Precision Castparts Corp. (NYSE: PCP), Portland, OR, reported sales for the second quarter of fiscal year 2010 were $1.3 billion, down 27.8% from the prior year period. Profit decreased 23% to $207.3 million.
Year-to-date, sales were $2.7 billion, down 25.7% from the first six months of fiscal year 2009. Profit declined 17.9% to $447.7 million.
Lower sales for the diversified manufacturer were driven by further aerospace destocking, economic pressures on the general industrial markets, planned downtime of major forging complexes, and seasonal European holidays.
“Going into the second quarter, we understood fully the challenges ahead of us, and we faced them head on,” CEOMark Donegan said. “From a top-line perspective, overall sales declines seem to be bottoming out in the second quarter.”
Investment Cast Products continued to drive operating performance, improving second quarter operating margins to 30.4% of sales, versus 25.5% of sales last year. Second quarter sales totaled $447.4 million, compared to sales of $612.0 million a year ago.
Forged Products total second quarter sales were $516.7 million, versus sales of $781.1 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2009. Continued inventory destocking reduced year-over-year aerospace sales for the segment by more than 30% and general industrial sales in excess of 40%, while sales of seamless pipe held steady during the quarter.
In the second quarter, Fastener Products sales totaled $338.0 million, versus sales of $405.6 million last year. Destocking at OEMs and distributors negatively impacted aerospace sales by approximately 10% year over year, where regional/business aircraft play a more significant role than in other segments.
