Timken Set to Receive $44 Million CDSOA Payout for Torrington

The Timken Company (USA) is likely to soon receive approximately USD $43.75 million in payouts under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act related to its Torrington operation. Timken acquired Torrington from Ingersoll-Rand Corp. (Bermuda) in early 2003. The payout covers U.S. Government fiscal year 2003. News of the Torrington payout came, not from Timken, but from Ingersoll-Rand Corp. I-R reported today it is expecting a Torrington CDSOA payout of approximately $35 million to arrive shortly, covering fiscal 2003. As part of its acquisition, Timken agreed to rebate Ingersoll-Rand 80% of all Torrington-related CDSOA payouts received for fiscal 2003 and 2004. Working from the Ingersoll-Rand statement, the total fiscal 2003 CDSOA payout related to Torrington works out to approximately $43.75 million. With 80% or $35 million, going to Ingersoll-Rand, Timken nets the remaining 20%, or $8.75 million. Only yesterday, during the company's third quarter and fiscal year earnings call with analysts, Timken executives professed no knowledge of the Torrington payout amount or timing. Timken President and CEO Jim Griffith said in response to an inquiry about the Torrington CDSOA, "There have been no payments made on that Torrington piece as of yet; we are still encouraged that that payment will come in 2004 -- that payment for what would have, let's say have been earned if you will, in 2003. But we just don't know that or the timing of it. So once that does come about, we will absolutely let you know about it." According to eBearing's contacts at U.S. Customs (now U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection), no payout announcements were made yesterday. Ingersoll-Rand did not respond eBearing's inquiry as to how it knew what the Torrington payout would be while Timken apparently did not. One possibility is that Ingersoll-Rand is reporting only its expected payout, not an actual value given by Customs. I-R could calculate an expected 2003 payout based on assumptions from its previous claim filings and payouts, referencing Customs' database of 2003 CDSOA classifications and amounts available to be paid out in each classification. In December 2003, Timken received $66 million in CDSOA payouts related to its own Timken operations. For fiscal 2002, Torrington received $68 million, while Timken received $54 million. In 2001, the first year of the CDSOA program, Torrington received $50 million and Timken received $31 million.