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Minerals Technologies Reports Second Quarter Earnings Per Share of $0.98, Excluding Special Items; Reported Earnings Were $1.01 Per Share

Posted by Dana in July 30th 2010

Minerals Technologies Inc. (NYSE: MTX) reported second quarter diluted earnings per common share of $1.01 compared with $0.82 per share in the first quarter of 2010, a 23-percent increase. Excluding special items, earnings were $0.98 per share compared with $0.85 per share in the first quarter, a 15-percent increase.

SECOND QUARTER EARNINGS

Comparisons to First Quarter 2010

Worldwide sales in the quarter increased 1 percent to $255.8 million from $253.5 million in the previous quarter. Foreign exchange had an unfavorable impact on sales of approximately $4.0 million, or 2 percentage points. Operating income was $27.5 million, a 15-percent increase over the $23.9 million reported in the first quarter of 2010, excluding special items, and 19 percent over the $23.0 million operating income, as reported, in the first quarter. Return on Capital for the second quarter was 9.2 percent on an annualized basis compared to 8.1 percent for the prior quarter.

In the second quarter, sales in the Specialty Minerals segment, which includes the PCC and Processed Minerals product lines, decreased 2 percent to $168.2 million from $172.1 million in the prior quarter. Operating income, excluding special items, for the second quarter of 2010 was $19.0 million, a 1-percent decline from the $19.2 million reported in the first quarter. Income from operations, as reported, was $19.3 million, 5 percent over the $18.4 million reported in the prior quarter.

Worldwide net sales of PCC, which is used mainly in the manufacturing processes of the paper industry, decreased 5 percent in the second quarter to $138.4 million from $145.1 million in the first quarter. Paper PCC sales decreased 6 percent in the second quarter to $123.2 million from $130.7 million in the prior period primarily because of the first quarter shutdowns of satellite plants at Franklin, Virginia, and Plymouth, North Carolina, and to paper machine maintenance shutdowns in the second quarter. Foreign exchange had an unfavorable impact on sales of approximately $2 million or 2 percentage points. Sales of Processed Minerals products for the second quarter were $29.8 million, a 10-percent increase from the $27.0 million reported in the first quarter of 2010. Processed Minerals products, which include ground calcium carbonate (GCC) and talc, are used in the building materials, polymers, ceramics, paints and coatings, glass and other manufacturing industries. Talc sales increased 12 percent to $11.4 million from $10.2 million in the prior quarter. GCC sales increased 10 percent. The Processed Minerals product line’s increased profitability was the result of volume growth due to improved market conditions in the construction and automotive sectors and to productivity improvements.

Second quarter net sales in the Refractories segment, which primarily serves the steel industry, increased 8 percent to $87.6 million from $81.4 million in the first quarter of 2010. This increase was attributable to volume growth from improved global steel industry conditions and to several special projects in non-steel industries. Foreign exchange had an unfavorable impact on sales of approximately $1.7 million, or 2 percentage points. Second quarter operating income for the Refractories segment, excluding special items, increased 63 percent to $9.6 million from $5.9 million in the prior period. Operating income as reported was $9.3 million in the second quarter as compared $5.8 million in the prior quarter.

Sales of Refractory Products and Systems for steel and other industrial applications increased 9 percent in the second quarter to $68.3 million from $62.6 million in the first quarter. Sales of Metallurgical Products increased 3 percent in the second quarter to $19.3 million compared with $18.8 million in the prior quarter.