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: I'm pleased to report that we delivered another strong quarter with excellent performance in both segments.
Our operations continue to do a great job for our customers with best-in-class delivery, quality and service.
I'm really proud of our employees and how they stayed focused on safety, productivity, cost savings in Lean Kaizen process improvements.
As a company, we delivered $235 million in revenue in the second quarter, growing revenues both year-over-year and sequentially and we achieved near record levels of profitability.
Gross margins of 43% and operating margins of 21%, our second highest quarterly margin performance.
We achieved GAAP earnings per share of $0.97 for adjusted earnings per share of $1.1 [Phonetic] and our best free cash flow quarter in the company's history, generating over $50 million in free cash flow in the second quarter.
We did face supply chain challenges in materials, cost inflation and logistics that our teams were able to manage through and successfully offset some of their impact on the bottom line and we'll keep an eye on these going forward.
We continue to pay down debt and have a healthy balance sheet, which enables investment in future growth.
As we've mentioned before, we're increasing our investment in research and technology across the company.
In general, we're encouraged by the economic recovery in key markets coming out of the pandemic slowdown.
We're cautiously watching how the delta variant might affect this recovery, particularly international air travel in the less-vaccinated regions of the world.
That said, long-term secular trends are favorable and Albany's market positions global footprint and product development take advantage of these trends.
In our Engineered Composites segment.
As domestic airline travel recovers, we expect to benefit from our position on narrow-body aircraft with LEAP engines in our partnership with Safran.
As we mentioned last quarter, we're working closely with Safran to coordinate ramping production as LEAP demand picks up on recovering narrow-body OEM production.
Our plans include hiring additional workers and preparing for increased production in our three LEAP facilities as we exit 2021 grow in the future.
We're very excited about Safran's recent announcement with GE to partner and development in the next generation RISE engine.
We view Safran as an important long-term customer and partner.
As we previously mentioned, we're investing more this year in R&D projects, particularly with new customers and new products, using advanced materials such as our 3D-woven composites, with the goal to diversify and grow our customer base, broaden our material science capabilities.
This ranges from our proprietary 3D-woven composites currently used on LEAP engine, fan blades and fan cases, to automated fiber placement composite wing skins for Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to complex components on the Sikorsky CH-53K helicopter.
We continue to develop applications for the Wing of Tomorrow program with airbus industries and along these lines, we are pleased to announce earlier this month our technology collaboration with Spirit AeroSystems to develop advanced 3D-woven composite applications for hypersonic vehicles.
This collaboration capitalizes on the unique capabilities of both companies to achieve superior hypersonic design solutions and efficient manufacturability using Albany's proprietary 3D-woven composite technologies, and it builds on our demonstrative ability to manufacture 3D-woven composites at commercial scale.
This is an exciting example of the types of new business and advanced technology programs we're investing in today to help secure our future long-term growth.
In the Machine Clothing segment, we're optimistic about recovering global growth, expect to benefit from long-term secular trends, which should underpin the demand for paper products.
Our Machine Clothing business has benefited as a leading supplier in the industry since we're well-positioned globally, particularly in the growing end markets for packaging and tissue products.
Our product development strategies, operational improvements and technical service continue to target these higher growth end markets.
Our operating teams have been firing on all cylinders and we expect to continue our strong execution in the second half of the year.
Let me say a few words about Machine Clothing's end markets.
Packaging, tissue, corrugated products, pulp and building products, end markets have remained the strongest sub-segments with packaging benefiting from increasing online shopping as retail goes through a fundamental shift worldwide.
In tissue, we may be in a transition phase whereby at-home demand settles down and people return to school, restaurants, offices, vacations, et cetera.
We have yet to see a pickup however, in the away-from-home paper markets for our belts, which should eventually improve.
Not surprisingly, publication grades continue their decline and only represented 16% of MC revenues in the second quarter.
Markets in North America and China robust while emerging economies are still grappling with COVID and low vaccination rates likely requiring more time to rebound.
In summary, our Machine Clothing segment continues to perform well, our operations are strong, taking advantage of the higher growth sub-segments and serving customers well around the world as a recognized global leader in the industry.
This success is a result of disciplined execution of our long-term strategy.
As I mentioned, we have a strong balance sheet and good free cash flow generation, which allows us to continue investing in the technologies and customer programs that expand and broaden our competitive position in both segments.
Our first priority for capital allocation is to invest in organic growth programs across both business segments and then to seek acquisitions that fill our long-term strategy.
Our reputation for reliability, service and technical excellence is well-established in Machine Clothing and our brand is growing in aerospace as a reliable supplier and engineered materials partner.
We're optimistic about the long-term opportunities in both segments.
I'll talk first about the results for the quarter and then comment on the outlook for our business for the balance of the year.
