Earnings Labs

Visteon Corporation (VC)

Q3 2012 Earnings Call· Thu, Nov 1, 2012

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to the Visteon Third Quarter 2012 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. Before we begin this morning's conference call, I'd like to remind you this presentation contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and conditions but rather are subject to various factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in these statements. Please refer to the slide entitled Forward-Looking Information for further information. Presentation materials for today’s call were posted on the company’s website this morning. Please visit www.visteon.com/earnings to download the material if you have not already done so. I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference call, Mr. Scott Deitz, representing Investor Relations for Visteon Corporation. Mr. Deitz, you may begin.

Scott Deitz

Analyst · Matt Stover from Guggenheim

Thank you, Gina. Good morning, everyone, and a special thank you to those of you affected by Hurricane Sandy who are joining us from the East Coast. I know that, for many of you, you've had a challenging few days and some of you probably have some stories to tell about how you've gotten on these calls this week. So that's thanks for joining us for what we estimate will be about a one-hour call. We appreciate your interest in our view toward our third quarter and what we see going forward. Today, we'll provide you with a recap of our results for the quarter and insights associated with our overall performance. And as you'd expect, we'll address guidance for the remainder of the year. As Gina mentioned, the presentation deck associated with today's call is posted on our website within the IR section and just a reminder that our website is simply visteon.com. And I can confirm, and as many of you know, the Q was also filed this morning with the news release. We are joined today by Tim Leuliette, President and CEO; and Mike Widgren, Interim CFO and Corporate Controller. After Tim and Mike's prepared remarks, we'll open the call to your questions and then Tim will close with a brief summary. Again, thanks for joining us. With that, I'd turn it over to Tim.

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · CRT Capital

Thank you, Scott, and welcome, everyone. We have a lot to talk about today but what I want to do first is I do want to welcome Jeff Stafeil, who will be announced as our CFO -- is announced as our CFO effective on November 2. For those of you who know, both Jeff and I, we've worked together for about 12 years around Asia, Europe and North America, and it's good to have Jeff as part of the team. In addition to that, I would like to also thank Mike Widgren who's filled in and taken the role of interim CFO in the interim period here and has led the group through, as you know, a number of actions and scenarios and activities as we prepare to improve shareholder value. With that, let me start and focus, first of all, on the first slide, Page 2, of the deck and talk about our third quarter performance. I think, first of all, the key here is that it was in line with our expectations. I think what's underlying here, an important point for shareholders, is that the company was fairly conservative with respect to its forecast of Europe in the beginning of the year and Europe has played out as anticipated. Adjusted sales of $1.6 billion were down year-over-year by about $107 million, of which more than that was -- represents the impact of currency over the year. Adjusted EBITDA of $131 million, down $37 million. Year-over-year currency impact of that by $15 million will go through some -- Mike will go through some explanations of the product groups, but climate was up $5 million, electronics down $18 million because of the timing of some inputs and outputs to that particular business, interiors down $1 million and the discontinued ops…

Michael J. Widgren

Analyst · CRT Capital

Thanks, Tim. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Our financial results for the third quarter were heavily impacted by unfavorable volumes in currency. This slide provides a summary of automotive production volumes by region and average exchange rates for key currencies compared with 2011. Global volumes increased by 2% as favorable production volumes in North America and Asia more than offset declines in Europe where economic weakness continued to weigh on consumer confidence. European customers, Ford and Renault-Nissan, were down 9% and 13%, respectively, compared with the third quarter of last year, while PSA was up 1%. Despite overall volume increases in Asia, Visteon's largest customer, Hyundai Motor Group, was down 7% year-over-year on labor disruptions in Korea. Currency negatively impacted our results in the quarter as the U.S. dollar continued to strengthen against most major currencies. Because of the regional distribution of our sales, changes in the euro and Korean won have a significant impact on Visteon. Average exchange rates for the euro and the Korean won declined by 13% and 7% on a year-over-year basis for the quarter. On Slide 14, we provide an overview of our third quarter and year-to-date 2012 sales by region and customer. These figures reflect our consolidated sales only and exclude sales from our nonconsolidated joint ventures. As you can see, on the top half of the slide, approximately 30% of our sales are related to the European region. Lower volumes and a weaker euro, as discussed in the previous slide, both negatively impacted our European sales and led to a significant decrease in our year-over-year performance. On the customer side, Hyundai Motor Group continues to be our largest customer, representing 32% of our consolidated sales. Year-over-year, Hyundai sales were lower in Korea due to the labor disruption previously mentioned but were higher in…

