Kevin Nowlan
Analyst · Citigroup
Thanks, Ike, and good morning, everyone. On today's call, I'll review our first quarter financial results and reaffirm our 2014 guidance. On Slide 7, you'll see our first quarter income statement for continuing operations compared to the prior year. Sales of $907 million in the quarter were up year-over-year by $16 million. The increase was due primarily to higher commercial truck production in Europe, driven by the prebuy associated with the Euro 6 regulation impact. In addition, South America revenue was higher on a year-over-year basis, as production volumes 1 year ago were still challenged following the Euro 5 emissions standards change. These increases were partially offset by lower military revenue and continued weakness in China. Gross margin was $20 million higher year-over-year due to the continued execution of our M2016 initiative. The gross margin improvement was primarily driven by conversion on higher revenues, execution of global pricing initiatives throughout calendar year 2013, continued net material labor and burden performance and lower structural cost resulting from actions executed largely in the second quarter of last year. All of this was achieved in a market environment where our FMTV volumes stepped down more than 30% year-over-year. So overall, it was a solid first fiscal quarter. SG&A was $3 million lower in the first quarter of 2014 compared to the first quarter of 2013, as we continue to manage the fixed cost structure of the business. This quarter's restructuring costs were $5 million lower than the first quarter of 2013, which had included costs associated with the actions taken 1 year ago. Earnings in our minority-owned affiliates were $8 million in the quarter, down slightly from the prior year. This decrease was driven by the loss of earnings from the Suspensys joint venture, which was sold in July 2013. Interest expense was $2 million lower in the first quarter of 2014, driven by debt extinguishment costs of $5 million experienced in the first quarter of 2013 that did not repeat. Income tax expense was in line with last year, despite the fact that pretax earnings improved. As we continue to expand margins and improve the financial performance of the company, we expect to drive toward a more normalized effective tax rate. In total, adjusted income from continuing operations was $12 million, or $0.12 per share, compared to an adjusted net loss from continuing operations of $11 million, or negative $0.11 per share, in the same period last year. Slide 8 shows first quarter sales and segment EBITDA for Commercial Truck & Industrial. Sales in the first quarter of 2014 were $727 million, up $12 million from the same period last year. Segment EBITDA was $53 million, an increase of $19 million year-over-year. This represents a 158% upside conversion, due primarily to lower net material labor and burden costs as well as pricing actions in South America to recoup part of the FX depreciation experienced in the latter part of 2013. These positives, along with higher revenues in Europe and South America, more than offset the negative mix headwind associated with the step down in our FMTV business. Next, on Slide 9, we summarized the Aftermarket & Trailer segment financial results. Sales were $208 million, up $5 million from last year. The increase was primarily due to a modest uptick in European aftermarket sales. Segment EBITDA was $19 million, an increase of $6 million year-over-year. The upside conversion was driven by pricing actions we executed throughout calendar year 2013. We also had lower net material, labor and burden costs. This EBITDA performance was achieved despite the headwind of not having earnings from the Suspensys joint venture. Now let's move to Slide 10, which shows the sequential adjusted EBITDA walk from our fourth quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014. Walking from the $70 million of EBITDA generated in our fourth quarter, we had $5 million less EBITDA due to mix. Our first fiscal quarter has less selling days than our fourth quarter, which affects our aftermarket business. In addition, production levels were down in South America and our FMTV volumes took another step down sequentially. So while we experienced a significant revenue increase in Europe driven by the Euro 6 prebuy, the benefit of that increased volume was not enough to offset lower sales from these other businesses, which typically have higher margins. The net result of this was an unfavorable net volume and mix of $5 million. The other notable item in the quarter relates to $5 million long-term disability liability reduction. We executed a change in our long-term disability benefit plan to reduce the duration of medical benefits provided to individuals in order to be more consistent with market practices. This cost reduction will result in real cash flow savings to the company in the coming years. Overall, this was a solid quarter for us. We believe this represents the highest reported first quarter adjusted EBITDA margin in at least 8 years. While we have more work to do, we're off to a good start for 2014. Now let's turn to Slide 11. For the first quarter, total free cash flow was negative $16 million. This was a $90 million improvement over the same period last year, driven by higher net income and lower cash outflows for working capital. We also benefited this quarter from an increase in factored receivables, driven by higher sales in Europe, where we factor most of these receivables, and a new short-term factoring program in Brazil. These factoring programs have the effect of accelerating the cash cycle time. As production volumes in Europe are expected to take a step down following the prebuy, this first quarter cash flow benefit will become a cash flow headwind for us in the second quarter. Overall, while still a negative cash flow quarter, it's important to reiterate that our first fiscal quarter traditionally is challenging due to fewer selling days and calendar year-end cutoff issues. With that in mind, this free cash flow performance represents the best first quarter results since 2010. Next, I'd like to review and reaffirm our fiscal year 2014 outlook on Slide 12. As Ike discussed earlier, the demand assumptions are unchanged for our end markets. And as a result, we are maintaining our sales guidance of approximately $3.7 billion. While we see the potential for upside in markets such as North America, there is still significant uncertainty in Europe relating to the full year impact of the Euro 6 prebuy, and in South America and India. As a result, we'll have a better sense as to whether we need to make adjustments following another quarter of data. We are also maintaining our adjusted EBITDA margin guidance of approximately 7.5%, as well as our adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations guidance at $0.30 to $0.40 for 2014. Our first quarter has put us on track toward achieving these results. However, we must keep in mind that we continue to face the sequential wind down in our high-margin FMTV business, which will continue to be a margin headwind throughout the year. Total free cash flow is still expected to be between breakeven and positive $25 million. With the solid Q1 cash flow performance, we feel confident about our ability to deliver such a result, which would be our strongest full year free cash flow since 2010. Now I'll turn the call back over to Ike to wrap up and discuss our continued focus on M2016.