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Federal Signal Corporation (FSS)

Q4 2015 Earnings Call· Mon, Feb 29, 2016

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Federal Signal Corporation Fourth Quarter Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Brian Cooper, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Brian Cooper

Management

Good morning and welcome to Federal Signal's fourth quarter 2015 conference call. I'm Brian Cooper, company's Chief Financial Officer. Also on this call with me are Dennis Martin, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Jennifer Sherman, our President and Chief Executive Officer. We'll refer to some presentation slides today, and two news releases which we issued this morning. The slides can be followed online by going to our website federalsignal.com, clicking on the investor call icon and signing into the webcast. We have also posted the slide presentation and the news releases under the Investor tab on our website. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that some of our comments made today may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to the Safe Harbor language found in today's news release and in Federal Signal's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These documents are available on our website. Our presentation also contains some measures that are not in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. In our news release and filings, we reconcile these non-GAAP measures to GAAP measures. In addition, we will file our Form 10-Q today. Dennis is going to begin today with some introductory comments. Jennifer will follow that with some important context for our key topics and I will go into some detail on our fourth quarter and full year results. Jennifer then will address our agreement to acquire Joe Johnson Equipment and wrap things up with her thoughts on our outlook for 2016. I'd now like to turn the call over to Dennis.

Dennis Martin

Management

Thank you, Brian. As you all know, Federal Signal recently announced some important management changes and most notably my move to Executive Chairman. Jennifer's promotion to the role of President and Chief Executive Officer and the appointment of Senior Vice Presidents for each of our group. These senior leadership changes were the result of a thoughtful and orderly transition plan. Jennifer has played an important, pivotal role in our successful turnaround in recent years. She has developed strong working relationships with our customers, dealers, employees, investors and our financial partners. We're working hard to ensure a seamless transition for the benefit of our stakeholders. I would like Jennifer to provide some perspective on what we have accomplished and what we plan for. So let me just say what a privilege it has been to lead Federal Signal for the last five years. I'm extremely proud of what we've accomplished and I will remain actively involved in M&A activities, investor relations and development of our leadership team. I want to emphasize my confidence that we have a solid platform that will assure Federal Signal's continued long-term success. I appreciate the opportunity, I've had serving our shareholders and stakeholders and I look forward to guiding our future success as the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. Thank you and with that I'd like to turn the call over to Jennifer.

Jennifer Sherman

Management

Thank you, Dennis and thanks to all of you for joining our call. I'm honored to be speaking today as the President and CEO of Federal Signal. I'm also very proud of our team for turning in another strong year and solid fourth quarter. Following a strong 2015, we've had a busy and productive start to 2016. We acquired Westech, refinanced our credit facility, sold our Bronto business and as announced morning we executed an agreement to acquire Joe Johnson Equipment. For a number of years we have considered whether the Bronto Skylift was strategic to Federal Signal. Our investors have also asked the same question. We have now divested Bronto, which was not considered close to our core and suffered from an inconsistent earnings stream. We were very pleased with both the price and terms we received for the business. As we move forward, we were able to redeploy the sale proceeds to fund strategic acquisitions like Joe Johnson and position the company for growth. All of the changes are built on the foundation we've been laying for several years. This foundation positions us to pursue profitable growth and to remain healthy, while we weather economic headwinds in business cycles. Let me talk about a few of these building blocks in this foundation. First, we have worked to communicate our strategies, objectives and plans more effectively. Shareholders know about our 80/20 culture, our operating margin targets, our capital priorities, our acquisition approach and our strategic initiatives. Next, we have steadfastly pursued operating efficiencies through our 80/20 efforts and we have nurtured our flexible manufacturing model that is we have managed capacity needs and costs by flexing what we sourced internally and externally by shifting production among our facilities and by building a strong core of dedicated employees. On the capital structure part, we are now debt free. We've leveraged our assets and steadily increased our return on capital employed. We've reinstituted and grown our dividends. We've refinanced our debt agreements, so that we can continue to invest for the future. With respect to investments, we've built a solid organization and we continue to add capabilities and debt. This concludes additional sales resources, M&A capabilities and a focused innovation efforts that is helping us move forward with market phased, faster new product development initiatives. I was just at an industry tradeshow for our Environmental Solutions Group where we introduced four brand new products. These include a water recycling option for sewer cleaning equipment and a purpose built hydro excavator truck for the utility market. Of course, we are well-positioned to invest in acquisition opportunities, more about that later. 2015 was another strong year of financial performance. Now I'd like to try to call back to Brian to us through the numbers.

