Briggs Says Engine Advancements Driving Current Growth

Additional placement of larger engines on lawn equipment, new engine that doesn’t require an oil change highlighted in Briggs & Stratton’s Q2-2015 financial report.

Briggs & Stratton recently announced financial results for its second fiscal quarter that ended December 28, 2014; so we’re talking about sales activity during the months of October, November and December.

Q2 sales for the entire company were up 6.6% compared to a year ago. Engines Segment sales specifically were up 2.1%. Products Segment sales were up 16%.

"We are pleased to report improved quarterly results with margin improvements in both our engines and products businesses,” said Todd J. Teske, chairman/president/CEO of Briggs & Stratton. “These improvements reflect our cost reduction efforts as well as our focus on new product innovation and selling higher-margin products.

“Looking forward to the upcoming U.S. lawn and garden season, we have gained additional placement of our engines on lawn and garden products as compared to our placement last year. We continue to expect modest industry growth in the upcoming season. Further, we are again introducing several new products this spring, including the industry's only engine that doesn't require an oil change.  All of this together sets us up for continued improvement for the last six months of our fiscal year. However, we expect our OEM customers will ramp up their seasonal production later than last year in response to higher channel inventories of residential lawn and garden equipment causing our quarterly results to shift between quarters."

Engines Segment Analysis. Engines segment net sales of $271.7 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2015 increased $6.0 million or 2.1% from the prior year. Net sales increased due to an improved sales mix of large engines used on lawn and garden equipment for the North American and European markets and higher service parts sales. Total engine volumes shipped in the quarter decreased by 2.2% or approximately 40,000 engines. The decrease in unit shipments was due to reduced shipments of small engines used on walk mowers in North America resulting from elevated inventories following this past lawn and garden season.

Products Segment Analysis. Products segment net sales of $199.1 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2015 increased by $27.5 million or 16% from the prior year. This increase was due to higher sales of pressure washers, commercial lawn and garden equipment and snowthrowers in North America and the results of the Allmand acquisition. Partially offsetting the increase were lower sales of riding mowers and snowthrowers in Europe following last year's mild winter and lower generator sales due to adequate channel inventories and no major storm activity.

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