Earnings Labs

Masco Corporation (MAS)

Q1 2011 Earnings Call· Tue, Apr 26, 2011

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Masco Corporation 2011 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, today's conference will be recorded and simultaneously webcast. If you have not received the press release and supplemental information, they are available on Masco's website, along with today's slide presentation under Investor Relations section at www.masco.com. Before we begin management’s presentation, the company wants to direct your attention to the current slide and the note at the end of the earnings release, which are cautionary reminders about statements that reflect the company’s views about its future performance and about non-GAAP financial measures. After a brief discussion by management, the call will be opened for analyst questions. If we are unable to get to your question during this call, please call Masco Corporation Investor Relations office at (313) 792-5500. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Timothy Wadhams, President and Chief Executive Officer of Masco. Mr. Wadhams, please go ahead, sir.

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Thank you, David, and thank you for joining us today for Masco's first quarter 2011 earnings call. I'm joined today by Donnie Demarie, our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; and John Sznewajs, our CFO. And if you would please flip to Slide #3. Sales in the quarter were down 4%. Excluding rationalization charges, gains from financial investments and normalizing our tax rate at 36%, our loss for the quarter would have been $0.05 a share, and that compares to $0.03 of income on the same basis in the first quarter of 2010. On an as reported basis, we lost $0.13 in the quarter compared to a $0.02 loss in the first quarter of 2010. We did a nice job of managing working capital. I'll talk a little bit more about that later on, and we ended the quarter with $1.5 billion of cash. If you flip to Slide #4. [Audio Gap] both gross profit and operating income reconciled for rationalization charges, our gross margin would have been down 140 basis points to 25.3%. And on that same basis again, reconciling for rationalization charges, our operating profit would have decreased from 5% last year to 3% this year. I mentioned that sales were down 4%. That equates to about $80 million of sales decline. Of that decline, about $53 million relates to cabinet products that we previously announced that we were exiting. So if you exclude that, we would have been down a little less than 1.5%, rounding down to 1%. As we mentioned in the press release, if we exclude the exited cabinet products, both February and March would have been relatively flat in terms of sales with last year, again across the entire company. Our International sales performed well. We were up 5% in terms of local…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And we'll take our first question from Sam Darkatsh with Raymond James. Sam Darkatsh - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.: A couple of quick questions. First off, your Installation revenues now seem to be running closer to what -- if you lag starts on a 3-month basis, it's getting closer to that, which suggests that the demand situation for you guys is improving, or at least -- I'm trying to get a sense of how much of it -- you call it sequential market share improvements, but how much of that is market share versus maybe improved pricing or better take per home? It seems much more of a tighter relationship with starts than it had been in 2010.

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Yes, no, I think that's true, Sam. Basically, if you look at -- our sales were down in the segment 7%. I think lag starts are down about 3%, and so we have closed that gap. I would tell you that revenue per job, which we talked about last year, compared first quarter of last year to first quarter of this year, is also down about 3%. And that for the most part, reflects less diversified products. As we've mentioned in the past, builders continue to de-content, less fireplaces, things of that nature. So we are down a little bit, but I think your observation is correct. We have narrowed that gap, and do feel that going into the first quarter, that we were, again, on a sequential basis we're probably still down a little bit from last year's first quarter but again, closing the gap, and did make some progress fourth quarter to first quarter. Sam Darkatsh - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.: Second question. You haven't talked about this in a little while or at least quantified it, but what do you peg your EPS sensitivity on an annual basis to housing starts? Every 100,000 starts is now about $0.10 or so, or what do you peg the sensitivity?

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Well, 100,000 starts, I think, would generate, Sam, about $300 million of top line roughly. And that would convert at probably, roughly, that's probably a reasonable proxy that's about $100 million. So that would probably be about what, $0.15, $0.16, John?

John Sznewajs

Analyst

Yes, that's about right.

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Yes, so it’d probably be about $0.15, $0.16, Sam. Sam Darkatsh - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.: Last question and I will defer to others. You mentioned capturing or covering the $30 million to $40 million. Can you help me understand what covering means? Does that mean that the $30 million to $40 million will not occur, or is that what you -- or you're still paying the $30 million to $40 million in inflation?

