Stephen Macadam
Analyst · KeyBanc. Your line is now open
Thanks, Dan and good morning, everyone. I thought it would be helpful to start with a quick summary of the macroeconomic context we’re operating in, because our results for the quarter reflect these conditions. As you may know in the United States the industrial production index has declined two percentage points since March of last year and new orders for durable goods had declined 2.6 percentage point. Driven in large part by the slowing global demand and corresponding drop in commodity prices. On a year-over-year basis the price of oil was 26% below a year ago, while metals have declined 16%. And as a diversified company we serve a variety of industrial markets with exposure to many of the sectors affected by low commodity prices, while we may be add or near the bottom in certain sectors our businesses are not yet seen signs of sustained recovery. Oil and gas, steel, metals and mining, agriculture equipment, OEM truck and other capital good sectors contracted significantly in the quarter from the prior year. Other markets we serve such as aerospace, automotive, aftermarket truck parts and parts for diesel and gas engines were stable to moderately higher. Semiconductor was lower in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the prior year, but order patterns indicate improved activity in this sector for the second half of the year. For the quarter our pro forma sales were $334.7 million, which is 4% up from last year's first quarter. Normalized pro forma sales were essentially flat as acquisitions contributed six points of growth offset by two points of year-over-year foreign exchange difference. Our pro forma adjusted EBITDA of $36 million was $3.5 million or 9% lower than a year ago, but excluding a $3 million non-recurring legal charge in Power Systems that Milt will cover later. Our pro forma adjusted EBITDA was about 1% lower than a year ago, while Milt will provide more detail by segment in a nutshell. Our normalized pro forma segment profit was down in Sealing Products due to software market conditions noted previously. Engineered Products was modestly higher despite a 5% decline in sales as a result of the restructuring actions that we took last year and ongoing operational improvement activities. And Power Systems pro forma segment profit was down on a $10 million increase in revenue as a result of four factors; first, zero margin engine revenues on the EDF program mostly due to current exchange rates; second, higher warranty claims; third R&D spending on the OP 2.0 new engine development program; and fourth the non-recurring $3 million legal charge that I just mentioned. Before Milt provides more details on our financial results, I want to give an update on several 2016 strategic initiatives important to improving our competitive position. The consolidated net loss reported for the quarter of $46.8 million largely resulted from an $80 million non-cash asbestos accrual made in conjunction with the comprehensive ACRP settlement announced in March. As our longer-term shareholders can attest the ACR processes is been a long and arduous one, but our determination and meticulous case management position best to achieve a really great outcome for our company and our shareholders. We appreciate all you have, all of you who have supported us through this process and we look forward to our Company's next chapter one that will be unencumbered by asbestos related financial constraints and the cloud of uncertainty that have been part of our Company since inception. There is not been any significant change since we reported terms of the comprehensive settlement on March 14, the parties are on track to file all planned documents including the disclosure statement with the court during the second quarter. We continue to work toward completion with a plan to reconsolidate by the summer of next year. Our restructuring activities that proceed according to plan, in Sealing Products we made a decision to downside Garlock presence in the UK and are in the process of closing down a facility. The restructuring has gone smoothly with orders transferred to Garlock distributors with products still supply from other Garlock locations. In the Engineered Product segment GGB has moved out of the old Chicago facility and successfully transferred the bushing block product line to other sites in the GGB family without interruption. Also at GGB we have moved into a new facility in Suzhou, China that is shared with Stemco. The grand opening is scheduled for May 16. At CPI, we’ve made excellent progress on the restructuring program announced last October. Since then we have closed five sites, consolidated one and divested three locations, one in Western Canada a small service center in the Western United States and our service center in Thailand. CPI is actively trying to sublet some of the facilities, but for the most part the heavy lifting is complete. This restructuring project reduced CPI’s employment population by 110 or about 15% and cost savings are starting to be realized. At Stemco, we are making great progress with the integration of the Air Spring’s business acquired last July. Work is progressed to move off the seller's SAP system and onto a new cloud-based ERP system that Stemco is adopting across the division. We are also on track to move the Air Spring’s research and administrative personnel out of the seller's facility in Fairlawn, Ohio into our own Fairlawn facility by early July. We have made steady progress in improving inventory availability by stocking key distribution points such as Stemco’s new distribution center and fine-tuning the stocking level. Our supply chain team has successfully worked with vendors to improve cost availability and quality. We expect to start seeing the majority of these benefits in the second half of this year. Finally, I want to express my excitement about the work underway at Garlock to develop a greater presence in sanitary markets. As you know, two weeks ago we announced the acquisition of Rubber Fab, and we closed the transaction this past Friday. Over the past 20 years, Rubber Fab has grown to be a leading supplier of critical process consumables for the pharmaceutical, bio-processing, and food & beverage sectors. The addition of Rubber Fab significantly expands Garlock presence and scale in the hygienic market space and complements Garlock’s existing sealing solutions to provide a comprehensive product portfolio. The high level of industry focus, breadth of innovative products, and strong distribution network that Rubber Fab brings to our business is very exciting. It fits perfectly into Garlock’s strategy to invest in growth markets with engineered sealing solutions and can be leveraged and enhance the sales of Garlock’s existing products that serve the sanitary markets. Now I’ll turn the call over to Milton.