MILWAUKEE, Wis., July 19, 2002 -- Badger Meter Inc. on Friday reported record sales and increased earnings for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2002.
Net sales for the second quarter of 2002 were $43,586,000, a 28.4% increase from sales of $33,949,000 for the same period in 2001. Net earnings for the second quarter of 2002 increased to $2,320,000 or $0.70 per diluted share, from earnings of $529,000 or $0.16 per diluted share for the second quarter of the prior year.
For the first half of 2002, net sales were $81,040,000, a 16.8% increase from sales of $69,403,000 for the same period in 2001. Net earnings were 3,927,000 or $1.20 per diluted share for the first half of 2002, compared to earnings of $1,463,000 or $0.44 per diluted share for the comparable prior period.
"This was an excellent quarter for Badger Meter, with increased sales of residential and commercial water meters, including meters with automatic meter reading (AMR) systems. The higher sales, along with favorable capacity utilization, generated the increase in earnings," said Richard A. Meeusen, president and chief executive officer of Badger Meter.
He noted that the second quarter of 2001 was an unusually weak quarter for the company, which also contributed to the strong year-to-year comparison.
Meeusen said the company's strong base of utility business offset lower second quarter sales of industrial products including automotive fluid meters, small precision valves and other industrial meters.
"The markets for industrial products remain sluggish. While the timing of the recovery of the industrial markets is uncertain, we anticipate that our sales will continue to track the respective overall industries," he said.
The second quarter sales included shipments for the second phase of a large automatic meter reading project in Houston and shipments of water meters to Latin America. "We expect to continue to make regular monthly shipments for the Houston project throughout the remainder of 2002 and into 2003," said Meeusen.
"The 2001 reorganization of our sales force is a successful strategy that is now generating increased levels of sales activity. We believe our utility product line has excellent future growth potential as we continue to pursue new sales opportunities and develop new products. The new products include a recently introduced series of non-leaded water meters and the planned introduction of a low-cost AMR product later in the year," said Meeusen.
The company completed two acquisitions during the second quarter, Data Industrial Corporation of Mattapoisett, Mass. and MecaPlus Equipments of Nancy, France. "The acquisitions are consistent with our strategy to expand our line of industrial products for niche markets.
"They also provide synergies with Badger Meter's product offerings. For example, we recently released a radio-frequency oil management system that was developed by Badger Meter and is being marketed in Europe by MecaPlus as well as Badger Meter Europe. In addition, Badger Meter is now selling the insertion flow meters produced by Data Industrial Corporation to our industrial customer base," said Meeusen.
"While the acquisitions contributed minimally to earnings in the second quarter, we expect a favorable impact from both of these companies in future quarters."
Badger Meter is a marketer and manufacturer of flow measurement and control technology, developed both internally and with other technology companies, as well as the leader in providing connectivity to leading AMR technologies. Its products are used to measure and control the flow of liquids in a variety of applications.
