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Unifi, Inc. (UFI)

Q4 2014 Earnings Call· Thu, Jul 24, 2014

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Unified Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, an instruction will follow at that time. (Operator instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today’s conference, James Otterberg, Chief Financial Officer. Sir, you may begin.

James Otterberg

Management

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Joining me for the call today is Bill Jasper, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Roger Berrier, our President and Chief Operating Officer. During this call we will be referencing a webcast presentation that can be found at unifi.com. The presentation can be accessed by clicking the fourth quarter conference call link found on our homepage. Before we begin I need to first advise you that certain statements included on today’s call will be forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Management cautions that these statements are based on current expectations, estimates and/or projections about the markets in which the company operates. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks that are difficult to predict. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed, forecasted or implied by these statements. I direct you to the disclosures filed with the SEC in our Form 10-Qs and Form 10-Ks regarding various factors that may impact these results. Also please be advised that certain non-GAAP financial measures, such as adjusted EBITDA, will be discussed on this call and a non-GAAP reconciliation can be found in the schedule to the webcast presentation. Before we get to the financial details for the quarter I’d like to turn the call over to Roger, who will provide you with an overview of the company’s markets and raw material trends.

Roger Berrier

Management

Thanks, James and good morning, everyone. I will start this morning with a few brief comments regarding the retail market. Recent job growth has expanded the base of employed consumers who can help fuel the economic recovery in the US. Although consumer spending is still somewhat cautious and selective, retail sales in our key segments improved in the June 2014 quarter compared to both in the March 2014 quarter and the year ago of June 2013 quarter. Retail sales of apparel rebounded from the unusually cold and snowy start of the year increasing 2.4% in the June 2014 quarter compared to the March quarter at 2.3% compared to the year ago quarter. Auto sales in the US benefitted from the improved weather, the low interest rates and an improving economic outlook increasing 18% in the June 2014 quarter compared to the March quarter. In fact, many industry executives say demand is on track to finish the year with sales of more than $16 million light vehicles, a level that hasn’t been reached since 2007. And the retail sales of furnishings also increased slightly in the June 2014 quarter compared to both the March quarter and the year ago June quarter. We are very pleased with the overall results generated from our domestic business during the 2014 fiscal year. Gross profit from our underlying business improved by $6 million compared to the prior fiscal year based in part on continued growth in our PVA products. Success in our overall mix enrichment strategy which is focused on sales of other differentiated products. And margin improvements in our commodity business will all proving pricing stability to our customers throughout the year. Prices for polyester raw materials declined by approximately 4% in the June 2014 quarter compared to the March quarter, which is also…

James Otterberg

Management

Thanks, Roger. I will begin the review of our preliminary financial results for the June quarter and year end on Page three of the presentation with net sales and gross profit highlights by segment. Consolidated net sales of $181.8 million for the current quarter decreased $19 million or 9.5% as compared to the prior year quarter. The current quarter contained 13 weeks for our domestic and Central American operation while the prior year quarter contained 14 weeks. The one less week of sales is the primary reason for the decline in sales volume in our polyester and nylon segments. The sales volumes for the international segment are the lower as a result of continued pressure from the low priced Asian imports in Brazil and weaker market conditions in China. Pricing for the company’s polyester and nylon segments improved as a result of the company’s PVA products and mix enrichment efforts. Lower pricing in our international segment was primarily driven by currency translation in Brazil and a lower price sales mix in China. The Brazilian real for the current quarter averaged $2.23 to $1 versus $2.7 to $1 for the comparable period in the prior year. This devaluation of the Brazilian real accounted $2.5 million for decrease in net sales that will be shown within our international segment. The current fiscal year contained 52 weeks for our domestic and Central American operations whereas the prior fiscal year contained 53 weeks. For the current fiscal year, the company sales volumes are down slightly versus the prior fiscal year for each of our reportable segments for both the polyester and nylon segments. The decrease reflects the reduce number of sales weeks and for the polyester segment alone a finer 10-year sales [ph] mix and our deficit to exit certain low margin business. Pricing…

