MoreMINNEAPOLIS -- The Tennant Company (NYSE:TNC), a leader in nonresidential floor maintenance and outdoor cleaning equipment, reported net earnings of $1 million, or 10-cents per diluted share, on net sales of $103.6 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2001.
Tennant reported fourth quarter net earnings of $400,000, or 4-cents per diluted share, in 2001. In the comparable 2000 period, Tennant earned $7.9 million, or 87-cents per diluted share, on net sales of $115.4 million.
Company president and CEO Janet M. Dolan, Tennant said Tennant's fourth quarter results were in line with its prior guidance and reflected continued deterioration in the worldwide industrial economy.
"As we anticipated, the recession in the economy's manufacturing sector turned more severe during the fourth quarter," Dolan said. "The difficult conditions resulted in a deepening downturn in our industrial sales and, in the fourth quarter, the spread of that downturn to our commercial sales, as well."
For the year ended Dec. 31, 2001, Tennant reported net earnings before unusual items of $12.3 million, or $1.33 per diluted share on net sales of $423 million. As-reported net earnings for 2001 include the unusual items noted above and unusual charges totaling $6.9 million after tax, or 75-cents per diluted share. Including unusual items, net earnings for 2001 totaled $4.8 million, or 52-cents per diluted share. In 2000, Tennant reported net earnings of $28.2 million, or $3.09 per diluted share on net sales of $454 million.
As part of its ongoing efforts to reduce costs and improve service, Tennant is planning to consolidate its North American distribution operations from a current network of seven distribution centers into two new facilities that will be under the ownership and management of a third-party logistics services provider.
"We expect this initiative will enable us to reduce our operating, transportation and inventory carrying costs while further improving our excellent level of customer service," said Dolan. "Our new North American logistics network will be more flexible and scalable and even better able to quickly deliver parts and machines at a much lower cost."
Commenting on the first quarter of 2002, Dolan said: "Our net earnings for the 2002 first quarter will be less than in the comparable 2001 period, when the recession in the industrial sector was in its early stages. In our 2002 first quarter, we are expecting economic conditions to have a much more severe impact on our business than they did in the year-ago period, but we expect more favorable period-to-period comparisons in the year's second half."
Minneapolis-based Tennant products include scrubbers, sweepers, extractors, buffers and other specialized floor cleaning equipment and supplies, plus a complete line of industrial floor coatings. For more information about Tennant, visit its Web sitea at www.tennantco.com.
