Earnings Labs

Quaker Chemical Corporation (KWR)

Q4 2012 Earnings Call· Thu, Mar 7, 2013

$136.34

-2.10%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

+3.72%

1 Week

+5.14%

1 Month

-4.80%

vs S&P

-6.07%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Quaker Chemical Corporation's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2012 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Michael Barry, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President for Quaker Chemical Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Barry. You may begin.

Michael F. Barry

Analyst

Thank you, Kevin. Good morning, everyone. Joining me today are Margo Loebl, our CFO; and Robert Traub, our General Counsel. After my comments, Margo will provide the details around the financials, and then we will address any questions that you may have. We also have slides for the conference call. You can find them in the Investor Relations part of our website at www.quakerchem.com. I'll start it off now with some remarks about the fourth quarter, and then I'll follow with some comments on the full year as well. Overall, I'm pleased to be able to report that we had a solid quarter, and we did sell in a challenging environment. Let me now try to give you a sense of what we experienced in the quarter, and I'll start with sales. Our overall sales were relatively flat in the quarter but were relatively impacted by 2% from foreign exchange rates. Our volumes were up year-over-year by 3% despite weak markets in Europe and South America. We believe our business strategies are largely responsible for this increase, and we are benefiting in 2 ways: One, we continue to make acquisition; and two, we have grown our volume by executing our business strategies and taking share in the marketplace. So the combination of both the acquisitions and new organic growth is the reason we have continued to grow our volumes under very difficult circumstances. Going around the region. Europe is one of our most challenging regions from a sales perspective. Sales were down approximately 7%, primarily due to foreign exchange rates and weak end markets. This includes the impact of our recent acquisition of NP Coil Dexter. We are fortunate that we've been able to pick up share in the marketplace, which has helped us to partially offset the inherent steel…

Margaret M. Loebl

Analyst

Thank you, Mike. Turning to the financial portion of the call today. I will reiterate that Quaker continues to report strong results in the fourth quarter of 2012 and full year 2012. As you know, we announced net sales and earnings per diluted share of $172.9 million and $0.99 per diluted share for the fourth quarter 2012 compared to fourth quarter 2011 net sales and earnings per diluted share of $173.3 million and $0.80 per diluted share. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2012 was $13 million compared to net income of $10.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2011. Full year net sales and earnings per diluted share were $708.2 million and $3.63 per diluted share for 2012 compared to net sales and earnings per diluted share of $683.2 million and $3.66 per diluted share for 2011. Full year 2012 net income was $47.4 million compared to 2011 net income of $45.9 million. Changes in foreign exchange rates negatively impacted the full year 2012 net sales by $26.8 million or 4% and net income by $1.7 million or $0.13 per diluted share. As a general comment, the strong U.S. dollar versus the euro and Brazilian real have been negatively impacting Quaker's reported revenue and net income. These movements in exchange rates impact Quaker, primarily, from a translation perspective but also from a transactional perspective. Also, Quaker had a change in accounting method during 2012. Specifically, the company acquired an increased ownership percentage in Primex, a captive insurance company. Due to the increased ownership percentage and other factors, the company changed its method of accounting for its investment in Primex from the cost method to the equity method of accounting. As a result, the company re-casted consolidated balance sheet, consolidated statement of income and its consolidated statement of cash…

Michael F. Barry

Analyst

Thank you, Margo. At this stage, we would like to address any questions from the -- any of the participants on the conference call.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is coming from Laurence Alexander from Jefferies. Laurence Alexander - Jefferies & Company, Inc., Research Division: Just a couple of questions. First, given the cautious commentary on Europe, do you think it's reasonable to think that that will be enough to offset the normal seasonal balance that you see in the -- in Q1 and Q2, thinking sequentially from Q4?

Michael F. Barry

Analyst

From Q4? Well, the way we look at Europe, we see -- Europe kind of, throughout 2012, continually got worse in our market space, in the steel markets, automotive markets, and the fourth quarter kind of at a low point. We do not -- with Europe, we do not expect to see much improvement throughout the year in the inherent markets that we're dealing with. We do continue to expect that we will take share and have some growth there. So we expect to have some improvement ourselves in Europe as we go forward. But the inherent markets, we don't think will come off too much at their low point. And as I said, when you look at Quaker overall, first, we don't give guidance, but we did mention that we do expect North America and China to continue to do pretty well for us. Laurence Alexander - Jefferies & Company, Inc., Research Division: Some of the European auto companies are talking about fairly severe destocking in the first part of 2013. And if you think about the leads and lags for your business, was that part of what you saw in Q4 of last year? Or do you think that there was going to be that your customer is going to respond to that in the middle of the year? I mean, just how do we -- how should we think about the leads and lags?

