe synergies,” said William A Wulfsohn, president and CEO. “We also see uncertainty in demand for lower value mill products and are performing below plan in the PEP business segment. Therefore, we currently expect full year operating income improvement of 20 to 30% versus our last fiscal year. We are confident in the strategic actions we are taking, and remain on track to deliver our mid-decade earnings target.”
