Technitrol, Inc. reported net earnings of $2.6 million, or $.07 per diluted share, for its first fiscal quarter ended March 28, 2003, including restructuring charges totaling $3.0 million, or $.08 per share, for severance and plant shutdown expenses. In the previous quarter, by comparison, net earnings were $4.3 million, or $.11 per diluted share, including special items amounting to a net charge of $0.4 million, or $.01 per share. In the first quarter of 2002, the company reported a net loss of $20.9 million, or $.63 per diluted share, including special charges of $1.8 million, or $.06 per share, for restructuring and $15.7 million, or $.47 per share, for an accounting change.
Technitrol's consolidated first-quarter 2003 revenues were $122.5 million, compared with $103.1 million in the previous quarter and $93.4 million in the first quarter of 2002.Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were $8.4 million in the first quarter of 2003, compared with $9.8 million in the previous quarter and ($1.6 million) in the first quarter of 2002, including pre-tax restructuring and other special items amounting to $3.9 million, $0.4 million and $2.7 million in each period, respectively.
First-quarter 2003 revenues, earnings and EBITDA reflect contributions from the Eldor High Tech Wire Wound Components business since its acquisition on January 9, 2003. Net cash (cash and equivalents of $131.2 million less debt of $17.0 million) at March 27, 2003 was $114.2 million. Not including cash payments of $84.5 for the acquisition of the Eldor business, net cash increased approximately $9.9 million during the first quarter. Excluding acquisition-related payments but including the Eldor business, Technitrol's capital spending in the first quarter of 2003 approximated fourth-quarter 2002 levels.
The company’s Pulse Engineering division's first-quarter revenues, including contributions from the Eldor business since January 9, 2003, were $67.9 million, compared with $53.5 million in the previous quarter and $45.1 million in the first quarter of 2002. Operating profit, including pre-tax charges of $0.6 million for severance expenses, was $5.6 million in the first quarter, compared with $4.0 million (including pre-tax restructuring charges of $0.8 million) in the previous quarter and an operating loss of $6.4 million (including similar restructuring charges totaling $2.1 million) in the first quarter of 2002.
On a macro basis, customer demand remained fairly consistent, with no sign of significant breakout or pullback. Within product lines, demand for digital subscriber line filters and splitters remained strong, but, as expected, moderated somewhat from the fourth quarter of 2002, when the West Coast dock strike accounted for larger-than-expected order volumes. Pulse continues to successfully leverage its North American leadership in customer premises DSL products into European and Asian markets. Shipments of enterprise data networking components, especially PulseJack(TM) filtered connector modules, again had modest sequential quarter growth, while demand for power conversion and telecommunications infrastructure components was comparable to previous-quarter levels. Sales of television transformers were somewhat slower than expected, due to cautious consumer markets in Europe resulting from the war in Iraq and overall waning European consumer confidence.
