Earnings Labs

Brunswick Corporation (BC)

Q2 2020 Earnings Call· Sun, Aug 2, 2020

$79.72

-0.59%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to Brunswick Corporation's Second Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode until the question-and-answer period. Today’s meeting will be recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I would now like to introduce Brent Dahl, Vice President.

Brent Dahl

Management

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. With me on the call this morning are Dave Foulkes, Brunswick's CEO; and Ryan Gwillim, 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 details on the factors to consider, please refer to our recent SEC filings and today's press release. All 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 appendix to this presentation and the reconciliation sections of the consolidated financial statements accompanying today's results. I will now turn the call over to Dave.

Dave Foulkes

Management

Thanks, Brent, and good morning everyone. Our second quarter performance again demonstrated the power of our marine-focused portfolio, despite the unprecedented disruption to the global economy, resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our operations and supply chain teams did a wonderful job of quickly and safely restarting and ramping up our global production facilities, while rigorously applying our COVID-19 health and safety protocols. We continue to enhance these protocols to keep our 13,000 global employees safe and I want to thank them all for their hard work, sacrifice and vigilance during this challenging time. All our businesses outperformed our expectations in the quarter. Our resilient aftermarket-driven Parts and Accessories business stayed strong and supported consumers as stay-at-home restrictions were lifted and boaters returned to the water in force. Demand in the U.S. retail marine market accelerated into May and June resulting in robust new boat and engine sales with sales to first-time purchases or returning lapsed spotters representing approximately half of new boat sales. This surge in demand together with the suspension of production of most of our manufacturing facilities from late March into mid-April, due to the pandemic resulted in our lowest mid-season pipeline inventory levels in almost 20 years with 34% fewer boats in dealer inventory versus the second quarter of 2019. This strengthening demand combined with market share gains, especially in Mercury's higher horsepower outboard engine lineup resulted in stronger top line earnings and cash flow performance than anticipated with the businesses deleveraging consistent with our expectations shared on the first quarter call. Uncertainty in the global economy remains as a result of the unpredictable trajectory of the pandemic and we will continue to focus on controlling costs through structural cost reduction actions, while remaining flexible with our capital strategy to enable investments in new products and technology.…

Ryan Gwillim

Management

Thanks, Dave, and good morning everyone. As already discussed, the COVID-19 pandemic had a material impact on our global business operations in the quarter, making for difficult and frankly less meaningful year-over-year comparisons. Net sales in the quarter were down 15%, while operating earnings on an as-adjusted basis decreased by 35%. Adjusted operating margins were 11.9% and we finished the quarter with an adjusted EPS of $0.99, down 32% from prior year. Our results were better than anticipated due to surging demand in the latter half of the quarter and benefits from cost reduction actions taken in the last 12 months. Corporate costs were up slightly in the quarter versus the prior year, as the impact of cost reductions was offset by mark-to-market adjustments related to our nonqualified deferred compensation plan along with expenses related to our long-term incentive arrangements. The pandemic also affected our first half results. On a year-to-date basis, net sales were down 12% versus 2019 and adjusted operating earnings were down 24%. Adjusted operating margins were 11.8%, but despite significant headwinds, we delevered at a respectable 28%. I will now discuss our second quarter performance on a segment level. Starting with the Propulsion segment revenue decreased 14% as continued strong demand for high horsepower outboard engine categories and related controls and systems was offset as anticipated by the impact of production disruptions at Mercury and its OEM engine customers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Operating margins and operating earnings were down in the quarter as benefits from cost reduction activities were more than offset by lower sales and the unfavorable impact of absorption resulting from the production disruptions as well as the impact of unfavorable changes in foreign exchange rates and tariffs. If you remove the impact of incremental tariffs and changes in foreign currency exchange…

