MSC Industrial Supply on Wednesday reported higher sales, earnings and profit in its fiscal first quarter despite headwinds attributed to the federal government shutdown late last year.
The MRO and metalworking distributor — no. 9 on ID’s latest Big 50 list — posted net sales of $965.7 million in the quarter ended Nov. 29, up 4% compared to the same period in the previous year.
Gross profit rose from $378.2 million to $392.7 million over that span, while net income climbed from $45.7 million to $51.8 million — an increase of more than 11%.
MSC President and CEO Martina McIsaac — who succeeded Erik Gershwind as chief executive at the beginning of the year — said that daily sales growth met the company’s projections and reflected “continued momentum from our recent growth initiatives.” Daily sales, on average, were about 180 basis points above the Industrial Production index, she added — despite an impact of 100 basis points tied to the shutdown.
“As a result of our improving levels of execution and focus on optimizing costs, we returned to profitable growth in the fiscal first quarter,” McIsaac said in a statement, noting an operating margin that grew from 7.8% to 7.9% year-over-year.
MSC expects average daily sales to climb by between 3.5% and 5.5% in its second quarter, along with a Q2 adjusted operating margin of between 7.3% and 7.9%. The company issued full-year projections only for “certain financial metrics,” such as capital expenditures and free cash flow conversion.
