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Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (AWI)

Q3 2015 Earnings Call· Thu, Oct 29, 2015

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Armstrong World Industries Incorporated Q3 2015 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will host a question-and-answer session and instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Tom Waters, Vice President, Treasury and Investor Relations. Sir, you may begin. Thomas J. Waters - Vice President-Treasury & Investor Relations: Thanks, Trisha. Good morning and welcome. Please note that members of the media have been invited to listen to this call and the call is being broadcast live on our website at armstrong.com. With me today are Matt Espe, our President and CEO; Dave Schulz, our CFO; Don Maier, CEO of our Worldwide Floor Businesses; and Vic Grizzle, CEO of our Worldwide Ceilings Business. Hopefully, you have seen our press release this morning and both the release and the presentation Dave Schulz will reference during this call are posted on our website in the Investor Relations section. I advise you that during this call we will be making forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual outcomes may differ materially from those expected or implied. For a more detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties that may affect Armstrong, please review our SEC filings, including the 10-Q filed this morning. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement beyond what is required by applicable securities law. In addition, our discussion of operating performance will include non-GAAP financial measures within the meaning of SEC Regulation G. A reconciliation of these measures with the most directly comparable GAAP measures is included in the press release and in…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of Stephen Kim with Barclays. Your line is now open.

Stephen S. Kim - Barclays Capital, Inc.

Analyst

Thanks very much, guys. First, I wanted to – thanks for all the color by the way. I wanted to see if we could chat a little bit about the ceilings business. One of your competitors recently talked about pricing in that segment being a little challenged, down year-over-year and I was wondering, we didn't really see as much in your results. So, I wanted to see if you could help us understand if there was any difference regionally and would you say that you – if you did see any increased competitiveness in ceilings on the pricing side that you would characterize it primarily at the lower end of the market or would you describe it somewhat differently? Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Hey, Stephen. I'm going to let Vic answer that. Vic?

Victor D. Grizzle - Chief Executive Officer-Armstrong Building Products

Analyst

Yeah. Hey, Stephen. Yeah. We did earn positive pricing in the quarter, which I was really pleased to see. We continue to earn the price on the back of our service and our quality levels. We don't mention this much but we have really put a big effort on improving our service levels especially on specials and customs, which are less price elastic, if you will. Our quality levels were at really all-time levels right now. And so, these are the kind of things that we continue to focus on. They allow us to go out and earn the pricing. And with lower inflation, we're continuing to exceed our price over inflation numbers that allow us to expand the margins that you're seeing. So, I'm very pleased with that. There was some increased price competitiveness and it was really kind of in pockets and regions around the country. I would say, it was mostly on the fringes and we did see it in the commodity segment in particular, but again it was in pockets and not necessarily broad-based.

Stephen S. Kim - Barclays Capital, Inc.

Analyst

Okay. I assume from that you meant pockets geographically?

Victor D. Grizzle - Chief Executive Officer-Armstrong Building Products

Analyst

Yeah.

Stephen S. Kim - Barclays Capital, Inc.

Analyst

Okay. Thanks. My second question relates to the flooring business. I guess in particular you mentioned some of the increased focus on glass-back vinyl and obviously there is the LVT expansion. And I was curious if you are finding that your increased focus in those areas of glass-back vinyl and LVT in particular, having any negative impact on pricing in those categories. And then also whether or not you've seen an increased focus from one of your competitors in the VCT area a renewed focus there having any impact? Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Steve. I'm going to – I'll ask Don to try that one. Don?

