Standex reports solid 2006
It should be a happy new year for Standex, as the Salem diversified manufacturer posted double-digit growth for its fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year 2006.
Salem-based Standex reported revenues of $153.4 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006, which ended June 30, up 2.3 percent from $149.9 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005. Full-year revenues for 2006 were $589.9 million, up 5.4 percent from $559.5 million in fiscal 2005.
Net income for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2006 rose over 24 percent to $5.9 million, or 48 cents per diluted share, from $4.7 million, or 38 cents, in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2005.
Total earnings per share for the full fiscal year of 2006 were actually down about 2 percent to $1.89 from $1.93 in fiscal 2005 due to decreases in income from discontinued operations.
Operating income in the fourth fiscal quarter also shot up by nearly 23 percent to $10.8 million, up from $8.7 million. The fiscal year’s operating income also rose to $38.8 million, gaining 8.2 percent from the previous fiscal year’s operating income of $35.8 million.
The company also paid down $16 million in net debt, ending the fourth fiscal quarter of 2006 at $85 million from $101 million for the third fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2006.
Roger Fix, Standex president and chief executive officer, said, “Four of our five operating groups reported a year-over-year increase in sales and our engraving products group and air distribution products group delivered double-digit and triple-digit gains in operating income, respectively. We were particularly pleased with the 24.4 percent increase in income from continuing operations in the fourth quarter versus the prior year.”
Part of Standex’s manufacturing and sourcing initiatives over the fiscal year included opening factories in Mexico and China. The company also divested its consumer products unit, which included the sale of Christian booksellers Berean, with locations in the southwest and the Mid-West, to JMH Capital, a Waltham, Mass.-based private equity firm. — CINDY KIBBE
