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July 29, 2008 10:00 AM, EDT

Vehicle component supplier ArvinMeritor earned $44 million, or 60 cents a share in the quarter ended June 30, compared with a loss of $70 million, or 99 cents, a year ago, the company said Tuesday.

Revenue for the company's fiscal third quarter rose 21% to $2 billion, ArvinMeritor said in its latest earnings report.

The improvement comes “despite deterioration in the North American and European markets,” Charles “Chip” McLure, ArvinMeritor’s chief executive officer, said in the report.

The latest earnings mark Arvin's second-consecutive quarterly profit after four straight quarters of losses.

Sales at ArvinMeritor's heavy-truck unit improved 29% to $1.36 billion, while sales for the auto-parts business improved 5.5% to $647 million, the company said.

The company also noted that currency exchange gains from sales in overseas markets helped pad profits in the quarter.

ArvinMeritor’s latest earnings report follows the company’s May announcement that it will spin off its auto-parts unit by the end of 2008 to focus on its heavy-duty truck component business. Click here for previous coverage.

Arvin has also said that it will expand its remanufacturing operations. To that end, the company announced earlier this month that it will purchase Trucktechnic, a Belgium-based remanufacturer, and a distributor of commercial vehicle brakes and components. Click here for previous coverage.

Financial terms of the Trucktechnic sale have not been disclosed.