Earnings Labs

L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (LHX)

Q3 2021 Earnings Call· Fri, Oct 29, 2021

$324.86

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Greetings, welcome to L3 Harris Technologies, Third Quarter Calendar Year 2021, earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instruction]. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Rajeev Lalwani, Vice President Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

Rajeev Lalwani

Management

Thank you, Rob. Good morning and welcome to our Third Quarter 2021 earnings call. On the call with me today are Chris Kubasik, our CEO, and Jay Malave, our CFO. First, a few words on Forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures. Forward-looking statements involve risks, assumptions, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. For more information, please see our press release presentation and SEC filings. Reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to comparable GAAP measures is included in the Investor Relations section of our website, which is l3harris.com, where a replay of this call will also be available. With that, Chris, I'll turn it over to you.

Chris Kubasik

Management

Okay. Thank you, Rajiv. And good morning, everyone. As you've seen throughout the week, no Company is immune, including L3Harris to global supply chain pressures, a risk we highlighted at the last earnings call. In recent months, shortages of electronic components began adversely impacting our Company at a time when our product is strong. Our updated full-year guidance now accounts for these impacts. We revised our organic revenue growth expectations to approximately 2%, primarily due to delays for these components weighing on the CS segment. [Indiscernible] such delays, we would have comfortably been within our prior 3% to 5% range. Ultimately, this is a timing shift with no anticipated effect on our industry best market position for radios. And with our broad and diversified portfolio, along with continued execution elsewhere, especially on the margin front we've increased our range on EPS to $12.85 to $13 per share, and still expect to deliver free cash flow per share of around $14, up double-digit on both accounts. Shifting over to the third quarter, following organic revenue growth of 6% in the second quarter, we saw a decline of 1% due to timing associated with supply chain delays at CES and an ISR aircraft awarded IMS. While I'm disappointed by the soft top-line results, I'll note that the order momentum remains strong with a book-to-bill of 1.07 and we delivered record high margins at 19.6%. EPS was $3.21 up 13% versus the prior year with solid free cash flow of 673 million that contributed to shareholder returns of 1.5 billion in the quarter. Our execution against the Company's strategy priorities have been a key factor and value creation for all stakeholders, In spite of the pandemic. And we make progress in the quarter by advancing top-line opportunities, improving operational performance, wrapping up portfolio…

Jay Malave

Management

Thank you, Chris. And good morning, everyone. First and starting on Slide 4, I'll provide more detail on the quarter before I get into segment results and our updated outlook. In the quarter, organic revenue was down 1% lower than our internal expectations by about 4.5 points from the supply chain delays in ISR aircraft award timing. IMS and CES were down 3% and 5% respectively, and absentee impacts would've been up closer to the mid-single-digit range for both. The SAS segment was up 3% and led by strong growth in our responsive space business while AS was up 1%, including the benefit from recovery in commercial aerospace. Margins expanded 170 basis points to 19.6% with the most notable drivers being from E3 performance in cost management, which more than offset volume-related supply chain headwinds. We exceeded our internal expectations by more than a 100 basis points from favorable mix related to award timing and strong E3 performance. The team continues to drive margin upside by delivering an E3 improvements that lead to outperformance in scheduled milestones, costs, and retirement of risk. These drivers, along with our share repurchase activity, drove EPS up 13% or $0.37 to $3.21 as shown on Slide 5. Of this growth synergies and operations contributed $0.39. A lower share count contributed another $0.20, and pension and tax accounted for the remaining $0.08 then more than offset a $0.14 headwind from divested earnings and a $0.16 headwind from supply chain delays. Free cash flow was $673 million and we ended the quarter steady with working capital days at 56. The supported robust shareholder returns of $1.5 billion comprised of 1.3 billion in share repurchases and $202 million in dividends. Now let's turn to slide 6 and discuss quarterly segment results. Integrated Mission Systems revenue was down…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question-and-answer session. In the interest of time, we ask that you please limit yourselves to one single part question. If you'd like to ask a question please [Operator Instructions] is in the question queue. You may press [Operator Instructions] if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it maybe necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Thank you, our first question is from Sheila Kahyaoglu with Jefferies. Please proceed with your questions.

