A.O. Smith Corporation, a manufacturer of residential and commercial water heating equipment, water treatment and air purification products that acquired Aquasana in 2016, reported record sales of $2.69 billion in 2016. This was a 6% increase from 2015 and 8% when adjusted for the stronger U.S. dollar against the Chinese currency.
Net earnings were reported as $326.5 million for 2016 compared with net earnings of $282.9 million the previous year.
In the fourth quarter, the company earned $82.7 million on sales of $698.1 million compared with net earnings of $79.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2015 on sales of $639.4 million.
“A.O. Smith had another excellent year, setting sales and earnings records thanks to continued healthy end markets for our consumer products in China and for boilers and commercial water heaters in the U.S.,” said Ajita Rajendra, chairman and CEO, A.O. Smith.
Sales for its North American segment in 2016 were $1.74 billion, a 2% increase over 2015 sales of $1.70 billion. The acquisition of Aquasana added $18.4 million to the company’s North America 2016 segment sales.
Fourth quarter sales for the North American segment of $435.6 million were 5% greater than the prior year’s fourth quarter sales of $413.7 million. Aquasana contributed $12.2 million to fourth quarter North American segment sales.
“In early August, we acquired Aquasana, which allowed us to enter the U.S. market with a premium line of water treatment products. Aquasana complements our global water treatment product line, which has grown rapidly. In 2016 we sold approximately $194 million in water treatment products,” Rajendra said.
