By Brianna Valleskey, Crain News Service
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (April 30, 2013) — Tenneco Inc., the supplier of emission-control and ride-control systems, reported sharply higher first-quarter profits.
Net income during the first three months of the year was $54 million, or 88 cents per diluted share, up 80 percent from $30 million, or 49 cents per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2012.
Revenue for the first quarter declined to $1.90 billion this year from $1.91 billion during the same period last year.
The company said revenue from its clean air division increased to $1.30 billion from $1.29 billion because of higher Asia Pacific volumes—driven mainly on the strength of light-vehicle production in China.
Revenue from Tenneco's ride performance unit fell to $607 million from $627 million a year ago, largely because of weaker light- and commercial-vehicle business in Europe and lower commercial-vehicle revenue in North America, according to the company.
Tenneco CEO Gregg Sherrill said in a statement that he is "pleased with how our clean air and ride performance divisions are executing in what continues to be a mixed global industry environment. As anticipated, our total revenue was down slightly year-over-year yet we still delivered record earnings."
Lake Forest-based Tenneco ranks No. 34 on the most recent Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers with worldwide parts sales to auto makers of $5.9 billion in 2011.
This report appeared in Automotive News, a Detroit-based sister publication of Tire Business.