A. Schulman Q1 2015 sales up 5%
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Foreign currency translation negatively impacted net sales by $26.2 million. Excluding the impact of foreign currency translation, revenues would have increased by $55.9 million to $641.3 million for the quarter, up 9.5% over the prior-year period. Gross margin, excluding certain items, in the first quarter as a percent of net sales improved to 14.2% compared with 13.7% in the prior-year period.
Foreign currency translation negatively impacted net sales by $26.2 million.
EMEA gross profit was $49.7 million, a decrease of $2.2 million compared with the same prior-year period. The decrease in the segment's gross profit was mainly attributed to the unfavorable foreign currency translation impact of $3 million, lower organic volumes and higher pension expense of $0.2 million which were only partially offset by the incremental contribution of the Specialty Plastics acquisition.
We had solid contributions from our recent acquisitions
Bernard Rzepka, president and CEO
"We had solid contributions from our recent acquisitions and continue to execute on our organic initiatives to create a strong and sustainable pipeline of innovative products and seek out value-added markets."
Net sales for the Americas were $190.9 million, an increase of 30.3% or $44.4 million in the first quarter compared with the prior-year period. Volume increased 19.8% or 30.7 million pounds during the quarter. The incremental contribution of the recent acquisitions accounted for virtually all of the change in both net sales and volume during the quarter, which was a direct result of the Company's successful acquisition strategy. Foreign currency translation negatively impacted net sales by $4.2 million.
Segment gross profit for the Americas was $30.3 million in the quarter, an increase of $8.8 million or 41% compared with the same period last year. The increase was primarily attributed to the contributions from recent acquisitions and improved product mix in the Company's Specialty Powders product family.
Net sales for APAC were $53 million, an increase of 14.1% or $6.6 million in the first quarter compared with the prior-year period. Volume increased 19.8% or 7 million pounds during the quarter. During the quarter, the Compco acquisition in Australia contributed net sales and volume of $3.4 million and 2.3 million pounds, respectively.
Excluding the Compco acquisition, organic volume increased across nearly all product families but was partially offset by decreased price per pound driven by competitive pricing pressures. Segment gross profit for APAC for the quarter increased $0.6 million or 9.5% compared with the prior-year period. ■