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · CRT Capital

Thank you, Mike. Moving to the last page here, Success Milestones, Page 25. As we've said, we're going to contribute climate business to Halla, creating Halla-Visteon climate company a very global -- a very capable global climate powerhouse. We're going to provide Visteon shareholders optionality in that investment. We are monetizing our Interiors business on a time frame and a time line that make sense, and we're going to address our Electronics strategy and our global position. With that business, it's got a good order book. I'd like to see some more critical mass that needs to be part of a greater critical mass. And we need to uncover the Yanfeng value to Visteon shareholders as a critical success milestone and we understand that. As I said, we'll give a greater insight and clarity on Yanfeng in our January meetings. And we need to rightsize our corporate functions in response to the actions above. So I think, with that, I'll turn it over to Scott for questions. Scott?

Scott Deitz

Analyst · Matt Stover from Guggenheim

Okay. Gina, let's turn it over to you to work the queue and let's take questions as time allows.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Kirk Ludtke with CRT Capital.

Kirk Ludtke - CRT Capital Group LLC, Research Division

Analyst · CRT Capital

Well, I had the -- one, I wanted to welcome Jeff and also, with respect to the restructuring, does $100 million cover everything on Slide 8? The rightsizing of SG&A, Europe, Philippines? Or is it the first installment?

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · CRT Capital

I think $100 million is clearly the bulk of that. We said approximately $100 million. If there is charges that are necessary in addition to that, Kirk, it'll be noncash-related and it's just going to be a function of how we set up some of the write-downs or exposure going forward. But it's the best estimate today.

Kirk Ludtke - CRT Capital Group LLC, Research Division

Analyst · CRT Capital

Okay, that's helpful. And Tim, you mentioned that you're starting to see the benefits of some new business. And I was wondering if you could maybe talk about the pace at which the company is winning the business over the last few quarters and whether or not you see any trends.

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · CRT Capital

We'll probably amplify that a bit more in January, obviously, but I would say that, in particular, both the climate and Electronics business have been -- or had some good year and had good year this -- good award base this year. And as I said, I think earlier in my comments, that the business awards over the last 18 months or so have been in excess of industry growth. We'll detail and outline those positions going forward, but we're comfortable and pleased with the response from the customers.

Kirk Ludtke - CRT Capital Group LLC, Research Division

Analyst · CRT Capital

Okay, great. And I noticed that in the EBITDA reconciliation last quarter, there was -- you backed out a $14 million gain from the sale of R-TEK and I didn't see it in the reconciliation this year. I'm wondering if it's just buried in one of those other line items.

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · CRT Capital

Mike?

Michael J. Widgren

Analyst · CRT Capital

Yes, that number, Kirk, is buried in the restructuring and other items line.

Kirk Ludtke - CRT Capital Group LLC, Research Division

Analyst · CRT Capital

Okay. So you're still backing it out?

Michael J. Widgren

Analyst · CRT Capital

That's correct.

Kirk Ludtke - CRT Capital Group LLC, Research Division

Analyst · CRT Capital

I appreciate it. And then lastly, from time to time, we've heard that Visteon would be providing more full financial statements for Yanfeng in this upcoming 10-K? Is that the case?

Michael J. Widgren

Analyst · CRT Capital

Yes, Kirk, that's the plan. We have a requirement from the SEC to provide those separate financial statements in 2013.

Kirk Ludtke - CRT Capital Group LLC, Research Division

Analyst · CRT Capital

For the fiscal year 2012?

Michael J. Widgren

Analyst · CRT Capital

Correct.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from the line of Jimmy Baker with B. Riley & Co. Jimmy Baker - B. Riley & Co., LLC, Research Division: I was first hoping that you could just elaborate on the impact of mix in your Electronics business and then maybe how we should think about that, the impact of mix there, in 2013?

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · Jimmy Baker with B

There are a couple of points that I'm going to -- I'll pass it also over to Mike. Thanks for the question. The driver on Electronics in the third quarter were a couple of aspects. We had the typical Q3 softness due to production reductions in Europe in particular, and we've also had some out-of-cycle timing between some expenditures and some recoveries from customers. But I would say, as I look at Electronics, that we're going to see obviously better than this EBITDA margin but substandard EBITDA margins through '13. As I look at the business mix and the impact of some of the new business awards, they have a bigger impact as we get into '14. But in '13, I would think that the historical performance levels we've seen in Electronics are going to be the norm outside of the actions we're taking on the SG&A front. And so I don't expect, given the current situation, that we'll again get more definitive on this in January. There's a significant increase beyond the trailing norm of electronic performance until we start getting into '14, '15 outside of, as I said, the SG&A and other structural changes that were occurring. The mix shift between infotainment and clusters is such that that's an endemic kind of systemic baseline that we'll have for about another 12 to 18 months.

