Kewaunee Scientific Corp., a designer and manufacturer of laboratory, health care and technical furniture, reported second quarter earnings that exceeded last year’s second quarter results.

Net earnings rose 16 percent to $1.724 million, or 62 cents per diluted share. Domestic sales levels remained stable, but the increased sales was the result of growth from the company’s international business.

Kewaunee delivered a large order, the largest single order in company history, to the Middle East in the second quarter.

The filing showed a 14.2 percent boost in sales for the quarter to $41.5 million from $36.3 million in the same quarter last year.

The domestic sales remained the larger contributor to revenue at $28.54 million, a 1.2 percent increase year over year, but international sales in the second quarter experienced a 59.3 percent increase to $12.93 million this year from $8.12 million in last year’s second quarter .

There were no analyst estimates.

The company has strong financials with $11.8 million of unrestricted cash on hand and $34.2 million of working capital at the end of the second quarter, compared to $7.6 million and $31.4 million respectively from the same time last year.

“Looking forward, our third quarter is typically our most challenging; however, we have a strong order backlog for the quarter and the remainder of the year,” said David M. Rausch, Kewaunee’s chief executive officer, in a statement. “We have successfully increased our manufacturing capacity in anticipation of this demand and expect sales and earnings growth to continue through the balance of the fiscal year.”

The order backlog is at a company record high of $118 million as of Oct. 31, the end of the second quarter. That is a 16 percent increase from the backlog at the end of fiscal 2017’s second quarter.

Shares opened at $30.20 on Wednesday, a 9 percent increase. However, the price has dropped slightly to $28.50 at the time of this writing Wednesday afternoon.