Dave Foulkes

Management

Thanks, Ryan. Although it's been a challenging first half of the year, our businesses are executing extremely well against our operating and strategic priorities. In the Propulsion segment, we continue to leverage the strongest product line-up in the industry to gain market share in the parts of the market, where we've been historically underrepresented. Our further growth into saltwater re-power and international commercial markets is being enabled by the capacity added last year and will be bolstered by further investment in exciting new products. Finally, with low engine inventory levels across the globe our plan is to increase production in an efficient manner to refill the pipeline. In the P&A segment, we anticipate favorable boat usage trends to continue as people look to remain active outdoors in a socially distancing setting. Additional hours on the water drive the need for consumables and replacement parts, which are delivered same day or next day to thousands of points of sale across the globe through our distribution network. We also expect Power Products to have a solid second half, as it expands it systems integration business, which provides boat OEMs with complete and bespoke system solutions, for their boat models. In our Boat segment, we will continue to focus on launching new products across the portfolio, including some new products designed for younger boaters', rapid production to meet demand and refill pipelines, and returning to our stated plan to improve operating margins. We anticipate back half operating margins in the high-single digits as additional volume benefits and cost initiatives, should drive improved margin performance. Freedom Boat Club continues to expand. And execute against its strategic growth strategy. We have added 25 locations thus far in 2020, bringing the number of locations to 235. And we continue to increase the share of Brunswick products…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from James Hardiman with Wedbush Securities. Your line is open.

James Hardiman

Analyst

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my call. Obviously these are unusual times, so I wanted to make sure I adequately understood some of the numbers you've given us here. I guess let's start with June. I think you said June was a record month for most of your brands. I just want to make sure I understand that. Is it a record month of June, or is it a record for any month? Is it at units or dollar or both? And ultimately I'm trying to get at just the fact that the industry used to be twice as big as it is today, or more at times and some of these brands go back a long time. What's the history that you're looking at when you're saying that June was a record month?

Ryan Gwillim

Management

Hi, James this is Ryan. Yeah, you're on to it. It's meant to be that June was in terms of units at retail a record for some of our -- many of our brands all the way back to really the GFC. Obviously when the industry was 300,000 or 400,000 units a completely different scale, but certainly a record in the last 15 years since post-GFC.

James Hardiman

Analyst

Got it, okay. Just wanted to make sure. And then as I try to bridge the gap between what the SSI is saying is, I guess call it a 7% year-to-date decline for the industry, and what you guys are saying will be below single-digit growth for the year. I guess, if I take the SSI numbers at face value we would need double-digit growth in the back half of the year. Obviously the SSI numbers aren't the most reliable thing in the world. So -- but knowing that you guys typically build some conservatism into forward-looking assumptions, how should I think about that? Is that more a statement of the SSI number you're using for the first half is significantly better than that, or are you assuming that the second half is still very strong from a retail perspective?

Dave Foulkes

Management

Hi, James, it's Dave here. Both I think is the answer. Our internal registration data is significantly ahead of SSI. Obviously it's our brands. But -- and I believe that our brands have performed very strongly. But I think we also believe that there'll be some future revisions to SSI for the first half. And certainly the momentum that we saw in, particularly June is continuing in the marketplace. Obviously we're getting into the latter half of the selling season but July is very strong.

James Hardiman

Analyst

Okay. And then I guess last question. What do you think your business could do in terms of boat retail through the year? And I guess if I just take a step back, retail for the industry is now expected to be at/or better than it was when you originally projected it at the beginning of the year. Your free cash flow numbers are back to where they were, although on lower CapEx I believe. OpEx better than you thought. I guess is it possible for you to get back to the original earnings guidance for the year?

Dave Foulkes

Management

I think -- and Ryan can help me a bit here. I think 2019 is possibly in reach. The 2020 -- I don't know if we could produce enough products in the back half of the year to get to 2020. We'll be doing as much as we possibly can, obviously, but I think 2020 is probably not in reach for us.

Ryan Gwillim

Management

Yeah, Dave, I would say that's right. And James something to think about, I mean the absorption impact and some of the costs that we incurred in the quarter having the production temporarily suspended and then having to ramp-up in all of our facilities aside from P&A, I mean some of that is just going to be very difficult to clawback and jump over to get to an original -- to get to the original guidance.

