ITW 4Q revenues up 4 percent

Globe Newswire

GLENVIEW - Illinois Tool Works reported fourth-quarter 2016 total revenue was up 4 percent from the previous year's period.

Revenue for the global manufacturer was $3.4 billion, with organic growth at 2 percent. For the year, total revenue was $13.6 billion, an increase of 1 percent, with organic growth was 1 percent. Fourth quarter net earnings per share was 6 cents, related to a dividend distribution from its investment in Wilsonart, which was partially offset by one-time charges related to two small divestitures. Excluding these nonrecurring items, fourth quarter earnings were $1.39 per share, an increase of 13 percent versus the prior year.

"In 2016, we grew earnings per share 11 percent, improved operating margin by 110 basis points to an all-time high of 22.5 percent and increased after tax return on invested capital 170 basis points to a record 22.1 percent." said E. Scott Santi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

"Throughout 2016, we continued to invest in our businesses to sustain above-market organic growth, strengthened our highly differentiated business portfolio and returned more than $2.8 billion of surplus capital to shareholders. We continue to work hard to push our performance to best-in-class levels, and we are well-positioned to deliver continued progress and strong results in 2017.

Operating income was $742 million and operating margin for the quarter was 21.8 percent, an increase of 110 basis points year-on-year. Excluding the margin dilution from the 2016 acquisition of EF&C, operating margin was 22.2%, an increase of 150 basis points year-on-year with 130 basis points of margin expansion coming from Enterprise Initiatives. Fourth-quarter net income was $507 million and the company converted 117 percent of net income to free cash flow.