For the second quarter, total company net sales were $234.5 million, an increase of 3.8% compared to $226 million delivered in the same quarter last year.
Adjusting for currency translation effects, net sales rose by 1% year-over-year in the quarter.
In Machine Clothing, also adjusting for currency translation effects, net sales were up 0.8% year-over-year, driven by increases in packaging grades and engineered fabrics, partially offset by declines in all other grades.
Publication revenue declined by over 7% in the quarter and as Bill mentioned, represented only 16% of MC's revenue this quarter.
Tissue grades also declined over year-over-year due to a more normal level of demand for grades to support customer production for at-home use, resulting in the decline from the highs for those grades that we saw last year without significant recovery to date in the away-from-home product grades.
Engineered Composites net sales, again after adjusting for currency translation effects, grew by 1.3%, primarily driven by growth on LEAP and CH-53K, partially offset by a decline on the 787 platform.
During the quarter, the ASC LEAP program generated little over $25 million in revenue.
Comparable to the first quarter of this year, but up over $10 million from the second quarter of last year.
At the same time, we reduced our inventory of LEAP-1B finished goods by over 20 engine shipsets in the quarter, leaving us with about 170 LEAP-1B engine shipsets on the balance sheet at the end of the second quarter.
As you will recall, we previously recognized revenue on these engine shipsets and their value was reported under contract assets on our balance sheet.
Also during the most recent quarter, we generated about $3 million in revenue on the 787 program, up from less than $1 million in the first quarter, but down from almost $14 million in the second quarter of last year.
Second quarter gross profit for the company was $101.7 million, a reduction of 1% from the comparable period last year.
The overall gross margin decreased by 220 basis points from 45.6% to 43.4% of net sales.
Within the MC segment, gross margin declined from 54.5% to 52.9% of net sales principally due to foreign currency effects, higher input costs and higher fixed costs, partially offset by improved absorption.
For the AEC segment, the gross margin declined from 26.7% to 23% of net sales, driven primarily by a smaller impact from changes in the estimated profitability of long-term contracts.
During this quarter, we recognize the net favorable change in the estimated profitability of long-term contracts of just over $4 million.
But this compares to a net favorable change of over $7 million in the same quarter last year.
The favorable adjustment this quarter was principally due to a reduction as a result of changes in volume expectations to previously established loss reserves on a couple of specific programs and is therefore not necessarily reflective of ongoing enhancements to profitability.
In fact, as we previously discussed, the expected revenue declines this year in some of our fixed price programs are leading to headwinds to long-term program profitability this year.
Second quarter selling, technical, general and research expenses increased from $47.4 million in the prior year quarter to $51.8 million in the current quarter and also increased as a percentage of net sales from 21% to 22.1%.
The increase in the amount of expense reflects higher incentive compensation expense, higher R&D spending, higher travel expenses and higher foreign currency revaluation losses.
Total operating income for the company was $50 million, down from $52.7 million in the prior year quarter.
Machine Clothing operating income fell by $600,000, caused by higher STG [Phonetic] in our expense, partially offset by higher gross profit and lower restructuring expense.
And AEC operating income fell by $1.1 million, caused by lower gross profit and higher STG in our expense, partially offset by lower restructuring expense.
The income tax rate for this quarter was 30%, compared to 32.1% in the same quarter last year.
The lower rate this year was caused by the generation of a lower share of our global profits in jurisdictions with higher tax rates, partially offset by a higher level of unfavorable discrete income tax adjustments.
Net income attributable to the company for the quarter was $31.4 million, reduction of $1 million from $32.4 million last year.
The reduction was caused primarily by the lower operating profit, partially offset by the lower tax rate.
Earnings per share was $0.97 in this quarter compared to $1 last year.
After adjusting for the impact of foreign currency revaluation gains and losses, restructuring expenses and expenses associated with the CirComp acquisition and integration, adjusted earnings per share was $1.01 this quarter, compared to $1.09 last year.
Adjusted EBITDA declined by 5.8% to $69.4 million for the most recent quarter compared to the same period last year.
Machine Clothing adjusted EBITDA was $63 million, essentially flat compared to the prior year quarter and represented 39.4% of net sales.
AEC adjusted EBITDA was $19.3 million or 25.9% of net sales, down from last year's $22.8 million or 31.4% of net sales.
Turning to our debt position.
Total debt, which consists of amounts reported on our balance sheet as long-term debt or current maturities of long-term debt declined from $384 million at the end of Q1 2021 to $350 million at the end of Q2 and cash increased by just over $15 million during the quarter, resulting in the reduction in net debt of about $50 million.
Capital expenditures in the quarter were approximately $11 million compared to $9 million in the same quarter last year.
The increase was caused primarily by higher capital expenditures in Machine Clothing.
As we look forward to the balance of 2021, the outlook for the Machine Clothing segment remains strong.
