Todd Gleason
Analyst · H.C. Wainwright. Please go ahead
Thanks, Matt, and I am excited to be here today. So, it has been approximately one month since I joined as the company's CEO. It is a privilege to lead CECO. We have a talented team, and as I get to better understand our opportunities, my enthusiasm definitely builds. Before we jump into the prepared remarks, and on behalf of CECO, we hope everyone is healthy and navigating the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. No doubt, the impact to our personal lives has been profound and of course, the global business environment has been jolted in ways not often felt. In many ways, we're all in this together. So please stay safe. Now let's review the material. Please turn to Slide number 3. Given my recent appointment as CEO, we felt it was appropriate that I share a little about my background, as well as what drew me to CECO. It is hard for me to believe sometimes that it has been over 25 years since I began my professional career. Time flies, and here we are, and I am grateful for the many people that have provided support for my development and the positions that added to my preparedness. I think if there are really three main takeaways I'd like to share about my background, I would highlight the following: First, I've been fortunate to have a diverse background with respect to various business functions and P&L management roles. This diversity has provided both breadth and depth with respect to growth strategies, execution and how financials speak to the truth of a company's performance. I continue to learn, and I look forward to continuing to expand my skill set here at CECO. Second, a significant portion of my career has been spent in multi-industry organizations, such as Honeywell, Trane, which was American Standard Trane at that time, and Pentair. So, CECO Environmental has a very natural feel for me, as I quickly immersed myself in the business and operational discussions and opportunities. On top of that big company experience, I have been fortunate to lead in advance a private equity venture-backed company. Anyone that has ever been in that more entrepreneurial environment will agree, you develop a certain scrappiness and some new business muscles that more mature companies don't necessarily provide. What all of that means is that I will apply the appropriate processes associated from the academy companies while also implementing some of the entrepreneurial muscle to CECO's capabilities and strategies. And third, I have defined a significant portion of my career success being associated with companies that create above-market shareholder value. My compensation structure should be and is aligned with shareholders. Our stock will reflect how well we perform as a company. So I am anxious to make an impact. In some early conversations with external stakeholders, the question was presented. Why did I join CECO? I'd summarize that it is about fit and opportunity. As I did my analysis of the company, I came to the conclusions listed on the slide and each has been reinforced in my first month at CECO. First, the company is financially healthy, in good shape and ready for its next chapter of growth. This is not a turnaround story, but a great platform from which we can continue to build. I like our products and our end-markets. I also like the size of CECO. I can make a real impact on the strategy and operations. And over the past month, I have gotten to know many of our 800-plus employees, with almost half being engineers with a tremendous passion and enthusiasm to solve complex customer and market challenges. Additionally, the company's Board of Directors is very aligned and focused on recurring revenue and high-value growth. We have a great portfolio to drive heightened financial returns and a balance sheet that enables CECO to make appropriate investments to win. In summary, I feel the best days are definitely ahead of CECO. The team is fantastic, energized and ready to write CECO's next chapter. So let's keep moving. Please turn to Slide number 4. This slide highlights three main focus areas. Despite the challenging environment, we made smart and strategic moves to better position our company in the markets we serve and also our cost structure. Our second quarter results were solid. We took appropriate action to protect the health and safety of our employees while also protecting the financial results of our organization. Let's discuss each in a little bit more detail. As noted toward the top of the slide, late in the quarter, we announced the acquisition of Environmental Integrated Solutions or EIS for short. The acquisition further increases CECO's solution capability, application depth and knowledge expertise. It also provides greater reach into various European markets. It may have been a small bolt-on from a financial perspective, but we are excited for the opportunities it presents. This week, we announced a joint venture between our Effox Flextor brand, Damper product line and Mader Machine Company. The combination of the two businesses Damper products and entities will deliver cost synergies, plant efficiencies and market leadership for growth. It also gives CECO added strategic optionality. We will be the majority owner. We also took action to align leadership across our industrial and fluid handling businesses. This new leadership structure enables more efficiencies and collaborative activities for growth and talent development. Each move is important to advancing CECO's portfolio, cost structure and growth capabilities. In the middle section of the slide, we provide high-level highlights on Q2 2020 operating results. Matt will definitely spend more time on this, but I am proud of our 800-plus associates and how great they performed in a very challenging and uncertain market. By almost any measure, the market environment was very soft. The significant pause in late Q1 and early Q2 drove orders down approximately 40% as we booked $60 million in the quarter. Trends did improve late in the quarter, especially in industrial and fluid markets, and we did not have any cancellations in backlog, which remains robust. Sales were down 7% year-over-year, but gross margins and EBITDA were both up. Earnings, on an adjusted basis, were $0.14 per share, up 75% year-over-year. Free cash flow was negative $6 million, in line with what we predicted on the Q1 earnings call. Of note, the company has produced almost $20 million more in free cash flow over the past four quarters than we did in the preceding period of similar time. Cash generation is critical to our investments and growth and we will continue this focus. We took decisive action in the first half of the year, which bolstered our results. I am proud of how well our teams executed in the challenging environment to deliver for our customers and produce these very solid financial results. Now let's go ahead and please turn to Slide number 5. The new challenges brought on by the global pandemic, no doubt, forced a pronounced pause in many industrial markets and in each of our lives. Good news is that CECO has been deemed an essential business to supply these critical markets. We have instituted a variety of important health and safety protocols. I would like to thank our cross-functional COVID task force for jumping to action and ensure all our employees are well informed, and most importantly, very safe. We have also accelerated new solutions and technologies to ensure we can work remotely in productive and collaborative ways. On the right-side of the slide, we highlight various proactive measures we implemented in the first half of 2020. Given the uncertain markets, sudden impact to our businesses, we are taking decisive actions to drive more than $10 million in annualized cost reductions. These actions are important to maintain our financial health and ensure CECO's strengthened position for the future. One additional note, the $40 million we drew – drew down from our credit revolver in March was paid back in full during Q2. We have a very good cash position and a strong balance sheet. Thus, the health and safety of our employees and customers is of the utmost importance and the health of the company's financial position is on solid ground too. Let's turn to Slide 6, which provides detail on orders by market. On the left side of the slide, you can see the markets associated with our Energy segment products and solutions and on the right side, you will see the Industrial and Fluid Handling order numbers. I won't read all the numbers by submarket, but the double-digit declines in orders in almost every market do reflect the dramatic reduction in capital expenditures in various energy markets and the pause most industrial companies witnessed in late Q1 and early Q2. We did see improved orders in many of these submarkets, especially in Industrial and Fluid Handling as the quarter progressed and again, we have not had any cancellations in our backlog. We did start to see pockets of strength in food and beverage, defense and certain processed water solutions sales. So, in Q3, we're happy to report that we continue to see a steady improving order trajectory and we'll continue to execute well. I will now hand it over to Matt, who will give more detail on our financial results and specific market commentary. Matt?