Pall posts 6% third-quarter gain on strength in life sciences market

Filtration and purification company Pall Corp. Thursday posted a 6 percent increase in third-quarter revenue to $682.4 million as strength in the life sciences market compensated for continued weakness in industrial sales.

Discounting the impact of foreign exchange and acquisitions, organic revenue growth was about 4 percent, officials of the Port Washington company said in a conference call.

Net income rose 21.4 percent to $88.7 million in the quarter ended April 30 and diluted earnings per share were 80 cents versus 65 cents in the year-ago period.

CEO Larry Kingsley said the company is on track to deliver "mid-single-digit" sales growth for the fiscal year.

Life sciences sales, led by a 13 percent increase in biopharmaceutical revenue, increased from $326.1 million in the 2013 period to $368.8 million.

Sales to industrial customers, however, slipped from $315.1 million in the 2013 quarter to $313.6 million as an 8.4 percent decline in Europe offset 6.3 percent growth in Asia and flat results in the Americas.

Shares of Pall edged down 0.9 percent, or 76 cents, to close Thursday at $86.01.

In response to a question, Kingsley disclosed that Pall paid $124 million for Filter Specialists Inc., a Michigan City, Ind.-based supplier of filtration devices in the chemical, oil and gas and food and beverage markets. The deal was announced May 1.Questioned about other potential acquisitions, Kingsley said that price tags are "frothy," but acknowledged Pall would be willing to strike if a target's cost and expected return fit the desired profile.