CHICAGO — Atkore International Holding Inc.’s losses narrowed in the fourth quarter as higher sales volumes and lower raw material costs helped offset lower average selling prices
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The Harvey, Ill.-based manufacturer of fabricated steel tubes and pipes, metal framing systems and other products reported a net loss of $1 million for the fourth quarter ended Sept. 28, compared with a loss of $19 million in the year-ago quarter, on sales that increased 2.7 percent year on year to $461 million.
Both the company’s global pipe, tube and conduit division and its global cable and cable management product division saw sales volumes increase, Atkore said in commentary released with earnings data Friday.
The global pipe, tube and conduit division recorded operating income of $1 million, down 75 percent from operating income of $4 million in the year-ago quarter, despite sales that inched up 1.7 percent to $301 million. The drop in operating income resulted mostly from an asset impairment charge, Atkore said. While average selling prices for the division were off 5 percent compared with the year-ago quarter, average raw material costs were 12 percent lower, the company said.
Atkore’s global cable and cable management division recorded operating income of $16 million for the quarter, a fourfold increase from $4 million in the year-ago quarter, on net sales that climbed 6.9 percent to $171 million. That division’s gains came thanks to higher sales volumes and lower average copper prices, which were partly offset by lower average selling prices, Atkore said. Copper costs were 14 percent lower in the fourth quarter of this year than they were in the same quarter last year, the company noted.