Donald R. Maier - CEO, Armstrong Floor Products, Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Analyst

Hi, Steve. Yeah, I think there is two questions in there to respond to. First of all, on pricing. Obviously, we're very focused on improving our share position in LVT, and as such, we have been very responsive to market pricing to be able to drive that. And thus far, we've been pleased with our momentum that we're seeing there. But we are responding to a very competitive and challenging cost environment as you're well aware, every other supplier, manufacturer out there is focused on this segment. In regards to the second part of your question, was the – refresh my memory. Yeah, on the VCT, sorry about that. On the VCT portion, we have had, certainly in the quarter, a nice benefit in some service issues from one of our competitors. We believe that that has really benefited us by really connecting with customers that historically have been doing business with others. And that's given them an opportunity to experience the service levels as well as the quality of our products. And so, we're very encouraged by the response that we've seen there. Having said that, we do believe our competitor will resolve that service issue. And so, that's not something that necessarily will repeat itself into 2016.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Keith Hughes with SunTrust. Your line is now open.

Keith Hughes - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc.

Analyst · SunTrust. Your line is now open.

Yeah. A couple questions. First, within ceilings in the United States, can you give us a number what price mix was up in the quarter and whether there was more price or mix contributing to the results? Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Dave? David S. Schulz - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: Yeah. Hi, Keith. This is Dave Schulz. So, thank you for your question. So, within ceilings, I would say that the overall price mix was about balance within ceilings business across the world.

Keith Hughes - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc.

Analyst · SunTrust. Your line is now open.

And regarding volume, I know you said volume was down. What was sort of the tone of business in the quarter on that and any kind of things you could tell us into October? Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Vic?

Victor D. Grizzle - Chief Executive Officer-Armstrong Building Products

Analyst · SunTrust. Your line is now open.

Yeah. Let me take that, Keith. I think overall volume – and I think your question is very specific to the U.S., is that correct?

Keith Hughes - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc.

Analyst · SunTrust. Your line is now open.

Much larger, yes.

Victor D. Grizzle - Chief Executive Officer-Armstrong Building Products

Analyst · SunTrust. Your line is now open.

Okay. Yeah, let me – so broadly speaking, let me just start there at the global level, our volumes were off globally versus prior year really driven by, I think, what Dave and Matt both mentioned are emerging markets. Both China and Russia were high-single digit contractionary in terms of volume, and that was a big headwind for us globally. We saw some positive in both Continental Europe and the UK. So, there is some mixed positive signals out there globally. India, as Matt mentioned, was up high double digits. So, we had a mixed bag outside the U.S. Inside the U.S., again, we continue to see what we talked about at the end of the second quarter, which is very uneven, regional performance in terms of new projects, mix versus R&R. So regional differences, and then the rate of improvement and we did see sequential rates of improvement in the first quarter to the second quarter and then into the third quarter. But even the rates of improvement across the regions vary. So, it's a very uneven and inconsistent recovery as we see it in the demand profile.

Keith Hughes - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc.

Analyst · SunTrust. Your line is now open.

Okay. And final question, there's been a lot of controversy in laminate flooring given the allegation and things going on here at Lumber Liquidators around formaldehyde and it's use on the product. Could you just review for everyone what – and I know you do a little bit of laminate, you primarily source it, can you kind of review for everyone what you've done in testing and any changes you made in testing in the last six months given the news has come out? Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Keith. Don, do you want to take that one?

Donald R. Maier - CEO, Armstrong Floor Products, Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Analyst · SunTrust. Your line is now open.

Yeah. Great question. We've always done significant testing on our products to ensure that they meet our specifications, but since this China source issue really hit back in March, we've expanded that comprehensive testing program to ensure that Armstrong products meet or exceed all of our industry standards. Since June, we've received the results of over 150 independent raw core and core deconstruction tests. And based on these tests, our strict certifications or specification requirements, we remain very confident that our laminate flooring products are safe, and as I said, meet or exceed all applicable standards really just as they always have.

Keith Hughes - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc.

Analyst · SunTrust. Your line is now open.

And to be clear, that is even with the deconstructive test, is that correct?

Donald R. Maier - CEO, Armstrong Floor Products, Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Analyst · SunTrust. Your line is now open.

That is correct.

Keith Hughes - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc.

Analyst · SunTrust. Your line is now open.

All right. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Michael Rehaut with JPMorgan. Your line is now open.

Unknown Speaker

Analyst · JPMorgan. Your line is now open.