James Hardiman

Analyst

Got it. And the retail is there a way to think about, how you guys are projecting your own retail for the year?

Ryan Gwillim

Management

I think we believe that we will be at/or exceed the industry.

Dave Foulkes

Management

Yeah. I think I mean early indicators for us are very strong market performance for the brand. I mentioned earlier, I don't think we said it specifically in the slides, but we are significantly ahead of the broader market in terms of attracting new boaters. And I think the -- we own as you know James, three of the four most recognized brands in the industry. And if you think about where a new boater might go, I think they would go to these kind of recognized brands. So, we're seeing the benefit of owning those strong brands now.

James Hardiman

Analyst

Makes a lot of sense. Thanks guys.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Randy Konik with Jefferies. Your line is open.

Randy Konik

Analyst · Jefferies. Your line is open.

Thanks a lot. I guess, maybe a question for Ryan here. In the press release, you talk about having to slightly take up your expense estimate for the year obviously to kind of help with the higher demand function, but it's only slightly higher. So, can you kind of elaborate a little bit more on the efficiencies you're kind of gaining in the business around the ability to take those expense reductions? And then kind of give us some perspective on how we can think about those continuing into the medium-term over the next few years, assuming that we potentially have a more robust multiyear demand environment that those costs can be kind of contained to give you margin expansion. So, maybe elaborate a little bit for us on these different efficiencies you're finding and going after in the business.

Dave Foulkes

Management

Well I guess it's a question for Ryan. But I'll -- maybe I'll jump in and take the first part, it's Dave. So you know about the cost reduction -- structural cost reduction actions that we implemented in 2019 with a flow-through to 2020 that included a significant reduction in staffing levels throughout the entire organization and a number of organizational initiatives that consolidated functions, particularly in the Boat group but really across a number of -- a broader portion of the enterprise as well. I just want to give you some -- an example here of how we tried to put a stake in the ground on structural cost reductions, so we don't allow those increases to happen again. Around a month ago, we closed one of our system supply plants in Greenville that was supplying our Sea Ray boat plan in Tennessee and also in Florida. We have enough space in those two facilities to accommodate what was previously in Greenville which is a leased plant. And we executed that and completed it in the early -- in July. So, we are continuing to think about our footprint leaving ourselves plenty of room for capacity expansion, but also looking to put progressive stakes in the ground and make sure that those cost reduction actions that we take are not just austerity, they in fact do fundamentally reduce our structural costs. Ryan?

Ryan Gwillim

Management

Yes. No Dave, that's all correct. I would also just add Randy, we are still operating kind of at 10% below our plan for the year in terms of OpEx and a lot of that is just day-to-day efficiency in the plant -- on the plants and facilities people having projects to take cost out of everyday manufacturing processes. And so, that will continue. I think to your next point about what it may look like in '20, '21 and beyond obviously, we would have compensation some other things back to 100% levels and some inflation would come back in. But that $50 million that Dave discussed that we took out during the initiatives discussed, that should stay out. And even if we bring some cost back into the business, it would be all on growth initiatives.

Randy Konik

Analyst · Jefferies. Your line is open.

Yes. Super helpful. So that bodes well obviously for margins potentially. So, then I just wanted to finally ask about the demand-side equation and try to get a little bit more perspective there. You comment in the release again and on the call about the talking to first-time purchasers of boats or returning last boaters coming back into the fold. Maybe elaborate a little bit more on that. Anything you're seeing that gives you really interesting data points that you could share with us around -- sign-ups around the Freedom Boat business -- Boat Club business, as it relates to demographics? Anything that you're getting out of your dealer network that would give us some additional perspective to -- just what I'm trying to get at here is to try to think through the demand environment potentially changing or shifting more towards boating on a multiyear basis, a more permanent semipermanent basis to give people in the market more conviction of a lengthened demand cycle that you combine that with these good cost savings that are more permanent in nature that can lead to a really robust story not just for the next quarter, but over the next few years. That's what I'm trying to kind of get towards here.

