RPM International Inc. reported financial results for its fiscal 2024 first quarter ended August 31, 2023.

Fiscal 2024 sales were a first-quarter record $2.01 billion, an increase of 4.1% over the prior year. This was in addition to strong growth in the prior-year period when sales in-creased 17.1%.

Three of the four segments achieved record fiscal 2024 first-quarter sales, which were primarily driven by the carry-over impact of increased pricing implemented in fiscal year 2023 in response to inflation. Consolidated volumes increased modestly, led by business-es that positioned themselves to benefit from increased spending on building mainte-nance, infrastructure and reshoring capital projects, partially offset by weakness in spe-cialty OEM markets and certain customers maintaining inventories below historical levels.

Geographically, double-digit growth in Latin America and Africa/Middle East was driven by continued demand for engineered solutions for infrastructure projects, and European sales grew by nearly 10% driven by improvement in our construction businesses.
Sales included 3.9% organic growth, 0.1% growth from acquisitions net of divestitures, and 0.1% growth from foreign currency translation.

Fiscal 2024 first quarter adjusted EBIT was $288.5 million, an all-time record, and was in addition to strong growth in the prior-year period when adjusted EBIT increased 33.1%. This growth was driven by increased sales, benefits from MAP 2025 initiatives, and im-proved leveraging of fixed costs, primarily in CPG. With the exception of Consumer, all segments generated commodity cycle benefits, which contributed to adjusted EBIT growth.

“RPM associates demonstrated another quarter of strong execution and generated record first-quarter sales and all-time record adjusted EBIT despite a mixed macroeconomic en-vironment and challenging prior-year comparisons,” said Frank C. Sullivan, RPM chairman and CEO.

“These results represent the seventh consecutive quarter we have achieved record quar-terly sales and adjusted EBIT,” added Sullivan. “This impressive growth was driven by our associates’ focus on MAP 2025 margin achievement initiatives and leveraging our compet-itive strengths. Additionally, we continue making progress on improving our working capi-tal, which resulted in all-time record cash flow from operating activities.

“Our businesses serving construction markets were standouts during the quarter,” he noted. “Construction Products Group (CPG) entered the quarter with positive momentum, and this accelerated as it leveraged its focus on repair and maintenance as well as its turn-key service model to generate record sales and adjusted EBIT. Several businesses in the Performance Coatings Group (PCG) and CPG segments benefited from strong demand for their engineered solutions for infrastructure and reshoring projects.”