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Standex International Corporation (SXI)

Q3 2017 Earnings Call· Tue, May 2, 2017

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning. My name is Hope and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Standex International's Q3 2017 earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]. Thank you. I would like to turn the conference over to Matt Roche. Please go ahead.

Matt Roache

Analyst

Thank you Hope. Please note that the presentation accompanying management's remarks can be found on Standex's Investor Relations website, www.standex.com. Please see Standex's Safe Harbor statement on slide two. Matters that Standex management will discuss on today's conference call include predictions, estimates, expectations and other forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. You should refer to Standex's recent SEC filings and public announcements for a detailed list of risk factors. In addition, I would like to remind you that today's discussion will include references to EBITDA, which is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted EBITDA, which is EBITDA excluding restructuring, purchase accounting, acquisition related expenses and one-time items. We will also refer to non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP income from operations, non-GAAP net income from continuing operations and free operating cash flow. These non-GAAP financial measures are intended to serve as a complement to results provided in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. Standex believes that such information provides an additional measurement and consistent historical comparison of the company's performance. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is available in Standex's third quarter news release. On the call today is Standex's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, David Dunbar and Chief Financial Officer, Tom DeByle. Please turn to slide three, as I turn the call over to David. David?

David Dunbar

Analyst · CJS Securities

Thank you Matt and good morning and thank you everybody for joining us this morning. Our third quarter fiscal 2017 sales increased 4.1% to $184.7 million from a year ago, with organic sales increasing 2.9%. We saw demand increase across most of our businesses while growth laneway initiatives in electronics, engraving and engineering technologies delivered topline sales increases. As we anticipated, orders on backlog increased in refrigeration. Unfortunately, sales declined in that business as our Wisconsin plant experienced operational difficulties changing over production to a new foam formulation. GAAP operating income was down 33.4%, while adjusted operating income was up 3.3% on higher sales and adjusted EPS grew 6.8%. We ended the third quarter with a net debt position of $127 million, reflecting the OKI sensor device acquisition, which we completed in the quarter. We have renamed this business, Standex Electronics Japan. The integration is proceeding according to plan and we are excited by the potential of this business to accelerate our global growth plans in electronics. Our investment in growth laneways is beginning to deliver sales growth in electronics, engraving and engineering technologies. As anticipated, refrigeration demand increased as seen in orders and backlog which should deliver solid sales growth in Q4. Finally, Horizon Scientific, acquired in October 2016, continues to outperform our expectations. I will touch more on our achievements in each business when I go through our segment review. First, Tom will review our third quarter results. Tom?

Tom DeByle

Analyst · CJS Securities

Good morning. Slide four shows our historical trend of adjusted earnings per share and sales on a GAAP basis as well as on adjusted basis without the U.S. roll, plate and machinery business or RPM business. On a trailing 12 month adjusted basis, earnings per share were $4.42 through March 31, 2017 versus $4.58 in the 12 months ended March 31, 2016, which is a 3.5% decrease. Looking at sales on a trailing 12 month basis, adjusted sales were $728 million versus $739 million in the prior year period. Please turn to slide five, which details our revenue changes by segment. Overall, organic growth was 2.9%. The acquisition of Horizon Scientific contributed 4.3% to our sales growth, while the divestiture of RPM and foreign exchange had negative impacts of 2.3% and 0.9%, respectively. During the quarter, engraving, engineering technologies and electronics reported positive organic sales growth. We anticipate these businesses to continue to grow in the fourth quarter. Slide six summarizes our third quarter results on a GAAP and adjusted basis. Sales growth was 4.1% on a GAAP and 6.5% on an adjusted basis. Operating income was down 350 basis points and 30 basis points on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis, respectively GAAP income from operations was impacted by $6.5 million of acquisition related and restructuring costs. Earnings per share was down 34.1% on a GAAP basis and up 6.5% on a non-GAAP basis. Please turn to slide seven which is a bridge that illustrates the impact of special items on net income from continuing operations. Tax effected special items included restructuring charges of $0.7 million and acquisition related costs of $4.1 million. On the slide, you can see the breakdown of pretax acquisition costs in the quarter. The majority of the costs are related to Standex Electronics Japan acquisition,…

