Chris Koch
Analyst · Kevin Hocevar
Thank you, Teeny. Good afternoon and welcome to the Carlisle Companies' first quarter 2017 conference call. On the phone with me this afternoon are Bob Roche, our Chief Financial Officer; Steve Ford, our Vice President of Investor Relations, Secretary and General Counsel; and Titus Ball, our Chief Accounting Officer. On today’s call, I will discuss our first quarter 2017 performance and 2017 outlook. Steve will review our segment performance, balance sheet, and cash flow. Before I begin my prepared remarks, I’d like to introduce everyone to call – on the call to Carlisle’s new Chief Financial Officer, Bob Roche. We are fortunate to have Bob joined the Carlisle team. His deep experience with acquisitions and integration, operational finance and strategic planning will be important as we enhance our focus on these areas throughout the Carlisle enterprise. Bob’s addition allows us to increase our capacity in M&A and finance and allow Steve Ford to focus on developing a world class Investor Relations function at Carlisle. Given our plans for growth these changes will helps for Carlisle’s strategic initiatives in the years to come. Before I discuss our results in more detail, I would ask that you review Slide 2 of our presentation entitled Forward Looking Statements and the Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures. Reconciliations of U.S. GAAP to non-GAAP measures are provided in our earnings release and the Appendix to this presentation. Those considering an investment in Carlisle should read these statements carefully, along with reviewing the reports we file with the SEC, before making any investment decision. These reports explain the risks associated with investing in our stock, which is traded on New York Stock Exchange under the symbol of CSL. Now let's review our first quarter performance. Please turn to Slide 3 in the presentation. As announced after the stock market close today, Carlisle reported record first quarter sales of $857.3 million driven by outstanding performance of CCM or through continued focus on execution of their core initiatives. Growth exceeded the favorable non-residential roofing market growth rates. CCM also had a record first quarter margin performance. This performance was especially noteworthy as it was the fourth consecutive year of first quarter margin expansion. By San Jamar acquisition within the FoodService segment announced this past January contributed almost $20 million to the year-over-year sales growth and we were pleased to see sales growth in CBF for the first time since the third quarter of 2014. Negatively impacting sales in the first quarter was our decision at CIT to maintain pricing integrity, which resulted in a substantial sales decline within our in-flight entertainment connectivity or IFEC product category. The decline in IFEC sales will result in a volume headwind for the business in 2017, which will be mitigated by the increasing deliveries of our new SatCom product line. The commercial aerospace market is experiencing a technological shift from traditional Seatback entertainment systems towards SatCom based wireless connectivity. While this technological change will cause near-term challenges within the aerospace industry as a transition occurs. This is consistent with the wired to wireless connectivity evolution underway globally and will result in enhanced customer connectivity and the in-flight entertainment experience. This shift is more impactful in narrow body aircraft and we expect wide body aircraft will offer a combination of both traditional seatback entertainment systems and SatCom wireless products for some time. First quarter earnings per share from continuing operations of $0.94 included $010 of previously announced restructuring facility rationalization and acquired inventory costs. We are on track to complete these restructuring activities and are expecting significant EBITDA improvement from these investments beginning in 2018. Earnings performance in the quarter was well below our expectations driven largely by lower volumes experience in CIT. We recorded pre-tax charges of $5.2 million primarily related to the current facility rationalization and plant restructuring projects in the interconnect technologies and Brake & Friction segments. Along with pre-tax acquired inventory cost for the San Jamar and Arbo acquisitions, which totaled $3.9 million in the quarter. Our disciplined approach to deploying cash from operations continued in the first quarter returning $22.7 million in capital to shareholders through dividends, investing $30.4 million in capital expenditures, and approximately $226 million for the acquisitions of San Jamar and Arbo. As Steve will detail on his comments, we have ample liquidity available to pursue organic investments, acquisitions and return capital to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Please turn to Slide 4 I would now like to share some of our recent highlights including an update on the significant progress we're making on some of our strategic growth initiatives. At CCM conditions in the U.S. non-residential roofing markets remain favorable. Growth was better than expected despite tougher comparisons last year with the U.S. single-ply membrane market growth rates in the low single-digits. CCM experience growth across to almost all regions in the U.S. and Canada in the quarter with installation in TPO products outpacing overall growth rates. This business is positioned to capitalize on trends in energy efficient installation solutions and the growing popularity of TPO products with the contractor community. Project backlogs remained strong for roofers, however, tight labor conditions remain. Traditionally, a North American centric business CCM is strategically focused on international expansion through construction of a new production facility in Germany and the acquisition of Arbo. Additionally, we are actively pursuing European acquisition opportunities in the building envelope space to complement our existing footprint. As expected raw material costs that CCM increased by $3.6 million in the quarter and pricing was unfavorable declining 1.7% versus prior year. CCM announced 7% polyiso price increase and a 5% TPO price increase effective April 1. One other note, where the development at CCM in the first quarter was the approval of a new 40,000 square foot R&D technical center in Carlisle, PA. This high tech R&T center will almost triple our current square footage and allow CCM to maintain its technological leadership position in the building and construction industry. At CIT the sales decline from two large commercial aerospace customers had a greater impact than anticipated as we exited the fourth quarter of 2016. Offsetting this headwind going forward our sales related to the technology shift from traditional seatback entertainment systems to our new satellite connectivity products, which continue to gain momentum. The satellite connectivity installation kit market size is currently estimated at $250 million and is expected to grow at 10% to 15% CAGR through 2021. CIT remains well positioned to capitalize on the rapid growth for these products in both line fit and retrofit applications with our ARINC 791 solution and products – and the products we required with the Star Aviation purchase last fall. The current CIT SatCom pipeline to be delivered over the coming years is estimated at over $200 million with the pace of shipments accelerating later in the year. And industry expectations are the air to ground technology will be surpassed by satellite connectivity is the dominant technology in the coming years. With both IFEC and SatCom technical capabilities in products, CIT remains a market leader in the industry. And CIT’s medical business, the expansion of our state-of-the-art facility in Dongguan, China remains on track. This facility in addition to the capabilities of our medical technology development team is supporting a growing new product development pipeline of over 75 active projects with a value of approximately $50 million. The manufacturing capabilities in this facility will contribute to CIT’s position as an emerging global leader in the medical interconnect market. CIT remains diligent in their efforts to take cost out of business as evidenced by the current year restructuring and facility rationalization activities and we expect EBIT margins to improve as a result. At our FoodService segment, the team continues to successfully execute their sales growth and operational excellence strategies as evidenced by the seventh consecutive quarter of organic sales and earnings growth. The acquisition of San Jamar earlier this year has added to the sales momentum and we are very pleased with the San Jamar team's performance in the first quarter with Carlisle. Integration activities including the rollout of the Carlisle operating system are progressing well. The San Jamar management team is fully engaged and achieving the expected growth rates and will leverage the new tool COS has brought to the business. Steve will now review our first quarter segment performance, balance sheet and cash flow. After Steve’s review, I will discuss our outlook for the remainder of 2017. Steve?