Philip Fracassa
Analyst · Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Thanks, Rich, and good morning, everyone. I'm going to start on slide eight, in the Investor Presentation. For the third quarter, Timken posted sales of $657 million, down 7.1% from last year. Organically, our sales were down 9.2% in the quarter. The impact of currency year-on-year was also negative in the period, reducing our sales by $7 million or 1%. On the positive side, the net benefit of acquisitions, including the recently completed Lovejoy acquisition, added sales of $22 million or 3.1% in the quarter. On the bottom right of your slide, you'll see our geographic performance. Sales in North America were down 7% from last year. If you exclude the net benefit of acquisitions, sales in North America were down roughly 12% organically, driven mainly by market weakness in rail, industrial services, and heavy industries. Excluding currency, our sales were down 7% in Europe, 2% in Asia, and 4% in Latin America. Let me touch on each of these briefly. In Europe, results were driven mainly by weak rail markets, and lower aerospace shipments due in-part to the closure of our aero bearing plant in the UK earlier this year. This was offset partially by share gains in wind energy, and a slight benefit from the Lovejoy acquisition. In Asia, China drove the decline as we had lower shipments in wind energy, and weakness across the industrial landscape, offset partially by gains in automotive. And Latin America's results reflect continued weakness in Brazil. On slide nine, you can see that our gross profit in the third quarter was $168 million, or 25.5% of sales, down 210 basis-points from last year, as the impact of lower volume, price mix, and higher acquisition related and other special charges, were only partially offset by favorable material and operating costs. SG&A expense in the quarter was $110 million, down $11 million from last year. The decrease reflects our ongoing cost reduction initiatives and lower discretionary spending, offset partially by incremental SG&A from the Belts and Lovejoy acquisitions. SG&A was 16.7% of sales in the quarter, which is 40 basis-points favorable from last year despite the lower revenue. Below the SG&A line, you can see that we had $5 million of impairment and restructuring charges in the quarter related to plant closures and other cost reduction initiatives. We also had $10 million in pension settlement charges, primarily related to the wind-up of a defined benefit plan in Canada, which included an annuity purchase and lump-sum payouts. Our third quarter EBIT was $42 million on a GAAP basis. When you back out the adjustments listed on this slide, adjusted EBIT was $63 million or 9.6% of sales compared to $76 million or 10.8% of sales last year. On slide 10, you can see that the decline in adjusted EBIT was driven by lower volume and price mix, offset partially by low material, manufacturing, and SG&A costs. On slide 11, you’ll see that we posted net income of $21 million or $0.26 per diluted share for the quarter on a GAAP basis. On an adjusted basis, our net income was $39 million or $0.49 per share compared to $0.55 per share last year. Note that EPS benefited from share buybacks, including 480,000 shares repurchased during the third quarter. Our GAAP tax rate in the quarter was 39.1%, which reflects our inability to record a tax benefit for the pension charges in Canada. Our adjusted, tax rate was 29.5% in the quarter, bringing our year-to-date rate to 30.5%. We expect to maintain 30.5% for the fourth quarter and the full year. Now turning to slide 12; let’s take a look at our business segment performance, starting with Mobile Industries. In the third quarter, Mobile Industries’ sales were $353 million, down 10.9% from last year. The impact of currency year-on-year reduced sales by $3 million, or just under 1% and the net benefit of acquisitions, including the Belts acquisition completed in the third quarter of last year at a sales of $6 million or 1.5%. Organically, sales were down 11.6% driven by declines in the rail, aerospace, heavy truck, and off-highway sectors, as well as unfavorable pricing year-on-year. Looking a bit more closely at the markets, rail and heavy trucks are the largest percentage declines year-on-year, driven by lower freight railcar and Class A truck production in North America. Off-highway was mixed. Mining and construction were down, while agriculture was relatively stable in the quarter, although market fundamentals remained weak in the sector. Aerospace was impacted the closure of our plant in the UK earlier this year, as well as lower defense related shipments. Automotive