MSC Industrial Supply on Tuesday confirmed that its sales fell by more than 7% in its latest fiscal quarter and disclosed a sharp decline in earnings.
The Long Island-based metalworking and MRO distributor in mid-June issued âpreliminaryâ sales numbers that were âsofter than expectedâ in its third quarter â along with a reduced full-year forecast â amid problems with a new online system and other factors.
Following a completed quarterly review process, MSCâs net sales came in at $979.4 million, down 7.1% compared to $1.05 billion reported in the same three-month window last year.
New totals reported on Tuesday included a nearly 25% year-over-year decline in net income attributed to MSC, which fell from more than $95 million down to shy of $72 million. That translated to a drop in diluted earnings from $1.69 per share last year to $1.27 per share in the latest quarter.
Gross profit, meanwhile, fell from nearly $429 million in the previous third quarter down to just over $400 million and a gross margin of 40.9%; the companyâs operating margin was 10.9%, down from 12.8% over that span.
MSC President and CEO Erik Gershwind said following the June announcement that planned improvements to MSCâs website had fallen âbehind schedule,â which impacted subsequent marketing efforts. Gershwind reiterated in a statement Tuesday that the company took âswift corrective actionsâ to begin addressing those issues.
The company made no new changes to its mid-June forecast for the full fiscal year, which anticipated a 4.3% to 4.7% drop in daily sales growth, along with an adjusted operating margin of between 10.5% and 10.7%.
âWhile results to date in fiscal 2024 are not up to our standards, we are confident we have the talent and strategy in place to achieve our long-term goals and create meaningful value for all stakeholders,â Gershwind said in the earnings release.
MSC ranked no. 9 on IDâs latest Big 50.
