You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text. 
Text: Let's begin with the summary of results on Page 3.
As we guided back in September.
July August trends were positive and we are exceeding our internal forecast.
This dynamic continued through September.
In addition to the improving demand environment, we are very encouraged by our manufacturing operations and supply chain performance in the quarter.
This solid operation execution had two tangible benefits in Q3.
First, it increased our capacity to deliver a higher volume than expected from the backlog in our long cycle businesses, and as you see the positive impact to the top line.
And second, through a combination of mixed and fixed cost absorption, it drove a robust margin performance for the quarter.
Demand trends continued to improve sequentially across most of the portfolio.
The trajectory continues to vary by market, and I'll talk more about that, but our diverse end market and geographic exposure is clearly an asset to us in the downturn.
Revenue declined 5% organically and bookings were flat, with a third of our operating companies posting positive year-over-year bookings for the quarter, and more than half posting positive comparable growth in the month of September.
We are not out of the woods yet, but the trajectory is encouraging and we continue to carry a healthy backlog going into the fourth quarter and into next year.
We delivered strong margin performance in the quarter and year-to-date.
We achieved margin improvement in the quarter despite lower revenue, driven by our operational multiyear efficiency initiatives gaining further traction and by improved business mix, some of which we highlighted at our recent Investment Day, focused on the Pumps & Process Solutions segment and biopharma business in particular.
With the strong results to date, we expected to over deliver on our full-year conversion margin target and are now driving toward achieving a flat consolidated adjusted operating margin for the year.
Cash flow in the quarter was strong at 17% of revenue and 127% of adjusted net earnings.
Year-to-date, we have generated $117 million more in free cash flow over the comparable period last year, owing to a robust conversion management and capital discipline.
As a result of our performance in the first three quarters of the year and a solid order backlog, we are raising our annual adjusted earnings per share guidance to $5.40 to $5.45 per share.
We are not in the clear on the macro backdrop and performance remains uneven between markets, but we believe that our performance to date and the levers we have in our possession will enable us to absorb any possible dislocations in the fourth quarter should they materialize.
Let's move to Slide 4.
General industrial capital spending remains subdued in Q3, resulting in a 10% organic decline for an Engineered Products, driven by softness in capex levered industrial automation, industrial winches and waste handling.
Additionally, our waste handling business had the largest quarter ever in the comparable period last year, making it a challenging benchmark.
On the positive side, aerospace and defense grew double digits on shipments from a strong backlog and we've seen robust recovery in our vehicle aftermarket business after a difficult couple of quarters.
Productivity actions, cost actions and favorable mix minimize margin erosion in the quarter, nearly offsetting the impact of materially lower volumes.
And Fueling Solutions saw continued albeit sequentially slower growth in above-ground equipment in North America on EMV compliance and regulatory activity, whereas national oil companies in China continued to defer capital spending amid ongoing uncertainty.
Demand for below-ground equipment has improved sequentially as construction activity restarted, but remain subdued globally.
And in China, we are still weathering the roll off of the double-wall replacement mandate.
Margin performance in the segment was very good and a testament to the operational focus and capability of the management team and was achieved through productivity improvements, cost controls and favorable regional mix, more than offsetting volume under-absorption.
Sales in Imaging & Identification declined 8% organically due to continued weakness in digital textile printing.
We've seen improving demand for textile printing consumables, reflecting recovering in printing volumes, however, has been insufficient to prompt fabric printers to invest in new machinery.
We expect conditions to remain challenged for the balance of the year.
Marking and coding was flat on strong demand for consumables and overall, healthy activity in the US and Asia despite lingering difficulties with customer site access and service delivery.
Despite segment margins being down relative to the comparable quarter driven by digital printing volume and fixed cost absorption, margin improved in marking and coding on flat revenue was a result of the mix of effect on consumables and operational initiatives undertaken in prior periods, which also provide a solid base for incremental margins in 2021 as textiles recover.
Pumps & Process Solutions continued to demonstrate the resilience of its product portfolio, some of which we highlighted in last month's Analyst and Investor Day.
Strong growth continued in biopharma, medical and hygienic applications.
Plastics and polymers shipped several large orders from its backlog, which were initially slated to ship in Q4, getting it to a slightly positive revenue performance year-to-date.
Compression, components and aftermarket continue to be slow on weaker activity in US upstream and midstream.
Industrial pumps activity remained below last year's volumes, but has improved sequentially.
