General Cable Corp. (NYSE: BGC), Highland Heights, KY, reported sales for the third quarter ended Sept. 26 of $1.5 billion, a year-over-year decline of 5 percent. The manufacturer reported a loss of $124.2 million for the period, compared to year-ago profit of $5.7 million.
For the nine-month period, sales were $4.4 billion, a year-over-year decline of 7 percent. Net loss for the period was $464.4 million, compared to a year-ago loss of $31.9 million.
General Cable announced a plan to "simplify" its geographic portfolio, Chairman John E. Welsh III said.
“We are making excellent progress on our previously announced restructuring program but, given the persistently uneven global demand and pricing environment, we have decided to accelerate and expand our efforts," Gregory B. Kenny, president and CEO, said. "As we exit our manufacturing operations in Asia Pacific and Africa, we will step up our efforts to improve returns from our businesses in North America, Latin America and Europe where we maintain leading market positions, economies of scale, breadth of product and technical expertise. There are a number of global businesses centered in our core footprint. We will continue to serve our international customers as we have always done from these locations. We believe the fundamental changes we are announcing today will better position the Company to benefit from future energy, infrastructure and construction investment in our core strategic markets.”
General Cable also announced that, consistent with its ongoing focus on succession planning, its board has formed a search committee to identify the company’s next CEO and has retained an executive search firm to assist in the process. Current President and CEO Gregory B. Kenny will continue during the search and is expected to become chairman of the board upon the appointment of a new CEO.
