LKQ Corp., parent company of Keystone Automotive and NTP-STAG, has reported record revenue for the third quarter of 2018 of $3.12 billion, an increase of 26.6 percent as compared to $2.47 billion in the third quarter of 2017. For the third quarter of 2018, parts and services organic revenue growth was 4.3 percent and acquisition revenue growth was 23.2 percent, while the impact of exchange rates was (0.6 percent), for total parts and services revenue growth of 26.9 percent.
Net income attributable to LKQ stockholders for the third quarter of 2018 was $134 million, up 9.6 percent year-over-year. On an adjusted basis, net income attributable to LKQ stockholders was $177 million, an increase of 26.9 percent as compared to the $140 million for the same period of 2017.
“I am particularly pleased with the improvement in year-over-year Segment EBITDA margins for our Europe and Specialty segments,” said Dominick Zarcone, president and CEO of LKQ. “Additionally, North America’s Segment EBITDA margin decline was significantly less than the seasonal drop experienced in the prior two years. The continued narrowing of this seasonal gap validates our North America team’s efforts to drive margin improvement, despite the ongoing headwinds of wage and freight inflation, and the recent impact of lower scrap prices.”
On a nine-month year-to-date basis, revenue was $8.88 billion, an increase of 22.1 percent from $7.27 billion for the comparable period of 2017. Parts and services organic revenue growth for the first nine months of 2018 was 5.1 percent. Net income from continuing operations attributable to LKQ stockholders for the first nine months of 2018 was $444 million, an increase of 7.2 percent as compared to $414 million for the comparable period of 2017.
“While the initial results of our actions are positive, we believe that these cost pressures will not abate in the near term and have adjusted our guidance to address the economic headwinds related to freight, fuel and wage inflation and declining scrap prices,” said Varun Laroyia, executive vice president and CFO. “We are committed to protecting our margins, driving higher levels of free-cash flow conversion, and believe our actions will position us well for achieving higher levels of sustainable and profitable growth in the future.”