Greg Rustowicz
Analyst · CJS Securities. Please proceed with your question
Thank you, Tim and good morning everyone. On Slide 7 our third quarter gross profit declined by $3.5 million or 7.3%. Our gross margin was 29.4% compared to 30.3% in the prior year. However, there are two atypical items that I would like to call to your attention. First, product liability costs were higher than the prior year by $1 million. Two factors drove this increase. We settled a product liability case this quarter for $500,000 which was accrued this quarter. We also had it increased to our reserves as a result of our year-end actuarial valuation for our captive insurance company. This year we have had three large settlements which have driven up the actuarial estimate of future reserves needed. And that is atypical for us. Second, we continue to look for ways to improve our productivity and have recently implemented a small restructuring plan in EMEA that cost $300,000 but will result in savings on a go forward basis. Together, these items impacted gross margin by 80 basis points. Excluding this, gross margin would have been 30.2%. EMEA restructuring cost is included in productivity net of other cost changes on the Slide. Other items affecting our gross profit bridge included the impact of lower volumes which negatively impacted gross profit by $2 million. In addition, the prior year included $1.1 million of purchase accounting, inventory step up expense and restructuring costs which did not repeat in the current year. This had a positive impact on the change in gross profit. Finally, foreign currency translation negatively impacted gross profit by $400,000. As shown on Slide 8, selling expense was lower than the prior year by $1.3 million and represented 11.8% of sales this quarter compared to 12.1% in the prior year. Selling costs were lower by $1.2 million in part due to lower sales volumes. Favorable foreign currency translation lowered selling costs by $100,000. G&A expense increased $3.4 million from the prior year and represented 13% of sales this quarter compared to 10.3% in the prior year period. G&A expense this quarter included $3.1 million of STAHL acquisition deal costs and $400,000 for the CEO search and retirement agreement costs. Favorable foreign currency translation reduced G&A expense by $100,000. With the STAHL acquisition close in January 31, we will pick up two months of STAHL activity in our fiscal fourth quarter. Under IFRS accounting rules, SG&A costs are not reported so we can't give updated guidance just yet for SG&A cost. However, base guidance remains unchanged for the SG&A run rate for Columbus McKinnon which will remain at $35 million to $36 million per quarter excluding STAHL. Turning to Slide 9. Adjusted income from operations was $8.5 million or 5.5% of sales. This compares to adjusted operating income of $12.5 million or 7.8% in the prior year. The current year adjustment represents the STAHL acquisition deal cost. The prior year adjustment included $1.5 million for the Magnetek acquisition related costs and purchase accounting adjustments related to inventory step up expense and the amortization of backlog. This represents a decrease of $4 million or 32%. Not including these adjustments, atypical costs impacted operating margin by 1.2%. These include the previously mentioned higher product liability cost, EMEA restructuring cost and the CEO search and retirement agreement cost. In addition to these factors, operating margin was impacted by lower sales volume and unfavorable productivity caused by the lower volumes and the impact of inventory reductions in the business. The reconciliation for adjusted operating margin can be found on page 17 of this presentation. As you can see on Slide 10, GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.02 per diluted share versus $0.36 per diluted share in the prior year period. Adjusted earnings per diluted share for the third quarter of fiscal 2017 were $0.22 per share compared to $0.34 per share in the previous year, a decrease of $0.12 per share or 35%. Non-GAAP adjusted net income in the current year reflects the exclusion of the STAHL acquisition deal cost of $3.1 million and a FX option reevaluation loss of $1.8 million to hedge the STAHL purchase price as well as the normalized tax rate to reflect the 30% rate. The prior year non-GAAP adjusted net income reflects the exclusion of the Magnetek acquisition related cost and purchase accounting items previously mentioned also at a normalized 30% tax rate. The actual tax rate in the current quarter was 66.7% which was impacted by $3.1 million of non-deductible STAHL acquisition deal cost which will also impact the full year of fiscal 2017 effective tax rate which is now expected to fall between 31% and 36%. Turning to Slide 11. Our working capital as a percent of sales was 19.9% compared to 21.6% at December 31, 2015 at 21.5% at March 31, 2016. This was our best result in two years. Working capital as a percent of sales decreased 130 basis points sequentially from last quarter reflecting improved inventory turns. Inventory turns were 3.9 turns compared to 3.5 turns as of September 30 and are expected to improve to 4 turns or higher in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017, which will add to our cash generation capabilities and ability to repay debt. On Slide 12, net cash from operating activities in the third quarter was strong coming in at $22.9 million which compares to $28.8 million in the prior year. Operating free cash flow was also solid at $20 million. Year-to-date, cash from operating activities has increased over 45%. The hallmark of the company has always been its ability to generate cash and we continue to do so despite the economic climate we are faced with. Our guidance for capital expenditures remains unchanged at approximately $16 million for fiscal 2017. Turning to Slide 13, you can see that our total debt was $234.1 million and our net debt was $182.6 million as of December 31, 2016. Our net debt to net total capitalization was 38.4%. Year-to-date, we have repaid a total of $33.3 million of debt. With the STAHL acquisition expected to close next week along with our previously announced term loan financing and related [pipe] [ph] equity offering, we will carry significant more debt than we do today, but I am confident that we would be able to delever very quickly to a more normal 30% debt to total capital level. This will remain our focus over the next couple of years. With that, I will turn it over to Tim to cover the outlook for the fourth quarter.