Note 12 - Business Unit Segment Information

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2012

Segment Reporting Disclosure [Text Block]

12. Business Unit Segment Information

The company and its subsidiaries design, manufacture and sell circuit protection devices throughout the world. The company reports its operations by the following business unit segments: Electronics, Automotive, and Electrical. Each operating segment is directly responsible for sales, marketing and research and development. Manufacturing, purchasing, logistics, customer service, finance, information technology and human resources are shared functions that are allocated back to the three operating segments. The Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) allocates resources to and assesses the performance of each operating segment using information about its revenue and operating income (loss) before interest and taxes inclusive of depreciation and amortization, but does not evaluate the operating segments using discrete balance sheet information.

Sales, marketing and research and development expenses are charged directly into each operating segment. All other functions are shared by the operating segments and expenses for these shared functions are allocated to the operating segments and included in the operating results reported below. The company does not report inter-segment revenue because the operating segments do not record it. The company does not allocate interest and other income, interest expense, or taxes to operating segments. Although the CEO uses operating income (loss) to evaluate the segments, operating costs included in one segment may benefit other segments. Except as discussed above, the accounting policies for segment reporting are the same as for the company as a whole.

An operating segment is defined as a component of an enterprise that engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses, and about which separate financial information is regularly evaluated by the Chief Operating Decision Maker (“CODM”) in deciding how to allocate resources. The CODM is the company’s President and CEO.

Business unit segment information for the three and six months ended June 30, 2012 and July 2, 2011 are summarized as follows (in thousands):

	For the Three Months Ended						For the Six Months Ended
	June 30, 2012			July 2, 2011			June 30, 2012			July 2, 2011
Net sales
Electronics	$	89,508		$	98,390		$	166,562		$	185,743
Automotive		51,450			50,397			104,076			104,254
Electrical		34,895			27,828			65,793			53,778
Total net sales	$	175,853		$	176,615		$	336,431		$	343,775
Depreciation and amortization
Electronics	$	5,112		$	5,394		$	10,598		$	10,677
Automotive		1,502			1,624			2,951			3,039
Electrical		952			897			1,968			1,790
Total depreciation and amortization	$	7,566		$	7,915		$	15,517		$	15,506
Operating income (loss)
Electronics	$	15,778		$	20,700		$	25,889		$	38,363
Automotive		6,965			7,731			16,471			18,125
Electrical		9,353			7,456			15,560			13,995
Other(a)		—			(596	)		—			(4,274	)
Total operating income		32,096			35,291			57,920			66,209
Interest expense		421			521			844			857
Other (income) expense, net		(757	)		(11	)		(656	)		(37	)
Income before income taxes	$	32,432		$	34,781		$	57,732		$	65,389

(a) Included in “Other” operating income for the three months ended July 2, 2011 are acquisition related fees.  Included  in “Other” operating income (loss) for the six months ended July 2, 2011 is a non-cash charge of $3.7 million for the sale of inventory that had been stepped-up to fair value at the acquisition date of Cole Hersee in 2010 as required by purchase accounting rules. As the inventory was sold, the non-cash charge impacted operating income.

The company’s significant net sales by country for the three and six months ended June 30, 2012 and July 2, 2011 are summarized as follows (in thousands):

	For the Three Months Ended(a)				For the Six Months Ended(a)
	June 30, 2012		July 2, 2011		June 30, 2012		July 2, 2011
United States	$	59,370	$	60,858	$	114,610	$	118,641
China		37,677		40,361		68,127		75,557
Other countries		78,806		75,396		153,694		149,577
Total	$	175,853	$	176,615	$	336,431	$	343,775

(a) Sales by country represent sales to customer or distributor locations.

The company’s significant long-lived assets by country as of June 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011 are summarized as follows (in thousands):

	Long-lived assets(b)
	June 30, 2012		December 31, 2011
United States	$	90,686	$	92,482
China		42,808		45,466
Canada		41,361		42,299
Other countries		114,601		98,917
Total	$	289,456	$	279,164

(b) Long-lived assets includes net property, plant and equipment, intangible assets, net of amortization, and goodwill.