Good morning. It's actually Jason (27:12) in for Mike. Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Good morning.

Unknown Speaker

Analyst · JPMorgan. Your line is now open.

First question is on the Wood Flooring. I was hoping you could provide a little bit more detail on the engineered wood availability challenges that you're seeing. How much of that you think specifically impacted sales during the quarter, and how do you see that part playing out through the rest of the year? And then on the margin front, I mean obviously lower lumber costs was a big driver of the improvement that you saw. So as you entered the fourth quarter where were you from a price cost standpoint? David S. Schulz - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: Yeah, great. So, first of all, the capacity constraints that we've been experiencing on the engineered side have been rather significant for the year. We have made three major focuses to address that. One is working on our Somerset facility and getting their throughput rates to a much higher level and we've made significant progress on that front and are very encouraged by the improvements that have been made there. Number two is, we reinstated our Vicksburg, Mississippi facility and brought that plant up in the quarter. And actually, I was proud to see that plant actually come on line about a month earlier than we had anticipated. And we have – on a much smaller degree have also done some selective sourcing with some domestic suppliers. So all of those have come together. As Matt mentioned in his comments, we do expect to see the capacity constraints to continue through the fourth quarter, however, let's say, we expect ourselves to be in pretty good shape as we enter into 2016. So nice improvement, I think as we progress through Q4. As it relates to the profitability piece, we have seen declining lumber prices that we haven't had to fully price back. And this has really been the key driver to our efforts – to our results. As well, though, we continue to focus our efforts on the higher end products, as well as the independent retailers and we're seeing that pay off as we continue to drive the mix improvement within the segment. We don't provide wood specific guidance and we haven't guided yet towards 2016 and we certainly can't control lumber costs, but we are focused on disciplined pricing in the marketplace, while maintaining our share position. We're also remaining focused on our strategy of driving higher mix of products and improving our plant operations.

Unknown Speaker

Analyst · JPMorgan. Your line is now open.

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Nishu Sood with Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open.

Nishu Sood - Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.

Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open.

Thanks. First question is for Vic, on the ceiling volume outlook, particularly I'm thinking about the U.S. The challenge in terms of understanding volume drivers for the last couple of years has been that repair and remodeling hasn't seemed to keep up with the pace of improvement in the new commercial construction. And now, it seems as though the levels of new starts have peaked as well and are coming down that activity. So, how should we think about things going forward? Is it going to continue to be on a lagged basis in your view or is this just the case that this cycle will never really get any legs behind it for repair and remodeling?

Victor D. Grizzle - Chief Executive Officer-Armstrong Building Products

Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open.

Hi, Nishu. Yeah, I think this market recovery has been very different in a lot of ways. And as we talked about and continue to see, it's been very uneven not just geographically, but across the segments. So, we talk a lot about the new construction office and that's certainly been a very bright spot and a great driver of the demand that we're seeing. But healthcare remains anemic really. Education was positive in the summer, but overall, it doesn't have the broad base to continue out of its seasonal periods. So, it's a very uneven profile as we see it right now. And then to your point around how those new projects and new construction projects were flowing through versus R&R activity, again, it continues to be very uneven. Until we get a broad based economic recovery in the U.S., the R&R activity is going to continue to be spotty and that's how we view it. And as we've outlooked, we need pretty healthy GDP level to be broad based enough to drive the R&R activity across all those segments, again, not just the office segments. So, again, it's a – just in summary, I think we're experiencing a very uneven recovery and therefore, a very uneven demand profile.

Nishu Sood - Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.

Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open.

Okay, thanks. Appreciate your thoughts. And then, a question for...

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Mike Wood with Macquarie Capital. Your line is now open. Mike Wood - Macquarie Capital (USA), Inc.: Hi. Thanks for taking my question. Just another question on ceilings. Year-to-date, if we look at your volume numbers, it would appear that you have ceded shares in the Americas. And I'm saying particularly, if we exclude the growth that you're getting in decorative architectural. Is that – are you attributing that or would you say that's due to pricing strategy and are you planning to react to hold or regain share?

