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Brunswick Corporation (BC)

Q3 2017 Earnings Call· Sat, Oct 28, 2017

$79.72

-0.59%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to Brunswick Corporation's 2017 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Today's meeting will be recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I would now like to introduce Ryan Gwillim, Vice President, Investor Relations.

Ryan Gwillim

Analyst

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. On the call this morning are Mark Schwabero, Brunswick's Chairman and CEO; and Bill Metzger, CFO. Before we begin with our prepared remarks, I would like to remind everyone that during this call, our comments will include certain forward-looking statements about future results. Please keep in mind that our actual results could differ materially from these expectations. For the details on the factors to consider, please refer to our recent SEC filings and today's press release. All of these documents are available on our website at brunswick.com. During our presentation, we will be referring to certain non-GAAP financial information. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures are provided in the reconciliation sections of the consolidated financial statements accompanying today's results. I would now like to turn the call over to Mark.

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

Thank you, Ryan, and good morning, everyone. Today, I will focus my remarks on our third quarter results as well as provide insights into the global Marine and Fitness markets. Bill will elaborate on our financial performance, including comments pertaining to our segments as well as our P&L and cash flow expectations. I'll then wrap up with our outlook on the remainder of 2017 and a preliminary view on 2018. As we look to the fourth quarter and assess our business opportunities and risks, despite facing challenges in the second half of the year, we are confident in our ability to execute in this environment and believe that 2017 will result in another year of strong revenue and earnings performance, along with excellent cash flow generation. With about 90% of the Marine season complete, we have seen the U.S. Marine market largely perform consistent with our expectations. Overall demand in international Marine markets also remains strong. Our emphasis on product leadership continues to position us to capitalize on the growing Marine market. Our largest business, Mercury Marine, continues to leverage this market growth into outstanding performance and resulting share gains through overall operating excellence. And almost all of our boat brands, including Boston Whaler and Lund, continued to report strong results. However, we're not without certain challenges and are disappointed with our overall third quarter results. We faced certain headwinds in the quarter, which led to a decline in boat earnings. As previously discussed on the second quarter call, we significantly lowered production in our large fiberglass sterndrive/inboard boat category as we meaningfully reduced pipelines from second quarter levels in response to the weak demand over the last several quarters. In addition, during September, Hurricane Irma disrupted our Florida-based manufacturing operations. In our Fitness segment, results trailed our expectations as…

Bill Metzger

Analyst

Thanks, Mark. For the third quarter, sales in our combined Marine segments and Fitness segment increased by 5% and 2%, respectively. From a geographic perspective, consolidated U.S. sales increased by 3%, while sales outside the U.S. on a constant currency basis increased by 6%. By region, sales on a constant currency basis increased by 4% in Europe while Rest of the World sales were up 8%. Year-to-date, sales in our combined Marine segments and Fitness segment increased by 8% and 6%, respectively. From a geographic perspective, consolidated U.S. sales increased by 6%, and sales outside the U.S. on a constant currency basis increased by 11%. By region, sales increased by 8% in Europe while Rest of the World sales were up 13%, both on a constant currency basis. Turning to our Marine Engine segment, third quarter sales increased by 7%. From a geographic perspective, sales in the U.S. and Europe increased, reflecting growth in outboard engines and parts and accessories. Rest of the World sales were up 16% compared to prior year on a constant currency basis, with 12% excluding acquisitions. Growth was driven primarily by increases in Asia Pacific and Canada. On a product category basis, the outboard engine business reported strong sales growth in the quarter. This performance reflects a favorable retail demand environment, particularly for higher horsepower engines and continued benefits from share gains in targeted saltwater, repower and commercial markets, reflecting benefits from recently launched products. Third quarter sterndrive engine sales declined slightly as the demand environment continues to be affected by the shift to outboards and unfavorable global retail demand trends. As some of this market continues to transition to outboard propulsion, we believe that our expanded outboard engine portfolio, distribution channels and service capabilities are well positioned to capitalize on this opportunity. Mercury's parts…

