Despite slowdowns in Europe and Asia, Lincoln Electric set sales and earnings records in 2012, the company said Friday after issuing its full year and fourth quarter financial results
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Workers James Moore, left, and Nick Bonarrigo assemble a welding machine at Lincoln Electric in Euclid.
EUCLID --Lincoln Electric Holdings set sales and earnings records last year, the company said Friday in a report to investors.
The global manufacturer of welding, cutting and brazing products increased sales in 2012 by 5.9 percent to $2.9 billion.
Net income for the year increased 18.5 percent to $257 million, or $3.06 per share, compared to 2011 results.
Despite a decline in sales during the last three months of the year, net income was actually up, compared to the fourth quarter of 2011.
Sales in the fourth quarter totaled $685 million, down 1.2 percent from $694 million the year before, but net income for the quarter in 2012 was $62 million, compared to $58 million in the last quarter of 2011.
"We finished the 2012 fourth quarter and the full year on a very positive note," John Stropki, former ceo and now executive chairman, told analysts during a public teleconference now archived on the company's website. "Annual sales and earnings per share were at the highest levels in Lincoln's 118-year history."
Lincoln also continued its expansion, by acquiring and investing in other companies and by investing in new technologies aimed at long-term "organic growth," he said.
Christopher Mapes, former chief operating officer and since Dec. 31 president and CEO said U.S. industrial activity "is running slightly ahead of last year," but noted manufacturers continue to be uneasy because of global economic problems.He said Lincoln's sales in Europe, which for Lincoln includes Russia, Africa and the Middle East, were down 15.3 percent to $107.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Sales in this region for the entire year were $452.2 million, down more than 11 percent. He said sales in Africa and the Middle East lessened he impact of steep declines in Europe.
Sales in Asia Pacific during the last quarter were $70.2 million, down 20.4 percent compared to 2011; and for the year, sales in the region were $324.5 million compared to $376.3 million in 2011, a 14 percent decline.
Sales in South America were down just 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter and for the year up 3.1 percent to $161.5 million, said Mapes.
"Strong growth in Venezuela and Brazil offset some weakness across other geographies in the region," he said.
Lincoln expects its U.S. sales to continue or slightly increase in 2013, partly driven by the growth in natural gas pipe serving new shale gas well sites and by construction of new gas processing plants.