Bhaskar Rao
Analyst · Raymond James
Thank you, Scott. Before going into the details, a few highlights from the first quarter. Global net sales were $691 million, an increase of 8.4%, and we grew double digits on a constant currency basis. Gross margin was 40.8%. Adjusted operating margin improved 50 basis points to 9.2% of net sales. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $93 million, and adjusted earnings per share for the quarter was $0.54. Turning to North America. On a segment basis, sales increased 12%. The wholesale channel increased a solid 11%, and the direct channel increased a robust 36%. At a brand level, Tempur sales grew 37%, and Sealy was slightly down in the quarter. As Scott mentioned, U.S. Sealy bedding, which excludes our accessory business, grew 2% in the quarter, which is an improvement from prior quarters. As a reminder, our best-selling Sealy Hybrid launched in the first quarter last year. So we're pleased to report that against a difficult comp, premium Sealy products continue to perform well. North America gross margin was 37.6%, slightly unfavorable to prior year. The largest headwinds to gross margin included continued commodity pressure, floor model expenses and negative merchandising mix within the Tempur portfolio. While still negative year-over-year, Tempur's merchandising mix improved sequentially from the prior quarter due to the launch of a new high-end models. We expect this particular headwind to dissipate in the back half of 2019. These headwinds were partially offset by favorable brand mix as Tempur grew faster than Sealy and pricing. North America adjusted operating margin improved 70 basis points to 11.8% as compared to prior year. This was primarily driven by improved operating expense leverage as we phased our advertising to support to be later this year, following the completion of our product launches. Before turning to International, I would like to talk briefly about our newly acquired Sleep Outfitters business. As previously announced, we acquired Sleep Outfitters from Innovative Mattress Solutions through its Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. Although our preference is to work with high-quality independent third-party distributors, Sleep Outfitters recently found themselves financially challenged, and we chose to protect the distribution footprint within the market by acquiring the business. Sleep Outfitters is a regional bedding retailer with less than 100 stores across the handful of states. Each store carrying a selection of Tempur-Pedic, Sealy and Stearns & Foster products. During the quarter, we recorded a charge of $3 million in corporate, primarily associated with professional fees from this acquisition. In the second quarter, we anticipate $2 million to $3 million of charges for the post-acquisition restructuring of Sleep Outfitters. Our Sleep Outfitters acquisition closed on April 1, 2019, so its retail revenue and earnings did not impact our first quarter results but will impact our results starting in the second quarter. We are expecting this business to generate between $80 million to $90 million of retail revenues on an annualized basis, of which only about half would be incremental as we previously sold to them as a wholesaler. We expect near-term EBITDA headwinds from Sleep Outfitters on a retail basis of $5 million to $8 million in 2019, but our goal is to reach retail EBITDA breakeven within the first 12 months of operation. We expect to turn the business around. And once we do, we will evaluate our long-term strategy for the business. Today, we are pleased with the progress that the team is making so far, and we are on track to achieve goals we have outlined. Turning to International. Although some markets are decelerating, total International performance was in line with our expectation. Net sales decreased 4% on a reported basis. On a constant-currency basis, International net sales increased 3%. The direct channel increased 50%, and the wholesale channel declined 6%. Our European business performed well in light of an even more challenging than anticipated macro environment from the ongoing situations in the U.K. and France. In Asia Pacific, we felt a bit of a slowdown, but overall, it grew. We're pleased with our strong International direct channel growth, as we have expanded our company-owned stores in both Europe and Asia Pacific. But as you can see, we still have some work to do on the wholesale side. As anticipated, the quarter was impacted by unfavorable foreign exchange rate as the U.S. dollar has been strong relative to other currencies. As we mentioned on the last earnings call, we recently extended the Asian joint venture relationship for an additional 20 years, continuing a solid foundation for growth of our Sealy brand in Asia. During the first quarter, the joint venture sold its interest in the Sealy business in New Zealand. This sale resulted in a gain of $7 million which has been adjusted out of our results. Going forward, we will continue to realize royalty from the sale of Sealy products sold in New Zealand and do not expect much of a change in our earnings stream. Our International gross margin was 53%, a slight decline to prior year. This was primarily driven by unfavorable foreign exchange rate offset by improvements in operations. International adjusted operating margin declined 140 basis points to 17.4%. This decrease was principally driven by operating expense deleverage, the Asian joint venture and unfavorable gross margin. Turning to the company's global performance. Adjusted operating income was $64 million, and adjusted EBITDA was $93 million, up $7 million from last year. The increase in EBITDA was primarily driven by increases in volume and pricing benefits. This was partially offset by launch-related expenses, commodities, Tempur merchandising mix and foreign exchange. The adjusted tax rate was 28.7% interest expense was $22 million, and adjusted EPS for the quarter was $0.54. Now moving on to the balance sheet and cash flow items. We generated operating cash flow from continuing operations of $5 million in the first quarter. As a reminder, we typically generate the majority of our cash in the back half of the year. Cash cycle was unfavorable by five days compared to the first quarter of 2018. This was principally driven by higher inventory levels required to support the launch of our new products and to maintain high customer service levels in North America and the timing of cash payments. In accordance with the new lease accounting standard under U.S. GAAP, the company recognized about $200 million of lease obligation and $200 million of right-to-use assets on to the balance sheet related to operating leases. As a reminder, the first quarter is normally the high watermark for our debt during the year. And at the end of the first quarter, net debt was $1.7 billion. On a trailing 12-month basis, our leverage ratio was 3.8x, slightly below our leverage in the prior quarter. The lease accounting change does not impact our leverage ratio calculation as defined by the company's debt agreements. Turning to our annual adjusted EBITDA guidance. Today, based on our solid start to the year, we increased the low end of our guidance and now expect full year adjusted EBITDA to be between $435 million and $475 million. It is important to note that our guidance range now include the expected $5 million to $8 million of headwinds to adjusted EBITDA related to Sleep Outfitters' acquisition and slightly more foreign exchange. This increase raises the midpoint of our guidance by approximately $10 million, driven by our improved operating performance and more favorable outlook for the U.S. We continue to expect strong sales growth of Tempur-Pedic in North America, primarily weighted in the first half of the year and Sealy sales being stable to slightly up. Regarding commodities. We have seen an improvement in the outlook for chemical and foam input costs, which has slightly improved our commodity outlook for the full year 2019 from flat to slightly favorable. I would like to flag a few items for modeling purposes. For the full year of 2019, we currently expect D&A to be between $115 million and $120 million; total CapEx to be between $70 million and $75 million, which includes maintenance CapEx of $60 million; interest expense of $90 million to $95 million; a tax rate of 26% to 28%; and the diluted share count to be 57 million shares. With that, I will turn the call back over to Scott.