Sheila Kahyaoglu

Analyst

Good morning, Jay and Rajeev. Jay, you baited us rest right there so I have to ask, in terms of the rethink guides we saw from peers in both supply chain issues and program headwinds they noted, how are you guys thinking about 2022 revenue growth specifics on the multi-year revenue outlook just given you've previously talked about mid-single digits and now peers are calling for flat-to-low single-digit growth.

Chris Kubasik

Management

Good morning, Sheila It's Chris, I think let me make a couple of comments and then I'll lateral it over to Jay. And I think you said it, right. This is clearly the key question for the week. So I want to go back probably three years when we were talking about the strategic rationale for the merger. And there were 2 items of note and I want to go back and reinforce. And 1 was the complementary nature of the 2 businesses. And after the merger, how we're well-positioned in all 5 domains. So when you look at the threat environment which changes on a regular basis, you look about and read a lot about China. I mean, our positioning in space and maritime, I think puts us in a good position to support the war fighter. Our Cyber capabilities really are applicable not only in China, but all conflicts. I like what we've done in the air domain. While there's applicability in China, it also allows for situational awareness globally. And I think that's critical as we look beyond just the China threat. And the land domain is still a key part of our national security strategy, especially with the focus on resilient comms. So I like the fact that we're well-positioned in all these domains, and I think you see that reflected in our results and we're going to tell you a little bit about 2022. The other one was the revenue synergies. And again, like most of the goals that we set on this merger, we're ahead of schedule. And as I said just a few minutes ago, $900 million of orders earlier than we thought, and I think there's a lot more to come. So the framework that we laid out 3 years ago, and I've talked about each year remains the same. We think we're well-positioned with the DOD and all domains. We have a great revenue synergy, opportunity and process. And our international growth has been the bright spot over the last couple of years. So, as you would expect, we're going through our strategic planning process. As of today, I see all 4 segments growing in 2022, with the overall Company coming in in the low to mid-single digits on an organic growth basis. We'll obviously give you more details in January. But let me hand it over to Jay to maybe give you more detail by sector and also emphasize the 800 million of headwinds as a result of divestitures when you're doing your comparison. So Jay.

Jay Malave

Management

Sure. Thanks, Chris. And just to follow up on that and maybe just a little bit more color on next year when you think about low to mid-single-digit framework for next year. What I'll do is I'll maybe just take you around the horn of our segments. And I think Chris said it well, as far as broad growth across the portfolio. I'll start with IMS. And this year, we had a guide of 4-6, we've said it will be probably towards the upper end this year. And we see a lot of the same going into 2022 that we've seen here in 2021. The ISR business has been a strong grower force behind the back of international aircraft mechanization. We will see fewer aircraft procurement inputs next year, but that will be more than offset by the ramp in actual throughput related to mechanization in aircraft. You may recall that Chris, in the second quarter call, talked about 19 aircraft in various stages of mechanization, so that will be a source of growth for that business. And that business can certainly deliver loaded mid-single-digit growth next year, if not more. On the EO business within IMS, Chris mentioned a few awards Electro Optical sensors for the Navy. We're bullish on that, that will be a source of growth for us next year. And again, very capable of being able to deliver low-to-mid-single digit next year and a final business with an IMS is Maritime. Maritime has had a strong record over the -- really since the merger. And we see more of the same there as well. We talk about the Constellation Class frigate. We've won some awards on the classified undersea sensors, and we continue to expand our capabilities and applications in maritime and we expect that to…

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Robert Stallard with Vertical Research. Please proceed with your question.

Robert Stallard

Analyst · Vertical Research. Please proceed with your question.

Thanks so much. Good morning.

Chris Kubasik

Management

Good morning.

Jay Malave

Management

Good morning.

Robert Stallard

Analyst · Vertical Research. Please proceed with your question.

Thanks for that detail, Jay, that was very helpful. The question I have though is around supply chain, also facing a few issues at the moment. I was wondering what your plans are to mitigate these pressures over the next say 6, 12 months and what the implications could be for say your revenues and margins? Thanks so much.

