MoreMINNEAPOLIS -- While Third Quarter earnings were down for residential floor maintenance equipment manufacturer The Tennant Company (NYSE:TNC) still enjoyed net earnings of $11.3 million on net sales of $319.4 million for nine months ended Sept. 30. This compares to net earnings of $20.3 million for the same period last year, on net sales of $338.6 million.
The company reported Third Quarter net earnings of $2.9 million on net sales of $105 million, which compares to net earnings of $7.2 million on net sales of $115.1 million for the same period last year.
According to Janet M. Dolan, Tennant president and CEO, the decline in third quarter sales and earnings were primarily due to an ongoing deterioration in the worldwide industrial economy.
"The North American industrial economy is currently in the most severe recession in at least 20 years," Dolan said. "The already difficult business conditions worsened and spread worldwide in the third quarter. As in the second quarter, the downturn in our industrial business was partially offset on the top line by growth in our North American commercial and service businesses."
She said the economic downturn resulted in a 9 percent decline in Tennant's Third Quarter, and a sharp 59 percent decline in third quarter earnings per share.
Operating profit for the 2001 third quarter totaled $4.6 million, down 57 percent from $10.8 million in the comparable 2000 period. Dolan attributed the decline to the slowdown in the North American industrial equipment category, as well as the sales mix effects and unfavorable foreign currency exchange effects. Year to date, operating profit declined 46 percent to $17 million from $31.5 million in the comparable 2000 period.
With headquarters in Minneapolis, Minn., Tennant has manufacturing operations in Holland, Mich., and Uden, The Netherlands, and sells its products directly in nine countries and through distributors in 45 others. Its 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, go to www.tennantco.com.