Victor D. Grizzle - Chief Executive Officer-Armstrong Building Products

Analyst

Well, let me first start with saying, I'm not sure I would agree with the premise on the share comment. I mean, with the structure of this industry and the way this market is structured around a very large installed base, share movement between quarters is really impossible to measure. And anybody concluding share movement across a quarter, even a couple of quarters, isn't likely to come up with the right conclusion. So, I would just say that is context, but again, I think we continue to manage and maintain our share aggressively where we're faced with price competitiveness. And we plan to continue to do that, frankly. So, I think that our pricing policies are really geared around, as I was mentioning earlier, the things that we do to drive value for the customer, especially around our service and quality initiatives, and increasing the performance levels of our products overall like we launched earlier this week, the Total Acoustics product line. We're very excited about what that brings to the marketplace in terms of a high performance, Total Acoustics, both absorbing, high absorbing and high sound blocking characteristics, which is a high performance and a very new performance characteristic for architects to be able to choose from. So, those are the things we're going to continue to do to drive again the value creation in the market with the support of our customer base.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Bob Wetenhall with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Robert Wetenhall - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Hey, guys. Good morning and nice to see a lot of underlying things are trending in the right direction after you strip out the FX. I know you guys are getting ready for the spin and that creates a little noise, but I was hoping to – hope Vic and Don would just talk for a minute about how they're measuring performance in the business, is it based on EBITDA growth, is it based on segment EBIT or using a return on invested capital framework? Can you give us some help as investors in thinking about how you're evaluating performance of each of your businesses? Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Let me – Bob, it's Matt. Thank you for the kind words upfront. We haven't – before I pass it over to Vic and Don to comment, we haven't declared the long-term incentive plan, measurements or metrics for 2016 yet. That'll certainly be part of the announcement we make in the earnings call in February. But they can comment on how we're measuring the businesses today through the end of the year. Vic, we'll let you go first and actually, it's the same for both businesses, so – but any comments you guys want to make?

Victor D. Grizzle - Chief Executive Officer-Armstrong Building Products

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Yeah. I mean, beyond the financial metrics, which are very clear and we talk about these every quarter and there is no reason why the focus on these financial metrics won't continue to be the same ones. But underlying that, the innovation that we're driving in the business around new product development to bring higher value, higher performance products to the market, like I was just mentioning on Total Acoustics is what we're going to continue to drive and maybe even get even more laser focused on those kinds of things, make sure that we're driving the price over inflation and the metrics around that and mix up. I don't see those changing. In fact, we're going to continue to do the things inside the business, connected to our customer, they were going to help us maintain those. Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Don, anything to add?

Donald R. Maier - CEO, Armstrong Floor Products, Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Yeah, great. Same as Vic, really, ROIC is our long-term metric today. Internally, we incent short-term on EBITDA and obviously have a keen eye towards free cash flow. The softer side, we've really been focused on three areas as we prepare for the separation. One is really developing our growth strategy to get momentum build on our top line. Number two, getting our culture orientation focus more externally on to the consumer and the customer. And lastly, rebuilding our distributor and ASA channels presentation, which is really what drives our top line growth and that's what we've really been focused on as getting the top line momentum established. Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Just an additional comment on the long-term incentive plan. Our board in particular our comp committee has been very engaged and very involved in the development and the review of our thoughts around long-term incentive plans and measurements. And I would just say that we will continue to focus on identifying and driving the business a way that optimizes our alignment with our shareholder base. So that continues to be the guiding principles as we think about 2016, we look forward to sharing that with you in the earnings call in the first quarter. Thanks, Bob.

Robert Wetenhall - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Got you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Nishu Sood with Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open.

Nishu Sood - Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.

Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open.

Thanks. I wanted to ask a question for Don, on the residential side of things, particularly on repair and remodeling. Obviously, there are some concerns out there about pace of deliveries of new construction. And as you look across, I guess principally, your wood business and to a lesser extent in your resi business, your repair and remodeling trends have been good. So, if you split out the effect, for example, of the engineered wood availability, are you seeing that in your business and is your portfolio products is out there, you feel you're well positioned to capture that going forward?

