Earnings Labs

AMETEK, Inc. (AME)

Q1 2012 Earnings Call· Thu, Apr 26, 2012

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the AMETEK First Quarter 2012 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded on Thursday, April 26, 2012. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kevin Coleman, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Kevin C. Coleman

Analyst

Great. Thank you, Tara. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to AMETEK's first quarter earnings conference call. Joining me this morning are Frank Hermance, Chairman and CEO; John Molinelli, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Bill Burke, Vice President and Treasurer. AMETEK's first quarter results were released earlier this morning. These results are available electronically on market systems and on our website at the Investors section of www.ametek.com. A tape of today's conference call may be accessed until May 10 by calling (800) 633-8284 and entering the confirmation code number 21585026. This conference call is also webcasted. It can be accessed at www.ametek.com and at www.streetevents.com. The conference call will be archived on both of these websites. I will remind you that any statements made by AMETEK during the call that are not historical in nature are to be considered forward-looking statements. As such, these statements are subject to change based on various risk factors and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ significantly from expectations. A detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties that may affect our future results is contained in AMETEK's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AMETEK disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. I will also refer you to the Investors section of www.ametek.com for a reconciliation of any non-GAAP financial measures used during this conference call. We will begin today with some prepared remarks, and then we will take your questions. I will now turn the meeting over to Frank.

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning, everyone. AMETEK had an excellent first quarter. We established quarterly records for orders, sales, operating income -- operating margins, net income and diluted earnings per share. Sales in the first quarter were up 15% to $827.2 million. Internal growth was strong at 6%, while acquisitions added 10% and currency was a 1% headwind. Operating income for the first quarter was superb. It increased 20% to $182.8 million from $152 million last year, reflecting the impact of the higher sales and our Operational Excellence initiatives. Operating income margin in the quarter was a record at 22.1%, a 90-basis-point improvement over the first quarter of 2011. Net income was up 22% to $110.2 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.68 were up 21% over last year's first quarter. Orders in the first quarter were a record $863 million, up 8% overall from the prior year. Sequentially, orders were up 15%. The book-to-bill ratio in the quarter was 1.04. Cash flow was very strong. Operating cash flow was $141 million, up 36% over last year's first quarter. Free cash flow was $132 million, or 120% of net income. Working capital management was excellent. Operating working capital was 17.2% of sales. Turning our attention to the individual operating groups. The Electronic Instruments Group had a great first quarter. Sales were up 21% to a record $468.8 million on strength in our Aerospace and Process businesses. In addition, we had strong contributions from the 4 acquisitions that we completed in the fourth quarter of 2011 and in January of 2012. Internal growth was strong at 9%, while currency reduced sales by 1%. EIG's operating income increased 23% to a record $123 million, and operating margins were a very strong at 26.2%, up 50 basis points over last year's…

John J. Molinelli

Analyst

Thank you, Frank. As Frank noted, we had an outstanding first quarter with excellent financial performance and a high quality of earnings, and I will provide some further details. Core growth and selling expenses in the quarter was in line with core growth and sales. General and administrative expenses were 1.3% of sales, below last year's first quarter level of 1.5% of sales. The effective tax rate for the quarter was 31.9%, down from last year's first quarter rate of 32.2%. We anticipate a tax rate of between 30% and 31% for the full year of 2012. As we have said before, actual quarterly tax rates can differ dramatically either positively or negatively from this full year rate. On the balance sheet. Working capital, defined as receivables plus inventory, less payables, was 17.2% of sales in the first quarter, down from 18.3% in last year's first quarter, reflecting the continued focus and efforts of our operating teams to reduce our investment here. Strong working capital management will remain a key priority. Capital spending was $8 million for the quarter. Full year 2012 capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $60 million. Depreciation and amortization was $25 million for the quarter. 2012 depreciation and amortization is expected to be approximately $100 million. Our cash flow was very strong in the first quarter. Operating cash flow is $141 million, up 36% over last year's first quarter. And free cash flow was $132 million for the quarter, representing 120% of net income. Total debt was $1.36 billion at March 31, up $96 million from year end. Expenditures for acquisitions through the first quarter totaled approximately $175 million. Offsetting this debt is cash and cash equivalents of $219 million, resulting in a net debt-to-capital ratio at March 31, of 34.3%, down from 34.8% at the end of 2011. At March 31, we had approximately $875 million of cash and existing credit facilities to fund our growth initiatives. Our highest priority for capital deployment remains acquisitions. In summary, we had an outstanding first quarter, establishing records for essentially all the key financial metrics. We're well positioned for further growth, both organically and through acquisitions, with a strong balance sheet and cash flows. Kevin?

