Genuine Parts Quarterly Profit Rises

Genuine Parts Co. has reported that its third-quarter profit rose 11% as sales increased across all of its business segments.
The distributor of automotive replacement parts, parent company of UAP Inc. in Canada, reported quarterly earnings of $97.9 million, or 56 cents per share, up from $88.3 million, or 51 cents per share last year. All figures in U.S. dollars.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call expected the company to earn 56 cents per share.
The company said sales for the quarter rose to $2.35 billion from $2.19 billion a year ago.
“All four segments contributed significantly to our results with sales for Motion Industries, our Industrial Group, and EIS, our Electrical/Electronics Group, continuing to be especially strong,” said chairman Larry Prince in a statement. “The manufacturing sector, which is their customer base, is moving ahead at a healthy rate.”
Genuine Parts said automotive sales rose 3.1 percent to $1.23 billion for the quarter, industrial sales increased 14.3 percent to $636.7 million, office products grew 8 percent to $406.1 million, and materials sales rose 14.6 percent to $85.4 million. The company also posted lower discounts, incentives and freight billings.