Chris Kubasik

Management

Alright. Thanks, Rob. Let me kick it off and, again, Jay will give you some more details on the numbers. I think it really hit as we were preparing for this call the last few days when Jay said that we've been through 7 quarters of the pandemic. I mean, it's probably been a blur for all of us, but we really started back in February of 2020 focusing on the supply chain challenge. Just eight months after we closed the merger, we set up our COVID war room and the real focus there was on the first tier suppliers that we had in the Far East. Obviously, since then we've learned a lot about the second, third, fourth tier suppliers and some of the risks in the chain and the resiliency. So I just want to acknowledge that this is something we've looked at for 7 quarters. Of course, we shifted and as I would say, we always focus on the supply chain, we added in remote working, the IT connections, vaccines, all the challenges that we've gone through in the pandemic. So it's been a little bit of a roller coaster, but the key is then getting our systems consolidated from the merger, getting data, getting visibility, and all of that is improved over the last several quarters. So I think that's what gives us confidence to make some of the projections and talk in a little more detail today. Back in early August, we were probably feeling much better about the year and, you know, August was the high point for the Delta variant spiking around the globe. And that really threw the delays that we're seeing for the rest of the year. So we're assuming in our baseline is a 12-month delay. Until things get back to normal with the supply chain. I know there's different time-frames out there but that's kind of the baseline that we're focused on. I will mention as a defense contractor, we have the benefit of what's known as D - pass ratings, which are the defense priorities in allocation system. And that's something we've been focused on the last several quarters. And even on the other end of it, the supply chain, a lot of our suppliers are aware of this and are still putting in systems and implementing it. But they've been very supportive in prioritizing our defense products. And I think that's given us a little more confidence and visibility. But that is kind of an overview. I'll ask Jay to maybe give you some of the details on the numbers.

Jay Malave

Management

Sure. Just maybe a couple of other items that we're pretty focused on, Rob. Obviously, I think we're probably no different than others in terms of making longer term commitments, our 12, 18, 24 months in certain cases. We've redeployed resources to make sure we're managing this at lower tiers in the electronic component value chain. And we speak secure alternative sources as well as alternative parts and qualify them. We were redesigning parts in products and electronic components to really ensure that we can have adequate sources supply going into next year. And we're making crop progress across each of these areas, which again is why we're gaining confidence that we'll be able to grow in this business next year. As far as supply chain specifically, supply-chain escalation is certainly going to be a cost for us when we think about 2022. Right now the I'm thinking about is about 25 basis points of margin pressure associated with escalation costs. I would say that that's something that we were considering, that's something that we've got baked in, and that's something that will be part of our plans to deliver on our E3 productivity. Our goal will be as it always is, to offset the headwinds from mix, as well as supply chain, and deliver at least flat margins, if not higher. The next year will be no different. The pressure is going to be a little bit higher but nonetheless, we believe that we're going to have a solid path to be able to offset it.

Robert Stallard

Analyst · Vertical Research. Please proceed with your question.

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question is coming from the line of Seth Seifman with J.P Morgan, please proceed with your question.

Seth Seifman

Analyst

Thanks very much. Good morning, everyone. I guess if I could slip in 2 quick ones here either for Chris or Jay. If you could just address maybe cash-flow next year, your $3 billion target and thoughts on cash flow, growth per share thereafter. And then maybe Jay, the guidance for the integration costs kind of stepping up. It seems to imply a fairly high level in the fourth quarter relative to what we've seen in the past. So maybe what's driving that at this point and where those go from here on out. Thanks.

Chris Kubasik

Management

Okay. I'll maybe take in a reverse order. On the integration costs, we actually saw a step up here in the third quarter. We'll see a little bit higher again here in the fourth quarter. It's really mainly due to two things. One is as we work through our facility consolidations, we've seen an uptick in costs. We expect to see continued spending in that area, probably through the mid-year, next year as we complete those factory consolidations. The other element is a really IT harmonization. We've talked a lot about harmonizing our ERP systems. There were just various systems beyond just our ERPs. We've been working through and incurring the cost on related to integration. That will carry over, I would expect it to next year as well. Some for a period of time again, probably through the first 6 months.

