U.S.-based Crane Co on Monday reported a 14.7-percent increase in net income for the three months ended March 31 compared with a year earlier. The company is a supplier of payment and merchandising technology to the gaming industry.
New York Stock Exchange-listed Crane posted net income of US$63.1 million for the first quarter of 2017, or US$1.05 per diluted share, compared to US$55.0 million, or US$0.93 per share, in the first quarter of 2016.
Crane reported total net sales of US$673.4 million for the period, up 2.0 percent from the prior-year period.
Operating profit in the January to March period increased to US$96.6 million, compared to US$85.5 million in the prior-year period.
“We are pleased with our strong start to the year, with first quarter operating results that were slightly better than anticipated,” said Crane president and chief executive, Max Mitchell. “Our performance in the first quarter gives us the confidence to raise the low end of our earnings-per-share guidance range by US$0.05, and we now expect full year earnings per share of US$4.35 to US$4.55,” he added.
Crane is an industrial conglomerate that supplies payment and merchandising technology to the global gaming industry. The company also provides high-specification engineered industrial products to customers in the aerospace, electronics, hydrocarbon processing, petrochemical, chemical, power generation, automated merchandising, transportation and other markets.
The firm’s payment and merchandising technology division – which supplies products to clients in the casino industry – recorded sales of US$196 million for the three months ended March 31, up by 14.0 percent in year-on-year terms. The segment recorded operating profit of US$39 million for the period, up by 39.3 percent from the prior-year period, Crane said in a release.
Crane also announced on Monday its regular quarterly dividend of US$0.33 per share for the second quarter of 2017. The dividend is payable on June 9 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 31.