Timothy Wadhams

Management

No. What we mean by that, Sam, is that when we talked about the $30 million to $40 million in terms of headwind, that was a situation where although we anticipated being able to cover it, hadn’t necessarily initiated actions or got our ducks in a row, if you will, to approach that. At this point in time, even though there's a bit of work left to do, i.e. finalizing some discussions, that type of thing, we feel very good that we've been able to -- that I have a high confidence level that we'll be able to work our way through that $30 million to $40 million. And again, that's just a small portion of the impact for the full year. When you look at total inflation and total commodity cost increases, those are significant numbers, obviously. But the $30 million to $40 million was what we had left that still needed to be thoughtfully addressed, I guess, would be the best way to put it. Sam Darkatsh - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.: Thanks, Tim. Appreciate it.

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Okay, thank you, Sam.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Peter Lisnic with Robert W. Baird.

Joshua Chan

Analyst · Robert W. Baird.

This is Josh Chan, filling in for Pete. I was wondering what your, I guess, strategic implication would be for your Installation segment, given your reduced outlook in new construction? I mean, it seems like you're focused on gaining share, but the outlook has worsened a little bit.

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Yes, well, I think that's true, Josh. The outlook is a little bit less robust than we would have anticipated. Having said that, we're of the opinion that some of our competitors are having a more difficult time at this point in time than, well, than certainly we are. And that's providing, we think, some opportunity for us. And as we indicated earlier, we've done some things from an organizational structure standpoint. We've done some things from an incentive standpoint. We've got the ERP system implementation that will be finalized here in the next couple of months. So we feel pretty good about where we are from just a managerial standpoint, if you will, and we've seen a significant increase in bidding activity. We've been able to be successful there. We also are developing some opportunities with some of the larger builders at this point in time, too early to talk about. But we think we've got some very good opportunities to do some things, given our scale and the depth of our branch locations. So we feel pretty good about the opportunity. Obviously, the environment is tougher. But having said that, I think our guys have demonstrated that they can do a pretty good job of cost management, and we'll continue to get after that. We have seen some improved -- on our retrofit sales as well, and we do a little bit of commercial work. That's been a challenge here over the last few quarters, but we're seeing a little bit more, just in terms of bidding activity there as well. So notwithstanding the fact the market's tough, I think we're cautiously optimistic that some of the changes that we've made, some of the additional sales people, should put us in a positive position to take advantage of the opportunity that's out there.

Joshua Chan

Analyst · Robert W. Baird.

Okay. Great. Thanks for the color on that, and then switching to, I guess, the price-cost relationship in Paint. I mean, I believe some of your peers are actually saying that the year-over-year headwind will actually be worse before it gets better. I mean, do you have a more optimistic outlook on the cost side than that, or can you talk about...

Timothy Wadhams

Management

No, we do not, Josh. We don't have a more optimistic outlook. We continue to manage through tight supply relationships relative to resins and also TiO2. We believe that in talking with our major customers, that we should be in good shape relative to the product that we'll need, the raw material that we'll need for our operations, don't anticipate any constraints there. But costs could continue to rise going forward. There's no question about that. So we'll have to address that at such time as we see those kinds of developments. But we do feel that we're in pretty good shape from the ability to fulfill our needs.

Joshua Chan

Analyst · Robert W. Baird.

Okay, and then just, I guess, more clarity with you talking about flat, not having a price-cost headwind for the year, does that mean Paint would also be flat or will there be...

Timothy Wadhams

Management

We're taking a look at that, Josh, on an overall company standpoint. Last year, from a company perspective, I think we had negative price-commodity in the approximately $60 million range. And as we mentioned, a lot of that was in Plumbing and Paint, related to metals and inputs for Paint. In the first quarter, that number was $10 million. That's down from, I think, $20 million in the fourth quarter, and about $4 million of that probably hits Paint, about $4 million of that hits Plumbing roughly. So yes, what we're really talking about is being able to offset what we know at this point in time. Now again, it's a fluid situation, things could change. Energy costs have obviously gone up pretty dramatically, but based on what we know right now, we think we're in pretty good shape.

Joshua Chan

Analyst · Robert W. Baird.

Okay. Great. Thank you for your time.

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Nishu Sood with Deutsche Bank.

