Gerald Paul
Analyst · Chris Danely
Thank you, Lori, and good morning, everybody. In the second quarter, the general economic recovery from a difficult second half of 2012 continued. Vishay's sales volume benefited from this development, but operational results were impacted by a few adverse and temporary effects. We achieved gross margin of 24% of sales, adjusted operating margin of 8% of sales and adjusted earnings per share of $0.20. We are on track in terms of free cash generation. As Lori indicated, we generated $46 million in the quarter and $50 million year-to-date. Let me talk about the economic environment as we see it. After a very slow fourth quarter, our margins began to recover in the course of the first quarter. This trend has continued also in the second quarter, driven by moderate restocking and distribution, and by an overall improving end-customer demand. Growth is positive in America. We see normal seasonal trends in Asia, and no major changes in Europe with central Europe doing well and Southern Europe suffering. This sounds a little bit simplified, but it's the truth of the matter. Automotive continues to perform well, driven by ongoing growth in vehicle sales in Asia and America and by high-end vehicle sales growth worldwide. The industrial market worldwide continues to improve further. Computing remains weak in particular for notebooks. For consumer, we continue to expect a normal seasonality this year. Distribution started to restock moderately. Inventories during the second quarter increased by 6%. Distribution turns improved further to 3.9 worldwide versus 3.7 in quarter 1, 2.6 in the Americas versus the 2.5 in Q -- in quarter 1, 5.3 in Asia versus 4.8 and 4.1 in Europe versus 4.1, so no change in Europe. The POS is up by 4% versus the first quarter. A positive book-to-bill ratio of distributors to the customers can be reported, 1.06 in the quarter, which appears to be quite healthy. Let me talk about our business development in the second quarter. Sales came in well within our guidance. We had $598 million in the quarter of sales versus $554 million in prior quarter and $588 million in prior year. Excluding the exchange rate effects, sales were up versus prior quarter by $46 million or 8%, and up versus prior year by $8 million or by 1%. Again, we saw a strong book-to-bill ratio in the quarter, 1.08 in total, 1.13 for distribution, 1.01 for OEMs, 1.12 for actives and 1.04 for passives, 1.02 for the Americas, 1.14 for Asia and 1.06 for Europe. Again, recovery continues in particular for actives at Asian distribution. The backlog of Vishay has grown to 3.3 months, 3.4 months in actives and 3.1 in passives. Order cancellations continued on a very low level. We have seen quite a normal development of the selling prices in the second quarter. For Vishay in total, we have seen minus 1.1% versus prior quarter and minus 3.1% for prior -- versus prior year. The decrease is primarily due to actives, as always may I say, minus 1.5% versus prior quarter and minus 4.2% versus prior year. On the other hand, there is relative price stability in passives, minus 0.7% versus prior quarter and minus 1.7% versus prior year. Let me talk about operations. After a quite excellent first quarter, the contributive margin of Vishay in the second quarter suffered from various incidents, for the most part a fever of temporary in nature. We have seen some startup inefficiencies at the major foundry from negative valuation effects, growth [indiscernible] in the results, the palladium price has increased and some unfavorable mix shift -- product mix shifts took place. The contributive margin in the second quarter came in below our traditional range of between 46% and 48%. SG&A cost continued to be well under control, $93 million in the quarter according to expectations. Manufacturing fixed cost in the quarter were $123 million, again, according to our expectations. Increase of total fixed costs quarter-over-quarter was due to the end of temporary fixed cost-savings measures, which we had in the first quarter. For the employment at Vishay at the end of the second quarter was 22,450, an increase of 350 heads, 240 out of that came from the acquisition of MCB in France. The inventory returns in the quarter were on a good level of 4.2. Excluding exchange rate impacts and the addition of MCB, inventories in the second quarter increased by $15 million, 1 5, $4 million from raw materials and $11 million from WIP and finished goods, all driven by further increased production rates. Capital spending in Q2 was $27 million. We expect capital expenditures of approximately $170 million in 2013, following the midterm requirements of our growth plan. We have seen the traditional split. We will see the traditional split. More than $100 million, we will spend for expansion and cost reduction. We, in Q2, generated cash from operations of $70 million like in prior year and generated, again in Q2, free cash of $46 million versus $45 million in the prior year. On a trailing 12-month basis, Vishay generated cash from operations of $287 million and free cash of $144 million. So I think we can say that Vishay remains a very reliable generator of free cash. Let me come to our main product lines and I'll start out with resistors and inductors. Vishay's traditionally most profitable business has continued to recover. We enjoy a very strong position in the industrial and mill markets and are intensively penetrating the medical segment. Sales in the quarter were at $171 million, which is 4% above prior quarter and 3% above prior year. Book-to-bill was 1.04 in the quarter after 1.07 in prior quarter, and this indicates an unbroken positive trend of this business. The backlog has increased to 3 months, which represents a quite confident level. The gross margin is at a satisfactory 32% of sales on the level of prior quarter. There was relative price stability minus 0.5% versus prior quarter