Accuride Corp. lost money for the third consecutive year in 2009, a year in which the commercial truck parts maker saw sales plummet nearly 40 percent.
The nation’s recession continued to depress freight volumes, which reduced demand for the delivery trucks and tractor-trailers for which Accuride manufactures components, including the steel rims and wheels produced at its plant in Henderson.
The Evansville-based company on Wednesday reported that full-year sales fell from $931.4 million in 2008 to $570.2 million in 2009.
It posted a net loss of $140.1 million, down from a loss of $328.3 million in 2008. More than half of the 2008 loss was attributable to accounting writedowns.
Accuride said it doesn’t anticipate a quick recovery. “While the U.S. economy is beginning to show some modest signs of recovery and commercial vehicle production appears to have stabilized, albeit at low levels, most industry analysts are expecting only a modest improvement in 2010,” the company said in a statement.
But it said that freight tonnage “is forecasted to steadily increase throughout the next several years,” which eventually will boost demand for its truck components.
For the fourth quarter, sales dropped nearly 26 percent to $64.1 million. It reported a quarterly loss of $39.7 million, down from a loss of $118.7 million, which was inflated by writedowns.
“In 2009, our performance improved as the year progressed reflecting the benefits of our operational restructuring initiated in late 2008,” Bill Lasky, Accuride’s president, CEO and chairman said in a statement.
“Looking forward to 2010, the industry appears to be headed for another challenging year as fleets struggle with capacity issues and depressed freight demand and rates. Current industry OEM (original equipment manufacturers) forecasts now expect 2010 to be only modestly better than 2009.”
“While our 2009 fourth quarter results are in line with the projections included in our bankruptcy court filings, our 2010 projections anticipated a more robust recovery in the OEM market than the industry now forecasts,” Lasky continued. The company will have to secure new business to meet that forecast, he said.
Accuride filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last Oct. 8 and emerged after restructuring on Feb. 26.
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