Visteon (VC) posts wider loss on restructuring costs

14 02 2008

Visteon (VC) posts wider loss on restructuring costs

Posted by: in Companies Competitive Strategy

Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Bad news, Management, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Ford Motor (F)

Shares of Visteon Corp. (NYSE: VC) are slipping in morning trading after the company posted a more massive fourth-quarter loss and announced it would continue its restructuring plan.

The auto parts supplier reported a wider fourth-quarter loss of $43 million, injured by restructuring costs and write-downs. Included in the company’s loss was $30 million related to non-cash asset impairments and $32 million related to restructuring expenses.

However, the company’s loss per share of 33 cents managed to beat analysts’ estimates for a much larger quarterly loss of 55 cents per share. Visteon’s revenue also saw a small increase of only 2% $2.86 billion from $2.81 billion in the same period of last year.

Smaller sales to Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), the company’s former parent, also put pressure on Visteon gains during 2007. Lower North American production volume brought a decline of 14% to $4.1 billion in the company’s sales to Ford. Meanwhile, product sales to other customers saw a growth of 11% to $6.6 billion, which is 61% of total product sales. Thus, Visteon posted a loss of $372 million, or $2.87 per share for 2007, with revenue coming in at $11.27 billion.

Looking ahead, the auto parts supplier announced it restructuring plan remains on track. Visteon, which has started its restructuring plan three years ago, expects to fix, sell or close eight facilities this year to reduce costs on climate controls, interiors and electronics. Back in January, Visteon also revealed plans to shut the doors of a fuel tank assembly plant in Concordia, Missouri, during the third quarter.

For 2008, the company doesn’t show too much optimism and anticipates to see lower output for its key customer programs in North America and Europe. Visteon anticipates 2008 earnings figures to range from a loss of $25 million to a profit of $25 million, on revenue of about $9.7 billion. Free cash flow is also expected to come in under negative values in a range between $350 million and $250 million.

Visteon had a pretty difficult past year and it looks like its shares are not poised for a rebound. Traders are sharing the company’s pessimism over its further gains and pushed shares of the stock down 0.7% in early morning trading.

Eliza Popescu is a financial writer for the on the web investment advisory service Investor’s Observer.