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MSC MSC INDUSTRIAL REPORTS FISCAL 2021 SECOND QUARTER RESULTS NEWS FISCAL 2021 Q2 HIGHLIGHTS • • Net sales of $ 774.0 million , a 1.5 % decrease from the prior year quarter Operating income of $ 28.0 million , or $ 80.5 million excluding $ 30.1 million in inventory write - downs , $ 21.6 million in restructuring costs , and $ 0.8 million in other charges¹ Operating margin of 3.6 % , or 10.4 % excluding the adjustments described above¹ Diluted EPS of $ 0.32 ; vs. $ 1.00 in the prior year quarter • Adjusted diluted EPS of $ 1.03 vs. $ 1.02 in the prior year quarter¹ - MELVILLE , NY and DAVIDSON , NC , APRIL 7 , 2021 MSC INDUSTRIAL DIRECT CO . , INC . ( NYSE : MSM ) , " MSC Industrial " or the " Company " , a leading North American distributor of metalworking and maintenance , repair and operations ( MRO ) products and services , today reported financial results for its fiscal 2021 second quarter ended February 27 , 2021 . Financial Highlights² FY21 Q2 FY20 Q2 Change Net Sales $ 774.0 $ 786.1 -1.5 % FY21 YTD $ 1,545.9 FY20 YTD Change $ 1,609.7 -4.0 % Income from Operations $ 28.0 $ 77.7 -63.9 % $ 81.9 $ 168.0 -51.2 % Operating Margin 3.6 % 9.9 % 5.3 % 10.4 % Net Income attributable to MSC Industrial $ 18.1 $ 55.5 -67.4 % $ 56.5 $ 120.9 -53.2 % Diluted EPS 3 $ 0.32 $ 1.00 4 3 -68.0 % $ 1.01 $ 2.18 4 -53.7 % Adjusted Financial Highlights¹ , 2 FY21 Q2 FY20 Q2 Change FY21 YTD FY20 YTD Change Unadjusted Net Sales $ 774.0 $ 786.1 -1.5 % $ 1,545.9 $ 1,609.7 -4.0 % Adjusted Income from Operations $ 80.5 $ 79.6 1.1 % $ 165.4 $ 172.5 -4.1 % Adjusted Operating Margin 10.4 % 10.1 % 10.7 % 10.7 % Adjusted Net Income attributable to $ 57.6 $ 57.0 1.1 % $ 119.4 $ 124.3 MSC Industrial -4.0 % Adjusted Diluted EPS $ 1.03 4 $ 1.02 1.0 % $ 2.13 3 $ 2.24 -4.9 % 1 Represents a non - GAAP financial measure . An explanation and a reconciliation of each non - GAAP financial measure to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure are presented in schedules accompanying this press release . 2 In millions except percentages and per share data or as otherwise noted . 3 Based on 56.1 million and 56.0 million diluted shares outstanding for FY21 Q2 and FY21 YTD respectively . 4 Based on 55.6 million and 55.5 million diluted shares outstanding for FY20 Q2 and FY20 YTD respectively . Erik Gershwind , President and Chief Executive Officer , said , “ Our fiscal second quarter reflected solid execution in a choppy , but improving environment . Improvement in sales levels of our non - safety and non - janitorial product lines continued through the quarter and turned positive in March . Sales of our safety and janitorial products grew in the mid - teens . Execution of our Mission Critical initiatives was solid , and I am pleased with the progress that we are making with our share capture programs . " Kristen Actis - Grande , Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer , added , " Average daily sales were $ 12.7 million for the quarter and our gross margin was 38.1 % , a decline of 400 basis points versus the prior year due primarily to a roughly $ 30 million PPE write - down recorded during the quarter . Excluding this write - down , our adjusted gross margin was 42.0 percent , roughly flat sequentially and versus the prior year . Operating expenses as a percentage of sales was 31.7 % , a 30 basis point improvement from the prior year period . During the quarter , our Mission Critical program delivered $ 9 million of gross cost out bringing our cumulative savings for fiscal 2021 to $ 17 million against our goal of $ 25 million by the end of this year . We also invested roughly $ 5 million in our fiscal second quarter growth programs . We are ahead of plan on savings , and our investment program is also progressing very well . In fact , the results are such that we anticipate making some additional growth investments to capture more of the opportunities that we are seeing . On balance , this means that our net savings target for Mission Critical remains roughly the same or slightly larger for the full year . Our goal remains $ 90 million to $ 100 million of gross cost savings through fiscal 2023 versus fiscal 2019 , and we are currently tracking to the high