Operator
Operator
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Owens & Minor First Quarter 2015 Financial Results Conference Call. My name is Marcus and I will be your operator for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will be facilitating a question-and-answer session towards the end of this conference call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now like to turn the presentation over to your host for today's call, Mr. James Bierman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Owens & Minor. Please proceed, sir. James L. Bierman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thank you, Marcus. Good morning everyone and thank you for your interest in Owens & Minor. This morning, we will be reviewing our first quarter 2015 financial results. With me are Randy Meier, our Chief Financial Officer and Grace den Hartog, our General Counsel. But before we begin, Trudi Allcott will read a Safe Harbor statement. Trudi? Truitt Allcott - Director-Investor & Media Relations: Thank you, Jim. Our comments today will be focused on financial results for the first quarter of 2015, which are included in our press release. In our discussion today, we will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures. Information about these measures and reconciliations to GAAP financial measures are included in our press release and in the supplemental slide presentation, both of which are posted on our website. Also, our call today will be archived on the website. In the course of our discussion today, we may make forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risk and uncertainty, could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Please see our press release and our SEC filings for full discussions of these risk factors. And finally, we will be participating in the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Healthcare Conference on May 13 and UBS Healthcare conference on May 19. We look forward to seeing you in the coming months. Thank you. Jim? James L. Bierman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Trudi. I'd like to now call on Randy Meier for his presentation of the financial results. Randy? Richard A. Meier - Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer: Thanks, Jim and good morning everyone. I'd like to begin our conversation this morning with a review of our financial results. For the quarter, consolidated revenues was $2.39 billion, improved 6% from the same period last year. Excluding the impact of two acquisitions made in the fourth quarter of last year, consolidated revenues improved by 4%. On an adjusted basis, consolidated operating earnings improved $1.3 million to $50.9 million, or 2.13% of revenues. And looking at the segments, for the Domestic segment, first quarter revenues were $2.29 billion, improved 6.4% when compared to last year. Even after excluding the impact of revenues from the acquisition, Domestic revenues increased 4.7% for the quarter. Quarterly sales growth came from our larger healthcare provider customers as well as new customers offsetting declines from smaller customer accounts. Domestic segment revenues also benefited from improving market trend including stronger healthcare utilization rates. Domestic segment operating earnings declined by about $2.2 billion, when compared to the year before; as a reminder, when making comparisons, last year's first quarter included $5.3 million recovery from the settlement of a direct purchaser antitrust class action lawsuit in other operating income. While revenue growth generated improvements in gross margin, these gains were partially offset by increased expenses to support the strong sales growth. In the International segment, revenues declined by 1.8% for the quarter. However, excluding both the benefit of the packaging acquisition and the headwind of foreign currency translation, International segment revenue improved nearly 3% compared to the last year's first quarter. As we mentioned in our Investor Day, our growth this year would be somewhat lower than last year due to a transition of a multi-country customer from a buy-sell arrangement to a fee-for-service agreement. We continue to see about two-thirds of our International segment revenues are generated by fee-for-service arrangements. As for the International segment operating earnings, the team achieved positive operating earnings of $400,000 for the quarter. This is a significant positive swing from a year ago when the segment reported a quarterly operating loss of $3.2 million. We are pleased that the International team achieved positive results for the first quarter. We have made real progress in improving our performance by closing facilities, streamlining regions and reporting structures. These changes have enabled us to improve profitability and accountability across the network. At the same time, the integration of our Irish packaging company has gone well and we're pleased with the potential to leverage our European platform and further penetrate our existing customers with these services. We now support more than 4 million procedures each year with our combined packaging services. As we indicated last quarter, we have been engaged in talks with the UK customer about our business arrangement. After trying to reach consensus on our strategic operating agreement, we were unable to do so, and we determined that it was in our best interest to step away from this relationship. As such, we mutually agreed to a settlement and the termination of the existing agreement as of mid-March. Under the settlement, we entered into a transition services agreement which went into effect on April 1. Now that we are freed from this distraction, we can accelerate the return to growth and improve the profitability of the UK effort and our broader business in Europe. Overall, our International teams turned in a solid performance for the quarter. Now, turning back to our consolidated results for the quarter, while the adjustments to consolidated operating incomes (sic) [operating earnings] are outlined in the