Michael F. Barry

Analyst

That's a great question. It's hard for me to get perfect visibility in that. I really don't have a really total visibility on that. But we did see, especially in Europe, when we came to the end of the year that a number of our customers did take extended downtimes to, I think, lower their inventory levels. Laurence Alexander - Jefferies & Company, Inc., Research Division: Okay. And then on raw materials, you're pretty clear on the petrochemical side. What's happening on the vegetable oils and mineral oils?

Michael F. Barry

Analyst

On the vegetable oils, they're at a low point currently as -- and they've been there for a while. We do start to -- we do envision -- probably we're seeing and hearing that we do expect some upticks in vegetable oil prices.

Operator

Operator

Our next question is coming from Mike Sison from KeyBanc.

Michael J. Sison - KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division

Analyst

In terms of North America and Asia, you noted that you're looking for improvement. Have you seen some of the improvement to date? Or is it still sort of coming?

Michael F. Barry

Analyst

Well, first, North America has been -- in 2012, has been -- was our highest performer from a growth perspective. The other markets around the world, Europe and Brazil and even China, were soft and were declining depending on which one will you talk about, so -- but North America did very well for us last year. We expect North America to continue to do well and grow. Auto sales seem to be going up. Steel capacity utilization is creeping up. So we expect to see some continued growth in North America this year. And in China, we do expect the same thing, some continued recovery. China also was relatively soft last year, with very little growth in, say, steel production.

Michael J. Sison - KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Okay. And then in terms of raw materials, you talked about going up. Can you give us, to some degree, how much is it up, mid-single digits, high-single digits? And in terms of timing, will you sort of catch up in terms of your price initiatives in 90 days, 120, quicker?

Michael F. Barry

Analyst

Right, yes. Hard to give you that kind of guidance on how much, because we don't -- the way it tends to work is -- in our industry, is there's this lag effect between -- we even get the price increases. And we're starting to see early signs that maybe some of our base oils will start to creep up. I just mentioned earlier the vegetable oils will probably go up. And based on what we know now, it's not going to be like a dramatic double-digit increase or anything from what we've seen, so it's -- but will be an increase from where we are today, and things always change. And to your second part of your question, once we get the increases, then we -- 2 things can happen. Some of our contracts have automatic indexing to them and depend upon when those increases come through and how those index -- there can be -- there's a lag effect. Other contracts and, really, the majority of our business is really negotiated with our customers, and then we -- once we get the actual price increases in hand, then we can go to our customers and talk about price increases. And generally, that process takes a while. So when you pull them out together, once we see price increases hit us, it's probably about a 3- to 6-month time period, where there's a lag effect in there.

Michael J. Sison - KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Okay. And then in terms of acquisitions, given that -- overall, the industry seems kind of sluggish -- or the economy seems to be sluggish. A lot of chemical companies are taking advantage of current interest rates to be more aggressive and grow their company. Do you have opportunities that could be transformative or bigger in scale that could be a good -- good transaction for you?

Michael F. Barry

Analyst

We do continue to look at acquisitions at all levels. We don't have any, let's say, right now that are transformative, and that will be major, major, although we continue to look at opportunities. And those bigger ones tend to be more opportunistic, as depending upon the -- what the seller wants to do. But we are in constant discussions. We are looking at a number of smaller ones. And we would love to do more acquisitions, but will only do ones that make good sense for our shareholders, of course.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our next question is coming from Liam Burke from Janney Montgomery Scott.

Liam D. Burke - Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Mike, can we talk about Europe again?

Michael F. Barry

Analyst

Sure.

Liam D. Burke - Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Western Europe, obviously, you've got lower steel and auto production. However, their pockets in, for instance, Eastern Europe looks like steel production is firm to slightly up. Are you seeing any kind of relief in other parts of the region outside of Western Europe?

Michael F. Barry

Analyst

Yes, we -- western Europe, that's price cut. You see, when we think about our Europe, we call it, EMEA, and that includes all aspects of the Europe and Africa and Middle East region. The -- Western Europe, we definitely believe will be down year-over-year. But as you point out, there are pockets in there in the Middle East and in Russia. First, Russia has significant steel production, and we believe Russia will show growth this year. So when you put it all together, we see a relatively flat type of environment in Europe. And, of course -- and what I'm talking about now it's market -- the market, inherent market. And then of course, our goal, our plans are to try to get growth ourselves by taking share in the marketplace.

Liam D. Burke - Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Okay. And in 2013, your CapEx, Margo, is almost $13 million or $12 million plus. Are there any significant projects you anticipate? And will CapEx move down a little bit? Or do you expect it to be at that $12 million, $13 million level?

Margaret M. Loebl

Analyst

We have a plant we're building in India that'll be going on throughout 2013. We have some additional things, a couple of other special projects going on. I do not -- I expect to see some uptick potential to the current level. I don't think it'll be game-changing for us.

