MELVILLE, N.Y. and DAVIDSON, N.C., April 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

FISCAL 2021 Q2 HIGHLIGHTS

• Net sales of $774.0 million, a 1.5% decrease from the prior year quarter
• Operating income of $28.0 million, or $80.5 million excluding $30.1 million in inventory write-downs, $21.6 million in restructuring costs, and $0.8 million in other charges¹
• Operating margin of 3.6%, or 10.4% excluding the adjustments described above¹
• Diluted EPS of $0.32; vs. $1.00 in the prior year quarter
• Adjusted diluted EPS of $1.03 vs. $1.02 in the prior year quarter¹

MSC INDUSTRIAL DIRECT CO., INC. (NYSE: MSM), "MSC Industrial" or the "Company", a leading North American distributor of metalworking and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products and services, today reported financial results for its fiscal 2021 second quarter ended February 27, 2021.

Erik Gershwind, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Our fiscal second quarter reflected solid execution in a choppy, but improving environment. Improvement in sales levels of our non-safety and non-janitorial product lines continued through the quarter and turned positive in March. Sales of our safety and janitorial products grew in the mid-teens. Execution of our Mission Critical initiatives was solid, and I am pleased with the progress that we are making with our share capture programs."

Kristen Actis-Grande, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, added, "Average daily sales were $12.7 million for the quarter and our gross margin was 38.1%, a decline of 400 basis points versus the prior year due primarily to a roughly $30 million PPE write-down recorded during the quarter. Excluding this write-down, our adjusted gross margin was 42.0 percent, roughly flat sequentially and versus the prior year. Operating expenses as a percentage of sales was 31.7%, a 30 basis point improvement from the prior year period. During the quarter, our Mission Critical program delivered $9 million of gross cost out bringing our cumulative savings for fiscal 2021 to $17 million against our goal of $25 million by the end of this year. We also invested roughly $5 million in our fiscal second quarter growth programs. We are ahead of plan on savings, and our investment program is also progressing very well. In fact, the results are such that we anticipate making some additional growth investments to capture more of the opportunities that we are seeing. On balance, this means that our net savings target for Mission Critical remains roughly the same or slightly larger for the full year. Our goal remains $90 million to $100 million of gross cost savings through fiscal 2023 versus fiscal 2019, and we are currently tracking to the high end of that range. Our adjusted operating margin, excluding the write-down of PPE inventory and restructuring and other related costs, was up 30 basis points from the prior year due to our Mission Critical progress."

Gershwind concluded, "The improving environment and continued execution of our growth and cost take-out programs are combining to position us well. We are now emerging as a stronger company and are poised to reaccelerate growth. We have strengthened our value proposition, with more to come, and further strengthened and extended our leadership position in our core business of Metalworking. We are well on-track to achieve our goals of growing 400 basis points above the Industrial Production Index and returning ROIC back to the high teens by the end of fiscal 2023."

Conference Call Information 

MSC Industrial will host a conference call today at 8:30 a.m. EDT to review the Company's fiscal 2021 second quarter results. The call, accompanying slides, and other operational statistics may be accessed at: http://investor.mscdirect.com. The conference call may also be accessed at 1-877-443-5575 (U.S.), 1-855-669-9657 (Canada) or 1-412-902-6618 (international).

An online archive of the broadcast will be available until April 14, 2021.

The Company's reporting date for fiscal 2021 third quarter results is scheduled for July 7, 2021.

About MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (NYSE: MSM) is a leading North American distributor of metalworking and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products and services. We help our customers drive greater productivity, profitability and growth with approximately 1.9 million products, inventory management and other supply chain solutions, and deep expertise from over 75 years of working with customers across industries.

Our experienced team of more than 6,200 associates is dedicated to working side by side with our customers to help drive results for their businesses - from keeping operations running efficiently today to continuously rethinking, retooling, and optimizing for a more productive tomorrow.

For more information on MSC Industrial, please visit mscdirect.com. 

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements 

Statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that we expect, believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future, including statements about the future impact of COVID-19 on our business operations, results of operations and financial condition, expected future results, expected benefits from our investment and strategic plans and other initiatives, and expected future growth, profitability and return on invested capital, are forward-looking statements. The words "will,", "may," "believes," "anticipates," "thinks," "expects," "estimates," "plans," "intends," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The inclusion of any statement in this press release does not constitute an admission by MSC Industrial or any other person that the events or circumstances described in such statement are material. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include the following, many of which are and will be amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic: the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including any future resurgences, on our business operations, results of operations and financial condition; general economic conditions in the markets in which we operate; changing customer and product mixes; competition, including the adoption by competitors of aggressive pricing strategies and sales methods; industry consolidation and other changes in the industrial distribution sector; our ability to realize the expected benefits from our investment and strategic plans, including our transition from a spot-buy supplier to a mission-critical partner; our ability to realize the expected cost savings and benefits from our restructuring activities and structural cost reductions; retention of key personnel and qualified sales and customer service personnel and metalworking specialists; volatility in commodity and energy prices; the outcome of government or regulatory proceedings or future litigation; credit risk of our customers; risk of customer cancellation or rescheduling of orders; difficulties in calibrating customer demand for our products, in particular personal protective equipment or "PPE" products, which could cause an inability to sell excess products ordered from manufacturers resulting in inventory write-downs or could conversely cause inventory shortages of such products; work stoppages or other business interruptions (including those due to extreme weather conditions) at transportation centers, shipping ports, our headquarters or our customer fulfillment centers; disruptions or breaches of our information systems, or violations of data privacy laws; risk of loss of key suppliers, key brands or supply chain disruptions; changes to trade policies, including the impact from significant restrictions or tariffs; risks associated with opening or expanding our customer fulfillment centers; litigation risk due to the nature of our business; risks associated with the integration of acquired businesses or other strategic transactions; financial restrictions on outstanding borrowings; our ability to maintain our credit facilities; interest rate uncertainty due to LIBOR reform; failure to comply with applicable environmental, health and safety laws and regulations; ability to estimate the cost of healthcare claims incurred under our self-insurance plan; and goodwill and intangible assets recorded as a result of our acquisitions could be impaired. Additional information concerning these and other risks described under "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our annual and quarterly reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, respectively, and in the other reports and documents that we file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. We expressly disclaim any obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

• Results Excluding Impairment Loss, Restructuring Costs, Inventory Write-downs, and Other Charges

To supplement MSC Industrial's unaudited selected financial data presented consistent with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP"), the Company discloses certain non-GAAP financial measures, including non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP operating expenses, non-GAAP income from operations, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP provision for income taxes, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share, that exclude impairment losses, restructuring costs, inventory write-downs related to certain PPE inventory, and other related costs and tax effects.

These non-GAAP financial measures are not presented in accordance with GAAP or an alternative for GAAP financial measures and may be different from similar non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. The presentation of this additional information is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures and should only be used to evaluate MSC Industrial's results of operations in conjunction with the corresponding GAAP financial measures.

In calculating non-GAAP financial measures, we exclude impairment losses, restructuring costs, inventory write-downs related to certain PPE inventory, and other related costs and tax effects.  Management makes these adjustments to facilitate a review of the Company's operating performance on a comparable basis between periods, for comparison with forecasts and strategic plans, for identifying and analyzing trends in the Company's underlying business and for benchmarking performance externally against competitors. We believe that investors benefit from seeing results from the perspective of management in addition to seeing results presented in accordance with GAAP for the same reasons and purposes for which management uses such non-GAAP financial measures.

SOURCE MSC Industrial Supply Co.