Donald R. Maier - CEO, Armstrong Floor Products, Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open.

Thank you, Nishu. And sorry for the operator cutting you off there. I can tell you we're coming in with the second question there. So, I'll speak to wood. Sales are down largely due to the availability of our engineered wood products. However, sales of our solid wood products are actually up year-on-year and has been driven by the dynamics that you discussed. So, really as we are starting to see that, obviously, I guess it's below where I would like it to see it and very disappointed in the service levels on the engineered side, and look forward to getting that issue resolved here in the quarter so that we can really come back to the market in full force in 2016.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Scott Rednor with Zelman & Associates. Your line is now open. Scott Rednor - Zelman & Associates: Hi. Good morning. And this question is for Don on Wood Flooring. Previously, if you looked historically, double-digit EBITDA margins for this business was not out of question, it was probably pretty consistently you guys are printing (40:02) margins in that arena, and realizing this is just one quarter, but you're already back there with the volume challenges that you're having, understand there is a lot of moving pieces, and you guys are not going to give specific guidance. But, Don, as you look at this business going forward, now you've been at the helm there for a few quarters, is that an unrealistic expectation if you're able to get volume back there?

Donald R. Maier - CEO, Armstrong Floor Products, Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Analyst

So I guess I would limit my comments to really – we're sticking with the strategy we articulated, which is we do want to gain share back but we're being very selective on where we get that share gain back and so we're trying to drive that into those channels and product segments where we can see the kind of returns that you're referencing. So that unfortunately is something that evolves over time and is a pretty significant ground game for us. But I think that is the right strategy for our business and we are working that from all angles including our relationship with our distributors, with the national accounts as well as with our new product introductions.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Kathryn Thompson with Thompson Research Group. Your line is now open.

Kathryn Ingram Thompson - Thompson Research Group LLC

Analyst · Thompson Research Group. Your line is now open.

Hi. Thanks for taking my questions today. The first question is really more broadly on the cycle more than anything else, and using ceilings as the touch point for which to talk about the non-res cycle. In your earlier – your prepared commentary, you had said that North American sales had improved sequentially in the beginning of the year. Could you quantify on a volume basis what sales were up – sales volumes were up for ceilings, say, in the very beginning of the year and what type of trends were you seeing as the quarter came to a close? And then the second leg to this question is, in your opinion, where do you think we are in terms of non-res cycle at least in North America? Thank you. Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Go ahead, Vic.

Victor D. Grizzle - Chief Executive Officer-Armstrong Building Products

Analyst · Thompson Research Group. Your line is now open.

Okay. Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah.

Victor D. Grizzle - Chief Executive Officer-Armstrong Building Products

Analyst · Thompson Research Group. Your line is now open.

Hi, Kathryn. Yes, yeah, sequentially starting in the first quarter, and there is some seasonality to these numbers too, I know you know this from your experience from into the second quarter, third quarter being the seasonally strongest quarter of the year. We have seen sequential improvement. I mean all of the Dodge start data that everybody sees and has been reading about really since 2014 and the construction put in place numbers that really spiked in 2014. I think a lot of those lag periods now are coming – are expiring and a lot of those projects are starting to bleed through with a need for a ceiling. And so, as long as the R&R stays relatively soft, I think the demand profile for us is really going to come from that new construction segment. So, I don't think that you can draw conclusion about the overall cycle as a result of that. And we certainly aren't able to, and nobody has been able to call this recovery cycle very well so far. So, we wouldn't want to speculate on that. But it clearly has been improving as we see more of the new construction starts coming through in need of a ceiling. I hope that's helpful.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Ken Zener with KeyBanc. Your line is now open.

Kenneth R. Zener - KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc.

Analyst · KeyBanc. Your line is now open.

Good morning, gentlemen. Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Good morning.

Kenneth R. Zener - KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc.

Analyst · KeyBanc. Your line is now open.

