“Our team remained nimble and flexible in the face of an unpredictable business environment caused by COVID variant waves and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"In response to the Russian invasion, we made the decision to cease doing business in Russia during the first quarter, including exiting a very small joint venture in our Machine Clothing segment.

"In the first quarter of 2022, Machine Clothing segment sales increased by over $5 million compared to the same period in the prior year. On a constant currency basis, Machine Clothing segment sales increased 5.7% with positive contributions from all product segments, resulting in the segment’s highest first-quarter revenue since 2015. Operating income was slightly lower than the year-ago level - the result of the write offs and reserves due to withdrawal from the Russian market. Absent those effects, segment operating income grew approximately 2%. The segment’s order book remains strong and supports our outlook for 2022.

"The Engineered Composites segment reported top-line growth in excess of 20% in the first quarter giving us a nice start to delivering on our growth expectations for the year. The segment is well-positioned and expected to deliver Adjusted EBITDA margins of 20% or better in 2022.

"Overall, we are pleased with how the year is progressing and are reiterating our guidance for 2022. That said, we recognize risks remain in 2022 in the form of ongoing inflation, supply chain and logistics challenges, and global economic conditions,” concluded Higgins.

For the first quarter ended March 31, 2022:

• Net sales were $244.2 million, up 10%, or 11.5% after adjusting for currency translation, when compared to the prior year, primarily due to higher net sales in all product grades within the Machine Clothing segment, coupled with the growth in LEAP net sales within the Engineered Composite segment.

• Gross profit of $91.6 million was 3% higher than the $88.5 million reported for the same period of 2021. The Q1 2022 gross profit included the impact of $2.4 million of reserves recognized related to damaged materials in the Engineered Composites segment.

• Selling, Technical, General, and Research (STG&R) expenses were $52.6 million, compared to $46.7 million in the same period of 2021. The increase was driven by customer credit loss reserve increases related to our dissolution of business relationships in Russia, higher incentive compensation costs, and the unfavorable effect of the revaluation of foreign currency balances.

• Operating income was $38.8 million, compared to $41.8 million in the prior year, a decrease of 7%.

• The effective tax rate was 28.1%, compared to 26.7% for the first quarter of 2021. The absence of favorable changes in estimated tax payments recognized in the first quarter of 2022 drove the higher effective tax rate.

• Net income attributable to the Company was $27.7 million ($0.87 per share), compared to $27.6 million ($0.85 per share) in the first quarter of 2021. Adjusted earnings per share (or Adjusted EPS, a non-GAAP measure) was $0.91 per share in the first quarter of 2022, compared to $0.87 in the same period of last year.

• Adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP measure) was $61.0 million, compared to $60.7 million in the first quarter of 2021, an increase of 0.6%.