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Titan Announces All-time Record First Quarter Agricultural Sales

QUINCY, Ill.--Titan International, Inc. :

First quarter summary:

  • Sales for first quarter 2009 were $232.6 million, compared to $253.5 million in the first quarter of 2008. However, agricultural sales were an all-time first quarter record of $187.3 million, an increase of over $13 million for the first quarter of 2009, compared to $173.5 million in the first quarter of last year.
  • Gross profit for first quarter 2009 was $30.1 million, compared to $32.3 million in 2008. However, when gross profit is expressed as a percentage of sales, there was a slight improvement to 12.9 percent in the first quarter of 2009, compared to 12.8 percent in the first quarter of last year.
  • First quarter income from operations was $14.1 million, compared to $16.1 million last year.
  • Net income for the first quarter was $7.0 million, compared to $8.1 million in the first quarter of last year.

Statement of Chief Executive Officer:

“Large farm tires and wheels were selling well in the first quarter of 2009, along with Titan’s new super giant mining tires,” said Titan Chairman and CEO Maurice M. Taylor Jr. “It is difficult to predict what will happen moving forward. The price of corn is holding and soybeans are up, so the agricultural market looks good, but are the farmers going to keep buying with all the uncertainty in the economy? I don’t know. The orders for second quarter are good, but lead times are much shorter today than six months ago. All of Titan’s material costs are dropping except nylon,” said Taylor.

“There is no shortage of giant mining tires today and pricing has dropped by at least 25 percent because of the drop in material costs. Natural rubber is projected to drop from approximately eighty cents today to fifty cents by the end of the year. In September 2008 it was one dollar and fifty-two cents.

“The great news in all of this is that it’s time everyone really gets down to working hard and smart. Since Titan has been running at an SG&A level of five to seven percent, we are set to grow our market share. Titan will be making improvements in every product we make, and I will be visiting every customer I am able to this year. Titan can use this environment in order to grow our market share, but if this economy turns up, then ‘Katie bar the door,’ for the good times will be back,” said Taylor.