Dave Foulkes

Management

No thank you for the question. Great question. So, I think when we said 50% of boaters or people buying boats recently were either new boaters or returning lapsed boaters that's over a period that extends through to earlier in the year. That shift has continued to evolve over the last few months. So, if you think about it, if you're a new boater, it's not a decision that you probably immediately come to. If it's a – if you're a lapsed boater you probably come to it more quickly. It's an obvious thing that you've done before and that you can reengage with. There's more to think about, if you're a new boater. So what we found – we now do surveys every month to try and keep a closer track of that and also work with independent third parties, who study that data. In – and as I mentioned earlier in June for Brunswick brands 40% of sales were to new boaters. And that's not new boaters plus lapsed boaters it's just new boaters. And we were significantly ahead of the industry many points ahead of the broader industry. Some of our value brands, particularly a brand like Bayliner, which may be an entry point for a new boater in June 60% of Bayliner's sales were to new boaters. So this is the breadth of a portfolio and the fact that we're able to offer both value and premium across the company with different boating styles, I think allows us to access many of these new boaters. And I think we're going to over-index because of the strength of the brand and the breadth of the portfolio. And we believe obviously there are a number of things to do to keep these boaters in boating once they buy. But I think one of the best indicators of people continuing in boating is having a great experience whether that's through a great new boat or through Freeder Boat Club and we're providing those great experiences. Freedom certainly is benefiting hugely with massive membership growth significantly beyond our expectations. In terms of demographics for Freedom, there are about twice as many women who are members of Freedom Boat Club than proportionally own boats. So it's a – we over-index on women. We also over-index on younger boaters in Freedom Boat Club. So I think a great demographic play for us. And certainly, our brands which is some of the best known in the industry are attracting in a lot of new boaters.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from Scott Stember with CL King. Your line is open.

Scott Stember

Analyst · CL King. Your line is open.

Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions.

Dave Foulkes

Management

Hey, Scott.

Scott Stember

Analyst · CL King. Your line is open.

Just talking about the new customers, I think you said 40% were new to your brands were new to boating. Could you just talk about the age range that you're seeing from these new customers and maybe the creditworthiness of these new people?

David Foulkes

Analyst · CL King. Your line is open.

Yeah. We have no – there's no change in creditworthiness so they're all very solid. In terms of age, they're certainly trending younger significantly younger, I would say. And also they tend to have larger families, because they're a different life stage. So they're looking for pontoons runabouts boats that – for multi-purposes. And yeah, this is new boater not just new to our brands. So yeah, we have a lot of demographic trends that we can share on those boaters, but certainly trending meaningfully younger and larger families.

Scott Stember

Analyst · CL King. Your line is open.

All right. And with regards to Freedom, it seems like you guys are growing rapidly there. Can you just talk about the fleet of boats replacement expansion and how Brunswick will take advantage with Brunswick's brands at that expense?

David Foulkes

Analyst · CL King. Your line is open.

Yeah. We – so we now are at as I mentioned earlier 3,000 boats in the fleet. The boats turn over about every two to three years which means that now there are something in the range of well more than 1,000 boats every year that are coming up to be renewed by new boats. We are penetrating well ahead of our expectations in terms of new Brunswick boats. Sea Ray is particularly popular Bayliner is popular. Our pontoon brands are extremely popular. And Mercury engines are penetrating even faster than Brunswick boats, because it's possible to convert non-Brunswick brands to Mercury engines as well. So we are well ahead of our expectations and on an accelerating trend in terms of penetrating Freedom Boat Club with our brands. If you think about the fact that, we've owned Freedom for just over a year now, which means that we've only had a relatively rather short period to both market and provide our brands, I would say, we're doing extremely well, and expect to continue to be beyond our expectations original expectations.

Scott Stember

Analyst · CL King. Your line is open.

Got it. And just one last quick one on boat shows. Obviously, it seems like a lot of them are getting canceled. What's the in the event that there are no boat shows or any major boat shows this year what's – how will this affect your new product launch cycle?