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

Thanks, Bill. Starting with revenue, our consolidated plan reflects growth rates in 2017 of approximately 7% for the year, which is slightly lower growth rate in the fourth quarter. Our Marine Engine segment continues to perform as anticipated, and we expect our collective Marine businesses to continue to generate solid top line growth over the remainder of the year. We also plan for our Fitness segment to report fourth quarter sales growth, consistent with the third quarter growth. Gross margin percentage will be down for the year, but not to the same degree as our year-to-date comparisons. Operating margins are anticipated to decrease modestly with operating leverage in the mid- to high-single-digit percentage range. We are lowering our guidance for the year to $3.85 to $3.87. This adjustment reflects our third quarter results and our view that certain market headwinds faced in the third quarter in our Fitness and large fiberglass sterndrive/inboard boat businesses will continue to impact the fourth quarter. Despite these headwinds, 2017 is expected to be another year of strong revenue and earnings performance, along with excellent cash flow generation. Looking to 2018, we anticipate the market challenges facing the Fitness segment and large fiberglass sterndrive/inboard boats will continue to affect these businesses. Consequently, we're adjusting our 2018 full year expectations of diluted EPS as adjusted to $4.20 to $4.40, a decrease from the EPS target communicated as part of the 2016 to 2018 three-year plan. This revised target represents a mid- to high-teens pretax earnings growth and reflects the continuation of our share repurchase activity, consistent with our plan, but does not reflect any additional M&A activity. We will have additional commentary on '18 at next month's Investor Day and on our January earnings call. We're very disappointed that we're below our initial targeted range and…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from Tim Conder from Wells Fargo.

Tim Conder

Analyst

Mark or Bill, whoever wants to take this, is there a way that you can parse the impact of the manufacturing disruptions in your boat business here in Q3, Q4 versus the -- what's been ongoing large boat sluggishness? And any impact from that from therefore, we would anticipate that, that should not repeat itself looking into next year? But if you could break that down a little bit. And then, are you seeing any slowing in any of your brands outside of the large boats, I guess that would be a question. It doesn't appear that way but just wanted to ask that directly.

Bill Metzger

Analyst

Tim, I'll take the questions. The first -- I'll take the last one first. I would say, we're still seeing very strong activity in all of our outboard-based businesses, led by Whaler, Lund and others. Outside of the boat business -- outside of the large fiberglass boat business, we're pretty happy with where the market trends are at the present time. Just trying to size for you the impact of the large boats versus hurricanes, if you -- the metric we gave in our prepared remarks on the Boat segment comparisons for the third quarter being affected by 11%, about a third of that impact was due to the hurricanes and the other two thirds was the impact of big boat reductions.

Tim Conder

Analyst

Okay, okay.

Bill Metzger

Analyst

Does that help size the -- and I would say, Tim, just to close the loop on some of the impact of the hurricanes, as we sit around and think about our performance against where expectations were for the quarter, the hurricane was about responsible for a little under half of our shortfall versus expectations and kind of Fitness volume was the other portion of the shortfall.

Tim Conder

Analyst

Okay. So, then I guess, here -- on a look forward basis, we would say that as you get that replacement business and so forth and you get back to maybe retail that was postponed in the August, September period, we should see both normalized and outside of the large boats really -- and the hurricane impact here, there's really nothing else going on with boats. So, on a continuing basis, it's just the large boat concerns. Is that a fair characterization?

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

Yes, that's a fair characterization, Tim.

Tim Conder

Analyst

Okay. So then, I guess that brings us to Fitness here. Obviously, then, what you were seeing in the core club market and competitive situation, you needed further restructuring charges, which you took her even after integrating Cybex and everything was done there. So maybe walk us through that. And then how are you looking to pivot here from what you're seeing in what could be a secular shift within that core club market?