Bill Jasper

Management

Thanks, James. Good morning everyone. I’d like to begin by saying I’m pleased with the company’s results both for the June 2014 ending quarter as well as the entire 2014 fiscal year. Not only we record our highest fiscal year in net incomes since 2000, we were able to increase net income by $12 million over last year despite weekend performance from China and Brazil and one less operating week in our domestic business compared to last year. This speaks that the strength of our operating performance in our domestic and Central American operations. Sales volumes were good domestically, in Central America and in Brazil. Revenue fell from the previous year primarily because fiscal year 2013 had an additional week as James has mentioned. And Brazil currency weekend which caused $13 million in currency translation related revenue loss. Overall, strong domestic and Central American performance in both nylon and polyester across the majority of our markets we serve more than outweighed disappointing performance from Brazil and China. We are encouraged by the recent trends in the sourcing of synthetic apparel coming from the NAFTA, CAFTA region. After holding share at about 17.5% for the last four years, we expect to see an increase in the share of US retail synthetic apparel sourced from the region in calendar year 2014 compared to previous years. That will result in volume growth of regional apparel from both this year’s gain and US consumption increases at retail. This bodes well for Unifi and for our portfolio of compliant yarns. We continue to believe that the region will grow in importance to brands and retailers that we serve. And as Roger mentioned, we will increase texturing capacity in the region to meet this growing supply need and service the increasing need of our customers. We…

Operator

Operator

Thank you, sir. (Operator instructions) Our first question comes from Chris McGinnis of Sidoti & Company. Your line is now open. Chris McGinnis – Sidoti & Company: Good morning, gentlemen. Thanks for taking my questions.

Bill Jasper

Management

Good morning, Chris.

James Otterberg

Management

Good morning, Chris. How are you? Chris McGinnis – Sidoti & Company: Doing well. Thanks. I got a lot of questions and I’ll ask a few and then get off and then come back in but, I guess, can you just touch on international maybe what’s – I understand the issue there but is there a way to help that a little bit more? I know some of it is foreign currency but is there a way to help r push the REPREVE or the PVA initiative quicker through that and maybe how long do you think this lasts in terms of the volume kind of the pressures until we, I guess, until we comp the real issue of the low cost coming from the region.

Roger Berrier

Management

All right. Chris, this is Roger, good morning. I’ll answer part of that and then let maybe James reference some of the currency impact. But in terms of sort of the volume and I’ll start with Brazil. The issues that we’ve had there is we wanted to maintain our market share position, so we – based on the imports, if you look at global utilization rates of polyester assets, they’re operating at very low rates and there is very cheap price imports coming into Brazil. There’s no trade legislation in Brazil that they have to use domestically compliant yarn. So those low priced yarns coming to Brazil and we have to compete with those low priced yarns; and so we wanted to maintain the volume, so we’ve reduced our price to keep the low and running through our plants and that’s made our margins suffer which we’re reporting on our financial results. Our strategy there is looking at mix enrichment opportunities and we’ve started some of those conversations and we have positive feedback that there’s opportunities there for mix enrichment but Brazil is a little behind, I would say, the US in terms of adoption of mix enrichment products. Their market there is very commodity-oriented. The economy there is as you know is slowing down, so, certainly lower priced garments and apparel have a stronger foothold than higher priced apparel and garments. So, we’re attacking that on all fronts. We believe that our mix enrichment strategy especially introducing REPREVE and some of our early products there is a great long-term strategy but as we mentioned in the call, it is going to take a little while to embed that mix enrichment strategy. But we feel good about our operations there. We have a great management team. We have a very good cost position there, so we can compete with these imports. So long-term and as we mentioned that over the next fiscal year, we do expect to see some incremental improvements.

James Otterberg

Management

Yes, Chris, this is James. The change in the duties that Roger mentioned and then assuming a flat currency almost recovers all the difference from two years ago, so if you make those two assumptions plus the initiatives that Roger mentioned, you get to recovery back to a couple of years ago. And then in China, that investment has performed well. Some of the slowness and volume here in China can be thought of as programs that are still here in the US that performed very well for us. And we’re encouraged about the outlook for the next fiscal year for the international segment. Chris McGinnis – Sidoti & Company: All right. You may have said this, I apologize, James, but what is the – I guess, when you look at the volume on the quarter itself, if it’s down 11 roughly, what is the impact of the week itself and then, can you walk through the other components?

James Otterberg

Management

That’s a good question. Thank you. The polyester and the nylon segment is dominated by our businesses here in the United States. In the current quarter if the effect of the week is a natural expectation for a decline of 8, so poly would have overcome that decline – or sorry nylon would have overcome that decline and the poly is slightly larger than that. But most of that would be attributable to changes in the mix to a lighter mix that we believe we recover in margin. Chris McGinnis – Sidoti & Company: All right. And then, they have no impact on the international operations?

