Industrial, export sales down for Paul Mueller

Springfield's Paul Mueller Company Aug. 11 reported its quarterly financial performance. The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed net sales of $24.18 million for the quarter that ended June 30, net income of $466,000 and earnings per share of 40 cents.

Those numbers compare to net sales of $24.81 million, net income of $1.68 million and earnings per share of $1.44 for the same quarter in 1998.

For the six months that ended June 30 Mueller had net income of $43.07 million, net income of $633,000 and earnings per share of 54 cents. During the same six-month period of 1998, Mueller had net sales of $42.23 million, net income of $2.39 million and earnings per share of $2.04.

The filing said the $2.11 million decline in sales during the quarter compared to last year's quarter were attributable to its processing equipment division. Dairy farm equipment sales were up $2.48 million compared to the quarter in the year before.

"The increase occurred solely within the domestic market, as order entry was strong due to continued favorable feed prices, stable milk prices and ongoing farm consolidation," Mueller's filing stated.

Export sales were down $2.6 million during the 1999 quarter.

In the first six months of 1999 Mueller had a 23 percent decrease in sales of processing equipment compared to 1998, a contributing factor in its $2.1 million decline in industrial equipment sales.

At the same time dairy farm equipment sales were up 32 percent in the first six months of 1999. That increase came entirely from the domestic market