Genuine Parts Company reported its 2020 third quarter financial results on Thursday, showing that sales at its industrial parts subsidiary — Motion Industries — remain suppressed, though improving, amid impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
GPC said that Q3 sales at MRO parts distributor Motion Industries were $1.41 billion (32 percent of GPC's total), down 18.6 percent year-over-year (YoY) overall, or down 8.7 percent when excluding Motion's September 2019 divestment of EIS Inc. On a comparable basis, Q3 sales were down 9.2 percent YoY, compared to bottoming out at down 16.7 percent in Q2.
Motion Industries' Q3 operating profit of $125.6 million was down approximately $12 million from a year earlier, but up about $16 million from Q2.
GPC said that the industry sectors still seeing market pressures include equipment & machinery, iron & steel, automotive, fabricated metals and oil & gas, while more resilient sectors include food products, pulp & paper, lumber & wood and equipment rental/leasing.
In its Q3 earnings presentation, GPC noted the introduction of Mi Asia Pacific. Motion's Asia-Pacific sales fared far better than other geographies during Q3, managing positive YoY sales growth.
Motion Industries announced three completed acquisitions during Q3. On Sept. 1, it said it had acquired Applied Machine and Motion Control (AMMC), a Park Hills, KY-based supplier and service provider of motion control and automation products. And on Aug. 3, it announced acquired both TRC Hydraulics and F&L Industrial Solutions.
Q3 sales at GPC's automotive group — NAPA Auto Parts — were $2.96 billion, up 6.0 percent YoY, with comparable sales up 2.2 percent. Segment profit of $266 million jumped 19.6 percent.
As a whole, Genuine Parts had Q3 total sales of $4.37 billion, down 3.4 percent YoY, with comparable sales down 1.8 percent. The company's net profit of $233 million was up from $212 million a year earlier.