Nishu Sood - Deutsche Bank AG

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Thanks. First question I wanted to ask was in the Plumbing division. The Hansgrohe segment has been a pretty strong sales driver, probably for the last year or 2, and this quarter, it sounds like Delta also contributed. So I wanted to get some color on that and as well, you talked about the global expansion model, and that obviously, with Hansgrohe, and the design success of the high end and exporting that to different parts of the country -- I'm sorry, different parts of the world. That makes sense. You mentioned that you were going to be transitioning that to Delta as well. So I was wondering if I could get some color on that too.

Donald Demarie

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Sure, yes, Nishu. This is Donnie. Be happy to take that. Yes, we get really strong performance in the quarter from both Hansgrohe and Delta, and Delta continues to do very well in both the Retail and the Showroom segments of the business. They have great new innovative products. They've done a lot related to the brand. Our Touch Technology is really resonating with the consumer. We've done a lot of hard work on our supply chain to reposition some of our lower SKUs more competitively, and that's really paid off both in top line and bottom line. So we feel really good about the work we've done at Delta. Hansgrohe is doing well and has been doing well for a long time. They really are focused at the high-end of the market in design and style and really, the solid German engineering, the product, and it's really resonated well in the emerging markets. Hansgrohe has been expanding internationally now for about the last 15 years and really have a very unique system for prioritizing markets, market entry and really going at it from an organic basis to get into markets, penetrate the existing channels and understand the consumer, have the right product assortment. And we really have focused heavily on international development for our North American businesses for about the last 2 years. Delta and Hansgrohe have been working very closely together at identifying target markets. We think based on consumer segmentation, those 2 brands play very well, with Hansgrohe really on the design high-end side, Delta in that mid-market technology play. And they've been doing some neat things. So a lot of the gain we're seeing here in the quarter is related to the Hansgrohe global expansion; Delta, more about what's going on in North America. But we have really laid the seeds for a strong Delta-Hansgrohe partnership outside of North America. So we feel really good about that.

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Yes, the other thing I would say too, Nishu, is that we [Audio Gap] specific about the Delta and Hansgrohe brands in the first quarter. But I think it would be erroneous to not assume that Delta hasn't done very well over the course of the last couple of years in terms of top line growth. We've talked a lot about the innovation that they’ve brought out. They've done a really nice job of repositioning the brand. As we've mentioned in the past, I think if you go back, unaided brand awareness was up 9 points in a 2-year period of time, which is basically unheard of. So we've gotten good contributions from both of the flagship brands, if you will, and along with some of the other brands in that segment over the course of the last couple of years.

Nishu Sood - Deutsche Bank AG

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Okay, and I think that's very helpful. And in the other Specialty Products division, Milgard, the expansion into Western Canada, and I think you mentioned some other parts of -- in Texas as well. Now Milgard, I believe, has had some attempts at expansion before to other parts of the country. So transitioning window products from region to region is always tough because of building codes and builder preferences and brand awareness, and stuff like that. So how did those experiences in the past translate to what you're trying now? And maybe just some thoughts on that.

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Yes, I think what you're referring to, we did attempt to expand into Virginia several years ago. That didn't work out real well for us. We do have an operation in Chicago that is continuing to get traction from a top line perspective. I think the thing that's a little bit different about Western Canada and Texas is the climate and the types of products. Milgard has very strong presence in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, and so the types of products that we sell into those different markets are a little more compatible, I think. And again, this is my take, a little more compatible with what the requirements are in Western Canada, as well as what we think the opportunity is in Texas. I don't know, Donnie, if you've got any color on any of that.

Donald Demarie

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

That's right. And Tim, when you think of -- what the product that we have in the Pacific Northwest and coming out of Tacoma, Western Canada, this is a national extension for us. It's a nice shifting radius from our manufacturing facilities, and the product in Western Canada is very similar to the product that we sell into the Pacific Northwest. Into the Texas market, Texas tends to – has historically been more of a low-end aluminum market. That has transitioned into a vinyl market, very similar to the products that we sell into Arizona and Nevada, New Mexico. So we feel really good about our expansion into Texas. We have some customer service locations there, as well as some sales reps, and we have some dealers set up, and we're currently shipping product out of Arizona, and feel really good about that. We also have been able to work with Milgard and Behr to come up with some colors on our vinyl windows, to where we had some dark color extrusion that doesn't absorb any heat, which stops the actual extrusion from creating any -- from bowing or really any size variation related to some of the heat that we get related to the sun in those climates. So we think we have a differentiated product that we can bring into Texas, with the Milgard value proposition, and Pacific Northwest going into Canada, is just a natural extension for us.

