Gregory P. Rustowicz
Analyst · BB&T Capital Markets
Thank you, Tim. Good morning, everyone. Turning to Slide 6. Our first quarter gross profit margin increased 270 basis points to 31.3%, which was one of the highest gross margin levels achieved since our company went public in 1996. While sales for $14 million lower than the prior year, gross profit dollars were only $300,000 lower. Lower volumes negatively impacted gross profit dollars by $5 million, and the raw material inflation by $0.5 million. It should be noted that the prior year had a benefit of a one-time $1.8 million brokerage fee that was accounted for the net revenue basis with no associated costs to sales. This is included in the $5 million negative impact of lower sales volumes. Offsetting these negative factors were the benefits of favorable pricing of $3.4 million, which was up to open 2.2% versus the prior year, and productivity gains of $1.2 million. In addition, product liability costs were lower by $500,000, compared to a year ago. Finally, we also had unfavorable impact to gross margin of $300,000 related to the net effect of acquisitions and divestitures. On Slide 7, selling expense increased 2.3% from the prior year and represented 12.1% of sales this year, compared to 10.7% last year. This increase in selling costs was primarily related to the Austrian acquisition that was completed during the quarter and continued investments in emerging markets. In addition, foreign currency translation had a positive impact on selling expense of $100,000 this quarter. G&A expense declined 9.4% from the prior year, remaining constant at 9.3% of sales, compared to the prior year. The prior-year G&A costs included approximately $800,000 of one-time costs. At the current sales levels, we expect our SG&A run rate to be approximately $30 million per quarter going forward. Turning to Slide 8. Operating income increased by 5.1% to $13.4 million, or 9.7% of sales, compared to 8.4% of sales from the previous year. This improvement in operating income was driven by the net pricing gains over raw material inflation, as well as productivity gains in our facilities. Our productivity is being driven by our lean manufacturing program, coupled with the benefits of our CapEx projects, training programs and safety initiatives. In addition, lower G&A expense also contributed to the improved operating margin increase. As you can see on Slide 9, income per diluted share for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 was $0.35 per share, reflecting an $0.08 decrease from the prior-year period where we reported earnings of $0.43 per share. The decrease in reported earnings per share was primarily due to the deferred tax asset valuation allowance in the prior year, which resulted in an artificially low income tax rate of 17.4%. On a pro-forma basis at our current normalized tax rate of 29.6%, earnings per share in the first quarter of fiscal 2014 were $0.35 per share, compared to $0.37 per share in the first quarter of fiscal 2013. The prior year benefited by $0.06 per share from the one-time net brokerage fee previously discussed. Our effective tax rate for fiscal 2014 is expected to be between 27% and 32% based on the geographic mix of earnings that we anticipate. Turning to Slide 10. Our working capital, as a percent of sales, increased to 20.2% in the current quarter from 18.3% at March 31, 2013. The increase is largely attributable to an increase in project-type orders that have resulted in approximately $4.8 million of increased inventory in the first quarter of fiscal year 2014. As a result, inventory turns declined to 3.8x. On Slide 11, you can see that we used $5.5 million of operating free cash flow in the quarter, which was comparable to the prior year. Capital expenditures were $3.6 million versus $1.7 million in the previous year. On a LTM basis, we generated $27.6 million of operating free cash flow, and ended the quarter with $110.4 million of cash after funding $5.8 million for the Austrian acquisition. We expect capital expenditures for fiscal 2014 to be in the $20 million to $25 million range due to a $6.8 million manufacturing plant expansion in China, as well as capital projects that are expected to generate further productivity improvements. Finally, on Slide 12, you can see that as of June 30, 2013, net debt was $41.5 million, and total gross debt was $151.9 million. Net debt to net total capitalization was 14.4%. In addition to having $110.4 million of cash in our balance sheet at June 30, we have an additional $93.1 million available under our new $100 million senior credit facility, net of $6.9 million of outstanding letters of credit. This facility, along with our healthy cash balance, provides significant liquidity to support our strategic growth plan. With that, I will turn it back over to Tim to cover the fiscal 2014 outlook.