Ken Krause
Analyst · Baird. Please go ahead
Thanks, Nish, and good morning, everyone. Before I begin the P&L review and discuss the quarter in more detail, I'd like to start with a few highlights of our quarterly performance. Revenue growth was 6% on a reported basis or 8% in constant currency. It is encouraging to see that level of growth in any quarter, but considering we could not ship NFPA compliant SCBA in the Americas for the entire month of September, it's really a solid resolve. We leverage that revenue growth into 11% adjusted operating income growth with an incremental operating margin of more than 30%. Adjusted operating margin of 18% increased 80 basis points from this time of year ago. And it's important to note that comparison includes 50 basis points of dilution related to the Sierra Monitor acquisition, primarily related to non-cash stock compensation charges and amortization associated with the purchase price allocation related to the inventory step up on the transaction. Sierra was dilutive to adjusted EPS by $0.02. However, it was accretive to earnings on a cash basis by $0.02 and we are on track with our integration plans there. In fact, we completed a major milestone of the integration plan when we went live on SAP at Sierra at the beginning of October. That positions us well to drive improvements in the business. Adjusted earnings were flat in the quarter at a $1.15 per share, but it's important to note that our higher tax rate impacted earnings per share by $0.07. This step up in the tax rate was largely driven by cash repatriation in the quarter associated with the repatriation of more than $35 million from Europe and other non-recurring adjustments. Free cash flow conversion was about 95% of net income in the quarter, showing nice improvement from the first half of this year. We deployed $16 million for dividends and reduced our debt balances by $24 million, while investing $10 million in CapEx. Now, I'd like to walk you through our third quarter financial results. Total revenue increased 8% in the quarter in constant currency. We had a 2% FX headwind on revenue in the quarter. We continue to see solid results across our short and long cycle businesses. Gas detection growth was strong across the board in both portable gas detection and the fix side in both of our reporting segments. As our new products continue to be well accepted by the market, as Nish had mentioned, new products drove our business in industrial personal protective, which was evidenced by our growth of 27% in fall protection. And not only did we see strong revenue growth, but margins in Americas fall protection product sales, which was the main source of overall revenue growth in that product category were up strongly in the quarter as well. Emerging markets growth was a very healthy 8% in the quarter, and we are seeing good results across these markets and continue to drive growth in important areas like China, which has grown at a double digit rate year-to-date, and build backlog and the quarter despite healthy shipping activity. The SCBA area of our business was challenging in the quarter as a result of the delays in the Americas, and a tough comparison in international from a large order that we shipped in the second half of 2018. The comparable period analysis in international SCBA will continue to be pressured in the fourth quarter related to that specific order. Gross profit was up 40 basis points from last year on a reported basis. Gross Profit includes however, the purchase accounting oriented costs associated with our recent acquisition. And excluding these gross profit was up a very healthy 70 basis points in the quarter. The new products and pricing actions that we’re executing continue to provide good leverage. SG&A expense was $83 million in the quarter or 23.6% of sales, which includes about $1 million of transaction related costs and $2 million of cost for Sierra’s base business, excluding Sierra and all the related costs, we gained 40 basis points of leverage from SG&A efficiencies compared to a year ago. We also continue to focus on executing restructuring activities to streamline our business. We are on track with our international restructuring activities that we have been executing throughout the year. And it's good to see the expense control in the quarter in that segment, particularly in Europe, where SG&A is down 3% on revenue that is up 3%. GAAP operating income was $60 million or 17% of sales in the quarter, excluding foreign exchange, restructuring, strategic transaction costs and product liability expense, adjusted operating margin was 18% up 80 basis points from a year ago on incremental margins that are exceeding 30% in the quarter and 40% year-to-date. Excluding the dilution from the Sierra acquisition, which is included in the Americas segment and was driven by purchase accounting and non-stock -- non-cash stock compensation related items, operating margin expanded by 130 basis points in the quarter. It is also good to see the margin gains balance between our reporting segments. With the Americas improving 50 basis points and international improving 90 basis points in the quarter. Americas posted strong gross profit expansion, while the international segment is gaining leverage from the cost reduction programs I mentioned a few moments ago. It is important to recognize that our prior year GAAP operating income results included a charge of almost $15 million related to accruals associated with product liability versus $2 million this year. The impact of this change in the year-over-year comparison is neutralized in adjusted operating income and adjusted earnings. Our GAAP effective tax rate was elevated at 27% as a result of the $35 million of foreign cash that we repatriated from our European affiliates. We had certain quarterly specific unfavorable impacts this year that detracted about $0.07 from EPS. Year-to-date our adjusted effective tax rate, which neutralizes for the impact of certain non-cash items is trending at 25%. We are planning for our full year adjusted effective rate to be 24% to 25% for 2019. GAAP net income was $42 million; quarterly adjusted earnings were $45 million, or $1.15 per share, which is relatively flat from a year ago. As I mentioned, the higher tax rate and non-cash costs related to Sierra Monitor were detractors from EPS in the quarter. The incremental operating margins were north of 30%, which indicates that our profitability profile continues to be healthy. Our 2019 and long-term expectations of growing earnings on a multiple of sales is still very much intact. Free cash flow was $41 million in the quarter, which includes about $2 million of net outflows for product liability. If you recall, we had $58 million of insurance receivables inflows in the third quarter a year ago. During the current quarter, we used cash for inventory to support our revenue growth and prepare for the fourth quarter deliveries, but receivables provided a source of cash and drove stronger cash flow conversion. Free cash flow conversion was more than 95% in the quarter despite the strong revenue growth and order pace. The stronger cash flow enabled us to fund the $16 million dividend and pay down $24 million of debt in the quarter, which puts debt-to-EBITDA at 1.3 times on a gross level. Our balance sheet is strong and provides us with the flexibility to continue investing in our business and pursuing acquisitions. The quarter reflects another solid performance from our teams as we continue to focus on growth, productivity and cash flow. In summary, it was great to see 8% growth, 130 basis points of margin expansion in our organic business and improvements in free cash flow conversions despite the strong growth. The incremental margin profile is intact at more than 30% in the quarter and the order pace was healthy as well in the quarter. We had a book to bill in excess of 1.0 times which positions as well for the fourth quarter. We continue to expect mid-single digit constant currency revenue growth for the full year of 2019. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Nish for some concluding commentary. Nish?