Nishu Sood - Deutsche Bank AG

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Got it. And final, just quickly on your restructuring charges are already, I think, a little more than half of what you'd forecast for the year. Does that mean they'll be mainly front-loaded, or will they be higher than originally expected?

John Sznewajs

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

No, this is John. No, we said [Audio Gap] I’d say about $32 million in the first quarter. Most of that's related to the wind down of our facility in Waverley, Ohio, our ready-to-assemble Cabinet business. We've always expected to wind down here in the second quarter. So we knew they were going to be front-end loaded, partially communicated that upfront when we first gave the number in the middle of February, as we kind of knew how these were going to roll out, but nothing new or nothing expanded at this point.

Nishu Sood - Deutsche Bank AG

Analyst · Deutsche Bank.

Great. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

We'll take our next question from Chris Wiggins with Oppenheimer. Christopher Wiggins - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.: Can I just revisit one of the earlier questions on the Installation strategy? And I'm just curious, do you have -- in your internal discussions, is there ever kind of a breaking point that's discussed where you say maybe it makes you change your strategic thought, and I appreciate the long-term view. But I'm just wondering if there's something internally ever discussed to say maybe it's time to start thinking of a different direction.

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Well, I think that, that starts to get into, Chris, a portfolio management kind of question in terms of that business, and as we have communicated before, when you start thinking about the alternatives that exist, one is walking away from the business. We don't think that makes any sense. One might be to try to sell it, or maybe spin it out or do something else, and a third alternative with a situation like that is to hold and try to improve. And our sense has been that there is a much more significant value-creation opportunity by continuing to manage the business as best we can, trying to take as much share as possible. And that over the longer term, given the investment we've got, the scale we've got, the capabilities we've got, we think that will generate a more significant return for shareholders over the long run, and one that we think will be very attractive. And obviously, we're enduring some short-term pain to get there, and we continue to manage that as aggressively as we possibly can. But our feeling is that we still have a relatively unique capability, that from a marketplace standpoint, brings a lot of differentiation. And we're continuing to do everything we can to improve that business. But certainly believe that continuing to manage it, continuing to hold it over the long term makes a lot of sense from a shareholder perspective and gives us a nice value-creation opportunity going forward. Christopher Wiggins - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.: Okay. Great. And could you speak directionally on the promotional activity across the company this quarter versus last quarter and how you expect that to trend going forward?

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Yes. Just promotional activity right now for us is probably a little bit higher than typical, and that would be -- if you think about it from a Cabinet perspective, that would relate to cabs at the big-box category, where we have been very active in terms of promotion. We had a promotion that initiated in early March that winds up later this week. So that's been a timing issue, if you will. We typically have a couple of promotional endeavors there annually. So that happens to be more of a timing kind of issue. In terms of Plumbing, we do have some new product launches. We talked about the application of the Touch2O Technology to lav faucets for the bathroom. We're launching product. We've got window product that we've launched. We've launched the R.E.D. line at Arrow in Other Specialty. So those will be a couple of areas where promotional activities have kicked in. We've recently, in the Paint category, again seasonally, we've got some things that have kicked in. So I would say that if we’re thinking about where we are right now, we're probably with new product launches, which include Windows, as well as the R.E.D. line and Other Specialty, with what we're doing in the launch, the Pro-X program and seasonally, there's probably a little bit more activity now. I wouldn't call it necessarily extraordinary but again, I think that you'll see us continue to promote. I don't anticipate this year will be an unusual year compared to prior years, and those things tend to go up and down a little bit based on the facts and circumstances that you're dealing with. But I don't know, Donnie, if there's anything you want to add to that.

Donald Demarie

Analyst

I would say, Tim, outside of Cabinets, to me, it feels about the same. Cabinets has been a market that has been really driven by heavy promotion for some period of time. So, really, if you're looking at '11 versus '10, we certainly are being a little bit more aggressive on the Cabinet side. Our competitors have been very aggressive, really, through the past 2 years on the promotional side. So outside of that, the rest of the segments, really, pretty much normal activity related to new product launches. Christopher Wiggins - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.: All right. That's very helpful. Thank you. And last question if I could, and I realize, obviously, it's early in the year. But with your outlooks kind of tempered a bit, could you just provide an update on your comfort level with your debt covenants and particularly, I guess, the interest coverage, which I think notches up a little bit in the fourth quarter?

