Apogee Reports Strong Second Quarter

Apogee Reports Strong Second Quarter Minneapolis-based Apogee Enterprises' chairman and chief executive officer Russ Huffer said that the company just finished another strong quarter in its conference call on September 20.

"Our architectural segment exceeded our expectations for a very strong quarter with higher revenue growth than we had anticipated generating higher operating income," he said. "Revenues were stronger due to project timing and flow and there were fewer project delays than expected in the current strong commercial construction market. Project delays tend to be the norm in this business."

Huffer reported that the company's earnings from continuing operations were 40 cents per share, up 54 percent from a year ago, when they were 26 cents per share, and the company's revenues increased 20 percent to $217.7 million. For the architectural segment, Huffer said the company's revenue grew 21 percent and operating income grew 57 percent.

Apogee's operating margin was 7.9 percent, compared to 5.7 percent in the prior-year period, and architectural segment revenues grew 21 percent. The company's operating income increased 57 percent versus the prior year period. In the optical segment, Apogee's revenues increased 6 percent while operating income grew by 91 percent.

"Sales of our best value-added framing glass products, which offer visual benefits to consumers, increased significantly as we convert customers to a higher margin product mix," he said.

Chief financial officer Jim Porter also discussed the company's outlook for 2008. "We remain optimistic about fiscal 2008 and have raised our outlook for the year," he said. "And with our market leadership positions, we remain confident in the longer-term growth potential of our businesses."

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