Alexander Pease
Analyst · Todd Vencil
Thanks, Steve. As Steve mentioned, we continue to show a nice top line growth in the quarter. Sales were up 14% from the second quarter last year with the bulk of the growth coming from acquisitions. Organic growth was also healthy at 6% and more than offset the effect of foreign currency translation which reduced sales by about 5% from a year-ago. Organic growth came from the Sealing Products segment and also from FME where percentage of completion accounting for new engines increased revenues in 2012.
Last year, before we began to use POC accounting, no engines were shipped in the second quarter and no engine revenues were recorded. Sales also benefited from pricing actions throughout the company and those actions help to offset volume declines. When we look at the geographical breakdown, sales in North America were up at all operations except Stemco were aftermarket and brake replacement activity continues to be soft. Excluding FME, North American sales were up about 4%.
As you would expect, Europe was significantly softer and sales there were off about 7%. All of our European operations reported decline even when sales are normalized for foreign exchange. On the positive side, our European nuclear markets remained firm and Asia was slightly stronger than last year. We also feel as though we are outperforming the broader market even in the soft economic environment.
To round off my comments on sales, Tara, Motorwheel and PI combined to contribute $33 million in sales and as Steve indicated, their integration is going well on all fronts.
Now let’s take a look at some of the detail around profitability. As you see, gross margins are down about 3.5 points, predominantly driven by a shift in mix, Stemco’s sales were more heavily weighted to lower margin OEM sales than they were year-ago.
Tara, which was not included a year ago has a high portion of OEM business in the semiconductor markets with much lower margins than its legacy nuclear and aerospace businesses.
Percentage of completion accounting led to increased revenues at Fairbanks Morse, which had an impact since margins on engines are generally lower than those on parts and services. In addition, parts and service revenue was down at FME.
We also had some unusual costs including depleting an inventory of higher cost PTFE, that one of our operations secured last year when global suppliers were scared and material prices were high. We also recorded the $1.4 million Motorwheel inventory adjustment that Steve mentioned in the sealing product segment.
Pricing had a favorable impact of 200 basis points across the portfolio and we continue to be very proactive in capturing the full value from more specialized and engineered products portfolio.
Looking at SG&A, it declined as a percent of sales and reflects some leveraging particularly at Fairbanks Morse related to the increase in revenues there. Acquisitions accounted for most of the increase in SG&A spending from a year ago, although their effect was partially offset by foreign exchange.
Going into the details of our segment results, we’ll start with sealing products. Sales in this segment grew modestly apart from the benefit of the Motorwheel and Tara acquisitions and the effect of FX. Segment margins were down largely due to a mix shift to lower margin OEM sales at Stemco and in Technetics as a result of the Tara acquisition.
In addition, a portion of the margin compression is explained by the Motorwheel inventory step up and restructuring related expenses at the consolidated Coltec operation. Those expenses were related to closing down a Houston facility formerly used by PSI. Production at that facility has now been relocated and is up and running.
Together, the inventory step up and the restructuring expenses totaled $1.8 million. Excluding those, margins in the segment would have been 14.9% or a little more than a full point higher than what we’ve reported. In addition to the inventory step up and restructuring costs, there was another $1.4 million other acquisition related expenses including acquisition related amortization. Generally, we don’t adjust for these expenses, because they carry on for a fairly long period after the deal.
Now, let's review the individual operations in the segment beginning with the consolidated Garlock operations. Sales in these businesses were moderately higher in North America, and up slightly in Asia. Europe on the other hand, was softer than a year ago as political and financial uncertainty began to cause delays in normal maintenance turnaround schedules at refineries and other process industries. And as public infrastructure projects came under increased pressure from tightening government budgets. Profitability of the consolidated Garlock operations remains steady.
At the Technetics group, normalized sales excluding Tara were about the same as the second quarter of last year. We were able to capture price increases on some products, which helped to offset volume declines, and we benefited from strength in the nuclear power market. While we have a backlog with nuclear orders, to strengthen semiconductor during the first half of 2012 was somewhat unexpected and as Steve mentioned, it is forecast to decline in the second half of the year.
Excluding activity in nuclear power markets, Technetics European markets were weaker than a year ago. Profits were about the same as a year-ago in Technetics although without the benefit of Tara, they would have been reduced by the higher Tcfe costs that I mentioned earlier as well as the mix shift that I’ve just described.
