For the period ended April 27, the company recorded earnings of $US213.6 million, versus $162 million in 2011.

Net sales were also up 45% year-on-year to $1.5 billion.

Operating income came in at $333 million for the period, compared to $234 million in the comparable quarter, with a 22% of sales for both years.

Bookings, however, were on a downward trend, dropping 19% in the April quarter to $1.2 billion.

However, Joy’s year-on-year core business decline was partially offset by the inclusion of $128.4 million and $97.5 million in bookings for newly acquired LeTourneau and IMM, respectively.

The decrease was even more significant when looking at the OEM’s core underground and surface businesses.

These were down 34% versus a record 2011 second-quarter. Aftermarket orders decreased 9% and original equipment orders fell 59% year-on-year.

Excluding IMM, underground bookings were down 38% compared to Q2 2011.

Original equipment orders sank 62% on the weak US coal market and high comparables from a longwall system ordered last year in Australia.

Aftermarket bookings declined 12% on reduced orders in Australia, the US and Eurasia, though China and South Africa orders were up.

Excluding LeTourneau, surface bookings dropped 20% and original equipment orders were down 42% year-on-year. Aftermarket bookings were flat.

While original equipment orders were primarily from South America and Australia for copper, coal and iron ore, aftermarket orders rose in the US, South America and Australia and fell in China, India, Russia and South Africa.

“Our second quarter reflects both excellence in our execution and concerns over slowing in our markets," president and chief executive officer Mike Sutherlin said.

"Our efforts on cycle time reduction allowed us to increase shipments this quarter in our core Joy underground and P&H surface businesses by 24 per cent over last year and our focus on operating leverage delivered 24 per cent operating margins in these core businesses.

“We are very pleased with the performance from our acquired LeTourneau and International Mining Machinery businesses, as they collectively delivered operating margins above 20 per cent.”

The executive said as the US markets corrected and the international markets began showing signs of near-term slowing, Joy was turning its attention to cost reductions.

“The current order rate is affected by both project timing as well as fundamentals and we believe there is sound basis for demand upside,” he said.

“However, we have been served well in the past by starting early to prepare for a range of outcomes and this currently includes our expectation that near-term order rates will moderate and revenues could flatten for a period compared to our first-half run rate.”

Looking ahead, Sutherlin said the continuing uncertainty in the market – despite recent improvements – would keep its clients cautious and many operators were using production cuts to rebalance their portfolios and concentrate future capacity on mines with a lower cost.

This also includes progressing to complete ongoing expansion projects.

“They are also using this time to plan major machine overhauls and upgrades to be prepared for anticipated recovery in coal-fueled power generation,” Sutherlin said.

“As a result, we expect that our order rates could moderate and revenues flatten for a few quarters, until global economic recovery and stronger commodity demand provide the basis for customers returning to greenfield expansions.”

Its bookings picture is a reflection of the demand decline it is anticipating but also includes a “normal lumpiness” that is typically characteristic of international projects.

Because of that, Sutherlin said, the 2012 first-half would be a better outlook representation than the second quarter on its own.

“The current softness in the US aftermarket orders is not expected to be completely offset by strength in the international markets and therefore the aftermarket bookings rate is expected to adversely impact revenues by $100 million for 2012,” he said.

“In addition, we excluded the excess first-year purchase accounting charges for IMM from our prior guidance because we had not started our accounting valuation process.

“In combination, these two items will reduce 2012 revenues by $100 million [and] as a result, we are adjusting our guidance for 2012 and now expect earnings per fully diluted share to be between $7.15 and $7.45 on revenues between $5.5 [billion and] $5.7 billion.”