Shane O'Connor
Analyst · Tim Mulrooney of William Blair. Please proceed
Thanks, Steve. I’m pleased to report that our second quarter revenues set a new record for UniFirst at $419.3 million, up 7.1% from the same quarter in the prior year. This solid top line performance was contributed to by each of our operating segments. Operating income for the quarter was $42 million compared to $36.1 million in the same period a year ago, an increase of 16.1%. Net income for the quarter was $58.4 million or $2.85 per diluted share up from $22.5 million or a $1.10 per diluted share reported in last year’s second quarter. The Company’s 2018 second quarter net income was significantly impacted by the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was enacted on December 22, 2017. Excluding the impact of the tax reform, which I will talk about in more depth in a moment, the Company’s net income would have been $28.3 million or $1.38 per diluted share, an increase of 25.5% over prior year. Net income excluding the impact of the tax reform for the second quarter benefited from $1.5 million of excess tax benefits recognized during the quarter. The outlook provided during our last earnings call did not include any such benefit for our second quarter or the remainder of the year. As a reminder, in our first quarter of fiscal 2018, we adopted Accounting Standards Update 2016-09 Improvements to Employee Share-Based payment Accounting. Under this revised guidance, excess tax benefits and deficiencies associated with employee share-based payment are now recognized directly to income tax expense or benefit in the income statement in the reporting period in which they occur. As discussed, our second quarter net income was significantly impacted by the recently passed U.S tax reform legislation. With the majority of our earnings generated within United States, we have historically paid a high income tax rate. With the new tax reform, as of January 1, 2018, the Company will be subject to lower U.S. income tax rate. These new rates require the Company to re-measure its U.S. net deferred income tax liabilities in the second quarter of fiscal 2018. Also, the Company will be subject to a onetime toll tax for the deemed repatriation of its foreign earnings. The net impact of the re-measurement of net deferred tax liabilities, the onetime toll tax and the effect of the lower income tax rates on our earnings for the first half of the fiscal year resulted in a $30.1 million reduction to our provision for income taxes. Our Core Laundry operations which make up approximately 90% of UniFirst’s total business, reported revenues for the quarter of $379 million, up of 5.7% from the revenues achieved during last year’s second quarter. Organic revenue growth, which adjusts for the estimated effect acquisitions as well as fluctuations in the Canadian dollar, was 5%. During the quarter, we continued to benefit from solid new account sales as well as positive price adjustments and improved collections on merchandise recovery charges. These positive drivers were partially offset by moderately higher lost accounts, compared to a year ago. Core Laundry operating income was $38.1 million for the quarter, a 15.2% increase from the operating income in the prior year period. Core Laundry operating margin increased to 10% in the quarter, up from 9.2% for the same period a year ago. This margin expansion was primarily the result of lower merchandise and other production-related costs as a percentage of revenues as well as lower stock compensation expense compared to prior year’s second quarter. These favorable comparisons were offset by higher healthcare claims and other administrative payroll costs as a percentage of revenues, compared to prior year. In addition, energy costs were 4.4% of revenues in the second quarter of 2018, up slightly from 4.3% a year ago. Revenues from our Specialty Garments segment, which delivers specialized nuclear decontamination and cleanroom products and services, increased 24% to $27 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018. This segment’s operating income increased to $2.8 million, up from $2.1 million reported in prior year or 33.6%. As we’ve mentioned in past quarters, this segment’s results can vary from period to period, due to seasonality and the timing of nuclear reactor outages and projects that require our specialized services. Increased revenues from the segment’s Canadian and European customers, as well as solid growth from the cleanroom division drove the strong results for the segment in the second quarter as well as the first half of the fiscal year. Our First aid segment reported revenues and operating income of $13.3 million and $1.1 million respectively for the quarter compared to $11.3 million and $1 million for the same period in fiscal 2017. The top-line improvement was fueled by a strong performance of the segment’s wholesale distribution business as well as the business acquisition made in the third quarter of fiscal 2017 that strengthened our presence in the Atlanta, Georgia market. UniFirst continues to maintain a solid balance sheet and financial position. At the end of the second quarter of 2018, cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $387.7 million up from $349.8 million at the end of fiscal 2017. Of our cash on hand at quarter-end, $55.2 million has been accumulated by our foreign subsidiaries and is intended for future investments outside the United States. As Steve discussed earlier, yesterday, UniFirst repurchased 1.105 million shares of Class B common stock and 73,000 shares of common stock for a combined $146 million in a private transaction with the Croatti family shareholders. After the transaction, the Company’s cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments were still well in excess of $200 million and the Company maintained over $170 million in borrowing capacity under its line of credit. As a result, the Company believes that this transaction will in no way impair its ability to continue making necessary investments in its business or limit its ability to pursue strategic acquisitions. We continue to invest in capital projects that will help us meet our long-term strategic objectives, including new facility additions, expansions, updates and automation systems. For the first half of fiscal 2018, capital expenditures totaled $56.7 million. And we now expect capital expenditures for the full fiscal year to be between $100 million and $110 million. During the quarter, we also closed an acquisition of one plant industrial laundry operation in the Memphis, Tennessee market. We’re excited about bringing this business into the UniFirst family and the additional opportunities that it will provide us in that part of the country. Business acquisitions have historically been an integral part of our growth strategy and we’ll continue to seek out opportunities that make sense for us and support our long-term business objectives. I’d now like to take this opportunity to provide an update on our outlook for fiscal 2018. At this time, we expect our fiscal 2018 revenues to be between $1.66 billion and $1.67 billion. This revised revenue guidance includes approximately $5 million in additional revenue in the second half of 2018 that is anticipated from the acquisition we closed during the quarter. In addition, this top-line outlook also includes an increase of approximately $7 million from our previously communicated guidance related to our Specialty Garments business due to the segment’s strong second quarter performance as well as its revised forecast for the remainder of the fiscal year. Full year diluted earnings per share is now expected to be between $7.45 and $7.65. The revised diluted earnings per share guidance includes the impact of the tax reform as well and $146 million share repurchase, which is anticipated to result in an estimated $0.15 increase to our 2018 earnings per share. This outlook assumes an operating margin in our Core Laundry business for the second half of the year of 9.5% at the midpoint. The decrease in margin compared to the second half of 2017 excluding the prior year impairment of our CRM project and the accelerated vesting of stock-based compensation related to the passing of our former CEO, Ron Croatti, is largely the result of the anticipated deceleration in organic growth in the second half of fiscal 2018 within our Core Laundry business and the related impact on our costs as a percentage of revenues. As previously discussed, the Company benefited from positive price adjustments and collections of merchandise recovery charges over the second half of fiscal 2017, making comparisons with the second half of this year more challenging. In addition, employee wages continued to be impacted by the low unemployment environment. As we continue to invest in our people and infrastructure, we anticipate higher payroll costs as a percentage of revenues. Rising energy prices are also forecast to provide a headwind in the second half of the fiscal year. Our outlook assumes an effective tax rate for the second half of fiscal 2018 of 27.5%. However, this rate is dependent upon certain assumptions regarding fluctuations in our deferred tax balances over the remainder of this transitional year. As a reminder, for fiscal 2018, our federal rate will be a blended rate due to the change in tax rate occurring during our fiscal year. We expect that our effective tax rate for fiscal 2019 and thereafter to be in the 26% to 27% range. This concludes our prepared remarks. And we would now be happy to answer any questions that you may have.