WESTLAKE, OH – Nordson Corp. reported fiscal third quarter sales of $538 million, down 4% year-over-year.

For the quarter ended July 31, net income was $87 million, a decrease of 7.4% compared to the fiscal third quarter of 2019.

Operating profit was $112 million, or 21% of sales, down 13.8% year-over-year. Adjusted operating profit was $120 million, a 9% decrease compared to the prior year period. EBITDA totaled $148 million, or 28% of sales, compared to EBITDA of $158 million or 28% of sales, in the third quarter of 2019.

“Throughout the quarter, our team remained focused on protecting the health and safety of our employees and responding to the needs of our customers,” said Sundaram Nagarajan, president and CEO. “At the same time, we made solid progress on our long-term strategic priorities by acquiring Fluortek, a high-quality medical company, and leveraging the next generation of the Nordson Business System – the NBS Next growth framework – to prioritize investments that will drive profitable growth and identify opportunities to simplify our cost structure.”

Advanced Technology Solutions sales were $249 million, down approximately 2% year-over-year. The Fluortek acquisition increased sales approximately 2%, which was more than offset by organic volume declines and unfavorable currency impacts. Sales volume increases in test and inspection product lines serving electronics end markets and stable demand in medical product lines were offset by weakness in fluid dispense product lines serving industrial end markets. Operating profit, which included $3 million of structural cost reduction actions and the amortization of the step-up in acquired inventory, totaled $50 million. Adjusted operating profit was $53 million, or 21% of sales, which was in line with prior year profits.

“Given the challenging macro-economic environment, I am very pleased with our performance in the quarter and the progress we are making in aligning the organization. We will continue to invest in these uncertain times and remain optimistic about the potential of the highly diversified and differentiated Nordson portfolio.”

While the short-term environment remains difficult to predict, Nordson expects fiscal fourth quarter revenue to be commensurate with to slightly better than fiscal third quarter revenue, based on the current order entry trends and order backlog. Weekly order entry rates have improved from the lower levels experienced during the third quarter. Entering the fourth quarter, trailing four-week order entry is 93% of prior year levels and backlog totaled $423 million. Operating profit is forecasted to improve modestly in the fiscal fourth quarter compared to the third quarter, as cost-reduction initiatives begin to deliver benefits.

Nordson’s brands include Nordson Asymtek, Nordson March, Nordson Dage, Nordson YesTech, Nordson Sonoscan, Nordson EFD, and Nordson Select.

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