For the year ended December 31, 2014, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company announced that net income attributable to Cooper Tire & Rubber Company was $214 million, or $3.42 per share, versus $111 million, or $1.73 per share, in 2013. The results include a gain of $56 million net of tax from the sale of the company’s 65 percent interest in a joint venture in China. Excluding the gain, earnings per share were $2.53. Sales were $3.42 billion versus $3.44 billion in 2013. Operating profit was $300 million compared with $241 million in 2013. Operating margin was 8.8 percent versus 7.0 percent. For the fourth quarter, net income attributable to Cooper Tire & Rubber Company was $82 million, or $1.39 per share, compared with $20 million, or $0.31 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2013. Excluding the gain on the joint venture interest sale, fourth quarter earnings per share were $0.45. Fourth quarter 2014 earnings per share reflect an average share count of 59.2 million, which accounts for the initial share delivery under the accelerated share repurchase program launched in August 2014, while full year earnings per share reflect an average share count of 62.4 million shares. The 2013 results were impacted by a number of unusual circumstances, including labor actions at Cooper Chengshan (Shandong) Tire Company Ltd. (CCT), the company’s former joint venture in China, which resulted in lower production and shipments; higher costs and lower volume associated with shipping inefficiencies related to ERP system implementations; and costs related to a now-terminated merger agreement. In November 2014, the company sold its ownership interest in CCT, so it was not included in the company’s results for the full quarter. As a result of all of these items, many of the year-over-year comparisons are not representative of the business under normal conditions. “I am proud of what we accomplished in 2014, particularly after a very disruptive year in 2013. Our full year 2014 operating profit was our second best in our 100-year history. Unit volume for the full year rose 6 percent, and our operating margin was strong at almost 9 percent. In the fourth quarter, we continued to see robust unit volume growth in the Americas segment and that segment delivered operating margins near 10 percent. However, our fourth quarter results were negatively impacted by weakness in our international operations. In 2015 we will continue our focus on exploring opportunities to expand our presence in Asia after the sale of our interest in the joint venture, so as to benefit from a more sizeable footprint in that high-growth market,” said Roy Armes, Cooper’s chairman, chief executive officer and president. Fourth quarter net sales were $820 million, a decrease of 5 percent from $861 million in 2013. The decrease primarily was due to lower volume of $61 million related to the absence of CCT for part of the quarter, and unfavorable price and mix of $33 million. These negatives were partially offset by higher unit volume of $54 million. Fourth quarter 2014 operating profit was $54 million compared with $47 million for the same period in 2013. Operating margin was 6.5 percent versus 5.5 percent in 2013. The increase was driven by favorable raw material costs of $35 million, higher unit volume of $12 million, including the recovery of $6 million of reduced volume from the 2013 labor issues at CCT; and lower products liability costs of $6 million. The benefits were partially offset by unfavorable price and mix of $31 million, higher selling, general and administrative expense of $6 million, as a result of higher compensation expense, $6 million of reduced profit due to the absence of CCT for part of the quarter, and higher manufacturing costs of $4 million. The 2013 quarter was negatively affected by $2 million in manufacturing inefficiencies in the International segment related to the CCT labor issues. The 2013 fourth quarter also included merger-related costs of $9 million, which were reported in selling, general and administrative costs. The effective tax rates, excluding the impact of the gain on the CCT sale, for the fourth quarter and full year were 33.1 percent and 33.2 percent, respectively. Capital expenditures for 2014 were $145 million. At year end, Cooper had $552 million in cash and cash equivalents, compared with $398 million at December 31, 2013.

Source: rubberworld.com