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Sypris Solutions, Inc. (SYPR)

Q3 2013 Earnings Call· Tue, Nov 12, 2013

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Sypris Solutions Incorporated Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time for opening remarks, I would like to turn the call over to the President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Jeffrey Gill.

Jeffrey T. Gill

Management

Thank you, Noel, and good morning, everyone. Brian Lutes and I would like to welcome you to this call. The purpose of which is to review the trends reflected in the company's financial results for the third quarter of 2013. For those of you who have access to our PowerPoint presentation this morning, please advance to Slide 2 now. We always begin these calls with a note that some of what we might discuss here today may include projections and other forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that these projections and statements will be achieved, and actual results could differ materially from those projected as a result of several factors. These factors are included in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. And in compliance with Regulation G, you can access our website at sypris.com to review the definitions of any non-GAAP financial measures that may be discussed during this call. With these qualifications in mind, we'd now like to proceed with the business discussion. Please advance to Slide 3. I will lead you to the first half of our presentation this morning, starting with an overview of the highlights for the quarter, to be followed be a brief discussion of each of our 2 business segments. Brian will then provide you with a more detailed review of our financial results for the quarter. Now, let's begin with the overview on Slide 4. Revenue for the third quarter declined 7% sequentially from the second quarter of this year to $76.3 million, driven primarily by inventory rebalancing at our commercial vehicle customers and the somewhat lower than expected production of heavy-duty trucks. This decline was softened by increased shipments from our A&D segment and continued strength from the sale of our branded products to customers in the global…

Brian A. Lutes

Management

I'd like to take you through the highlights of our third quarter financial results, and let me begin with our consolidated and then I'll touch briefly on the financial highlights of both segments. So on Slide 10, you'll see that Q3 consolidated revenue totaled $76.3 million. This was down $2.5 million or 3.2%. As Jeff mentioned, Industrial Group revenue remained stable with the prior-year period while A&D declined. The Industrial performance continued its strength, but lower revenue and changing product mix within A&D impacted our consolidated gross margin -- that came in at 9.5% or down 240 basis points from the prior-year period. Earnings per diluted share for the quarter came in at a $0.10 loss, this versus a $0.29 loss in the third quarter of 2012, driven by the lower A&D revenue and the changing product mix. One important footnote is the prior-year period did include a loss of $0.32 per diluted share from the discontinued operations resulting from the settlement associated with the sale of our Sypris Test & Measurement business. With respect to our consolidated performance on a sequential basis, please advance to Slide 11. You'll see there that the consolidated revenue declined $5.9 million or 7.2% from the prior quarter, again, driven primarily by lower Industrial Group revenue resulting from the inventory rebalancing that is most often common as we get towards the back end of the year. On a positive note, A&D revenue which I'll talk about in a moment, increased during the quarter. Despite the sequential decline in revenue, consolidated gross margin contracted only 60 basis points, to 9.5% and that clearly reflects the strength of the operational execution by our Industrial Group, and certainly by the team in Tampa, to manage the headwinds that they've been experiencing. Finally, earnings per diluted share for…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And we'll take our first question from Jim Ricchiuti with Needham & Company. James Ricchiuti - Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division: Maybe we could start with the A&D business. I'm trying to reconcile the commentary around improved visibility, just with the overall environment. Jeff, maybe you could just talk a little bit about where you see that improved visibility? I think you touched on some of it, but perhaps you could elaborate a little bit more on that?

Jeffrey T. Gill

Management

That's a good question, Jim. I guess it's all relative, isn't it? The -- I think the easiest way to say it is that, at the moment, we believe that the second quarter reflected the low point for this business. And so we see incremental improvements in shipments as we go forward and it's still going to be a long slug, I think, as we go into 2014. But we do see some increased visibility that way. I'll tell you that as we look at it, there still ends up being a wide range of potential outcomes when we look at it from an internal planning standpoint. And so all of us here have moved towards the conservative end of the distribution in terms of expectations because of the variability that we have in the customer side. So I think it's a relative term. I think it's based upon coming out of what we believe to be the low point in Q2. And the team is just working hard to build it back. James Ricchiuti - Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division: Okay, that's helpful. And just looking at some of the newer opportunities in that business, you kind of alluded to what sounds like customer funded R&D. Not readily apparent, just given the sequential decline in R&D, is this something -- I know you did -- it's customer funded, but I assume you are also funding it separately. So what's happening within the R&D line? Is there anything you can say about the timing of potential -- this new secured communications technology, when this might be brought to market and perhaps the revenue potential relative to what you've done in the past in this area?

