CHICAGO — LKQ Corp. has reported diluted earnings per share of 20 cents for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, an 11.1 percent increase from 18 cents for the third quarter of 2008. Revenue for the third quarter of 2009 was $494.8 million, an increase of 2.7 percent as compared to $481.6 million in the third quarter of 2008. Net income in the third quarter of 2009 was $29.2 million as compared to $25.1 million in the third quarter of 2008. Excluding restructuring expenses from continuing operations and excluding a fixed asset impairment from discontinued operations, diluted earnings per share was 22 cents in the third quarter of 2009 as compared to 19 cents in the third quarter of 2008.
"I am pleased with the strong earnings growth we realized for the quarter, especially considering the solid results we had last year," said Joseph Holsten, CEO and president of LKQ Corp. "While there were many positive aspects of the quarter, I was most pleased with the strength of our same store sales growth of aftermarket parts sales, which I attribute to our successful integration of Keystone into LKQ coupled with our improved inventory management. Our business performance was also positively impacted by improvement in gross margins from both aftermarket operations as well as our self service business. Before restructuring expenses, operating margin improved by roughly 100 basis points as compared to the prior year. Cash flows from operations stand at $135 million year-to-date, and should easily exceed our previously issued forecast."
As previously announced, LKQ entered into an agreement to divest certain self-service recycling businesses, and LKQ has classified these divestitures as discontinued operations in its three and nine month financial statements ended Sept. 30, 2008, and Sept. 30, 2009.
Income from continuing operations was $30.1 million in the third quarter of 2009, an increase of 26 percent as compared to $23.9 million in the third quarter of 2008.
Organic revenue growth, excluding "Other Revenue," was 5.5 percent for the third quarter of 2009. Aftermarket, other new and refurbished products organic revenue growth was 11.3 percent for the third quarter of 2009 as compared to the same period of the prior year. Organic revenue growth of recycled products of 6.6 percent for the third quarter of 2009 was offset by a reduction of related service revenue, resulting in a net 2.1 percent decline of organic revenue for recycled and related products and services as compared to the same period of the prior year.
During the third quarter of 2009, the company had restructuring expenses of $0.9 million in continuing operations related to its Keystone acquisition and a fixed asset impairment of $3.5 million included in discontinued operations related to a divested self-service business. For the third quarter of 2008, the company reported restructuring expenses of $2.4 million. These expenses reduced diluted earnings per share by 2 cents in the third quarter of 2009, and 1 cent in the third quarter of 2008. Earnings per share from discontinued operations excluding the fixed asset impairment was approximately 1 cent in both the third quarter of 2009 and the third quarter of 2008.
For the nine months ended Sept. 30, revenue was $1.5 million, an increase of 3.3 percent as compared to $1.4 million in the same period of the prior year. Year to date 2009 net income was $90.3 million as compared to $86.9 million for the prior year. Year-to-date 2009 diluted earnings per share was 63 cents as compared to 62 cents in the prior year. Diluted earnings per share before restructuring expenses and the fixed asset impairment was 65 cents for both the year-to-date 2009 period and the same period of the prior year.
On a nine month, year-to-date basis, organic revenue declined by 1.4 percent; however, excluding Other Revenue, organic revenue grew by 6.1 percent.
