Jeff Clarke
Analyst · Mangrove Partners. Your line is now open
Welcome everyone and thank you for joining the Q2 investor call for Kodak. On the call today, I'll talk about the company and divisional results for the second quarter of 2018 and our 2018 full year forecast. Dave will then follow with more details on net earnings, a cost reduction update, discussion of cash flow, and our 2018 cash outlook after which we will welcome your questions. I'd like to start by discussing the progress we are making on several significant initiatives to strengthen our capital structure including addressing the September 2019 maturity of the company's first lien term loan. First, we are engaged in a process to sell our Flexographic Packaging Division. This is a strong business , generating $150 million of revenue and $33 million of operational EBITDA over the last 12 months. We have already received strong interest in this business from multiple, potential strategic and financial buyers. Second, we've entered into a non-binding letter of intent with a lender with a significant stake in our existing first lien term loan. The agreement would provide for a $400 dollar, 18-month loan and permit us to approach the sales process in a thoughtful way and achieve maximum value for our shareholders. Due to the confidential and sensitive nature of these transactions, we will not elaborate further at this time. Third, we've initiated actions to further reduce cost with an expected annual savings of $40 million. Let me discuss Kodak's decision to sell the Flexographic packaging division. Kodak has been evaluating monetization opportunities to the last several years in order to deleverage the company and maximize value for our shareholders. FPD has performed exceptionally well for the last five years and is an excellent example of Kodak bringing disruptive innovation to the marketplace. FPD is demonstrating continued strong growth and we believe this is the right time to monetize this valuable asset. As I said, with over --for the last 12 months FPD reported revenues of $150 million in operational EBITDA of $33 million. During this period FPD has demonstrated strong growth with 9% revenue growth and 18% operational EBITDA growth. FPD currently employs a staff of approximately 300 people. Following this transaction, Kodak's improved capital structure will allow us to increase our focus on demonstrated growth engines of SONORA, Enterprise Inkjet, workflow software and brand licensing, while continuing to invest and provide solutions across the commercial printing film and advanced materials industries. The company has included the disclosure of growing concern assessment in its Q2 Form 10-Q filing. I am confident about the company's ability to complete the sale of its Flexographic packaging division and repay the term debt. However, these plans are not solely within Kodak's control and therefore are not deemed probable under US GAAP accounting rules. Later in the call, Dave will cover the company's liquidity, capital structure and disclosure of going concern and GAAP reporting requirements. Now I'll review the company's second quarter results. On Slide 5, Kodak delivered second quarter revenues of $372 million, down from $381 million in the prior year quarter. Operational EBITDA of quarter was $9 million down $3 million compared to the second quarter of 2017. When adjusted for higher aluminum costs of $7 million, Kodak's operational EBITDA increased by $4 million or 33% when compared to the prior year quarter. When we further adjust $1 million for the expected decline of our legacy consumer inkjet business, the year-on-year adjusted operational EBITDA improvement is $5 million. This increase in adjusted operational EBITDA reflects the impact of Kodak's cost-cutting efforts. Operational improvements and the strengthening of its product portfolio. Now I'll talk about the business by division which is presented on slide 6 for the second quarter 2018 results with comments supporting each division's performance on slide 7. All year-over-year comparisons will be discussed on a constant currency basis as shown at the bottom of slide 6. Starting with the print systems division, second quarter revenues were $227 million, a 7% decline compared to 2017. Operational EBITDA declined by $6 million compared to the prior quarter as a result of higher aluminum costs and continued industry pricing pressures. When excluding the higher impact of higher aluminum cost of $7 million, operational EBITDA was an increase of $1 million, compared to the prior year quarter. As a result of the impact of cost improvements, partially offset by prior plate price erosion and declining unit sales. Plate price erosion in the second quarter was approximately 2%. On June 27th, we announced additional plate price increases to address the high aluminum supplier cost environment which we are currently facing. With this action, we expect plate prices to be flat year-on-year during the second half of 2018. We've included a slide in the appendix presenting historical London metal exchange aluminium prices over the past seven years. The LME euro price continues to credit levels well above the average of the past seven years. The impact of aluminium costs and associated tariffs in 2018 will be a year-over-year headwind of $26 million. For the quarter, overall plate volume is down 5% year-over-year. This increased rate decline was a result of a strategy shift with several large dealers. We continue to see solid growth in our environmentally advantaged SONORA plate with a 19% year-over-year growth. During the second quarter, PSD expanded testing of its new SONORA ex- process pre plates to 315 accounts of which over 100 are now in continuous supply. Also in the second quarter, NX equipment unit sales doubled when compared to the prior quarter. NEXFINITY, our new color electrophotographic press accounted for approximately 30% of the second quarter sales. Moving on to the Enterprise Inkjet Systems Division. For the second quarter of 2018, EISD revenues were $33 million, a decline of $3 million compared to the prior quarter due the expected decline in our legacy consumables. Operational