Stanley Bergman
Analyst · John Kreger, William Blair
Thank you very much, Steven. Let's begin with the review of our business highlights for our first quarter starting with Dental. Our North American Dental consumable merchandise sales grew by 2.5% in local currencies, which is in line with the growth of the preceding quarter as end market growth has been quite stable. We believe that we modestly increased our market share versus the first quarter of last year. North American Dental equipment internal sales growth of 3.3% in local currencies improved from the fourth quarter of 2018, as we saw strength in sales of CAD/CAM products, which grew by approximately 20%. In particular, digital impression sales increased by nearly 30%; internal sales in local currencies for traditional equipment increased by approximately 2%. Internationally, dental consumables internal sales in local currencies had robust growth of more than 5% due in part to the timing of the Easter-related holidays as Steven mentioned. This timing variance aside, we believe the end market is generally stable in the International Dental consumable market we serve and that we'd continue to gain market share. Likewise, on the equipment side, we believe the market is stable. In fact, in certain markets, it's growing quite nicely. In March, we participated in the IDS event in Germany which occurs every two years. Our international dental equipment internal sales in local currency declined by approximately 1% during the first quarter due largely to this event as dentists in Germany and the surrounding countries often hold off on equipment purchases until after attending the show. This typically leads to a rebound in sales in the second quarter in an IDS year. Advancements in CAD/CAM and digital impression solutions were one of the highlights of the IDS as the technology has become faster and easier to operate, which many believe will lead to broader adoption of these technologies in the years to come. In fact, we believe that most dental practices will have digital impression capabilities as standard of care within five or so years. Today, practices have access to a broad selection of options from basic scanners to full systems to promote fast and accurate scans through these scanners that are far more comfortable for the patients to fully [indiscernible] systems that enable a practice to conduct full procedures including the production of crowns and bridges in one visit. All at a range of price points that enable the practitioners to choose what is right for the customer's specific need. We are clearly at a very exciting time for the industry given the advancements made in digital dentistry workflow. This excitement extends to all of our digital dentistry solutions, of course, including implants, orthodontics, and even endodontics where we leverage deep relationships with our specialty practices and general practitioner customers as well. In particular, internal sales of global implants and endodontics and orthodontics each grew in the mid-single digits to low-double digits in local currency during the first quarter. We're particularly pleased with the growth in our specialty businesses. At IDS, we were excited to announce a variety of innovations, implant-based tooth replacements offered through our BioHorizons and CAMLOG brands. This included the launch of a new implant system called the PROGRESSIVE-LINE, a few line extensions to BioHorizons Tapered implant system and the introduction of our interest dependent [ph] system that promotes fast patient bone regeneration. Now let's review the medical business, the influenza season in the first quarter of 2019 was fairly light in terms of office visits [ph]. On the other hand, and of course, these tests and related surgical products are really, really important for our customers, the office-based practitioner and the urgent centers. Yes, we delivered solid medical internal growth in the first quarter of approximately 5% in local currency despite the reduction in office visits relating to the influenza season. We're excited to have recently launched our new point-of-care diagnostics tools for medical customers. This is one of the fastest-growing product areas in healthcare as consumerism is driving preference for on-demand test results. To address this need and capture growth in this area, our medical team has created a point-of-care diagnostics specialist team. This specialized team will provide expertise in the diagnostic landscape and offer a consultative approach to address practice needs. For example, we have been working diligently to expand our private label portfolio with cost-effective, high-quality solutions for our position offices, clinics and other traditional laboratory customers so they can deliver quick, convenient, and reliable tests at the point of care with laboratory-quality performance. We recently held in Denver, Colorado our most successful medical national sales meeting bringing together our team from across the US to discuss our strategic priorities and sales initiatives for the year ahead. Just like our Dental team, our Medical team Schein members are highly engaged to provide our customers with the highest level of service support, in effect, helping our practitioners focus on operating in a more efficient practice, so that the practitioners can focus on providing the best in quality of care. As we look to the future of our medical business, we believe we are well-positioned to drive continued market share gains from our partnerships with large group practices plus independent physician offices an alternate site of care. So let's move on to the technology and value-added services business. For three quarters now, our Henry Schein One team has been hard at work combining a host of unique and powerful dental software tools that help dentists build awareness for their practice and better communicates with existing patients as well as generating new patients. These tools include advanced websites; reputation management tools, very important these days; and improved search engine results and online marketing and automated digital communications, all growth areas where we're doing quite well. To summarize a few highlights, all major imaging vendors have now signed on with our Dentrix Smart image integration solution. Smart Image provides improved image access across image modalities and integration into the practice management system. Interoperability is alive and well at Dentrix and throughout our practice solutions platform. Most exciting, Dentrix Ascend continues to enhance its focus on practice and patient experience with the addition of multiple new enhancements, including more efficient insurance processing, scheduling, pin board, document management, enhanced electronic dental billing functionality, and additional electronic claim codes to help improve business outcomes. Of course, Dentrix Ascend is our cloud-based dental practice management system and we believe the most progressive in the marketplace. Before we open the call to questions, I would like to highlight the progress we have made in our ongoing commitment to add high-margin products and solutions to a broad range of customer offerings. This is a key element of our strategic growth plan. Since the time of our last call in mid-February, we closed on the acquisition of North American Rescue, a leading provider of survival and casualty care medical products to the defense and public safety markets. NAR had approximately $184 million in sales for the 12 months prior period ending October 2018. This transaction brings us an expansive line of proprietary product brands with attractive gross margins and these solutions will help expand our medical group presence not only in the United States but also globally. We also announced the acquisition of Lighthouse 360 from the Web.com and provide us easy-to-use dental practice management and patient communication software with 2018 sales of approximately $50 million. Building upon our high-margin software and service businesses has been the cornerstone of our strategic growth plan and Lighthouse 360 is an excellent example of how we're adding to our technology innovation for the benefit of our customers. This highly automated software platform will expand Henry Schein One practice marketing and client communication solutions, providing tools to better connect us with our dental customers and help dental practitioners better connect with their patients and gain interoperability at work. Our pipeline for investment opportunity is quite full. We look forward to continuing to add innovative dental, medical, and technology solutions that complement our solid organic growth profile. As mentioned, we have a particular focus on driving attractive growth and operating margin expansion over the long term, in fact, over the medium and long term. We are also focused on growing our private brand and control brand solutions as we diversify the next selection of products we offer with attractive pricing to customers and of course attractive profit margins for Henry Schein. We are doing this while still supporting our branded manufacturers and seeking to expand their market share. The efforts we have undertaken through organic and acquisition growth will be complemented by our programs to reduce costs as part of our restructuring initiative, positioning us well for long-term operating margin expansion. So, again, lots going on at Henry Schein. We remain quite confident in execution of our strategic plan, believe it's a solid plan. And with that, operator, we would like to open the call to questions.