GGRAsia – Crane Co 3Q profit down 22 pct, pledges 4Q dividend

Crane Co 3Q profit down 22 pct, pledges 4Q dividend

Oct 27, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World

Crane Co, a conglomerate supplying payment-processing technology and other services to consumer industries including the casino sector, said its third-quarter net income attributable to shareholders fell 21.9 percent year-on-year, to US$56.6 million, from US$72.5 million.

The firm stated in a separate announcement that it would issue its regular quarterly dividend of US$0.43 per share for the fourth quarter of 2020. It will be payable on December 9, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 30.

Crane Co’s third-quarter net sales – measured on a generally-accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis – fell 4.9 percent in the three months to September 30, to US$734.8 million, from US$772.3 million in the prior-year quarter.

There was a US$104-million, or circa 13 percent, decline in core sales. The core sales numbers were “partially offset” by a US$57-million, or 7 percent, “benefit from acquisitions” as well as a US$10-million, or 1.0 percent, of “favourable foreign exchange”. The firm attributed “Covid-19 related macroeconomic factors” as the cause for the core sales decline.

Max Mitchell, Crane Co’s chairman and chief executive, was cited in the results release as saying that the firm was “pleased” with the third-quarter performance, calling it “solid, in light of current conditions”.

The group’s quarterly operating profit fell 22.0 percent, to US$85 million, compared to US$109 million in the third quarter of 2019. Operating profit margin was 11.6 percent compared to 14.2 percent in the prior-year quarter.

Sales of payment and merchandising technologies – including those for casinos – increased 11 percent year-on-year in the quarter, to US$277 million, from US$249 million in the prior-year quarter.

Operating profit on such segment increased by 15 percent, to US$41 million, from US$35 million. The profit margin on that segment – after accounting for special items – was 14.6 percent, compared to 14.1 percent a year earlier.

The company had US$605 million in cash and “short-term investments” as of September 30, compared to US$394 million as of December 31, 2019.

Crane Co’s total debt was US$1.324 billion as of September 30, compared to US$991 million as of December 31, 2019.

At the end of the third quarter, the group had approximately US$1.018 billion in liquidity, comprised of the US$605 million in cash and US$413 million available under a revolving credit facility.