EBITDA for the second quarter was $1 million, flat compared to the prior year quarter, reflecting cost improvements partially offset by legacy consumables. For the quarter, PROSPER annuities are flat and VERSAMARK revenues declined by $2 million which is consistent with our expectation. Additionally, we continue to invest in ULTRASTREAM, the next generation technology in the second quarter. This investment is focused on the ability to place ULTRASTREAM writing systems in original equipment manufacturers and hybrid applications, evaluation of kits are available now and with product availability still on track for commercialization in 2019, and meaningful impacts to the business starting in 2020. For the Flexographic Packaging Divisions, revenues in the quarter were $38 million flat compared to the prior quarter primarily result of volume improvements in FLEXCEL NX consumables due to the larger install base of FLEXCEL NX CTP systems offset by the expected decline in revenues from other packaging products and the timing and mix of FLEXCEL NX equipment placements compared to the prior quarter. Operational EBITDA was $9 million, an increase of $1 million when compared to the prior quarter, primarily reflecting volume improvements in FLEXCEL NX consumables offset by the investment in product development, marketing and sales activities. For the quarter, FLEXCEL NX revenues increased 4% and FLEXCEL NX plate volume grew 8% compared to the prior quarter. We continue to invest in new product development, infrastructure and expansion of our Westford Oklahoma Factory to fulfill the increased demand for FLEXCEL NX plates. The plant is expected to begin production in early 2019. For the Software and Solutions division, revenues in the quarter were $20 million, a decrease of $2 million compared to quarter two 2017. The decline was a result of lower volume in the Unified Workflow Solutions primarily in workflow licenses and professional services. Operational EBITDA was a negative $1 million, flat one compared to the prior year quarter, primarily driven by lower manufacturing costs offsetting volume declines in Unified Workflow Solutions. We're continuing to make focused investments in packaging and digital workflow for software, as well as cloud analytic services, which are important enhancements to our portfolio offerings. For the quarter, revenues in our Consumer and Film Division were $48 million, flat compared to the prior year quarter driven primarily by higher volume in the industrial films and chemicals and higher revenues in brand licensing offset by expected decline in consumer inkjet consumables due to lower sales of ink into a smaller installed base of consumer inkjet printers, and lower volume in motion picture due to the timing of productions. Operational EBITDA for CFD was a negative $4 million flat when compared to the prior year quarter. Due to higher brand licensing revenue and lower SG&A, partially offset by expected decline in consumer inkjet and unfavorable cost in industrial film and chemicals. In the second quarter, we also announced the Eric Mahe will take the role of President of CFD in addition to his current role as President of SSD. Eric will bring an innovative and entrepreneurial approach to his new role of leading CFD. The advanced materials in 3D Printing Technology Division, operational EBITDA improved by $2 million compared to the prior year quarter. This improvement was a result of cost actions taken to sharpen our focus on investments. AM3D will focus on light blocking materials and print and electronics. Continue to our final division Eastman Business Park revenue and operational EBITDA did not change significantly for EBP when compared to the prior year quarter. EBP rental income helps absorb fixed costs of other business units. Now turning to slide 8. I will provide an update on our overall portfolio. The growth engines which includes SONORA, PROSPER, FLEXCEL, Software and Solutions, Brand Licensing and advanced technologies now account for 30% of total revenues, which is a two point increase in the prior year quarter. These businesses grow 5% when compared to the prior year quarter. Our other strategic businesses include plates, CTP and Service and NEXPRESS and related Toner businesses, other packaging products film, Eastern Business Park and IP licensing continue to represent 63% of our total revenues. As we stated in the past, these businesses provide consistent revenues and strong cash flow for the company. The planned declining businesses which include consumer inkjet, Versamark, and Digimaster account for 7% of our total revenues. As we stated in the past, these are product lines where the decision was made to stop new product development and manage an orderly expected decline in the installed product and annuity base. Moving to slide 9. We want to provide an update to 2018 guidance. 2018 full year revenue remains within expected guidance range of $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion. Our 2018 operational EBITDA guidance is revised to $55 million to $60 million. This change reflects $4 million due to the impact of increased aluminum supplier costs and $4 million related to the timing of commercialization of new products and brand licensing agreements, offset by cost reductions. We expect to generate cash in the second half of 2018 with a projected year-end cash balance of between $300 million and $310 million. Our overall full year cash use is now revised to use of between $35 million and $45 million. This is a result of changes in working capital, the timing of asset sales and other impacts of $15 million, $11 million related to foreign exchange in aluminum costs and $4 million related to the timing of the commercialization of new products and brand license agreements, offset by cost reductions. For the second half of 2018, our priorities will be focused on the sale process for the Flexographic Packaging Division, improving efficiency of our operations to the announced restructuring actions and continuing to deliver growth in our strategic areas. I'll now turn it over to Dave to discuss details and net earnings and cash flow performance.