Florida-based Superior Uniform Group Inc. (asi/339857) reported strong third quarter sales in its BAMKO-led (asi/131431) promotional products division – a fact that’s helping fuel Superior’s desire to expand in the ad specialty space through future acquisitions.

In an earnings release, Superior Uniform said its promotional products segment increased net sales 74% during Q3 2017 compared to Q3 2016. Organic sales growth was 66% during this year’s third quarter, which ended September 30. BAMKO’s August acquisition of Los Angeles-based Public Identity Inc. fueled the remaining eight points of increase. Pleased with the performance of its promotional products division, Superior Uniform is looking to grow its reach in branded merchandise. “We are actively pursuing additional acquisition opportunities in promotional products and are working through a solid pipeline of candidates,” said Superior’s CEO Michael Benstock.

While The Office Gurus, Superior Uniform’s remote staffing solutions division, generated a 37.1% net sales increase in the third quarter, total net sales for Superior only rose 3.8%, to $67.8 million, during Q3. That was a result of net sales in Superior’s “uniforms and related products” segment decreasing 6.3%.

“Third quarter results were negatively impacted by the significant hurricane activity during the quarter,” said Benstock of the uniform segment’s sales decline. “While we were able to essentially mitigate the impact on our own operations, the disruptions in our customers’ businesses resulted in delays and postponements in orders and shipments. It is difficult to determine precisely what was hurricane related; we can specifically identify over $2 million in programs that have been delayed as a result of the hurricanes and pushed into the fourth quarter of 2017 at the request of our customers.”

In further reporting 2017 Q3 performance, Superior Uniform said that total net income for the quarter increased to $5 million, or $0.33 per diluted share. Net income was $4.4 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, in 2016’s third quarter. Through the first nine months of 2017, Superior Uniform Group’s total net sales are $194,365,000, up 3.4% compared to first nine months of 2016.