Michael Monahan
Analyst · Robert W
Thank you. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Ecolab's third quarter conference call. We also want to extend a special welcome to those affected by Hurricane Sandy. Thanks for joining us, and we hope all of you are safe. With me today is Doug Baker, Ecolab's Chairman and CEO. A copy of our earnings release and accompanying slides referenced in this teleconference are available on Ecolab's website at ecolab.com/investor. Please take a moment to read the cautionary statements on Slide 2, stating this teleconference and the slides include estimates of future performance. These are forward-looking statements, and actual results could differ materially from those projected. Factors that could cause actual results to differ are described in the section of our most recent Form 10-Q under Item 1A, Risk Factors, and our third quarter earnings release and on Slide 2. We also refer you to the supplemental diluted earnings per share information in the release. In addition, as mentioned on Slide 2, this conference call does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Also, please note that in order to provide a meaningful comparison of our results of operations, where applicable, actual results for third quarter of 2012 are compared against pro forma results for the third quarter of 2011. The pro forma results are based on historical consolidated financial statements of Nalco and Ecolab, and we're prepared to illustrate the effects of our merger with Nalco. These pro forma statements are available on our website at ecolab.com/investor, as well as our Form 8-K filed April 27, 2012, and selected portions are contained in our slides and press release. Starting with an overview in Slide 3, we delivered strong results in the third quarter, reaching the top end of our earnings forecast range despite currency and continuing economic headwinds. We leveraged improved sales volume growth, pricing and our synergy and cost efficiency work to produce yet another strong double-digit increase in our adjusted earnings per share. Looking ahead, we expect to continue to outperform our markets and show strong double-digit earnings gains in the fourth quarter and for the full year as solid sales growth, appropriate pricing, innovation, synergies and margin leverage more than offset more moderate increases in delivered product costs, as well as the impact of higher depreciation, amortization charges from last year's Nalco merger. Further, we expect 2012 will be our 10th year of double-digit adjusted EPS growth in the last 11, and we will do so while setting up strong growth for the years ahead. Moving to some highlights from the quarter and as discussed in our press release, reported earnings -- pardon me, reported third quarter earnings per share were $0.80. On an adjusted basis, excluding special gains and charges and discrete tax items from both years, third quarter 2012 earnings per share increased 16% to $0.87. The adjusted earnings per share growth was driven by volume and pricing gains, new products and new accounts, which along with synergies and cost savings actions, more than offset higher delivered product costs. We enjoyed strong gains in Global Energy, Latin America and our worldwide Kay, Healthcare and Pest Elimination operations. We continue to be aggressive, focusing on top line growth. We're emphasizing our innovative product and service strengths to help customers get better results and lower costs, and through these, drive new account acquisition across all of our customer segments. We also continue to implement appropriate price increases to help offset higher delivered product costs and investments in our business. We remain focused on expanding our margins, emphasizing productivity and efficiency improvements, to help increase profitability, as well as drive merger synergies. We also continue to make investments in key growth businesses to sustain our technology and sales and service leadership positions. Our work to integrate Ecolab and Nalco is going very well, and we are delivering on or ahead of plan on our cost and growth synergy targets. Our agreement to acquire Champion Technologies, announced October 12, continues on plan for an expected close by year end. While economic trends present challenges, we continue to look for our fourth quarter to show strong sales growth and further margin improvement. Fourth quarter adjusted EPS is expected to increase 24% to 30% to the $0.87 to $0.90 -- $0.91 range and compare with adjusted EPS of $0.70 earned by our legacy Ecolab in the fourth quarter 2011, as the addition of Nalco, business growth and the increasing benefits from synergies and cost reductions more than offset higher fixed depreciation and amortization and interest expense from the merger. This results in the full year 2012 adjusted earnings per share range of $2.96 to $3, representing a 17% to 18% increase compared to the adjusted $2.54 earned by legacy Ecolab last year. In summary, we expect 2012 to reflect another strong performance for Ecolab, as we deliver upper teens adjusted earnings growth and making the investments to yield strong results in the years ahead. Slide 4 shows our third quarter results, both as reported and pro forma, with adjustments for special gains and charges, while Slide 5 