Daniel Hendrix
Analyst · Thompson Research Group. Please proceed
Thank you, David. Good morning, everyone. To say that we were pleased with our performance in the fourth quarter would be an understatement. It was a very strong finish to the year, with the best results we had in any quarter since before the economic downturn in late 2008. When you consider where we were four months ago, the results are even more gratifying. On a sequential basis we improved substantially across all financial metrics, making for a speedy and robust recovery from the third quarter. I would like to thank all of our associates for their focus, hard work as we closed out the year on a high note. Starting with the top line, we had a very healthy sales numbers of $272 million, with growth in each of our primary geographic regions. The only area of concern was a negative currency impact in Europe which of course, is outside of our control, but it turned 6% sales growth in local currency and 2% decline as reported in U.S. dollars. I will talk about - more about currency headwinds in a little bit. The U.S. and Australia, which are two of our largest geographic markets were particularly strong, as the commercial market recovery continued to take shape and we gained share in each market. We are also encouraged that markets across Asia made a quick recovery from the third quarter to the fourth. Gross margin turned upward from the third quarter to the fourth, as increased demand led to more manufacturing throughput and better fixed overhead absorption. And our initiatives to improve manufacturing efficiencies began to take hold. We are still short of our level achieved a year ago, but we are moving in the right direction. If there is one thing I am most proud of about the quarter it’s our control over SG&A expenses. After our restructuring and other cost cutting measures earlier in the year SG&A was at 23.8% of sales which is the lowest level since 2008. In absolute dollars it was $65 million which puts us on track to achieve our goal of $250 million for 2015, while still funding our significant growth opportunities. I'd also like to point out that our floor business top line was even - but on year-over-year basis but it substantially trimmed its operating loss in the fourth quarter both on a sequential basis and year-over-year. A result of our restructuring and cost cutting floor’s fourth quarter loss was down to $500,000 compared to $1.8 million in third quarter and $800,000 a year ago. On a consolidated basis all of these factors translated in to an operating margin of 10% which is a substantial improvement over where we had been earlier in the year. Order growth during the fourth quarter was at 3% year-over-year with solid advances in the Americas and Asia Pacific being somewhat offset by decline in Europe. Without the currency translation impacts our orders were up 6% for the quarter with Europe being essentially even. While this is still lighter than I expected we have seen a sharp increase in the orders in the first month and half of 2015 which largely alleviates my concern. Year-to-date 2015 orders are approximately 24%, with increases coming across all three primary regions, including the bounce-back in Europe. When you take out the currency impact; the increase is closer to 30%. However this is not a direct apples-to-apples comparison to the prior year because our January had an extra week this year. Nevertheless the strong order momentum is a positive trend that gives us a lot of optimism about 2015. I'm also fairly comfortable with our SG&A level as we began the year. So our primary focus would be on reducing our cost of sales and thus expanding gross margin. The increased demand level should give us some manufacturing volume support. In addition, we've got a number of initiatives underway to improve efficiencies and help us better manage the increasing complexity of our product offering which is an important competitive advantage for us. We're also seeing some relief on raw materials as a result of lower oil and energy input cost. However we will face a significant currency headwind in 2015 as a result our forecast declines of the euro, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, essentially negating our expected raw material cost savings. We also have an improved capital structure with our debt refinance at a substantial lower rate, which will cut our interest expense for the year. From a market standpoint we're very well-positioned. Our new product development has been outstanding. We have an excellent seasoned sales force. We've given them the tools they need to win business and grow market share. In addition, we've delivered by wide margin when it comes to sustainability as evidenced by our recent recognition in the trade publication Floor Focus and Contract Magazine. The Floor Focus surveyed the top designers in the United States we were once again named the Number One Green Leader. We're also ranked Number One Sustainable [ph] Culture in Contract Magazine in their Annual Brand Report. We're also very excited to have on board, Jay Gould under Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Jay came to us from American Standard Brands where he was the CEO of the 138 year old kitchen and bath fixtures company. Before that Jay had several senior executive role positions at well recognized international companies such as Newell Rubbermaid, Campbell Soup Company, The Coca-Cola Company and General Metals. Jay has hit the ground running and I’m confident that he is going to accomplish great things at Interface. In summary, I can say the business hasn’t felt this good in a long time and I’m excited about our prospects for both sales and earnings growth this year. And with that I will turn it over to Patrick.