Quarter's profits fell 72%, Dana reports

4/21/2005

Toledo's largest company, hurt by high steel costs and a shortage of components from a supplier, reported a drastic drop in profit for the first quarter, to $18 million from $65 million a year earlier.

Mike Burns, chief executive and chairman of Dana Corp., said in a statement yesterday, "This means accelerating our cost-reduction actions to deliver savings to the bottom line."

Dana said its sales for the quarter grew to $2.5 billion from $2.3 billion a year earlier, but profit dropped 72 percent to 12 cents a share from 43 cents a year ago.

The company said the biggest single factor in the profit drop was a $32 million increase in steel costs. But it said a shortage of a component from a supplier in March hurt shipments of its heavy-duty axles. The slowdown in the auto industry also has hampered the financial results at the company.

Its stock closed up 35 cents at $11.67 a share yesterday, in nearly three times normal trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange.