Sluggish recovery? Not at Regal Beloit Corp., which today posted company records in both net sales and net income for 2011.
The Beloit-based electric motor manufacturer, which has grown substantially in recent years due to an aggressive merger and acquisition strategy, reported record annual sales of $2.8 billion, and record annual net income of $152.3 million.
Annual net income attributable to Regal Beloit amounted to $3.79 per share, compared to the $149.4 million, or $3.84 per diluted share, for fiscal 2010.
For Q4, the company reported net income of $33.5 million, or 80 cents per diluted share, an increase of the $25.2 million, or 65 cents per share, reported in the same quarter of 2010.
Regal Beloit, which also makes power generation products and mechanical and electrical motions controls, nearly matched its record quarterly sales of $737 million, posted in Q3 of 2011, with $727 million in sales during the fourth quarter. The Q4 sales, however, were 30.8% higher than same-period 2010 net sales of $557.7 million.
With its M&A strategy, company sales have grown from $760 million in 2005 to the $2.8 billion reported in 2011.
Regal Beloit announced late last week that it had acquired the Glendale-based Milwaukee Gear Co. for $80 million. Milwaukee Gear engineers and manufactures gearing components for oil, gas, and other applications.
With the Milwaukee Gear acquisition, Regal Beloit has purchased 22 companies in the past five years. The largest acquisition in company history occurred in the third quarter of 2011, when Regal Beloit purchased A.O. Smith Electronic Products Co. for $700 million in cash and 2.8 million shares of Regal Beloit common stock.
Chairman and CEO Mark Gliebe attributed the company’s Q4 performance, and it’s growth in difficult economic cycles, to an emphasis on market diversification and its ability to be a “consistent and successful acquirer.”
He noted that work on the Electronic Products Co. acquisition is on track and that its performance helped Regal Beloit exceed its fourth quarter guidance.
Also in the fourth quarter:
Net sales for the company’s electrical setment increased by $166.1 million over the same quarter of 2010, including $198.5 million of incremental sales from acquired businesses. For all of fiscal 2011, electrical segment sales increased by $531.3 million, including $484.4 million in net sales from acquired businesses.
In the company’s mechanical segment, fourth quarter sales increased by $5.2 million over Q4 2010 sales, while annual sales grew by $39 million over fiscal 2010, including $9.9 million of net sales from acquired businesses.