and minus 1.5% versus prior year. The inventory turns were at excellent 4.7. We are in process to integrate MCB, the recently acquired manufacturer of specialty resistors and sensors in France. The run rate of sales of this acquisition of $30 million to $35 million is $30 million to $35 million at the gross margin before restructuring of about 25%. This acquisition expands our European market position in the industrial segment and will synergize well with our successful Spanish division, a most welcome acquisition. Let me come to capacitors. The business is based on a broad range of technologies with a strong position in European and American market niches. It has bottomed in the course of the first quarter and since then, is in a phase of recovery. Sales in the quarter were $112 million, 6% above prior quarter but still 4% below prior year. Book-to-bill in the quarter was 1.05 after 1.06 in prior quarter. The backlog is in a normal level of 3.2 months. The gross margin development has been disappointing in the quarter. It was down to 19% of sales from 23% despite substantially increased sales. The performance was negatively impacted by higher palladium prices, some valuation effects, the normal repetition of the quarter 1 inventory build and the strong Israelic currency, a strong shaker. We do expect improvements in the third quarter. The price decline at Capacitors is back to normal. We have seen minus 1% versus prior quarter and minus 2% versus prior year. The inventory turns were at 3.3. We remain confident for the midterm development of Capacitors in view of increasing power and clean energy applications. Coming to Opto products. Vishay's Opto business consists of infrared emitters and receivers, infrared sensors, couplers and LEDs that are mainly for automotive applications. It contains a substantial share of customer designed products mainly sold to automotive and industrial markets. We enjoy a leading position with innovative infrared emitters and receiver solutions for remote controls, phones, et cetera. The business has shown a high degree of stability during the recent downturn and had recovered to the full extent already in the first quarter. Sales in the second quarter were $58 million, 4% above the prior quarter and on the same level as prior year. Book-to-bill was 1.0 after 1.08 in prior quarter. The backlog of this business is at a normal 2.9 month level. Gross margin declined slightly to 33% of sales, mostly due to inventory related effects. Quite excellent inventory turns at this business of 5.4. Normal ASP declined year-over-year. We have seen with some acceleration versus prior quarter, minus 2.3% versus prior quarter and minus 2.6% versus prior year. Coming to Diodes. Diodes represent a broad commodity business where we, Vishay, are the largest supplier worldwide. Vishay offers virtually all technologies, as well as the most complete product portfolio, and we are leading, in particular, in power applications. After a steep recovery in the course of the first quarter, also in Q2, business conditions remained very good. Sales in the quarter were $141 million, 13% above prior quarter and 4% above prior year. The book-to-bill ratio continues quite strong at 1.17 at 1.28 in prior quarter. The backlog has grown to 3.6 months. We are in process to increase manufacturing capacities there. The gross margin came in at 22% of sales, slightly improved considering prior quarter but impacted by inventory related effects and higher manufacturing fixed costs after the end of our temporary fixed cost savings program. Inventory turns were quite excellent 4.8, and we have seen, for this product line in the quarter, a relatively modest price decline of minus 1.2% versus prior quarter and minus 3.1% versus prior year. MOSFETs, the next product line. Vishay continues to be one of the market leaders in the segment of low-voltage MOSFETs, and we are in process to complete our product offering also in high- and medium-voltage products. The predominantly Asian business with customers in computers and phones in quarter 1 has started to benefit from the recovery of Asian distribution, which continues. Sales in the quarter were at $116 million, 15% above prior quarter and 4% above prior year. Based on continued strong book-to-bill ratio of 1.11 after 1.22 in prior quarter, the backlog is at a comfortable level of 3.4 months. Gross margin in the quarter was at 14% of sales, 1% improved versus prior quarter. The performance of this product line still suffered from inefficiencies related to the start of new platforms and technologies at our foundries, and we do expect to see substantial improvements in the third quarter. Inventory turns are at a satisfactory level of 3.9. The price decline in the quarter was normal, minus 1.3% versus prior quarter and minus 6.3% versus prior year. Let me summarize. Vishay has delivered a principally acceptable second quarter with results not quite in line with our expectations though. While sales benefited from a continued friendly economic environment and of course from the traditional strong market position of Vishay, contributive margins, mostly due to temporary cost effects, suffered. Still, the quarter came out below our traditional range and below our expectation. Fixed costs were under control, as always may I say. We are very confident that Vishay in the third quarter will show major improvements based on further increased sales, fixed costs in line with our plans and recovered contributive margins. We also will continue to work steadily on our growth plan by extending manufacturing capacities in critical lines, by strengthening R&D and designing efforts, by expanding our sales presence in Asia and by acquiring specialty businesses like recently MCB of France. For the third quarter, we guide to a range of $605 million to $645 million sales at improved gross margin percent and operating margin percent. Thank you very much.