| Tennant’s 2Q Profits Double |
| MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Double-digit sales gains led by its ec-H2O technology platform helped the Tennant Co., a manufacturer of industrial and commercial cleaning equipment, to a 50% increase in profits in the second quarter. The company announced a profit of $6.2 million, or 32 cents a share, on sales of $166.1 million, compared to earnings of $3 million, or 16 cents a share, on sales of $148.6 million, in last year’s second quarter. "Tennant had a good first half of 2010. We are pleased that we saw a continuation of the first quarter's favorable trends in the second quarter," said Chris Killingstad, Tennant's president and CEO. "Our business maintained its strong growth in the Americas and Asia. As in the 2010 first quarter, double-digit sales gains were led by demand for our proprietary ec-H2O technology platform and sales to strategic accounts." Tennant generated $24.4 million in cash from operations in the 2010 first half, of which $10.3 million was generated in the second quarter. Total cash and cash equivalents at June 30, 2010, was $34.5 million, compared with $16.1 million a year ago. The company's total debt was $32.4 million versus $56.2 million at the end of the 2009 first half, it said. Tennant’s consolidated net sales of $166.1 million for the 2010 second quarter increased 11.8 percent compared to the 2009 second quarter, chiefly driven by sales of scrubbers equipped with ec-H2O. For the six months ended June 30, 2010, net earnings were $10.3 million on net sales of $316.2 million. In the prior year first half, Tennant reported a net loss of $38.7 million on net sales of $277.2 million. Tennant's ec-H2O technology is an environmentally friendly process that converts plain tap water into a powerful cleaning agent without any added chemicals. Tennant first launched scrubbers with ec-H2O technology in the second quarter of 2008 and achieved $17 million in sales that year. That amount tripled to $50 million in 2009, and Tennant continues to expect robust growth from ec-H2O-equipped products in 2010. “Our ec-H2O platform continues to show significant revenue and market share potential," stated Killingstad. “Growing interest in this cleaning technology led to higher sales of scrubbers, especially the recently introduced large rider scrubbers equipped with ec-H2O, and robust growth in recently converted strategic accounts during the second quarter. "We have learned a great deal about the capabilities of water cleaning technologies since we first introduced ec-H2O. While we are only in the initial stages of our plan to capitalize on our discoveries, we do believe that we can develop electrically activated water into a chemical-free cleaning technology platform," Killingstad said. The company has assets of $375 million, and liabilities of $185 million. |