Led by strong growth in the three of its four business units, Genuine Parts Co. said Thursday first quarter profit rose to $123.5 million, or 75 cents per share, compared with $121.6 million, or 71 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

The results met Wall Street's expectations.

The Atlanta-based company's units include EIS, its electrical business; Motion Industries, the industrial division; the automotive group; and S.P. Richards, its office supply firm.

"EIS had another fine quarter, generating the strongest sales growth among our four business segments," Thomas C. Gallagher, Genuine Parts' chairman and CEO said in a statement.

EIS' sales grew seven percent, followed by Motion Industries, which had six percent sales growth.

"We believe that both EIS and Motion are positioned to have another good year in 2008," Gallagher continued. "The automotive group reported a four percent increase in the quarter and this is their highest percentage growth since the second quarter of 2006, which is encouraging."

The one drag on earnings was the office supply business. Sales there declined two percent in the quarter, which the company said reflects weakness in the office products business.