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

Well, I think the -- let me kind of go from the latter part of the question forward. As we've said, we more or less see a flat global demand. Europe, in particular, has been down. The flip side is Asia has been up nicely, but when you really get into the things impacting the business, I mean, fundamentally, the gross margins on the business are pretty good but without the volume that we anticipated getting, that's largely leading to the shortfall Bill just talked about. So what kinds of things are really going on there? One, we've been trying to reallocate resources and deal with the cost elements of this, and we've been doing things around restructuring and the operating excellence. But the other part of it has really been around the things on new products and technology, and we're really excited about -- and we've been getting great feedback about the new line of cardio products we're in the midst of bringing out and then the new products that'll happen in fourth quarter and into the first quarter under the Cybex brand. So, I think it's a combination of making sure our cost and things are really in line, but the other part is really making sure that the new products we have are hitting the mark and the technologies we're capable of bringing out are going to help traditional clubs and others, stimulate them to get into some of the replacements or other things that they're going to see products that have value relative to doing some refreshers and upgrades.

Bill Metzger

Analyst

Tim, on your restructuring question just to follow up. The majority of the charges that we took related to our announcement that we were going to discontinue and get out of the InMovement business, which made up quite a bit of the charge. And then we've got -- if you remember, we're in the process now of transitioning manufacturing from the Medway, Massachusetts facility, that's completing here in the third quarter and there are some charges associated with that. So, we've kind of got some residual and ongoing transition costs associated with what we're doing with the manufacturing footprint. Plus, we've got some charges that we took in connection with our decision to get out of InMovement.

Tim Conder

Analyst

Okay. And last question, related to that then. If it's a permanent shift potentially going on in what the core clubs are apparently seeing, how can you take your current product portfolio or are there new things in development that can help you with hospitality, government, maybe the rehab hospital type of market? And then if that does occur, do you see getting back to the original growth that you participated? Or have we adjusted now down to a new normal that you think going forward here in the broad Fitness business?

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

I don't think we're adjusting, Tim, to a new normal. I think if you look from a much longer term, there's always been a bit of dips and things relative to changes within that -- within the market. And the reality I think is that as we can get new products out there, people will adapt to this changing environment. And if you take the hundreds of thousands of pieces of equipment out there and the change, we're just positioning ourselves that we've got a product and a technology solution that we're going to get more than our fair share of that market. And with the new products and the resources we're allocating on the technology side, we're really comfortable. The other thing I'd point out is, what we've said is that the majority and the bulk of the flatness is really dealing with the traditional club. In general, things like multi-family housing, hospitality, education, those markets are just fine.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Scott Stember from CL King. Please go ahead.

Scott Stember

Analyst

Just the -- further parsing out the impact from the hurricane. I just want to make sure I understood this. You were saying that at least versus where your expectations that half of the miss or half of the weakness here compared to what we were looking for was related to, I guess, you said that one third of the 11% for the hurricanes and the other two third just the ongoing piece of that you're talking about for the boat business, just cutting costs or just cutting production.

Bill Metzger

Analyst

Correct. So, the hurricane impact was about -- it's a little under half of the gap between expectations and where our reported EPS was. So, call it, if it's a $0.09 gap, it's in the $0.04 range, just to, I guess, be direct on the question. And then you're correct with the revenue that about two third of that 11%, the 11% impact that I cited on both segment sales, about one third of that was related to the hurricane.

Scott Stember

Analyst

And then just further breaking that out, you said that, I guess, 25% of your sales were impacted. I guess, so this is assuming that this is really Hurricane Irma in Florida more than anything else, correct?

Bill Metzger

Analyst

No. I'd say you've got to separate this, Scott, into two pieces. First is our manufacturing operations and what we were able to produce and ship were affected by the hurricane. The retail comment has more to do with what part of the retail market over the last four months of the year is going to be affected by the hurricane. So that 25% of the remaining 15% of the year is kind of the -- as you start to think about what the impact on retail might be over the last four months of the year, that's the right way to think about it. But they're two very separate sort of a thing. Part of it was our inability to produce product because we had people who had to evacuate, come back and then it took us a day or two to get operations up to full strength. So that's really what we're talking about here.

Scott Stember

Analyst

And then did you mention when you will be all caught up with production, where you need to be?

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

We didn't say when. But the comment is that essentially, we were running and had expectations for the quarter and our production schedule. So clearly, the catchup's going to carry from fourth quarter a little bit into '18, Scott.

