MILWAUKEE - Brady Corp. on Thursday
announced it plans to sell its die-cut business in Asia
because it no longer fits with the company’s overall
strategy.The company also
reported that third-quarter net earnings from continuing
operations declined 22 percent, although net sales were
up 11 percent, according to a company statement.
The Milwaukee-based company
manufactures signs, labels, die-cut materials and other
security systems and software. The Asia-based die-cut
business had sales of $179 million during the last full
fiscal year, according to a company statement. The
unit’s products include gaskets, meshes, heat
dissipation materials, filters and other products sold
mainly to electronic customers in the mobile handset and
hard-disk drive industries.
“Our die-cut business has shown many
signs of improvement and has recently secured several
meaningful new orders,” said Frank Jaehnert, Brady
president and CEO. “However, we no longer consider this
business core to our strategy and believe that our
die-cut customers and our employees will be better
served by being with a company where die-cut is a core
product offering.”
Third-quarter net earnings from
continuing operations were $21.8 million, or 42 cents
per share, compared with $28 million, or 53 cents per
share, in the year-ago period.
Net sales increased 11 percent to
$305.7 million from $275.4 million a year ago.