CINCINNATI, Oct. 21 -- Multi-Color Corporation today announced financial results for the second quarter ended September 30, 2005, compared with the same period a year ago. Second quarter highlights included: - Net Sales increased 56% to $49.7 million from $31.7 million. - Net Income increased 22% to $2.1 million from $1.7 million. - Earnings Per Share (EPS) were up 20% to 30 cents per diluted share, from 25 cents. Compared to the prior year, strong sales and income from the Decorating Solutions Division were offset by lower profitability in the Packaging Services Division. The second quarter sales increase included $15 million generated from the NorthStar Print Group acquisition and $3 million generated from organic growth. "We are very pleased with the overall performance of our Decorating Solutions Division. We experienced an 11% organic growth rate generated by sales to new customers and growth with existing customers. Although our Packaging Services Division experienced a slight revenue increase compared to the prior year, its lower profitability was caused by less favorable mix and productivity issues; both related to the delay of customer components for the holiday gift set season," explained Frank Gerace, President and CEO of Multi- Color Corporation. Operating income of $3.8 million increased 33% compared to the prior year. Improvements in operating income resulted primarily from the sales increase and improved operating efficiencies in the Decorating Solutions Division. For the six month period ended September 30, 2005, Multi-Color's net sales of $96.4 million were 59% higher than the prior year. The organic sales growth rate was 9% and acquisitions accounted for $30.3 million or 84% of the increase in sales for the six month period. Net Income and diluted EPS increased 42% and 40% respectively, to $4 million and 59 cents per share for the six months ended September 30, 2005. "While we are disappointed in our Packaging Services Division performance in the first half of the year, the service mix and operating efficiencies have returned to historic levels in the third quarter. We expect to see continued positive results in our Decorating Solutions Division for the remainder of this fiscal year," concluded Frank Gerace.