This was another quarter of exemplary margin performance in the segment, with more than 300 basis points of margin expansion driven by broad based productivity efforts, cost controlled and impacted businesses, favorable mix and pricing, which more than offset lower volume and some of the portfolio.
Moreover, the recovery was broad based.
Our food retail business, the largest in the segment, grew organically and restarted remodeling activity in supermarkets.
Belvac, our can making business began shipping against its record backlog, which we believe is in the early innings of a secular growth trend.
Heat exchangers were approximately flat with continued weakness in HVAC, offset by strength in residential and industrial applications, including semiconductor server and medical cooling.
Commercial food service improved, but margins remain impacted due to continued weakness and institutional demand from schools and similar venues, while activity and large chains have slowly recovered.
Cost actions taken earlier this year, as well as improved efficiency in volume more than offset the demand headwinds in food equipment, resulting at appreciable margin accretion.
We expect to continue delivering improved comparable profits in the segment in line with our longer term turnaround plan.
I'll pass it to Brad from here.
Let's go to Slide 5.
On the top is the revenue bridge.
Several of our businesses, including plastics & polymers, beverage can making and food retail returned to positive organic growth in the third quarter, while biopharma continued its strong growth trajectory from prior quarters.
FX, which had been a net revenue headwind for us since mid-2018, flipped in the quarter and benefited top line by 1% or $12 million, driven principally by strengthening of the euro against the dollar.
Acquisitions more than offset dispositions in the quarter by $3 million.
We expect this number to grow in subsequent quarters.
The revenue breakdown by geographic area reflects sequential improvement in each major geography, but particularly encouraging is the trajectory in North America and Europe.
The US, our largest market, declined by 4% organically due to softness in waste handling industrial winches and precision components, partially offset by a strong quarter in our above-ground retail fueling, marking and coding, beverage can making, and food retail businesses among others.
Europe declined by 4% organically, a material improvement compared to a 19% decline in Q2, driven by constructive activity in our pumps, biopharma and hygienic, and plastics and polymer businesses.
All of Asia declined 10% organically, while China representing approximately half of our business in Asia, posted an 8% year-over-year decline.
We continue to face headwinds in China in retail fueling due to the expiration of the underground equipment replacement mandate and slower demand from the local national companies [Phonetic].
Outside of retail fueling, we saw a solid growth in China.
Moving to the bottom of the page.
Bookings were nearly flat, down 1% organically year-over-year, compared to a 21% decline in Q2, reflecting continued momentum across our businesses.
In the quarter, we saw organic declines across four segments, but sequential improvement across all segments, and a particularly strong booking quarter for our Refrigeration & Food Equipment segment, driven primarily by record order intake in our can making business.
These orders relate to large projects that are mostly projected to ship in 2021 and 2022.
Overall, our backlog is currently approximately $200 million or 14% higher compared to this time last year, positioning us well for the remainder of the year and into 2021.
Note that, a material portion of the backlog increase was driven by orders in our can making business, which I mentioned above.
Let's go to the earnings bridges on Slide 6.
On the top of the chart, despite a $77 million revenue decline in the quarter, we were able to keep our adjusted segment earnings approximately flat year-over-year, a testament to our proactive cost containment and productivity initiatives that help drive 100 basis points of adjusted EBITDA margin improvement.
Some of the recent initiatives will continue supporting margins into 2021.
Going to the bottom chart.
Adjusted net earnings declined by $3 million, principally driven by higher corporate costs related to deal fees and expense accruals, partially offset by lower interest expense and lower taxes on lower earnings.
The effective tax rate excluding discrete tax benefits is approximately 21.5% for the quarter, substantially the same as the prior year.
Discrete tax benefits quarter-over-quarter were approximately $2 million lower in 2020.
Right sizing and other costs were $6 million in the quarter relating to several new permanent cost containment initiatives that we pulled forward into this year.
Now on Slide 7.
We are pleased with the cash performance, with year-to-date free cash flow of $563 million, a $117 million or [Indecipherable] over last year.
Our teams have done a good job managing capital more actively in this uncertain environment, and with the improving sequential revenue trajectory in the third quarter, we rebuilt some working capital to support the businesses and our customers.
Free cash flow now stands at 11.5% of revenue year-to-date, going into the fourth quarter, which traditionally has been our strongest cash flow quarter of the year.
I'm on Page 8.
Let's go segment by segment.
In Engineered Products, we expect similar performance as the third quarter.
