Cooper Industries Ltd., Houston, said fourth-quarter sales rose 15 percent to $1.54 billion, compared with $1.34 billion for the same period last year.
“Our investments in global growth continued to perform with developing markets revenues growing almost 40 percent in the quarter,” said Cooper Industries Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kirk S. Hachigian. “Core growth was 8 perent, with acquisitions contributing over 4 percent to revenue growth, and currency translation contributing almost 3 percent.”
In the electrical products segment, revenues for the fourth quarter increased 16.7 percent to $1.32 billion in the fourth quarter of 2006. The increase in revenues for the electrical products segment continued to reflect solid growth in the utility and industrial markets, strong international growth and solid growth in U.S. nonresidential construction markets. The U.S. residential markets continued to be soft.
In December, Cooper announced six acquisitions: Hyundai Explosion-Proof Electric Company, South Korea; Illinois-based GS Metals; United Kingdom-based Clarity Lighting; Sure Power Industries Inc., an Oregon-based company; OMNEX Control Systems, Canada; Virginia-based Roam Secure.
“While there is considerable economic uncertainty in the U.S., we see continued opportunities from our investments in developing markets, as well as the energy and utility infrastructure markets,” Hachigian said in a statement.