Bill Metzger

Analyst

Although I'd just add on to that, that the place where our Boston Whaler fiberglass outboard businesses were probably the most affected. They're in a position where they can get largely caught up by the end of the year. The other two operations were tied to the sport yacht business. We're probably not going to get -- that's not anything we're going to get caught up with. That flows into '18.

Scott Stember

Analyst

Got it. And obviously, with your retail sales in the quarter picking back up, I guess part of that is reflective of the supplier constraints that you had in the pontoon business clearing up? Is it fair to assume in the fourth quarter that, that should be 100% taken cared of?

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

Yes. As we said in our comments, Scott, the only place we think we're probably down a little in share has been in the pontoon area. That's behind us. So essentially, we'll continue with our growth rates exceeding the market on the other areas of the business.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from David MacGregor from Longbow Research. Please go ahead.

Brandon Rolle

Analyst

This is Brandon Rolle on for David MacGregor. First question I had was just on the retail sales growth, very strong. We all knew Florida was going to be impacted by the hurricanes. But could you talk about some of the other regions and the growth rates you saw there, like in the Northeast, and maybe some of the coastal markets?

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

My comment would be that fundamentally, the rest of this -- I know it's a broad statement to hear, but the rest of the market really performed and behaved pretty much as we expected. I'm going to give you a little caveat. From the start of this year, we've talked about SSI lagging. And we've got particular strength in the upper Midwest. And I would tell you there's still probably a lag in the reporting in the upper Midwest that we believe we're doing better than what's been reported to date. But the rest of the regions were all pretty much in line with how we've laid out the year and how we've talked on prior calls. The comments, specifically, are more around Texas, Louisiana and Florida, particularly as we talk about the hurricane side.

Brandon Rolle

Analyst

Okay. And also, just on the engine business, you had talked about investing more for new product introductions. I know you may not want to touch on this, but would those product introductions maybe include a refresh, maybe in the 400 horsepower, where Yamaha is coming out with a new engine as well?

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

Well, we'll talk more about the product plans when we're together at the '18 through '20. But it's no secret, we're investing significantly in a product program. And we get -- Bill and I get really excited about our opportunity there. But no, I can't really talk about it yet.

Bill Metzger

Analyst

We want to talk about it, but we can't talk about it.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from James Hardiman from Wedbush Securities. Please go ahead.

James Hardiman

Analyst

So, I don't want to beat a dead horse with the hurricane, but I think you did a great job quantifying the impact for the third quarter. Certainly, it seems like the fourth quarter result is also coming down versus the way you previously thought about it. Is there a hurricane impact there? Or is that all Fitness and, I guess, other boat issues? And then I guess, as we look to 2018 -- sort of similar question, I'm assuming there's no hurricane impact in 2018. But as we think about the new $4.20 to $4.40 versus what you previously had, maybe talk a little bit about the segments. I'm assuming engines are still as good or better than you'd previously assumed. Clearly, there's some Fitness coming down, is the boat outlook coming down as a result of all that?

Bill Metzger

Analyst

Yes, I would say, James, to talk to some of this stuff but the -- on the boat -- on the 2018 sort of preliminary view, that -- the biggest contributor to kind of the reset there is our view of what revenue growth and margins are going to be for the Fitness business into 2018. And we're also a little bit less -- there's a little bit of an effect there of our view of the big boat business continuing to, I'd say, stabilize and operate at levels that we're seeing here in 2018 -- in '17. But with a view that we're probably going to be shipping at wholesale below retail for some period of time into '18 until we see some sort of change in what the market's doing. And that's one of those, James, where if the market starts behaving a little bit more favorably, perhaps we might do a little bit better. But our view today is that that's the market that's going to continue to be a little bit more challenged. In that sort of an environment, we're probably going to be operating at wholesale below retail. And when you think about your fourth quarter comment, it is probably an equal amount of the fourth -- third quarter shortfall in Fitness probably equal to what we're going to see in Q4. And the other gap in the boat business is really a little bit more of a conservative view and prudent view on large sport yachts and yachts, where we're not seeing production come back to the levels that we had initially planned on the July call. So, part of that is driven by our view of hurricanes and just the fact that we have not seen things come back.