John Sznewajs

Analyst

Yes, Chris. Our interest coverage covenant, we don't think should be an issue despite the fact that we have, to use your term, we have a tempered outlook. We've looked at it pretty closely and based on our internal forecast for our earnings level, we feel pretty comfortable with where we're at on both covenants throughout the balance of this year. Christopher Wiggins - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.: Great. Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

Our next question is Michael Rehaut with JPMorgan.

William Wong

Analyst

This is actually Will Wong, on for Mike. I just had a quick question about the Cabinets in terms of adding more dealers, you guys said you added over 300 dealers -- or 300 dealers have added a Masco brand since April 2010, and I know you guys spoke before about some of the additional revenue impact in a couple of years, like, maybe 2 or 3 years, but what do you see in terms of additional revenue impact just for the next quarter or 2, or just for the full year of 2011?

Timothy Wadhams

Management

We would say that the opportunity, Will, is we think somewhere between $50 million and $60 million. And what we mean by that is that if these dealers were to have the same level of activity that they had in the past year, that's what we would equate that opportunity to. That doesn't necessarily mean that, that will be the top line impact this year but on an annual basis, that's what we believe the opportunity is.

William Wong

Analyst

Okay, fair enough. And just 1 more question too about rationalization charges. You talked about $65 million of rationalization charges for the full year, and it was front-loaded with $32 million this quarter. But just given the current economic environment, if things go a little bit -- or if things don't get better as planned, do you expect any more rationalization charges on top of that $65 million?

Timothy Wadhams

Management

At this point, Will, I would say it's really too early to speculate on that. Obviously, if things deteriorate, the outlook tends to be kind of gloomy going forward into 2012. There are certainly -- we're constantly looking at all of our -- across the enterprise, at the cost structure. We've got process improvements. We've got productivity initiatives, supply chain initiatives, a lot of different things going on. At this point, don't necessarily see a big item that would generate a restructuring charge that would be of a significant magnitude. We talked about the West Jordan Cabinet facility, late last year, early first quarter. That was a pretty big knot in terms of a charge. But at this point, I wouldn't necessarily see anything but again, I wouldn't rule that out. There could be opportunities for us to do some things to enhance the cost structure, whether they might be a combination of a couple of businesses, or whatever that we haven't thought of at this point that may come up down the road. So I wouldn't rule anything out. But at this time, I think the $65 million is a pretty good estimate for this year.

William Wong

Analyst

Okay. Thank you, guys.

Operator

Operator

And we'll go next to Ivan Marcuse with Northcoast Research.

Ivan Marcuse - Northcoast Research

Analyst

Thank you for taking my question. My first question is on the Plumbing, going back to Delta, is there at 1 point, is there any plans to expand the product, where you have to add capacity to grow it internationally, or is it something where your existing capacity should suffice for now, and that you'll just ship from the existing plants?

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Yes, I don't think that we'd be looking at any kind of an expansion that would require any brick-and-mortar, Ivan, at this point. We should be able to either source and/or manufacture what we're thinking about and ship at this point.

Ivan Marcuse - Northcoast Research

Analyst

Okay, and then moving over to the Specialty real quick and the costs, were those costs that you incurred this year or this quarter, will that continue to impact the second quarter, or does that sort of the expansion go overall in the first quarter, and maybe you shouldn't see those costs again in the second or third quarter?

Timothy Wadhams

Management

I would guess, Ivan, there's probably going to be a little bit more cost. I mean, as Donnie mentioned, we're adding some dealers and typically, there's an on-boarding process that goes with that. You may have some displays and some other things that you have to set. So I would guess that there'll be some costs going forward over the next couple of quarters.

Ivan Marcuse - Northcoast Research

Analyst

And then real quick on WellHome, is that continuing to be expanded, or is that sort of the brakes have been put on, and what kind of costs did that incur during this first quarter?

Timothy Wadhams

Management

We had a quarter that was comparable to last year's first quarter. We were -- that cost us about $4 million in the quarter and again, that was not incremental. That's consistent with last year's first quarter. And no, we are not expanding that business at this point in time. I think we have 17 locations. And as we mentioned, we brought those up last year, I think, probably through about the second quarter, if my memory is correct, and have not done any further expansion at this point in time.

