Visteon's 1st-quarter loss narrows to $105M

Email|Print|Single Page| Text size – + By Jeff Karoub

AP Business Writer / April 30, 2008

DETROIT—Visteon Corp. reported Wednesday its first-quarter loss narrowed to $105 million, while the auto parts supplier continued to increase its business in Asia while it shrinks in North America.

The company, which once was a part of Ford Motor Co., said its loss narrowed because of savings from its ongoing three-year restructuring plan and cost reductions, as well as overseas business growth.

"Customer diversification is a key tenet of the Visteon improvement story," Michael Johnston, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a conference call with analysts and reporters. "We're continuing to become less dependent on (the) North American market and Ford in North America."

"All in all, the quarter was one in which Visteon showed solid performance."

Visteon said it lost 81 cents per share in the January-March period. That compares with a loss of $153 million, or $1.19 per share, in the year-ago period.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had predicted a loss of 67 cents per share. The estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Van Buren Township-based Visteon reported revenue of $2.86 billion, down 1 percent from $2.89 billion.

The first-quarter results included a $40 million loss related to the sale of North American facilities. North American product sales dropped $144 million to $750 million, or 26 percent of its product sales, with Ford sales down 7 percent.

European product sales decreased $25 million year-over-year to $1.17 billion.

Asian product sales increased 6 percent, or $158 million, to $843 million, which represents 29 percent of total product sales.

Visteon said it recorded $46 million of restructuring charges during the quarter.

As part of its overhead cost reduction plan, the company said it cut its salaried work force by 250 employees during the fourth quarter of 2007 and this year's first quarter. That represents about 2 percent of its salaried ranks.

Overall, Visteon has lowered its employee count by about 11 percent, or 5,000, to 40,000 workers during the three-year plan.

The company makes climate, interior, electronic and lighting products and has facilities in 26 countries.

Shares slipped a penny to $4.35 in afternoon trading.