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.