Continued strength in the aerospace, medical device and energy markets helped RTI International Metals Inc. to report strong third quarter 2012 financial results Wednesday, including net income that doubled over the same quarter last year.
Dawne Hickton, vice chair, president and CEO of RTI said the results were as expected.
Results also showed substantial year-over-year increases in net sales and operating income, compared with the same period in 2011.
Net third quarter income more than doubled over the same period in 2011, to $5.6 million, or 19 cents per diluted share, according to numbers released Wednesday by the Pittsburgh-based company with a plant in Niles. Net income for the same time last year was $2.1 million, or 7 cents per diluted share.
Titanium mill product shipments during the quarter dropped slightly to 4.2 million pounds compared to 4.3 million pounds in 2011, but the average mill product price per pound was $19.01, up 2 cents from the previous year.
"We are particularly encouraged with the performance of our Fabrication Group, where we are seeing the benefits of our strategy to move further downstream by expanding the breadth and scale of advanced titanium engineering, precision machining and fabrication capabilities,'' RTI's Hickton said Wednesday.
RTI's Fabrication Group reported an operating income of $6.1 million on net sales of $87.9 million. For the same period in 2011, this Group had an operating loss of $1.5 million on net sales of $40.2 million.
Officials said the improvement in the Group's results reflects not only the impact of the acquisitions of RTI Remmele and RTI Advanced Forming, but also a strong contribution from RTI's energy market projects.
"We are continuing our 2012 guidance, including sales in excess of $700 million, volume of 16 million pounds or more of titanium mill product shipped and operating income at the higher end of our range of $45 (million) to 50 million," Hickton said, noting the company's end market diversification efforts also have paid off.