“Owens Corning delivered another outstanding year in 2011. We achieved growth in revenue and EBIT in all of our businesses amid challenging market conditions,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mike Thaman. “These results reflect excellent execution by our portfolio of market-leading businesses.”
Owens Corning reported consolidated net sales of USD 5.3 billion, a 7% increase from net sales of USD 5.0 billion in 2010.
Full-year adjusted earnings were USD 276 million, or USD 2.23 per diluted share, compared with USD 199 million, or USD 1.57 per diluted share, in 2010. Net earnings were USD 276 million, or USD 2.23 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of USD 933 million, or USD 7.37 per diluted share, in 2010. Fourth-quarter 2011 adjusted earnings were USD 48 million, or USD 0.40 per diluted share, compared with USD 29 million, or USD 0.23 per diluted share, one year ago. Net earnings in the fourth quarter of 2011 totalled USD 50 million, or USD 0.41 per diluted share, compared with a net loss of USD 110 million, or USD 0.89 per diluted share, in 2010.
“Owens Corning delivered another outstanding year in 2011. We achieved growth in revenue and EBIT in all of our businesses amid challenging market conditions,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mike Thaman. “These results reflect excellent execution by our portfolio of market-leading businesses.”
“Looking forward to 2012, we anticipate improved housing starts in the US and modest growth in the global economy,” Thaman added. “Strong performance from our Building Materials segment will more than offset the impact of near-term market challenges in our Composites segment resulting in growth in adjusted EBIT and strong cash performance for Owens Corning.”
Owens Corning’s primary safety metric improved by 27% over the company’s full-year 2010 performance, marking a tenth consecutive year of safety improvement.
Full-year adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (adjusted EBIT) were USD 461 million in 2011, compared with USD 381 million in 2010. Full-year EBIT in 2011 was USD 461 million, compared with USD 206 million in 2010.
Adjusted EBIT in the fourth quarter of 2011 was USD 88 million, compared with USD 64 million in 2010. EBIT for the fourth quarter was USD 88 million, compared with an EBIT loss of USD 71 million during the same period in 2010.
Gross margin as a percentage of net sales was 19% in 2011 and in 2010.
Owens Corning expects adjusted EBIT growth in 2012 based on an anticipated improvement in US housing starts and modest global economic growth.
Despite weakness in the European glass fiber reinforcements market, the company believes that global reinforcements demand will continue to grow in 2012.
The company is taking actions in its Composites segment to balance supply, to enable its assets in Europe to operate at a sustainable competitive cost position, and to leverage low-cost assets by year-end 2012. In conjunction with these actions, the company anticipates incurring approximately USD 130 million in charges in 2012 through early 2013, of which approximately half represent cash expenditures.
In the Building Materials segment, Owens Corning expects that the factors that have sustained Roofing margins in recent years will continue to drive profitability. The company believes Insulation will significantly narrow losses in 2012.
Cash taxes are expected to be about USD 30 million in 2012. The company estimates a long-term effective tax rate of 25% to 28% based on the blend of effective tax rates for its US and non-US operations. The effective book tax rate for 2012 is expected to be about 25% on adjusted earnings.
The company expects that general corporate expenses in 2012 will be between USD 110 million and USD 120 million. General corporate expenses include corporate staff and other activities that support the operations. Expenses will be higher in 2012 primarily due to increased pension expense and higher year-over-year incentive compensation costs.
Depreciation and amortization expenses are expected to be about USD 320 million in 2012.
Capital expenditures in 2012 are expected to be about USD 350 million.
The company maintains a strong balance sheet with ample liquidity. Owens Corning refinanced more than USD 1 billion in credit facilities in 2011 to extend maturities and reduce borrowing costs.
The company repurchased 4.0 million shares of common stock in 2011. An additional 3.7 million shares remained authorized for repurchase at the end of the year.
Owens Corning’s federal tax net operating loss carry-forward was USD 2.3 billion at the end of 2011.
At the end of 2011, excluding the impact of interest rate swaps, Owens Corning had total debt, less cash-on-hand of USD 1.87 billion, compared with USD 1.57 billion at the end of 2010.
First-quarter 2012 results will be announced on Wednesday, 25 April 2012.