SPRINGFIELD — Navistar International Corp. lost $153 million in the first quarter of 2012.

“Traditionally, our first quarter is the weakest period for Navistar due to seasonal downtime in our two largest markets,” said company spokesman Steve Schrier in an email.

Although consolidated net sales and revenues rose 11 percent in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the same time last year, rising health-care costs and accidents put a damper on profits, according to a press release.

The company still feels the lingering effects the Thailand flood had on customers, as well as brake supplier issues that stopped truck shipments.

“None of those factors were directly related to work conducted specifically at our Springfield plant,” Schrier said. “As we announced a few weeks ago, we are adding 40 new jobs at Springfield and the results of our fiscal first quarter have no impact.”

Last week the Springfield News-Sun reported that about 25 of those jobs will be full-time, union positions, the first since 1999. Most of these new positions will be on the production line, and a few others will be clerical or administrative positions.

In a press release, Navistar officials predicted an improvement in company profits through Oct. 31 — the end of fiscal year 2012 — resulting in an adjusted net income of $295 million to $365 million. Navistar also estimates that demand for Navistar trucks will increase in this time by between 5 percent and 18 percent, or 275,000 to 310,000 trucks.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0371 or emason@coxohio.com.