Jay Malave

Management

And your question on $3 billion of free cash flow, for us to the formula really remains the same. We need to deliver annually, I'm including next year, about 3 to 4 days reduction in working capital. And that will offset the growth that otherwise would take place in working capital from just increased use of assets. And so we're able to do that. We should be able to at least hold the working capital flat if not become a source of income, or source of cash flow and then we can have that added to drag drop-through of net income. And so really remains the same as far as our working capital. When you go back and look, we've got we ended the quarter at 56 days. We've got seven sectors who are above that average, which comprises about 2/3 of our working capital. A lot of that is sitting in inventory, and we've talked about this in the past. And we're really, you know, again, it's just blocking and tackling, focusing on fundamentals as far as inventory reduction. This include things like just ensure that we execute against our program milestones. We're synchronizing our forecasting and planning with our supply chain. We'll continue to work and Chris mentioned it on cycle time reductions in automations in the factory, as well as just negotiating better turns of our contracts, getting more advances where we're looking maybe compare to some of our other peers. Their percentage of advance is a little bit higher than ours, and so that creates an opportunity for us to ensure that we can match cash receipts with cash disbursements on the inventory side. So we're opportunity rich here, 2/3 of our working capital is prime for us to continue to work down. We feel good about that. And look from a free cash flow per share, we're very confident in double-digit growth there for the foreseeable future.

Chris Kubasik

Management

[Indiscernible] in real quick on the integration costs. With the pandemic, we stayed agile and made some changes to strategies. And I'll just say in the IT world, we have laid out an architecture. And with the need for remote work and hybrid work, we re-prioritized and made some changes which caused us to accelerate some of our expenditures in Q3, Q4. Same thing applied to supply chain. We had a whole strategy and one of those was to hit the end of '22, start investing in the risk dashboard to give us more visibility into our supply chain and identified risks. You've seen publicly available data, whether it's stuff such as wildfires or financial stability in the supply chain. We obviously accelerated that into this year, rolling that out in Q3 and Q4. So some of those things seem to make business sense to increase the cost and accelerate the expenditures based on what was going on.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Richard Safran with Shapiro Research. Please proceed with your question.

Richard Safran

Analyst · Shapiro Research. Please proceed with your question.

Chris, Jay, Rajeev. Good morning. I wanted to ask you about 2 of your programs, if I may. First, that recent GAO decision on the next-gen jammer. I'm curious as to what happens now, f you think the program gets re-competed, do you think changes are made to the program? And the second program I'd like to ask you about is the F-35. We had some long-term guidance come from Lockheed this week. I was just curious if you could discuss a bit how you think that might impact you, where that was relative to expectations, that sort of thing.

Chris Kubasik

Management

Yeah, sure. Rich. Good morning. Let me go with your next-gen jammer question. Just to refresh everyone's memory, we won that program back in December of 2020, almost a year ago. The Navy has affirmed 3 times their choice to select L3Harris, including most recently using an independent reviewer. There's been a lot of media, a lot of discussion on this. We were very proud of the fact that we were rated technically outstanding. And, you know, that's aligns with our strategy. And in the R&D investments that we've made and moving up the food chain, so I think we just let the process proceed. It's somewhere between Navy and Department of Justice and the other Company as to what they're going to do next. But our team is ready. There was a stop work order put in place which is pretty standard. And whenever that's decided to be lifted we're ready to go, or whatever other legal actions occur. But again, we're very confident in our solution, as is the Navy as they continue to reaffirm their selection. We'll stand by and look forward to supporting the Warfighter when we can get started. F-35, I think we've talked about this on every call. Let me give you a quick update. We're obviously the key player on the F-35. We have a strong position on the platform, about $3 million per shipset. Our overall F-35 revenue is decreasing in '21, decreasing in '22, and then starts to grow again in '23. That's really a result of the TR3 transition from development to production. And where that may differ a little bit from what you saw -- from the prime, is the fact that we'll be retrofitting several hundred aircrafts so that's what allows us to grow in '23 and beyond. Not only are we going forward with the new aircraft, we're also going to retrofit. And again, the main focus for us is the AMS, the Aircraft Memory System. We just completed safety of flight certifications so that was quite exciting. A lot of positive emails from Lockheed and the customers. So good progress on our AMS. The panoramic cockpit display is entering qualification testing. And then of course, the integrated core processor is the most complex and, again, we're making progress there. Everybody understands the critical path. And as we've always said, the hard part is ahead of us here as the integration testing is going on. So I think, as I've said the last several quarters, the teamwork is much better than I've ever seen. Everybody is aligned, everybody understands the goals, the challenges, and the critical path, and we're honored to be on that platform and look forward to delivering on our commitment.