Kevin C. Coleman

Analyst

Thank you, John. Great. Tara, we're now ready to take some questions.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from the line of Robert Barry from UBS.

Robert Barry - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division

Analyst

I know you guys tend to be conservative, but I just was trying to square the revenue guidance, especially for the second quarter. With the order growth and the impact from M&A, I mean, it looks like a significant slowdown from what you did in the first quarter. And I think I can get kind of 6%, 7%, 8% of growth just from the deals you've kind of done already, excluding the one you announced today. So is that just really conservative, is there kind of anything happening in the core growth rate, maybe easing a bit? If you could just talk a little bit about that, it would be great.

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst

Sure. I'd be glad to do that. First of all, the acquisition that we announced today, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, is not included in any of the estimates we provided. Obviously, that deal is not closed at this point, so we did not feel it appropriate to provide any estimates. We did say that it's going to close in the second quarter, but it could close right at the end of the second quarter. We are dependent on German approvals of the government there as well as the normal closing conditions. So when you actually look at the order and the sales guidance we've given you, it's roughly the same as the first quarter. It's not substantially different than the first quarter. We did have very good order intake in the first quarter. A lot of it was in our longer cycle businesses, which are going to tend to shift in the second half of the year. And there are also maybe a tad of conservatism in our estimates.

Robert Barry - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. Could you comment perhaps on what you're seeing in Europe and what the change, if any, has been in that region?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst

Yes, sure. Europe is an interesting story for us. Overall, our organic growth in Europe was quite good. It was up actually about 7% in the first quarter. And we saw very, very strong performance in our Aerospace businesses. And also one of our companies in France, CAMECA, which makes a very high-end analytic type instrumentation, saw excellent, excellent sales. So those very positive impacts were the drivers for the 7% organic growth. There was some weakness that we saw in our other businesses, but nothing that I would consider sizable at this point in time.

Robert Barry - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. And then just finally, I was just wondering if could update us on what your expectations is for EBIT margin expansion? I think at 4Q, you had said about 30 basis points. And I'm sorry if I missed it in your comments, but just given the very strong performance in 1Q, I'm wondering what your thoughts are now for the year.

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst

No, you're right. You're absolutely right that I didn't say anything in my comments. But, yes, I indicated up 30 basis points in the talk at the end of the year. And we're now estimating, and I would say conservatively, 40 basis points, and hopefully we'll be able to continue to increase that guidance as we go through the year. Obviously, the capability right now and the flow-through in the company is just, just absolutely incredible. The contribution margin in the company in the first quarter was north of 40%, so very, very strong contribution margins. And you couple that with the Operational Excellence activities, where we expect to put about $60 million of cost improvements through the P&L this year, bodes well for margins.

Robert Barry - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division

Analyst

Yes. Yes, especially given the 90 you did in the first quarter.

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst

Yes, exactly.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Alison Poliniak with Wells Fargo.

Allison Poliniak-Cusic - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Wells Fargo.

Going back to Europe, could you give a little more color in terms of what your end market exposure is? Like how big is Aerospace? Does Oil & Gas play any part of that as well?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · Wells Fargo.

You're talking about overall for the company now?

Allison Poliniak-Cusic - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Wells Fargo.

Well, overall for Europe, yes. AMETEK Europe.