James Otterberg

Management

No, that’s a good question. Thank you. The international segment on that slide is defined as our operations in Brazil plus our operations in China and that follows more of a traditional calendar year schedule so the extra fiscal week does not apply. Chris McGinnis – Sidoti & Company: All right, thanks. All right. Just on the margin performance in the quarter especially when you look at the polyester, how sustainable is that going forward, obviously with the guidance it seems like it is, as you get that higher mix of the PVA, can you maybe just talk about that improvement at least the 100 basis points year-over-year, the biggest contributing factors and how much of it is sustainable?

James Otterberg

Management

If I would reference back to the slide in looking at the gross profit for poly for the year, it’s $46 million, up almost $12 million from the prior year; half of that as we’ve mentioned before approximately half is going to be the decline and depreciation, the other half is due to the PVA and mixed enrichment efforts and the raw material cost that Roger mentioned that we’ve talked about before. But with the continued growth in PVA and the capital projects that we’re exploring, we believe that the expansion of the margin is something that can be sustained. Chris McGinnis – Sidoti & Company: All right. And then just a few more quick ones. Roger, the stand on the PVA maybe can you – or not the material – raw material increase. Can you maybe just talk about how the timing of when you could take the price, it’s been [ph] a little bit of some time since we saw an increase.

Roger Berrier

Management

Yes. As I mentioned, we did experience a small decrease in the fourth quarter and one of the things that we’ve worked with with our customers is that we’ve seen small decreases and small increases. We’ve basically maintained price stability which is something they’ve come to really appreciate. So we did experience, as James mentioned, a little margin improvement in the fourth quarter based on a declining raw material situation where we didn’t change price; we held price. And then as we’re going in to the first quarter, that price decline is reversing itself. We will see a small increase. So if you net those two together they’re really going to offset each other. So we’ll be having a little less margin as this raw materials go up in the first quarter associated to price. Chris McGinnis – Sidoti & Company: All right. So there wouldn’t be a price increase just to offset that, the new increase in the raw material itself?

Roger Berrier

Management

No, because if you net those two together it would be the same [indiscernible]. Chris McGinnis – Sidoti & Company: Sure. All right. Just on the PVA strategy, can you maybe just give an update of the percent of sales where you’re at today and with the increase where do you expect to get maybe by end of the year or two years out?

Roger Berrier

Management

Yes, I mean as we’ve talked on our conference call several times, we had a goal four years ago to double our PVA and we’ve been very successful in doing that domestically and for reasons that we’ve talked about on this call and other calls. We’ve been behind that goal internationally but we’re making progress of building our PVA platform in Brazilian channel. And as we look forward we continue to expect our PVA to the increase and grow at that 12% to 15% year-over-year expectation. And as I mentioned and Bill mentioned, as we run into sort of restraints around our assets we’re looking to the strategically purchase more PVA type assets to support that growth. Chris McGinnis – Sidoti & Company: I guess it’s the on the thought of the recent expansion for REPREVE, how much of that is accounted for already in terms of new customers coming in and how much is you have to go out and win new business?

James Otterberg

Management

Yes, if you look at the capacity we just put in, we timed it where as we were bumping up to our previous limitation of GBP42 million, as we installed that third machine is pretty much right when we needed the extra capacity. We’re running that asset now, the third line. And as we mentioned this, as we lay in this new business that were anticipating and talking to our customers about, it will take us probably another 12 to 18 months to realize the full capacity of that third line. So that should push us up close to GBP72 million where as we see that happening with the new business, as we’re talking to these customers about coming in for new business and new programs, that’s when we’ll start looking at another expansion which could be again 12 to 18 months out. Chris McGinnis – Sidoti & Company: Great. And just one quick question on the – is that comes online, does that impact the margin profile at all as that takes time to kind of reach capacity?

James Otterberg

Management

No, it doesn’t because we’re able to add that in line into our existing manufacturing operations and that actually – it helps us spread cost out so think of it as scalability. As we’re able to grow the REPREVE volumes, it helps us from a cost standpoint. So we’re able to get more and more competitive with virgin [ph] products. And one of the things that were doing is trying to grow REPREVE. And so as we scale REPREVE it actually helps us get more competitive to win new programs. Chris McGinnis – Sidoti & Company: And one last question and then I’ll jump out, I promise. Just on the CapEx plans, if we’ve already started – we’re already into Q1 here, I guess, what are the deciding factors for the capital allocation program for the year. I guess, what’s holding you back from coming out and saying, “Hey, this is what we’re spending this year and these are the programs,” since you’re on the year already?

Bill Jasper

Management

This is Bill. Basically we’ve certainly got plans in place that we are not quite ready to talk about yet. We’re exploring some options and I would anticipate that within a month or two we will have some of these options. At least sufficiently vetted that we can make a decision on and certainly when we do that we’ll be ready to make an announcement if there is something to announce. I think realistically, we are looking at increasing our capital spending this year if some of these options pan out, I would anticipate our capital spending this year could be roughly double what it was last year. Chris McGinnis – Sidoti & Company: Great. Thanks. I’ll jump back in the queue.

