Wabash National’s First-Quarter Loss Widens

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Trailer manufacturer Wabash National Corp. lost $28.3 million, or 94 cents per share, for the first quarter, compared with a loss of $6.4 million, or 21 cents, a year ago.

Sales fell by about half to $77.9 million from $161.1 million a year ago, the company said late Wednesday.

“The challenging economic climate has resulted in weak production demand, and the carryover effect of very high raw material and component costs adversely impacted our operating results,” said Chief Executive Officer Dick Giromini.

Wabash expects an improving, though constrained demand environment for trailers for the rest of the year and increasing benefits from its cost-optimization initiatives, he said in a statement.



The company said earlier this month that it would make about 800 job cuts permanent due to lagging sales.