“During the second quarter, most of our international businesses posted solid sales gains in local currencies, which were reduced by foreign currency translation that lowered reported sales by 6.3% company-wide,” said Frank C. Sullivan, chairman and CEO.

During the fiscal 2016 second quarter, industrial segment sales reportedly declined 5.8%, to $610.2 million from $647.8 million in the fiscal 2015 second quarter. Organic sales improved 1.9%, while acquisition growth added 0.7%.

“We continued to see solid performance by our businesses serving the U.S. commercial construction market,” Sullivan said. “However, the impact is masked by the strong dollar, because a significant portion of the industrial segment's revenue is outside U.S. markets. Our great entrepreneurial businesses generating growth in local currencies are seeing those positive results erased by foreign currency translation. For example, in Europe, our second largest market, a 2.2% increase in sales in constant dollars was converted through currency exchange to a 9.6% decline. Additionally, our industrial businesses serving the energy industry have been impacted by the global slowdown in oil and gas drilling, resulting in a decline in sales to that sector of nearly 10%.”

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