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Elbit Systems Ltd. (ESLT)

Q3 2014 Earnings Call· Thu, Nov 13, 2014

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Elbit Systems Third Quarter 2014 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. You should have all received by now the company's press release. If you have not received it, please contact Elbit's Investor Relations team at GK Investor Relations or view it the News section of the company's website, www.elbitsystems.com. I would now like to hand over the call to Mr. Ehud Helft of GK Investor Relations. Ehud, please go ahead.

Ehud Helft

Analyst

Thank you, and good day, everybody. On behalf of all the investors, I'd like to thank Elbit Systems management for hosting this call. Joining us on the call today are Mr. Butzi Machlis, Elbit's President and CEO; and Mr. Yossi Gaspar, Elbit's Chief Financial Officer. Yossi will begin by providing a discussion of the financial results of the quarter, followed by Butzi, who will talk about some of the significant events during the quarter and beyond. We will then turn over the call for the question-and-answer session. Before we begin, I'd like to point out that the Safe Harbor statement in the company's press release issued earlier today also refers to the content of this conference call. With that, I would now like to turn over the call to Yossi. Yossi, please?

Joseph Gaspar

Analyst

Thank you, Ehud. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Like the last quarter, we will provide you with both our regular GAAP financial data as well as certain supplemental non-GAAP information. You can find all the detailed financial data in today's press release. The third quarter results reflect the stability of the business, but were affected by increased financial expenses due to the U.S. dollar shekel changes. Thanks to our ongoing efficiency measures, we were able to keep our operating expenses at similar levels to last year. Additionally, we demonstrated continued improvement in the backlog, which is a good sign for the future potential growth in revenues. I will now highlight and discuss some of the key figures and trends. Our third quarter 2014 revenues were $722.7 million, slightly lower than the same period last year. In terms of revenue breakdown across our areas of operations in the quarter, airborne systems was 42% compared with 39% last year. C4ISR systems was 41% compared to 38% last year. Armored vehicle was 5% compared to 10% last year. Electro-optics was 8% compared to 9% last year. And the rest was 4%, essentially, the same as last year. The makeup of the overall mix was similar to last year, with some growth in airborne systems and a slight decline in electro-optics. I know that some of the -- in some cases, electro-optics systems are included within the C4ISR or airborne system projects, and as such cases, revenues from such electro-optics systems are included in those other areas. In the Armored Vehicle area, we had a decline in volume due to a general worldwide trend and the mix of systems sold in the quarter by the company. In terms of geographic breakdown in the third quarter, Israel was 22% of revenues;…

Bezhalel Machlis

Analyst

Thank you, Yossi. Overall, our ongoing core businesses' results continued to be demonstrating stability as indicated by the $60 million that we reported in operating income, similar to that of the third quarter last year. While in this quarter, our bottom line was somewhat masked by unusual level of financial expenses. I'm pleased that our ongoing businesses' performance had been stable over the past 2 years in a world where defense budget generally was shrinking. This was, particularly, true in the European and North American defense markets, which typically made up more than half of our revenues in the past. Our backlog, however, is telling more of a growth story and has been consistently increasing since 2012. This is a positive indication of our growth potential while providing us with increased visibility into the coming year. We know that there is a lag between backlog growth and revenue growth. But over the long-term, the growth rate in our revenue is a large part, a function of the growth rate in our backlog, which makes us optimistic for the future. Besides our backlog, I am optimistic for a number of other reasons. During the quarter, we saw a resurgence of activity in certain key geographical regions, which we focus on because of the growth potential and expanding defense budget, namely Latin America and Asia-Pacific. As Yossi mentioned, while Latin America was only 11% of our revenues in the third quarter of last year, in the current quarter, it made up 19% of our revenues. In fact, those target regions together were 24% of our revenues in third quarter last year and together were approximately 35% in the third quarter of this year. Furthermore, the shifting geopolitical landscape and the ever evolving global defense threats, combined with general macroeconomic components, is leading…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] There are no further questions at this time. Before I ask Mr. Machlis to go ahead with his closing statement, I would like to remind participants that a replay of this call will be available 2 hours after the conference ends. In the U.S., please call 1 (866) 276-1485. In Israel, please call (03) 925-5918. And internationally, please call 972-3-925-5918. A replay of the call will also be available on the -- at the company's website at www.elbitsystems.com. Mr. Machlis, would you like to make a concluding statement?

Bezhalel Machlis

Analyst

Yes, I would like to thank all our employees for their continued hard work. To everyone on the call, thank you for joining us today and for your continued support and interest in our company. Have a good day, and goodbye.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. This concludes the Elbit Systems Ltd. Third Quarter 2014 Results Conference Call. Thank you for your participation. You may go ahead and disconnect.