Cooper Tire’s Sales Fall Following Ark. Plant Strike

ooper Tire & Rubber Co. reported its first-quarter income dropped 79% to $5 million or 7 cents a share, compared with $24.3 million or 32 cents a year earlier.

The company said its North American tire operations had sales of $464 million for the quarter, up 8% from last year.

Company officials said in a conference call Wednesday that the profit drop was due in part to a one-month strike at its Texarkana, Ark., plant that ended April 11, Bloomberg reported.

“Excluding the impact of the strike . . . our results were slightly better than we had previously forecast,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Dattilo said in a statement.

Cooper is the No. 2 U.S. tire maker behind Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.