Visteon Has 43 Million Loss 7 Years Without Profit (Update5)
Visteon Has $43 Million Loss, 7 Years Without Profit (Update5)
By Alex Ortolani
Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) — Visteon Corp.;s fourth-quarter loss
widened to $43 million on plant-closing costs, ending a seventh
year without a profit since the auto-parts maker was spun off by
Ford Motor Co.
The net loss was 33 cents a share, compared with $39
million, or 30 cents, a year earlier, the Van Buren, Michigan-
based company said today in a statement. The loss wasn;t as large
as analysts expected. Sales rose 1.9 percent to $2.86 billion.
Visteon has shuttered or sold 18 of 30 plants under a three-
year plan to cut annual costs by $400 million. In the fourth
quarter, the company closed a plant in Indiana that made heating-
and-cooling components and told workers it will shut an interiors
factory in France. The quarterly loss included $63 million in
restructuring expenses.
“We do not expect the company to report profits in the near
future,;; David Leiker, an auto-parts analyst at R.W. Baird %26amp; Co.
in Milwaukee, wrote in a note to investors. He rates Visteon;s
shares “neutral.;;
Analysts expected a fourth-quarter loss of 55 cents a share,
the average of 10 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Visteon fell 32 cents, or 7.7 percent, to $3.86 at 4:03 p.m.
in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have
declined 55 percent in the past 12 months.
More Closings
The company this year intends to shut three plants and sell
one from the 2006 restructuring plan. Those slated to close are
in Bellignat, France; Bedford, Indiana; and Concordia, Missouri,
Visteon said. A plant in Swansea, Wales, is to be sold.
On Feb. 1, Visteon sold three North American factories to a
unit of Centrum Properties Inc. One was in Sparta, Tennessee, and
two were in Reynosa, Mexico, the company said then, without
disclosing the amount of the purchase.
“We continue to progress with our restructuring activities
as planned,;; Chief Executive Officer Michael Johnston said in
the statement.
Visteon, which has been trying to lessen its dependence on
Ford, said 65 percent of sales came from other companies in the
fourth quarter. Sales to Ford fell 10 percent to $960 million,
reflecting lower North American production at the automaker. Ford
spun off Visteon in 2000.
Of $1 billion in new business contracts last year, 25
percent came from Asia. By 2009, the region is expected to
generate almost 50 percent of revenue, Visteon said.
Excluding interest, taxes and restructuring costs, Visteon
said it had a quarterly profit of $15 million, compared with a
loss of $37 million on that basis a year earlier.
Annual Loss
The full-year net loss was $372 million, or $2.87 a share,
and was Visteon;s largest since 2004. The loss widened from $163
million, or $1.27, in 2006. Sales increased less than 1 percent
to $11.27 billion from $11.25 billion, the company said.
Visteon repeated its 2008 full-year forecast of a net loss
of $320 million to $370 million.
Cash from operating activities in the fourth quarter rose to
$331 million from $239 million a year earlier, the company said.
Visteon said it ended the year with $1.76 billion in cash
and equivalents, an increase from $1.08 billion a year earlier.
Long-term debt rose to $2.75 billion from $2.13 billion.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Ortolani in Southfield, Michigan, at
