Andrew G. Lampereur
Analyst · Ann Duignan from JPMorgan
Thank you, Bob, and good morning, everyone. Fourth quarter came in pretty much as expected after peeling out a favorable tax adjustment and the impact of the Viking SeaTech acquisition. I'll cover each of these items in a minute but first wanted to summarize the results at a high level. We generated sales of $327 million, which included about $1 million of sales from Viking, with total sales in the upper end of our guidance range. In total, sales were up about 2% year-on-year. Fourth quarter operating profit margins, as well as EBITDA margins, were up over last year. Current year profit was impacted by about $3.5 million of Viking transaction costs. Excluding these, fourth quarter operating profit margin was 17.2%, the best of the year and 170-basis-point improvement over last year. Our diluted GAAP EPS from continuing operations was $0.60 a share. However, as you can see here on Slide 5, this $0.60 a share included both a nonrecurring $0.14 share income tax pickup and a $0.04 a share drag from Viking transaction cost. Excluding these 2 items, earnings per share for the fourth quarter was $0.50 a share, which was in the middle of our EPS guidance range. Compared to last year's $0.48 a share of earnings, this represented 4% improvement. But it's worth noting that the effective tax rate last year was much lower, representing about a $0.05 a share headwind on a year-over-year basis. And lastly, cash flow in the quarter was outstanding and put an exclamation point on the strong cash generation here at Actuant. We generated a record $205 million of free cash flow. Turning now to Slide 6. I'll provide a little bit more color on the results, starting with the sales line. Fourth quarter sales were approximately 2% above last year in total, with 1% of this coming from currency and less than 1% from acquisitions. On a core basis, we were up slightly, but it rounded to less than 1%. While soft on an absolute basis, we continue to see slightly improving core sales trends. 2 of our 3 segments were flat year-over-year, with Industrial being up 1%. The biggest sequential mover, though, was Engineered Solutions, which went from minus 10% core on a year-over-year basis in the third quarter to flat in the fourth quarter. Our consolidated operating profit margins in the fourth quarter were up 70 basis points year-over-year on a GAAP basis, as you can see here on Slide 7. As I mentioned earlier, margins were negatively impacted by the Viking transaction cost in the quarter. Excluding these, operating profit margins were up 170 basis points to 17.2%. This improvement reflects the benefits from previous cost-reduction actions, as well as lower year-over-year incentive compensation expense. On an EBITDA basis, fourth quarter margins were 20.3%, excluding the Viking transaction cost, which illustrates the higher absolute margin profile of Actuant on a go-forward basis without the Electrical segment. Now I'll provide a little bit of color on results by segment, starting first with Industrial on Slide 8. The Industrial segment had a good quarter, with modest sales growth and nice margin expansion. Core sales were up 1% above the segment's strong prior year fourth quarter. Sales mix in this segment was tilted more to Integrated Solutions, or IS, volume, but we still generated strong margin expansion due to supply chain savings and improved manufacturing efficiencies. From a geographic standpoint, Asia-Pacific, outside of China and India, had good customer demand. The Americas was a bit weaker than the prior year, while Europe was up on the strength of Integrated Solutions project activity. Shifting to the Energy segment on Slide 9. Market conditions remained positive. Asia-Pac sales continued to be robust, Europe and the Middle East were solid, while North America was negative. Overall, core sales were flat on a year-over-year basis. In total, Hydratight sales were up in low single-digits in the fourth quarter, but Cortland was down modestly on lower sales in non-Energy markets. On the profitability front, Energy operating profit margins were strong at about 20%, which was down just 30 basis points from a year ago. Fourth quarter results did include Viking for 3 business days, but the sales and profit impact of this was negligible. The Viking acquisition costs that I called out earlier are included in corporate expenses and not here in this segment. We're excited about the Viking SeaTech acquisition, and Mark will provide more color on this business later on today's call. On Slide 10, I'll cover Engineered Solutions, which was the most improved of our 3 continuing segments. As we had predicted, Engineered Solutions continued to show sales growth progress on a sequential basis since the second quarter, when we saw the most impact from OEM inventory destocking. Fourth quarter sales were flat on a year-over-year basis compared to a 10% core sales decline in the third quarter. We saw double-digit improvement in European heavy-duty truck sales. We saw some growth in the ag market as well as a result of new seeder product line launches and less worse core sales declines in automotive in North American off-highway equipment markets. For the segment in total, we started the year with a first quarter core sales decline of 17%, and we ended the year with fourth quarter being flat on a core basis. This reflected moderating customer destocking in the first half, easier comps, improved truck demand outside of North America, as well as new product introductions. On the margin front, Engineered Solutions operating profit margins were up 100 basis points year-over-year and benefited from cost-reduction actions we took earlier this year. Switching gears now to cash flow and capitalization. It was a very active fourth quarter. We generated great cash flow, deployed $28 million in additional stock buybacks. We amended and extended our bank credit facility and we completed the Viking acquisition. The $87 million of free cash flow generated in the quarter helped us to report a record $205 million free cash flow year. Our full year free cash flow conversion to net income, excluding the noncash charge for the Electrical segment and the tax item for the year, was over 125%. And that represented the 13th consecutive year of free cash flow conversion of at least 100%. We used $28 million of our fourth quarter free cash flow to fund the buyback of about 840,000 additional shares of Actuant stock, and we bought them at an average price of around $33.50 a share. We used an additional $235 million of capital to fund the Viking SeaTech acquisition in the last week of the quarter. Despite this combined $263 million of capital deployment in the quarter, our net debt to EBITDA leverage at quarter end was 1.3x, which is below our target of 1.5 to 2.5x net debt to EBITDA zone. Our availability to fund growth on a go-forward basis remains strong, with over $100 million of balance sheet cash, just shy of $500 million of existing revolver availability, a run rate of $200 million on an annual free cash flow basis and the future proceeds from the divestiture of the Electrical segment. Despite acquisitions and buyback in 2013, our balance sheet at year end and our liquidity has never been in better shape and will provide plenty of fuel for future growth. On that note, I will turn the call back over to Bob.