Posted October 27, 2011
Airgas reports record earnings
Airgas reported record net earnings of $77.7 million, or $1.01 per diluted share, for its second quarter.
Second quarter sales were $1.19 billion, an increase of 12% over the prior year. Total same-store sales grew 10% in the quarter, with hardgoods up 14% and gas and rent up 7%. Acquisitions contributed sales growth of 2% in the quarter. Sequentially, sales increased 2% from the first quarter both in total and on a sales-per-day basis.
"We continue to see strength in the manufacturing-intensive regions of the U.S. and in our petrochemical and energy customers," said Airgas chief executive officer Peter McCausland. "The relative outperformance in our hardgoods business on the strength of sales to large manufacturing customers and the mix shift within hardgoods to welding and automation equipment had a dilutive effect on our gross margin, but are generally indicative of sustained activity levels in the manufacturing economy. While this is cause for optimism, given the global economic uncertainty that unfolded during the quarter, we are paying close attention to our business trends and have proven in the past that we can quickly adjust our cost structure if warranted."
