The Company's KaiserSelect plate products
Net income for the first nine months of 2014 was $56 million or $3.02 earnings per diluted share. For the prior year period, net income of $78 million or $4.02 earnings per diluted share reflected a lower effective tax rate as a result of an $8 million Canadian tax benefit. Adjusted net income for the first nine months of 2014 was $47 million and adjusted earnings per diluted share of $2.54 compared to adjusted net income of $54 million and adjusted earnings per diluted share of $2.81 in the prior year period.
Value added revenue of $180 million for the third quarter 2014 was down from $190 million in the second quarter 2014 and was comparable to the prior year third quarter. On a sequential basis, the decline in value added revenue reflected primarily the impact of lower shipments of heat treat plate and sheet attributed to unanticipated yield losses related to manufacturing process refinements targeted at further improving the customer performance of the Company's KaiserSelect plate products and unplanned downtime in the aerospace sheet operations during the quarter. In addition, value added revenue also reflected some seasonal demand weakness for general engineering applications. Compared to the prior year period, value added revenue in the third quarter 2014 reflected higher shipments for aerospace and automotive applications which largely mitigated the impact of competitive pricing pressure on heat treat plate.
For the first nine months of 2014, value added revenue of $555 million was up slightly from $553 million for the prior year period driven primarily by a 43% increase in value added revenue for automotive extrusions as new programs launched during the year. The growth in automotive value added revenue more than offset the impact of competitive pricing pressure on value added revenue for aerospace applications.
Adjusted consolidated EBITDA in the third quarter 2014 was $41 million or 22.7% of value added revenue compared to adjusted consolidated EBITDA of $46 million or 24.4% of value added revenue in the second quarter 2014, and $40 million or 22.2% of value added revenue for the prior year third quarter. The sequential decline in EBITDA was directly related to the third quarter production challenges that resulted in lower shipments, higher internal scrap, and remakes of aerospace plate and sheet products.