Rail, tubular and construction products manufacturer L.B. Foster Company reported Thursday that Q3 net sales of $170.3 million increased by $12 million or 7.6 percent due to a 24.2 percent increase in rail segment sales and a 52.9 percent improvement in tubular segment sales, partially offset by a 23.6 percent decline in construction segment sales. Q3 income from continuing operations was $8.5 million compared to income from continuing operations of $9.4 million last year.
L.B. Foster reported that Q3 bookings were $140.8 million compared to $125.1 million last year, an increase of 12.5 percent. Robert P. Bauer, L.B. Foster's President and CEO, commented: "The results from our Rail and Tubular businesses have more than made up for a difficult construction market. Rail industry investments continue at a solid pace and we are benefitting from having high quality products and new technologies to serve these customers. We have also seen one of the strongest markets for our tubular products in many years as we benefit from exploration and production investments, especially in shale gas applications. These two segments have exceeded our expectations in 2012 and are focused on the investments we need to make to keep our growth rates at attractive levels. It's widely understood that many construction markets have had a difficult year, especially those depending on state and federal government funding of projects. While our bridge business will have an excellent year with strong sales and profit margins, it will not make up for the decline in piling projects and concrete buildings that reflect the overall construction market softness."