The company announced a first quarter profit per share of $US1.81 ($A2.33), an increase from the $1.44 a share it recorded in the same period last year.

Unfortunately, it is not expecting subsequent 2015 quarters’ profits to stay at such a high level due partly to the impact the falling oil price will have on parts of Caterpillar’s business. 

The first quarter of 2015 included a negative impact of US5c a share for restructuring costs – an improvement there on the 17c a share in the first quarter 2014.

First quarter sales and revenues were $US12.7 billion, down about 4% from first quarter 2014 sales and revenues.

Profit for the first quarter included a pre-tax gain of $120 million, or about 14c a share, from the sale of Caterpillar’s remaining interest in its former third party logistics business. 

Caterpillar sold a majority interest in the business in 2012 and offloaded its remaining stake in the 2015 first quarter.

As expected, Big Yellow’s mining business stayed weak and, while its energy and transportation segment did well, that segment is expected to be hit by the downturn in the oil price.

Operating cash flow for Caterpillar’s machinery, energy and transportation business was more than $US1 billion.

The company repurchased $400 million in stock during the quarter – part of the $10 billion repurchase authorisation approve by the board in 2014. The company plans to continue that repurchasing – depending on market conditions.

Caterpillar chairman and chief executive officer Doug Oberhelman admitted the fourth quarter had not been without its challenges.

“Sales and revenue were off about 4% from the first quarter of last year, mining remained weak and construction wad down in most regions,” he said.

“On the plus side energy and transportation turned in another great quarter, although we don’t expect this to continue due to the oil-related portion of the business.”

Oberhelman said the company’s focus remained on operational improvement, including lean manufacturing and cost management, which he said was “helping in what is a tough time some of our important cyclical businesses”.

While the outlook for sales and revenues for 2015 remains unchanged at about $50 billion, the outlook for profit per share has improved.

Caterpillar is forecasting profit per share of $4.70 or $5, excluding restructuring costs. It had been expecting $4.60 or $4.75 per share, excluding restructuring costs.

The expectation for restructuring costs has increased about $100 million though to $250 million.

That increase primarily relates to the facilities producing mining products.

“We had a solid first quarter, which led to raising the profit outlook for 2015,” Oberhelman said.

“However, we continue to face headwinds and uncertainty in 2015 and our outlook for the year reflects that.

“We expect sales and profit in each of the remaining three quarters of 2015 to be lower than the first quarter.

“We expect sales for oil applications to decline, starting in the second quarter, and from a profit perspective, the first quarter included the gain on the sale of our remaining interest in the logistics business and that won’t repeat.

“The first quarter is usually the most seasonally favourable of the year for costs and we don’t expect the rest of the year to be as favourable.

“In addition, we expect some increase in research and development expense as we go through the year.

“We working to improve what we can control so that when our cyclical businesses recover, we will be ready to respond quickly, benefiting our company, our customers and our stockholders.”

Caterpillar’s staffing numbers were down 3257 year-on-year to 113,322. The decrease was largely due to restructuring programs.