Ivan Marcuse - Northcoast Research

Analyst

Is there any expectation that you will, or is it just sort of a...

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Too early to tell at this point, Ivan, and again, I would say that that's probably less likely than more likely.

Ivan Marcuse - Northcoast Research

Analyst

And then my last question was in Europe with the particleboard, how much did that cost in the quarter from a commodity standpoint? And do you expect those costs to continue throughout the year?

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Yes, that's being running us, John, I think, what, about a $4 million a quarter for the last couple of quarters?

John Sznewajs

Analyst

$4 million to $5 million a quarter.

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Yes, negative, yes. And I would anticipate that we're probably looking at another quarter or so. The guys are working on some alternatives. But at this point, yes, it's still an issue.

Ivan Marcuse - Northcoast Research

Analyst

What's sort of -- what's driving that challenge in Europe?

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Limited supply, and I think -- was there a fire in a plant over there? Do I remember that?

John Sznewajs

Analyst

Yes, there's a plant – there was some capacity was taken out over there, but to Tim's point – Ivan, just limited supply base over there.

Ivan Marcuse - Northcoast Research

Analyst

Got you. Thanks again for taking my questions.

Operator

Operator

Our next question is David Goldberg with UBS.

Susan Maklari

Analyst

It's actually Susan for David. Just wanted to talk a little bit in terms of your cash flow, looking forward, we’ve sort of been through the worst in terms of the demand side of things. You've gotten the balance sheet in good shape with the revolver and all those kinds of things. Any thoughts on starting to get back to maybe more share repurchases, or increasing the dividend, those kinds of things?

Timothy Wadhams

Management

No, not at this point, Susan. As I think you're aware, we have about $800 million of a debt maturity due in August or Sept...

John Sznewajs

Analyst

July.

Timothy Wadhams

Management

July of 2012. And so from our standpoint, as we've said to investors in the past, when you have that initial -- we've retired about $50 million of what was $850 million of original issuance. And when you take that with the $300 million that we retired in March of 2010, that's $1.150 billion. What we’ve indicated to investors is that we believe that on a net basis, that we'll retire about $300 million of that $1.150 billion debt. That requires some refinancing, if you will, obviously, of the remaining portion. And that, obviously, is something that has to be developed over the course of the next year or so. Having said that, from our standpoint, continuing to be somewhat conservative from a balance sheet perspective, making sure we've got a strong cash balance in case we don't refi that debt for whatever reason, and we certainly would anticipate being successful there, I don't think that it makes sense for us to be thinking at this point about increases in the dividend or share repurchases. Obviously, as we get into the recovery, we see some expansion in terms of our business. We certainly have had a very strong history of cash flow generation. That 5-year period '03 through '07, we averaged about $1 billion free cash flow a year, and that's with $1.5 billion of CapEx, and another $300 million of investment in displays during that same 5-year period. We were able to reduce our shares outstanding by about 30%, and so just to give folks a little reminder, I guess, in terms of the capacity and capability that we have to generate cash. But I think it's probably a little bit too early in the cycle to be thinking about share repo and/or dividend increase at this point in time.

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Okay. And then just as a follow-up, I noticed that you left your CapEx forecast for the year, about the same as that $190 million level. Given the fact that your outlook is a bit more tempered maybe, how confident are you in that? Is there more risk that maybe that comes down a little bit more or changes?

John Sznewajs

Analyst

Yes, Susan, as with the CapEx forecast of $190 million, there is a little opportunity that could come down a little bit. But that said, if you take a look at our CapEx that we spent over the last couple of years, it's far below where our historical rate has been, which is about 2% of sales. And then so with that said, we are expanding a couple of our facilities. Hansgrohe overseas is expanding a couple of their facilities to meet the demand that they're facing in the emerging markets. So while there might be a slight opportunity for that number to come down, I wouldn't say it's going to be dramatic.

Susan Maklari

Analyst

Okay. Thanks.

Operator

Operator

Our final question comes from Dennis McGill with Zelman & Associates.

Dennis McGill

Analyst

Thanks for squeezing me in. First question just had to do with the overall revenue trends. You guys talked about March being a flattish cap on a core basis, and we had to bill a ton [ph] of tax credit last year, and we had good Retail trends last March as well, so I would take that to be pretty favorable, but then you kind of talked about just being conservative from some of the macro trends. But can you just maybe elaborate on that? Maybe talk about how April looks as well, realizing that tough comp continues into this month?