Brian Cooper

Management

Thank you, Jennifer. Our consolidated fourth quarter and full year financial results are provided in today's earnings new release. The historical and current year information presented in the release excludes the results of the fire rescue group, which was discontinued in connection with the sale of the Bronto Skylift business, that was completed in January of this year. For the full year, I would like to briefly highlight some of our consolidated results. Net sales totaled $768 million, down 1% versus 2014. In spite this slight reduction in sales, operating income of $103 million was up 16%, translating to a much improved operating margin of 13.4%. On an adjusted basis, we reported full year earnings per share of $1.02, up $0.16 from $0.88 per share last year. Operating cash flow for the year was also outstanding at $91 million, up 12% from last year. We delivered this cash flow on the strength of our earnings even as we continue to invest in our businesses and fund operating expenses and working capital to support our growth initiatives. Overall, our full year results are very good and our improvement has been impressive in spite of the challenging conditions in some of the markets we serve. For the rest of my comments I will focus just mostly on the comparison of the fourth quarter of 2015 to the fourth quarter of 2014. Starting with the top line consolidated net sales were $186 million for the quarter down 11% compared to the prior quarter. Operating income was $24.3 million down 6% versus last year and fourth quarter consolidated operating margin was 13% up from 12.3% a year ago. Income from continuing operations was $17.4 million in the quarter, compared to $19.9 million in the prior year. After adjusting for certain special tax items in…

Jennifer Sherman

Management

Thank you, Brian. Before we talk about the acquisition of Joe Johnson Equipment, I'd like to briefly provide some color on the performance in our group. At SSG, we continue to see healthy performance from our public safety systems operation, which are focused on police lights, sirens and related businesses. The end markets in the U.S. have been relatively stable, the last couple of years and we continue to see improvement in Southern Europe. Our teams have been steadily working on 80/20 including things like streamlining our product offerings and reducing our lead times to improve our competitiveness and profitability. Our Integrated Systems business, which provides customized warning and security systems to municipalities, government agencies and industrial customers, has lumpy demand and industrial exposures including oil and gas. This business offers profitable growth opportunities where we continue to invest. As Brian mentioned, the Environment Solutions Group reported a robust 17.9% operating margin despite lower sales in the fourth quarter. This outstanding performance is a reflection of our continued execution on 80/20 and lean initiatives maintaining discipline on our pricing and leveraging our capacity. It also reflects quick responses to significant changes in our marketplace. In particular, the crash in oil and gas markets has had a much larger impact than we initially anticipated. You have seen the impact in slowed orders during 2015 and a much smaller backlog as we started 2016. While oil and gas may have represented only about 10% of overall revenue, adjacent markets are absorbing the used equipment that has been redeployed from oil and gas, displacing our sales of new equipment. We have seen an influx of used equipment into our markets at reduced prices or rental equipment rates that are lower than for historical levels such that renting may be more active than buying…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And we'll take our first question from Walter Liptak with Seaport Global.

Walter Liptak

Analyst

Hey good morning guys. I guess, let me ask about the revenue that's assumed in your 2016 guidance. Specifically for ESG, what kind of a revenue decline you’re expecting for this year?

Jennifer Sherman

Management

Well, we don't guide the revenue, however we expect our revenue to be down on a year-over-year basis and that's really being driven by the impact of oil and gas in our ESG businesses, particularly Vactor. We're seeing reduced sales of our hydro excavation products, a little bit of a at Jetstream and then our Safety and Security business, our Industrial Systems business that's focused on oil and gas, we'll see downturns there. I do want to emphasize that municipal demand remains stable and we've introduced new products. So a lot of it depends on the adoption rate of new products, but the initial signs are encouraging.