Vic, I wonder and, Matt, given what happened in flooring with luxury vinyl tile where a very high market share structure that you had was dis-intermediated. You guys obviously have been addressing that. I wonder, when I'm thinking about ceiling tiles, because this really different end markets, so when you guys talk about the connection to the architect, I think that's obviously a very important and defensible position. But I wonder when it moves towards more perhaps commodity type applications. So, if it's for schools that are going to be lower price per tile or not necessarily healthcare, but maybe at the state level, right, to some other building. I assume, could you walk through how your relationship is more applicable in some verticals, because as you know, it's really the state educate – it's the state – the education and the healthcare that's been the weaker categories versus retail and office. So, is there something that you could point to that would say your relationship with the architect is just as strong or is it really that they have Armstrong in that school and they're just going to order the same tile again? Thank you very much. Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Hey, great question. This is Matt. Our relationship and the involvement with the architect and the design community, first of all, their involvement is significant across all four major commercial segments that we serve. You point to healthcare and education as two that have been a bit of a drag in the last year or two. But they both have very high specification requirements for either noise abatement, noise attenuation or absorption. So, performance still matters in both of those applications and continued development, and continued introduction of new product, in our case, is a differentiator. So, we spent a tremendous amount of time with the architects involved across all four market segments. And we think we are uniquely positioned in our industry to hold onto those relationships as they go forward. Clearly, having a large installed base particularly in education affords us a robust flow of products and it's a great annuity, and that in itself is a significant competitive advantage. But we spent a tremendous amount of time with architects across all four commercial market segments. We think that's a differentiator, demand creation still occurs there. And at the same time, we continue to differentiate ourselves with new products.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Will Randow with Citi. Your line is now open.

Scott Schrier - Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.

Analyst · Citi. Your line is now open.

Hi. Good morning. This is Scott Schrier in for Will. Can you talk about your free cash flow generation? It looks like you've been doing a good job with that managing your working capital. Is there anything that's going on there? Is that more of a function of, like you said, just the lumpiness? David S. Schulz - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: Yeah. Hi, Scott, it's Dave Schulz. Thank you for your question. Overall, I mean we are very focused on maintaining a suitable working capital for both of our businesses. So, it is a focus area, free cash flow generation is something that we track and measure very religiously as do most companies. So, I would say that for the quarter, we did have some lumpiness as it relates to some of those other items in the base period and in the current quarter. But if you take a look at our year-to-date cash flow, you can see that that evens out pretty well. So what I would say is that, we are very focused on getting our working capital investments down where we measure the days very closely as I already mentioned, and then obviously from a key – free cash flow basis, we're also getting the benefit of lower capital spending relative to the investments that we had made for plants primarily within Russia and with the LVT facility versus the prior year.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of John Baugh with Stifel. Your line is now open. John Baugh - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Thanks. I just had a quick question on WAVE. I believe you mentioned that was a contributor to earnings. What are the volumes doing at WAVE, is it different from ceilings? And are we benefiting from input cost there, steel down or any color? Thank you.

Victor D. Grizzle - Chief Executive Officer-Armstrong Building Products

Analyst

Yeah. WAVE was a positive contributor on earnings. This quarter, they had a very strong performance. As you know, the steel costs are coming down and that is helping margin expansion, but they also had – along with the U.S. market, they also had positive volume growth. So very good strong performance by that team in the quarter.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Bob Wetenhall with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Robert Wetenhall - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Hey. Just a follow-up and I think someone touched earlier on kind of like repair and remodel not being very engaged. I'm not looking for numerical guidance on EBITDA or anything, but I was hoping you guys could give a more defined characterization of demand trends on an underlying basis in North America. But do you feel like the commercial demand is choppy, or do you feel like it's just grinding slowly higher and we should think about unit volumes tracking at mid single-digit or low single-digit. I was hoping we can get some color on that both in flooring and in ceilings? Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Hey, Bob, I'm going to ask Vic to make a comment on commercial and then maybe Don to share some thoughts on residential. Before I do that, I want to offer the same apology to you that I think Don offered to Nishu in terms of – it seemed like you got cut off and as you were asking a question. So apologies for that but...