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · Wells Fargo.

Oh, for Europe. The overall amount of business that AMETEK has in Europe is about 26% of our total sales. So it's about the right proportion in terms of our market concentration. And that breaks down, roughly 1/3 is in Aerospace & Defense related activities. We have very strong concentration in the Process industries, including Oil & Gas, but not just Oil & Gas. We also have our Ultra Precision Technology (sic) [Technologies] business, which is a part of our European sales. And as I think I've mentioned in previous calls, we also roll up the Middle East into our Europe numbers, although that wasn't really the driver for the excellent core growth we had in the quarter. So it is a mix, but there is good concentration of Aerospace & Defense in our European content. And obviously, Aerospace, and even the Defense portion of Aerospace in Europe, did quite well.

Allison Poliniak-Cusic - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Wells Fargo.

Great. And then going back to the EBIT expansion, the 40 basis points, is there any way to say acquisitions are holding it back by 10 or 20 basis points with the acquisition-related costs?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · Wells Fargo.

Yes, actually, I haven't done that calculation, but the deals that we have done recently, and actually, will also include Dunkermotoren, assuming we close it, are very strong margin businesses, so I don't expect a huge amount of dilution. But there will be some, especially as our growth from acquisitions is going to accelerate as the year goes on.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Scott Graham with Jefferies. R. Scott Graham - Jefferies & Company, Inc., Research Division: So I was just wondering, Frank, if you could do your typical by-division sales sum-up, that would be helpful.

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst

Sure, I'd be glad to do that. Why don't I start with Aerospace, which had a really, really good first quarter? We had low double-digit organic sales and order growth with really broad-based strength across all parts of that Aerospace business. We expect to see continued growth for our Aerospace business in 2012 as the trends and order rates, OEM build rates and revenue passenger miles really support strong commercial third-party MRO, and also business in regional jet sales. Actually, I was just reading in the Wall Street before I came in to this conference call that Boeing is expecting to increase their production by about 40% by the end of 2014, so a very substantial change there, which obviously is going to be a nice driver for our growth. Right now for all of 2012, we are expecting our commercial and third-party MRO businesses to be up high single digits. Our business and regional jet business should be up low double digits, and that's based more on wins than it is on the actual market for business and regional jets turning around. And then our military business, we're still saying flat, although we did have a fairly strong first quarter and there may be some conservatism in our forecast for the military side of the business. So if you sum up, we're expecting organic growth in the mid to high-single digits for all of 2012 for Aerospace. And obviously, this is one of our higher profit margin businesses. So I think it's going to be a driver to our performance for a quite an extended period of time. Process, our Process markets performed extremely well in the first quarter. Overall sales were up about 25%, and organic sales were up about 10%. Strong growth was evident across most of…

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Christopher Glynn with Oppenheimer. Christopher Glynn - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division: Frank, just wondering how long you've been looking at Dunkermotoren and if there was a typical cycle time or sort of a unique process.

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst

That's a great question, Chris. We've probably been looking at this company for 4 to 5 years. It was #1 on the acquisition agenda for our Precision Motion Control business. Our Precision Motion Control business has very strong content in the U.S. and very strong content in Asia but did not have strong content in Europe. And Dunkermotoren basically has a very similar type of approach to the market. They get extremely good margins, and they complement our business just like a glove. So we have remained in contact with this company, actually even through a change in ownership to the present owner. And we actually contacted the owner ourselves, and were able to strike a deal. And we've got a lot of hired people here. I think they signed this deal at about 3:00 or 4:00 this morning. So we're very pleased with it. It's a great business, great complement, as a matter of fact both of these acquisitions. O'Brien and Dunkermotoren are just ideal fits with AMETEK. We understand the businesses. We can improve them, we can leverage them. And I would say, both management teams are also extremely excited about being part of our company. We were their #1 choice in terms of who would acquire them. But yes, it was sort of a long process, but we always hang in there, and it turned out great. Christopher Glynn - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division: Sounds like maybe you should grab a nap after the call. Wondering also on the acquisition pipeline if you've seen any in the third-party MRO pre-PMA type area.

