Applied Industrial Technologies reports slight sales uptick, buys Mexican automation company
Applied Industrial Technologies reported net sales of $1.1 billion for its third quarter ended March 31, a 1.3% increase over the prior year.
The change includes a 1.2% increase from acquisitions and a 0.2% increase from foreign currency translation, partially offset by a negative 0.8% selling day impact. Excluding these factors, sales increased 0.7% on an organic daily basis reflecting a 2.6% increase in the Service Center segment and a 3.2% decrease in the Engineered Solutions segment. The Company reported net income of $97.2 million, or $2.48 per share, and EBITDA of $135.7 million. On a pre-tax basis, results include $4.8 million ($0.10 after tax per share) of LIFO expense compared to $8.2 million ($0.16 after tax per share) of LIFO expense in the prior-year period.
“Third quarter sales exceeded our expectations with the year-over-year trend gradually improving as the quarter progressed, said Applied President & Chief Executive Officer Neil A. Schrimsher. "Growth was led by our core Service Center operations where our technical industry position and internal initiatives are augmenting steady break-fix demand. This encouraging trend is a favorable indicator for our broader business and growth potential moving forward. In addition, we remain positive on our Engineered Solutions segment ahead of fiscal 2025 considering a constructive outlook across technology, automation, and process markets. Lastly, EBITDA margins were impacted by unfavorable expense absorption and mix against modest sales growth during the quarter. We expect these headwinds to alleviate near-term, and we remain on track to achieve record cash generation for the year.”
“I’m also excited to announce a key strategic step in the expansion of our automation platform with an agreement to acquire Grupo Kopar (Kopar), a provider of emerging automation technologies and engineered solutions primarily across Mexico," he added. "In addition to expanding our automation footprint with a market leader in this key growth geography, Kopar has strong alignment with our strategy focused on high-value robotics, machine vision, and IIoT applications. The acquisition will add approximately 200 new associates to our growing automation team and is expected to close in the coming weeks. Overall, we see significant potential and synergies building across our automation platform that stand to enhance our growth and earnings potential into fiscal 2025 and beyond. We look forward to welcoming Kopar to Applied and leveraging their capabilities going forward.”
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