It was not a great first half for Titan International as expected pressures in its primary market segments came to bear, resulting in a marked decrease in sales and gross profit.
For the first six months of 2014, Titan posted sales of $1.063 billion, down 9.3% from the $1.172 billion past for the same period last year. Titan attributed some of the sales drop-off to “price/mix reductions driven from decreased demand for our products used in the mining industry and larger agricultural products.”
Gross profit for the first half of 2014 was $77.1 million or 7.3% of net sales, compared to $183.4 million, or 15.7% of net sales in 2013.
“Our second quarter results show that while there are areas of strength, the overall business is impacted by slower demand,” said chairman and CEO Morry Taylor. “Demand for our agriculture, earthmoving and mining products have declined as a result of the uncertainty in the markets.
“Titan’s new management team is aggressively reducing cost and adjusting manpower to the current business levels,” said Taylor, who specifically noted that “in light of the global downturn in the mining sector, we plan to realign our strategy (at its Bryan, Ohio, OTR plant) to market demand. The management of the Bryan facility is moving to bring the operation into a profitable position.”