Jeffrey T. Gill

Management

Well the initial impact in '14 will be a reduction in our expenses. The funding from the customer will now start to take over starting with what we've been doing. The revenue potential will be in '15 and beyond, I believe. And the technology that they're being funded, while the initial focused revenue impact will not be huge, it does have some applications across a number of areas that, if we're successful, could be pretty interesting. So -- but it's not a '14 revenue impact situation, it's a '14 cost impact. James Ricchiuti - Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division: Got it, and then I'll jump back in the queue, but just one more final question on the A&D business, is the international part of the business. Any way to size what it is now and perhaps where you think it could go in the next 1 to 2 years, as a percent of the revenues of the business?

Jeffrey T. Gill

Management

Let us get back to you on that one. I mean it's another good question, but let us not kind of swag on that. Let us get you something more specific.

Operator

Operator

We'll take our next question from Alan Weber with Robotti & Company. Alan W. Weber - Robotti & Company, Incorporated: In your comments, you talked about some initiatives to reduce costs in the Toyota Production. Can you quantify, in terms of absolute dollars, how much reduced cost you expect to see in both segments?

Jeffrey T. Gill

Management

To this point, the belief is that we've accumulated roughly $2 million of savings through these various activities. And with regard to TPS specifically, at this point, TPS is contributing a small percentage of that, but we certainly expect it to grow in size, particularly as it takes root in 3 different industrial plants that are not as mature in their adaptation of these lean techniques as we are in our Aerospace and Defense operation. Alan W. Weber - Robotti & Company, Incorporated: Okay. And then do you have for the quarter the breakdown by operating income for both of the segments?

Brian A. Lutes

Management

That would be in our filing this afternoon, Alan. Alan W. Weber - Robotti & Company, Incorporated: Okay. And I guess my final question is, can you talk about the A&D businesses? Is there a certain level of revenue or what will it have to happen for it to become profitable after corporate overhead?

Jeffrey T. Gill

Management

At the moment, we're just tracking below breakeven, quite frankly. And so we've maintained R&D spending because we believe that there's some real potential in some of the technology that we've been working on. Otherwise, that would've been reduced prior to this. So we're continuing to spend on R&D from a revenue standpoint and the current mix, we're operating below breakeven. And so it's our plan, as we move through 2014, and with any luck from our customer base, to get it back to a sustaining level, if you will, where we're not funding these losses.

Operator

Operator

We'll take our next question from Jim Ricchiuti with Needham & Company. James Ricchiuti - Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division: Jeff, on the Industrial business. So we usually see some seasonality in Q4 in that business, not always, but it seems like there's been some pattern of that the last couple of years. Any way should we be thinking about it in the current quarter?

Jeffrey T. Gill

Management

Jim, I think our current outlook is that Q4 is going to be relatively consistent with Q3 and that the current forecast from ACT, FTR, all of the independent researchers, is that we'll see some lift, of 8% to 10%, in 2014, maybe 7% to 10%. That type of thing. James Ricchiuti - Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division: Is that -- is your sense in that, that is more weighted towards the back half of 2014?

Jeffrey T. Gill

Management

If I am making a forecast, I'd say it's all going to be in December of next year. It does vary, Jim. Typically, if you will look at the seasonality, Q2 is typically one of the stronger quarters. So... James Ricchiuti - Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division: Is that now -- the view that you're hearing from some of the guys -- the folks who track the market, is that also consistent with what you're hearing from your customers? As they look -- as your customers look at the market, has there been any change in their perspective over the last, say, 3 months in terms of how they are viewing 2014?

Jeffrey T. Gill

Management

No, I don't think so. And in fact, the October orders were just released and they came in at 26,000 for heavy truck and I think that was -- it wasn't surprising, people were pleased with the order rate, because that was substantially higher than what we've been tracking in the previous months. James Ricchiuti - Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division: Okay. And one final question on the industrial business. Again, you may not be able to necessarily quantify this, but it's -- I assume it's part of the more profitable part of this business, the oil and gas area. Can you give us some sense as to what it represents of revenues right now?

