Toro Company reported net earnings of $105.7 million for its fiscal second quarter ended April 29, compared to $93.8 million for the same period a year ago, a 12.7 percent increase. Net sales increased 1.2 percent to $836.4 million, compared to $826.2 million for the same period last year.
For the first six months of the fiscal year, the Bloomington, Minn.-based manufacturer posted net earnings of $144.9 million on a net sales increase of 1.7 percent to $1,322.8 million.
“We were pleased by the strong sales in our professional segment, particularly for our landscape contractor and golf products at the start of our key selling season,” said Michael Hoffman, Toro chairman and CEO. “Similarly, we are encouraged by the positive momentum we are seeing from our specialty construction business as we continue to strengthen our position in the industry. We are experiencing strong demand for our new Dingo TX 1000 compact utility loader, which has been well received by landscape contractors and rental houses alike.
“On the residential side of the business, warmer spring weather early in the quarter was offset by poor weather in the later part of the quarter, which negatively impacted sales. Our second quarter results were also negatively impacted by lower sales of residential riding products due to channel demand pulled forward in the first quarter driven by supply issues last year. We have higher inventory levels of riding mowers than normal because we wanted to ensure we were a better supplier to our customers this year, in light of the prior year manufacturing and availability issues.”