Walter Liptak

Analyst

Okay, I appreciate that you guys aren't giving revenue guidance. But if I make some assumptions looking at kind of the order declines over the last couple of quarters and then if I start looking at your decremental margins. The decremental margins look a little bit larger that I would have expected. So I'm wondering, what kind of margin level are you expecting in ESG specifically? And/or what kind of decrementals are you looking for and if they are larger, is it a pricing issue, is it a volume issue. Just a little bit more color I guess on what's leading to your guidance for this year?

Brian Cooper

Management

Walter, I think you're insight there is correct. It's not purely a revenue impact. We are getting some negative leverage effects on our operations from the lower volumes. We're also seeing some price pressure in the market. On the municipal side again things are pretty solid as Jennifer said. It's really on the industrial side and we're looking at different mix of products. So when you combine the mix and some of the pressures that are coming mainly because of the oil and gas impacts through the markets, the margin is coming down some as well.

Walter Liptak

Analyst

Okay. I also wanted to ask about the acquisition and it looks like it was a very strategic, so I wonder if you could just provide a little bit more color on the strategy behind the acquisition and maybe what valuation and metrics that you're looking at? And then I'll go back into queue.

Jennifer Sherman

Management

Sure, absolutely. We’re pleased with this opportunity, we think this is strategic. It remains close to our core. What was particularly attractive about it was that Joe Johnson gives us the footprint in 13 locations and a distribution channel that allows us to introduce our Industrial products, particularly our Guzzler products, our Westech products and our Jetstream, and grow our business in Canada. We also have an initiative on our public safety systems side to introduce product through that same distribution channel. In addition, it gives an option with respect to rental. Joe Johnson currently has a program in place, was partnered with four of our current dealers and a rent to re-rent program. This allows us to offer that program to all of our municipal dealers and that will be another tool in the toolbox. We have a parts and service platform that we think is attractive and over time had high growth and attractive margin opportunities.

Brian Cooper

Management

And in terms of valuation metrics, Walt, I don't we did anything terribly unusual. We looked at cash flow from the businesses, synergies we can get and so forth in valuing it. We didn't talk in terms of a multiple, but you can see, we're spending about $126 million at the upside in Canadian dollars or about $93 million U.S. on this transaction. Then we expect it to have a return in excess of our cost of capital.

Walter Liptak

Analyst

Is the revenue more stable than yours is on the equipment side, because this is a rental business?

Dennis Martin

Management

They're mix of equipment, Walt, it is different, they're serving at municipal markets. so beyond the traditional Vactor, Elgin and Guzzler products, they have a broader mix. It includes both service, rentals and that mix of equipment, so it is more stable, more consistent.

Jennifer Sherman

Management

And one of the things that we love about Joe Johnson is they have relationships with their customers, so that does I think provides stability going forward.

Walter Liptak

Analyst

Okay. It sounds good. I'll get back in queue.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Steve Barger with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

So I'm going to go back to ESG for a minute. If we assume that oil prices isn't, they won't coming back any time soon. What is the right long-term growth rate for ESG that you think about?

Jennifer Sherman

Management

We believe that we're committed to our long-term ESG operating margin. We have a number of initiatives right now to grow our hydro excavation business outside of oil and gas, particularly focused on the utility market and construction markets. We're starting to see traction in some of those initiatives. As I mentioned, we've introduced new products, particular our recycling product and our jetter products, those also provide growth opportunities. So long term we think we feel really good about this business. JJE or Joe Johnson Equipment is an important part of that growth strategy and rethink the margin targets we previously set forth are achievable.

Brian Cooper

Management

And Steve one of the things we like about all those products is the hydro excavation, adoption rate is still increasing. So although it's been slowed by oil and gas down we're pursuing it in other markets like utility and targeting our innovation to help us get there.

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Yeah, understood and you guys have done a nice job on the margins, but I'm just thinking when you when about ESG from a top line perspective over the longer term, do you think it's a sort of 5% growth business, do you think it can be double-digit on a regular basis, just trying to get an idea of how do you think about growth there?

Jennifer Sherman

Management

We're thinking we have the opportunity for high single digit growth without acquisition.

Dennis Martin

Management

Then when oil and gas comes back, Steve, that's a wild card.

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Understand, right, I know that's …

Jennifer Sherman

Management

But we're not counting on oil and gasoline back in 2016.

