Albany International, an advanced textiles and materials processing company with core businesses in machine clothing and engineered composites, has reported $8.7 million income for the fourth quarter 2013.

These results were increased by a net reduction in restructuring costs of $2.1 million and income tax adjustments of $0.6 million, and were decreased by foreign currency revaluation losses of $1.6 million. The company also expects a strong position for its Machine Clothing business in 2014.

Figures

Net sales amounted to $189.6 million, a decrease of 2.4% compared to Q4 2012. Adjusted EBITDA was $33.6 million, compared to $37.8 million in Q4 2012. The income attributable to the company for the fourth quarter 2013 has increased, amounting to $0.27 per share, compared with $0.26 per share the previous year.

Net debt at the end of the fourth quarter was $81.8 million, a decline of $13.1 million for the quarter and $47.2 million for the full year. In the fourth quarter, Safran S.A. also obtained a 10% noncontrolling equity interest in Albany Safran Composites, LLC (ASC) for $28 million.

Global overview

President and CEO Joe Morone said: “Due primarily to softer-than-expected market conditions in North America, the anticipated Q4 rebound in Machine Clothing failed to materialise. As expected, sales held firm in Europe and Asia, continuing the trend of the past several quarters. But in North America–our largest and most profitable market–they weakened sharply, which in turn, dragged down gross margins.”

“While full-year performance in North America was excellent, in Q4 sales were 7.5% lower than in Q3, and more than 10% lower than in Q4 2012. November was especially soft, as certain producers in the containerboard market, our largest market segment, took substantial downtime in order to reduce their inventories.”

Outlook

“We had been expecting some decline due to seasonal end-of-the-year inventory reductions. But we had not anticipated the magnitude of the slowdown in the containerboard market, where in some cases, customers pulled forward downtime that had been scheduled for 2014, commented Morone.

“Nonetheless, we continue to expect a strong first half for Machine Clothing (MC) in 2014. This view is bolstered by strong MC orders in the fourth quarter, improvement in North American containerboard production in December, and strong North American MC shipments in January.”

“In particular, we expect first-half sales in North America to be much stronger than the fourth quarter’s levels, and to be steady or somewhat higher in both Asia and Europe. More generally, we view the macro-economy, rather than structural or competitive factors, as the most important driver of our MC performance in 2014.”

Albany International

Albany International is an advanced textiles and materials processing company, with two core businesses. Machine Clothing is the leading producer of custom-designed fabrics and belts essential to production in the paper, nonwovens, and other process industries.

Albany Engineered Composites is a rapidly growing supplier of highly engineered composite parts for the aerospace industry. Albany International is headquartered in Rochester, New Hampshire, and it operates 19 plants in 11 countries.

www.albint.com