Jeffery D. Ansell
Analyst · Zelman & Associates
Thank you, John. Looking at the CDIY results for 1Q. Total revenues, plus 2%, driven predominantly by the Powers acquisition. Organic revenues, flat. As you can see in the upper left, our PPT or our DeWalt business, positive. It was, however, pressured in the quarter due to intentional promotional timing change, moving promotions that occurred in Q1 2012 to Q2 and 3 2013 to match the building seasons in North America and Europe, intentionally done as well. Our cordless products performed very well in the quarter pervasively. From a CPG or a Black & Decker perspective, positive. From a power tool perspective, the outdoor season began late, and thus, pressured the results. But overall, positive results in the Black & Decker business, with growth primarily attributed to new products, including Matrix, Gyro, et cetera. In our HT&S business or our Hand Tool business, exceptional growth in our DeWalt Hand Tool range was really offset by weakness in Europe, Brazil and Colombia during the quarter. If you look at the center of the page, you could see the track record over the previous 4 quarters of, on average, mid-single-digit growth with this quarter being flat. The 2 reasons are outlined in this portion of the chart. Outdoor, given a 4-week late start due entirely to weather, put 2 points of pressure into the quarter. The Latin American business, as John referenced earlier, added 1 point of pressure. So sans those 2 things, we would've had consistent growth with previous quarters. We do feel good about the correction in the outdoor season, which I'll come on to in a few minutes. And the Latin American business was trending quite positive during the course of the quarter. It essentially just took a little longer to sell through inventories from 2012 than expected, about 6 weeks longer. So you can see the depiction, where January was down 15%; February, down 6%; March, rebounded very nicely to plus 15%. So really the first half of the quarter was pressured. The second half of the quarter was much more consistent with our previous results in Latin America. And finally, in the upper right portion of the chart, you can see that profit rates expanded by 160 basis points, driven by mix, cost synergies and promotional timing to a record 14.5% for the first quarter. Turning to the following page. I want to reiterate as strongly as I can our commitment and confidence to mid-single-digit growth for the year even with a flat first quarter. Why do we have such confidence? Well, they're depicted here; 5 reasons, primarily. First is around emerging markets. We believe we'll have continued strength in Asia and other emerging markets, which were up mid-double-digits in the quarter, along with the Latin American recovery that I just outlined, that's already begun. Additionally, we added 185 sales and product headcounts during the quarter. That investment, combined with investment in programming from emerging markets, will certainly improve our business sequentially as these resources and programs gain traction over the course of the remainder of the year. Number two reason for confidence is new product development. We have very robust power tool, hand tool and home product new product plans. The launch cycle for our new products really begins in March through October. So very little impact in the first quarter but much greater impact over the coming portions of the year. A couple of examples to highlight. In March, we launched the world's first cordless, brushless framing nailer. That product competes extraordinarily favorably with anything that exists in the marketplace. It is the first framer to use cordless battery technology. It does not require disposable fuel cells, which is a negative to the user. And it works in any climate, any temperature, which is also unique. Based on the initial response to that product, we have doubled and are working to triple our capacity for that product for the remainder of this year. Additionally, we have really strong momentum in our DeWalt Hand Tool range, up about 30%, as the trend line goes. And then our new steam products, which have led us to the #1 position in Europe, continue to drive growth. So things like that really give us great confidence. And in general, our cordless business outperforming the market while being #1 is another reason for confidence in the terms of new product development. The third area to outline is promotional planning. Programming for 2013 essentially starts in Q2 and Q3 versus Q1 of last year. We intentionally moved the timing of these promotions to coincide with the building season in Western Europe and North America because those investments in Q2 and 3 versus Q1 will provide greater ROI for our customers and for ourselves. So we feel very good about that, and that will add volume strength for the coming quarters. Fourth, the outdoor season. The analytics have told us recently that April would be the kickoff to this season. We've seen that to be true. Last year, the outdoor season began in week 10. This year, the outdoor season began in week 14. So essentially, we lost a month in the outdoor business, which occurred in Q1. The point would be, though, the duration of the outdoor season is the same length regardless of when it starts. It will run 5 months, the starting point varies. So we will now run from April to August versus last year, March to July. It's very consistent year-over-year. And we have very strong cordless and corded listings across our enterprise, so we feel very good about the uptick once the season does begin. And on average, temperatures globally were minus 11 degrees from where they were this time last year. So a lot of reasons why this season is starting late. And then fifth and final but not least is we have really strong revenue synergy plans continuing through the year. We will unveil for you one of these major or mega programs at our meeting in June. Subsequently, we have another mega launch in the third quarter. Both have confirmation with customers and channels in the market already. We just don't talk about those things till they're in the market. And we'll show you again 2 major programs, 1 in Q2, 1 in Q3, with a lot of activity there with really good traction. So in closing, strong profit improvement in the quarter, plus 2% total growth, flat organic sales. But with a track record of organic growth in the mid-single-digits as depicted on Q1, we believe we have really strong prospects in front of us. Organic growth headwinds in the quarter were clearly timing and clearly temporary. We remain committed to the growth elements in emerging markets with lag already recovering; with new product development really starting in March running through October; promotional activity as a tailwind in Q2 and Q3 versus a headwind in Q1; the outdoor season starting, as we speak, albeit later than last year; and really compelling revenue synergy plans that are built and ready to execute. So we reiterate our confidence in mid-single-digit growth through the remainder of 2013. Thank you.