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Right. And ESG orders averaged 112 million per quarter in 2015 versus 139 million per quarter in 2014 and I'd say that 2015 levels basically in line with what you put up in 2011, 2012 and 2013. So the question is should we be thinking the 2015 run rate is the right number for the next couple of years? Or do you think you potentially come in below that on a quarterly basis?

Dennis Martin

Management

I think, it's the right number, Steve once we get past another quarter or two of the excess sale of used equipment into the market. I think that's a pretty good estimate for that a run rate [ph].

Brian Cooper

Management

Yeah, I think part of what you're seeing Steve is second half of 2015 oil have gone done, so the pressure on the markets got worse. Then in addition to that you have the inventory effective, if you will of the rental market and the other equipment coming out of the oil and gas patch and diluting - just creating a glut of equipment frankly that competes with our new equipment. So there has been a headwind.

Jennifer Sherman

Management

And those numbers tends to fluctuate depending on large fleet orders for example, in 2014 we had a number of large fleet orders and those tend to be every couple of years depending on the cycle.

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

How do you gauge excess used equipment in the market? Does the raw Ralf's data [ph] for instance, which covers some of the other rental companies. Is there a service like that that helps you understand where the market is?

Dennis Martin

Management

No, we don't see it that way. What we really have been doing is monitoring options and sales and …

Brian Cooper

Management

And rentals.

Dennis Martin

Management

And rentals and rental rates have dropped significantly in the monthly rates and so it's really not as --

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Is there a business that tracks those rentals rates or is there anecdotal from that to dealers and the channel?

Dennis Martin

Management

Primarily dealing with our dealers and the channel.

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

And so looking at ESG margin, obviously the guidance implies a pretty big step down in 2016. So the question is given really strong orders in 2014 and very good production in '15, did you over-earn relative to longer-term trends? Or do you view - [indiscernible] 2016 will be unusually low?

Dennis Martin

Management

What we attribute the call we went back we gave you estimates of our margin expectations by business unit, prior to last year and then we actually ended up exceeding that during a few of the quarters because of just running at the very high end of the capacity curve. So we still believe in run rate percentages that we've put out there as margin target.

Brian Cooper

Management

And there is a little bit of extra headwind in 2016, so I think we would expect the volumes side to pull back as we move forward.

Jennifer Sherman

Management

I think you also have to look at the mix issue. The municipal margins are typically less than the industrial margins. We're focused on both from an acquisition perspective and organic growth perception on growing that industrial business. We have a number of initiatives to diversify our product offerings particularly out of oil and gas. So I think that this is unusually low year and we're encouraged by where we're investing and we think we're well positioned to grow. Also, depending on what happens in oil and gas in '17 and '18, we think we're very well-positioned to supply and demand there also.

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Understood. One question just for modeling and then I'll ask a couple of acquisition questions. For SG&A should I be thinking low $30 million range for quarter with the exit of Bronto and JJE coming in, is that fair?

Brian Cooper

Management

That sounds about right, Steve.

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Okay. CapEx for 2016 and D&A?

Jennifer Sherman

Management

We expected this generally run between $10 million and $15 million. We expect 2016 to be in a similar range.

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

And --

Jennifer Sherman

Management

And D&A is around $12 million.

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Okay, perfect. Is there any room for conflict with you buying a distributor and how do you even gauge the risk of that, given that you sell-through distribution?

Jennifer Sherman

Management

Yeah, the first thing I want to talk about, this is not a distribution rollup strategy. We believe that the acquisition of Joe Johnson, in fact, helps us enhance our current municipal dealers. We've had an opportunity this morning, I have talked to three so far of our major dealers and they've really embraced the idea that they're going to have a rental fleet available to re-rent to their municipal customers. So we look at this as giving them another tool in their toolbox moving forward.

Dennis Martin

Management

So whenever we make a Steve in the market like this, there is a potential for some disruption and we're going to do our best to minimize it. But we think our forecast includes any amount that might occur with that.

Brian Cooper

Management

And we have limited conflicts between dealers, so one of the of things when you look at acquiring a dealer they have by geography and certainly other municipal side that's more contained.

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Right. Brian, I hear you started it's not a distribution rollup strategy, but if the other dealers like the idea of re-rent does that mean, you need to open more facilities beyond the 13 or 14 that said are already in North America or are you well covered to provide that dealer number?

