Tennant Co. modestly beat analysts' projections for second-quarter earnings and revenue.

The Golden Valley maker of industrial cleaning equipment on Thursday reported adjusted earnings of 76 cents a share, beating a consensus analyst estimate of 72 cents.

The company had net earnings of $14.3 million, up 4 ­percent, on revenue of $200.24 million, up less than 1 percent. Wall Street analysts forecast revenue of $197.1 million.

Tennant shares rose 87 cents, or 1.7 percent, to close at $52.79 on the New York Stock Exchange.

"Strong demand for new products and continuing momentum in global strategic accounts contributed to higher sales," said CEO Chris Killingstad. "In addition, we continued to achieve further efficiencies in our cost structure, which we anticipate will lead to higher profitability in the future."

Tennant managed to reduce administrative expense to less than 30 percent of sales, the lowest it has been "in at least 10 years," Killingstad said. The company also "resolved the supply chain issues it encountered in the first quarter" that were related to a transition to new products, he said.

Sales of new products met expectations in the second quarter, he said.

Steve Alexander