Preformed Line Products Announces Financial Results For The Quarter Ended March 31, 2020

MAYFIELD VILLAGE, Ohio, May 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Preformed Line Products Company (NASDAQ:  PLPC) today reported financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2020.

Net sales for the first quarter of 2020 were $102.9 million, an increase of 6%, compared to $97.2 million in the first quarter of 2019.  Currency translation rates had an unfavorable impact on 2020 first quarter net sales of $4.1 million, or 4%. 

The Company posted net income for the first quarter of 2020 of $3.7 million, or $.74 per diluted share, compared to $1.8 million, or $.36 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2019.  Currency translation rates had an unfavorable effect on net income of $.1 million. 

Rob Ruhlman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We entered 2020 in a position of strength coming off a second consecutive year of record domestic sales.  The spread of COVID-19 during the second half of the first quarter created challenges for us in countries that were the earliest to be impacted by the pandemic, namely our Asia-Pacific business segment.  We quickly reacted by first protecting the health and safety of our employees while we maintained critical operations to protect our customers and suppliers.  Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, except for Asia-Pacific, we were able to deliver profitable sales growth in all other business segments versus the same period last year.  While the extent to which the pandemic will impact the future is not yet known, we will continue to focus on the safety and well-being of our employees, our customers and our valued suppliers."

Founded in 1947, Preformed Line Products is an international designer and manufacturer of products and systems employed in the construction and maintenance of overhead and underground networks for energy, communications and broadband network companies.

Preformed's world headquarters are in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Company operates two domestic manufacturing centers located in Rogers, Arkansas, and Albemarle, North Carolina.  The Company serves its worldwide market through international operations in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, England, France, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand and Vietnam.

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 regarding the Company, including those statements regarding the Company's and management's beliefs and expectations concerning the Company's future performance or anticipated financial results, among others. Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties which may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in those statements.  Among other things, factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements include the uncertainty in business conditions and economy due to COVID-19 including the severity and duration of business disruption caused by the pandemic, the strength of the economy and demand for the Company's products and the mix of products sold, the relative degree of competitive and customer price pressure on the Company's products, the cost, availability and quality of raw materials required for the manufacture of products, and the Company's ability to continue to develop proprietary technology and maintain high quality products and customer service to meet or exceed new industry performance standards and individual customer expectations, and other factors described under the headings "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in the Company's 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 6, 2020 and subsequent filings with the SEC.  The Annual Report on Form 10-K and the Company's other filings with the SEC can be found on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov.  The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events.

SOURCE Preformed Line Products Company