Compared to the same period last year, MC orders were up 10% in the second quarter and up over 3% year-to-date.
We are also seeing some foreign currency tailwinds to our MC revenue, primarily driven by the strong Euro, although the recent strength in the dollar versus the euro means that we are unlikely to see the same foreign currency tailwinds in the back half of the year.
Overall, we are raising our previously issued guidance of revenue for the segment to between $585 million and $600 million, up from the prior range of $570 million $590 million.
From a margin perspective in Machine Clothing, we delivered another strong quarter with adjusted EBITDA margins of almost 40%.
We saw some increase in the level of travel during the quarter, but we are still not back to a normal level of travel and the segment's travel expense in the quarter was still almost $2 million, below the level in the same quarter in 2019.
So, we may see some additional pressure from that in the balance of the year as we continue with the return to normal.
We have also seen some pressure from increased input expenses both raw materials and logistics and expect these pressures to continue through the balance of the year.
We continue to work to offset the impact of these cost increases to the greatest extent possible by driving down our production cost through continuous improvement initiatives.
However, we do expect to see overall margin pressures in the back half of the year, driven by both increasing travel expenses and rising input costs.
At the start of the year, we had anticipated seeing foreign currency exchange rate pressures on MC profitability, particularly caused by the recovery in the Mexican peso and Brazilian real as the devaluation of both of those currencies in the middle of 2020 has provided us a bottom line benefit since we've more expenses than revenues in those currencies.
Year-to-date, we have not seen as much headwind from those currencies as we had expected and we have also benefited from the strong euro, a currency where we have more revenues than expenses.
As a result, overall year-to-date, foreign exchange rates have actually provided us with a modest adjusted EBITDA benefit compared to the same period last year.
However, based on current exchange rates, we will not see the same comparable foreign currency benefit in the back half of the year.
We are also cautious about the effects of a potential resurgence in COVID cases on segment results in the back half of the year.
As a result of all of these factors and the increase in revenue guidance, we are increasing our adjusted EBITDA guidance for the MC segment to a range of $210 million to $220 million, up from the prior range of $195 million to $205 million.
Turning to Engineered Composites.
We delivered a strong quarter aided by the net favorable adjustment to long-term contract profitability.
Absent that pickup, our Q2 results were consistent with what we had indicated last quarter, down from Q1, representing of what we had expected to be the trough for the year.
However, given the impact of the net favorable adjustment on the second quarter results, we now expect that Q2 will be the quarter with the highest segment profitability this year as we expect Q3 and Q4 profitability to be more in-line with what we delivered in Q1.
For the full year, we still expect 787 program revenue to be down over $40 million from the roughly $50 million generated on that program last year.
With Boeing's recent announcement of a reduction in 787 build rate, all but eliminating the possibility for any upside on that program later in the year.
We also still expect LEAP revenue to be in-line with prior expectations and roughly flat to last year.
However, on a more positive note, while F-35 revenue was down slightly in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, recent order volume has given us confidence that we will not see the full-year decline in F-35 revenue that we had previously expected.
Overall, due to the increased confidence in F-35 revenue, the adjustments to long-term contract profitability this quarter and improvements in several other areas, we are raising our guidance for segment revenues to be between $290 million and $310 million, up from the previous range of $275 million to $295 million.
From a profitability perspective driven by the same factors, we are raising our AEC adjusted EBITDA guidance to be between $65 million and $75 million, up from the prior range of $55 million to $65 million.
We are also updating our previously issued guidance ranges for company-level performance including revenue of between $880 million and $910 million, increased from prior guidance of $850 million to $890 million; effective income tax rate of 28% to 30%, unchanged from prior guidance; depreciation and amortization of approximately $75 million, the top end of prior guidance; capital expenditures in the range of $40 million to $50 million, down from prior guidance of $50 million to $60 million; GAAP earnings per share of between $2.84 and $3.14 increased from prior guidance of $2.38 to $2.78; adjusted earnings per share of between $2.90 and $3.20, increased from prior guidance of $2.40 to $2.80; and adjusted EBITDA of between $225 million and $240 million, increased from prior guidance of $195 million to $220 million.
Overall, we continue to be very pleased with the performance of both segments.
Both face challenges -- primarily rising input cost for Machine Clothing and recovering commercial aerospace market for the Engineered Composites segments, but both segments are overcoming the challenges and delivering strong results, which is a testament for the hard work by all of our employees across the globe.

user
albany international raises 2021 guidance.
sees fy adjusted earnings per share $2.90 to $3.20.
sees fy gaap earnings per share $2.84 to $3.14.
q2 adjusted earnings per share $1.01.
q2 earnings per share $0.97.
sees fy revenue $880 million to $910 million.
q2 revenue $235 million.

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