Mettler-Toledo Reports First Quarter 2015 Results

COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE: MTD) today announced first quarter results for 2015.  Provided below are the highlights:

• Sales in local currency increased 5% in the quarter compared with the prior year. Reported sales decreased 3% as currency reduced sales growth by 8% in the quarter.
• Net earnings per diluted share as reported (EPS) were $2.19, compared with $1.93 in the first quarter of 2014. Adjusted EPS was $2.25, an increase of 13% over the prior-year amount of $2.00. Adjusted EPS is a non-GAAP measure and excludes purchased intangible amortization, discrete tax items, restructuring charges and other one-time items. A reconciliation to EPS is provided on the last page of the attached schedules.

First Quarter Results

Olivier Filliol, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "Sales growth in the Americas was strong and we continue to perform well in Europe.  Demand in our China industrial business was weaker than expected, but growth in our other China businesses and in other regions of Asia / Rest of World was very strong.  We had another quarter of good EPS growth driven by our ongoing margin enhancement and cost control initiatives." 

EPS in the quarter was $2.19, compared with the prior-year amount of $1.93.  Adjusted EPS was $2.25, an increase of 13% over the prior-year amount of $2.00.  

Sales were $535.7 million, a 5% increase in local currency sales, compared with $550.6 million in the prior-year quarter.  Reported sales decreased 3% as currency reduced sales growth by 8% in the quarter.  By region, local currency sales increased 7% in the Americas, 2% in Europe and 5% in Asia / Rest of World as compared to the prior year.  Adjusted operating income amounted to $97.3 million, a 7% increase from the prior-year amount of $91.0 million.  Adjusted operating income is a non-GAAP measure, and a reconciliation to earnings before taxes is provided in the attached schedules.

Cash flow from operations was $58.6 million, compared with $42.8 million in the prior-year quarter.

Outlook 

The Company updated its outlook for 2015 and noted that forecasting remains challenging due to continued uncertainty in demand in some markets and greater volatility in foreign exchange rates.  Based on today's assessment, management anticipates that local currency sales growth in 2015 will more likely be at the lower end of its previously provided guidance of 4% to 5%.  Adjusted EPS is forecasted to be in the range of $12.75 to $12.90, an increase of 9% to 10%.  This compares to previous guidance of Adjusted EPS in the range of $12.70 to $12.90.    

The Company said that based on its assessment of market conditions today, management anticipates local currency sales growth in the second quarter of 2015 will be approximately 4%.  This sales growth is expected to result in Adjusted EPS in the range of $2.75 to $2.80, an increase of 7% to 9% from the prior-year quarter.

Adjusted EPS excludes purchased intangible amortization, discrete tax items, restructuring charges and other one-time items.  While the Company has provided an outlook for Adjusted EPS, it has not provided an outlook for EPS as it would require an estimate of non-recurring items, which are not yet known.  

Conclusion

Filliol concluded, "We remain cautious on the global economy, in particular on the timing of the recovery in our Chinese industrial business.  Globally, we continue to believe we are strongly positioned to generate above market growth in 2015 and beyond.  We are benefitting from our robust product pipeline, innovative sales and marketing programs and front-end resources we are adding via our field turbo program.  We also remain focused on our margin enhancement initiatives and believe we can continue to achieve good cash flow generation."

Other Matters

The Company will host a conference call to discuss its quarterly results today (Thursday May 7) at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.  To hear a live webcast or replay of the call, visit the investor relations page on the Company's website at www.mt.com/investors. The presentation referenced in the conference call will be located on the website prior to the call.

METTLER TOLEDO is a leading global supplier of precision instruments and services. The Company has strong leadership positions in all businesses and believes it holds global number-one market positions in a majority of them. Specifically, METTLER TOLEDO is the largest provider of weighing instruments for use in laboratory, industrial and food retailing applications. The Company is also a leading provider in analytical instruments for use in life science, reaction engineering and real-time analytic systems used in drug and chemical compound development and process analytics instruments used for in-line measurement in production processes. In addition, METTLER TOLEDO is the largest supplier of end-of-line inspection systems used in production and packaging for food, pharmaceutical and other industries. Additional information about METTLER TOLEDO can be found at www.mt.com/investors.

Statements in this press release which are not historical facts constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our businesses' actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements.  In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "could," "would," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "intend," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of those terms or other comparable terminology. 

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