"During the second quarter, most of our international businesses posted solid sales gains in local currencies, which were reduced by foreign currency translation that lowered reported sales by 6.3 percent company-wide," said Frank C. Sullivan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. In total, foreign currency, including both translational and transactional, reduced EPS by $0.06 per share. Sales and earnings benefited from the reconsolidation of our Specialty Products Holding Company (SPHC) subsidiary's businesses, which continued to perform in line with our expectations."

During the fiscal 2016 second quarter, industrial segment sales declined 5.8 percent, to $610.2 million from $647.8 million in the fiscal 2015 second quarter. Organic sales improved 1.9 percent, while acquisition growth added 0.7 percent. Foreign currency translation reduced sales by 8.4 percent. Industrial segment EBIT declined 0.4 percent, to $64.5 million from $64.8 million in the same period a year ago.

Second-quarter sales for the specialty segment increased 164.8 percent, to $186.7 million from $70.5 million in the fiscal 2015 second period. Organic growth was 3.8 percent, while acquisitions, principally the reconsolidated SPHC subsidiaries, added 167.1 percent. Foreign currency translation reduced sales by 6.1 percent. Specialty segment EBIT improved 104.8 percent, to $29.1 million from $14.2 million.

"Most of our core specialty businesses, including food coatings, wood protection products, pleasure marine and other high-performance coatings, performed well in the quarter, excluding the negative impact from foreign currency," Sullivan stated.

RPM's fiscal 2016 second-quarter consumer segment sales increased 1.8 percent, to $359.1 million from $352.8 million a year ago. Organic sales increased 3.6 percent, while acquisition growth added 0.7 percent. Foreign currency translation reduced sales by 2.5 percent. Consumer segment EBIT improved 6.2 percent, to $65.4 million from $61.6 million a year ago. During the quarter, the final earn-out accrual of $14.5 million, or approximately $0.07 per share, related to RPM's acquisition of Kirker in fiscal 2013 was reversed into income, compared to the $17.0 million, or approximately $0.09 per share, that was reversed during the same period last year.

"In our industrial segment, we anticipate sales to be flat to up slightly for the balance of this fiscal year, principally due to the strength of our businesses serving the U.S. commercial construction markets. In the specialty segment, the second half of fiscal 2016 will have a one-month benefit year-over-year from the reconsolidation of SPHC. For the remaining months of this fiscal year, we expect sales growth in the specialty segment to be in the mid-to-upper-single-digit range. Consumer segment growth will be in the mid-single digits. Over the last several months, the U.S. dollar has continued to strengthen against most of the major currencies around the world and we expect the negative impact in the back half of fiscal 2016 to be approximately $0.05 per share worse than we originally estimated. In addition, during last year's third quarter, we recognized a $0.10 per share tax benefit that will not repeat this fiscal year, reducing last year's EPS to an apples-to-apples comparison to this fiscal year of $0.10 per share. For the full year, however, we are reaffirming our guidance for earnings per diluted share of $2.50," stated Sullivan.