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

And James, I'd add one other comment that we said, but I want to make sure that it's clear to everyone is, the $4.55 to $4.95 was our -- a strategic view of '15 into 2018, and that is the strategic view. When we -- I want to remind you when we talk about the next year's number, we never talk about any acquisitions that we have not yet completed. So, when we talk about $4.20 to $4.40, that's nothing beyond acquisitions we've already done. The $4.55, $4.95, clearly, would have some -- because it's a strategic number, it would have some acquisitions in it. I want to point that out as well.

James Hardiman

Analyst

But just so I'm clear, if we were to include the acquisitions, are we still at $4.55 to $4.95? Or is it -- I'm assuming it's still something meaningfully less than that?

Bill Metzger

Analyst

No. I mean, if we're just executing against normal bolt-on activity, James, it would incrementally improve the number, but it wouldn't necessarily get you to $4.55 to $4.95.

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

That's correct.

James Hardiman

Analyst

Got it. And then on the big boat side, I just want to clarify, when you talk about wholesale being beneath the retail, it's just in the big boats, I'm assuming. Is that right?

Bill Metzger

Analyst

That's correct.

James Hardiman

Analyst

Okay. Three months more...

Bill Metzger

Analyst

Yes, what we've tried to do on the -- sorry, what we've tried to do with some of our comments is this big boat thing is a dollar issue. It's not a unit issue, right. The units are a very, very, very small fraction of what goes on with pipeline in our reported wholesale and retail units. So, you really need to look at them separately.

James Hardiman

Analyst

Got it. So, as I think about that, the big boat issue, you've had another 3 months to maybe think about why that's happening. Any new theories as to what's making that ultra-wealthy consumer turn away, tax reform maybe, could that help? And any new theories as we -- we've got a few more months to digest all this?

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

Well, James, I'm going to give two answers. One, we're talking the 41 to 65. I'm not sure that's ultra-wealthy from the category of who the buyer is there. I mean, just a clarification. But I don't think there's going to be...

James Hardiman

Analyst

I see it as ultra-wealthy, but point taken.

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

Yes, yes.

James Hardiman

Analyst

Wealthier than me. A lot wealthier than me, how about that?

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

The feedback is from dealers that are in that segment, it's more around -- it's not that there's not a customer out there, it's more about it's just taking longer and longer to close deals. And that could be things around trades, it could be any number of things but -- so I'm not sure it's -- the environment in Washington could have some impact, but I don't think anybody knows for sure.

Bill Metzger

Analyst

James, I will point out that within the next two weeks, we'll have the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show. That's obviously a fairly important selling show for boats of this type. Sea Ray generally will hold their yacht expo towards the end of November, that's -- I mean, we're going to get some real live input here in the fourth quarter that should give us a little bit clearer view of where the consumer is there and where the market's going.

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

And that's going to really let us dial in. I mean, typically, we'd be talking about the '18 number on the January call, but we thought it was important to get it out there now and in advance of the Investor Day.

Operator

Operator

And our next question comes from Michael Swartz from SunTrust.

Michael Swartz

Analyst

Just quickly, I wanted to ask on the -- some of the boat issues we had in the quarter but with the hurricane. Did that have any corresponding impact on the engine business as well in terms of when they would have booked some of their revenue?

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

Well, yes. I mean, the intercompany sales, it's got to be a sold boat for a boat -- for the engine guys to count it as an engine sale. So, there's some minor impact, but again, less than 20% of -- in total, it's only a small portion of the engine business goes to Brunswick, and then the other part of that equation is mostly other places were all in markets and environments and things that weren't impacted. So big boats don't have Mercury engines in them and the Whaler stuff, as we've said, will have some catch up [to it yet]. But the engine business really had very little impact from the hurricane.

Bill Metzger

Analyst

Although we did have some P&A business that we -- was either lost or deferred because we've got distribution operations in Florida and the Houston area that probably felt a little bit of it, so.