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Yes, to your point, Dennis, we did have a very strong March and April last year. We started out, I think, January, February of 2010 were down slightly, and we were up, I believe, just a little bit in excess of 7% in both March and April of last year. And as we indicated this year, our February and March results were -- if you exclude Cabinet products that we're exiting, were basically flat with last year. So obviously, a pretty nice trend. Unfortunately, going into April, based on what we know right now, it looks like April sales will be off, and I'm going to guess, probably mid-single digits, at least, the way things look right now. And again, we've had some -- we don't like to talk about weather, but a lot of people have been talking about weather. Weather's been horrible in most areas, and I think that's probably had some impact, although it was pretty tough in March as well. So based on what we know right now, April looks like it's going to come in probably mid-single digit, down from last year, strong last year in April.

Dennis McGill

Analyst

Right. Okay. That's helpful. Second question, this is maybe a little bit long, but all these things are related. When we think about some of the offsets to the strength that you're seeing in some of your core brands, and then I focus on the 3 segments, can you just help us with quantifying the lost volume from Wal-Mart business, the trends that you're seeing from cabinet dealers, existing cabinet dealers as to whether they’re expanding their relationship with you, or if you're seeing any turnover among existing dealers that might offset the new dealers? And then within the Plumbing business, you talked about mid-teens growth within Delta and Hansgrohe. But I think that would imply the rest of the business is down somewhere in the mid-single digit-type range. So can you help us how we should think about some of those offsets that might mitigate the strength that you're seeing with new products or other brands?

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Yes, I think on the Wal-Mart question, Dennis, my sense is they prefer that we not talk about the amount of business. As I did mention, relative to Wal-Mart, we had both some builders' hardware, as well as Paint declines in the first quarter. And as I mentioned, if we excluded the implications to Paint, we would have been up a little bit in terms of Paint. But our sense is they prefer that we not quantify that Paint program. In terms of cab dealers, we did mention that we have been able to add 25 dealers, and we have been able to add a Masco brand at almost 350 dealers. So obviously, some of those are existing. And our sense is that we have not lost any dealers. So I think that was part of your question. Now we had a little bit of static on the line, and so I think I'm reading into it a little bit. So we haven't lost any dealers, and I think I mentioned that our estimate of what we've been able to impact from a added-brand standpoint equates to, on an annual basis, and again, not necessarily going to affect 2010 top line, but about $55 million in terms of sales. And your question, your last question was on Plumbing, with Delta and Hansgrohe up low to mid-teens, does that suggest that the remaining Plumbing business is down? And I would say that's not necessarily the case. We continue to do well with hot tubs, which obviously continues to be a surprise to us, but I think is really reflective of a very strong market position, an excellent job of bringing out an opening price point product, and just a very well-run business. And the fact that we've seen some guys go out of business, if you will, in terms of competitors. So I would say that's been a bright spot as well. Most of the rest of the businesses, we do some supply things and some valves and that type of thing. I would say we're modestly better. Probably, the only area where we saw any significant decline would have been in Canada in the Plumbing segment. We were down in Canada. We enjoyed a really, really strong 2010 in Canada as we mentioned last year. So we saw a little bit of a falloff there and again, their economy is slowing down a bit. So from that standpoint, I think that certainly is explainable. But for the most part, I think we feel like we're holding our own from a share standpoint in Plumbing. And I can't tell you of any -- off the top of my head, any category that we're concerned about from a margin or a share perspective. So we feel pretty good about what's going on across that entire segment.

Dennis McGill

Analyst

And I'm sorry for the static, kind of cut my side.

Timothy Wadhams

Management

It's okay.

Dennis McGill

Analyst

But I was referring to -- are you seeing any revenue per dealer changes? Are you seeing existing dealers maintain the pace of the market as you run through the integration?

Timothy Wadhams

Management

I would say that absent the comments we've made in the past about any issues around the common architecture program, I think that our dealers are pretty much holding their own based on what we understand, yes, just in terms of trends.

Dennis McGill

Analyst

Okay. Thanks, again, guys.

Timothy Wadhams

Management

Okay, thank you very much, and I thank all of you for your participation today. We appreciate it. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

And that does conclude today's conference. Thank you for your participation.