Genuine Parts Company — the parent company of ID Big 50 List distributors Motion Industries (No. 8) and EIS Inc. (No. 22) — on Tuesday reported its fiscal performance for its fourth quarter and full year 2016.
Motion Industries
GPC's figures showed that Q4 sales at Birmingham, AL-based Motion Industries (GPC's Industrial business) were up 4.1 percent year-over-year to $1.15 billion. Operating profit of $80.9 million increased 11.7 percent. For the full year, 2016 sales of $4.63 billion were flat, down 0.3 percent from 2015. Operating profit of $336.6 million was down 0.8 percent.
EIS Inc.
Q4 sales at Atlanta, GA-based EIS Inc. (GPC's Electrical/Electronic business) were flat, declining 0.2 percent to $176.8 million. Operating profit of $15.4 million decreased 4.3 percent. For the full year, 2016 sales of $715.7 million were down 4.7 percent from 2015. Operating profit of $60.5 million was down 13.7 percent.
"The fourth quarter was our strongest quarterly sales performance of the year, with acquisitions being the primary growth driver in each of our four business segments," said GPC president and CEO Paul Donahue. "With that said, we did see improvement in our comparable sales trends in the Automotive, Industrial and Electrical/Electronic businesses relative to the second and third quarters of 2016. Generally, we operated in more favorable market conditions as the fourth quarter progressed, and our teams were in position to benefit from that."
As a whole, GPC's Q4 sales of $15.34 billion increased 2.7 percent year-over-year. Total profit of $152.5 million decreased 5.5 percent. Gross profit of $1.13 billion increased 3.3 percent. For the full year, GPC's 2016 sales of $15.34 billion were flat, up 0.4 percent from 2015. Total profit of $687.2 million decreased 2.6 percent, while gross profit of $4.6 billion was up 1 percent.
GPC is forecasting 2017 full year sales growth of 3 to 4 percent.
