Applied Industrial Technologies bumps net sales up 1.8% in fiscal Q3
Applied Industrial Technologies reported fiscal Q3-25 net sales of $1.2 billion, an increase of 1.8% over the prior year.
The change includes a 6.6% increase from acquisitions, partially offset by a negative 0.8% selling day impact and a negative 0.9% impact from foreign currency translation.
Excluding these factors, sales decreased 3.1% on an organic daily basis reflecting a 1.6% decrease in the Service Center segment and a 6.5% decrease in the Engineered Solutions segment. The company reported net income of $99.8 million, or $2.57 per share, and EBITDA of $144.9 million. On a pre-tax basis, results include $2.2 million ($0.04 after tax per share) of LIFO expense compared to $4.8 million ($0.10 after tax per share) of LIFO expense in the prior-year period.
“We delivered another quarter of strong operational performance," said President and CEO Neil A. Schrimsher. "EBITDA and EPS exceeded our expectations, increasing 7% and 4%, respectively, over the prior year on 2% sales growth. Our Applied team did an outstanding job managing through ongoing demand weakness and macro uncertainty with the average daily sales organic decline of 3% holding relatively steady with last quarter and within our guidance. In addition, gross margins and EBITDA margins expanded nicely, further reflecting internal initiatives, channel execution, mix tailwinds, and solid cost management. We also achieved record third quarter cash generation and increased our share repurchase activity. Lastly, I am pleased with the early progress of our recent acquisition of Hydradyne with integration ongoing and financial contribution expected to increase in coming quarters.”
“Our results year to date highlight the benefits of our strategy and proven ability to navigate various market conditions," he continued. "Moving forward, we are mindful of greater macro uncertainty and inflation following recent tariff actions, including potential demand implications near term as the landscape evolves. We have incorporated this uncertainty into our fourth quarter outlook, which assumes end-market weakness and organic sale declines persist near term as customers potentially continue to idle production and defer capital spending pending a more certain operating backdrop.
"That said, we remain focused on internal growth and margin initiatives, while our U.S. centric position provides resilience with over 70% of sales from MRO and aftermarket support including break-fix applications. Further, order and backlog trends remain positive across higher-margin engineered solutions, and we are favorably positioned to manage potential greater inflation given our technical industry position, minimal cross-border sourcing, structural mix tailwinds, and various self-help counter measures inherent to our strategy. Combined with our strong balance sheet, exposure to long-term secular tailwinds including reshoring, and easier comparisons moving forward, we remain constructive on our set-up into fiscal 2026 and beyond.”
Acquisition of IRIS Factory Automation
The company also announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire IRIS Factory Automation (IRIS). Based in Aurora, Illinois, IRIS is a provider of automation products, services, and turn-key productized solutions focused on optimizing material handling and traceability workflows across production environments. The company’s productized solutions utilize advanced vision and robotic automation technologies that are seamlessly deployed within a customer’s facility to optimize core processes such as palletizing, case packing, quality inspection, and packaging. IRIS operates with a team of over 30 associates from one location and serves customers across various industries including food & beverage, consumer products, and pharmaceutical. The transaction is expected to close this week.
“We welcome IRIS to Applied as we continue the expansion of our automation platform," said Schrimsher. "IRIS aligns well with our solutions-centric strategy, acting as a key technical consultant to customers’ emerging automation needs through proprietary and cutting-edge turn-key solutions. In addition to broadening our footprint in the U.S. Midwest region, IRIS will enhance the scalability of our automation platform by further building out our portfolio of standardized solutions solving common automation needs. We believe this acquisition can drive strong growth synergy long-term as we leverage our core suppliers’ leading automation technologies and Applied’s access to legacy manufacturing verticals. Overall, I am encouraged with the continued progress we are making in positioning Applied as a leading provider and channel partner of next-generation automation solutions.”
INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY MAGAZINE
The March/April issue of Industrial Supply magazine features an in-depth cover story about Industrial Supply Co. Plus, we're featuring articles by contributing writers Dr. Bharani Nagarathnam and Frank Hurtte, as well as interviews with numerous product and distribution industry experts.
