Houston, TX - DXP Enterprises, Inc. announced that for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012 it earned net income of $11.6 million, or $0.77 per fully diluted share. Sequentially, earnings per share improved 26.2% from $0.61 per fully diluted share, or $9.2 million in net income for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2011. Compared to first quarter 2011 earnings of $6.3 million or $0.42 per fully diluted share, first quarter 2012 earnings per share improved.
Sales for the first quarter of 2012 increased $69.2 million, or 37.8% to approximately $252.3 million from $183.1 million for the same period in 2011. Sequentially, sales increased $33.9 million, or 15.5%, from $218.4 million of sales for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2011.
David R. Little, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, remarked, "We are pleased to report a strong first quarter and start of our new year. All three business segments are performing well with sequential growth in top line sales and bottom line profits exceeding the fourth quarter of 2011. We are optimistic that we will continue to show progress over the balance of the year. Highlights include one new SuperCenter conversion, bringing the total to 29 SuperCenters. Innovative Pumping Solutions segment grew 136.3% in sales and 188.6% in operating profits versus the first quarter of 2011. We completed two strategic acquisitions, Mid-Continent Safety and Pump & Power, that enhance our product offering for our North Central region. The North Central region will now have access to technical people for all five product divisions, rotating equipment, bearing and power transmission, safety, metal working and industrial supplies, which helps in creating new SuperCenters and cross selling. We continue to invest in our operations as we have targeted 15 new SuperCenters and added fabrication capacity in Snyder, Texas and Golden, Colorado to increase the Innovative Pumping Solutions segment's growth. We are excited about our expansion into Canada and the growth of all our product divisions. Thanks to all our DXPeople that continue to execute our strategies and we welcome the new additions to our DXP family. We look forward to your success."
Mac McConnell, Senior Vice President and CFO, added, "DXP generated $26.6 million of cash from operating activities during the first quarter of 2012. Total long-term debt increased by only $18.5 million during the quarter despite paying $42.4 million for acquisitions. As of March 31, 2012 our bank leverage ratio was 1.58 to 1.00. We have commitments from four banks for a new $325 million credit facility. The interest rate pricing grid for the proposed credit facility is similar to our existing $200 million credit facility. On a pro forma basis, including the acquisitions of Aledco and HSE, we estimate our bank leverage ratio would be 2.3 to 1.00 as of March 31, 2012. We consider this to be a manageable level of debt."