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst

Yes, that's another question, Chris. Yes, we have. We actually -- over the course of the last couple of years, we've been somewhat quiet on that front. And we actually had a couple of deals that got fairly close to fruition and then didn't happen for one reason or another. But yes, there are some deals in our backlog. That business performed remarkably well in the first quarter. I think you know as we started to roll up these companies, typically these companies have 10% kind of pretax margins because they can't leverage the PMA and DDR capability the way we're able to. And I can tell you that, that total third-party MRO business right now has got to operating margins that are just under 20%, so very sizable improvement. And as well, they were one of our higher growth parts of Aerospace. So we would like to do more transactions here. We've got some backlog, and hopefully you'll be hearing from us in this area.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Jim Lucas with Janney Capital Markets.

James C. Lucas - Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Janney Capital Markets.

I wanted to follow up on Dunkermotoren here. And when you look at that sitting in the Precision Motion, how big is Precision Motion now for you?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · Janney Capital Markets.

It's about that same size, so it's -- and this is going to be a sizable increase in that business. So, Bill, look it up and see how close I am in my estimates. Bill's going to look it up, but it's roughly that same size.

James C. Lucas - Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Janney Capital Markets.

Well, knowing your track record, you're pretty close, Frank.

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · Janney Capital Markets.

Yes, Bill says I'm pretty close.

James C. Lucas - Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Janney Capital Markets.

Okay, great. And good color on Europe. BRIC rose up 20%. We've heard a lot of conflicting reports about China in particular. You've been making a lot of investments in Brazil and India. Can you just give us an update on what you're seeing in emerging markets, China in particular?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · Janney Capital Markets.

Yes, I can, Jim. There's no question that I can feel some slowing in China, but when you look at slowing from a GDP of 9% to 7%, it's still obviously one of the stronger GDP growths in the world. So we saw very good performance in China. I mentioned the BRIC countries were up about 20% in sales and China was right in that region, and I think it was around 19%. So we were fine. And it will be interesting to see how the year plays out, but largely for us, it's a share gain. So we are getting the growth from share. And it's not as much dictated specifically by the GDPs of that country. India, I did see an article in the Wall Street Journal this morning talking about a potential downgrade from S&P for India, which actually surprised me a bit, but we saw a very good performance in India in the first quarter. It was also right in that same region of about 20% growth. And again, it is largely a share gain for us in India. In Brazil, Brazil was actually a bit weaker for us in the first quarter, but the order growth was really, really super there. And some of that is due to the fact that we have some floorcare motor business down there, and it has not been a favorable climate season for that particular floorcare. I say floorcare, but it's actually in lawn and garden and those types of applications. So that's what drove that. Actually, I was just talk to the group president for our Process businesses, and he said, looking at his businesses down there -- he just spent 3 or 4 days down there -- they're growing very, very rapidly. So a little bit of a mixed bag there, but overall the order growth was good. So I suspect it will be fine for the rest of the year. So I think the best way I can characterize this for us is a little bit of weakening. We're not growing at the same rates that maybe we were last year, but still this is the organic growth engine for us.

James C. Lucas - Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Janney Capital Markets.

Okay, that's helpful. And 2 housekeeping questions for John. One, I missed D&A for the quarter. And two, payables.

John J. Molinelli

Analyst · Janney Capital Markets.

D&A was $25 million, Jim. And payables is $291 million.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Jamie Sullivan with RBC Capital Markets.

Jamie Sullivan - RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

On Dunkermotoren, I just wondered if you have -- is there a purchase price on the deal that you can tell us?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

Well, that's a great question. And we have agreed with the sellers that until we close, we're not going to give a specific number. But I can tell you that this is a typical AMETEK deal. I think you know we don't pay multiples that are double digits. And I think when we do release the final purchase price and the multiples, you'll see this is right in line with a typical AMETEK acquisition.

