Bloomfield, CT-based Kaman Corp. reported its 2017 first quarter fiscal results on Wednesday, which showed a continued year-over-year sales decline for its distribution segment — Kaman Industrial Technologies.
KIT's Q1 sales of $271.6 million were down 5.9 percent year-over-year, while organic sales per day dipped 3.5 percent. Kaman said that the organic decline was driven by a decrease in sales of bearings and power transmission products, leading to a $12.8 million sales decrease to MRO customers. Sales were lower in the paper manufacturing, chemical manufacturing and transportation equipment manufacturing markets, partially offset by higher sales in the machinery manufacturing and mining markets.
Meanwhile, KIT's Q1 operating profit of $11.7 million increased 11.7 percent year-over-year. The increase was driven by decreases in KIT's selling, general and administrative expenses, partially offset by a decrease in organic sales and a loss of $0.7 million on a project within its fluid power line. KIT's operating margin improved 4.3 percent year-over-year, or 70 base points.
KIT is No. 20 on Industrial Distribution's Big 50 List.
For Kaman Corp. overall, Q1 sales of $435.9 million decreased 3.4 percent year-over-year, while total profit of $6.3 million was down from $9.8 million a year earlier.
