Badger Meter (BMI), an innovator in flow measurement and control products, has announced a 59.34 percent jump in profit for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2014. The company earned $4.63 million or $0.32 a share in the first-quarter, compared with $2.91 million or $0.20 a share a year ago.

Revenue during the first-quarter grew 16.28 percent to $83.50 million from $71.81 million in the last year period.

Gross margin contracted by 20 basis points over the last year period to 34.67 percent.

Total expenses as a percentage of revenues decreased to 90.79 percent from 93.42 percent in the same period last year, this resulted in improvement of 263 basis points in operating margin to 9.21 percent.

The company posted operating income of $7.69 million, compared with an operating income of $4.72 million in the previous year period.

''We are pleased with the first quarter results, especially the first quarter record sales, compared to last year's unusually weak first quarter. The sales increase was across the board, with higher sales of both residential and commercial municipal water products and flow instrumentation products,'' said Richard A Meeusen, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Badger Meter.

''Last year's first quarter sales were impacted by higher than average snow cover across the U.S. and Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast. Winter weather also had an impact on our 2014 first quarter in certain areas of the country, however much of our sales increase came from customers in states that were not as impacted by weather,'' added Meeusen.

''2014 is off to a good start, with a solid first quarter. We believe we are positioned for continued progress in the year ahead,'' he further added.

Cash flow

As on Mar. 31, 2014, Badger Meter's cash balance stood at $6.41 million, up by 69.21 percent or $2.62 million since Mar. 31, 2013.

Working Capital

Badger Meter witnessed an increase in the working capital. It stood at $30.54 million as at Mar. 31, 2014, up by $2.51 million or 8.97 percent from $28.03 million on Mar. 31, 2013. The company's current ratio decreased to 1.30 as at Mar. 31, 2014 from 1.31 on Mar. 31, 2013.

The company's cash conversion cycle (CCC) decreased to 129 days for first-quarter from 142 days for the last year. CCC is a liquidity metric which expresses the length of time (in days) that a company uses to sell inventory, collect receivables and pay its accounts payable. Decreasing or steady CCCs are good for business.

Days' sales outstanding went down to 56 days for first-quarter compared with 58 days for the last year. This indicates the company has shortened credit period to clients for making payment.

Days' inventory outstanding decreased to 103 days for first-quarter compared with 115 days for previous year. This suggests the company took less time to convert the inventory into sales.

While days' payable outstanding went down to 30 days for first-quarter from 31 days for the last year. This reflects that the company has made early payment to vendors compared to prior year period.

Debt Position

The company has witnessed an increase in short-term debt over the last year.

As at Mar. 31, 2014, the company's short-term debt stood at $73.87 million, up by 15.64 percent or 9.99 million from Mar. 31, 2013.

The company's total debt accounts for 22.82 percent of total assets on Mar. 31, 2014, compared with 22.27 percent on Mar. 31, 2013.

The company's debt to equity ratio remained almost stable at 0.37 for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2014 when compared with the last year.

Shares of Badger Meter rose by 67 cents or 1.28 percent to close at $53.19 on Wednesday.