Taking a look at our second quarter financial results, total sales were $4.8 billion, up 25% from last year and improved sequentially from plus 9% in the first quarter.
For your additional perspective our second quarter sales were 12% higher than in Q2 2019.
As a result, segment profit increased 35% and our segment margin improved 65 basis points to 9.2% which represents our strongest margin in two decades.
Adjusted net income was $253 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share were $1.74, up 32%.
Total sales for Global Automotive were a record $3.2 billion, a 28% increase from 2020, and up 15% from the second quarter of 2019, and marks the first quarter in our 93-year history with auto sales exceeding the $3 billion mark.
On a comp basis sales were up 21% and on a two-year stack comp sales were up 8.5%.
Automotive segment profit margin improved to 9.1%, up 30 basis points from 2020 and an increase of 90 basis points from 2019.
Turning next to our regional highlights, our GPC teammates in Europe built on their excellent start to the year achieving the strongest sales growth among our operations with comp sales up 34%.
The NAPA network continues to build and we have now more than 50 NAPA locations operating across Australia and New Zealand, in addition to our 400 plus Repco stores.
In North America, comp sales increased 20% in the U.S. and were up 12% in Canada, where lockdowns in key markets such as Quebec and Ontario have been headwinds for several quarters now.
The strengthening commercial sales environment is significant for us, as it accounts for 80% of our total U.S. Automotive revenue.
Total sales for this group were $1.6 billion, a 20% increase from last year, and up 7% from 2019.
Comp sales rose 16% and reflect the fourth consecutive quarter of improving sales trends.
A strong sales environment combined with the execution of our operational initiatives drove a 9.5% segment margin, which is up a 130 basis point from both 2020 and 2019.
The ongoing market recovery over the last 12 months is in-line with the strengthening industrial economy and the overall increase in activity we have seen across much of our customer base.
The Purchasing Managers Index measured 60.6 in June, reflecting healthy levels of industrial expansion and marrying trends we have seen throughout the majority of this year.
Likewise, industrial production increased by 5.5% in the second quarter representing the fourth consecutive quarter of expansion.
Several industry sectors stood out as their sales increased by 30% or more over last year, including equipment and machinery, automotive, aggregate and cement, equipment rental and oil and gas.
He comes to GPC with more than 25 years of technology experience with companies such as Macy's, Home Depot, Target and FedEx.
We visited a best-in-class distribution facility in the Netherlands that increased operating productivity by approximately 20% over the past few years with the automation investments and process excellence initiatives.
We received an update on the consolidation of 10 back office shared service centers in France to one national location in France to drive cost and process efficiencies, and we saw first hand the power and differentiation of the NAPA brand in the local market.
The M&A environment is active and we remain disciplined to pursue strategic and value creating transactions.
Total GPC sales were $4.8 billion in the second quarter up 25%.
Our gross margin improved to 35.3%, an increase from 33.8% last year or up a 120 basis points from an adjusted gross margin of 34.1%.
We estimate a 1.5% impact of inflation in automotive sales for the quarter and a 1% impact in industrial.
Our total adjusted operating and non-operating expenses are $1.3 billion in the second quarter, up 28% from last year and 28.1% of sales.
The increase in last year reflects the impact of several factors including the prior-year benefit of approximately a $150 million in temporary savings related to the pandemic.
The balance primarily relates to the increase in variable costs on the $1 billion in additional year-over-year sales.
On a segment basis, our total segment profit in the second quarter was $441 million, up a strong 35%.
Our segment profit margin was 9.2% compared to 8.6% last year a 65 basis point year-over-year improvement and up a 100 basis points from 2019.
We would add that for the full year, we continue to expect our segment profit margin to improve by 20 to 30 basis points from 2020 or 60 to 70 basis points from 2019.
Our tax rate for the second quarter was 27.2% on an adjusted basis up from 24.1% last year.
Second quarter net income from continuing operations was $196 million with diluted earnings per share of $1.36.
Our adjusted net income was $253 million or $1.74 per share, which compares to $191 million or $1.32 per share in the prior year, a 32% increase.
