Adhesives firm H.B. Fuller Co. lowered its earnings forecasts for the year after reporting third-quarter results that missed Wall Street expectations.
The company's stock fell 1.5 percent to close at $33.55 Thursday.
The Vadnais Heights-based maker of glues for food boxes, can labels, books and more saw third-quarter revenue slip 0.5 percent, to $524.1 million.
It reported net income of $26.8 million, or 52 cents a share, compared with $4 million, or 8 cents a share, for the same period a year ago, which included $12.3 million in special charges.
The most recent quarter, ended Aug. 29, had $1.3 million in special charges associated with acquisitions integration costs and factory improvements. Excluding those, adjusted net income was 61 cents a share, 9 cents below analysts expectations.
Currency fluctuations continued to hurt international revenue. European sales, which would have been flat on a constant currency basis, dropped nearly 17 percent.
CEO Jim Owens, in a call with analysts, said North American revenue dropped 8 percent, which he called "disappointing." Owens also cited a higher tax rate and the final costs associated with last year's problematic installation of a software system as factors in the earnings shortfall.
With weak global conditions and the higher tax rate "expected to persist into the fourth quarter, we have adjusted our earnings-per-share expectations," Owens said.