Operator

Operator

That's a question comes from the line of Gautam Khanna with Cowen and Company. Please proceed with your question.

Gautam Khanna

Analyst

Yes. Thanks. Good morning, guys.

Chris Kubasik

Management

Good morning.

Gautam Khanna

Analyst

I was wondering if you could give us some color on the Tactical IRS backlog where it stands now, kind of the longer-term outlook in that business. I know you gave a view on 22, but just longer term. What do you have in the pipeline both domestically and foreign and give any color you can provide there. Thanks.

Chris Kubasik

Management

Yeah. Let me take a first shot at this one. Well, first of all, we have a record backlog of $1.2 billion, and that's the best we had in the past 10 years. So relative to that, there is no issue relative to demand, and book-to-bill in the quarter was 1.7 in year to date, we're almost at 1.2, so there is absolutely 0 issue with the demand. I highlighted some of the significant wins that we had recently with the army. You're well aware of those large, high IDIQs and how there is a lot of runway to go relative to those. So we're feeling really good on the demand and the outlook. We're going to see growth in '22 internationally. I think there continues to be lots of interest for this year. Asia-Pacific region and Central and Latin America are growing. Europe and the Mid East is a little flat, but as we look further out in '23 and beyond, I see that trend switching. I think Jay did a good job, just of highlighting it. We look like -- we do about -- if I go back to 2020, we're doing about $450 million, roughly, per quarter in revenue. In '21, the first 2 quarters, due to our growth, we were closer to $475 million. Third quarter, we came in at $400 million and the fourth quarter probably going to be in that $300 million to $400 million range depending on supply chain. I see that trend continuing for the first 2 quarters of next year. The 300 to 400 range, and then maybe ramping up to 500 plus for the second half of 22 and the first two quarters of '23 will make up for the shortfall. So I'm trying to give you some color there based on what we see in backlog and the opportunities that we have around the globe. I don't know Jay if there's more.

Jay Malave

Management

Yeah. Maybe just a little bit. Chris mentioned, I think in his remarks as well as far as a Middle East customer. What we have here, these are $1 billion plus type opportunities with this Middle East customer as well as the U.K. and Australia. And what we've been able to do in each case is when front-end type of contracts. And so right now with this particular country we won about 5,000 radios, that could be potential up to 50,000 radios over a number of years. And so being on the front end will position us well for that longer-term opportunity. The same thing goes with the U.K. We just want an opportunity to do tech refresh on current radios. Net positions as well, for what could be it also another opportunity of 50,000 radios, billion-dollar plus program. If similarly, Australia you're looking at potentially 35,000 radios. In our ballpark, we also want an opportunity there to do some crypto monetization on installed base. And so winning these early awards puts us in positions j us t very well for these long-term large programs in each of these countries, we've got a DoD opportunity coming up on either this quarter or next quarter with the marine corps. We feel confident in our positioning there and our products offering for that. And so we're confident and bullish about the opportunities for the Tactical Radio business going forward in our positioning as well.

Operator

Operator

Our next question is from the line of Kristine Liwag with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed with your question.

Kristine Liwag

Analyst

Hey. Good morning, guys.

Chris Kubasik

Management

Good morning.

Kristine Liwag

Analyst

Chris, segment margins were 19.5% in the quarter. Rounding, you're at that 20% margin you've been targeting, but your full-year 2021 guide implies a step-down in 4Q. Can you provide more details on the puts and takes and how we should think about margins going into 2022? I know it's too early for a 2022 guide, but is 20% a 4?