Our automotive revenue was $3.2 billion, up 28% from last year.
Segment profit was $291 million, up 33%, with profit margin improved to 9.1%, up 30 basis points from 2020 and a 90 basis point increase from 2019.
Our Industrial sales were $1.6 billion in the quarter, up 20% from 2020.
Segment profit of $150 million was up 38% from a year ago and profit margin improved to a strong 9.5%, a 130 basis point increase from both 2020 and 2019.
At June 30th, our total accounts receivable is up 4% despite the strong sales increase, this is primarily due to the additional sale of $300 million in receivables in the second half of 2020.
Inventory was up 10%, consistent with our commitment to provide for inventory availability and our accounts payable increased 26%.
Our AP-to-inventory ratio improved to 129% from 112% last year.
Our total debt is $2.5 billion, down $700 million or 22% from June of 2020 and down $160 million from December 31 of 2020.
We closed the second quarter was $2.5 billion in available liquidity and our total debt-to-adjusted EBITDA has improved to 1.6 times from 2.9 times last year.
We continue to generate strong cash flow with another $400 million in cash from operations in the second quarter and $700 million for the six months.
For the full year, we expect our earnings growth and working capital to drive $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion in cash from operations and free cash flow of $900 million to $1.1 billion.
We have invested $90 million in capital expenditures thus far in the year and we expect these investments to pick up further in the quarters ahead, as we execute on additional investments to drive organic growth and improve efficiencies and productivity in our operations.
We've used approximately $97 million in cash for acquisitions through these six months and we continue to cultivate a strong pipeline of targeted names and expect to make additional strategic and bolt-on acquisitions to complement both our Global Automotive and Industrial segments as we move forward.
Consistent with our long-standing dividend policy, we have also paid a total cash dividend of more than $232 million to our shareholders through the first half of this year.
This reflects a 2021 annual dividend of $3.26 per share and represents our 65th consecutive annual increase in the dividend.
Finally, as part of our share repurchase program, we have been active with share buybacks since 1994.
In the second quarter, we used $184 million to acquire 1.4 million shares.
The company is currently authorized to repurchase up to 13 million additional shares and we expect to remain active in this program in the quarters ahead.
With these factors in mind, we expect total sales for 2021 to be in the range of plus 10% to plus 12%, an increase from our previous guidance of plus 5% to plus 7%.
By business, we are guiding to plus 11% to plus 13% total sales growth for the Automotive segment, an increase from the plus 5% to plus 7%, and a total sales increase of plus 6% to plus 8% for the Industrial segment an increase from the plus 4% to plus 6%.
On the earnings side, we are raising our guidance for adjusted diluted earnings per share to a range of $6.20 to $6.35, which is up 18% to 20% from 2020.
This represents an increase from our previous guidance of $5.85 to $6.05.
This quarter's 25% total sales growth reflects the benefits of the strengthening global economy and positive sales environment in both our automotive and industrial businesses.

Summary:
Adjusted net income was $253 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share were $1.74, up 32%.
The M&A environment is active and we remain disciplined to pursue strategic and value creating transactions.
Total GPC sales were $4.8 billion in the second quarter up 25%.
We would add that for the full year, we continue to expect our segment profit margin to improve by 20 to 30 basis points from 2020 or 60 to 70 basis points from 2019.
Second quarter net income from continuing operations was $196 million with diluted earnings per share of $1.36.
Our adjusted net income was $253 million or $1.74 per share, which compares to $191 million or $1.32 per share in the prior year, a 32% increase.
For the full year, we expect our earnings growth and working capital to drive $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion in cash from operations and free cash flow of $900 million to $1.1 billion.
With these factors in mind, we expect total sales for 2021 to be in the range of plus 10% to plus 12%, an increase from our previous guidance of plus 5% to plus 7%.
On the earnings side, we are raising our guidance for adjusted diluted earnings per share to a range of $6.20 to $6.35, which is up 18% to 20% from 2020.