Greg Gerber posted on March 17, 2008 09:05
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. -- Shares slid to their lowest price yet, and a change of financial strategy may be in the offing, after Bloomfield Hills-based TriMas Corp. released earnings for its first year as a publicly traded company late last week.
The manufacturer of industrial and consumer products reported a loss of $168.9 million or $5.05 per share on revenue of $237.5 million for the fourth quarter, from a $121.9 million loss or $5.87 per share on revenue of $221.9 million for the last three months of 2006.
For 2007 as a whole, TriMas lost $158.4 million or $5.56 a share on revenue of $1.07 billion, from a loss of $128.9 million or $6.37 a share on revenue of $1.01 billion in 2006.
TriMas (NYSE: TRS) went public with an initial public offering on May 18. Since then its price has dropped from an initial $11 to $5.63 Thursday afternoon, following the earnings report, and was $5.66 by week's end.
“We will use our free cash flow to reduce debt, we will take advantage of small product line acquisitions that enhance our future growth but do not further burden our balance sheet,” CEO Grant Beard said Thursday in a conference call about his company's future. “Our view of 2008 is one of balance.”
The company did make two significant acquisition expenses totaling $13.5 million in 2007 — the purchase of Fairborn, Ohio-based medical-devices maker Dew Technologies Inc. in August and the sale of a “Fifth Gear” product line from Quest Technologies to TriMas' Cequent Towing Products group in July.
SOURCE: Crain's Detroit Business