David Foulkes

Analyst · CL King. Your line is open.

It will not have an effect – a meaningful effect on our new product launch cycle. I think every industry is coming to terms with digital or kind of social media type launches of products in the absence of physical trade and boat shows in our case. Certainly, we don't expect it to affect the demand. As it turns out the impact of the pandemic has effectively substituted any impact that boat shows might have had on kind of short-term demand. Last week, we held a virtual boat show which was extremely well attended. So the attendance to that show was like the attendance at a typical boat show and we intend to evolve our capability there. We are assuming that some -- at some point in 2021, we'll be able to reinstate physical boat shows and there are a few on the calendar in 2020 that we're watching. But we are developing capabilities to launch our products and attract a lot of interest online in the absence of physical shows and it will not meaningfully affect the way that we launch new products.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from Joe Altobello with Raymond James. Your line is open.

Joe Altobello

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open.

Thanks. Hey, guys, good morning.

Dave Foulkes

Management

Hey, Joe.

Joe Altobello

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open.

First question, I was a little surprised that you talked about wholesale growth through 2021 and potentially beyond given all the variables that go into that. So I guess my question is how much will retail performance impact that, or are channel inventories just so low at this point that you can get there just through replenishment alone?

Dave Foulkes

Management

Yes. Ryan, I'm still [Indiscernible]. Yes even relatively normal demand if you think about the fact that we're probably 12, 13 weeks behind where we should be which is quarter of a year's production, so our ability to add quarter over a year's production on top of meeting demand is going to take us well through 2021 even in modest demand scenarios. We just can't produce 125% production and expect to normalize pipelines and meet demand in a short period of time. This is going to be an extensive long-term rebuilding process.

Joe Altobello

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open.

Okay. And just as a follow-up to that, you did mention this morning that the 2022 targets that you laid out back in Miami are still in reach. And I'm just curious what has to happen both internally at Brunswick as well as externally from an industry standpoint for you guys to get there?

Dave Foulkes

Management

I'll ask Ryan to comment on this. But just broadly, I think the knowables would say that they're solidly in reach. It's the unknowables that's causing us to have a bit more caution about how we discuss this. But the building blocks that we've put in place for those targets that included very modest market growth. But the remainder of it was in our hands and remains in our hands. And Ryan, I don't know if you want to comment on specific...

Ryan Gwillim

Management

Yes. I mean, Joe, if you remember, the 2022 plan was predicated on very slight market growth, call it flat to up 1% or 2% at the most, depending on the year. And what you're essentially seeing is a little bit of acceleration in 2020 against those targets, but also allowing us to have more wholesale sales in the back half of this year into 2021 and into 2022. And that is really offsetting some of the capital structure pieces that possibly -- or really are delayed, for instance share repurchases which were planned in the 2020 plan were are going to be -- are likely to be shy M&A that was planned potentially delayed into the back half of this year and into 2021 and 2022. So it's just a little bit of delay in terms of EPS and some other things from capital strategy, but I would say that that is being overcome by some market goodness that you've seen. And then aside from that, leverage, margin, free cash flow generation, especially given the inventory situation which obviously helped free cash flows in the quarter those have not materially changed. So it's really just a function of a little bit more market allowing us to offset some of the planned capital strategy pieces that are -- will be pushed out a little bit.

Joe Altobello

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open.

Got it. Okay. Thank you guys.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Eric Wold with B. Riley. Your line is open.

Eric Wold

Analyst · B. Riley. Your line is open.

Thank you. Good morning, guys. Just a couple of follow-ups on Freedom Boat Club. So with the kind of 16% sequential increase in memberships in Q1 to Q2, can you give us a sense of what that was kind of on a same-store basis? And I guess what I'm trying to get at is if you're seeing a lot of demand coming in to these clubs and kind of the existing clubs, how are the clubs handling that in terms of limiting memberships, any sense of kind of waitlist for people that want to join kind of a backlog? How much capacity do they have to add boats to their network? I know they're probably space constrained. I guess how are they getting around that? And then second part of the question is kind of going to previous one on replenishment of the boats in Freedom Boat Club is that strictly on a time basis, or is it on a usage basis, so if that usage ramps up that replenishment could accelerate?

