Business News
Brady Corporation Reports Sales and Net Income for Its Fiscal 2008 Second Quarter
Thursday 21. February 2008 - Brady Corporation (NYSE:BRC), a world leader in identification solutions, reports sales and earnings for its second quarter ended January 31, 2008.
Sales for the quarter were up 13 percent to $364.1 million, compared to $321.3 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2007. Base business growth was down 1 percent, acquisitions increased sales by 8 percent and currency exchange added 6 percent. Total sales increased 18 percent in Brady Americas, 3 percent in Direct Marketing & People Identification Americas, 24 percent in Europe, and 3 percent in the Asia/Pacific region.
Net income for the quarter rose 35 percent to $26.7 million compared to $19.7 million in the quarter last year. Earnings per diluted Class A Common share increased 33 percent to $0.48 compared to $0.36 per share in the fiscal 2007 second quarter.
Sales for the six months ended January 31, 2008, rose 14 percent to $744.3 million compared to $653.5 million in the same period last year. Net income for the first six months of fiscal 2008 rose 16 percent to $63.1 million compared to $54.2 million for the same period in fiscal 2007. Six-month earnings per diluted Class A Common share were up 15 percent to $1.14 compared to $0.99 in fiscal 2007.
“We are pleased with our overall results for the quarter including good growth in net income and nice improvement in margins. Our profit improvements are a direct result of actions taken over the past year. A number of factors contributed to flat core growth, including a challenging economy in the US,” said Frank M. Jaehnert, Brady’s president and chief executive officer. “Recently, we consolidated leadership of our Direct Marketing & People Identification and Brady businesses in the Americas in order to bring greater consistency to our global management structure. Both businesses will now report to Matt Williamson, president, Brady Americas. This will further streamline and simplify our organization.”
“I am very pleased to see the impact that our focus on working capital has had on operating cash flow generation which increased to $87.8 million from $37.1 million, up 137 percent year-to-date,” said Brady Chief Financial Officer Thomas J. Felmer. “We are continuing to focus on integrating acquisitions and streamlining our business to assure our cost structure is appropriate for the economic conditions, and rebalancing our business in Asia to focus on more proprietary and profitable segments. We reaffirm our guidance of sales from $1.43 to $1.46 billion and net income and diluted earnings per share of between $129 and $135 million, and $2.31 and $2.42 respectively.”