James Otterberg

Management

Okay, thanks, Chris.

Operator

Operator

Thank you, (Operator Instructions). Our next question Allen Zwickler of First Manhattan. Your line is now open. Allen Zwickler – First Manhattan: Good morning, gents.

James Otterberg

Management

Good morning.

Roger Berrier

Management

Good morning.

Bill Jasper

Management

Good morning, Allen. How are you? Allen Zwickler – First Manhattan: Great. Can I just get a clarification on your last comment. Your CapEx of the year that ended June was about $19 million, is that correct?

Bill Jasper

Management

That’s correct.

James Otterberg

Management

Yes, sir. Allen Zwickler – First Manhattan: Okay. What you just said if I heard you, right, was that it’s possible that you would double that. Did I hear that correctly?

Bill Jasper

Management

That is correct. Allen Zwickler – First Manhattan: Okay. So what – and I’m not saying you will and you’re not saying you will but 19 was up from – well, at one point you were down to virtually nothing, which we know was unsustainable. But what would be the actual machinery, products, services – again, I’m not saying that you will, but what would they be that would make you spend that kind of money? Because that is significantly higher than anything you’ve spent since the old day?

Bill Jasper

Management

I think if you go back over to Roger’s comments, and my comments, I mean, certainly, one thing we’re seeing right now is an increase in consumption of polyester textured yarn in this region. And as I’ve said before we’re committed to meeting that increase demand. So certainly one thing we would be considering spending money on is additional texturing machines either here in the US or in Central America where we’ve seen. Yes, we’ve basically doubled our capacity in Central America – Allen Zwickler – First Manhattan: Right.

Bill Jasper

Management

– in the last year and a half. So certainly adding DTY capacity is a possibility. Also as we look at REPREVE and we look at the supply chain for recyclable polyester, we’ve also been considering backward integration into bottle [ph] washing. And while that’s not something we’re saying we’re going to do right now, that certainly is a possibility to help secure our supply of plastic bottles going forward as we continue to grow the REPREVE business. In addition to that, you did mention and you were absolutely right we’ve done very little capital expending in some years. I think fiscal year ‘12 we only spent about $4 million or so. We’ve certainly got a certain amount of maintenance capital that we have to do to keep our equipment in tough condition and running well and efficiently. We would increase a little bit of our maintenance capital also to assure our operations remain very efficient. And certainly at very high yield. So those are three things that we would be looking at and considering. And there may be others. Allen Zwickler – First Manhattan: And does any of this potentially 30 some odd million have to do with renewal project?

Bill Jasper

Management

No, there wouldn’t be any capital spending in the renewable project. Allen Zwickler – First Manhattan: Okay.

Bill Jasper

Management

And, I guess, one of the comment I’ll make and I just want to make sure this is clear and we are generating a significant amount of cash at least for us, based – versus the last several years. And we’re going to continue to look for high payback projects that continue to increase our percentage of sustainable non-cyclic business versus the low-end commodity part of our business. We’re also going to be looking for high payback projects that would give us a little bit of differentiation in our existing business and we’re going to continue to be in the market to repurchase stock as we compare that to the returns of these projects and obviously our intention would be to deploy the cash we generate, so it best improves shareholder value and it’s probably going to be a mix in capital spending for improvements in our business as well as stock buybacks. Allen Zwickler – First Manhattan: Okay. And then, just lastly, from the US standpoint, I came on the call a couple of minutes late and I apologize, what is the general tone of the poly and nylon business and why is it taking you – and I know, I doubt you’re going to answer this one but I’ll give it the best shot I can, why is it taking so long to have this long-term agreement with Hanes?

Roger Berrier

Management

Yes, our polyester and nylon business, the sort of underlying business, Allen, has been very robust as we mentioned on the call. We’re pointing to the strengths of the NAFTA, CAFTA region. As we discussed, a lot of the brands and retailers now are looking more and more to the region to source apparel goods. And certainly we’re benefiting from that and we’re also seeing our customers being knitters and weavers here in the US and also in CAFTA put in additional capacity to service those needs. And with that extra capacity, they need more yarn needs certainly and that’s driving us to look at some growth and adding some DTY capacity. And in terms of the HBI contract, we’re still very close with Hanesbrands they’re a key customer of ours; that relationship remains very positive. And if you’re following Hanesbrands, you certainly understand they’ve had a lot of action, transactions going on recently and certainly we’re working with them to update our agreement to make sure that we’re covering their needs as they absorb those transactions. Allen Zwickler – First Manhattan: Okay, I’m slipping in one more, I’m sorry. How about your cotton joint venture, to what extent does your EBITDA you’re saying is going to be in the 60s; that does not include at Parkdale, is that correct?

