Matteo Anversa
Analyst · Matt Koranda with Roth Capital Partners. Please proceed with your question
Thank you Phil, and thank you to everyone joining the call today. Before I get into the details of the results, let me spend a minute talking about two minor adjustments that have been made to some of the previously reported first quarter 2018 financials. So first, we have reclassified $2.7 million of amortization of customer relationships from a contra revenue item into SG&A. This impacted revenue for other automotive as well as revenue for each of our industrial businesses for the first quarter of 2018. The annual impact for 2018 was $10.2 million increase in both product revenue and SG&A. And as a result, the gross margin rate was impacted positively by 70 basis points. Second, $865,000 of restructuring charges occurred in the first quarter of 2018, but were initially classified as SG&A. They were reclassified as restructuring charges in June of last year after we announced our strategic update plans. We have now reflected this $865,000 in the first quarter of 2018 income statement as restructuring and this adjustment impacted first quarter 2018 adjusted EPS by $0.02. Both the amortization of customer relationships and the restructuring adjustments impacted the EBITDA margin rate by 20 basis points for the first quarter of 2018. With that, I'll now start on slide 8 and focus on the items that most significantly impacted our first quarter results. So for the quarter, product revenues declined by 2.5% compared to the same period of last year. While we outpaced the market in the automotive segment, where revenues were flat year-over-year, the Industrial segment declined by almost 30% primarily due to the disposition of the CSZ Industrial Chamber business. If we adjust for the impact of FX, our overall organic revenue was flat. Automotive segment revenue grew 2.8% organically year-over-year. This was achieved despite the headwind in the global vehicle production. According to IHS latest data for our key markets of North America, Europe, China, Japan and Korea light vehicle production in the first quarter declined almost 7% year-over-year and approximately 200 basis points below their mid-February forecast. Our automotive business outpaced the market as a result of the continuous strength in our CCS product line, where revenues was up 7% year-over-year. Additionally, revenue in BTM more than doubled compared to the same period of last year, primarily due to the PACE of award-winning BTM solution that Phil just discussed. This revenue increase was offset by a decline in seat heaters which were down 12% primarily due to a decline in GM and Volkswagen sales in China, as well as our conscious decision to walk away from low margin business. Additionally, we are seeing a few programs upgrading from heat only to CCS. Automotive cables also declined about 12% due to the decreased orders from a large Tier 1 customer in Germany. And electronics revenue was also down 15% year-over-year, primarily due to the continued slowdown in the RV industry. If we move to the Industrial segment, industrial revenue declined almost 30% compared to the first quarter of last year. The declining revenue was primarily due to the lower sales in the CSZ Industrial Chamber business, which as you know was sold in February, as well as from the GPT business. As you know both businesses were classified as held-for-sale in the second half of last year. On the positive side, we saw continued strength in our medical business where revenues increased more than 12% year-over-year due to the higher Blanketrol sales in North America. If we move to gross margin, gross margin for the first quarter was 29.2%, a decrease of 150 basis points compared to the year-ago quarter. However, gross margin improved 150 basis points sequentially compared with the fourth quarter of last year. The year-over-year decline in gross margin was primarily due to higher labor cost as well as timing differences between the annual customer price decreases and the supplier cost reductions. In addition, there was a negative impact from tariffs and lower margin and BTM associated with the launch phase of our new actively cooled technology program. These were partially offset by improved fixed cost leverage from higher unit volume, as well as cost reductions driven by Fit-for-Growth. Just to add couple of more details, that the labor cost increases were mostly incurred at our production facilities in Mexico, whereas you may recall, we adjusted our wage rates to align with the new minimum wage requirements, as well as increased headcount as we ramped up the Celaya plant. On tariffs, while we were able to mitigate some of the impact as a result of the efforts from our sourcing team, the net negative impact in the quarter was approximately $800,000 which is pretty much in line with what we experienced in the fourth quarter of last year. And at this point, we continue to expect the annual impact of tariffs to be in the range of $3 million to $5 million. While our gross margin rate was below last year's first quarter, we are pleased with the 150 basis point sequential improvement compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. This was primarily driven by improved efficiencies in our plants, mostly Mexico and a higher gross margin in BTM. Moving to the operating expenses. Operating expenses in the quarter were $53.5 million. Now this amount included $1.9 million of restructuring charges, mostly related to Fit-for-Growth and $1.1 million of CFO transition expenses. If we adjust for the restructuring charges in both periods and for the CFO transition cost, operating expenses were $50.5 million, down from $59.7 million in the first quarter of 2018. Now this year-over-year decline of more than 15% was primarily driven by the impact of the Fit-for-Growth cost reduction initiatives, lower expenses for cash settle stock options, as well as the sales of the CSZ Industrial Chamber business. Also in the quarter as we continuously evaluate the fair value of our assets held for sale, we recorded a $10.5 million impairment related to our GPT business. Adjusting for the non-deductible impact of this impairment charge, the effective tax rate in the quarter was 26.7%. Finally, our adjusted EPS in the quarter was $0.55 a share, compared to $0.52 a share in the first quarter of last year. If we turn to slide 9, I will walk you through the balance sheet. So our cash position in the quarter was $41.3 million, including $2.5 million of restricted cash coming from the disposition of the CSZ industrial chamber business. Our cash position in the quarter increased by $1.7 million. We generated $6.8 million in cash from operating activities during the quarter and we had approximately $8 million of cash outlay for our share repurchase program. Now let me make a comment on this point. Given the recent uncertainties in the macro economic condition and the automotive market, we slowed down our share repurchase program in the quarter. However, we will look for opportunities to ramp up the program over the remainder of the authorization period, depending on the market conditions. We also received $47.5 million of proceeds from the sale of the CSZ Industrial Chamber business in the quarter. And as a result, our net debt decreased by $41 million from $100 million at the end of 2018, to $59 million at the end of the first quarter of 2019. As of the end of the first quarter, the total debt stands at approximately $100 million and our revolving line of credit availability stands at approximately $260 million. If we move to slide 10 on guidance, based on the first quarter results, we are maintaining our 2019 guidance and 2021 outlook. Now, given the current global automotive production forecast for 2019, it is likely that our revenue growth rate excluding the impact of foreign exchange will be at the lower end of our guidance range. We do continue to see more of our growth coming in the second half of the year. In fact, the second quarter will be our most challenging quarter due to a few vehicles rolling off. However, we are expecting several new vehicle launches in the second half of the year. In summary, while we still have work to do to further improve our margins, we are pleased with the progress that we made in the first quarter. And with that, I'll turn the call back to Devin to begin the Q&A session.