Genuine Parts Company – the parent company of Motion Industries and EIS Inc. – reported its 2015 third quarter financial results on Monday for the period ended Sept. 30. Motion Industries and EIS are No. 10 and 23 on Industrial Distribution's 2015 Big 50 List, respectively.
Q3 sales at Motion Industries $1.17 billion, down 4 percent from last year's $1.22 billion. Operating profit for the quarter was $90 million, a 5.4 percent decrease. GPC said the decline had a 1 percentage point contribution from acquisitions, offset by a 1 percent negative effect from currency headwinds.
Year-to-date, Motion Industries had sales of $3.54 billion for the first 9 months of 2015, a 0.9 percent decrease from last year. Operating profit of $266.7 million was 2.6 percent down.
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At EIS – GPC's Electrical/Electronic Group – Q3 sales increased by 2 percent, including 5 percent growth from acquisitions, offset by a 1.5 percent decrease in core sales and 1.5 percent negative impact of copper pricing.
EIS' first nine months of 2015 had sales of $573.6 million, a 2.1 percent increase over last year.
"The strength in our underlying Automotive distribution business, as well as positive sales growth in the Office and Electrical distribution businesses, was offset by significant foreign currency headwinds and ongoing challenging global economic conditions, particularly in our Industrial distribution business," said Tom Gallagher, GPC chief executive officer. "These factors pressured our overall sales and earnings growth as we moved through the third quarter, although our focus on streamlining operations and controlling expenses drove positive margin expansion."
GPC had total Q3 sales of $3.92 billion, down 2 percent from last year's $3.99 billion. Profit of $188 million was down 2.6 percent from last year. GPC said the sales decline included underlying sales growth of 1 percent and a 1 percent contribution from acquisitions, offset by a 4 percent negative impact from currency headwinds. Year-to-date sales of $11.6 billion were up 1 percent from last year, while profit of $544.4 million was essentially unchanged compared to last year's $545.7 million. GPC said currency negatively impacted revenue growth by approximately 3 percent.
"We enter the fourth quarter facing market conditions that have softened, most prominently in our Industrial and Electrical businesses," Gallagher added. "Based on these uncertain conditions, which are likely to persist through the balance of the year, we expect sales and earnings to be further challenged as we work our way through the final quarter of 2015."
