Vicente Reynal
Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead, your line is now open
Thanks, Rick. Moving to Slide 13 and starting with Industrial Technologies and Services. Overall, organic orders were up 1% and revenue down 8%, leading to a book-to-bill of 0.98 times. Despite the revenue decline, the team delivered strong adjusted EBITDA up 12% and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 26.1%, were also up 210 basis points sequentially versus Q3. Let me provide more detail on order performance. Starting with compressors, we saw orders up mid-single-digits. A further breakdown into oil-free and oil-lubricated products shows that orders for both were up mid-single digit. Oil-free order rates slightly outperformed those of oil-lubricated and stick to the airports of leveraging the company’s expanded oil-free portfolio and taking advantage of new channels. Regarding the regional split for orders in compressors. In the Americas, North America performed comparatively better at up low single-digit while Latin America was down high single-digit. Mainland Europe was up high single-digits, while India, Middle East and Africa saw a nice inflection of high-teens as compared to being down double-digits in the past two quarters. Asia Pacific continued to perform well with orders up mid-single-digits, driven by mid-single-digit growth in China and relatively flattish growth across the rest of Asia Pacific. In terms of vacuums and blowers, orders were up mid-teens with strong double-digit growth in the industrial banking and blower portfolio as well as mid-single-digit growth in the longer-cycle Nash Garo va business. Moving next to power tools and lifting. The total business was down low-teens in orders. The tools part of the business was down high single-digits in orders compared to down high-teens in Q3. We expect to pivot to positive orders growth in the first half of the year driven mainly by our enhanced e-commerce capabilities. On the right side, you will see three market drivers coming to our go-forward segment: sustainability, digitization and shifting demographics. For each segment, I will comment on how they are stepping forward to address these drivers. For IPS, the Google Cloud announcement I referenced earlier is a prime example of how the business is expanding comprehensive data digitization that will help increase the customers’ ability to improve energy efficiency to support them on achieving their own greenhouse gas emission reduction. Let me move now to Slide 14 and the Precision and Science Technology segment. Overall, organic orders were up 5%, driven by the medical and Dosatron businesses, which were both up double-digits as well as healthy growth in the water and general industrial markets from products like Milton Roy. The momentum on our Hygiene Solutions continues to build, and we saw some good orders and funnel activity in this rapidly changing end market. Revenue was down 8% organically with a major driver being two large projects for a large aerospace and defense company that shipped in Q4 of 2019 within the legacy PFS business. Despite the revenue decline, the PSCT delivered strong adjusted EBITDA up 7%. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 30.8%, up 290 basis points year-over-year. As a reminder, this segment has already generated a very respectable 27.7% adjusted EBITDA margin back in Q1 of 2020. But we are very pleased with how the team continues to transform this businesses now in Q4 with comparable revenue as what we did in Q1. This segment is generating 310 basis points more margin. Looking at the market drivers, the position on science team is meeting the demand for more sustainable energy sources and launching in new markets like hydrogen. From a digital perspective, many of our new pump technology can be multi-controlled, leading and dosing to ensure the safe and reliable dispensing of chemicals for markets around food sanitation and animal health. And the segment’s medical business is answering the demand for precise liquid handling technology to help advance personalized medicine research. Moving to Slide 15 and the Specialty Vehicle Technology segment. Overall, Q4 was another strong quarter for the Specialty Vehicle team. Orders were up 21% organically and continue to get stronger throughout the quarter as the consumer offering continues to gain momentum and market share. We also saw an inflection on growth that continued into Q1. We believe our lithium-ion battery launch is clearly a market leader, and we are taking share in the market. Organic revenue was up 8% with improvements across not only vehicles, but also aftermarket products and services. We feel we are in the early stages here and see potential as we expand the info base that can be served ongoing with parts and accessories. Adjusted EBITDA of $46 million increased 40% year-over-year, leading to an adjusted EBITDA margin of 18.7%, and this represents a 420 basis point improvement versus prior proving that IRX can be applicable to any business to generate solid improvements. We continue to see runway into the future as the team continues to move rapidly on accelerating initiatives like new product launches and end-user life-cycle management. In terms of - market drivers, the