Operator

Operator

Our next question is a follow-up from Laurence Alexander from Jefferies. Laurence Alexander - Jefferies & Company, Inc., Research Division: Can you give a little bit more sense of what you're seeing in -- on the coating side of your business in terms of competitive dynamics and your regional market trends?

Michael F. Barry

Analyst

Our coating side of the business tends to fall into 2 parts. The major part is a chemical milling mass that go into the production of new aircraft. And there, that's been a very good business for us, it grew last year. We expect aircraft production to continue to increase this year, the global business for us, and so we expect that to do -- continue to be good for us. The other part of coatings tends to be in our Tube & Pipe business. This is a business that we sell both our traditional type of metal work and lubricants as well as coatings. And this area has been -- it's a relatively small area for us at this point, but it's been growing at a double-digit rate for a number of years now, and we would continue to expect to see some more growth going forward. So we think coatings is a good business for us, double-digit type stuff, but it's also a relatively small part of our overall business. Laurence Alexander - Jefferies & Company, Inc., Research Division: And then as you look at the sluggish demand environment in the first part of the year in the raw material headwinds and then you think about the full year 2013, do you think you're going to see enough margin pressure that we should also start expecting some potential restructuring actions to offset? Or do you think it's going to be manageable and something that you can catch up in 2014?

Michael F. Barry

Analyst

We don't have any anticipation of any restructuring activities. We -- I mean, as I said in my comments, we still -- there's -- it's a balance in here. It's -- yes, Europe and there's some certainly raw material activity. It's not that dramatic, but it's going to put some pressure on us. But at the same time, we have our strategic initiative, the acquisitions we made, North America, Europe. So we still think, overall, end of 2013 will be a good year for Quaker.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our next question is a follow-up from Mike Sison from KeyBanc.

Michael J. Sison - KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Hey Mike, just when you think about Quaker having another good year in 2013, can you frame up a little bit -- I mean, do you expect in operating income or EBITDA to continue to improve year-over-year despite all the headwinds that you noted. Maybe some color on some of the initiatives that can support more sales growth this year. And I just want to get a little bit more numbers behind the good, if you will.

Michael F. Barry

Analyst

Yes. And you might notice, we don't really say that. But we don't, really, give guidance, that's -- so I know you're trying to flesh that out. But I mean, of course, our goal for the past several years, we've kind of set records year after year in EBITDA and net income and sales, and that continues to be our -- certainly our goal from that. And yes, we always have challenges. And as I've mentioned, it's our goal to work through those challenges, and we've done that, and that's our plan to do again. So I can't give you too much guidance, but I can talk about, we made a number of acquisitions, as example, this past few years, all these relatively modest acquisitions. Most of these acquisitions, we bought technologies in one part of the world, and then we can use those technologies in the rest of our world to leverage growth. And in our business, we have long sales cycle, so it takes a while, it's not something you do overnight. And we continue to see and expect to have good progress over the next several years as we continue to roll out these initiatives and grow them and hiring people to help us with that. We are hiring as a company right now. So we're pretty -- feel really good about our various business initiatives that we're focusing on especially the ones we got for the acquisitions, as an example.

Michael J. Sison - KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Okay. When you talk to your large scale of customers in terms of their sentiments, do you sort of sense that they're feeling a little bit better as we head into 2013 versus '12, sort of overall?

Michael F. Barry

Analyst

Well, I'd probably, it might depend where they're located. If you're in Europe, you're a steel producer in Europe, you're probably not feeling too great right now. And they're taking action, they're doing some shutdowns and consolidations. If you're in United States right now, you're seeing the overall market continue to uptick and comeback, not dramatically, so a few percentage points growth here and there, so you're seeing steady increases. Certainly, in China, China's right now -- was a pretty weak year last year for that steel industry. That was a steel industry that was growing pretty dramatically over the past number of years. And now it's starting to kind of hit a low point last year and does seem to -- showing signs -- good signs of uptick right now. So it's kind of a mixed bag, I will think. I think some of that area would see positive trends, and others like Europe, not positive.

Michael J. Sison - KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Right. And last question, Margo, any thoughts on selling and admin expenses? Will that continue to go up a little bit in '13 versus '12?

Margaret M. Loebl

Analyst

Not dramatically. Flat to not dramatic gain. We continue to invest in our business, so we'll continue to invest in line with our growth.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] If there are no further questions at this time. I'll turn the floor back over to management for any further or closing comments.

Michael F. Barry

Analyst

Okay. Given there's no other questions, we'll end our conference call now. And I want to thank all of you for your interest today. We are pleased with our results in the fourth quarter and for the full year, and we continue to be confident in the future of Quaker Chemical. Our next conference call for the first quarter will be in late April or early May. And if you have any questions, in the meantime, please feel free to conduct contact Margo Loebl or myself. Thanks, again, for your interest in Quaker chemical.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. This does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.