Andrew G. Lampereur
Analyst · Citi Investment Research
Thank you, Bob, and good morning, everyone. We're really happy, as Bob mentioned, with the strong second quarter results from our businesses, and we're pleased to have momentum in our favor as we move into the second half of the fiscal year. Sales of $378 million were above our guidance range despite currency headwind. Three of our 4 segments generated double-digit core growth, each slightly better than forecasted. Our operating profit grew 33% year-over-year which is faster than sales, meaning we once again had profit margin expansion. Importantly, our 2 highest margin segments, Industrial and Energy, continued to generate year-over-year margin expansion. Now similar to the last several quarters, the combination of the top line growth and the margin expansion resulted in strong EPS growth. We generated second quarter earnings per share of $0.43 a share compared to $0.30 a year ago from continuing operations, which was a 43% improvement. So let's get a little bit more granular now on the income statement, starting first with the sales line. Our second quarter sales, in total, were up 14%, which included 8% core and 7% from acquisitions as well as a 1% headwind from currency. Our 8% core growth was a modest acceleration from the first quarter. Overall sales were ahead of our forecast, with favorable core variances from Industrial, Energy and Electrical. From a geographic standpoint, North America led the way with double-digit second quarter sales growth. Europe grew in mid-single digits on a core basis, while the growth in the Energy -- with growth in Energy more than offsetting the declines in Europe that we saw in Engineered Solutions from the automotive and truck markets. Acquisitions added about $26 million to our second quarter sales, which included Weasler, Jeyco and Mastervolt, the latter of which has now passed its first anniversary with Actuant and will be included in our core sales measure starting in the third quarter. We reported our ninth consecutive quarter of year-over-year operating profit margin expansion this quarter. Consolidated margins were 13.1%, up 190 basis points from a year ago. Now as a reminder, our margins in the second quarter are typically the lowest of the year on account of normal seasonal trends in our businesses, so the sequential declines in the first quarter in operating profit margin was expected and normal. More importantly, second quarter margins were up year-over-year due to the higher sales volume, operational improvements and favorable mix. We also had a favorable downward adjustment to an earn-out accrual in the quarter for a past Energy acquisition for a few million dollars which helped out Energy segment margins, but this was pretty much offset with electrical plant closure and restructuring costs and other small and onetime items in the quarter. In total, our margins were up nicely and we expect continued year-over-year expansion in the back half of this fiscal year although at slightly lower growth rates due to tougher comps. Now I'll provide some color on the results for each of our 4 segments starting first with the Industrial segment. In a nutshell, it was an exceptional quarter for Enerpac and Industrial. Core sales grew at a robust 11% clip, and operating profit margins were up over 400 basis points year-over-year. We saw a solid growth in the base Industrial tool product line, especially in North America and Europe, during the quarter. We benefited from sales into the Middle East and sub-Sahara Africa region as well as strong shipments to Energy-related customers. The Integrated Solutions or IS portion of the segment once again booked some nice infrastructure orders in the quarter and continued to show year-over-year margin improvement, both facts boding well for future prospects. Now moving on to the Energy segment. Core sales were a very strong 27% year-over-year, showing the typical lumpiness of this segment. We saw growth in both Cortland and Hydratight in across all regions and vertical markets. North America was particularly strong, with significant power gen and nuclear maintenance projects continuing to drive outsized growth. Second quarter Energy operating profit margins popped nearly 400 basis points year-over-year due in part to the earn-out adjustment I mentioned earlier but were up even without this, so it was a good quarter from a profitability standpoint. We remain enthusiastic about the Energy segment's outlook for the balance of the year given its later cycle orientation, solid quoting activity right now, current oil prices and overall industry maintenance and investment levels. The Electrical segment repeats were the biggest upsized prize for the quarter. Again, it posted much better than expected core growth this quarter at 14% year-over-year. Now going into the fiscal year, we are anticipating full year core sales growth in Electrical in the low single-digit range, 1% to 5%, and this segment is on track to exceed that based on the 11% first half core sales growth rate base. The strong growth in North America came from several different channels, including utility, do-it-yourself retail, electrical distribution, Internet and OEM customers. Our electrical transformer line, in particular, generated some outsized growth as demand accelerated as the years unfolded. We also believe that part of the growth we're seeing in the retail DIY and electrical distribution markets is a start of a recovery in housing and commercial construction markets off of previous trough levels. Meanwhile in Europe, Mastervolt had an improved quarter as prices stabilized sequentially. We expected the second half sales to grow on a core basis. On the operating profit front, we saw year-over-year margin expansion despite headwinds from plant closure and other restructuring costs included in the quarter in the Electrical segment. We're expecting continued margin improvement in this segment in the second half benefiting from increased volumes and continued disciplined pricing. Rounding our segment financial review, Engineered Solutions came in pretty much in line with our expectations. It reported a 9% decline in core sales in the quarter on account of lower OEM production rates in Europe from the auto and truck OEM customers and continued lower demand from China truck. Other markets in this segment are doing much better than the segment's overall core sales rate would indicate, including strong demand from the global agriculture and North American truck and construction equipment markets. Operating profit margins in this segment were down due to lower absorption associated with reduced production levels, but were still respectable in a seasonally weak second quarter. Now before moving off the income statement, I wanted to just step back and review the significant quarterly growth that we've achieved over the last couple of years. Sales have grown substantially since the great recession through a combination of robust core growth you see here and the benefit of acquisitions. We're starting to see some of our growth and investment -- growth and innovation investments pay off. Operating profit margins are also near record levels, reflecting improved leverage from incremental sales volume on our improved cost structure as well as better pricing discipline. This is evidenced in the robust year-over-year margin expansion you see here. This consistent combination of core sales growth and margin expansion as well as acquisitions has delivered significant EPS growth over the last 9 quarters, which has averaged over 50% year-over-year. While we're not forecasting this kind of growth at the same rates for the balance of the year, we remain optimistic on our future prospects. Now a few comments on cash flow and capitalization prior to turning the call back to Bob. Our second quarter cash flow was very strong at about $33 million. Increased earnings and effective working capital management drove the year-over-year improvement. Combined with the first quarter, our first half cash flow in fiscal '12 aggregates $58 million, over 3x of what we generated a year ago. We did not repurchase any stock during the second quarter, but we did deploy about $20 million in the Jeyco acquisition and applied the rest of the cash flow toward debt reduction. At the end of February, our net debt-to-EBITDA leverage was 1.6x, near the bottom of our stated leverage comfort zone. Importantly, we're in great shape to fund additional growth and innovation investments in the future as well as additional strategic acquisitions, like Jeyco, which Bob is going to talk about next. That's it for my prepared remarks today. Bob, back to you.