Standard Motor Products (SMP) has reported its consolidated financial results for the three months ending March 31, 2016.

Consolidated net sales for the first quarter of 2016 were $238.9 million, compared to consolidated net sales of $227.6 million during the comparable quarter in 2015. Earnings from continuing operations for the first quarter of 2016 were $12.7 million or 55 cents per diluted share, compared to $9.3 million or 40 cents per diluted share in the first quarter of 2015.

Excluding non-operational gains and losses, earnings from continuing operations for the first quarter of 2016 were $12.6 million or 55 cents per diluted share, compared to $9.2 million or 40 cents per diluted share in the first quarter of 2015.

Eric Sills, CEO and president of SMP, stated, “We are very pleased with our first quarter results as we achieved a better than 35 percent increase in net earnings and diluted earnings per share, compared to the first quarter of 2015, on an overall sales increase of 5 percent.

“Engine Management sales were up about 2 percent, in line with our forecast of low single-digit increases. Temperature Control sales achieved a 16 percent increase, a result of higher pre-season orders than the year before. We now await the second and third quarters, when the bulk of the Temperature Control sales occur and our results tend to be weather-dependent.

“The major improvement was in profitability. As we previously reported, results for the full year 2015 were burdened with roughly $10 million in one-time expenses related to startup costs in our line of remanufactured diesel fuel injectors; the carry-forward of negative manufacturing variances in Temperature Control; and the costs of winding down our retiree medical program. These costs are now fully behind us and we anticipate a return to historic profitability rates.”