Chris Bohnert
Analyst · Noble Capital. Please go ahead
Thank you, Harold, and good morning everyone. I'll start on Slide 8, where we'll detail our results for the second quarter. Net sales for the quarter of $123 million were down slightly by 1.8%, or $2.2 million compared to last year's second quarter. Roughly half of the sales decline was caused by unfavorable foreign exchange impacts of approximately $1 million, or 0.8% largely within our Mobile business. Additionally, rationalization of low margin business in the Mobile Solutions segment accounted for most of the remaining decline versus last year. Our operating loss declined significantly to $2.1 million, an improvement of $1.9 million compared to the $4 million operating loss in last year's second quarter. On an adjusted basis we delivered adjusted operating income of $2.1 million, which again grew relative to the adjusted operating income of $1.3 million seen in the prior year. As Harold referenced earlier, adjusted EBITDA results of $13.4 million grew by $2.9 million, or 28% versus the $10.5 million last year. As a result of our adjusted EBITDA growth, our consolidated adjusted EBITDA margin of 10.9% expanded by 250 basis points versus last year's second quarter, driven in part by improved operational performance across our base business and a stronger first half of the year for our China joint venture. This step up in our profitability on a modestly lower revenue base again speaks to the success of NN's transformation and our improved ability to generate stronger profits from our existing business. We have shown solid progress in optimizing our sales mix through the transformation and expect these benefits to carry forward supporting long-term margin improvement goals. On a GAAP basis, our quarterly net loss per share of $0.12 showed marked improvement compared to the $0.38 net loss per share seen in last year's second quarter. On an adjusted basis, our quarterly net loss per share came in at $0.02. We think it's worth noting to point out that the depreciation applied to our Autocam business is expected to roll off in the coming quarter, the third quarter, and had the timing of that effect been applied to this quarter, our results would have reflected a positive net earnings per share on an adjusted basis. For the remainder of 2024, our focus on attacking all underperforming areas of the business and cutting costs will continue to anchor our priorities as part of our multi-year transformation effort. We remain committed to improving our profitability with our actions to improve the business. I'll now turn over to our segment results starting on Slide 9. In our Power Solutions segment, where our business consists largely of stamped products, sales increased 4.3% year-over-year to $50.2 million growing by $2.1 million from the $48.1 million of sales in last year's second quarter. The lift in sales was primarily due to pricing impacts, including the pass-through impact on precious metals, as well as other pricing actions to offset inflation. Power Solutions quarterly adjusted EBITDA of $9.5 million and improved meaningfully, growing by $3 million compared to $6.5 million last year's second quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margins increased from 13.5% to 18.8% quarter-over-quarter. The positive impacts from past facility closures and the ongoing productivity improvement programs have driven these solid results. We believe it's representative of our refocused efforts and commitment to our strategic transformation plans which enabled the business to deliver 46% improvement as compared to the prior year second quarter. As we begin to layer in the sales from new business wins, we expect to continue expanding our profitability, as we capture improved fixed cost absorption through operating leverage, combined with the ongoing benefits from our costs and productivity programs. In the near-term, our key priorities for this segment remain centered around continued cost out and an acceleration of targeted new business sales efforts. We have upgraded our commercial teams with the addition of dedicated business development professionals. We remain highly focused on operational lead times to improve our customer service and strengthen our IT systems and management processes, all of which have contributed to our recent successes, including the ramp-up of our electrical connectors and shields platforms. Now, turning to Slide 10. In our Mobile Solutions segment, which covers our machine products business, sales decreased 5.6% versus the prior year's second quarter, declining $4.3 million to $72.9 million for the period. The decrease was primarily due to our exit from unprofitable business and contractual reductions in pricing and unfavorable foreign exchange impacts I mentioned earlier. Profitability in the Mobile Solutions segment grew versus last year's second quarter, as the segment's adjusted EBITDA results of $8.2 million, increased by $0.7 million compared to the $7.5 million in the second quarter of 2023. Again, our focus on fixing the cost structure and productivity has helped drive solid margin expansion. As Harold noted, the income contribution from our China JV has been strong in the first half and we've taken early steps to reduce indirect labor and its impact on our cost structure. Our near-term priorities are to continue refining and lowering our cost structure in North America and driving growth in China and expanding our capacity where we continue to win new business. We'll also continue to accelerate our focus on product development and innovation where capabilities can increase competitiveness in next-gen product applications and expand our presence with key industry players. Recently we saw this take place as we achieved a new program win in our medical market, where a global market powerhouse awarded NN its machine titanium forgings for hip replacements. Harold will provide an update on this later. Now, turning to Slide 11. On a trailing 12-month basis, we delivered adjusted EBITDA of $49.2 million, a steady improvement over the past four quarters. The improved adjusted EBITDA results have translated into a reduction of our leverage multiple over the same time period. As we communicated previously, a comprehensive refinancing of our debt obligations is a key strategic priority. The improved adjusted EBITDA and leverage strengthened our ability to engage with the debt capital markets. Further, the strategic disposition of our non-core plastics plant in Lubbock, Texas after quarter end brought an additional $15.4 million that we used to pay down debt after quarter end, reducing our leverage multiple to 2.9 times on a pro-forma basis. We are underway with a structured process with our partners to refinance our existing term loan and ABL and have clear balance sheet and capital structure goals that we expect to execute on in the near-term as we work through this process. We expect this refinance to lower our borrowing costs, greatly aid our growth and transformation and allow us to redeem a portion of our preferred equity, which has high carrying costs. Success in lowering our cost of capital and improving financial flexibility will enhance NN's ability to use our available capital base as a platform for future strategic growth and allow a greater degree of the value we generate to accrete to our shareholders. We're committed to driving improvement in free cash flow and will therefore continue to take measured approaches to the capital investments required to continue advancing our growth. We look forward to sharing more in our next earnings update on this. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Harold to discuss some of our additional developments before wrapping up our prepared remarks. Harold?