Brad Mason
Analyst · SunTrust. Your line is open
Thanks, Mark, and good afternoon, everyone. I will start by giving you a summary of our first quarter 2018 performance, after which Doug will discuss the financial results that we reported today. I will then follow up with our outlook for the full year 2018 before taking questions. Overall, we had another solid quarter in both top and bottom line performance. Starting with the top line. In the first quarter, we reported net sales of $108.7 million compared to $102.7 million in Q1 of 2017, representing a year-over-year increase of 5.8% as reported and 3.3% in constant currency. This sales result were in line with our consolidated expectations for the period, but did include some strategic business unit or SBU variability to our plan, that I will now discuss. BioStim net sales grew 3.6% over a strong first quarter in the prior year. This performance was on plan for the period, driven by solid execution of our commercial strategies and the continued market acceptance of our newest lumbar and cervical products supported by our Stim onTrack mobile app. Additionally, in Q1, we released the next-generation of our Physio-Stim products and the Android version of Stim onTrack. These new products are already gaining traction in the market and complete the latest updates to our full BioStim portfolio that has been ongoing over the last few years. Extremity Fixation exceeded our expectation for the period with a reported net sales increase of 14.9% in constant currency growth of 4.3%. This growth resulted from the continued uptake of new products and good performance in all but a few of our global markets including the U.S, where we’ve seen good momentum for the last nine quarters. Our Spine Fixation SBU started 2018 with another solid quarter, delivering 7.5% in year-over-year growth, including a 9.6% increase in the U.S. This SBU performance was on plan despite a shortfall for the period in a couple of international markets. The sales increase continues to be driven by new products and sales force enhancements. I will speak more about the expected positive impact of our recently announced acquisition of Spinal Kinetics in a moment. And in our Biologics business, we reported a decrease compared to prior year of 4.4%. As previously mentioned, the sales in this SBU will be negatively impacted this year by the contractual reduction in the marketing service fee percentage Orthofix receives from MTF Biologics. When normalized for this change, which occurred in March, the year-over-year decrease was 2.5%, which was below our expectations. In addition to the fee change, the first quarter also was impacted by slightly higher – slightly more ASP pressure than previously anticipated and the underperformance in one of our three sales regions due to our recent management change. When combined, our Spine Fixation and Biologics businesses, including the impact of the Biologics fee change, increase sales over Q1 2017 by 2.3%. Moving on to our bottom line performance in nonsales key metrics in the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin came in above our expectations at 18.1% compared to 15.3% in Q1 2017, a 290 basis point increase. In a few minutes, Doug will run you through the P&L and discuss the drivers of this improvement. Adjusted earnings per share was $0.39 compared to $0.27 in Q1 of 2017 a 44% increase. Free cash flow was a negative $7 million for the period, which was $7.8 million improvement over prior year. Adjusted ROIC showed a 250 basis point improvement at 12.9% compared to 10.4% in 2017. And we had a cash balance of $77.1 million as of March 31, 2018. Operationally, our focus for the quarter centered around the acquisition of Spinal Kinetics and the efforts related to exploring a redomicile of the company to the U.S. In addition to our ongoing efforts in sales force enhancement, new products introductions and clinical studies supporting our existing products in new indications of use. On March 15, we announced the signing of a binding merger agreement with Spinal Kinetics Inc. Spinal Kinetics is a company located in Sunnyvale, California, that designs, manufactures and sells differentiated artificial lumbar and cervical discs. I’m very pleased to report that the acquisition closed today, and we’re excited to welcome to the Spinal Kinetics team to the Orthofix family. As we outlined on the call several weeks ago, there are numerous strategic and financial reasons why we decided to acquire this business. While we estimate the current artificial disc market growth rate to be approximately 10%, we believe the introduction of the M6, which is the first disc that truly mimics the anatomical motion of the natural disc, will help drive faster adoption and artificial disc market growth then the currently available ball and socket designs. Regarding their strategic rationale for doing this deal, we see numerous benefits to integrating Spinal Kinetics into our Orthofix Spine Fixation including the following. First and foremost, the M6 discs provide great benefit for patients and support our critical mission of improving patient’s lives. We believe the addition of the M6 disc in the Spinal Kinetics team will significantly contribute to our objective of accelerating the growth rate of Orthofix to the mid-to-high single digits. This deal also checks the boxes on other key objectives, another key objective of our business development strategy, which is to acquire properties that are in fast-growing markets. The disc replacement market meets that criteria. The technology has proven with over 54,000 discs implant since their launch in Europe in 2006, and are the preferred discs for many of leading surgeons outside the U.S. Adding the M6 discs will fill the most important product gap in the Orthofix Spine Fixation portfolio with no product or sales force duplication. Since we announced this deal, we’ve received very positive feedback from our sales force about the M6 discs and the strategic value this brings to the Orthofix. We’ve also received strong in-bound interest from distributors who currently do not carry our spine products. Lastly, we believe the M6 discs, once FDA approved and launched, will receive an enthusiastic reception from U.S. surgeons that will not only help to solidify our existing relationships, but also open doors to potential new physician customers. As Doug will discuss in a few minutes, in the quarter, we also spent considerable time and effort exploring a potential redomicile of Orthofix from Curacao to Delaware. This redomicile will require a shareholder approval, and we expect it will be considered at the upcoming Annual Meeting of Shareholders. In summary, the first quarter sales were solid and in line with our expectations, while our 290 basis point improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin versus prior year exceeded our expectations. Additionally, we successfully executed on signing a deal to acquire Spinal Kinetics. It was a very strong quarter and start the year. I’ll now turn the call over to Doug for the financial details. Doug?