Lower sales of various military vehicles and parts, and fewer sales to airports and cities helped to drop Oshkosh Corp.’s profits by nearly two-thirds in its fiscal first quarter, the company said Tuesday.
The Oshkosh truck manufacturer said overall net income was $38.9 million, or 42 cents per share, for the three-month period that ended Dec. 31, compared with $99.6 million, or $1.09 per share, a year earlier, a decline of 61%.
The company, which has been immersed in a proxy fight with investor Carl Icahn, said net sales for the quarter were $1.88 billion, an increase of 10.5% over the first quarter of 2011.
Higher demand was reported for higher family medium tactical vehicles, aerial work platforms, and telehandlers in the access equipment segment, but those were offset by what the company called expected declines in its family of heavy tactical vehicles and aftermarket parts for the MRAP-All Terrain Vehicle.
In a press release, Charles L. Szews, CEO of Oshkosh Corp., also cited operational challenges at the company’s Florida operations, which undermined its fire and emergency segment.
Szews said the company is proceeding with “with urgency” to deliver shareholder value from new initiatives designed to improve the company’s cost structure, drive earnings through new product launches, and increase sales in emerging markets.
Also compared to the first quarter of 2011:
- Defense sales decreased 5.6% to $1.05 billion.
- Access equipment sales to external customers increased 73.8 percent to $505.1 million.
- Fire and emergency sales decreased 19.1% to $163.0 million, primarily due to lower shipments of airport products.
- Commercial segment sales increased 43.6% to $171.6 million.
