Navistar International Corp. said its fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled from a year earlier, due in part to strong sales of trucks and school buses.
Net income for the three months ended Oct. 31 was $56 million, or 66 cents a share, up 143 percent from $23 million, or 22 cents a share, in last year’s fourth quarter. The year-earlier results were lowered by a $20 million charge for environmental liabilities from discontinued operations.
Revenue rose 14 percent, to $1.77 billion from $1.55 billion a year earlier.
But Navistar said in a statement that it expects demand for heavy trucks to fall off 23.5 percent in 1996 and that sales of medium trucks will be flat. It said layoffs are likely for about 500 workers at a truck production facility in Chatham, Ontario, after Jan. 29.
For the year, net income doubled to $164 million, or $1.83 a share, from $82 million, or 77 cents a share, in fiscal 1994, which included the $20 million charge.
Sales rose 19 percent, to $6.34 billion from $5.34 billion a year ago.
