Scottsdale, Arizona – Sales at Carlisle Companies' construction materials (CCM) division, which bought Accella in 2018, grew strongly in 2018, although profits lagged.
The Accella business is packaged with Drexel, a second 2018 purchase, with a combined value of $504m. The division had sales of $2.8 8bn in 2018, up 23% on the $2.34bn recorded in 2017. This reflects the additional revenue that came with the purchases. The company attributes about three-quarters of this increase to the acquisitions.
However, the margin in the business shrank from 18% in 2017 to 15% in 2018. This is despite a 3% increase in operating income between 2017 and 2018. In 2018 the CCM division recorded operating income of $434.5 m.
The fall in margin was a result of rising raw material inflation, higher freight costs, an acquired business with an unfavourable product mix, and executive retirement expenses. Carlisle said it had tried to counteract this with price discipline, increased volumes and squeezing more out of the legacy business.
The company expects performance to improve in the later quarters of the year because the division serves the construction industry. It added that stricter building codes are helping to drive demand for its Hunter Panel rigid polyurethane insulation products, but these are coming under pressure from spray foam.
| Carlisle Numbers FY 2018 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| GROUP | 2018 ($m) | 2017 ($m) | % change |
| Sales | 4479 | 3750 | 19.4 |
| Operating Income | 509 | 464 | 9.7 |
| Margin % | 11.4 | 12.4 | |
| CCM | 2018 ($m) | 2017 ($m) | % change |
| Sales | 2880 | 2336 | 23.3 |
| Operating Income | 434.5 | 421.9 | 3.0 |
| Margin % | 15.1 | 18.1 | |
| Source: Carlisle | |||