segment is recognizing and responding to the sustainability and efficiency demand for zero-emission vehicles to replace gas engine vehicles. For example, in Q4, we saw more than 80% unit growth for lithium cars versus the prior year. Digitization is critical also as owners expect connected cars to provide real-time data on their vehicle. The data can range from maintenance information, location-based data or infotainment services. And from a demographic shift perspective, we are seeing a higher demand for families to own recreation, zero-emission consumer vehicles used for short distance driving at low speeds. Moving to Slide 16 and the High Pressure Solutions segment. The business performed largely in-line with expectations in the midst of continued lower demand in the oil and gas market. Order and revenue were down 51% and 42%, respectively, which was an improvement over the decline seen both in Q2 and Q3. Nearly 90% of the revenue base continues to come from aftermarket parts and services. And the business delivered positive adjusted EBITDA of $2.5 million and incremental of 40% despite the meaningful revenue decline. Beginning with the first quarter of 2021, and due to the recently announced sale, the HPS business will be classified as discontinued operations in all future periods, and we will retroactively adjust the comparable prior periods. Within the income statement, the historical HPS business results will be presented on a single financial statement line below operating income. And upon deal closure, we will account for our 45% interest under the equity method of accounting. This means we will record a proportionate share of the HPS business income or loss for the period through a single financial statement line below operating income. Moving to Slide 17. We will review guidance for 2021. Given the pending sale, the HPS segment will not be included in our revenue or adjusted EBITDA guidance for the year. Starting with revenue growth, we expect total Ingersoll Rand revenue to be up high single-digits to low double-digits on an actual quarter basis. This is comprised of mid-single-digit organic growth across each of the three segments. FX is expected to be a low single-digit volume for the business, on a total year basis given the weakening of the U.S. dollar against many foreign currency like euro and British pound. FX assumption are based on December 2020 exit rates. And finally, we expect the M&A impact to be approximately $60 million, driven primarily by the Tuthill acquisition in the IPS segment. From a patient perspective, we anticipate the first half of the year to be up low double-digits, driven by the prior year impact of COVID-19, particularly in China in Q1 2020 and the rest of the world starting in Q2 of 2020. In addition, the FX tailwinds will be most evident during the first half of 2021. Overall growth in the second half of the year is expected to normalize a bit comparatively, but still be up high single-digits. As is typical, we expect Q1 to be comparatively lighter than the remaining 2021 quarters. Based on these revenue assumptions, we are introducing 2021 adjusted EBITDA guidance of $1.23 billion to $1.26 billion. The range includes an expectation for approximately $100 million of incremental transaction-related cost synergies with slight offsets due to two factors: First, approximately $35 million to $40 million of temporary costs taken out in 2020 returning to the P&L; and second, some expected material and logistics inflation given current dynamic across the global supply chain. We continue to monitor overall inflation and will take appropriate incremental pricing actions if and when warranted. In terms of cash generation, we expect free cash flow conversion to adjusted net income to be greater or equal to 100%. CapEx is expected to be approximately 1.5% to 2% of revenues. And finally, we expect the adjusted tax rate to be between 23% and 24% as compared to the 24.3% rate seen in 2020. Moving to Slide 18. As we wrap today’s call, I reflect in 2020 as a year that change ourselves. We took every measure to prioritize our employee safety while enabling our essential workers to maintain their livelihood and that is because our employees mean to us. We concentrated on delivering our mission-critical products and services to the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic side because our customers needed us. And we even proactively reached out to area healthcare providers to donate the use of sub-degree triggers to store COVID-19 vaccines because communities also needed us. So we take a role as a sustainably minded employee-owned industry leader services as can be seen by our clear commitment to reducing our impact on the environment. And I’m proud of every side of team member in our company for how we came together and deliver to protect the interest of all of our stakeholders this year. What a difference this year makes. In the threshold of our one-year anniversary, it is been a momentous ride, created a differentiated culture and improving the performance of our company. I’m confident we will continue to transform Ingersoll Rand and deliver increased value to all of our shareholders. And with that, I will turn the call back to the operator and open for Q&A.