Bill Jasper

Management

That is correct. Allen Zwickler – First Manhattan: Okay. And what is your expectation at this point of what they’re going to generate in the current year? Do you have any sense of that yet?

Bill Jasper

Management

Yes, it is typical to have a sense of that right now. There are certainly positives and negatives going on in the cotton spinning market right now. On the negative side, there’s a lot of open-end spinning capacity coming online primarily Gildan [ph] is putting in our lot spinning capacity. So certainly there may be over capacity over the next couple of years potentially. On the positive side, cotton prices have been coming down pretty dramatically which tends to help Parkdale’s results. So it’s difficult for us to say where that market is going to go. I think it’s in a little bit of a flux right now. Certainly, from an earning standpoint, they’ve been positive for us. From a cash standpoint, they are doing a lot of investing. And so a lot of the EBITDA that they’re generating which you’re exactly right does not get included in our EBITDA, a lot of that cash that it’s generating is being reinvested which is not a bad thing. I mean, in my mind, they’re easily the lowest cost most efficient cotton spinner in the world and I think long term, that’s going to bode well for them. But to say what they’re going to do this fiscal year would be kind of difficult for me right now. Again, because I think the cotton business is somewhat in flux and I can see positives and negatives there. Allen Zwickler – First Manhattan: Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is a follow up from Chris McGinnis of Sidoti & Company. Your line now is open. Chris McGinnis – Sidoti & Company: Just maybe a couple quick ones. One, just on the REPREVE renewables maybe can you give us an update just on maybe the bedding market and how that’s – I know you’re in some test earlier, maybe just use a quick update on that?

Roger Berrier

Management

Yes, I’ll give you a quick update. And the reason I didn’t really talk about it too much is we’re right in the middle of all this testing, but I can tell you initial test results have been very good. It shows that the miscanthus bedding that we’ve been testing is at least equal to the best wood base bedding in both the chicken and in turkey industries and certainly being a dedicated supply offers some benefits. So assuming these tests continue to do well, I would see probably an expansion of those test and potentially some smaller contracts going forward into the next year. It’s still – again, it’s still a startup business but certainly all of the bedding test we’ve done so far had been really quite good and I guess our planting so far, again, we’re in the middle of the growing season but our establishment has been really quite good with our new planting methods. So we’re – I’d say we’re cautiously optimistic. It’s probably the best way to put it right now and we’ll know a lot of more within about six months probably. Chris McGinnis – Sidoti & Company: Great. And then just a follow up on the previous gentleman’s question on the Hanesbrands; were you – did you service Maidenform prior to the acquisition?

Roger Berrier

Management

No, a lot of the Maidenform apparel is sourced in Asia and we were not participating in those programs. Chris McGinnis – Sidoti & Company: And is there, I guess, just with the cotton [indiscernible] being different, would that, I don’t know if it’s more intense for Maidenform, the operations after it leaves you but could that be additional business for you or is that is kind of neutral kind of event?

Roger Berrier

Management

Yes. Well, we certainly have talked to Hanesbrands. I mean one of their strategies as they absorb Maidenform here, they’re looking at opportunities to bring back a few programs and run those programs in their current assets as they choose to do that and they choose to move some of those programs back to this region. Certainly, our yarns could be utilized in some of those programs. So, we are optimistic about there could be some potential opportunities there, but that’s not something that we can really elaborate on today. Chris McGinnis – Sidoti & Company: Sure. All right. Thank you very much for the time today. I appreciate it.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And as this time, I’m showing no further questions. I’d like to turn the call back to management for any further remarks.

Bill Jasper

Management

Okay, this is Bill. I’ll just close with a few remarks. I guess, if you look back over the last four or five years, we’ve spent, really spent our efforts and I would say riding the ship. We’ve gotten to the point now where we’re profitable, where we feel very confident about our base business and I think we’re entering a phase now where we’re going to really begin to focus on growth especially in the high-value, non-cyclic parts of our business. So we’re certainly encouraged by our results. We’re optimistic about our future and look forward to continuing to show improvement in the operations of all of our businesses globally. And with that, I’ll thank everyone for their interest and wish you all a good day.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in today’s conference. This does conclude today’s program. You may all disconnect. Everyone, have a wonderful day.