Jeffrey H. Vanneste
Analyst · Rod Lache with Deutsche Bank
Thanks, Matt. Slide 7 shows vehicle production in our key markets for the third quarter. In the quarter, global vehicle production was 18.7 million units, up 2% from 2011. As Matt mentioned, business conditions in Europe remained challenging in the third quarter, as industry production was down 7% and the euro weakened by 12%. In North America, the industry recovery continued with industry production up 14%. And in China, industry production remained strong, up 7% versus last year. Slide 8 shows our financial results for the third quarter of 2012. As previously mentioned, sales were up 2% at $3.5 billion. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, Lear's sales in the quarter were up 9%. Our sales in Europe decreased 10%. However, adjusting for foreign exchange, European sales were up 1% compared to a decline of 7% in industry production. Pretax income before equity income, interest and other expense was $170 million, up $11 million from 1 year ago. Interest expense was $14 million, up $3 million, primarily reflecting interest expense related to an indirect tax matter. Other expense was $2 million, down $9 million, primarily reflecting lower foreign exchange losses. Reported earnings per share were $1.23, up 29%. The increase in earnings per share reflects the improvement in pretax income, fewer shares outstanding and a lower tax rate. Slide 9 shows the impact of nonoperating items on our third quarter results. As I just mentioned, our reported pretax income before equity income, interest and other expense was $170 million. Excluding the impact of operational restructuring costs and other special items, we had core operating earnings of $179 million, up 1% from 2011. The increase in earnings reflects new business and operating performance improvements partially offset by increased product and facility launch costs, primarily in South America, and higher program development costs associated with the sales backlog. Equity income in the third quarter includes income from special items, up $2.2 million related to a reversal of a valuation allowance at one of our non-core joint ventures. Other expense in the third quarter includes income from special items of $7.2 million, reflecting insurance recovery of items expensed in a prior period and a loss of $3.7 million related to the costs associated with the redemption of 10% of our outstanding bonds. Adjusted for restructuring and other special items, net income attributable to Lear in the third quarter was $127 million and EPS was $1.29. Please turn to Slide 10 for a summary of our results for the Seating segment. In Seating, adjusted margins in the third quarter were 6.1%, down 60 basis points from the third quarter of 2011. The decrease in margin compared with 1 year ago reflects primarily increased product and facility launch costs as well as program development costs to support our growth in South America. We expect that these launch-related costs in the Seating segment will remain elevated in the near-term to support the new facilities and programs in the region. Year-to-date adjusted margins in Seating are 6.5%. Slide 11 summarizes the operating performance in our Electrical segment. Financial results in this segment improved both sequentially as margins were up 70 basis points from the second quarter of 2012 and year-over-year with margins up 210 basis points. The year-over-year margin improvement reflects the impact of new business, higher production on key platforms and productivity improvements partially offset by higher product and facility launch costs and program development costs. Year-to-date adjusted margins in EPMS are 6.9%, up 120 basis points from 2011. Slide 12 provides additional detail on some of the key drivers impacting our performance in each of our business segments. In Seating, margins continue to be impacted by higher costs related to the launch of new program and facilities, increasing infrastructure and program development to support new business, particularly in emerging markets such as South America. Seating margins have also been negatively impacted by the weak production environment in Europe. We expect these factors to continue to impact us in the fourth quarter, and we are projecting 2012 full year Seating margins to be in the mid-6% range. EPMS is benefiting from increasing scale and a highly competitive footprint following restructuring of the business. This segment continues to grow faster than the overall industry. For EPMS, we expect full year margins to be in the low-7% range, representing a third consecutive year of improvement. Please turn to Slide 13. We generated $88 million of free cash flow in the third quarter and ended the quarter with cash of $1.3 billion. Capital expenditures were $113 million in the third quarter as we continue to expand our footprint in emerging markets, invest in new programs and increase spending to improve our competitiveness. Slide 14 provides our quarterly update on our share repurchase program. During the third quarter, we repurchased 1.3 million shares of stock for a total of $50 million. Year-to-date, we have repurchased 4.2 million shares for $173 million. And since initiating the share repurchase program last year, we have repurchased 10.4 million shares or approximately 10% of our outstanding shares for a total of $452 million. As of the end of the third quarter, $248 million remained available under the share repurchase authorization which expires in February 2014. Going forward, we plan to continue to buy back shares consistently subject to the company's alternative uses of capital and prevailing financial and market conditions. Slide 15 highlights the key assumptions in our 2012 outlook. Our outlook reflects updated production assumptions in our major markets. Compared to our prior outlook, global production is about flat at 79 million units. Our outlook is based on an average full year exchange rate of $1.28 to the euro, which is up 2% from our prior outlook, and reflects an average of $1.28 to the euro in the fourth quarter of 2012. Slide 16 summarizes our 2012 financial outlook. Our outlook for sales, core operating earnings, capital expenditures and free cash flow remains in line with the prior guidance. We are projecting sales of approximately $14.3 billion in 2012 and core operating earnings in the range of $745 million to $785 million. The 2012 outlook for free cash flow is approximately $275 million. Tax expense is estimated to be approximately $130 million at the low end of the range from our prior outlook. The decrease in tax expense reflects the change in the mix of earnings by country. Net income is expected to be in the range of $520 million to $560 million, up from the prior guidance, primarily reflecting lower interest expense. Depreciation and amortization is forecasted to be approximately $250 million, down $5 million from the prior guidance. Now I'll turn it over to Matt for some closing comments.