Mueller reports net sales up slightly in 2nd quarter

The Paul Mueller Company reported its second-quarter net sales for the three-month period ended June 30 as being about $3,000 higher than the same period in 1997.

The Springfield-based manufacturer of stainless-steel dairy and brewery equipment also reported an increase in earnings per common share for the three months ended June 30, 1998, over the same period in 1997. The earnings per common share as of June 30, 1998, were reported as $1.44, while for the same period in 1997 it was 90 cents.

In its management's assessment of operating results and financial condition, the management attributed the increase in sales for the second quarter of 1998 to the sales of processing equipment. Sales of processing equipment were $3,257,000 higher in 1998 than in 1997. Dairy farm equipment sales, however, were about 6 percent lower than the same period of a year ago.

The gross profit rate for the second quarter ended June 30, 1998, was 27.7 percent vs. 24.7 percent for second quarter of 1997. The improved gross profit rate was solely due to higher gross margins, according to the management's analysis.

The improvement in gross margins occurred because of improved labor efficiency in the processing-equipment factory and a higher quality of backlog as of March 1998, compared to March 1997.

The Paul Mueller Company employs about 900 people; approximately 800 people work at the Springfield facility and approximately 100 work at the company's Osceola, Iowa, facility.[[In-content Ad]]