Steph Disher
Chief Executive Officer at Cummins
Thank you, Todd and good morning. It's great to be here with you today to provide an update on our third quarter financial results and business highlights for
Atmus. The Atmus team achieved another quarter of superior performance by focusing on our customers and delivering technology-leading Fleetguard products. I am pleased with the progress we have made to establish Atmus as an independent company.
We are a purpose-driven company and our culture is shaped by our shared values. We have a clear strategy, which is beginning to deliver results. Let me now turn to an overview of our performance in the quarter. First, I will review our global market and provide you with a summary of our solid third quarter. We continued to see strong demand in our first big market in the third quarter, and we expect this strength to continue through the end-of-the year. In the aftermarket, as expected, we continue to see softening conditions, driven by lower freight activity and continued destocking by customers. Most of our customers have now worked through destocking and we expect this impact to now moderate through the end-of-the year. In the China market, there continues to be a sluggish economic recovery from last year, which is likely to persist through the remainder of the year.
Now let's review our third quarter results. Sales in the third quarter 2023 was $396 million, a decrease of approximately 1% from the third quarter of 2022. Lower volumes were partially offset by higher pricing and FX tailwinds. Adjusted EBITDA margin rose 40 basis points from the prior year to 18.3%. We were able to grow margin on slightly lower sales as pricing actions along with improved commodity and freight costs, drove margin growth. EBITDA has been adjusted for one-time separation costs, which were $7 million in the third quarter of 2023 compared to $2 million a year-ago.
Adjusted earnings per share was $0.52. And adjusted free cash flow was $50 million. We have adjusted free cash flow for $2 million of one-time capital expenditures related to separation. Our performance in the third quarter has enabled us to fully repay our revolving credit facility during the quarter. Additionally, we are also raising our full-year 2023 guidance. Jack will provide additional detail later in the call.
As I reflect on our performance, it is clear our people provide the foundation for delivering these impressive results. During the quarter, launched our first leadership catalyst event. This event brought together our top 75 leaders to engage them in leading the Atmus way. This enabled us to engage key leaders in our purpose, culture and strategy. The same for the event, we're empowered learning and customer focus. The energy and excitement I felt from my engagement with this group of extraordinary leaders fuels my passion to unleash the full potential of Atmus.
As I have previously highlighted, our growth strategy is focused on four pillars. Grow share in first-fit in core markets. Accelerate profitable growth in the aftermarket. Transform our supply chain and expand into industrial filtration markets. Our products and technology leadership form the cornerstone for growth in our core first-fit and aftermarket segments. Our iconic Fleetguard brand is recognized in the industry as being synonymous with premium products. We have a unique multichannel path to market. Our global presence, provides us a diverse customer base across truck, bus, agriculture, construction, mining and power generation end market. With over 80% of our business being aftermarket, we are well-positioned to deliver strong results through the cycle.
Our filters are available in over 45,000 independent aftermarket retail outlets. We will continue to grow the retail presence of Fleetguard products with expanded partnership and improved availability. Our delivery metrics continue to rise, providing our customers the right product at the right time. I have been impressed by our team's ability to drive superior performance in product availability.
Achieving our growth and delivery targets will be fueled by the continued transformation of our supply chain. In addition to the Brazil and Mexico distribution facilities, we brought online earlier this year, we expect our Dallas facility to be operational in the fourth quarter. As we progress through 2024, we expect additional facilities to be operational across multiple locations in Europe and Asia-Pacific, providing us with a greater ability to enhance customer satisfaction. We also continue to evaluate a robust pipeline of opportunities aligned with our strategy for inorganic expansion into the industrial filtration markets. While we are enthusiastic to execute on this opportunity, we intend to pursue this growth through a disciplined programmatic approach. I will continue to update you on our progress.
This is an exciting time for Atmus and our customers. I am confident we have the right strategy to deliver superior results, and we have a strong and agile team who are demonstrating accelerated execution of our plant. Now I will turn the call over to Jack.