Stemco also experienced a shift in mix from the second quarter of last year. OEM trailer build rates in the United States are up 28% over last year while aftermarket demand for Stemco products, particularly in brakes has been soft at least partly because of the mild winter weather. Key indicators for aftermarket demand at Stemco, such as freight volumes, truck loadings, and ton miles are either flat or showing low growth through the first half of 2012, which will likely continue to have a significant impact on mix and profitability into that business.
Stemco’s margins are down from last year predominantly driven by the OE mix effect and the nature of the brake market in general, where we have a growing presence. Stemco continues to move aggressively on pricing to ensure it is capturing the full value of the products it sells. Profits and margins at Stemco also reflected the $1.4 million inventory step-up related to re-valuing the Motorwheel inventory.
At engineered products, sales were down 7% primarily because of the effect of foreign exchange translation. As you may realize, the majority of this segment’s sales in Europe has resulted GGB’s large European presence. GGB’s PI acquisition added a couple of points to sales, but not enough to offset FX and the general weakness we saw in the European markets, especially in the second half of the quarter. Although we were able to more than offset cost increases with price, margins fell in the level of the second quarter year ago and were 2 points lower predominantly driven by scale effects.
The difference was mostly due to volume in Europe, but it was also a result of investments in restructuring at CPI, which totaled around $200,000. To put a little color on the businesses and the segment, GGB sales were down about 4% before FX and acquisitions. By region, the U.S. was up about 3% but that was not enough to offset weakness in Europe and sales in that region were down about 7%. European industrial production continued to weaken in the quarter and even slowed in Germany where conditions have been fairly firm previously.
Despite these unfavorable conditions and a 10% decline in profits after FX, GGB reported good margins. The business benefited from success in a couple of key areas of our enterprise excellence programs, specifically our pricing initiatives and our supply chain improvements. Both of these programs are providing meaningful benefit to GGB and will be very important to helping the business in this challenging economic environment.
In the United States, margins showed very good leveraging on increase in U.S. sales and on the benefits of the TI acquisition, which has already began to contribute to improvements in GGB’s manufacturing footprint and processes. Overall, we're very pleased with GGB’s performance for the quarter.
At CPI, Europe was down about 2% compared to the second quarter of last year. CPI’s German markets were flat with a year-ago, but volumes in France and the U.K. fell short of the levels we saw last year. Activity in Europe reflected weak economic conditions and reductions in spending on refinery maintenance, as CPI’s customers began to conserve capital in the face of the uncertain situation in Europe.
In North America, CPI sales were up about 1% and benefited from a healthy level of activity in U.S. petrochemical markets as well as improvements in field service and higher activity at our service centers. However, conditions in CPI’s Canadian markets reflect high natural gas storage level and a 10-year low in North America natural gas prices, which limits conception of the Canadian gas with a bulk of our footprint sets.
Obviously, this creates a challenging economic environment for the Canadian portion of our CPI business, but we remain committed to the business and optimistic about the long-term potential that we see there and feel even more positive given a number of the infrastructure investments underway and announced to cap into that resource.
CPI recorded a small restructuring charge in the quarter in connection with the ongoing restructuring program that Steve mentioned in his opening remarks. It is important to note that this restructuring is part of the ongoing acquisition integration, as well as our work to create a strong platform for future growth in new business. Margins were also affected by investments and field service resources consistent with our strategy for CPI.
Looking at the performance of Fairbanks Morse Engine in the Engine Products and Services segment, we saw a significant top line improvement over the second quarter of 2011, largely because of percentage of completion accounting for new engines. As a result TOC, engines sales were significantly higher in this year’s second quarter than in the second quarter of 2011 when no engines were shift and no engine revenues were recorded.
Parts and service sales were down slightly from last year when major engine repairs on several Navy ships were underway. Those repairs have been completed and the parts and service sales were lower.
Segment profits were up 39% on the increase in engine revenues, and although margins were down from a year ago they were still a healthy 18.5%. The change in margin from a year ago reflects a shift in mix to engine sales, which carried lower margins in parts and services.
Although margins at Fairbanks Morse in the first half of the year were very strong, we don’t expect them to be sustained at this level. For the full year of 2012, they should be in line with our long-term goal for FME of about 16.5%. FME’s backlog stood at just under $190 million at the end of June and relatively constant with the March backlog.
If I put all this together, our GAAP net income in the quarter was $10.2 million that reflects slightly less corporate expense than last year, slightly more interest expense than last year and a tax rate of 32.2% compared to 33.8% a year ago. On an EPS basis, that translates to $0.47 of GAAP earnings or about $0.09 less than last year. The primary drivers of the difference between last year and this year were about $0.02 of restructuring cost, the inventory step up, which contributed about $0.04, and then a $0.03 increase in interest expense.
