Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call July 23, 2024 9:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Jeff Taylor - Chief Financial Officer
Gregg Sengstack - Executive Chairperson
Joe Ruzynski - Chief Executive Officer
Conference Call Participants
Walter Liptak - Seaport Global
Matt Summerville - D.A. Davidson
Operator
Hello, and welcome to the Franklin Electric Reports Second Quarter 2024 Sales and Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.
It is now my pleasure to introduce Chief Financial Officer, Jeff Taylor.
Jeff Taylor
Thank you, Andrew, and welcome, everyone, to Franklin Electric's second quarter 2024 earnings conference call.
With me today are Joe Ruzynski, our Chief Executive Officer; and Gregg Sengstack, our Executive Chairperson. On today's call, Gregg will review our second quarter business highlights, I will provide additional details on our financial performance, and then Joe will share some initial thoughts on his first few weeks with Franklin. We will then take questions.
Before we begin, let me remind you that as we conduct this call, we will be making forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. A discussion of these factors may be found in the company's annual report and on Form 10-K and today's earnings release. All forward-looking statements made during this call are based on information currently available, and except as required by law, the company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
With that, I will now turn the call over to Gregg.
Gregg Sengstack
Thank you, Jeff, and thank you all for joining us.
Our second quarter results were solid, but fell below the record levels reached in the prior-year period. Macroeconomic challenges and wet weather across the US continued to pressure sales, but our performance held up well as we delivered near-record-high earnings during the quarter. Further, strong execution by our global teams, along with the diversity of our product lines, geographic presence, and customer base demonstrated the resilience of our business as we drove margin expansion on lower sales.
The second quarter represented a sequential step-up in sales due to seasonal factors. However, this impact proved to be a bit softer during the quarter as compared to prior years. Consolidated sales were down 5% or $26 million compared to our second quarter 2023, reflecting the ongoing challenge of project delays, in part due to adverse weather, particularly in the United States and within our Distribution segment.