"With our membership in the AMRC we will have access to AMRC's resources and generic research and together with our expertise we can help shape and determine the direction of future programs. This will help us strengthen our position in various advanced manufacturing sectors. With these kind of future leading projects we will also be able to increase our aerospace footprint in the market and win future opportunities," says John Palmer, Kennametal's technical programme manager, aerospace, in the UK, who has taken over technical lead of this cooperation.
In the latest results posting covering the period of January to March 2015, announced in May, the US-based company's sales in its aerospace and defence segments decreased approximately 6% compared with the same period, contributing to a $45 million fall in revenue (to $355 million) in industrial sales compared with the previous period. It blamed much of the overall fall on unfavourable currency exchange (half of the company's revenue comes from outside the USA).
It was also hit by heavy losses in oil and gas (down 23% in energy) and earthworks (15%) due to falls in US roadworks programmes and mining.
Because of the continuing fall in its fortunes, Kennametal announced it would begin a third phase of restructuring, estimated to save $25-30 million per year when finished in March 2017. The other two phases are estimated together to save about $100 million per year when finished in 2016.
Kennametal president and CEO Don Nolan says: "While reducing costs in many areas, we continue to focus on great service and innovation, investing in capabilities to better serve our customers and support growth. We are acting quickly to simplify the portfolio, get our cost structure right, and improve working capital efficiency. These all remain priorities to maximize profitability and improve shareholder returns."
