International Adhesives Sales Lift H.B. Fuller's Bottom Line

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Adhesives manufacturer H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) (Vadnais Heights, Minnesota) recently reported earnings results for the third quarter of the company's 2010 fiscal year. H.B. Fuller's net revenue for the quarter was $338.6 million, an increase of 7.4% from the same quarter in 2009. The company's sales in North America were lower than expected.

The company's strongest growth occurred in international markets, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. H.B. Fuller experienced the following year-over-year regional revenue growth:

• North America - quarterly net revenues up 5.2% from last year
• Europe, India, Middle East, Africa - net revenues up 3.4% year over year
• Latin America - net revenue up 8.2%
• Asia Pacific - net revenue up 27.2% from last year

Asia Pacific sales were boosted by the company's acquisition of Malaysian adhesives manufacturer Revertex Finewaters Shd Bhd (Klang, Malaysia) earlier this year.

In a conference call regarding the earnings, President and CEO Michele Volpi discussed the reasons that H.B. Fuller did not meet its expected sales volumes in North America. "North American end markets experienced a significant demand dip at the beginning of the third quarter," he said. "It appears that demand was pulled forward into the second quarter based on customer concerns over potential product shortages and some pre-buying in front of price increases. As the quarter completed, demand somewhat improved."

Industrial Info is tracking more than $60 million of active projects at adhesives manufacturing plants in North America and an equivalent amount throughout the rest of the world. Internationally, the largest adhesives project is 3M Company's (NYSE:MMM) (St. Paul, Minnesota) expansion of its adhesives plant in Wroclaw, Poland. The estimated $50 million project involves the installation of a new unit and supporting equipment to manufacture adhesives for protective foils used in the aircraft industry.

In the U.S., one of the largest projects currently under way is the consolidation and expansion of Henkel Corporation's (Rocky Hill, Connecticut) plant in Salisbury, North Carolina. The project, which has an estimated total investment value of $23 million, began earlier this year and entails the construction of a 71,180-square-foot building and the installation of process equipment to produce adhesives for the electronics industry. Information on these and other capital and maintenance projects in the adhesives sector can be found in Industrial Info's North American and International Project Databases.

View Project Report - 082000119 015002863

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