David A. Zapico
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at AMETEK
Thank you, Kevin, and good morning, everyone. AMETEK had an excellent start to 2023 with outstanding results in the first quarter. Continued solid demand across our diverse set of end markets led to strong sales in orders growth and another record backlog.
Our businesses delivered tremendous operating performance with record operating profit and robust margin expansion in the quarter. Additionally, we generated record cash flows and reported a portion of that cash flow on our first acquisition of the year, Bison Gear & Engineering. Given these results and the outlook for the remainder of 2023, we are increasing our sales and earnings guidance for the full year.
Now, let me turn to our first quarter results. First quarter sales were $1.6 billion, up 10% over the same period in 2022. Organic sales growth was excellent at 9%. Acquisitions added 2 points, while foreign currency was a slight headwind. AMETEK's continued strong organic sales growth reflects its success of our organic growth initiatives and our leadership positions across diverse and attractive niche markets. Demand also remains solid with overall orders growing 6% in the quarter. Organic orders were up low single-digit on a percentage basis against the difficult prior year comparison.
Book-to-bill was 1.13 in the quarter for our eleventh consecutive quarter of positive book-to-bill. We ended the quarter with a record backlog of $3.4 billion, an increase of over $200 million from the end of 2022. As noted, AMETEK's operating performance in the first quarter was exceptional. Operating income in the quarter was a record $405.5 million, a 15% increase over the first quarter of 2022.
Operating margins were a record 25.4% in the quarter, up 120 basis points from the prior year. Core operating margins which exclude acquisition dilution and the gain from our facility sale in the first quarter of 2022 were up an impressive 180 basis points with strong, core margin expansion in each group.
EBITDA in the quarter was $482 million, up 11% over the prior year and EBITDA margins were 30.2%. This outstanding margin expansion is a testament to the strength of our operating model, the differentiation of our businesses and the great work of our teams. This tremendous operating performance led to a high quality of earnings with diluted earnings per share of $1.49 up 12% versus the prior first quarter of 2022 and above our guidance range of $1.38 to $1.42 per share.
Now, let me provide some additional details at the operating group level. First, the Electronic Instruments Group. EIG delivered excellent sales growth and operating performance with sales up 13% versus the prior year to $1.12 billion. Organic sales were up 11%, acquisitions added 3 percentage points with foreign currency a slight headwind in the quarter. This strong organic sales growth is broad-based across our businesses and geographies with growth particularly strong across our aerospace and defense businesses in the quarter. EIG's operating profit was impressive resulting in a record operating profit in the quarter. Operating income was $309.7 million, up 27% versus the prior year, while EIG margins were 27.7%, up a robust 290 basis points from the prior year.
The Electromechanical Group also delivered excellent results in the quarter with solid organic sales growth and strong operating performance. EMG's first quarter sales were $479.9 million, up 2% versus the prior year with organic sales growing 4% in the quarter and foreign currency, a 2-point headwind. Growth was notably strong across our Aerospace & Defense businesses in the quarter. EMG's operating income in the first quarter was $120.5 million, and operating margins were 25.1%. On a core basis, excluding acquisition dilution and the gain from a facility sale in the first quarter of 2022, EMG margins were up 50 [Phonetic] basis points versus last year's first quarter.
So overall, tremendous performance by our businesses and all AMETEK colleagues. All elements of the AMETEK growth model, operational excellence, global and market expansion, new product development and strategic acquisitions are working well. These strategies allow us to quickly react to changing market conditions, invest in our businesses for long-term growth and deploy our capital on value-enhancing acquisitions.
Now, switching to our capital deployment and acquisition strategy. The primary focus for our strong cash flow remains strategic acquisitions. We are managing an active pipeline of attractive acquisition candidates, and we have a strong balance sheet and significant financial capacity to support this strategy.
I'm excited to announce our most recent acquisition, Bison Gear & Engineering. Bison is an excellent strategic fit with AMETEK's automation businesses having expand our presence within this attractive secular growth market. Bison is a leading provider of customized motion control solutions for use across a wide range of high-precision applications within the automation, food and beverage, power and transportation markets. Bison's portfolio of linear and motion control technology is highly complementary with existing technologies, providing an expanded product offering that enables wider and deeper market participation in attractive markets and applications, including growing electrification requirements. Bison is based in St. Charles, Illinois, and has annual sales of approximately $80 million.
In addition to our acquisition strategy, we remain focused on ensuring sustainable growth by investing in organic growth initiatives. This includes making strategic growth investments and driving broader adoption of -- digitalization and new product development.
For all of 2023, we now expect to invest approximately $100 million in support of these growth initiatives, including investments in research, development and engineering and sales and marketing. One way we celebrate and recognize the great work of our businesses, new product development efforts is through the AMETEK Innovation Award. This award is provided annually to the AMETEK business who best demonstrates breakthrough innovation of new technology driving expanded organic growth opportunity.
The most recent innovation award winner was our Creaform business for developing its innovative, new handheld 3D metrology solution, Peel 3. Creaform, based in Levy, Canada, is a leading provider of 3D portable and automated measurement technologies for applications such as reverse engineering, quality control, product development and non-destructive testing. The introduction of Peel 3 further expands the breadth of Creaform's metrology offering and makes high-end 3D scanning accessible to professionals and small enterprises, opening up a new attractive market segment.
In addition to the Peel 3, Creaform also recently added a new scanner to their HandySCAN 3D platform, the HandySCAN BLACK Elite Limited. The latest addition to Creaform's flagship metrology-grade 3D scanners set a new industry standard for handheld devices. I would like to extend my congratulations to the entire Creaform team for their innovative new products and ongoing efforts to push into boundaries and troughs [Phonetic].
Now turning into our outlook for the remainder of the year. We remain cautious in the short term due to uncertainties in the macroeconomic environment. However, given the strength of the AMETEK growth model and our proven operational capabilities, we are confident in our ability to manage through these challenges. The Company's record backlog and leadership positions across attractive, mid and long-cycle markets position us well for continued strong growth.
Given our strong first quarter results and outlook for the balance of the year, we are increasing our sales and earnings guidance. For the full year, we now expect overall sales to be up mid-to-high single-digits versus our prior guidance of up mid-single digits, with organic sales expected to be up mid-single digits.
Diluted earnings per share for the year are now expected to be in the range of $5.96 to $6.10, up 5% to 7% compared to last year's results. This is an increase from our previous guidance range of $5.84 to $6.00 per diluted share. For the second quarter, we anticipate overall sales to be up mid to high-single digits with earnings of $1.49 to $1.51 per share, up 8% to 9% versus the prior year.
In summary, AMETEK had an excellent first quarter. We delivered strong orders and sales growth, robust margin expansion, a record backlog, record cash flows and increased our earnings guidance for the year. The Company's differentiated technology solutions, market-leading positions in attractive markets and proven operating capabilities have allowed us to navigate through challenging economic cycles. Additionally, AMETEK's strong cash flows and robust balance sheet provide us meaningful flexibility to deploy capital to drive shareholder value. We remain well-positioned for continued long-term growth.
I will now turn it over to Bill Burke who will cover some of the financial details of the quarter. Then, we will be glad to take your questions. Bill?