Dennis Martin

Management

Yeah, if you look at our business today Steve, we have our solution centers, we have 9 or 10 solution centers plus their 13 now in addition. So there would be some additional ones open, but the market will drive that. And all of our distributors have substantial yards and service capabilities, so partnering with them, we were hoping to leverage off of their locations with them and give them the benefit of doing that with us. So we're going to wholesale open tons of locations.

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Right. Okay I saw in the press release that it's won the Best Managed Company award for five years, so obviously already well run. Are you doing this strictly for the revenue synergy or the opportunity to grow the business or even with those awards do you view it as a margin expansion story and how do you get there?

Dennis Martin

Management

Yeah, there's a couple of answers to that question. One, 80/20 works everywhere and I think they're excited about investigating how 80/20 could help with their business model. We also know we can learn awful lot from them and we can bring that to how we go-to-market serving the municipal user markets. We'll learn a lot more about products and services that the end municipal customers demand or need. Also, so I think it's an opportunity not only just to add revenue immediately, but to leverage the better service of customers and users to grow that way.

Jennifer Sherman

Management

And specifically it gives us a distribution channel that allows us to grow our industrial market share through our Guzzler, Westech and Jetstream products.

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Okay. Can you give us an idea of JJE eased EBIT margin as now and how much they have in D&A?

Jennifer Sherman

Management

JJE, you operate within a division of ESG and we typically don't talk about the division result of rate --

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Okay. Well, I guess can you give us a relative number associated with the $0.10 or $0.15 in 2018, just at least help us think about what the return profile is of the acquired company?

Brian Cooper

Management

Well, Steve, they had revenues last year of 150 million for Canadians or 112 million or so U.S., we'll have some offset to that and we sell to them. So you don't get to count that twice and then we expect them to grow at a pretty healthy pace, especially similar of their service business and their municipal businesses remain strong.

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

So pretty healthy as you're seeing above the high single digit rate that you think about ESG with?

Brian Cooper

Management

In the high single digit, yeah. I think that's a fair assumption at this point.

Steve Barger

Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets.

All right, I'll hop back in line and see if anybody else has any.

Dennis Martin

Management

Thank you.

Jennifer Sherman

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] We’ll go for a follow-up with Walter Liptak.

Walter Liptak

Analyst

So the follow-up to the last question, just you discussed the new products, or maybe how much of utility trucks and some of the hydro excavators are factored into the 2016 guidance? And maybe any color on how the utility truck is selling?

Jennifer Sherman

Management

Yeah, I mean, for 2016 we've assumed a modest adoption rate, so there is upside there. We remain very committed to our new parts development that requires R&D investments. And just to give you some color our R&D spend in 2015 was about $14 million, which was up 7% versus '14. We have the innovation team that is continuing throughout and study markets and identify new product opportunities, we work closely with our engineering group. The feedback will be in full production on one of our purpose built utility trucks by the beginning of third quarter and the initial interest have been extremely high. We've also introduced the jetter product to our distribution network and again the interest is high. Then we think the patents recycling products that we're offering for our vacuum truck, presents significant growth opportunity. We're not going to stop and [indiscernible] new product development and 2016 reflects that.

Walter Liptak

Analyst

Okay. Do some of these products go, like they hydro excavators, I know the application is going into utility, do any of these new applications go into the construction markets?

Jennifer Sherman

Management

Yeah, some of the contractors that utilize this equipment also use them for the construction market.

Walter Liptak

Analyst

Okay, sounds good. The corporate expense, what number are you using for 2016?

Brian Cooper

Management

We’re assuming it's been only flat if you - with the exception of hearing loss expense which we are anticipating will probably be higher in 2016 based on the number of trials that we see foresee at this point in time.

Walter Liptak

Analyst

Okay, all right. Thank you.

Jennifer Sherman

Management

The trials are currently schedule in the second half of the year. So depending on whether they move forward or not, we would update our guidance accordingly.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And we'll go to Alexander Yaggy with Cortina Asset Management.

