Dentsply International Inc (XRAY) Q2 2019 Earnings Call Transcript
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Dentsply International Inc (NASDAQ: XRAY)
Q2 2019 Earnings Call
Aug 2, 2019, 8:30 a.m. ET

Contents:

  • Prepared Remarks

  • Questions and Answers

  • Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Dentsply Sirona Q2 2019 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] . Following management's prepared remarks, we will host a question-and-answer session, and our instructions will give at that time. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference call maybe recorded for reply purposes.

It is now my pleasure to hand the conference over to Mr. John Sweeney. Sir, you may begin.

John Sweeney -- Vice Presidnet of Investor Relations

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our second quarter 2019 earnings conference call. I'd like to remind you that an earnings press release and slide presentation related to this call are available on our website at www.dentsplysirona.com.

But before we begin, please take a moment to read the forward-looking statements in our earnings press release. And during today's conference call, we'll make certain predictive statements that reflect our current views about the future performance and financial results. We base these statements on certain assumptions and expectations of future events that are subject to risks and uncertainties. And our most recent Form 10-K list some of the most important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from our predictions.

Now with that, I'll turn the program over to Don Casey, Chief Executive Officer, Dentsply Sirona.

Donald M. Casey -- Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, John, and thank you for joining us on our earnings call. Overall, we are pleased with the second quarter performance and we remain focused on delivering the core elements of our restructuring plans that includes growth, margin improvement and organization simplification.

Second quarter internal growth reached 3% in line with the target we outlined last November. We feel good about our strong new product lineup, which we expect to deliver sales growth in the back half of the year. Our new simplified structure is improving, our efficiency and has enabled us to make significant progress against our headcount goals.

Today we reduced FTEs by approximately 1,000 heads giving us the flexibility to be more selective with new hires to drive key growth and strategic initiatives.

Second quarter gross margin was 58.2%, up 130 basis points compared to prior year. Operating disciplines contributed to an almost 300 basis points improvement in our adjusted operating income margin levels, which came in at 20.2 for the quarter. Our second quarter along margin level bears testament to the progress we have made in executing our restructuring.