shows our sales growth detail. Ecolab's reported consolidated sales for the third quarter increased 74%. When compared with third quarter 2011 pro forma sales, which include the impact of Nalco in both years, Ecolab's fixed currency sales was a strong 7%. Looking at the pro forma growth components, volume and mix increased 4%. Pricing rose 2%, acquisitions and divestitures did not have a significant impact, and currency decreased sales by 5%, rounding accounts for the difference in the total. Reported sales for the U.S. Cleaning & Sanitizing operations rose 1%. Adjusted for the transfer of water treatment-related businesses to the Global Water segment, U.S. Cleaning & Sanitizing sales increased 4%. Institutional sales grew 3% in the third quarter. Sales initiatives, targeting new accounts and effective product and service programs continue to lead our results, outperforming mixed end markets. Third quarter sales were negatively impacted by the timing of some shipments to distributors. However, our total shipments, meaning our direct plus distributor shipments to our end-use customers, showed the same steady trends as in previous quarters, growing around 5%. Looking at our end markets, lodging room demand continues to show modest growth, while foodservice foot traffic remained soft. To drive our growth and improve on our industry leadership, we are introducing more new products that deliver increased value and reduced labor, water and energy costs for customers in our warewashing, laundry and housekeeping markets. Programs we launched earlier this year, like our next-generation warewashing platform, called Apex2, have gained traction, and have been very favorably received by the marketplace. We also continue to increase our customer focus and service intimacy through sales force investments, simplified structures, marketing initiatives and improved field technology. We expect Institutional to continue to show good end customer sales trends and market share gains. When combined with expected normalized distributor order patterns, we look for Institutional to deliver stronger growth in the fourth quarter. Kay's third quarter sales increased 11%. Quick service sales enjoyed strong growth from both large and small customers. Food retail business grew double digits, benefiting from several new customer additions. We look for good sales growth in the fourth quarter, led by continued double-digit food retail growth, resulting in another year of upper single-digit growth for Kay in 2012. Healthcare sales increased 6%, as strong momentum in our patient temperature management business led results, benefiting in part as guidelines for patient management during surgical procedures gain greater acceptance. Healthcare's growth was also fueled by our innovative infection barrier solutions for leading medical equipment suppliers that help prevent infection transmission. These more than offset soft results in hand hygiene. Looking ahead, fourth quarter sales are expected to show continued similar sales growth trends. We expect new products, which will be launched next year, will help drive further growth and offset the challenging Healthcare environment. Food & Beverage sales grew 3%. Good gains in agri and food offset lower beverage and protein sales. Our market focus on improved customer penetration, along with our drive to provide total plant assurance, offering comprehensive plant-wide Cleaning & Sanitizing, water treatment, wastewater and Pest Elimination solutions, has enabled us to win new business. When combined with our innovative products and focus on lowering customer energy and water usage, we expect to see better sales trends in the fourth quarter and into next year. Sales for U.S. Other Services rose 4% in the third quarter. Pest Elimination sales continue to show improved trends, rising 4%. Growth was led by stronger gains in food processing and Healthcare, improved results in the foodservice segments and robust growth in add-on service sales. We continue to drive new product and program solutions to better meet our customer needs and differentiate our offerings. Recent new program launches, like the Expanded Large Fly Program and a new hotel protect program, with bedbug assurance offering, are showing good initial results. We expect our new products and programs, along with aggressive selling and improved service levels, to yield continued good sales gains in 2012. Sales for GCS increased 3% in the quarter. New account wins and appropriate pricing helped to drive strong growth in service revenues, which were partially offset by soft parts sales, resulting from a system change. We continue to see good results from chain account relationships, as we drive sales through the regional and franchise organizations. We expect GCS to show improved results in the fourth quarter, as we expect continued good service trends and improved part sales to benefit results. Measuring fixed currency, sales for international Cleaning & Sanitizing and Other Services increased 3%. Adjusted for the transfer of water treatment to the Global Water segment, fixed currency sales increased 5%. Europe, Middle East and Africa fixed currency sales rose 3% in the third quarter. Europe's Institutional third quarter sales were off slightly versus last year. New business gains among regional and