Titan International Inc. posted sales of $269.1 million during the second quarter, up 28% over the same period last year and a record for the company.
Titan's net income for the second quarter of 2008 totaled $13.3 million, a 168% increase over 2Q 2007 results. Gross profit was $41.9 million for the second quarter of 2008, up 54% over the same period in 2007.
"The first half of 2008 saw higher commodity proces drive a strong demand in the agricultural market," says Titan Chairman and CEO Morry Taylor. "This helped propel Titan to record sales levels for the quarter.
"Despite high raw material costs, the company was able to show improvement in gross profit by continuing to improve manufacturing efficiencies and better align Titan sales prices with production cost."
Looking ahead, Taylor expects volume increases in farm tires, "and with excess production capacity of up to $400 million, we are very optimistic for the years ahead."
He also notes that Titan plans to ship at least 900 of its 63-inch OTR tires during the second half of 2008. The company plans to produce a 57-inch OTR tire during the fourth quarter.
