Federal-Mogul Reports Third Quarter Earnings

Federal-Mogul reported US$1.4 billion in sales during Q3 2009, increases of US$76 million and US$142 million over Q2 2009 and Q1 2009, respectively.
With Q1 2009 as the baseline, Federal-Mogul improved operating results throughout the year and has raised its gross margin by 2.6 percentage points. Sales, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses as a percent of sales improved steadily to 12.5 per cent in Q3 2009 from 14.9 per cent in Q1 2009. The company also reduced its headcount by about 11,000 employees, or 22 per cent, ending the quarter with global employment of less than 39,000.
On a year-over-year basis, Federal-Mogul reported Q3 2009 sales of US$1.4 billion versus US$1.7 billion in Q3 2008, or a decline of about 15 per cent on a constant dollar basis.
Gross margin was US$212 million or 15.4 per cent of sales in Q3 2009 versus US$279 million or 16.5 per cent in the same period of 2008. SG&A expenses in Q3 2009 were $19 million lower than the same period in 2008.