Dave Foulkes

Management

So I think -- we think about this in a couple of ways. I think in terms of long-term kind of capacity for Freedom Boat Club, I think we've explained before that we think that there are pretty much in order of magnitude more potential locations for Freedom Boat Club that exist right now in the U.S. And of course, we're exploring international expansion as well. But in the short term, you'll notice 3,000 boats and 33,000 members, so we're trying to maintain that 10:1 ratio that we've described of members to boats. Certainly, at the moment, Freedom is expanding pretty much -- there are several things that are kind of limiting the rate of expansion, if you like. Obviously, it's expanding fast. But one of the things is we insist new members have both classroom and on-water training and conducting that training -- there's a backlog training, it takes a day to kind of get through that, including four hours or so in the water. We need people to train. We need to make sure people are adequately equipped to go out on the water. And then certainly, some locations have gone to, I would say, some less ordinary or extraordinary measures to acquire additional boats, including going to kind of local dealers as opposed to getting them at retail price versus getting them at a discounted price. So boat availability might affect them a bit, but I think they're in a pretty good position overall. So I would say, there are -- apart from a few logistical things, there are relatively few limitations on continued growth of Freedom. And the trajectory is very, very strong. It's a network effect. The more locations there are, the more people know about them. I don't know if you've noticed, but it seems like every newspaper that I read or online story that I read has a Freedom Boat Club story in it right now. It's one of the stories of the pandemic from my perspective. The more there are, the more people notice them, the more people want to join. But we are definitely clearly maintaining the standards that you'd expect of a premium franchise in terms of boat availability. The turnover of boats is typically two to three years. Boat usage in Freedom is high anyway. So, it isn't typically based on numbers of hours. It's just based on some considerations of the quality of the boat that the members expect and the value in the pre-owned marketplace. So I think that there might be an acceleration of turnover, but I think it's pretty steady now. It tends to be three years for fiberglass I think and two years for kind of pontoon.

Eric Wold

Analyst · B. Riley. Your line is open.

Perfect. Thank you for getting through all those questions. Appreciate it. Great, guys.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Tim Conder with Wells Fargo Securities. Your line is open.

Tim Conder

Analyst · Wells Fargo Securities. Your line is open.

Gentlemen, again, congrats in a very volatile environment and to the whole organization. A couple of things here. So, pretty clear that it's going to take through the majority of 2021 and maybe even longer to get the channels whether -- whatever piece of the business you're talking about, sort of, back to normal. At this point, what type of supply chain constraints in particular, labor, are you or are you not seeing here as you ramp that back up? And then, Ryan, on FX, we've seen a pretty sharp sell-off in the dollar, specifically, since the end of May. I know you guys do a little bit of hedging. But how should we think about the FX contribution here? You didn't have anything in there, but as we look into the back half of the year and in particular 2021.

Dave Foulkes

Management

Do you want to take that first?

Ryan Gwillim

Management

Yes. Why don't I take the FX, because it's pretty straightforward, Tim. Obviously, a bit of a benefit, if some of the dollar weakens, especially against the euro. But there's some offsetting, obviously, against the Canadian dollar and others. But certainly there is a little bit of a goodness in terms of outside the U.S. sales, if the euro would strengthen. It doesn't really change -- materially change our hedging program but it does provide some goodness for international sales.

Dave Foulkes

Management

What was the first part of the question?

Ryan Gwillim

Management

Labor…

Dave Foulkes

Management

Labor. Okay, great. I’ll take that. So, yes, Tim, I would say that we're seeing some, kind of, on the margins at the moment evidence of supply chain needing to work hard to keep pace with us, I would say. It's not holding back anything material, right now. But, certainly, as we ramp up and accelerate, we are stretching some of the supply base. So I would say, right now, not a material issue for us, but something we watch and monitor every day. I think one of the advantages we have is our scale in the marketplace. I think we're a big customer for these marine suppliers and that gives us I think a strong position when it comes to obtain the components and systems that we need. So it's something that we monitor a lot, but it's not materially holding us back right now.

