Lydall’s fourth quarter 2016 net sales increased 9.7% to $144.2 million, compared to $131.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. The Technical Nonwovens segment reported $9.3 million, or 26.7%, of sales growth, including $17.7 million from the Texel acquisition, partially offset by lower legacy product sales of $8.4 million from depressed power generation industrial filtration product sales and lower demand in China. Growth in the Performance Materials segment net sales was driven by both improved market demand and share gains for filtration products. The Thermal/Acoustical Metals (“T/A Metals”) and Thermal/Acoustical Fibers (“T/A Fibers”) segments were positively impacted by increased parts sales of 12.3% and 5.3%, respectively, due to increased demand and new platform launches.

For the full year 2016, net sales were $566.9 million compared to $524.5 million in 2015, including net sales of $40.9 million contributed by Texel since its acquisition in early July. Organic sales growth was 1.5% led by above market growth in the T/A Metals, Performance Materials and T/A Fibers segments of 9.7%, 9.5% and 6.3%, respectively, offset by a decline in the Technical Nonwovens segment of (14.6%). Gross margin was 24.4%, an improvement of 100 basis points and adjusted gross margin was 24.8%, an improvement of 150 basis points from 2015. Operating margin was 9.7% and adjusted operating margin was 11.3% compared to operating margin of 10.0% and adjusted operating margin of 10.3% in 2015.