Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LECO), Cleveland, OH, reported sales for the first quarter of $657.9 million, a 4 percent decrease from the previous year. Profit increased 21.1 percent to $68.4 million.
"Our business demonstrated resilience in a challenging first quarter," said Christopher Mapes, chairman, president and CEO. "We achieved volume growth in Europe Welding and The Harris Products Group on solid execution of their commercial initiatives, and maintained steady volume performance in North America. As anticipated, we experienced weakness in South American end-markets and continued to strategically reposition our business in Asia Pacific for long-term profitable growth."
