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ESCO TECHNOLOGIES ESCO Announces Second Quarter Fiscal 2021 Results May 4 , 2021 - Q2 GAAP EPS $ 0.62 and Adjusted EPS $ 0.59 ( Tops Consensus Estimate ) - YTD 2021 Adjusted EPS $ 1.15 versus $ 1.11 YTD 2020 ( Pre - COVID ) - Record YTD Cash Flow from Operations - St. Louis , May 04 , 2021 ( GLOBE NEWSWIRE ) -- ESCO Technologies Inc. ( NYSE : ESE ) ( ESCO , or the Company ) today reported its operating results for the second quarter and six months ended March 31 , 2021 ( Q2 2021 and YTD 2021 ) compared to the second quarter and six months ended March 31 , 2020 ( Q2 2020 and YTD 2020 ) . Vic Richey , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer , commented , " We continue to successfully manage through the COVID - 19 global pandemic and our primary focus remains the health and safety of our employees , customers and suppliers . I'm proud of our entire team for how they've responded to the challenges over the past year , and I'm confident that we are positioning ourselves to be a stronger , more profitable company as we emerge from the pandemic and our end - markets fully recover . " Our second quarter and year - to - date operating results reflect the importance of maintaining diversity across our end - markets , as this diversity , coupled with our substantial liquidity will continue to support our long - term growth . Our multi - segment platform enabled us to substantially mitigate the pandemic's impact on our operating results , and our disciplined approach around working capital management allowed us to generate record cash flow in 2021 . " Given the strength of the first half of 2020 pre - COVID , we previously communicated that we expected the first half of 2021 to be slightly lower , comparatively . Through March 31st , we are ahead of our original profit expectations as our continued focus on operating execution and effective cost management drove our first - half Adjusted EPS to $ 1.15 per share , an increase of 4 percent over the Adjusted EPS of $ 1.11 per share reported in the first half of 2020. This was accomplished despite a 6 percent decrease in sales primarily due to COVID's impact . " Regarding our upcoming executive management team retirements announced previously , I'm pleased to welcome Chris Tucker to our executive leadership team as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer replacing Gary Muenster , who's retiring after 31 years at ESCO , with the past 18 years serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer . Chris possesses a strong financial skill - set and a keen understanding of strategy , capital allocation , ROIC , and shareholder value creation developed during his 24 year career at Emerson . " Additionally , Dave Schatz , who has been with ESCO for the past 23 years , has been promoted to Senior Vice President , General Counsel & Secretary replacing Alyson Barclay who is retiring after 33 years with the Company , most recently serving as Senior Vice President and with the past 21 years as General Counsel & Secretary . I look forward to working with Chris and Dave in their new roles , and I'd like to thank Gary and Alyson for their substantial contributions to ESCO's success over their long careers . " Discrete Items During Q2 2021 , the Company recorded a $ 1.9 million pretax gain from the contingent cash settlement of the fiscal 2019 sale of the former Doble headquarters property in Watertown , Massachusetts , partially offset by $ 0.7 million of facility shut - down costs related to the closure of a former USG manufacturing facility in Toronto ( described in the November 2020 earnings release ) . The combined impact resulted in a net after - tax gain of $ 0.03 per share which is excluded from the calculation of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EPS in Q2 2021 . There were no Discrete Items identified in Q2 2020 impacting GAAP EPS or Adjusted EPS . During Q1 2020 , the company completed the sale of its Technical Packaging segment which resulted in gross cash proceeds of $ 191 million and a net gain on the sale of $ 77 million , or $ 2.93 per share , which is recorded as discontinued operations . The impact of discontinued operations is excluded from the calculation of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EPS in 2020 . The financial results presented include certain non - GAAP financial measures such as EBIT , EBITDA , Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EPS , as defined within the " Non - GAAP Financial Measures " described below . Any non - GAAP financial measures presented are reconciled to their respective GAAP equivalents . Management believes these non - GAAP financial measures are useful in assessing the ongoing operational profitability of the Company's business segments , and therefore , allow shareholders better visibility into the Company's underlying operations . See “ Non - GAAP Financial Measures " described below . Earnings Summary Q2 2021 GAAP EPS was $ 0.62 per share ( GAAP net earnings of $ 16.3 million ) and included the net earnings ' impact of the Q2 2021 Discrete Items described above . Excluding the net earnings impact of the Discrete Items , Q2 2021 Adjusted EPS was $ 0.59 per share . Q2 2020 GAAP EPS and Adjusted EPS was $ 0.68 per share ( GAAP net earnings of $ 17.8 million ) . Adjusted EBITDA was $ 31 million in Q2 2021 and Q2 2020 , and YTD Adjusted EBITDA increased to $ 60 million , from $ 59 million YTD 2020 .