Minerals Technologies Reports Second Quarter Results of 2018

2018-08-02

Aug. 02, 2018 - Minerals Technologies Inc. (“MTI” or “the Company”) today reported diluted earnings per share of $1.28, excluding special items, for the second quarter ended July 1, 2018, compared with earnings per share of $1.23 in the prior year. Reported diluted earnings per share were $1.24 compared with $1.21 in the prior year.

“The second quarter was very productive for MTI. The Company continued to build on the sales growth momentum of the past three quarters, with significant growth across all of our businesses. We expanded our pet litter business in Europe with the acquisition of Sivomatic and signed a new 150,000 ton PCC satellite in China,” said Douglas T. Dietrich, Chief Executive Officer. “We continued to deliver strong productivity; however, inflationary cost increases are impacting profitability in the near term. We expect margins to improve through contractual and other price increases over the remainder of the year.”

Worldwide net sales increased 12 percent to $464.7 million. Foreign exchange had a favorable impact on sales of approximately $9 million. Operating income, as reported, was $62.8 million and represented 13.5 percent of sales. Operating income, excluding special items, was $64.7 million and represented 13.9 percent of sales.

MTI’s second quarter results include $14.1 million of sales from Sivomatic Holding B.V. (“Sivomatic”), a vertically integrated supplier of premium pet litter products in Europe, which the Company acquired on April 30, 2018. The special items incurred in the second quarter related to the acquisition were transaction and integration costs of $1.0 million and non-cash inventory step-up charges of $0.5 million.

Refractories and Energy Services

Sales in the Service businesses, which include the Refractories and Energy Services segments, grew 14 percent in the second quarter to $99.3 million. Operating income for the Service businesses was $11.0 million, and represented 11.1 percent of sales. Operating income, excluding special items, was $11.4 million and represented 11.5 percent of sales.

Refractories segment sales increased 16 percent to $79.6 million, driven by higher sales of refractory products. The Refractories segment operating income decreased to $10.3 million and was 12.9 percent of sales, primarily due to increased raw material costs which were partially offset by higher prices and volume. The Refractories segment provides products and services primarily to the worldwide steel industry.

Energy Services segment sales increased 10 percent to $19.7 million, primarily driven by higher filtration activity. Operating income, excluding special items, increased to $1.1 million and was 5.6 percent of sales. Energy Services offers a range of patented technologies, products and services for off-shore filtration and well testing to the worldwide oil and gas industry.