Our 7% sales growth reflected diligent price management, benefits from our M&A strategy, and improved volume performance from the Americas Welding and Harris Products Group segments. These results demonstrate the long-term value creation we are generating from our higher standard strategy initiatives and how we are shaping the business to outperform in the next growth cycle. Our earnings expanded in the quarter with adjusted earnings per share up 11% to $2.60. Year-to-date cash flow generation has been strong with 100%+ cash conversion of free cash flow.
We have maintained top quartile ROIC performance, which reinforces our disciplined and balanced capital allocation strategy of investing in growth through the cycle and returning excess cash to shareholders. As we highlighted in our earnings release, we are pleased to announce that tomorrow we expect to close our acquisition of the remaining 65% interest in Alloy Steel. We've had a chance to work with them for a few months, and they are a great addition with a strong business that will be accretive to margins and earnings on day one. Turning to slide four to discuss organic sales performance, we achieved an approximate 3% increase in organic sales in the quarter led by pricing actions taken to mitigate higher input costs.
We continue to see customers defer capital spending and maintain a wait-and-see approach due to policy uncertainty, which continues to impact our equipment and automation portfolios. We are encouraged by automation's steady order rates and backlog quarter over quarter, and quoting activity remains elevated across their end markets. Year-to-date automotive and energy sector projects are growing, and we saw general industries pivot to growth in the second quarter. Looking at end market organic sales trends, three of five end markets grew in the quarter.
| Metric | Period | Current guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Full-year adjusted operating income margin | FY2025 | Steady to slightly up versus prior year with a high 18% incremental margin (Raised) |
| Acquisition contribution to sales growth | FY2025 | Approximately 270 basis points, with Alloy Steel contributing $20M-$25M for the balance of the year (Raised) |
| Six-quarter savings program total | By year-end 2025 | Approximately $60 million at a 50/50 temporary and permanent split (Reaffirmed) |
| Alloy Steel EPS contribution | Balance of FY2025 | $0.07 of EPS (Added) |
| Incremental pricing impact | Q3 2025 | Additional 100-200 basis points from second-quarter actions (New) |
| Metric | YoY | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Total sales | +6.6% to $1.89 billion | 5.2% higher price, 3% from acquisitions, and 70 bps favorable FX, partially offset by 2.3% lower volumes |
| Adjusted EPS | +11% to $2.60 | Profit expansion including $0.03 from favorable FX and $0.06 from share repurchases |
| Americas Welding sales | +approximately 7% | 6.5% higher price and ~5% Van Air acquisition contribution, offset by ~3% lower volumes |
| International Welding sales | -2.5% | ~4% favorable FX offset by 7% lower volumes on challenged EMEA demand and tough prior-year project comparisons |
| Harris Products Group sales | +19% | 11% higher volumes from HVAC strength and retail channel expansion plus 7% higher price |
| Adjusted operating income | +approximately 10% to $195 million | Cost management, savings actions, and operating leverage on SG&A offsetting lower volumes |
| Topic | Previous mention | Current period | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automation demand | Customers deferring capital spending amid policy uncertainty | Stabilized around $215 million per quarter with steady order rates, elevated quoting activity, and growing backlog | Stabilizing |
| Volume elasticity from pricing | Feared volume would fully offset price increases, leaving organic flat | Volume proved less negative than feared, yielding net organic growth | Improving |
| Price-cost management | Neutral price-cost posture | Maintained neutral price-cost with mid-single-digit pricing now at higher end of range | Stable |
| Savings program | 65% from temporary cost actions | Shifting toward permanent structural savings as temporary actions anniversary; targeting 50/50 split by year-end | Shifting to permanent |
| Heavy industries | Challenged | Incrementally improving on easier comparisons, with ag machinery destocking setting up a 2026 recovery | Improving |