Henk Derksen
Analyst · Stifel. Please go ahead
Thank you, Roel, for the kind words. Before I begin my prepared remarks, I want to express my gratitude to my team, the leadership team and the Board of Directors, the entire finance and IT organization, and so many Belden colleagues around the globe who have shaped my time at the company. I am proud of my role in leading Belden through a substantial transformation, from a regional cable company in the early 2000s to the global networking solutions company it is today. I leave the company with a strong balance sheet and capital structure, and much improved portfolio and I am confident that Belden remains well-positioned for future success. Please turn to Slide 6 for a detailed consolidated review. I will start my comments with results for the quarter, followed by a review of our segment results and a discussion of the balance sheet and cash flow performance. As a reminder, I will be referencing adjusted results today. Revenues were $498.5 million in the quarter, compared to $549.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. Revenues decreased 9.3% on a year-over-year basis and increased 4.8% sequentially. After adjusting for a $5.5 million favorable impact from acquisitions and a $14 million favorable impact from currency translation and higher copper prices, revenues declined 12.8% organically on a year-over-year basis. After further adjusting for changes in channel inventory levels, revenues decreased 6.1% organically from the prior-year. On a sequential basis, revenues increased 2.9% organically after adjusting for a $9.1 million favorable impact from currency translation and higher copper prices. After further adjusting for changes in channel inventory, revenues increased 9.6% organically on a sequential basis. Incoming orders were solid during the quarter, increasing 13% sequentially. This resulted in a book to bill ratio of 1.10 times, including a robust 1.16 times in the Industrial Solutions segment and 1.04 in the Enterprise Solutions segment. Gross profit margins in the quarter were 35.4%, consistent with the third quarter. EBITDA was $74.0 million, compared to $65.3 million in the prior quarter and $92.9 million in the prior-year period. EBITDA margins were 14.8%, compared to 13.7% in the prior quarter and 16.9% in the prior-year period. As Roel mentioned, we successfully executed our SG&A cost reduction program by delivering savings of $15 million in the fourth quarter and $40 million for the full year 2020. We expect to deliver the full $60 million in savings in 2021. As we streamlined the cost structure, we remained committed to our important growth initiatives. We increased R&D investment by approximately 15% in the fourth quarter and the full year 2020. We expect further increases in 2021 as we make additional targeted investments to drive innovation and growth in Industrial Automation and Cybersecurity. Net interest expense was approximately flat sequentially in the quarter. At current foreign exchange rates, we expect interest expense to be approximately $61 million in 2021. Our effective tax rate was 13.5% in the fourth quarter and 16.4% for the full year, as we benefitted from incremental discrete tax planning initiatives. For financial planning and modeling purposes, we recommend using effective tax rate of 20% throughout 2021. Net income in the quarter was $40.5 million, compared to $32.2 million in the prior quarter and $54.9 million in the prior-year period. Earnings per share was $0.90 in the fourth quarter, compared to $1.20 in the year-ago period. Earnings per share increased 25% sequentially from $0.72 in the third quarter. Turning now to Slide 7 in the presentation for a review of our business segment results. I will begin with our Industrial Solutions segment. As a reminder, our Industrial solutions allow customers to transmit and secure audio, video and data in harsh industrial environments. Our key markets include discrete manufacturing, process facilities, energy, and mass transit. The Industrial Solutions segment generated revenues of $270.8 million in the quarter. Currency translation and copper prices had a favorable impact of $9.2 million year-over-year and $5.8 million sequentially. After adjusting for these factors, revenues decreased 14% organically on a year-over-year basis and increased 7% sequentially. After further adjusting for changes in channel inventory levels, revenues declined 8% year-over-year and increased 10% sequentially on an organic basis. Within this segment, Industrial Automation revenues declined 8% year-over-year and increased 9% sequentially on an organic basis after adjusting for changes in channel inventory levels. Not surprisingly, the trends were relatively consistent across our market verticals in the quarter. Cybersecurity revenues declined 14% in the fourth quarter on a year-over-year basis, and increased 16% sequentially. We continue to secure large strategic orders with new customers, and significantly expand our engagements with existing customers. As a result, non-renewal bookings in the fourth quarter matched the