Matt Flanigan
Analyst · Robert Majek with CJS. Please proceed with your question
Thanks Karl. Good morning everyone. Cash from operations was $98 million in the quarter, a decrease of $53 million versus second quarter last year primarily due to lower earnings and increased working capital. This working capital increase resulted primarily from higher inventory to support sales growth in new programs, increased accounts receivable, and the inflation impact on both inventory and accounts receivable. We ended the quarter with adjusted working capital as a percentage of sales at 11.8%. We expect our full-year operating cash to approximate $450 million as uses of cash for the full-year, capital expenditures should approximate $160 million, and dividend should require about $185 million. In May, we increased the quarterly dividend by $0.02 to $0.36 per share, a 5.9% increase versus the second quarter of 2016. The dividend payout as a percentage of adjusted earnings is within our targeted range of 50% to 60% and we continue to expect future dividend growth to approximate earnings growth. At yesterday's closing price of $51.79 the current yield is 2.8%, which is one of the higher yields among the 51 companies that comprise the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats. During the second quarter, we repurchased 200,000 shares of our stock and issued 200,000 shares, largely for employee benefit plans and option exercises. For the full-year, we currently expect to repurchase around 3 million shares and issue approximately 1.5 million primarily for employee benefit plans. As always our top priorities for use of cash are organic growth, dividends, and strategic acquisitions. After funding these priorities, if there is still cash available, we generally intend to repurchase stock rather than repay debt early or stockpile cash. We have a standing authorization from the board to repurchase up to 10 million shares each year however no specific repurchase commitment or a timetable has been established. Our financial base remains very strong. We ended the second quarter with net debt to net capital of 39%, near the high-end of our longstanding target range of 30% to 40% reflecting working capital investment in our typically large first quarter stock repurchases. We also monitor debt-to-EBITDA and ended the quarter with debt at two times our trailing 12-months adjusted EBITDA. We assess our overall performance by comparing our total shareholder return to that of companies on a rolling three-year basis. Our target is to achieve TSR in the top one-third of the S&P 500 over the long-term which we believe will require an average TSR of 11% to 14% per year. For the three-year period, they will end on December 31, 2017; we have so far generated compound annual TSR of 11% per year. That performance places us within the top 39% of the S&P 500. As we announced yesterday, we lowered our sales guidance for 2017. Full-year sales are now anticipated to be $3.9 billion to $4.0 billion or up 4% to 7% versus 2016. We expect low-to-mid-single-digit volume growth from strength in automotive, adjustable bed, International Spring, Work Furniture, and Geo Components. Raw material related price increases should also add to sales growth. The sales impact from divestitures completed during 2016 should be largely offset by acquisitions in 2017. We are narrowing our 2017 EPS guidance and now expect full-year earnings from continuing operations of $2.55 per share to $2.65 per share versus our prior range of $2.55 to $2.75 thereby lowering the mid-point of our guidance by a nickel to $2.60. With those comments, I will now turn the call back over to Dave DeSonier.