Michael Swartz

Analyst

Okay. And then just on the Fitness side, I'm just trying to kind of get a sense of maybe what happened or when you saw it happen during the quarter. Because typically, I was under the assumption that you had pretty good visibility in the back half of the year by the time you got to late July, and typically give second quarter guidance. So just trying to understand better what changed and really when it changed.

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

Yes. The clarification, what we've said is we get a 60 to maybe 90 days visibility. That's about all the visibility we have on that business in terms of orders. Now we get some strategic view that somebody will say, they plan to refresh X or open Y. But in terms of actual orders, it's a shorter horizon. So, one was when we started really -- that's a point of visibility. But in terms of when we started really seeing, it was probably early September in terms of maybe those orders not being where we thought they were going to be. But the margin piece of the equation, I mean, from a price and competitive market, that's really -- it's really the specific geographic areas. And that's live, literally, as deals are happening and being conducted, you're seeing that stuff going on. But I would tell you that at the point we were looking at third quarter in the July call, we didn't have visibility to the degree that we were impacted in the third quarter.

Bill Metzger

Analyst

And Mike, the only thing I would point out is that September is when the business really ramps up for the end of the year. There's a pretty marked change between July, August and then the September sales levels. So that's when a lot of the sales decline occurred. And I would just say, on the margin side, we had -- really hadn't expected the margin environment to maybe stabilize. It got a little bit more challenging than we originally expected. But some of this, we had already incorporated into our guidance and plan for the year.

Michael Swartz

Analyst

Okay. And then just a final question, just clarification on some of the comments you've made around Fitness and timing of sales. It sounds like you had some revenue shift from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, any way to quantify that? And then, Mark, I think you said that growth in the Fitness business for the fourth quarter year-over-year would look similar to the third quarter. Are you talking about organic growth or all-in growth of 2%?

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

No, I was talking about the organic growth.

Bill Metzger

Analyst

We really don't have any acquisition impact in Q4, Michael, so it's all organic.

Michael Swartz

Analyst

And then any clarification on the shift?

Bill Metzger

Analyst

If you take a look, we isolated our comments to Europe. And it was a portion of the reason why Europe was down 5% year-to-date. It would get to a point to two points of growth for the business.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Joe Altobello from Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Joe Altobello

Analyst

I guess, since we're talking about Fitness, I'll start here. Obviously, the change in the competitive landscape in Europe impacted this quarter. But it doesn't sound like it's changed your long-term outlook. I just want to clarify there. Is there any change to that long-term outlook of high single digit growth and maybe 15-ish percent margins for that business?

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

Joe, I think -- I don't think it would be -- I don't think it's changed our long-term view of the business nor where our expectations of where we can get margins to. I think it has pushed it out a little bit. I don't think it's going to happen in the exact same time frame. But strategically, we still believe that all the fundamentals around this business are the right kind of fundamentals. And the other part is the fact that things we're working on from a technology perspective, we believe will help. But I'd encourage you to come to the Investor Day here in less than two weeks, and we'll spend a lot more time laying out the longer-term view as part of that meeting.

Joe Altobello

Analyst

It sounds like the price pressure that you saw was predominantly on cardio, which is in sync since you guys just did the cardio refresh. So, I was curious if that was a reflection on the success of that launch at all?

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

No. Let's be real clear. You're correct, it was on cardio, but it was really all on current production, not anything to do with new products. In fact, it was existing product that has been out and around there for a while that we were feeling more pressure on, not new product.

Joe Altobello

Analyst

And just lastly, your free cash flow guide, no change there. It implies a pretty big number in the fourth quarter, which is fairly unusual seasonally. Help us understand where that comes from.

Bill Metzger

Analyst

Yes, some of it's the working capital. Build reverses and CapEx is timed a little bit differently and you've got, obviously, some earnings improvement embedded in there. Those three things will get you to a better fourth quarter number.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Greg Badishkanian from Citi. Please go ahead.