The increase in interest expense reflects an increase in the principal balance on the Intercompany Note as well as interest on borrowings against our revolving credit agreement in conjunction with the purchase of the Motorwheel acquisition. As a reminder, a portion of the interest on the note is made in payment in kind and that amount accrues to the principal.
Adjusted EPS was $0.76 or the same as we recorded in the second quarter of last year. The adjustments to the second quarter of 2012 include $0.21 in interest due to GST, $0.04 for the inventory step up, $0.02 for restructuring and $0.02 for tax accrual and other items. Overall, we feel as though we performed relatively well in the quarter, particularly given the challenging external environment that we faced as the quarter progressed.
Turning to cash flow measures, EBITDA was $89.5 million in the first half of 2012, up 6% from the first half of last year. Free cash flow in the first half was lower than the first half of last year for several reasons, working capital increased as we saw more activity in our markets and the effect of acquisition. I’ll remind you that working capital needs typically diminish in the second half of the year.
We also increased capital spending slightly over the first half of last year as we continued to invest in facility and efficiency improvements, particularly in Europe. Acquisition spending was down from the first half of last year when we closed 3 transactions in the first quarter of 2011. Spending this year reflects the acquisition of Motorwheel early in the second quarter. We paid for Motorwheel by drawing on our revolving credit agreement. At the end of June, we had about $40 million in available credit on that revolver.
For the second half of the year, we expect cash flows will be sufficient to fund working capital and capital expenditures, which we expect to be in the range of about $40 million for the full-year, assuming that all currently planned capital projects go as scheduled.
Before we go on to our outlook, let’s review GST’s results in the quarter. Sales at GST were up about 3% as price increases and sales from an Asian joint venture overcame some softness in GST’s U.S. markets. Gross margins improved about 1.5 points at GST, but operating profits were down slightly and margins were also lower, primarily because of ACRP related expenses. Those expenses were about $8 million in the quarter or roughly double the second quarter of 2011.
As you know, GST pays the expenses of both sides in the case. Those expenses have gone up for a number of reasons including activities required as both sides gear up for the estimation trial. GST’s cash balance remains healthy and increased to nearly $138 million at the end of June.
I will close with a review of our outlook, and then open the line for your questions. First, I want to reiterate that in light of the short cycles, which characterize most of our businesses, the current conditions of the global economy create a very challenging environment. While we’re prepared to effectively address additional shifts in conditions, further deterioration of the global economy could very well affect our outlook.
With that said, the decline in the value of the euro changes our expectations for sales growth. We now expect sales to grow by more than 10% over 2011, a reduction from our previous outlook for growth greater than 12%. The reduction is driven primarily by the changing value of the euro and the translation effect associated with that.
At current rates, we expect the translation of sales made in foreign currencies into U.S. dollars will reduce our sales by about 3% from last year. However, the contribution of acquisitions completed since the second quarter of 2011 should more than offset the decline. We expect those acquisitions to contribute sales of $90 million to $95 million for the full year and about 8 percentage points of growth over last year. We anticipate the balance of our growth will come from organic factors as we benefit from price and share gains.
We should also see about 2 points of growth as a result of increased sales at FME. On a geographic basis, it appears that North America will be stable for the rest of the year, although it should go without saying that North America market are not immune to what’s going on in rest of the world. We expect conditions in Europe to remain soft and activity in our European businesses to remain low for the rest of the year, with the possible exception of European nuclear markets.
We expect to report segment profit margin comparable to the 12.8% we reported in 2011. Our reported margins will reflect the restructuring and acquisition related costs we have incurred as well as additional restructuring cost as we size our operations to compete in the current environment. We expect those expenses to total between $5 million and $6 million for the full year including the $3.4 million of acquisition and restructuring expenses recorded in the first half of 2012.
For third quarter, we expect modest sales growth over the third quarter of 2011. Acquisitions completed since the second quarter of 2011 should contribute $15 million to $18 million in sales. We expect activity in North America to improve somewhat over last year, but activity in Europe is likely to be weaker than a year ago. We expect restructuring costs of around $1.5 million primarily in engineered products and that will affect segment profits in the third quarter. We believe that we are positioned for our operating performance to improve over the third quarter of last year.
Overall, we’re confident in our position as we look to the second half of 2012. While we’re cautious about the state of the global economy, our organizational structure in enterprise excellence program give us significant flexibilities to respond to unanticipated changes in the economic environment. We expect to continue to make progress in 2012, and we believe the steps we’ve taken to improve our results will be reflected in our performance for the rest of the year.
With that, we’ll open the line for questions.