Robert Wetenhall - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

No worries. Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Do you want to comment on commercial, Vic?

Victor D. Grizzle - Chief Executive Officer-Armstrong Building Products

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Yeah. I think the – you mentioned the sequential improvement. Again, I think it goes back to the new Dodge starts that we've all been tracking since late 2013 and 2014 when we've continued to see positive growth in new construction starts. And so again, there is a pretty good lag period as we've talked about between a new construction start, to when they actually need the ceiling. And again, I think as we see positive year-over-year Dodge new construction starts and construction put in place numbers, that should – and that's what's been bleeding through here. I think that's driving the sequential improvement in addition to some of the seasonality that you normally get. So, yeah, the repair and remodel has again been very uneven and very spotty across the regions, and I don't think we can point to that to say that has been a volume driver across the overall U.S. market. It's been really the new construction and in particular office as we've mentioned before. Don? Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Don, any thoughts on residential?

Donald R. Maier - CEO, Armstrong Floor Products, Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Yeah. Similar themes, really new has been, I think, the primary driver behind the markets. Obviously, we were encouraged with a pretty strong Q1 and into Q2 as we discussed. I would say things have leveled off and as has been described is a bit lumpy from month-to-month. I would say, overall the markets are performing as we have outlooked and that continues for us in the month of October, which is pretty much behind us as well, so see a continuation of that as we enter into Q4.

Robert Wetenhall - RBC Capital Markets LLC

Analyst · RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Okay.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of David MacGregor with Longbow Research. Your line is now open.

Unknown Speaker

Analyst · Longbow Research. Your line is now open.

Hi, guys. This is Conor (51:36) on for David. I just wanted to explore the LVT business and obviously there's been an uptick in demand for LVT. Where would you see LVT as a percentage of the North American market and where that goes from here and also where does Armstrong fit in with that? Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Don, do you want to talk?

Donald R. Maier - CEO, Armstrong Floor Products, Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

Analyst · Longbow Research. Your line is now open.

Yeah. So, LVT is the segment within the hard flooring surface world that is really growing quite significantly both in commercial and residential applications. And so it is obviously strategically for us a key area of focus. We believe that we are, in both of our businesses, seeing either at or above market growth rates and what we've brought to market thus far and obviously are encouraged to – with bringing our new plant on line here in Q4.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Jim Barrett with C.L. King & Associates. Your line is now open. Jim R. Barrett - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.: Good morning, everyone. Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Good morning. Jim R. Barrett - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.: Dave, this is a question for you. Your hardwood costs, did they continue to decline throughout the quarter and can you give us as of quarter end or as of today where your average hardwood costs stand relative before the large inflation in that input? David S. Schulz - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: Sure, Jim, just bear with me one second. So, overall, what we've been seeing throughout the year here is, as we mentioned earlier, some relatively significant declines in overall hardwood. I would say that right now what we're seeing on the green oak flooring grade is probably in the range of $530 to $535 per 1,000 board feet. So, obviously, we have been able to benefit from the deflationary impact of both the lumber cost, but then as we mentioned earlier, we are seeing some acceleration in the margins primarily because of our inventory valuations that go along with that.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Justin Bergner with Gabelli. Your line is now open. Justin Laurence Bergner - Gabelli & Company: Good morning, everyone. Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Good morning. David S. Schulz - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: Good morning. Justin Laurence Bergner - Gabelli & Company: My first question relates to the general market backdrop for remodel and renovation spend in the ceilings business. Has Armstrong done any work internally to gauge whether the spending on lighting renovation is crowding out some of the spending on ceiling renovation, and if so, what have your findings been?

Victor D. Grizzle - Chief Executive Officer-Armstrong Building Products

Analyst

I'll take that. Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah, go ahead.