Michael J. Widgren

Analyst · Jimmy Baker with B

That's correct, Tim. I just would add that what we're seeing in the mix has been impacted by the Cadiz plant closure.

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · Jimmy Baker with B

Right, also which did have some margin -- attractive margins to it and some product lines but, clearly, it was an overall challenging facility. Jimmy Baker - B. Riley & Co., LLC, Research Division: Okay. And just more of a housekeeping item. Did you quantify the impact of the engineering benefit in '11 and then the pricing item here in '12?

Michael J. Widgren

Analyst · Jimmy Baker with B

Yes. Year-over-year base -- I mean, on a year-over-year basis, it's minimal. But having said that, on a small number, a small number results in a large percentage change.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from the line of Colin Langan with UBS.

Colin Langan - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division

Analyst · Colin Langan with UBS

Color on the multiple that you're -- that Halla is paying for the non-Halla climate business. I mean, it seems like a pretty good price. I mean, where did you come -- how did you come up with that range?

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · Colin Langan with UBS

We have -- we've obviously looked at this from an independent third-party perspective of valuation, looked at industry trading multiples. We also have looked at the asset base, cash flows, all the standard football field of valuation metrics. We have expectations, in essence, looking at the buyer side, which is also our responsibility as part of the Halla management and board. We do not want to pay over market for that, and the valuation metric for the sell side was determined to be a multiple that is less than what Halla is trading at currently, which allows us to have the accretion that we believe is appropriate for the transaction. We will detail the financial -- again, we're in the process of, again, the final days here of finalizing the sale price, but we will detail that -- those metrics and those multiples in January at the January 15 conference.

Colin Langan - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division

Analyst · Colin Langan with UBS

And are those like an EBITDA multiple? Is that like the main multiple...

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · Colin Langan with UBS

Were looking -- we're using an EBITDA multiple.

Colin Langan - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division

Analyst · Colin Langan with UBS

Okay, okay. So the -- and the Halla climate business does have at least some sizable positive EBITDA?

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · Colin Langan with UBS

Yes, I think -- and again, embedded in the historical climate product group, again, which was -- I think we go back, the company started reporting climate as a stand-alone product group a quarter ago from an EBITDA perspective, so you have that clarity. There was a significant amount of SG&A associated with that, that was assigned to that climate group, which again is part of our restructuring and streamlining operation, so that A, it's no longer there, and B, not transferred with the transaction.

Colin Langan - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division

Analyst · Colin Langan with UBS

Okay, it makes sense. And there are a lot of media reports about Mando's interest in Halla that seems to have died down quite a bit. I mean, do you have a dialogue with the company or -- and any interest in continuing that dialogue? Any update regarding that?

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · Colin Langan with UBS

We don't -- I don't publicly discuss M&A activities. But I will say, and I will reinforce what I said on September 19 and again, I've been in Korea now twice over the last 3 weeks, I've had no dialogue nor had any contact from M.W. Chung or Mando.

Colin Langan - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division

Analyst · Colin Langan with UBS

Okay, okay. And looking at your Q4 outlook, it seems like you're expecting things to get a bit better than in Q3 though it seems like a lot of suppliers are actually getting more cautious into the fourth quarter. So what gives you that confidence? Is it driven by Hyundai kind of recovering after the strike in Q3? What other sort of factors are making you confident that EBITDA actually can get better in Q4?

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · Colin Langan with UBS

I think a couple of points. First of all, I think I'll go back to one of my earlier comments, and that is the company was very conservative with Europe from the very -- from the get-go. So what we're seeing from the standpoint of announcements and production schedules, et cetera, et cetera, for Q4 are basically in line with expectations since the beginning of the year. I think the company, from the board on down to the management team back a year ago, was very, very, very cautious on Europe, and I think that has manifested itself into actually happening. So therefore, there was no downside from some of the actions that were announced or were seen. Secondly, we're seeing a stronger euro going into Q4, which is bolstering both the revenue side and obviously some of the underlying building blocks. And as I said, the company had announced that it was starting to see, and would see, the impact of some business awards and the impact of some cost reductions and margin improvement actions. So I think all of those together give us the confidence of what we've got in that forecast.