Vehicle aftermarket had a very good Q3, as the business is able to deliver on pent up demand.
Notably, we have a tough comp in Q4 due to some promotional campaigns, but this is a business which has excellent prospects for 2021.
Activity in waste handling is picking up with private haulers, but orders placed are mostly for 2021.
We expect municipal volume to remain subdued for the balance of the year.
Demand is reaccelerating for digital solutions in the space and overall, we are constructive on the outlook for this business into 2021.
We are seeing some encouraging signs in industrial automation and automotive OEM markets, in particular, in October.
Aerospace and defense continues to be steady, most of what we plan to deliver in the next quarter is in the segment's backlogs.
We don't expect material upside and/or downside from our forecasts.
We expect margin to be modestly impacted by volume and negative mix relative to Q3, largely due to demand seasonality.
Fueling Solutions remain constructive finishing the year and into 2021.
As we've been guiding all year, we have a tough comp in Q4 due to record volumes in the comparable period.
Despite the top line headwinds, we expect to hold year-over-year absolute adjusted operating profit as a result of our efforts done on product line harmonization, productivity and pricing discipline.
We expect 2021 to be a good year as demand trends remain constructive for our above-ground and software solution businesses and we turn the corner on below-ground, fluid transfer and vehicle wash.
Imaging & ID should remain steady.
We saw robust activity in marking and coding exiting the third quarter and the backlog in the business is higher than last year.
Activity in serialization software space is also picking up nicely.
In digital print, demand for inks has picked up, which is a sign of improving printing volumes.
We are seeing a pickup in quotations for new machines, but we expect a few more quarters before we return to normal levels in this market.
In Pumps & Process Solutions, we expect current trends to continue for biopharma, plastics and processing, continuing the robust trajectory in pumps recovering to more normal levels, particularly in defense and select industrial applications.
Compression product lines within the precision components exposed to mid-and-downstream are likely to see continued weaknesses in Q4 as projects and maintenance continue to be deferred.
Overall, the Pumps & Process Solutions outlook is supported by segment backlog that is aligned with what we had at this point last year.
Let's get on to the last segment, Refrigeration & Food Equipment.
First, as I said, we were in the early innings of what we believe to be a multi-year secular build-out of can making capacity, as evidenced by our backlog, driven by the transition from plastic to aluminum containers and also the spike in demand for cans at home consumption of food and beverages.
In food retail, we delivered low teens margin for Q3, converting on our backlog, providing us a baseline to reach our 2021 margin aspirations.
Our backlog is beginning to build moving into 2021.
As you all know, this is a seasonal business, so Q4 volume and fixed cost absorption declines in Q4.
And frankly, it's all about 2021 from here and Q3 was a sign of good progress.
We have a robust backlog in heat exchanges and are constructive in this market.
Our capacity expansion projects are being completed and we have some interesting new products in the pipe.
Finally, in commercial food service, large chain should continue to support activity, but will not fully offset weakness on the institutional side.
Overall, for the segment, comparable profits and margins for the segment are forecasted to be up in Q4 to the comparable period.
With strong margin performance to date, we intend to deliver approximately flat year-over-year adjusted margin this year, despite a lower revenue base.
As you may recall, we entered the year with a program entailing $50 million in structural cost reductions as part of our multi-year program highlighted at our 2019 Investor Day.
We actioned more structural initiatives, which resulted in approximately $75 million of permanent cost reduction in 2020, leaving a $25 million annualized carryover benefit into 2021.
We view this as a down payment on the 2021 portion of our multi-year margin improvement journey.
And we'll update that with more to come on 2021 when we report the fourth quarter.
We expect robust cash flow this year on the back of solid year-to-date cash flow generation and target free cash flow margin at the upper end of our guidance between 11% and 12%.
Capital expenditures should tally up to approximately $159 for the year, with most of the larger outlays behind us.
In summation, we're raising our adjusted earnings per share guidance to $5.40 per share to $5.45 per share for the full year, above the top end range of our prior guidance.
We remain on the front foot in capital deployment posture with several bolt-ons closed last quarter.
We have multiple opportunities in the hopper, and we hope to report on those soon.
And with that, Andrey, let's go to the Q&A.

user
sees fy 2020 non gaap earnings per share $5.40 to $5.45.
trajectory of new orders continued to improve through q3 resulting in approximately flat bookings.
cautiously optimistic about balance of year and set-up for 2021.

assistant