Terex Corporation's net income for the first quarter of 2005 increased 78 per cent from 2004's first quarter result of USD17 million to USD30.3 million.

If "special items" were excluded, net income for the first quarter would be USD30.8 million. There were no special items during the 2004 quarter.

Special items for the first quarter of 2005 included investigation costs related to the company's internal review and the restatement of its financial results for fiscal years 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003, and charges connected with the closure of certain Terex Utilities branches (Forkliftaction.com News #192)..

For the first quarter, net sales increased 38.8 per cent from USD1,043.8 million to USD1,448.9 million.

Terex chairman and CEO Ronald M DeFeo said the company continued to be encouraged by its performance in the first quarter.

"Although the first quarter still reflects an imbalance between input costs and pricing to customers, we are confident we are doing the right things to improve this situation," DeFeo said.

"We have taken pricing initiatives that should be more evident in the second quarter and clearly the demand for our products is strong.

"We appreciate the patience our stakeholders have shown as we have diligently pursued historical intercompany imbalances and related issues. While the issues were deeper and more complex than we initially expected, we believe we are nearing completion of our review.

"Although the ultimate outcome is not yet finalised, we continue to expect that the total impact to our 2003 stockholders' equity value will be immaterial. We have learned a lot in this process that will make our company better and stronger in the future and we are moving on implementing these improvements. In the meantime, business conditions remain strong," he said.

The company has not completed its audited financial statements for 2004 but does not anticipate financial results for the period ended March 31, 2004, will be restated.