Sarah Nielsen
Analyst · Baird. Your line is open
Thanks, Scott. During the first quarter, we achieved gross profit growth with gross margin improving 90 basis points to the highest quarterly level in the past two years, despite our continued navigation through labor-related inefficiencies. Notwithstanding this improvement, net income declined as a result of lower revenues coupled with higher G&A expenses, due largely to incremental costs related to spending on our ongoing ERP implementation program. We are encouraged by the continued robust consumer demand environment for our products, as both our motorized and towable retail registrations increased 12% on a rolling 12-month basis. Demand from our dealer and rental customers are also strong, as evidenced by bookings growth of over 23% for both motorized and towables on a rolling 12-month basis. We are pleased to announce, we have received another annual rental order from Apollo, which is included in our backlog figure. Motorized dealer inventory at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2016 was down 2% on a year-over-year basis, while up 1% on a sequential basis. These minor fluctuations relate to our commentary last quarter regarding our belief that we may be at equilibrium between wholesale shipments and retail sales. Further, we remain comfortable with the level of our dealer inventory based on the retail turn rate, which at the end of the first quarter was 2.2 turns. Prior to going into specifics regarding our results, I’ll provide an update on some recent developments related to steps we’ve taken to work towards alleviating labor constraints within motorized. As we announced last quarter, we sold the assets of our bus operations and are working to exit our aluminum extrusion operation. Revenues related to this area in our first quarter were down 25%, as our customers started to find other extrusion partners to work with. We’ve effectively stopped selling extrusion products to almost all outside customers in the first quarter and have just recently moved various shifts of employees over to motorhome support areas. We expect to transition the remaining staff upon the full transfer of our internal extrusion needs to an outside supplier, which is anticipated to occur by March. As a reminder, given that, we’re nearly finished with the sale of extrusion products to our outside customers, our OEM group will have minimal sales going forward. Also, during the Louisville RVIA show in early December, we announced an expansion to the West Coast to the purchase of its facility in Junction City, Oregon for the production of select higher-end Class A diesel products, which will improve both production capacity and efficiency for Class A gas and Class C products in Forest City, Iowa. We anticipate a moderate initiation of West Coast production in mid-calendar 2016 with full ramp anticipated in the second-half of calendar 2017. Additionally, while at the Louisville show, we showcased several new products and floor plans and received a very strong response from our dealer and partners. Notably, it was our first showing of the Grand Tour 45RL, our new 45-foot Class A diesel product, which we will produce on the West Coast, as well as the Fuse, a Class C product on the new Ford Transit cutaway chassis. On the towable side, we showed the new Winnie Drop product, which was initially introduced in September at the Elkhart, Indiana open house event. The reception towards this lower ASP product has been great, and a strong dealer demand is reflected in the lower overall towables ASP for the quarter, which I will review later. The strong interest in our products at the show further supports our need for capacity expansion. Moving to the financials, fiscal 2016 first quarter revenues were down 4.5%, primarily a result of lower revenues within motorized, as unit volumes were down just over 5%. As with recent quarters, we continue to experience unit growth in our Class B and C products, which was offset by lower sales of Class A unit. This trend reflects the limited motorized labor capacity and the decisions that we’ve made regarding where to best allocate production capacity. Additionally, the lower overall unit volumes during their first quarter is due in part to the renewed focus we placed on line completion rates and production quality in an effort to reduce rework and mitigate future warranty-related expenses. Although consolidated revenues declined, we continue to see very impressive results from our towables group, where revenues increased just over 24% in the quarter. This – the growth there was primarily driven by increased unit volume of nearly 50%. We believe there’s plenty of runway left for us to achieve growth in excess of the towables market. Moving to ASPs, here are the key changes on a year-over-year basis for our motorized group. Class A gas was $101,535, up nearly 6%; Class A diesel was $190,842, up 1%; Class C was $82,914, up nearly 14%; and Class B was $72,886, down 5%. In aggregate, total motorized ASP was essentially flat for the quarter. On the towable side, travel trailer ASP was $18,375, down 12% and Fifth wheel ASP was $38,865, down 19%. In aggregate, total towables ASP was $20,685, down 18%, as a result of product mix. As I mentioned earlier, gross margin improved 90 basis points attributable to several positive factors. The most significant positive impact to the quarter was due to improved product mix within motorized, which relates to our production allocation towards higher-margin products. This had a 170 basis point positive impact compared to the prior year. Also, we benefited by 50 basis points due to improved towable margins and 40 basis points from lower workers’ compensation expense, which was a very significant pressure for us last year in this quarter. Lastly, we also achieved 20 basis points of realization of cost savings benefit from our strategic sourcing initiative. We did have some pressures in the quarter as well. Gross margin was negatively impacted by 100 basis points from continued labor-related manufacturing inefficiencies within the motorized group, and 70 basis points due to unfavorable trends and warranty expense. With regard to our higher warranty expense, we’ve instituted a back-to-basics approach, which is highly focused on enhancing quality through improved processes and additional inspection activities. As I alluded to earlier, this heightened focus somewhat impacted production rates during the quarter. However, we are optimistic our efforts in this area can mitigate negative warranty expense over time in the future. Compared to fiscal 2015, operating expenses increased in fiscal 2016’s first quarter, due mainly to $1.4 million of incremental G&A expenses associated with our ERP implementation. With regards to our ERP project, during the first quarter, the system went live for finance and towables, and the next two phases of the implementation will involve going live with human resources and payroll areas and then next to enable our ERP functionality at our newly acquired West Coast facilities. Although the original cost estimate for this project was $12 million to $16 million, we are now increasing this estimate to $25 million. The factors contributing to the change primarily include our West Coast expansion and the resulting implementation there, also the integration needed with the ERP system into our product lifecycle management and outside support necessary for our bill of material simplification. During fiscal 2016, estimated cumulative spend related to this project is $8.6 million of which $3.9 million has been expensed. Our estimate remains that about 60% of our overall project will be capitalized, which leaves 40% or about $10 million in aggregate will be expensed. We are still planning this project will be completed in fiscal 2017. As I mentioned earlier, our strategic sourcing project positively impacted gross margin in the first quarter by 20 basis points. Also, project management for this project was transitioned to internal resources during the quarter. And, therefore, we do not expect any incremental G&A expenses related to strategic sourcing going forward. Further, when all the commodities have been through the process, which is anticipated to occur by June of 2016, we expect this project will provide gross margin expansion of 30 to 50 basis points. Our first quarter tax rate was 33.6%. We still think that our annual effective rate will be between 32% and 33% provided that the tax extender legislation is passed. In closing, we were able to achieve much improved gross margin during the first quarter, as a result of better margins in both motorized and towables. Also, as I have highlighted, we are taking numerous steps to improve labor capacity and set the stage for long-term growth. With some of the best products in the industry coupled with the continued favorable demand we’ve seen, we remain optimistic in our outlook. With that, will you please open the line for questions.