On February 24, Pennsylvania, US-based L.B. Foster Company, a manufacturer, fabricator, and distributor of rail products and services announced positive results for the fourth quarter of 2010.
Accordingly, L.B. Foster's net income increased 59.5 percent to $6.2 million compared to $3.9 million for the same quarter of the previous year. Net sales increased 40.7 percent to $140 million compared to $105.2 million in the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
Included in the fourth quarter 2010 results was a $1.4 million gain on shares of Portec Rail Products, Inc. held by the company. The acquisition of Portec closed on December 15, 2010. The results of operations of Portec are included in L.B. Foster's consolidated results of operations from the acquisition date. During that two-week period, Portec reported $4.8 million of net sales and incurred a small pretax loss. For 2010, L.B. Foster reported net income of $20.5 million compared to net income of $15.7 million in 2009. Net sales for 2010 increased 17.6 percent to $475.1 million compared to $404 million in the prior year.
"While sales and profitability were up across all of our segments in the fourth quarter of 2010, I am particularly proud of the cash generated from operations. As most of our business units ramped up activity levels to accommodate higher sales, they were also very successful in achieving significant inventory reductions and our Credit and Sales teams did a great job with receivables," stated Stan Hasselbusch, president and chief executive officer.