Jamie Sullivan - RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

Okay. It sounds like it might be operating at margins that are slightly higher than EMG today overall.

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

Than EMG, you said?

Jamie Sullivan - RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

Right.

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

Well, I'm not supposed to be talking about this, but your assumption is a good one.

Jamie Sullivan - RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

You also mentioned that it's a very nice complement. Do you see opportunity for synergies with...

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

Oh, yes, absolutely. We see opportunities for synergy. There's going to be cross-selling opportunities where they have a capability that -- and not huge share in the U.S., so they can capitalize on that. Also in the other direction, our U.S.-based businesses can capitalize on their distribution capability. In Europe, we see cost synergies. They have a plant in Serbia, and we spent a lot of time looking at Serbia because it's a part of the world that we had very little exposure to. And that could end up being another low-cost platform for AMETEK. So that's another synergy that we see in this deal. So I think again this will be a normal AMETEK acquisition and that we'll have good synergies, ability to increase profitability. And as I said, that management team and the management team within AMETEK are really excited about this; 2 very strong management teams, and they can't wait to really have this thing closed and start to capitalize on each other's capability.

Jamie Sullivan - RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

Great. And you mentioned your segment detail. It doesn't sound like there's any real major change there. Is there any different expectation by geography as you look at the year at this point?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

I would say that maybe the only difference is we probably won't see quite as much growth in China as we were originally hoping for. But offsetting that is our Aerospace businesses are stronger than we had anticipated. So it feels like we're going to end up in the same position, but maybe with a little bit of shift there. But to your opening comment, I don't think it's material. It's not significant.

Jamie Sullivan - RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

Okay. And then one last quick one. On the guidance for 2Q, you're not assuming any Dunkermotoren contribution, but I assume there will be M&A expenses associated with it that you are assuming on the cost side?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

No. I guess we did roll -- we rolled it through already, some of it, didn't we, guys?

John J. Molinelli

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

Yes.

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets.

We rolled it through already. So there might be a little bit more, but it's actually in the first quarter results. That's when the majority of our costs were done. And there's not going to be any huge restructuring charges, et cetera, as we go forward. As you know, we're very, very conscious about continually not hitting the P&L with these extraneous charges, so don't expect anything substantial from any of these deals as we go forward. And as I said, this is just going to be a typical deal for us.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Matt Summerville with KeyBanc.

Matt J. Summerville - KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division

Analyst · KeyBanc.

Couple of questions. Frank, you mentioned your networking capital coming in at 18%, maybe a little bit higher than that, which is down, I believe, over last few years from the low 20s. For a company like AMETEK, looking out over the next 2 to 3 years, what is the right number on your networking capital? Can you get it down into the low teens? And I guess, along those lines, how much incremental cash do you think you can get out of working capital?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · KeyBanc.

I'll answer the first part, and John can answer the second part. The 17 -- actually what we did in the quarter was 17.2%, and we're fairly comfortable with that kind of number. What actually happens, and it was evident when we put our budget together this year, is that as we acquired companies and bring them into our fold, very few operate at this 17.2% or 17% type of number. So our objective is really to maintain that kind of level as we acquire these companies, which means we have to be continually improving the working capital of those acquired companies. But I don't see our mix of businesses getting down to the low teens. We have some businesses that get there, but not for all of AMETEK. If you recall, we have some businesses like our metals businesses and even our -- some of our other more capital-intensive businesses that do have a bit higher working capital. But we're very pleased at this 17% level. And, John, you might be able to answer to the cash question.

John J. Molinelli

Analyst · KeyBanc.

Well, I would take it to just a little bit ingredients [ph] to what you said, Frank. I would -- if you look at 2012, we anticipated a number of this 17.2%, but it's a mixture of our base businesses beating that with the acquisitions that we did last year coming in around 26%. And as we go through the year, that number gets better and better. And then you roll that number, Matt, into 2013, that 26% is going to become maybe close to 20%. And we'll pull cash out of those businesses while we run our base businesses in that 16.5% to 17% range. In the aggregate, we've got some of them that are much better than that. So that's the picture I would paint. But we'd be taking cash out of the acquisitions, getting them into that sweet spot of around 16.5%, 17%, 17.5% from an overall perspective.

