Olivier Leonetti
Chief Financial Officer at Johnson Controls International
Thanks, George, and good morning everyone. Let me start with the summary on Slide 9. Total sales grew 4% with organic sales increasing 9%, comprised of 10% price and a modest volume decline. FX was a 6% headwind during the quarter, we saw strong performance across our longer-cycle field businesses, which grew 10% in the quarter. Our shorter-cycle Global Products business grew 7.7%, impacted by slowdown in residential demand. Adjusted segment EBITDA increased 15%, with margins expanding 140 basis points to 13.7%. Positive price-cost and improved productivity more than offset unfavorable business mix. Adjusted EPS of $0.67 was at the high-end of our guidance and increased 24% Year-over-Year.
During the quarter we absorbed an additional penny of FX headwinds, versus the prior guide. Free-cash flow, returned to the normal seasonal pattern with usage to start the year. In addition, inventory levels were impacted by softness in residential as well as continued supply-chain disruptions, which while improving impacted our ability to satisfy growing demand in commercial.
Turning to our EPS bridge on Slide 10, above all operations contributed $0.19 versus the prior year, including an $0.11 benefit from our productivity programs for which we are on-track to meet our targeted savings for the year. In the quarter, FX was a $0.04 headwind. Below-the-line higher net financing charges and corporate expenses were offset by a lower share count and favorable non-controlling interest.
Please turn to Slide 11, total orders for our field businesses increased 5%. As George stated earlier orders in the quarter were affected by timing, and COVID-related impacts in China. Order timing had the largest impact within our in-store business, which grew 1% in the quarter. We were encouraged by 10% order growth in our service business, driven by double-digit growth in both EMEALA and APAC. [Indecipherable] backlog remains at record levels [Indecipherable], 11% to $11.3 billion. An $800 million increase versus the prior year when growing $250 million sequentially. Our Global Products third-party backlog grew more than 30% over the prior year to $2.8 billion.
Let's now discuss our segment results in more details on Slides 12 and 13. Sales in North America, were up 10% organically, with broad-based growth across the portfolio. Our in-store business grew 12% with low-double-digit growth in both retrofit and new construction. Overall, edge back-in controls continues to gain momentum, growing mid-teens Year-over-Year, while finance security increased high-single-digits. Order timing mainly impacted North-America as orders increased 6%, with solid growth of 7% in our service business. New construction orders grew over 50% primarily in HVAC. In aggregate, fire and security orders grew low-single digits. Total backlog ended the quarter at $7.5 billion, that's 16% Year-over-Year.
Segment margins decreased 30 basis points Year-over-Year to 11.3%, as positive price-cost and ongoing productivity benefits were offset by unfavorable project mix. Whereas EMEALA grew 12% organically with strong performance in Applied Commercial HVAC and Fire and Security. Our service-based business was strong in the quarter growing mid-teens Year-over-Year, with recurring revenue contributing low-double-digit growth. Orders were up 5% led by over 20% growth across our Fire and Security platforms, which was partially offset by declines in HVAC and industrial refrigeration. Backlog was up 5% Year-over-Year to $2.2 billion. Segment EBITDA margins declined 310 basis points to 7.7% as a result of an unfavorable mix and due achieve price-cost, which offset favorable volume leverage and the benefits of cost-savings during the quarter.
Sales in Asia-Pacific, increased 7% driven by Mid-single-digit growth in our commercial HVAC and Controls platform. Service performed well in the quarter growing low-double-digits, benefiting from our shorter-cycle transactional business, primarily in HVAC and Controls.
China grew 1% in the quarter impacted by COVID-induced lock downs. As China continues to reopen, we are encouraged with the momentum building within that region. Orders declined 1% as low-double-digit growth in-service was offset by a decline in HVAC and Controls installation. On the whole installed orders declined 5% organically. Backlog of $1.6 billion declined 1% Year-over-Year. Segment EBITDA margins increased 40 basis points to 10.5% driven by positive price-cost and productivity savings, which offset lower volumes, and FX headwinds over the quarter. Thus in our shorter-cycle products business increased 7% in the quarter, benefiting from strong price realization of 11%.
Commercial edge HVAC product sales were up low-double-digits, with strength in light commercial driven by over 20% growth in North-America and EMEALA respectively. Applied HVAC sales were up low-double-digits, with continued demand in [Indecipherable] within our data center end-market. Outside of North-America, our Global residential HVAC sales were up low-single digits. North-America resi HVAC declined 20% as the overhaul market softened and we were challenged by unfavorable product mix in the channel. Our HVAC business grew mid single-digits, led by more than 25 [Indecipherable] applied within EMEALA. As well as strong demand from our Hitachi Commercial Heat Pump in EMEA.
Fire and security products grew high-single-digits in aggregate, led by continued demand in North-America and in the Middle-East for our fire detection products. EBITDA margins expanded 580 basis points to 20.3% driven by positive price-cost and the benefit of productivity savings.
Turning to our balance sheet and cash flow on Slide 14. We ended Q1 with $1.5 billion in available cash and net-debt at 2.2 times, which is -- which is within our target range of 2 to 2.5 times.
Now let's discuss our fiscal 2020 guidance on Slide 15. We were pleased with our start of the year and are encouraged by the continued strength and resilience in our order and backlog. Our backlog grew double-digits and remains at record level. We are providing Q2 organic sales guidance of approximately 10% growth with price being principal contributor. Segment EBITDA margin is expected to expand 100 to 110 basis points and adjusted EPS is in expected range of $0.72 to $0.74, which represents Year-over-Year growth of 15% to 18%.
On a full-year basis, we are raising the lower-end of the wide range we introduced to beginning the year. While we are encouraged with our strong start through the year and our current second-quarter outlook, we continue to take a cautious outlook for the full-year, given the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty. Our 40-year adjusted EPS guidance range of $3.30 to $3.60 representing growth of 10% to 20%. The top third of our EPS range signifies our base-case scenario. This accounts for normalized GDP growth, continued growth vectors acceleration and conversion of our existing backlog. The low end of this range provides a book-end reflecting a potential macro downside scenario, which accounts for potential degradation of global GDP that we believe will be offset by our resilient services and commercial market presence along with additional cost mitigation actions.
On the top line, we anticipate high-single-digit to low-double-digit organic growth with price [Phonetic] representing about 10%. We [Indecipherable] segment EBITDA margin expansion of 90 to 120 basis points as we continue to execute our higher booked margin backlog throughout the fiscal year. Full-year free cash flow conversion is expected to be between 80% to 90%. Operationally, we continue to improve our working capital management and expect further improvements from the gradual reduction of inventories as the supply chain normalizes.
As George mentioned, we are pleased with the strong start to the fiscal year. Once supply-chain descriptions continued to impact our Global Products business, we see positive momentum in our field-based services. Across our vectors of growth, our pipeline remains robust and we are well-positioned to capture secular tailwinds while continuing to improve our operational execution as we navigate through the first-half of the fiscal year.
With that operator, please open up the lines for questions.
