Milwaukee-based Brady Corp. today reported fiscal second quarter net earnings of $16.4 million, or 31 cents per share, up sharply from a net loss of $8.7 million, or 17 cents per share, in the second quarter of 2013.
Revenue for the quarter ended December 31 was $291.2 million, up from $272.7 million in the same period a year ago.
Brady, which manufactures and distributes identification solution products, announced in October that chief executive officer Frank Jaehnert would retire, and senior vice president and chief financial officer Thomas Felmer was appointed interim president and chief executive officer.
The company expects organic sales from continuing operations to end the fiscal year on a slight contraction or low single-digit growth.
“Our Identification Solutions business continued its steady revenue performance in the second quarter with 2.5 percent organic sales growth and 15.8 percent growth including sales from the PDC acquisition,” Felmer said. “During the quarter, sales in our Workplace Safety platform were down 7.7 percent which was below our expectations. We have been accelerating investments in our Workplace Safety business to drive organic sales growth. These investments are aimed at improving our e-commerce capabilities, expanding our product offerings and enhancing our overall value proposition which has resulted in an increase in new customers for the group. While we are investing to increase our competitiveness, we are balancing our investments to ensure more profitable growth over the long term. We have seen improvements in our Asian and European Identification Solutions’ results and continue to see growth opportunities driven by our new product pipeline and increased focus on industries such as healthcare; food and beverage; chemical, oil and gas; and aerospace and mass transit.”
