Rockwell Automation’s industrial automation sales rise 14 percent in 2008
Industrial Distribution staff -- Industrial Distribution, 11/11/2008 12:57:00 PM
Industrial automation products manufacturer Rockwell Automation Inc. posted sales of $5.7 billion during fiscal 2008, a 13.9 percent increase over the $5 billion reported for fiscal 2007.
But net income for Milwaukee-based Rockwell plummeted 61.2 percent to $577.6 million, compared with $1.49 billion during the prior year.
Fourth-quarter sales rose 8.3 percent to $1.48 billion, compared with $1.37 billion during the same period last year. But quarterly net income slid 24 percent to $125.6 million, compared with $165.2 million during the fourth quarter of 2007.
Rockwell said it incurred “special charges” of $46.7 million in cost-of-sales and selling, general and administrative expenses during the fourth quarter. Excluding those charges, net income was $156 million, down 5.6 percent.
“In 2008, we delivered 9 percent revenue growth excluding currency, increased [earnings per share] from continuing operations, excluding special charges, by 11 percent and maintained [return on invested capital] at 24 percent in a challenging environment. Our business in emerging markets accelerated and we reached our goal of generating 50 percent of revenues outside the U.S. We achieved greater penetration in process industries and strong growth in our solutions businesses, demonstrating the on-going diversification of our revenue base,” chairman and CEO Keith Nosbusch said.
Rockwell spent $103.5 million buying back 2.5 million shares of its own stock during the fourth quarter, leaving $671.2 million available in its $1 billion share repurchasing authorization.
View All On-Demand Webcasts