David Dunbar

Analyst · CJS Securities

Thank you Tom. Please turn to slide 13 and I will begin our segment overview with the food service equipment group. Sales increased 5.4% in the quarter including a $7.7 million contribution from the Horizon Scientific acquisition. As anticipated, we are seeing a strong increase in demand for refrigeration products as national accounts begin to ramp up spending. With a 24% increase in backlog during the quarter, we expect good sales growth in refrigeration during Q4. Despite the backlog increase, organic sales declined 3.2%, largely due to operational difficulties in our Wisconsin refrigeration plant as it introduced a new foam formulation into production. We estimate that we experienced sales declines between $1.4 million and $3.8 million from that issue during the quarter. The issue is behind us and in April, we have returned to normal production. In addition to volume deleveraging, income from operations was affected by increased freight, lower productivity and higher material costs related to the delayed product introduction in refrigeration as well as expenses associated with exhibiting at the biennial NAFEM trade show. Horizon Scientific, acquired in October 2016, had a strong quarter with Standex and has thus far performance of our expectations. The integration plan remains on track and we are leveraging synergies between Horizon and our NorLake scientific brand. We expect this momentum to continue into the fourth quarter. As I mentioned on last quarter's call, we brought in a new President to run our refrigeration group in February. Kevin Fink is off to a great start and has had an immediate impact on the business. Moving on to cooking solutions. Sales were down approximately 8.5%, primarily as a result of nonrecurring prior-year rollouts, proactive rationalization of low margin products and slower sales to select major dealers. Our operational performance in Nogales has stabilized in…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. Your first question comes from the line of Chris Moore with CJS Securities.

Chris Moore

Analyst · CJS Securities

Hi. Good morning guys.

David Dunbar

Analyst · CJS Securities

Good morning Chris.

Tom DeByle

Analyst · CJS Securities

Hi Chris.

Chris Moore

Analyst · CJS Securities

Maybe can we start with aviation, obviously an important piece of engineering. Can you maybe just give us kind of a 12 month milestones of what's going to be happening between now and this time in 2018?

David Dunbar

Analyst · CJS Securities

Well, if you go back to press releases that we released at some of the major awards, we simply ramp up to full volume by the end of this calendar year with the pushouts of the geared turbo fans, I think that moves into maybe middle 2018, but if you add up the numbers, we are talking about an annualized volume of $13 million to $15 million in sales. So we expect to be there this time next year.

Chris Moore

Analyst · CJS Securities

Got you. Thanks. In terms of the Standex Electronics Japan, are there additional, just from a purchase accounting standpoint, so obviously while the acquisition cost this quarter, is there additional amortization? Just trying to get a sense of how significant that will be for the next 12 months?

Tom DeByle

Analyst · CJS Securities

Of course, there will be amortization. It's a distribution model. So there is a lower step up. So the cost were the majority this quarter and you will have some cost in the fourth quarter. The $1.7 million, I believe.

Chris Moore

Analyst · CJS Securities

Okay. That helps. And the last is, just in terms of on the cooking side, obviously, refrigeration looks like it is coming back a little bit. Just from your perspective, what's it going to take for this to get going a little bit more than it is at this point in time, specific things that you are looking for? I know you mentioned that the moving of the plant, other things. But maybe can you just talk to cooking a little bit and the possibilities?

David Dunbar

Analyst · CJS Securities

Yes. I look at a couple of things. So the major impact on that business was this move from Cheyenne to Nogales a few years ago. It was really a very difficult move, very disruptive to the business, our deliveries and quality. And two years ago on our calls, we talked a lot about that impact. We are now operating on that plant at a very good level, at levels similar to where we were before the move. I think anticipated that we would regain lost share more quickly than we have. So maybe I was overly aggressive or overlapped domestic on that front. I think that will occur through the course of this year and many of the agreements that we have dealers and buying groups which those products go through dealers and buying groups are negotiated towards the end of the year and they are effective over a calendar year. So some of those buying groups, we anticipated will come back in January. A second impact was, in our BKI brand, we have a very good position in retail and grocery and last year there were a number of large national chains rolling out rotisserie programs and we benefited from that. This year there are not as many programs and we have very good market share in that segment. So we ride that market segment. So it's somewhat lumpy. So I would anticipate next year to be better than this year. And then the third thing is, now that this business is operating at a better level through the plants, we are devoting energies to growth discipline projects, similar to, I talked a lot about the three businesses that are growing well. Just three years ago, they invested a lot of energy in new product development, identifying new acquisitions, getting those new products out. The cooking business is now, in the last six to 12 months, has been begun to do that, but it takes time for that to convert into new products and new sales. We saw in those three other businesses, it took two-and-a-half years for that to result in sales and to move the needle. So I phase it in those ways, those three buckets. The customers that we lost, when we start regain them through this through this year into early next year and if we perform well, we will be back to where we were. Increase rollouts in grocery in the next year to reset that business. And then, maybe year-and-a-half or two years from now new products start to have an overall impact. It's kind of a long answer for your questions.

