Christopher J. Klein
Analyst · the ISI Group
Thank you, Brian, and thanks to everyone for joining us today. We are off to a great start to 2013. We delivered solid first quarter performance driven by both strong sales and profit growth, and we're increasing our annual outlook. As volume is returning to the market, the competitive advantages that we have built over time are now generating meaningful results. Our strong results reflect our disciplined focus on profitable growth and our aggressive moves over the last several years to grow share, introduce new products and restructure our operating platforms, all of which position us to leverage the recovering market. We also believe we are now in a position to drive incremental shareholder value. Let me first spend some time on the first quarter highlights, and then I'll discuss our revised annual outlook, our dividend and our strategic acquisition. For the quarter, sales were up 11%, and EPS was $0.24, up from $0.08 a year ago. Cabinet sales grew 11% as we gained share in all channels and benefited from new construction. Importantly, our focus on profitable growth allowed us to grow cabinet profits by $19 million in the quarter. Moen continued its strong performance with sales growth of 26%, with share gains across the business and profit growth of 52%. Windows & Doors sales were up 10%, and as expected, the segment operating profit improved. Security & Storage sales were down 14% as planned due primarily to lower sales of tool storage products while profit for the overall segment was up 4%. Now let me give you some top line highlights by segment. Sales for our cabinet business was up 11% for the quarter and exceeded our expectations. We continued to perform well as the market leader in cabinets with strong results across all channels within the business. The pace of new construction continued to be a key driver as we again saw strength with dealers and builders in our new construction lines. We're also starting to see more growth in our semi-custom lines as R&R spending improved over last year, while the high end of the market remains challenged. In the dealer channel, where we're the clear market leader. We're leveraging our portfolio of brands and our strong product and service reputation. We also achieved solid growth in home centers where we focus on sustainable long-term growth opportunities and where we saw particular strength in our in-stock cabinet programs and our expanded bath vanity programs. Notably, we grew our cabinet profits by $19 million in the quarter. This performance again reflects our ability to successfully target growth in channels, markets and product segments that aren't as promotionally driven, while leveraging our efficient operating platform to improve profitability. Plumbing sales were up 26% in the first quarter. Moen saw broad sales gains in the U.S. and in our international businesses, particularly China. Gains were strongest in the U.S. in our wholesale business where we achieved volume increases driven largely by the pace of new construction. Our leading market share with top builders and wholesalers, expansion into the multifamily segment and upgraded showroom displays is yielding strong sales and improved mix and solid profits. Moen is also seeing strength at retail, with our steady pace of consumer-driven innovations like MotionSense, a unique hands-free electronic kitchen faucet. Our Microban antimicrobial finishes and new styles like our Ashville, Banbury, Boardwalk and Wetherly bath lines. Internationally, sales in China, where there are now approximately 800 Moen-branded stores, were again up strong double digits over the prior year driven by new construction and our continued retail expansion. The team in China continues to build our business with a wider range of price points and with products uniquely tailored to the Chinese market, and the Chinese consumer continues to spend in our category. Window & Door sales were up 10% for the quarter. Four products saw double-digit sales gains, driven by -- heavily by gains in new construction, partially offset by the exit of less profitable retail programs. Window sales increased more modestly as softness continued in the Repair & Remodel side of the window market, and cool weather in many parts of the country negatively impacted exterior projects. Importantly, for our 3 housing-related segments, we saw total sales increase 16% for the quarter, well ahead of the overall market for our products, as we continue to gain share in our categories. In the Security & Storage segment, our sales were down 14% in the quarter and profit increased 4%. Sales declined primarily due to the expected challenging comparison for our tool storage products, as our largest customer did not repeat a unique post-holiday promotion in the category as they did in the first quarter of 2012. However, we have a number of exciting product initiatives rolling out over the balance of the year and expect full year store sales to be at least even with 2012. Security sales were down slightly to the prior-year quarter. Strength in global safety was offset by softness in Europe. Master Lock innovation continues to hit the mark in both retail and commercial with new updated versions of well-established product lines and exciting new line extensions. We also began to roll out our new line of commercial electronic access control solutions designed to secure high-value sites such as cellular telephone towers and other storage facilities. So to sum up the first quarter, I'm excited about our performance versus a market which continues to be led by significantly stronger new construction and a Repair & Remodel market that looks like it's showing some signs of improved growth. This performance demonstrates the strength of our operating model and our ability to generate profitable growth as volume returns and we continue to gain share. Now let me return -- now let me turn to our revised outlook for 2013. We will then take you through our outlook in more detail in a few moments. From a market perspective, we now see an overall market for our U.S. home products that could be better than our initial assumptions for 2013. New construction remains strong as demand for new homes continues to outstrip supply in many markets across the country. And notably, the pace of Repair & Remodel growth has picked up somewhat even though spending on larger ticket items like cabinets and windows continues to lag, especially at the high end of that market. Importantly, given our businesses are predominately driven by Repair & Remodel activities, small changes in the pace of R&R, up or down, can meaningfully impact our outlook and results. Therefore, our revised 2013 outlook is built on an assumption that the U.S. home products market grows at a combined 8% to 10% rate with new construction growing in the mid-20s and Repair & Remodel growing 4% to 5%, with some lag for purchases of higher-end big-ticket items. Based on that market assumption and our ability to consistently outperform, we expect our 2013 full year sales to increase 9% to 11% rate over 2012, with our home products businesses growing faster than that rate and our Security & Storage businesses growing slower than that rate. We expect our 2013 EPS before charges and gains to be in the range of $1.23 to $1.33. Now let me turn to our discussion of how we're beginning to use our strategic initiatives to drive incremental shareholder value. First, this week, our board approved the initiation of a quarterly cash dividend to shareholders. This is an important step as it reflects the board's confidence in our performance, long-term cash flow and strategy for using our strong cash flow to drive incremental shareholder value beyond the recovery. Second, today, we announced that we have signed an agreement to acquire WoodCrafters Home Products, a leading privately owned manufacturer of bathroom vanities and vanity sink tops. WoodCrafters will become a part of our cabinet business, where we have historically been strong in the kitchen and will greatly increase our product offerings in the bathroom. WoodCrafters' strength with vanities provides us with both additional innovative products and an expanded lower cost North American supply chain, including more capacity in Mexico. Also important, WoodCrafters comes with a strong seasoned management team and an execution-driven culture that will fit perfectly with ours. They will operate as a distinct unit of our Cabinets segment with its current management team, staffing, operations and locations. The unit will report to Dave Randich, President of our Cabinets business. And we are thrilled to warmly welcome the 2,000 WoodCrafters associates to our Fortune Brands Home & Security family. This is a very strategic acquisition that allows us to build on our competitive advantage in cabinets. With the market in the early stages of a recovery and particularly as the Repair & Remodel market begins to gain momentum, it's a great time to build on our leading position in cabinets and further strengthen our efficient and responsive North American supply chain. As I mentioned before, we intend to be efficient with our cash by investing in our businesses, pursuing accretive acquisitions that meet our strategic criteria and returning cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. So to sum up, we had another quarter of strong results. We are confident in our ability to continue to outperform our market, which has improved, and we've raised our outlook for 2013. As volume is returning, the competitive advantages that we have built over time are generating meaningful results. We are also now positioned to drive incremental shareholder value and therefore, initiated a dividend and announced an acquisition. Our strong brands, management teams and capital structure provide flexibility to both focus on profitable organic growth and drive incremental shareholder value with our strong free cash flow. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Lee, who will review our financial performance and provide more details on our revised 2013 outlook.