markets, on the other hand, remained relatively strong. For the third quarter, Mobile Industries’ EBIT was $24 million. Adjusted EBIT was $31 million or 8.7% of sales compared to $46 million or 11.6% of sales last year. The decrease in earnings was driven by lower volume and price mix offset partially by favorable material and manufacturing costs and lower SG&A expenses. Our outlook for Mobile Industries is for 2016 sales to be down roughly 8% in the aggregate. The net impact with acquisitions is expected to add around 2%, while currency is expected to reduce revenue by 1.5%. So, organically, we are planning for sales to decline 8% to 9%, driven by lower demand across the mobile end markets with the exception of automotive where we continue to expect growth year-on-year. Now let's turn to Process Industries, slide 13 shows that Process Industries' sales for the third quarter were $304 million, a decrease of 2.2% from last year. The impact of currency year-on-year reduced sales by $4 million or 1.2% and the benefit of acquisitions, including the recently completed Lovejoy acquisition and the Belts acquisitions from last year, added sales of $16 million of 5.2%. Organically, sales were down 6.2%, driven by lower acceptance in heavy industries and wind energy sectors, which lower demand for industrial services, offset partially by higher military marine revenue. Looking a bit more closely at the markets, our performance in heavy industries and industrial services was impacted by year-on-year declines in oil and gas and other commodity related sectors. Wind energy was mix in the quarter with lower shipments in the Americas and Asia, while continued growth in Europe. Industrial distribution was relatively stable, although market fundamentals remained soft in this sector as well. For the quarter, Process Industries' EBIT was $41 million. Adjusted EBIT was $44 million or 14.5% of sales compared to $45 million or 14.7% of sales last year. The decrease in earnings resulted from lower volume and price mix, offset partially by favorable material costs and SG&A expenses, and the benefit of acquisitions. Our outlook for Process Industries is for 2016 sales to be down roughly 7% in aggregate. Acquisitions are expected to add around 4%, while currency is expected to reduce revenue by 1.5%. Organically, we are planning for sales to be down 9% to 10%, driven primarily by declines in the industrial after-market and heavy industries. Turning to slide 14, you'll see that net cash from operating activities was $75 million during the quarter. After CapEx of $34 million, free cash flow for the quarter was $41 million, or slightly above adjusted net income. Our free cash flow in the period was below last year's level due to lower earnings, less cash generated from working capital, and higher CapEx spending and cash payments. We also had some positive hedging settlements in the year ago period. Looking at the balance sheet and capital allocation, we ended the quarter with net debt of $532 million or 28% of capital. During the quarter, we completed the Lovejoy acquisition and we have returned $35 million to shareholders through the repurchase of 480,000 shares and the payment of our 377th consecutive quarterly dividend. Turning to the outlook on slide 15, as Rich mentioned, we are adjusting our revenue outlook to reflect the current view of the markets. We are now planning for 2016 sales to be down 7% to 8% in aggregate, with currency negatively impacting us on the top line by around 1.5% and the net benefit of acquisitions adding around 3%. So organically, we are planning for sales to be down around 9% this year at the corporate level. On the bottom line, we expect GAAP earnings per diluted share to be in the range of $1.77 to $1.83 per share. Despite the further weakening we are seeing in the markets, we remain focused on operational excellence initiatives and expect adjusted earnings per diluted share in the range of $1.92 to $1.98 for the year, maintaining the mid-point of our previous guidance range. We expect to generate free cash flow of around $240 million for the year, which is more than 1.5 times adjusted net income. And net after CapEx spending of around 5% of sales, which includes spending for new bearing plant in Romania as part of our strategic footprint initiatives. In summary, end markets remained challenging, but we continue to execute well, generated strong free cash flow, and smartly deployed our capital to drive shareholder value. Our team is focused on execution and positioning the Company for long-term earnings growth. With that, we will conclude our formal remarks. And we will now open the line for questions. Operator.