Colin Langan - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division

Analyst · Colin Langan with UBS

Okay. And just one last question. Any color on -- you're looking to sell interiors possibly at some point in the future, YFV. I mean, does -- and particularly in Interiors, does the slowdown in Europe, has that made that process much more challenging? Any color on maybe the timeline on how those are progressing?

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · Colin Langan with UBS

Well, I'll tell you it didn't make it any easier. A couple of things. One, we, as a company, are not sitting here with a gun to our head to go do anything from the standpoint of needing to go pay bills. We've got a good balance sheet. You can see what we're doing from the standpoint of cash. We will do the right things with that business and we're not going to do anything to compromise it. And as a matter of fact, we recently took over some business from another competitor who was struggling in South America. We like the margins we saw there. We're going to do some activity in Europe as part of that restructuring to help streamline and make that business more attractive. And we're probably going to expand into Russia in '13. And so we are still managing and actively pursuing and supporting that business and working with others to make sure that footprint is as strong as possible. I don't feel, and I don't think, anyone here around the table or at the board level feels the necessity to go sell at the bottom or to do anything that's irrational or to do anything that would compromise a customer's position. So we're working actively with customers and actively with others and I suspect that -- again, I don't want to get in M&A discussions here overtly on the phone, but at the right time, we'll have something strategic to announce and we'll announce it at that point.

Colin Langan - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division

Analyst · Colin Langan with UBS

And is that similar for YFV? I mean, China has been falling a bit. Does that make it a tougher time to look to sell that asset?

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · Colin Langan with UBS

Because the weakness in -- excuse me, China itself?

Colin Langan - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division

Analyst · Colin Langan with UBS

Yes. It seems like growth rates there seem to be slowing.

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · Colin Langan with UBS

Well, I mean, again, growth rates are slowing in China, but again there's cyclicality. I think when President Xi comes in, of course, the party has announced its new leadership changes and they take over their government roles here in the spring. We would expect some, as is traditional in China, some stimulus associated with the new leadership. Independent of that leadership, I think, and I mentioned earlier, that when I put my YFV head on, again, we own half that business, we have $1 billion plus of growth next year in YFV, which is a significant statement to make. YFV will become larger than Visteon next year with its size. And as a result of that, there's a lot of focus, a lot of activity. We had the management team over here earlier in the week, had a board meeting. A lot's going on with YFV, and I think the issue of its ability to pay for anything, its ability to go do anything, is not impaired at all. The question is, is that the metrics and the parameters were not right for the transaction at that moment in time last spring. I will tell you, from sitting here as a businessman, that the combination of Interiors and YFV is still, from an industrial logic perspective, the right thing to do. I don't, right now, see the mechanics to get that done. But that doesn't say that the mechanics can't, at some point in the future, line up to do something there. But the bottom line is, is that, right now, we've got actions and clean up to do in Europe, which we're going to do and YFV has got a lot on its plate. Now by the way, since I'm mentioning YFV, and I'm sure, before the questions are over, one will ask and that is what's the cash position of YFV. And let me just add that since I got the phone here, is that YFV ended the quarter with a little over $1 billion in cash. As we've said in the past, and I was very clear on the 19th, is that when you got a company that's growing at $1 billion a year and you've got the number of JVs and subsidiaries, et cetera, that work its way through that organization, 5 major product groupings and then a number of supporting affiliates, there is a lot of need for cash. Do we still believe there's an opportunity for us to extract some dividend out of there, and the answer is yes, but it's more modest and that's something that's still on the table but I have nothing to report at this time.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from the line of Matt Stover from Guggenheim.

Matthew T. Stover - Guggenheim Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Matt Stover from Guggenheim

I'd just like to ask some clarifying questions. On the tails to your last comment, Tim, you folks have talked about working on the payout ratio in terms of relative to equity income at YFV and I'm wondering if you expect to see your ability to increase cash dividend relative to the income there continue to climb or because of the growth of cash payout as a percent of income needs to stay the same.

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · Matt Stover from Guggenheim

Okay. There's a couple of elements there. One, I think, as we look at the trend line, YFV going forward, we're going to continue to see it again. There's going to be ups and downs and it's going to be like any company, some cyclicality here, but we see the long-term trend as being very positive in the growth of net income. And to that degree, we have, as you know, a 70% payout on the dividend. We'd like to increase that and are working on that. But from time to time, there'll be opportunities because of the cash generation. Again, it's going to be cyclical right now. We got a number of plants under construction, a lot of engineering work going on in China that there will be times to extract cash and times not to. We still believe there's an opportunity to pull out it on a periodic basis, sometimes a special dividend. At this point, we'd also like to see the baseline dividend increase and, we're active on that front. But the overall trend over time should be a positive one, without question. The growth that I've talked about for YFV next year will be duplicated the year after, given the business awards the company has had. So there's a clear trend. And the degree that cash is appropriate to be extracted, I can assure you that that's on the front of our discussions.

