Tenaris 2nd-Quarter Profit Down 5.6% as Tube Sales Fall in North America

   By Tess Stynes and Nathalie Tadena 
 

Tenaris SA's (TS, TEN.MI) second-quarter earnings fell 5.6% as the producer of steel casings and pipes for the energy industry reported weaker tube sales in North America and Europe.

The Luxembourg-based company has been benefiting as oil-and-gas exploration and production increasingly focused on deepwater and alternative shale-energy fields. Tenaris's sales trends had weakened in recent quarters amid commodity-price volatility.

Tube sales in North America--the biggest top-line contributor--slipped 22% from a year earlier to $986 million. European sales were down 24%, while South America sales jumped 21%.

Overall, Tenaris reported a profit of $429.6 million, or 71 cents per American depositary share, down from $455.3 million, or 77 cents per ADS, a year earlier. Revenue increased 1% to $2.83 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters recently expected per-ADS profit of 73 cents and revenue of $2.72 billion.

Gross margin eased down to 39.4% from 39.5%.

Shares closed at $45.01 Thursday and were inactive after hours. The stock is up 7.4% so far this year.

Write to Tess Stynes at [e-mail] and Nathalie Tadena at [e-mail]

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