Bruce Hausmann
Analyst · Thomson Research. Your line is open
Thank you, Dan and good morning everyone. Our fourth quarter results came in as expected with net sales of $276.9 million, down 18% compared to the prior year period. Declines in carpet tile were somewhat moderate by lesser declines in LVT and rubber. Sales in the Americas were down 27% with declines across all product categories other than rubber. In EMEA, sales were down 13% in local currency and down 7% in U.S. dollars. Carpet tile was down for the quarter, while LVT rubber was essentially flat. Lastly, sales in Asia-Pacific were down 12% in local currency and down 8% in U.S. dollars. Declines in carpet tile were partially offset by growth in rubber while LVT was flat. There were however, some good signs as order levels have continued to stabilize. Fourth quarter adjusted gross profit margin was 35.5%, down 550 basis points from the prior year period. Given the 29% decline in carpet tile production in the fourth quarter, we believe this is a solid margin that reflects our strong supply chain, solid plant operations, and our ability to flex our plant and cost structure to changes in demand. We also continue to build earnings power through structural changes in our SG&A. SG&A expenses were $77.3 million in the fourth quarter or 27.9% of sales. Adjusted SG&A were $72.7 million in the fourth quarter or 26.2% of sales, which represented a 260 basis point improvement over prior year as a percentage of net sales. Fourth quarter operating income was $20.9 million compared to operating income of $27.9 million in the prior year period. Fourth quarter 2020 adjusted operating income was $25.6 million versus adjusted operating income of $41.5 million in the fourth quarter last year. Fourth quarter 2020 net income was $19.6 million or $0.33 per diluted share, while adjusted net income was $16 million or $0.27 per diluted share. And adjusted EBITDA was $37.2 million for the quarter. Please refer to our press release for reconciliations of our GAAP to non-GAAP numbers. Looking at full year results, net sales were $1.1 billion in 2020, down 17.9% compared with $1.3 billion in 2019. Organic sales were down 18.4% for the year, gross margin was 37.2% in 2020, and adjusted gross margin was 37.7%, down 240 basis points versus adjusted gross margin in the prior year. Adjusted SG&A expenses were $305.5 million or 27.7% of sales compared to $389.1 million or 29% of sales in 2019. This represents an $84 million year-over-year decrease in adjusted SG&A expense and 120 basis points of improvement as a percentage of net sales. Full year operating loss, which included a $121 million noncash charge related to impairment of goodwill and intangibles was $39.3 million in 2020 compared to operating income of $130.9 million 2019. Adjusted operating income was $110.5 million in 2020, down 26% versus adjusted operating income of $149.8 million in 2019. Net loss was $71.9 million or minus $1.23 per share in 2020 compared with net income of $79.2 million or $1.34 per share in 2019. Adjusted net income was $67.2 million or $1.15 per share in 2020 compared with adjusted net income of $93.5 million or $1.59 per share in 2019. Turning to our balance sheet, we generated $21.8 million of cash from operations in the fourth quarter of 2020 and had $398 million of liquidity at quarter end. Year-end inventory was down $24.9 million or 9.8% compared to 2019 driven by 29% year-over-year decrease in carpet finished goods inventory. In sum, we effectively controlled costs and closely managed our working capital and cash flows during this ongoing period of softened demand. We repaid $4 million of debt in the fourth quarter. Net debt or total debt minus cash on hand was $473.5 million at the end of the fourth quarter. Full year 2020 adjusted EBITDA was $145.7 million resulting in a leverage ratio of 3.2 times calculated as net debt divided by adjusted EBITDA. Q4 2020's interest expense was $13 million which included $7.5 million of one-time charges related to November's 300 million bond offering and a five-year extension of our syndicated credit facility. These two transactions materially strengthened our capital structure and the company's balance sheet. The bonds are due in eight years and our banking group is very supportive in renewing our credit facility for another five years. Depreciation and amortization were $12 million in the fourth quarter versus $11 million in the prior year period and for the full year depreciation and amortization were $46 million versus $45 million in 2019. Capital expenditures were $16.1 million in the fourth quarter and $62.9 million for the full year of 2020 compared to $20.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 and $74.6 million for the full year in 2019. Looking ahead at the full year of 2021, we anticipate continued soft demand in the first half of the year. However, we anticipate a recovery toward the back half of 2021 as the COVID-19 vaccine continues to roll out, markets continue to open, children continue to return to school, and employees continue returning to the office. As Dan mentioned, we created significant earnings power from the swift actions we took in 2020 to align our cost structure to demand. We anticipate full year 2021 adjusted SG&A expenses of approximately $330 million, which is $59 million or 15% lower than the pre-COVID adjusted SG&A expenses that we saw in 2019. As Dan mentioned, even with a return to normalcy, we will continue to limit many of our costs, such as traveling expense, discretionary spending, and hiring beyond sales and manufacturing personnel. We continue to have a tight handle on the operational and financial levers that are in our control. Looking at the first quarter of 2021, we expect revenue to be down both sequentially and year-over-year due to several factors. First, as you may recall, the business is customarily softer in Q1 versus other quarters due to seasonality. For comparison, from the fourth quarter of 2018 to the first quarter of 2019, net sales sequentially declined $39 million due to seasonality, and from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the first quarter of 2020 net sales sequentially declined $51 million due to seasonality and COVID-19. And as you may recall, the first quarter of 2020 had 14 weeks of operating activity versus 13 weeks in the first quarter of 2021. When you pull all of this together, we're likely to see net sales declined sequentially from the fourth quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021 by approximately $25 million. Looking at gross profit percentage, we have to make Q1, 2021 adjusted gross profit percentage will be approximately 37% to 38%. Our best estimate of Q1, 2021 adjusted SG&A expense is that it will be about one fourth of the full year's estimated $330 million. Interest and other expenses $89 million per quarter, and we estimate that 2021's adjusted tax rate will be approximately 27%. Fully diluted share count at the end of 2020 was $58.7 million shares. As we continue to vigilantly manage cash flow, we have moderated capital spending plans and anticipate capital expenditures to be $30 million for the full year of 2021. And lastly, we're anticipating moderate levels of input cost inflation in 2021, but we anticipate passing those cost increases to our customers through price increases. With that, I would like to turn the call back to Dan for concluding remarks.