Matthew T. Stover - Guggenheim Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Matt Stover from Guggenheim

Okay. On the restructuring, a couple of things. One, the plants that are excluded from the Visteon Climate contribution, have they been included in that restructuring charge? And if you could just kind of sort of roughly apportion the charge by sort of business sector, that would be helpful.

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · Matt Stover from Guggenheim

Yes, the answer, Matt, to your first question is yes. They've been included in the restructuring charge. And as far as being -- providing clarity there, just because of ongoing negotiations and discussions, I would -- I'll refrain from giving any more clarity there until January.

Matthew T. Stover - Guggenheim Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Matt Stover from Guggenheim

Okay, okay. And when we think about that, if I look at the returns in the Interiors business, they're obviously the most challenged. And so I guess, sort of as a dumb outsider, I'd say that that's business that needs the most activity. Does -- would it be fair to associate most of the charge with Interiors? Or would that be an incorrect assumption?

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · Matt Stover from Guggenheim

Matt, God love you, you're still doing it. I'm going to say is that -- is it's clearly is represented -- well represented in that number, but I'm not going to give you any greater clarity until January.

Matthew T. Stover - Guggenheim Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Matt Stover from Guggenheim

Okay. And then one last one. If I look at the margin performance in Climate and Interiors, we had somewhat of an atypical trend from Q2 to Q3. And I thought I heard mention of pricing recovery in Interiors. I'm wondering if you could give us a sense of what that might have been. And then two, if you could put some more meat on the bones of what happened in the Climate business, that would be really helpful.

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · Matt Stover from Guggenheim

I'm going to turn it over to Mike on the first point. I'll just say on the second point, embedded in climate, there's some additional revenue coming in. We had some less than acceptable manufacturing performance in Q3 which may bleed a bit into Q4, which did not contribute positively in climate and that's being addressed. And then as far as the remainder of this, let me -- Mike, let me turn that over to you.

Michael J. Widgren

Analyst · Matt Stover from Guggenheim

Yes. And what we saw in Interiors, we did see a benefit to our cost of sales during the period as a result of an engineering recovery from costs that were passed through, kind of approved by the customer in the quarter.

Matthew T. Stover - Guggenheim Securities, LLC, Research Division

Analyst · Matt Stover from Guggenheim

Okay. What I was thinking of actually in the Climate business, is actually the margin, if I have it correctly, the EBITDA margin in Q2 was 7.8% and the EBITDA margin in Q3 was mid-8s. And as we both know historically, third quarter, because of changeovers and production days, usually is a lower margin quarter versus Q2. And I'm wondering if we need to look back to 2Q to say there was something in there that was a problem. Or was there a good guy in Q3 that perhaps there's something we can extrapolate forward?

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · Matt Stover from Guggenheim

One point is that climate is less susceptible to the Q3, Q2 dynamic than some of the other businesses because of its dependence on Asia.

Michael J. Widgren

Analyst · Matt Stover from Guggenheim

Yes, and we've also seen continued efficiencies and new business coming onstream with growth of Hyundai.

Scott Deitz

Analyst · Matt Stover from Guggenheim

Gina, I think, at this point, we'll end the queue and I'll turn the it over to Tim for closing comments apart from saying again thank you, everyone, for joining us. We'll be taking calls for the next couple of days.

Timothy D. Leuliette

Analyst · Matt Stover from Guggenheim

Thank you, Scott. And I guess the bottom line here for -- from the company's perspective is that we did perform to expectations, but we are elevating those expectations as we go forward. The underlying growth and a combination of both tactical and strategic actions, I think, will better position this company and its assets in the future for which we see -- for which we are confident we'll deliver the shareholder value equation that is expected. The implied Q4, which is the strongest quarter of the year now, the Halla-Visteon combination and the resulting cash generation back to the parent, the restructuring actions announced, are all part of that process. I look forward to seeing you, and I'm going to be in New York here, in Boston the next few days and next -- early next week, we'll see you at some of the conferences coming up, and we look forward to seeing you. And again, we appreciate your interest in the company. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.