ATLANTA (Oct. 22, 2014) — Genuine Parts Co., parent company of NAPA Auto Parts, increased its net earnings 9.7 percent to $190.5 million on record third-quarter sales of $3.99 billion, an 8.2 percent jump over the year-earlier period.
The company's automotive division, which includes NAPA, increased its operating profit 7.3 percent to $193.3 million as sales edged up 4.1 percent to $2.1 billion for the quarter, ended Sept. 30.
For the nine-month period, total earnings rose 2.1 percent to $545.7 million on a 9.1-percent jump in sales to $11.5 billion, compared with the year-ago period.
Before a one-time adjustment in 2013 for the acquisition of GPC Asia Pacific, net income for the nine months increased 9 percent compared with the previous year.
The automotive group boosted its operating profit 12.8 percent to $550.1 million for the nine-month period as sales surged 9.6 percent to $6.1 billion, compared with the year-ago period.
“We are pleased to report another quarter of record sales as well as a solid 10-percent comparative earnings increase. Our 8-percent total sales increase includes approximately 5.4-percent underlying sales growth and a 3.3-percent contribution from acquisitions offset by a currency headwind of approximately 0.5 percent,” said Chairman and CEO Thomas Gallagher.
“Our overall sales growth was also supported by increases in each of our four business segments, with sales for the Automotive Group up 4 percent, which essentially represents our core automotive growth for the quarter,” he continued. “Sales at Motion Industries, our Industrial Group, were up 10 percent including 8-percent underlying growth and 3 percent from acquisitions, offset by a currency headwind of approximately 1 percent.
“Sales at EIS, our Electrical/Electronic Group, increased by 35 percent due to acquisitions. Sales for S.P. Richards, our Office Products Group, were up 15 percent and include 8-percent underlying growth and 7 percent from acquisitions.”