Matt J. Summerville - KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division

Analyst · KeyBanc.

That's very helpful. And then just on the military portion of your business, Frank, you indicated that was up in Q1. What's driving that? And I guess, as we move throughout the year, are there specific content wins that you have that give you confidence that, that business isn't going to slip in terms of revenue or potentially even grow?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · KeyBanc.

It's a great question. And we were -- at least, I was actually surprised at the strength in the first quarter. It was quite good. And it wasn't just on the sales side. Our order intake was very, very good. And it was particularly good in Europe. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, we're being a bit conservative as we go forward, but I have no indications that this business is going to become a major drain. I think the question is more how much upside are we going to get out of it and are the first quarter results something that we can repeat through the year. Actually, I was just talking to our group president about this exact thing. And our position is really, we're going to wait another quarter, and we'll see how well it does. And if the order intake is good in the second quarter -- it started out okay in April -- we may be raising our guidance here. But I don't think we're worried about some dramatic negative impact of military. And it is. I mean, to your point, Matt, there is -- we're on some really good platforms, particularly in Europe. And this is a platform type of business, and the dollars are still coming in. So it's going to be a wait and see.

Matt J. Summerville - KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division

Analyst · KeyBanc.

And then, Frank, in your opening remarks, early on you mentioned that orders organically up year-over-year, sequentially 15 -- or excuse me, in total, do you have the organic numbers for orders?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · KeyBanc.

Yes, organic growth was relatively flat across -- or against a very tough comparison.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Mark Douglass with Longbow Research.

D. Mark Douglass - Longbow Research LLC

Analyst · Longbow Research.

What is the backlog right now?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · Longbow Research.

$947 million. We're about $800,000 short of a record.

D. Mark Douglass - Longbow Research LLC

Analyst · Longbow Research.

Is the order, what, 911, last quarter?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · Longbow Research.

I think that's right.

John J. Molinelli

Analyst · Longbow Research.

I think that's right.

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · Longbow Research.

I think that's right, and that's, that book-to-bill of 1.04 that I was talking about.

D. Mark Douglass - Longbow Research LLC

Analyst · Longbow Research.

Yes, yes. And then, Frank, did I miss it? Did you talk about what the organic growth rates were in the U.S., North America and then what you're seeing there?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · Longbow Research.

Yes, I'll just give them all to you so you have them. The Far East was 15% organically. As I already mentioned, Europe was 7% organically; The U.S. was about 4% organically.

D. Mark Douglass - Longbow Research LLC

Analyst · Longbow Research.

So what's -- could you discuss the relative weakness in the U.S. given, actually, that the PMI has been a lot better in the U.S. versus any place else?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · Longbow Research.

I understand, but I think you've got to almost turn it around and that we had really strong growth in the other parts of the world. The U.S. came in pretty much as we had anticipated, and Europe, for the reasons we've already talked about, came in much stronger than we had, had anticipated. And Asia was a tad weaker. So I don't think it's like we feel there's some problem in the U.S. It's more sort of good news in the other parts of the world, in particular Europe. And I'm probably one of the few CEOs that's talking about good news in Europe.

D. Mark Douglass - Longbow Research LLC

Analyst · Longbow Research.

Right. Well, I guess I would've guessed that U.S. would have been higher, seeing then some other companies that the U.S. is still very strong, but I'm just curious if there was certain parts of the U.S. that's on your products' end markets that were under expectations?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · Longbow Research.

No, I would say, we had said mid-single digits. So it's pretty much what we expected, pretty much what we expected. And there's nothing of concern or alarm in the U.S. Most of our markets are okay. So, yes, there's nothing that I can comment on to your point.

