IDEX Reports Historic Highs

From continuing operations, orders in the second quarter were up 10 percent, sales increased 12 percent and income rose 20 percent to $34.4 million. Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations were 64 cents versus 54 cents in the year-ago quarter. Second quarter 2006 results include stock option expense of $2.3 million.

Q2 Orders, Sales, Income and EPS from Continuing Operations Up Year-over-Year

New orders in the quarter totaled $290.5 million, 10 percent higher than the same period in 2005. Excluding the impact of acquisitions and foreign currency translation, orders were up 5 percent. The second quarter orders growth rate was impacted by blanket orders received in the first quarter of 2006. First quarter 2006 organic orders growth was 16 percent.

Sales in the second quarter of $297.2 million rose 12 percent from the prior-year period. Excluding the impact of acquisitions and foreign currency translation, organic growth was 7 percent. Sales to international customers represented 46 percent of total sales for the second quarter of 2006 versus 45 percent in the year-ago quarter.

Second quarter operating margin was 19.0 percent, 100 basis points higher than the 18.0 percent reported in the prior-year period. Gross margin of 41.4 percent was equal to the second quarter of 2005. Volume leverage, coupled with the company's strategic sourcing and other operational excellence initiatives, was offset by product mix and the impact of acquisitions. Selling general and administrative expenses as a percent of sales decreased by 100 basis points from the second quarter of 2005. Higher total SG&A expenses reflect acquisitions, volume-related expenses, stock option expense and reinvestment in the business to drive organic growth.

Income from continuing operations of $34.4 million increased 20 percent over the second quarter of 2005. Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of 64 cents improved 10 cents from the second quarter of 2005.

First Half Orders, Sales, Income and EPS from Continuing Operations Ahead of Last Year

New orders for the first six months of 2006 totaled $585.1 million, 12 percent higher than the first six months of last year. Excluding the impact of acquisitions and foreign currency translation, orders in the first six months of 2006 were 10 percent higher than in 2005.

Sales for the first six months of 2006 increased 11 percent to $564.0 million from $510.1 million a year earlier. Excluding the impact of acquisitions and foreign currency translation, organic growth was 9 percent. Sales to international customers from base businesses represented approximately 45 percent of total sales for the first six months of both 2006 and 2005.

First half operating margin was 18.4 percent, 120 basis points higher than the 17.2 percent reported in the prior-year period. This improvement reflects volume leverage, along with a 20 basis point improvement in gross margin to 41.3 percent, resulting mainly from the company's strategic sourcing and other operational excellence initiatives. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percent of sales decreased by 100 basis points from the first half of 2005. Higher total SG&A expenses reflect acquisitions, volume-related expenses, stock option expense and reinvestment in the business to drive organic growth.

Year-to-date income from continuing operations of $63.6 million increased 23 percent compared to 2005. Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $1.18 rose 19 cents, or 19 percent, from the 99 cents recorded for the first half of 2005.

Segment Results

Fluid & Metering Technologies sales in the second quarter of $108.4 million reflected 9 percent organic growth. Operating margin of 20.3 percent represented a 180 basis point improvement compared with the second quarter of 2005.

Health & Science Technologies sales in the second quarter of $81.3 million reflected 14 percent organic growth. Operating margin of 17.9 percent represented a 90 basis point improvement compared with the second quarter of 2005.

Dispensing Equipment sales of $44.4 million in the second quarter were down 4 percent on an organic basis. Operating margin of 26.3 percent represented a 150 basis point decline compared with the second quarter of 2005, due primarily to volume and product mix.

Sales of Fire & Safety/Diversified Products during the second quarter of $64.6 million reflected 5 percent organic growth. Operating margin of 25.2 percent represented a 240 basis point improvement compared with the second quarter of 2005.

During the quarter, Fluid & Metering Technologies contributed 36 percent of sales and 34 percent of operating income; Health & Science Technologies accounted for 27 percent of sales and 23 percent of operating income; Dispensing Equipment accounted for 15 percent of sales and 18 percent of operating income; and Fire & Safety/Diversified Products represented 22 percent of sales and 25 percent of operating income.

Strong Financial Position

IDEX ended the quarter with total assets of $1.4 billion and working capital of $179 million. Total debt was $199 million at June 30, 2006. Free cash flow (cash flow from operating activities less capital expenditures) for the first half of 2006 was $59.2 million. Year-to-date, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) totaled $116.6 million (21 percent of sales) and covered interest expense by more than 16 times.

Progress Continues on Growth Initiatives

"IDEX's broad-based growth stems from our ability to expand our served application base," Kingsley said. "Our Mixed Model Lean expertise enables us to flexibly respond to new market and new customer product requirements, as well as changing customer needs. We continue to reduce plant cycle times and total lead times, so that our customers remain competitive. Our other operational excellence and strategic sourcing initiatives continue to improve our total operating efficiency and allow us to further leverage our plant investment.

"We're also pleased with our progress toward applying our integrated operating management system," Kingsley continued. "Our customer metrics and margin expansion are evidence that our operational excellence strategy is working. The second quarter operating margin improved to 19 percent, 100 basis points ahead of the year-ago quarter. Excluding the impact of stock option expense, the improvement was 170 basis points.

"At the same time," Kingsley said, "as an engineered products company, we continue to focus on product innovation which enhances the value that we deliver to our targeted process industry and selected OEM segments. The company's focus on fluidic solutions and other carefully targeted engineered product segments is enabling organic growth opportunities in all four business segments. Our businesses are doing a terrific job of bringing new products to market, faster, to enable us to effectively serve new industry applications."

Acquisition of EPI

As previously announced, IDEX acquired the assets of Eastern Plastics, Inc. (EPI) on May 2, 2006. EPI is a global leader in high-precision integrated fluidics and associated engineered plastics solutions. Based in Bristol, Connecticut, with revenues of approximately $30 million, EPI's products are used in a broad set of end markets including medical diagnostics, analytical instrumentation and laboratory automation.

"EPI strengthens our existing health and sciences businesses with experience that is highly complementary to our current precision fluidics capability," Kingsley said. "We are particularly excited about EPI's capability in increasingly close-tolerance fluidics solutions as applied to a variety of instrumentation products. EPI is also a great addition to our growing expertise in medical implantables and surgical devices."

Sale of Lubriquip

As previously announced on July 11, 2006, IDEX completed the sale of Lubriquip, its lubricant dispensing business, to Graco Inc. The sale of this business reflects a strategic divestiture as IDEX aligns its business portfolio within Dispensing Equipment to focus on core strengths. The results of Lubriquip are reported as discontinued operations effective with the company's second quarter 2006 financial results. IDEX expects to report an after-tax gain on the sale of the business in the third quarter of 2006 of approximately $16 to $17 million, or $0.29 to $0.31 per diluted share. This gain will be partially offset by the discontinuation of earnings from the business in 2006. For informational purposes, full year 2005 revenues and earnings per share for Lubriquip were approximately $30 million and $0.05 per share, respectively.

2006 Outlook

"As we move into the second half of 2006, we remain focused on delivering consistent, sustainable sales and earnings growth," Kingsley said. "Our steady emphasis on new product innovation and continuous process improvement continues to deliver top and bottom-line growth. Our global position, niche market focus, high mix operations profile and developing know-how in Mixed Model Lean position us well to meet our customers' emerging needs for applied engineered solutions anywhere in the world."