Toledo, Ohio, USA- headquartered Owens Corning (NYSE: OC) is a producer of residential and commercial building materials, glass fibre reinforcements and engineered materials for composite systems.
The company reported second quarter 2012 net earnings of $39 million, compared with net earnings of $78 million in the second quarter of 2011.
"Our second-quarter financial performance represents progress over the first quarter, but the rate of improvement is below our expectations, and we no longer see 2012 as a year of adjusted EBIT growth," says Owens Corning chairman and CEO Mike Thaman.
"However, we continue to expect that the second half of the year will be more profitable than the first and that we will deliver strong free cash flow in 2012."
Composites business expected to improve
As previously announced, the company is taking actions in its composites business to balance supply and to transform its composites operation into a global network of low-delivered-cost assets. All European asset consolidations have now been announced and are on schedule, it says.
Based on the current market outlook for industrial production growth and these actions, Owens Corning expects the financial performance of its composites business to improve in the second half of 2012, positioning the business to return to double-digit margins in 2013.