Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions). Our first question comes from the line of Robert Spingarn from Credit Suisse. Please proceed.
Robert Spingarn - Credit Suisse
Good morning.
W. Nicholas Howley
Good morning Rob.
Robert Spingarn - Credit Suisse
Greg, I think you just said that the SG&A as a percentage of sales is pretty consistent. But I've noticed if I look back at the last several quarters, it's actually declined despite acquisitions. Is there any reason to stop declining on a percentage basis?
Gregory Rufus
No, there's a little bit of lumpiness. We had a little more professional fees in this quarter. But it wasn't a major increase, Rob, but even as you saw the trend it has been coming down. We're leveraging our fixed costs a little bit better than we did in the past.
Robert Spingarn - Credit Suisse
Okay. Nick, to the segment performance, I think both you and Ray and Greg actually all of you talked about the moving pieces. But could you speak a little bit again? I didn't catch the percentage increase in defense. I think I got the dollar amount, but what's going on there with little bit more specificity in terms of the defense aftermarket, why the strength, why the comps get topped to the back end of the year?
Gregory Rufus
Well the numbers -- Rob just our -- let me just, I think it's 15% for the quarter-over-quarter and 17% year-to-date. Yes those are just the rough numbers. I would say Rob it is the helicopters, a lot of demand for helicopters and ground vehicle parts and repairs. But I can't -- it's a rising tide. If you look across almost all our product lines it's rising. We're just spending more (ph) --
Robert Spingarn - Credit Suisse
And this started in the middle of the prior fiscal year, so that's why see the comps --
Gregory Rufus
Talking about the comps, if you look quarter by quarter you would see the second half of last year was significantly higher from the first half. So...
Robert Spingarn - Credit Suisse
And so it sounds like you are looking for a kind of mid to high single digit defense growth in the second half to average out, I don't know it sounds like about 12 or 13.
Gregory Rufus
What we said was low double digits, and what we said -- you kind of have to do your own math there.
- To read the full transcript on Seeking Alpha, click here »
