U.S.-based Crane Co on Monday reported a 7.6-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$55.0 million for the first quarter of 2016, or US$0.93 per diluted share, compared to US$51.1 million, or US$0.87 per share, in the first quarter of 2015.
Crane reported net sales of US$660 million for the period, down 2.8 percent compared to the prior-year period. The firm said factors in the decline of sales were a US$13-million impact due to unfavourable foreign currency exchange conditions, and a decline of US$6 million in core sales.
Operating profit in the first quarter decreased to US$85.5 million, compared to US$86.0 million in the first three months of 2015.
“Our operating results in the first quarter were in line with our expectations,” said Crane president and chief executive, Max Mitchell, in a statement accompanying the results.
Gaming is just one of the segments served by Crane. 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$172 million for the three months ended March 31. The segment recorded operating profit of US$28 million for the period, up by 32 percent from the prior-year period.
The company reaffirmed its 2016 earnings guidance to a range of US$3.85 to US$4.15 per diluted share. It said it expected “sales” for 2016 of approximately US$2.7 billion.
Crane also announced on Monday its regular quarterly dividend of US$0.33 per share for the second quarter of 2016. The dividend is payable on June 10 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 31.
