BRAINTREE, Mass. (May 24, 2012) – Altra Holdings Inc., a global designer, producer and marketer of a wide range of electromechanical power transmission products, was recently ranked No. 3 in Boston Globe’s “100 Best Performing Public Companies in Massachusetts.” Altra, headquartered in Braintree, Mass., was the top industrial company on the 2012 list.
Altra Holdings’ growth in 2011 was spurred by its acquisition of Bauer Gear Motor, a leading European manufacturer of engineered gear drives. The Bauer purchase, combined with strong demand from the mining and energy markets, increased Altra’s 2011 revenues to $675 million, 30 percent over the previous year. Without including the Bauer acquisition, revenues were still up 17 percent. Net income in 2011 also rose to $38 million, a 54 percent jump over 2010.
“Last year’s revenue of $675 million was a benchmark for us,” said Carl Christenson, Altra President and CEO. “But we see the growth continuing. We expect to be a billion-dollar company within the next three or four years.”
The Globe 100 ranks Massachusetts-based public companies based on financial data from the four quarters ending December 31, 2011. To be eligible, the company must be traded publicly for the entire 2011 calendar year on the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ or the American Stock Exchange and report revenue and profit for both 2010 and 2011. Companies are ranked on four criteria: return on average equity, one-year percentage change in revenue, one-year percentage change in profit margin and 2011 revenue.
Altra’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Altra Industrial Motion Inc., is an umbrella for 26 facilities in nine countries, with sales coverage in more than 70 nations and more than 3,400 employees worldwide. Altra products are marketed under a variety of well recognized brand names including Ameridrives, Ameridrives Power Transmission, Bauer Gear Motor, Boston Gear, Warner Electric, Formsprag Clutch, TB Wood’s Incorporated, Industrial Clutch, Kilian Manufacturing, Marland Clutch, Nuttall Gear, Stieber Clutch, Twiflex Ltd., Huco Dynatork, Bibby Transmissions, Matrix International, Inertia Dynamics, Delroyd Worm Gear, Warner Linear and Wichita Clutch.
“All of our business units utilize the Altra Business System,” Christenson said “It helps us closely track short- and long-term goals, with the goal of continuous improvement.”
The Altra product portfolio features more than 40 product lines including industrial clutches and brakes, enclosed gear drives, open gearing, couplings, machined-race bearings, variable frequency and belted drives, linear actuators, and other related products. Altra customers operate in a diverse group of industries, including automotive, general industrial, material handling, aggregate and mining, marine, power generation, oil and gas, transportation and turf and garden.