Mining cutting and wear protection tool maker Kennametal has increased FY22 sales to US$2.01 billion, up 9% on the previous year.
The company said the outlook for its circa-$300 million earthworks business was favourable, with “mining strong [and] construction neutral to positive”. Q4 sales were up 10% year-on-year at $83.5m, driven by activity in the Americas and Asia Pacific markets, “offset partially by EMEA [including Russia]”.
New York Stock Exchange-listed Kennametal has seen strong growth in its aerospace, energy and general engineering end-markets, while earthworks has also been robust.
The company said strong full-year operating leverage, aka capacity to lift pricing levels, drove significant improvement in its annual operating margin. FY22 earnings per diluted share (EPS) of $1.72 compared with $65c in FY21. Kennametal paid $67m in dividends and completed $85m of share repurchases for the latest year.
Gross profit for FY22 was $648m ($552m in FY21) and EBITDA was $358m ($233m).
June-quarter (Q4) sales rose 3% yoy to $530m and FY23 Q1 is forecast to be in the range of $480-500m.
Kennametal said it expected FY23 pricing actions to offset rising raw material costs, and wage and general inflation.
The company’s share price is up more than 15% in the past month to $27.03, capitalising it at $2.17b.
