Motion on Tuesday reported a more than 6% increase in sales in its latest quarter and maintained its sales outlook heading into the final three months of the year.
The MRO and industrial technology distributor posted $2.41 billion in sales from July through September, up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year.
Genuine Parts Company, Motion’s parent, said that comparable sales in its industrial parts business were up 5.5% year-over-year, while acquisitions and foreign currency impacts contributed 0.1% and 0.5%, respectively, to the overall increase. GPC officials continue to expect sales growth of between 3% and 6% for Motion over the full year.
The Motion business also reported EBITDA of $316.9 million in the third quarter — up 11.2% year-over-year — and EBITDA margin of 13.2%, which increased by 60 basis points over that span.
GPC announced early this year that it planned to split up its industrial and automotive parts businesses into standalone publicly traded companies; GPC Chairman and CEO Will Stengel, who will lead Motion after the split, said that the company remains on track to complete that separation in the first quarter of next year. Motion plans to hold an investor event in early December to provide additional details on its strategy as a separate company.
Overall, GPC reported $6.52 billion in net sales in the third quarter, an increase of 4.2% over last year.
"Our third-quarter performance demonstrates the strength of our market leading businesses and our teams' continued focus on serving customers and executing our strategic priorities," Stengel said in a statement.
Motion came in at no. 2 on ID’s newest Big 50 List.
