WKSU News: The pricetag of Timken's split into two companies comes down

Thursday, April 24, 2014 The pricetag of Timken's split into two companies comes down Bearings and steel will be separate businesses by June 30

The continuous caster and other improvements at Timken's Faircrest plant will boost steel production by about 25 percent.

Courtesy of M.L. Schultze

The cost of splitting the Stark County-based Timken Co. into two is likely to be $10 million cheaper than originally predicted. And the company is heading toward the split with higher profits and sales. WKSU’s M.L. Schultze has more from the penultimate quarterly report for the 115-year-old company.

LISTEN: Timken profits and sales are up as it heads toward a split

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Shareholders voted last year to force the split of Timken’s bearings division from its steel division. And the company has been estimating the cost of dividing operations, research and development, production and administration would run somewhere around $105 million.

But now, it’s telling analysts that’s likely to be closer to $95 million, and that the deal will be done by June 30^th.

In its review of the first quarter of 2014, the company also says its profits were up about 11 percent over the same quarter of last year, and sales climbed to $1.1 billion.

Steel accounted for a big share of that. Timken is investing $200 million into its mill in Stark County, including building a 250 foot-high caster to make a stronger steel designed for more high-stress uses such as drilling.

But the power side of the business – which includes roller bearings --also did well, boosted by orders for wind energy.