Jeffrey T. Gill

Management

Let us again get back to you on that one. It is growing. It's growing nicely and yes, the margins in that business are certainly attractive relative to some of our other businesses. But I'm sure when you talk with Brian and Tony, they can help you with that. James Ricchiuti - Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division: Okay. And as a look at the 2014 business, that part of the business, Jeff, oil and gas, is that an area that you guys feel reasonably good about, that you continue to show some decent growth there?

Jeffrey T. Gill

Management

Yes. We think 2014 is going to be a good year for that part of the business.

Operator

Operator

We'll take our next question from Alan Weber with Robotti & Company. Alan W. Weber - Robotti & Company, Incorporated: I may have missed something. Did you give in Industrial what percent is oil and gas?

Brian A. Lutes

Management

No, we did not. What we were telling Jim, within our Industrial segment, we have a product line and this product line, as Jeff referenced, serves oil and gas. It is growing, but we have not in any of our filings segregated or provided visibility to those revenues, because again, we consider it another product line within our Industrial Group segment. Alan W. Weber - Robotti & Company, Incorporated: Right. And I heard you talk about you expect 2014 to improve. Can you talk about actually what you do there that is enable you to get the growth and good margins?

Jeffrey T. Gill

Management

Sure. Alan, we have a line of branded products, it's under the 2 Turns brand, which is a 50-plus-year old brand of things. So we've been participating in this industry for a long period of time. We make high-pressure closures, insulated joints, different types of components that are used in natural gas pipelines, refining operations, some offshore and so, as frac-ing and other means of exploration and transportation have been growing, we've been benefiting by this industry. And if you look back, historically, you can find our products in all sorts of major infrastructure initiatives around the world, quite frankly, from the Alaska Pipeline to Pakistan to the United Arab Emirates. And so it's been a business where our team has been developing new products and that has been helping as we've expanded our market share. So it's been very active. The bookings rate remains quite solid and so, we're anticipating another positive year of growth for this business in '14 as these markets remain very dynamic. Alan W. Weber - Robotti & Company, Incorporated: And did you say the brand has been there for 50 years? Or 15 years?

Jeffrey T. Gill

Management

Fifty. 5-0. And just quite frankly, there are a number of instances where our brand is actually spec-ed in to the work by companies such as Exxon Mobil, Shell and others. Alan W. Weber - Robotti & Company, Incorporated: Okay. And then my other question is, on the A&D side, can you just talk about given your issues -- as you said, you do have a strong balance sheet, so that you're able to support the losses. Can you talk about the competitive landscape and if you've seen any changes given what's impacting your business should be impacting the competitors also?

Jeffrey T. Gill

Management

Yes, I think as you look across the various product lines that we have on that side of our business, the lack of funding by key agencies and customers is very consistent. And so, in many cases, we don't see ourselves as losing business. We see the business as not being awarded or being delayed, things of that nature.

Brian A. Lutes

Management

Hey, Alan, 1 footnote to that and we didn't talk about this with you during the first quarter, but as we released the first quarter earnings, if you were to go back, Jeff gave a great example in the case of Lockheed Martin New Town, which we serve as a significant customer, which ended up resourcing that business back internally because they see and are feeling many of the same challenges, the entire Aerospace and Defense industry are feeling. And as a result, as we look at 2013, and as we planned our year, obviously, that was a sizable program, over $10 million a year, that was inevitably resourced internally back. So as Jeff mentioned, it's not so much that we are losing customers in as much as the business is simply not being awarded, because of the dynamic nature of the industry that we've watch for the better part of the 3 years now.

Jeffrey T. Gill

Management

And Brian makes a good point because this is one of the, I don't want to say unintended consequences, but certainly one of the unanticipated, because the work we were doing for this customer actually stretched across a number of programs and were primarily have a commercial satellite basis. But the decision was made to in-source this work to offset losses in more of the defense-related business that the customer was experiencing.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And we have no further questions at this time.

Jeffrey T. Gill

Management

Well, thank you, Noah, and we want thank all of you for joining us this morning. It's a pleasure to have this opportunity to talk to you about our business and we appreciate your questions. So thank you, and have a great day.

Operator

Operator

And this does conclude today's conference. Thank you for your participation.