highest quarterly level in five years. Notable bookings in the quarter included a Fortune 500 insurance company migrating from on-premise to cloud-based solutions, and a multinational financial services corporation expanding its coverage in preparation for expected future growth from acquisitions. We remain very bullish on Industrial cybersecurity. Non-renewal bookings in this vertical increased 13% sequentially in the quarter and 31% for the full year. Further, we continue to gain significant traction with our software-as-a-service offerings. SaaS offerings represented approximately 25% of non-renewal bookings in the quarter, compared to 10% a year ago. Industrial Solutions segment EBITDA margins were 17.5% in the quarter, compared to 15.6% in the prior quarter and 20.1% in the year-ago period. The year-over-year decline primarily reflects lower volumes and increased R&D investments in Industrial Automation and Cybersecurity. Turning now to our Enterprise segment. As a reminder, our Enterprise solutions allow customers to transmit and secure audio, video and data across complex enterprise networks. Our key markets include broadband, 5G and smart buildings. Our Enterprise Solutions segment generated revenues of $227.7 million during the quarter. After adjusting for a $5.5 million favorable impact from acquisitions and a $4.8 million favorable impact from currency translation and higher copper prices, revenues declined 12% organically on a year-over-year basis. Revenues declined 2% sequentially after adjusting for a $3.3 million favorable impact from currency translation and higher copper prices. After further adjusting for changes in channel and customer inventory levels, revenues declined 3% year-over-year and increased 9% sequentially on an organic basis. Revenues in Broadband and 5G increased 8% year-over-year and 5% sequentially after adjusting for changes in customer inventory levels. We were encouraged by the solid share capture during the quarter. The ever-increasing demand for more bandwidth and faster speeds is driving increasing investments in network infrastructure by our customers. This supports continued robust growth in our fiber optic products, which increased 28% organically in 2020. Revenues in the Smart Buildings market declined 12% year-over-year and increased 13% sequentially on an organic basis after adjusting for changes in channel inventory. Enterprise Solutions segment EBITDA margins were 11.5% in the quarter, consistent with the prior quarter and compared to 13.7% in the prior year period. The year-over-year decline primarily reflects lower volumes. If you will please turn to Slide 8, I will begin with our balance sheet highlights. Our cash and cash equivalents balance at the end of the fourth quarter was $502 million compared to $391 million in the prior quarter and $426 million in the prior year period. We are very comfortable with our current liquidity position. Working capital turns were 10.3 turns, compared to 6.6 turns in the prior quarter and 8.9 turns in the prior-year period. We are extremely pleased with the DSO performance in the quarter. Days sales outstanding declined eight days sequentially from 58 days in the prior quarter to 50 days. Inventory turns were 5.2 turns, compared to 5.0 turns in the prior quarter and 6.0 turns in the prior year. Our total debt principal at the end of the fourth quarter was $1.59 billion, compared to $1.52 billion in the third quarter. The sequential increase reflects current foreign exchange rates. Net leverage was 4.0 times net debt to EBITDA at the end of the quarter. This is temporarily above our targeted range of 2.0 to 3.0 times, and we expect to trend back to the targeted range as conditions normalize. Turning now to slide 9. I will now discuss our debt maturities and covenants. As a reminder, our debt is entirely fixed at an attractive average interest rate of 3.5% with no maturities until 2025 to 2028. We have no maintenance covenants on this debt, so we are not at risk of default in the unlikely event of significantly worsening economic conditions. As I mentioned previously, we are comfortable with our liquidity position and the quality of our balance sheet. Please turn to Slide 10 for a few cash flow highlights. Cash flow from operations in the fourth quarter was $134.7 million, compared to $187.4 million in the prior year period. Net capital expenditures were $33.3 million for the quarter, compared to $35.9 million in the prior-year period. For the full year 2020, we generated cash flow from operations of $173.4 million, compared to $276.9 million in 2019. The decline primarily reflects lower EBITDA during the year that resulted from the global pandemic. For the full year, net capital expenditures were $87.1 million, compared to $110.0 million in 2019. The difference is primarily related to the timing of the Grass Valley divestiture, which we completed in July 2020. As a result, we generated free cash flow of $86.3 million in 2020, compared to $166.9 million in 2019. That concludes my prepared remarks. I would now like to turn the call back to our President and CEO,