Greg Badishkanian

Analyst

Just on the Fitness side, in terms of the challenging global environment that pressured sales and margins that you've talked about, just could you -- how has that changed since, let's say, the beginning of the year?

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

Well, I think a couple of things. It's -- earlier in the year, we saw some mix shifts going on between some of the product side, but the Europe became more prominent as we've gone through the year, both in terms of the makeup of the customer that's buying the product there as well as the competitive environment that we're operating in over there. I mean, some dynamics have changed in that market, Greg, as we went through the year.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Seth Woolf from Northcoast Research. Please go ahead.

Seth Woolf

Analyst

I wanted to ask you about the Fitness business. I don't want to belabor the point, but ex acquisition, it was flat. And at the beginning of the year, the narrative in the Fitness business was how we would see the new products drive acceleration. Now we're talking about additional challenges. So, does that mean if it wasn't for the new products then the business would be even softer? Or did that not have an impact? And then just kind of digging through this a little bit further, are the new products not having the impact that you envisioned or is it still a function of the weaker market?

Bill Metzger

Analyst

Well, I'd say, early in the year, the timing was probably a little heavier in Q3 on the new product launch. And it's probably ramping up more of a ramp-up in Q3 and going into Q4. So, there's nothing about the success of the new product and the feedback we're getting. It's probably from early in the year, it's probably shifted slightly from a ramp-up perspective. So, what we're really talking about is not the new product. And I want to remind people from the time frame of when you announce it to you start building it to you get everybody going, that's not an instant pudding. And we're still going through the ramp-down right now of existing product. That will happen through the -- we'll pretty much be complete by the end of the first quarter, and then going through the ramp-up of the new. So, what we're talking about in the market isn't a reflection of our new product. It's just a reflection of things we're seeing in the marketplace. And something I said earlier, we would expect that the new product would potentially have some stimulus to wanting to, again, stimulate a little demand in the market. But that remains to be seen yet.

Seth Woolf

Analyst

Okay. I guess, just real quick, bigger picture question on the Fitness business. With the market pressure, we're not seeing the margins that we've grown accustomed to seeing, but how do we square some of the commentary with -- the historical margins in this business, it used to be more of a mid-single, high single digit business. You saw a lot of improvement; can you just help us think about -- just remind us some of the drivers that led to the robust growth in margins that we've seen? And then why you still feel good about the mid-teens target longer term? And that's it for me.

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

Yes, I want to go back, Seth, and make sure we're calibrated properly. I mean, that business used to be high single low teens, low double digits is where that business historically has operated. It got up into, I'll say, the 13s, 14s clearly, but that wasn't the normal place that business was operating. And fundamentally, what some of the things that have changed, obviously, is -- and we've said this before, we're growing at a faster rate in strength in cardio and new products, we'll have some help there. But our strength business has a lower margin to it than the cardio. So, some of that has some impact on mixing down as well. Customers are getting bigger. That has some impact versus where it was historically. But I think as you go back and look at it, Seth, you're going to see that the business has been in high single to low doubles and -- from a historical perspective.

Bill Metzger

Analyst

Seth, the only thing I'll add to that is, is that I think as you listen to our prepared comments and start thinking about things you might hear about on Investor Day, the -- part of what Mark referenced with customer product mix, etcetera, is there. But you've also got a dynamic where the larger customers within markets are growing faster than everybody else. And there's a -- I think embedded in that is our desire to continue to be extremely competitive operationally on the cost side. And I think as we look forward, we plan to be very well positioned there.

Operator

Operator

At this time, we would like to turn the call back to Mark for some concluding remarks.

Mark Schwabero

Analyst

Yes. I'm just going to echo a couple of things. First, thank everyone for the time and attention in joining us today. The second point is, I want to make sure people understand, we view this as a disappointing quarter but fundamentally, remind people that the direction and what we've laid out for the full year will put us back into -- it's going to be another year of record earnings. So, we think our strategy is still the right strategy, the cash flows are really strong on this business. And I think all that will play out and I really look forward to -- it's about 12 days from now when we're together on November 7 to speak some more about this. So, thank you for your time today.

Operator

Operator

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's conference. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.