Alexander Yaggy

Analyst

I wanted to follow-up on the revisions - the guidance that you gave for the year. I want to try to understand what's actually going underneath the surface here. I mean, I understand that oil and gas has come down quite a bit. But sequentially are we to expect a big downturn in the first half of the year and a pickup in the back half? Or are you assuming a steady run rate because it's such a big decremental as one of the questions was referring to it's obviously surprising to investors. So can you help for a little color on that?

Jennifer Sherman

Management

Sure. We've entered the year with a low backlog. We've talked about the mix and the mix it less favorable. Our municipal business remains strong. We expect the first half of the year to be lower and the second half of the year candidly is a wait and see game. We are seeing traction on our new product development in the adoption rate, but we need to see more orders in order to give you a better picture in terms of what the second half of the year. The hearing loss expense as Brian previously mentioned is also an issue. We continue to be positive about both our municipal markets and some of the diversification we're doing on the industrial side, so it's a wait and see game for the second half.

Dennis Martin

Management

I was just going to add, some of the equipment that's moving back into the market from the used, rental and also from contractors selling off their equipment that are getting out of the oil and gas exploration, really is moving it - has moved into the industrial. So it's really, as we said before, there's no direct way to gauge the percentage, we think it's moving through, we're hopeful that over the next 12 months it's all through, so it's hard to gauge because there's just no way to record that amount of equipment that's coming into the market.

Alexander Yaggy

Analyst

Right. So you can't really estimate how much of lost sales opportunities you think have developed as a result of this year?

Dennis Martin

Management

Well, we're tried to estimate this in our forecast and brought down our number. But --

Alexander Yaggy

Analyst

Right. But can you put a revenue number roughly?

Dennis Martin

Management

It's hard to know factually what are those.

Brian Cooper

Management

I mean basically we don't know how long it will take for the overhand to work it way through. So we're anticipating in the second half that that has not really occurred yet to the extent that it does - we'll feel better about it. But at this point in time we just don't have good visibility because its second half.

Alexander Yaggy

Analyst

Okay, thank you.

Dennis Martin

Management

Thanks, Alex.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And we have a follow-up from Steve Barger.

Steve Barger

Analyst

Hi, thanks. Thinking about JJE, just from a modeling standpoint, is there seasonality in that business or should we think about the revenues basically level-loaded?

Jennifer Sherman

Management

There is seasonality in the business. They are primarily south municipalities and government entities, so a lot of it depends on their buying cycle.

Dennis Martin

Management

And a good deal of their business is in Canada, so they have a little more severe weather certainly in the west.

Jennifer Sherman

Management

So the summer months tend to be higher.

Steve Barger

Analyst

Okay. Since you brought up, Dennis, what percentage of revenue is U.S. versus Canada? And can you give us an idea of how the Canadian side is growing right now?

Brian Cooper

Management

You're talking about for Joe Johnson?

Steve Barger

Analyst

Yeah.

Jennifer Sherman

Management

It's about 75/25 split between Canada and U.S.

Dennis Martin

Management

And they've been growing in both markets.

Steve Barger

Analyst

At the same rate or plus or minus?

Dennis Martin

Management

Pretty much. Yeah.

Steve Barger

Analyst

And when you think about EBIT for Joe Johnson, what's the primary driver for the business. Is it new equipment sales or rental or parts and service? Maybe can you give us an idea of those three buckets from a percentage standpoint?

Jennifer Sherman

Management

New equipment sales is the primary driver, the parts and service has been growing impressively over the last couple of years and we expect that to continue at relatively high margins. The rental business is a smaller portion that.

Brian Cooper

Management

Smaller but growing.

Jennifer Sherman

Management

But growing.

Steve Barger

Analyst

So are they going to face the same headwinds that you are on the new equipment side for 2016. Is that the expectation?

Dennis Martin

Management

Well, I'd say, their mix of products is different, Steve, while we're the largest categories with Vactor and Elgin products. They also have number of other products related to the winter snow removal refuge and other things. So they're mix is different, so it won't be impacted the same way.

Brian Cooper

Management

And it's primarily municipal.

Jennifer Sherman

Management

About over 80% of their business right now is municipal market. So they have very limited exposure to oil and gas.

Brian Cooper

Management

Yeah, so it could be confusing, they are primarily municipal today, but one of the things we like about them is the opportunity that we can use to leverage them in the industrial market.