local customers leveraged new products, but were offset by continuing weak demand in the south. Food & Beverage sales rose modestly over the last year, reflecting market share gains, a focus on corporate accounts and an emphasis on the cost savings benefits of our innovative products. These worked to offset slower customer volumes. Next, Healthcare [ph] sales were flat in the third quarter. New products and technology, like lower temperature washing, offset soft market conditions. Healthcare sales in Europe were strong on both a reported and organic basis, as new account gains and new products bolster the impact from our Esoform acquisition to drive sales. Pest Europe sales showed good growth due to a continued focus on corporate accounts, new programs and the continued operational improvements. Our work to improve operating efficiency in our Europe business continues to show good progress. We are further leveraging our shared services facility, transferring more work to the location, which is in Eastern Europe. We also continue to consolidate facilities and improve procurement savings. We are on track to deliver more than 200 basis points of structural margin improvement in 2012, though the weak economic environment and raw material increases in Europe will offset about half those gains at operating income. We continue to expect to improve operating margins to the low teens in Europe over the coming years, though the current economic challenges faced by Europe is slowing the pace of our progress. Looking ahead, we expect Europe's fourth quarter to show flat fixed currency sales, with good profit improvement, as it outperforms the weak European business environment. Asia-Pacific sales grew 4% in fixed currencies on a pro forma basis. Better growth in emerging markets and improved China results helped to offset slower mature markets. Institutional sales increased, benefiting from new programs, as well as a focus on restaurant and lodging expansion in the emerging Asian markets. Food & Beverage sales also realized good organic growth. New account gains and better results in Australia and China led the increase. We remain cautious regarding the strength of the expected economic recovery in Asia. However, we expect our fourth quarter Asia-Pacific sales to show good growth in this environment, as new product sales and new business in emerging markets improve from the slowdown earlier this year. Third quarter sales for Ecolab's Canadian operations increased 6% at fixed currency rates. Strong growth in core businesses drove the solid results. Latin America reported strong fixed currency sales gains, up 16%. Adjusted for the Brazil Pest and Institutional acquisitions, Latin America grew 11% in fixed currencies, as Institutional, Food & Beverage and Pest Elimination continue to grow at double-digit rates despite some slowing in Latin America markets. Fixed currency Global Water sales increased 5% in the third quarter compared with 2011 pro forma results. Good growth in Food & Beverage, power, Primary Metals and mining were offset by lower sales in wastewater. Regionally, we saw strong growth in North America, with moderate gains in Latin America and Asia. Sales were flat in Europe, reflecting the continued weak economic conditions in that region. We expect Global Water sales growth to ease in the fourth quarter, as gains in other regions are offset by soft trends in Europe, and a comparison to strong mining sales in the year-ago period. Third quarter 2012 fixed currency global sales for Paper declined 4%, primarily reflecting the strategic elimination of certain low-margin business. Adjusting for those eliminations, sales would have been flat versus the strong period last year. Modest growth in Latin America and Europe, led by the use of innovative technology, was offset by lower customer plant utilization rates in North America and Asia-Pacific. We expect fourth quarter Paper sales will also be about flat as the paper market stabilizes. Measured in fixed currencies, pro forma Global Energy sales grew an outstanding 20%. Excluding the impact of one-time sales, Global Energy rose 15%. The quarter reflected continued strong volume growth in upstream and market share gains in downstream. Strong double-digit growth in our upstream business was a result of healthy market conditions, share gains and a continued focus on higher growth energy sources. We saw strong growth in deepwater and shale accounts, continued momentum in oil sands, as well as strong activity in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Downstream growth reflected share gains in Asia, Middle East and in Latin America. We expect Energy segment growth to remain strong in the fourth quarter, driven by shale, continued strength in the deepwater and oil sands business and good growth in downstream. Slide 6 of our presentation shows selected income statement items, comparing reported 2012 with pro forma 2011 information to allow more meaningful comparisons. Reported third quarter gross margins were 46.5%. Adjusted for the impact of special charges, 2012 adjusted gross margins were 46.6%. But compared with third quarter 2011 adjusted pro forma results, 2012 gross margins increased 50 basis points. The adjusted gross margin improvement primarily reflected the benefits of the volume pricing gains, which