Tennant Co. announced progress in its integration of the Italian firm it acquired last year and said organic sales growth across its geographic regions contributed to strong second quarter results.
The Minneapolis-based cleaning-equipment company earned $12.7 million, or 69 cents per share in the quarter, after reporting a net loss of $2.6 million, or 15 cents per share, a year ago. The company reported second-quarter sales of $292.2 million, up 7.9 percent from the second quarter of 2017.
The company also announced the planned retirement of Thomas Paulson, its longtime chief financial officer. Paulson, who became CFO in 2006, will step down in the first quarter of 2019, giving the company ample time to find his replacement and ensure a smooth transition.
"Tom has contributed significantly to Tennant's transformation into a global industry leader," said Tennant CEO Chris Killingstad.
Tennant closed in April 2017 on its largest acquisition, the $433 million deal for the Italian firm IPC Group, which produces commercial-cleaning equipment. Results for the second quarter of this year included $3.1 million in pretax expenses, or 13 cents per share, related to nonoperational special items, primarily IPC acquisition integration costs, and $5.5 million, or $0.23 per share, from amortization of the intangible assets related to the IPC acquisition.
The results also included discrete tax benefits of about $3 million, or 16 cents per share.
Adjusted earnings, excluding the special items, were 82 cents per share, well above analysts' expectations.
According to Thomson Reuters the consensus estimate was that the company would earn 53 cents per share in the quarter on expected sales of $281 million.