Steve Barger

Analyst

I see. And just for two more. Can you talk about working capital and CapEx characteristics for JJE, is it more intense from a capital standpoint than your business?

Brian Cooper

Management

It hasn't been in the past, the rental business if it grows will be more capital-intensive to certain extent. It also has some cyclicality to it, they tend to build up on working capital and their inventory, sort of through the winter months and then bring it down as they have higher sales in the summer periods.

Steve Barger

Analyst

I guess, yeah, when you think about growth that rental opportunity for the other dealers. Is that something that you'll use your balance sheet for or is there any way that you would start to finance deals or things like that or would that all be from third party?

Brian Cooper

Management

At this point, Steve, it's a great question and a hard one to answer. I think at this point we're assuming we would be using our balance sheet and we're evaluating the opportunities to make sure they have good returns and provided a solid opportunity for us. It's harder to go outside and do financing of those things in today's world.

Jennifer Sherman

Management

So right now we believe they currently have a rental fleet of 50 million. We think that's generally sufficient to meet the current market needs. We do plan on supplementing their rental fleet with some industrial products, particularly our Guzzler, our Jetstream and our Westech brand. So we estimate that to be somewhere between $15 million and $20 million in 2016, its impact, you know the market [indiscernible].

Steve Barger

Analyst

Okay. And you should have pretty good free cash flow in the primary business this year, I would think even with the declining guidance. And you've said this is not a distribution rollup strategy. What is the other, what's the next avenue that you'll look to in terms of acquisitions as you try and augment organic growth?

Jennifer Sherman

Management

We continue to be committed to or close to our core in terms of where can we leverage our existing capabilities, either in adjacent markets, the new geographies, within the margin targets that we expect. And we have a right now - we've been working diligently on that. We have a good pipeline of opportunities that we continue to pursue in a disciplined way.

Dennis Martin

Management

And Steve they go across really all three of our business units, our business groupings. We've been looking at things in Europe with our lease business. We're looking at things in the SSG side, as well, as on ESG side. So as Jennifer said, there's quite a few things in the pipeline and it's varied, which is what we like about it.

Steve Barger

Analyst

All right. Thanks so much for the time.

Dennis Martin

Management

Thank you.

Jennifer Sherman

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And we'll go back to Walter Liptak for a final question.

Walter Liptak

Analyst

Okay, so final one for me. The balance sheet is in great shape, how much net cash do you expect to take in this question from Bronto?

Brian Cooper

Management

So the sale proceeds are about $88 million, we will get most of that quarter. There's a post-closing adjustment that might increase or decrease that number a little bit. Then we will end up paying taxes on the gain, so there's a little bit of a reduction for that.

Walter Liptak

Analyst

Okay, it sounds like a minor cash adjustment.

Brian Cooper

Management

I mean, it's a fairly good sized tax piece, but I mean, the proceeds will still be north of - easily north of 60 million.

Walter Liptak

Analyst

So with the net cash coming in, with the company cash growing well, the balance sheet debt free. Can you talk to us about the appetite for your strategic acquisition versus your own share repurchase?

Dennis Martin

Management

Did you say, we did or you want us to?

Walter Liptak

Analyst

Yeah, with your stock down this much, maybe you could refresh us on just how much is left on the repurchase program and --

Brian Cooper

Management

We've got 69 million remaining on the authorization and our board would be flexible on that, so I view that as capital limit or anything. But we will look at that and the Joe Johnson acquisition is a good return on our money. Our stock would be a good return on our money right now I think, so.

Walter Liptak

Analyst

Okay, yeah, I agree. Okay, thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And now I'd like to turn the conference back over to Jennifer Sherman for any additional or closing remarks.

Jennifer Sherman

Management

In closing I want to thank Dennis for a significant contribution to the company over the last five years. I'm fortunate to have him both as a mentor and a friend. We look forward to working together on our new role. I also want to emphasize that we remain committed to growing our business and leveraging our profitability. Our strong fourth quarter and annual results are a product of the hard work of our employees, the dedication of our distributors and dealers and the depth of the relationship with customers. Thank you, we may remain optimistic about the long-term prospects for our businesses and we'll look forward to talking with you again after the first quarter.

Dennis Martin

Management

With that, thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, once again, that does conclude today's conference. Thank you all.