MSC Industrial Supply Co. on Wednesday reported improved sales, profit and earnings totals in its fiscal second quarter.
Company officials conceded in the earnings release that its quarterly sales fell short of internal expectations, but they pointed to another increase in its operating margin and said that MSC anticipates improvements in volumes in the coming months.
“While we have not yet seen volumes return to a positive trend, our core customer daily sales outperformed total company for the third consecutive quarter, and we expect our volume performance to improve throughout the remainder of the fiscal year,” MSC President and CEO Martina McIsaac said in a statement.
The metalworking and MRO distributor — no. 9 on ID’s latest Big 50 list — reported net sales of $917.8 million in the latest quarter, an increase of 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. The company had previously projected its average daily sales to rise by 3.5% to 5.5%.
MSC reported operating income of $64.8 million, an increase of 4.1%, and an operating margin of 7.1%, which was up 10 basis points year-over-year. Net income attributable to MSC rose by 8.1% to $42.5 million, and the company’s gross profit increased from $365.2 million to $377.6 million.
The company’s latest outlook — which only outlines full-year expectations for “certain financial metrics” — anticipated average daily sales growth of between 5% and 7% in the third quarter, along with a quarterly adjusted operating margin of 9.7% to 10.3%.