D. Mark Douglass - Longbow Research LLC

Analyst · Longbow Research.

Okay. With Dunkermotoren -- what is their, I guess, it seems sounds like pretty diversified. But with the Precision Motion Company in Germany, is solar big enough to be a concern for them at this point or are they pretty well diversified across the pipeline?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst · Longbow Research.

Just like our business in the U.S., this is a highly diversified business. No key end market, no key customer, very, very diverse. And winning this business based on being able to very rapidly customize motors for a particular application. And there's just no single concentration that you can point to that's going to be an issue for them.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And our next question comes from the line of Richard Eastman with Robert W. Baird. Richard C. Eastman - Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Research Division: Frank, could you provide just maybe a little bit of color, or John, on the gross margin? When you look at that year-over-year, the 110 bps of improvement, how much of that is driven by your current sales mix and growth in the Aerospace, Process versus acquisition accretion or price? Are you getting some price here in the quarter?

John J. Molinelli

Analyst

We are getting some price, Richard. We're probably pulling net of inflation of about a little less than 1% through, so that's contributed. But there's so many ingredients that go into that to try to break it down and beyond that. We've got that $10 million of cost savings Frank talked about. That's running ahead of our expectations. Gosh, the mix has been very good. No question about that. So there's probably half a dozen variables that are trending positive. Richard C. Eastman - Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Research Division: Okay. But we are seeing the upward buys in the margins from these later cycle, or longer cycle business acceleration.

John J. Molinelli

Analyst

No question about that. No question about that. I mean... Richard C. Eastman - Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Research Division: That kind of margin expansion of the gross line is pretty sustainable as long as we're in this -- we stay in this longer cycle mix, [indiscernible] mix.

John J. Molinelli

Analyst

No question, especially looking out with the Aerospace strength that we see, that has got a very positive contribution to the higher margins.

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst

We don't actually, in contrast to other businesses that I've been involved in, we don't focus at the gross margin line because the gross margins of our businesses have very wide diversity amongst them. We really focus on the contribution margin and the absolute margin to the bottom line. And just to augment what John said, the contribution margin in our Aerospace businesses is essentially the highest in the company. It's very, very good. So that's why the contribution margin, overall in the quarter, was up above 40%. Richard C. Eastman - Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Research Division: And that -- so overall when I look at the reported incremental, we're more in the high 20s, obviously, influenced by the acquisition contribution and pull down there. But your core incremental for AMETEK was in the low 40s?

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst

Yes, actually it was even a bit higher than that. But it was really good. But you're absolutely right that when we talk about contribution margin, we exclude the acquisitions because obviously you're not going to get the flow-through to the same level on the acquisitions, so we just extract them. And that's where this 40% plus number comes from. Richard C. Eastman - Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Research Division: Okay. And then just one last question. Frank, when I look at the organic order number, order growth rate or flat growth in orders in the core business, is there anything in the mix of order flow that gives you a better feel or a good feel for your markets? For instance, long cycle, I think had you mentioned long cycle orders, business orders were up. Is there anything on the short cycle side that causes you concern or...

Frank S. Hermance

Analyst

No, I mean, a part of our short cycle business that we are concerned about is always our cost driven motor business. But obviously, as I mentioned, that part of the business on the order intake was pretty good. This is really -- the fact that we had very, very strong performance last year on orders. And as we were coming sort of up from the depths of the recession, we were swinging back in sort of a V-shaped manner. And some of our order flows in those first couple of quarters last year were just very, very strong. So I'm not looking at anything in that number that is overly concerning to me.

Operator

Operator

Gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time.

Kevin C. Coleman

Analyst

Okay. Fantastic. Thank you, so much Tara. Thank you, everyone, for joining our conference call. As a reminder, a replay of this call may be accessed on the Internet at www.ametek.com and at www.streetevents.com. If there are any further questions, please call me at (610) 889-5247. Thank you so much.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude the conference call for today. We thank you for your participation, and ask that you please disconnect your lines.