table in our press release, I would note the following. Acquisition-related charges were $2.6 million, resulting primarily from the integration costs such as severance to former management, IT-related costs, and other administrative expenses. As for the exit and realignment line, we reported charges of $7.3 million, resulting from ongoing efforts to optimize our operations in the U.S. and Europe as well as the ongoing strategic organizational realignment throughout our system. In our first quarter results, interest expense was $6.9 million reflecting the impact of last year's refinancing. Our tax rate was 44.4%, increased from last year's 40.8% due primarily from the impact of foreign taxes. On an adjusted basis, the quarterly tax rate was 37.4%. For the first quarter, operating cash flow was $169 million compared to $93 million for the same period last year. This also compares favorably on a sequential basis as the timing of the payments in the fourth quarter of 2014 caused us to use cash. The company continues to report strong consolidated asset management metrics such as DSO of 21.2 days and inventory turns of 9.7 times. Turning to the bottom-line, first quarter adjusted net income was $27.5 million, or $0.44 per diluted share, unchanged when compared to last year. Finally, our guidance for 2015 remains unchanged. We are targeting adjusted net income per diluted share of $1.90 to $1.95, which is consistent with our stated goal of 10% earnings per share growth for the year. Thank you. And with that, I'll turn the call back over to Jim. James L. Bierman - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thank you, Randy. This morning I'd like to reflect on our performance for the first quarter of 2015 and our positioning for the future, after which we would be pleased to take your questions. I continue to believe that the investments we have made over the last five years have positioned Owens & Minor for sustainable, profitable growth. With a network of more than 60 logistic centers spanning the U.S. and Europe, we have expanded our reach and added depth to our service offering with the acquisition of two packaging companies. Over this five-year period, we've more than doubled the size of our addressable market. With our expanded platform, services and capabilities and 8,000 dedicated teammates around the world, we're truly Connecting the World of Medical Products to the Point of Care. This quarter, I traveled extensively, meeting with our teammates and a number of key manufacturers and provider customers. I'm pleased and humbled by the enthusiastic support our initiatives are receiving in the marketplace. Healthcare companies that are positioning themselves to be relevant, long-term players find our value proposition compelling. They appreciate the assets we have aggregated and are discussing with us opportunities to collaborate to achieve positive change in the healthcare supply chain process. As for the quarter, we achieved the majority of our financial and operational goals, and we are essentially where we had targeted to be at this point in the year. With that in mind, let me share a qualitative update on our progress by commenting on the four components of our targeted growth for 2015 that we highlighted during our December Investor Day event. First, let's start with our Domestic segment excluding the packaging business. Our team posted strong operational results for the quarter, while we successfully brought online our Southern California regional distribution center. This regional facility further enhances our ability to leverage our comprehensive logistics network. Domestic revenue growth of 4.7% was excellent although, we do acknowledge that it was compared to a weak 2014 first quarter. For the next component of growth, let's look at our International segment excluding the packaging business. Operational improvements and a series of strategic investments led to improved profitability for the quarter after the team worked through the challenges of last year. Achieving breakeven status in the first quarter of this year was a key milestone for us and resolution of the uncertainty relating to the UK customer reduces some of the inherent variability around achieving our targeted results. As for the third component, the two packaging company acquisitions that we closed in the fourth quarter of 2014, we are slightly ahead of schedule in realizing our targeted cost synergies. During the quarter, we worked through the initial integration activities with both companies. As planned, we closed the former headquarters building in Long Island of our Domestic packaging business. Excitement in the market continues to grow about the new dimension this capability brings to both our provider and manufacturer customers. Our offerings will continue to evolve and expand as the market adapts to the changing times. In terms of the last component of growth that we highlighted, improving our tax rate, our adjusted results for the quarter were in line with our expectations for the year. Starting 2015 on such a positive note, help set the tone for the rest of the year. Our teams are very focused on executing and achieving their annual goals. As we look at the continuing evolution of the healthcare market, we believe that we offer the greatest value to the healthcare customers that seek the advanced supply chain services that we offer. These customers, providers and manufacturers alike are motivated to partner closely with us to achieve real improvement in their supply chains. They come to us knowing that we will provide the solutions, the expertise and the techniques that achieve a sustainable, competitive advantage. 2015 is a year of execution for Owens & Minor, as we begin to harvest the return on a series of investments we've made in recent years. Today, Owens & Minor's greatest asset is our teammates, working on three different continents, dedicated to serving our customers and as a result, win market share and grow our presence in healthcare. Thank you. And with that, we'll now take your questions. Operator?