more than offset exchange and business impact of higher energy sales. We also expect fourth quarter gross margins to increase versus last year. Reported SG&A expenses represent 32.3% of third quarter sales. When compared with 2011 pro forma results, 2012 SG&A expenses declined 100 basis points. Leverage from the sales gains and cost savings efforts, including merger synergies and Europe restructuring savings, led the improvement. Reported operating income for Ecolab's U.S. Cleaning & Sanitizing segment rose 17%. Adjusted for the transfer of water treatment to the Global Water segment, operating income increased 14%, with margins up 210 basis points when compared with third quarter 2011 pro forma operating income. Volume and pricing gains and cost innovation led the increase. Operating income for U.S. Other Services increased 3%, benefiting from sales leverage, which partially offset field sales investments. International fixed currency operating income increased 12% versus last year. Adjusted for the transfer of water treatment business to the Global Water segment, operating income increased 14%, with EMEA operating income up 12%. International margins improved 90 basis points, as pricing and volume gains and our Europe margin transformation efforts more than offset higher delivered product costs. Global Water operating income grew 25% in fixed currencies compared to pro forma results. Margins expanded 210 basis points, as pricing and volume gains led the increase. Global Paper operating income increased 16% in fixed currencies due to pricing, the elimination of low-margin business and comparison to last year, which included the impact of a customer bankruptcy on bad debt expense. Adjusted for that charge, Paper's operating income rose 5%. Global Energy operating income grew 29% in fixed currencies. Margins expanded 120 basis points, led by the strong volume gain, operating leverage and pricing, which more than offset delivered product costs and investments in the business. Corporate segment and tax rate are discussed in the press release. Consistent with our comments on the second quarter conference call, we did not repurchase any shares during the third quarter. But note this [ph] performance is that Ecolab reported third quarter diluted earnings per share of $0.80 compared with $0.65 reported a year ago. When adjusted for special gains and charges and discrete tax items in both years, adjusted earnings increased 16% to $0.87 when compared with $0.75 earned a year ago. Turning to Slide 7. Ecolab's balance sheet reflected the impact of the Nalco merger. Total debt to total capital was 50% at September 30 compared with 30% reported a year ago. Our net debt to total capital is 49%. Looking ahead, and as outlined in Slide 8, we continue to take aggressive actions to drive both our top and bottom lines, expanding our market share and our customer penetration among major accounts, leveraging our leadership positions in key growth markets in food, water, energy and Healthcare. We are using innovation and pricing to benefit margins, and expect to show a margin expansion again in the fourth quarter. Development of our merger synergies, along with Europe's transformation work, continues to go well and meet or exceed expectations, and we expect to deliver on these aggressive goals, while building growth for the future. As also described in our press release, we look for the fourth quarter results to show mid single-digit pro forma sales gains, again, led by our Global Energy, Latin America and worldwide Kay, Healthcare and Pest Elimination operations. This solid business performance will again be impacted by much higher depreciation, amortization and interest expense, as well as increased share count from our merger. We also expect Congress will again pass the R&D tax credit before year end, which we expect will benefit fourth quarter EPS by approximately $0.01 per share. As a result, we expect adjusted fourth quarter diluted earnings per share to increase 24% to 30% to the $0.87 to $0.91 range, compared with the adjusted earnings per share of $0.70 earned last year. This results in our 2012 full year adjusted EPS range narrowing to the $2.96 to $3 range, and representing a very strong 17% to 18% increase. As an update regarding our pending Champion acquisition, we are making the required antitrust filings in the relevant countries. Respecting the procedures of the various antitrust agencies, we will not specifically comment here or in the Q&A on the status of them, other than to say we expect to receive the required clearances in a timely manner to enable the close within the fourth quarter. We continue to expect the Champion acquisition will help us build a stronger energy business and a stronger Ecolab, with better growth opportunities to achieve continued, consistent, predictable and above-average growth. In summary, we once again delivered on our forecast in the third quarter, while offsetting higher delivered product costs and the weakening economy, while still investing in our future. We look for sales and profit growth to accelerate through 2012 second half to produce another strong year and make it our 10th year of adjusted double-digit EPS growth in the last 11. That concludes our formal remarks. Operator, please begin the question-and-answer period.