Chris Moore

Analyst · CJS Securities

No. That's good. That's helpful. I appreciate it. All right. That's it for me. Thanks guys.

David Dunbar

Analyst · CJS Securities

All right. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. Your next question comes from the line of Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company.

Chris McGinnis

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions.

David Dunbar

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Good morning Chris.

Tom DeByle

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Hi Chris.

Chris McGinnis

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

So I guess just a couple follow-up on some of those questions. Just in terms of the backlog for on the food on the refrigeration side. How quickly should that convert? And it sounds like it would have been a pretty good, great quarter, if not for some of the issues here you ran into.

David Dunbar

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Yes. You can imagine how disappointed the whole refrigeration team is. For last six quarters, we have been talking about those national accounts will come back, will come back, will come back. They just started coming back in the quarter and they stumbled. The backlog normally converts in four to six weeks. So that growth should all flow through this quarter. And as we mentioned, the plant is running smoothly now.

Chris McGinnis

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Okay. So that $24 million roughly should fall largely into Q4, I guess, if that's correct?

David Dunbar

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Yes. That's right.

Chris McGinnis

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Okay. And then you may have answered this and I apologize if you did, but on the cooking solutions ramp you talked about. So it's a year-and-a-half, you think, I guess in terms of when you think about the markets and the way they are positioned. How long until you convert the new sales? Or I guess the new products, so that's a year-and-a-half, what gets you through that timeframe, if your confidence I guess in keeping sales where they are at, even if new products are coming out a year-and-a-half later?

David Dunbar

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Well, if you take where we are at the base and look forward, we begin to get back some customers progressively through this year, that delivers some growth. Our retail rollouts probably a couple quarters away for grocery. And then new products that's longer, that's year-and-a-half to two years. I think based on the performance of the cooking business, we ought to see some of that business come back and grow in line with the market.

Chris McGinnis

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Okay. All right. So lookout a couple of months, you should see just some pretty good organic growth coming out of the food for first time in a while.

David Dunbar

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Yes. I mean you have got Horizon Scientific in there which is doing very well, Procon and Federal doing very well, refrigeration with the backlog up now, that's 75% of the business right there. And then cooking will start to pick up too.

Chris McGinnis

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Next just on the engineering. It sounds like energy markets were helping out a little bit. Can you just maybe talk about how you have changed since the energy downturn and how well you are positioned to capture that rebound? And maybe just how you think about the allocation? I know that you obviously have invested on the aero side. So maybe just where you are at in terms of the energy markets? I know it was very good for you prior to the downturn.

David Dunbar

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

It was. The energy markets peaked between the offshore and the land base turbines, peaked about $32 million annualized sales. It dropped to a lower run rate of $4 million to $5 million. We did over $2 million this last quarter. So it was really, it was a big quarter. It is very choppy. We don't expect that to be a consistent run rate. We are still setting our expectations that it remains at that $5 million annualized level. We are not that heavily exposed to energy. So you know we think the best position for us is to be conservative about it. However, we are well-positioned if the market comes back. I think in the previous call, we mentioned that the manufacturer of the land base turbines that we sold to out of our Wisconsin plant, has moved production for some of those turbines to Europe. Well, we are able to produce those products in our English plant. So we are talking with that manufacturer if they ramp up production in Europe. We think we have a good shot at getting that business. If the plants in North America come back, we are well-positioned to take that. And the plants that produce those products are also producing aviation. So from a plant loading standpoint, the cost position is still good. So we still think we are competitive and well-positioned for it. However, we have low expectations about its return.

Chris McGinnis

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Got you. Okay. And just quickly on the SG&A increase. Tom, you said that $1.7 million of the increase is associated to the acquisition. Is that correct?

Tom DeByle

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

That's for the fourth quarter. That will be the purchase accounting.

Chris McGinnis

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Okay. And so for the increase year-over-year in Q3 wasn't much, but it was a little bit more than I expected.

David Dunbar

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

We have Horizon Scientific in there.

Tom DeByle

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Yes. Horizon Scientific, yes.

Chris McGinnis

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Got you. Okay. That's perfect. Thank you very much for the time. I appreciate it.

David Dunbar

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Thank you Chris.

Tom DeByle

Analyst · Chris McGinnis with Sidoti & Company

Thanks Chris.

Operator

Operator

There are no further questions. I would now line to turn the floor back over to management for any closing remarks.

David Dunbar

Analyst · CJS Securities

All right. I want to thank everybody for joining us. Thank you for your interest in Standex. Thank you, operator, for joining us this morning. We look forward to updating you on our business next quarter. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. This does conclude today's conference call. You may now disconnect.