Eaton has recorded net profit up 18% to US$610m for the second quarter of this year, while sales rose 7% to US$5.5bn.
“We had a strong second quarter, with revenues and earnings per share coming in above the high end of the guidance we provided,” said Eaton chairman and CEO, Craig Arnold.
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“Coming into the quarter, we expected organic sales would be up 5%. Our actual organic sales growth was 7%. The 7% organic growth was our highest quarterly rate of growth since the fourth quarter of 2011.
“Our segment margins in the second quarter were 17%, an all-time quarterly record and also above the high end of our guidance. This represents a 140 basis point improvement over the second quarter of 2017.
“And despite a higher tax rate in the second quarter of 2018 than last year, our after-tax margin came in at 11.1%.
“Operating cash flow in the second quarter was US$499m, impacted by the growth of working capital needed to fund our rapid sales growth and as a result of pre-buying inventory to mitigate the impact of trade tariffs.
“Our full-year outlook for cash generation is unchanged from our prior forecast. We also continued to return substantial cash to our shareholders in the quarter, repurchasing US$300m of our shares. And we have repurchased $600m of our shares over the first six months of the year.”
