Some end markets stabilized, but the oil and gas and agriculture industries continued to experience challenges as Actuant Corp. reported a 44 percent drop in profit during the third quarter of fiscal 2016.
The Menomonee Falls-based industrial company reported net income of $20.3 million, down from $37.9 million during the same time last year. The company had diluted earnings of 36 cents per share, compared with 63 cents last year. Revenue was off 4.6 percent to $305.3 million.
The company reported its core sales were down 6 percent after removing a 2 percent gain from acquisitions and a 1 percent decline from a stronger U.S. dollar.
“Our third quarter results came in modestly better than expected and I am pleased with the execution by our team,” said Randal Baker, Actuant president and chief executive officer.
Actuant incurred a $3.5 million pre-tax charge from restructuring activities that included facility consolidations, structural changes and staffing reductions.
The company also deployed $65 million of capital for the acquisition of FourQuest Energy’s Middle East, Caspian and North Africa division.
Actuant’s industrial segment reported revenue of $95.8 million, a drop of 7.4 percent from last year driven by sluggish demand globally, but most notably in the Americas.
The company’s energy segment was up 2 percent, with revenue of $101.3 million. The increase was driven by a double-digit increase in the maintenance related Hydratight business. Other energy segment sales were down significantly with low upstream capital spending on exploration, drilling and field development.
A 7.6 percent drop in revenue to $108.3 million for the engineered solutions segment was driven entirely by declines in core sales, the company said. Heavy truck sales in Europe and China grew modestly, but agriculture and off-highway equipment sales suffered from low end-user demand and ongoing original equipment manufacturer destocking efforts.
“We have seen stabilization in several of our end markets, yet upstream oil and gas and agriculture, in particular, continue to experience reduced spending, pricing and unpredictable demand levels,” Baker said.
