Sigma Aldridge 2nd Qtr Sales Increase 6% (Financial Report) (Brief Article‪)‬

Reported sales for the second quarter of 2010 were $554 million, an increase of 6% from the second quarter of 2009. Excluding a 1% impact from unfavorable currency rates, second quarter organic sales growth was 7%, improving on the first quarter organic sales growth of 4%. This gain over the comparable period of 2009 and the improvement over the first quarter 2010 organic sales growth rate were driven largely by unit volume growth in our Research businesses and continued improvement in market conditions for fine chemicals. Sales for the company's Research business grew 5% on both a reported and currency adjusted basis for the second quarter of 2010. Sales for SAFC continued the momentum that began in the second half of 2009 and continued through the first half of 2010, with second quarter reported growth of 10% and organic growth of 11% as sales of our Supply Solutions, Bioscience and Hitech products reflected stronger demand. A reconciliation of reported to adjusted organic sales is on page 7. The operating income margin in the second quarter of 2010 of 25.6% of sales reflects a 170 basis point improvement from 2009's second quarter due to continued benefits from higher volumes, currency benefits, favorable product mix and effective management of S,G&A costs. These items were partially offset by $3 million of pretax restructuring costs to consolidate certain manufacturing facilities as was previously announced. These restructuring actions are in line with the company's efforts to improve operating efficiencies and lower the fixed cost structure as part of its longer term goal to improve operating margins to a 26% to 27% range. Supply chain process improvements provided $5 million of the Q2 2010 pretax enhancement.