Tim Conder

Analyst · Wells Fargo Securities. Your line is open.

Are you seeing, as you -- for your own facilities, look to hire folks, are you seeing any challenges there at this point?

Dave Foulkes

Management

Well, we're holding -- I mean, there are some logistical challenges because of COVID, so a lot of virtual job fairs and job fairs -- physical job fairs where we've maintained distancing and those kind of things. But most recently, just two weeks ago, Boston Whaler held a job fair. And actually was able to make hiring office of about 150 people. So it takes quite a bit of work in preparation, but we are making considerable progress in accessing high-quality new labor. Obviously, when we do that we go through a bit of a period when they're not as productive, as would be an experienced worker. But that is a small price to pay, I think for increasing capacity in the longer term. And we expect those kind of hiring issues to be behind us, as we accelerate into the second half of -- or into the -- more broadly into Q3, so really good progress. It isn't completely easy and straightforward, but we are making good progress.

Tim Conder

Analyst · Wells Fargo Securities. Your line is open.

Okay, thank you, gentlemen.

Dave Foulkes

Management

Thanks, Tim.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And we have a question from Craig Kennison with Baird. Your line is open.

Craig Kennison

Analyst

Hey. Thank you, you've addressed most of my questions. But Ryan, I think you mentioned postponing some M&A and other capital priorities but you hinted that maybe in the second half of this year, the pipeline had some acquisitions in it. Maybe just address whether that pipeline is as active as ever.

Ryan Gwillim

Management

Yeah, Craig, I mean as usual, we don't discuss any specifics, in terms of M&A targets. But I will say that, there are several areas that we continue to be very interested in, from an acquisition standpoint, primarily in our Parts and Accessories segment as well as Technology things that our Business Acceleration business unit is doing. So yes, I would tell you that, coming out as the macro economy looks to be still a little bit uncertain, but a little bit better than it was 90 days ago. I do think there'll be some opportunities in the second half.

Craig Kennison

Analyst

Thanks. And then, just looking at the election cycle, it would appear that, tax policy may be up for grabs. How does that factor into your thinking for 2021, if we see a change in tax?

Ryan Gwillim

Management

Yeah. It's obviously, a big variable Craig. I mean it's something that our tax group works pretty tirelessly on looking at the opportunities and frankly the impact of changes in rates. There are -- given a global company, as ours there are different things that, we can do structure-wise to make sure that we're maximizing both our income opportunity as well as understanding the tax benefits and potential impacts. So we'll be on it. Obviously, the tax group did a pretty big sprint, when the tax new ruling kind of came out over Christmas, a couple of years ago. They'll be up for the task again this year, should there be more changes.

Craig Kennison

Analyst

Perfect. Thanks so much.

Operator

Operator

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

Dave Foulkes

Management

Thank you very much. Thank you all for attending our call. We really appreciate it. We find ourselves in a very fortunate position of being able to offer, fun and diverse recreational experiences, compatible with social distancing. We're very excited about the surge in demand for new boats and boating experiences, and bringing in new boaters really in recent times, unprecedented numbers. And our brands and products are really shining in that environment. They're the go-to brands and products for new boaters. I think we recognize the unknowns and unknowables, in the current situation. But we're excited that our 2022 plan remains very solidly in reach. I think just one last thing I'd just like to reflect is -- we mentioned it earlier, but getting these awards from Forbes, for being the Best Place to Work for Women, Best Place for Diversity, that means a lot for a business like ours. It means we can attract the kind of talent and develop the talent we need, to stay ahead in the future. So we're very, very excited about that. Last thing I would say is, as many of you know Bill Metzger our former CFO has been on all the previous calls with us. I'd like to thank Bill once more, for all those years of exceptional service to Brunswick out for developing such a worthy successor in Ryan. Thank you all very much for attending.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Everyone have a great day.