Victor D. Grizzle - Chief Executive Officer-Armstrong Building Products

Analyst

Yeah, so, the channel that gets influenced most by the dynamic that you're referring to is a channel that's actually growing faster for us than some of the other channels. And the incident rates on some of the lower level maintenance type activity in our data says that that activity is up. And so, I would say that's not or wouldn't be our conclusion that more spending on lighting has crowded out remodel or renovation expenditures for our products. It might even be the contrary to that based on the data that we're seeing. I hope that's helpful.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of George Staphos with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Your line is now open.

Alaxandar Wang - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Analyst · Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Your line is now open.

Hi. It's actually Alax Wang sitting in for George. Thanks for all the details. Just a question on ceilings, I know earlier in the commentary, you cited, I think, weakness in healthcare for North America commercial. As we look into fourth quarter into next year, can you just speak a little to the verticals, whether you're expecting the various end markets to be either more favorable or less favorable, the dynamics there? And just on a related point, you've done a really good job pushing price mix higher in ceilings, but just curious to see how much more can prices go up without a corresponding tension maybe on the volume front, particularly given some degree of increased competition, and to your point, Vic, a kind of choppy recovery? Thank you.

Victor D. Grizzle - Chief Executive Officer-Armstrong Building Products

Analyst · Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Your line is now open.

Yeah. First on the verticals, again, I would just refer you back to the same thing that I'm sure all of us were looking at, which are the construction put in place numbers by vertical and the new construction starts that Dodge publishes. Healthcare continues to be a very low level new construction year-over-year activity sector. So, I think you have to draw your conclusions based on those numbers and similarly for education. So as long as those leading indicators are anemic, I think that's what – we can all draw our conclusions on what we think the activity is going to be on those two sectors. So, as far as the pricing and the overall mix, again the market is trying to use the ceiling plane for higher acoustical performance and better aesthetics. And we're just working very closely with the customer base to make sure that we've got the right solutions and the right level of innovation to help them accomplish what they're trying to accomplish and again, we're committed to doing that, and we're – again, we're launching this total acoustics package over 60 different products to allow customers to not to have to choose between sound absorption or sound blocking. They can have both now for the first time. And we're very pleased about giving our customers this design flexibility and then the occupants of the building the flexibility to reuse, repurpose that space because they have a total acoustic solution. And that's the kind of innovation, that's the kind of a value creation that we want to push in a marketplace by meeting what customers really need in their end use markets. So, that's how I think – we focus and we think about price and again, coupled with good service, high quality, that's how we think we can continue to move to higher places.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Kathryn Thompson with Thompson Research Group. Your line is now open.

Kathryn Ingram Thompson - Thompson Research Group LLC

Analyst · Thompson Research Group. Your line is now open.

Thanks. How much of the choppiness or lumpiness that you're seeing do you think is tied to the type of projects we're seeing this cycle and/or bottlenecks in the channel such as particularly what we've seen in terms of labor shortage? And also follow-up, any change in order backlogs, I was just trying to sneak in my last question, any changes you're seeing in terms of orders in the quarter? Thank you. Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Kathryn. Yeah, we'll give you that second question as well. We'll have Vic respond.

Victor D. Grizzle - Chief Executive Officer-Armstrong Building Products

Analyst · Thompson Research Group. Your line is now open.

Yeah. Kathryn, it's really fundamentals in the marketplace that is driving – regional fundamentals that it's driving some of this unevenness and choppiness we believe, especially on the R&R. We also have done some research that would indicate the type of commercial projects, which are larger, are driving some different spike levels, if you will, or volatility region to region in some of the demand profiles. So it's a little bit of both, but I would really bring this back to, it's the fundamentals, regional fundamental differences that are driving some of the choppiness that we see. Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Good. Thank you. Thanks, Vic. Matthew J. Espe - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, everyone, for your interest this morning in your questions. I wanted to just take a second here to acknowledge Don and Vic's significant contribution on the call this morning. I think you can see why we're very excited to have them as the future CEOs of AWI and AFI. So with that, have a great afternoon.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in today's conference. That does conclude today's call. You may all disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.