ST. LOUIS — Emerson today reported results for the third fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2021.
“We are pleased with our results this quarter, as accelerating sales growth in key end markets combined with strong execution by operations helped us deliver exceptional financial results,” said Emerson President and Chief Executive Officer Lal Karsanbhai. “In particular, we saw ongoing strength in our residential businesses and rapid improvement in both commercial and industrial end markets. Importantly, our core North American process automation markets turned sharply back to growth, complementing the ongoing strength in discrete and hybrid markets. These results contributed to solid margin improvement as we fully leveraged the benefits of our broad ongoing cost reset plan. Cash flow performance was strong as a result of earnings growth and effective working capital management. This gives us optionality with regard to capital allocation in 2022 and beyond.”
“Despite a challenging operating environment – material costs, availability, logistics, and labor constraints all required diligent management – I am extremely proud of our operations team, which has worked tirelessly to limit the impact of these issues as the world reopens and demand rebounds across our customer base. The hard work of our global teams – combined with our reset cost structure and improving demand in longer-cycle markets – is allowing us to improve our outlook for the year. It has also facilitated acceleration of investment in key technologies that are expected to drive further differentiation and increased relevance with our customers.”
“We are energized by our financial performance and operational management, and by the momentum around modernization of the Emerson culture,” Karsanbhai continued. “In our most recent ESG report, we announced a goal to double the number of women globally and U.S. minorities at the leadership level by 2030. We are modernizing work practices and are actively refreshing our management process to continue advancing ESG transparency and reporting. In the long run, I firmly believe these cultural efforts will be important and tangible business enablers.”
June Trailing Three-Month Underlying Orders were up 26 percent, as strength in residential, cold chain, professional tools, hybrid and discrete automation markets was bolstered by recovery in later cycle process automation markets.
Third quarter Net Sales were up 20 percent and Underlying Sales were up 15 percent, excluding favorable currency of 4 percent and an impact of 1 percent from acquisitions. Revenue for the quarter came in ahead of expectations driven by strength across commercial and residential markets, as well as a sharp recovery in core North American process automation markets. By geography, the Americas grew 18 percent, Europe grew 13 percent, and Asia, Middle East & Africa grew 11 percent. China grew 7 percent.
Third quarter Gross Profit Margin of 42.2 percent was up 90 basis points from the previous year primarily due to cost reductions and leverage across the enterprise. Pretax Margin of 16.7 percent was up 500 basis points while EBIT Margin of 17.5 percent was up 460 basis points, as ongoing cost reduction actions and leverage more than offset price cost headwinds. Adjusted EBIT Margin, which excludes restructuring and first year purchase accounting charges, was 18.4 percent, up 310 basis points.
Earnings Per Share were $1.04 for the quarter, up 55 percent, and Adjusted Earnings Per Share, which excludes restructuring and first year purchase accounting charges, were $1.09, up 36 percent. Earnings in the quarter were ahead of management expectations, benefiting from higher volume and ongoing cost reduction actions.
Operating Cash Flow was $1.1 billion for the quarter, up 31 percent, and $2.7 billion year-to-date, up 47 percent. Free Cash Flow was $977 million, up 32 percent, and $2.4 billion year-to-date, up 55 percent. Cash flow results reflected higher earnings due to volume, operational execution across the two business platforms and favorable trade working capital.
Business Platform Results
Automation Solutions June trailing three-month underlying orders were up 17 percent. By geography, the Americas showed the most improvement, up 29 percent. Europe was up 8 percent. Asia, Middle East & Africa grew 8 percent, with China orders increasing sharply by 23 percent. Backlog increased $200 million compared to the prior quarter to $5.5 billion, and was up 17 percent year-to-date.
Net sales increased 14 percent in the quarter, with underlying sales up 8 percent. Results reflected ongoing strength across discrete and hybrid markets, and sharp improvement in longer cycle core process automation markets. Importantly, the Americas underlying sales recovered sharply, growing by 9 percent, driven by continued momentum in life sciences, food & beverage, and medical markets paired with growth trends across process automation and sustainability related business. As expected, KOB3/MRO and KOB2/modernization business led the recovery, however some KOB1 project activity began to materialize, particularly in chemical, biofuels, and power markets. Europe underlying sales were up 6 percent, driven by life sciences and biofuels demand. Asia, Middle East & Africa underlying sales grew 7 percent while China grew by 5 percent.
Segment EBIT margin increased 570 basis points to 17.7 percent, as savings from cost actions paired with strong volume leverage. Adjusted segment EBIT margin, which excludes restructuring and related costs, increased 320 basis points to 18.3 percent. Total restructuring and related actions in the quarter totaled $18 million.
Commercial & Residential Solutions June trailing three-month underlying orders were up 43 percent. The Americas grew by 43 percent, while Europe was up 64 percent. Asia, Middle East & Africa orders increased by 30 percent, with China up 11 percent. Backlog ended the quarter at $1.1 billion.
Net sales increased 32 percent and underlying sales were up 29 percent, with all businesses and geographies showing strong double-digit underlying growth. Underlying sales in the Americas were up 29 percent, reflecting ongoing strength in residential markets, bolstered by cold chain and professional tools momentum. Europe was up 37 percent as heat pump demand remained robust and demand for professional tools surged. Asia, Middle East & Africa was up 25 percent driven by cold chain and heating technologies. China grew by 15 percent.
Segment EBIT margin increased 220 basis points to 21.3 percent as leverage and cost reduction actions were somewhat offset by price-cost headwinds. Adjusted segment EBIT margin, which excludes restructuring and related costs, increased 170 basis points to 21.7 percent. Total restructuring and related actions in the quarter totaled $7 million.
2021 Updated Outlook
Despite ongoing pandemic challenges with the COVID delta variant, we expect overall continued improvement in industrial and commercial demand over the remainder of 2021. We also expect the operational, supply chain, and materials inflation environment to remain challenging through the remainder of the fiscal year.
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