Milwaukee-based Brady Corp. reported fiscal first quarter net income of $27.2 million, or 53 cents per share, down from $32.7 million, or 62 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
Excluding the losses in the first quarter from the sales of Brady Medical, a medical die-cut business headquartered in Texas, and Varitronics, a business headquartered in Minnesota serving the education market, net income was down 7.1 percent to $30.4 million.
Brady Corp.’s quarterly sales dipped to $337.6 million from $349.5 million a year earlier.
“I am pleased with our performance in the quarter as our business in the Americas and Asia-Pacific showed improved results over last quarter. In Asia in particular we benefited from several new product wins in the mobile handset and tablet computer space,” said Brady president and chief executive officer Frank Jaehnert. “Europe continues to be impacted by a difficult economic environment, and we are shifting resources to higher growth opportunities in Central Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In addition, we are continuing to prune our portfolio of businesses. As we look to the remainder of fiscal 2013, we believe there is limited likelihood that the macro-economy will provide a tailwind. We therefore will continue on the path to create our own growth story by further investing in geographic expansion; expanding globally in certain focus markets, such as aerospace and mass transit, chemical, oil and gas, and food and beverage processing; new product development; customer conversion; and expansion of our digital capabilities to provide the best overall buying experience for our customers.”
“We anticipate approximately flat organic sales growth for the full fiscal year 2013, with sales growth in the second half of the year driven by our initiatives,” said Brady chief financial officer Thomas Felmer. “We are reiterating our full-year fiscal 2013 earnings per diluted Class A Common Share guidance of between $2.20 and $2.40, exclusive of after-tax restructuring charges and gains or losses on the sales of any businesses. This guidance is based on exchange rates as of October 31, 2012, and a full-year income tax rate in the mid-to-upper 20 percent range.”
