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SPAR Group, Inc. (SGRP)

Q4 2014 Earnings Call· Wed, Apr 15, 2015

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day and welcome to this 2014 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Financial Results Conference Call. Today’s conference is being recorded. At this time, I’d like to turn the conference over to Valter Pinto of Capital Markets Group. Please go ahead, sir.

Valter Pinto

Management

Thank you, operator and good afternoon. I’d like to thank everyone for joining us today for the SPAR Group 2014 full year financial results conference call. On the call today, your presenters will be Jill Blanchard, CEO and President; and Jim Segreto, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I’m going to review the company’s safe harbor statement. Statements in this conference call that are not descriptions of historical fact are forward-looking statements related to future events, as such, all forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. When used in this call, the words anticipate, could, enable, estimate, intend, expect, believe, potential, will, should, project and similar expressions as they relate to SPAR Group are such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ from those anticipated by SPAR Group at this time. In addition, other risks are more fully described in SPAR Group’s public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which can be reviewed at www.sec.gov. With that I’d like to turn the call over to Jill Blanchard, CEO and President of SPAR Group. Jill, the floor is yours.

Jill Blanchard

Management

Thank you Valter, and thank you everyone for joining us today for our 2014 Full Year Financial Results Conference Call. SPAR Group is focused on helping Fortune 1000 companies get more out of the store. We are partnering with our clients to drive in-store sales, profits, productivity efficiency by enhancing their in-store brand presence. During my first year here as CEO, I set out to meet our top clients, some of which have been with us for 10 years and some even 20, to understand what their needs are and what where the industry is headed. As the industry evolves, so does SPAR. Therefore in 2014, we built a strategic plan for 2015 and beyond that lays the foundation for long-term growth through investments in new industry trends, newly evolving technologies and senior level personnel. This effort has further enhanced our global capabilities and knowledge base, and we believe that it is the key to long term differentiation within our industry. To understand what to expect in 2015 from SPAR Group, I’d like to take a step back and discuss the shift that is unfolding today in the retail industry. The retail industry that we operate in is evolving rapidly and that evolution includes the growth of brick and mortar retail sales. According to FTI Consulting 90% of the $3.7 trillion in total retail sales for 2015 is expected to be from the brick and mortar stores. Even more so, brick and mortar sales are expected to make up 85% of the $7 trillion in retail sales by 2024 and that’s nearly $2.7 trillion in growth over the next 10 years and more than $2 trillion more than the growth for online retail. One of our newest clients Apple is a really good example of this. They’ve figured out early…

Jim Segreto

Management

Thank you, Jill. I would also like to welcome everyone to today’s call. As Jill highlighted, our net revenues for the year ended December 31, 2014 were $122 million compared to $112 million for the same period last year, an increase of $10 million and 9%. However, when we adjusted for foreign currency translation, our overall growth was 14% and our organic growth was 10% year-over-year. Domestic net revenues totaled $46.4 million in the year ended December 31, 2014 compared to $44.6 million for the same period in 2013, an increase of $1.8 million or 4% primarily attributable to the continued growth of our company syndicated services, increased project work and a full year impact of the acquisition of the competitive company in 2013. International net revenues totaled $75.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2014 compared to $67.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2013, an increase of $8.2 million or 12%. Key contributors to the 2014 increase in international net revenues were China at $2.9 million primarily due to the acquisition of the Unilink; Mexico $2.8 million; India $2.1 million; and South Africa at $1.6 million. Adjusting for the impact of foreign currency, the organic growth in the international division would have been 14%. The company’s gross profit margins were 25% for both years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013. The domestics division’s gross profit margins were 32% for both years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013 while the international gross profit margins improved by 1 percentage point from 20% in 2013 to 21% for the year ended December 31, 2014. The improvement in international gross profit margin was primarily driven by lower cost business in both South Africa and the China markets. The company reported net income attributable to SPAR Group, Inc. of $3.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2014, or $0.15 per diluted share compared to net income of $3.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2013, or $0.15 per diluted share. Also those are based on diluted outstanding shares of approximately 21.7 million. Our balance sheet remains strong with cash at $4.4 million as of December 31, 2014 compared to $2.8 million at the end of December 2013. Our working capital improved from $10 million in 2013 to $16.5 million in 2014 and total equity improved to $23 million. With that, I’d like to turn the call back to Jill for closing remarks.

Jill Blanchard

Management

Thanks Jim. Our balance sheet remains strong with the flexibility to explore additional opportunity. The industry is highly fragmented with smaller players who have skilled labor and excellent contracts but lack technology capability of SPAR. Domestically we are in discussions with several candidates that can expand our current service offerings and internationally we are focused on expansion efforts in South America and Asia and we are continuing to explore expansion in our current countries. We are optimistic about our future and believe that the investments that we are making in talented management and evolving retail trend and technology will lead a stronger client relationship and ultimately create greater value for our shareholder. On behalf of the entire team here at SPAR Group, we appreciate everyone for being on the call today. This ends our prepared comments and we are now available to answer any questions. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Jill Blanchard

Management

Okay. Thank you again. I want to thank everyone for taking the time to join us on today’s call.

Operator

Operator

This does conclude the conference. We thank you for your participation.