Battery maker Exide Technologies watched its first quarter fiscal 2002 losses narrow to $6.7 million compared to a net loss of $9.4 million for its first quarter of fiscal 2001.
The current year results include the impact of the company’s adoption of Fair Accounting Standards Statement No. 142, “Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets,” issued by the FASB on July 20, 2001. In adopting FAS No. 142, Exide Technologies no longer amortizes goodwill, effective April 1, 2001. The company recorded $3.6 million of goodwill amortization in its first fiscal quarter last year.
Exide reported a $500,000 charge for the cumulative effect of adopting FAS No. 133, “Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities.” Including the adoption of the accounting for derivatives, the company reported a consolidated net loss of $7.2 million in this year’s first fiscal quarter.
Consolidated net revenues for the current quarter were $631.2 million vs. $465.8 million for the same period a year ago. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and losses on sales of receivables were $53 million for the quarter, as compared with $36.6 million for the same period a year ago.
“The first quarter of the fiscal year has traditionally been our weakest quarter due to seasonal demand and a leaner product mix in our transportation business,” said Robert A. Lutz, Exide’s chairman and CEO. “Given that, and despite the well-known current difficulties in the automotive original-equipment market, our first quarter results came in about as expected.”
