Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT), Latrobe, PA, reported sales for the second quarter ended Dec. 31, 2014, of $676 million, a decrease of 2 percent from the previous year, with organic sales also decreasing 2 percent. The company reported a loss of $388 million, as compared to a profit of $24.2 million the same quarter a year ago.
"As attractive as our future may be, Kennametal also faces some serious challenges given that we have underperformed and missed investor expectations," said CEO Don Nolan. "It's clear we have some immediate work to do to deliver better performance by driving organic sales growth, getting our portfolio right and aligning our cost structure accordingly. We are taking additional actions to further reduce our manufacturing footprint and administrative overhead with a newly announced restructuring initiative … ."
Industrial segment sales of $372 million increased only slightly from the prior year quarter due to organic growth of 2 percent. On a regional basis sales increased approximately 14 percent in Asia and 3 percent in the Americas, offset partially by a decrease of 1 percent in Europe.
Infrastructure segment sales of $304 million decreased 5 percent from the prior year, driven by organic sales decline of 8 percent. On a regional basis, sales decreased 14 percent in Europe, 9 percent in Asia and 2 percent in the Americas.
Year to date, Kennametal reported sales of $1.4 billion, up 4.6 percent from the same period a year ago. The company reported a loss of $348.8 million, as compared to a profit of $62 million the first six months of fiscal 2014.