Chris Kubasik

Management

Good to see on a Friday. Nobody's lost their sense of humor. Now I said earlier, everything related to the merger is going to go on quicker and better than maybe anyone had expected or planned. And we've talked about a 25 basis point increase year-over-year. So the way I look at it is we're a year or 2 ahead of that target. And the goal for '22 and beyond will be to, at a minimum maintain these margins, but look for ways to increase it. I mean, some of the things that contributed, and I'll let Jay give you more details on Q3. We've really been focusing on our discretionary spend the SG&A. I think this was one of our lower quarters since the merger as a percent of revenue. We continue to invest in the irad at about 4% of revenue, which I think has been positioned us for this growth that we talked about going forward. And these -- the mix from these new awards -- talked about some of these awards being delayed. I think, you know, most of these new awards initially are dilutive to margins as you win, especially if there are cost plus or even if they're fixed price, just being conservative so -- but those slipping to Q4. I think that accounts for some of the shift between the 2 quarters, but we look at it on an annual basis, and year-over-year progress is looking good. And we're not going to give up, and we're going to continue with our E3 initiatives. The E3 focus is really what's making the difference. And I tried to highlight some of the things we're doing relative to labor productivity. We're using collaborative robots and augmented reality and some interesting technology that's just going to get our products to market quicker. We talked about the supply chain and some of the things we're doing there, value-engineering, more and more focused on making our products even more manufacturable, we talked about designing for manufacture, design for supply chain. All those initiatives are ongoing and getting better each and every time, so I don't have [Indiscernible]. Further color you want to give?

Jay Malave

Management

Yeah. Just on Q4, as you mentioned, we will see some just newer awards which have lower margins on it. And then the Tactile Communication business steps down in Q4, so I'll put pressure on the margins from a business mix perspective. And so that's really the driver for Q4.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Doug Harned with Bernstein. Please proceed with your question.

Doug Harned

Analyst · Bernstein. Please proceed with your question.

Good morning. Thank you.

Chris Kubasik

Management

Good morning.

Jay Malave

Management

Good morning.

Doug Harned

Analyst · Bernstein. Please proceed with your question.

You've talked a lot about supply chain today and a lot of companies have lot of industrial companies, whether they are in defense and honest talked about it. But I'd like to -- what I wanted to understand is in -- supply chain issues have clearly held you back some in communication systems this year and you talked about the first half of next year. But unlike some commercial businesses, I wouldn't expect any of the deliveries and revenues that you were expecting to have gone away. And when you think forward, should we expect the snapback eventually here, where you've just, you've built up -- you've got building up of a backlog of demand and we should actually see what I would think of as a surge when we get into 2023, when you're finally delivering on things that have been delayed?

Chris Kubasik

Management

Yeah. Now, Doug, that's great question. I think you hit it. I tried to maybe to subtly suggest that this is a timing impact. And I think you're absolutely right. What we're seeing is these deliveries basically being deferred or sliding to the right. About 25% of our business we forecast to demand, the rest we forecast to programs which is easier to do and less risky. So on the quick turn or the more product businesses you're forecasting demand, Jay mentioned we're now making commitments 12 to 18 months out versus a couple of months. It's in-advance like we used to in the past. So when you look at the supply chain challenges to the extensive if a product or something that we recognize revenue upon delivery, you're absolutely right. You will see that as a bow wave. The majority of our Company, and I think the whole industry, uses a percent complete or over time accounting. So in that case, you're maybe not going to see the revenue hit, but what you are going to see is a potential delay in ultimately making a delivery, which maybe causes companies to miss their milestones, which could be pressure on billing and cash to the extent it's tied to a milestone event. So I think you're absolutely right. We view this as a delay and a deferral. I mentioned the ability to use the Deepak ratings to get our parts. And as I mentioned, we haven't missed any commitments relative to our contracts and that's something that's very important to all of us and we’ll continue to find ways to deliver to those commitments. The revenue shortfall was our focus on over driving and challenging the team to get the year-over-year growth. But as far as the contracts we're tracking and we're in constant communication with all of our customers and they understand where we are. So I don't know if that helps you, Doug, but that's a long way of saying I agree with you.

Doug Harned

Analyst · Bernstein. Please proceed with your question.

Yes. Doug. You got it exactly right. I mean, 2022 I mentioned it would grow. We'd love it to snap back in 2022, but that's unlikely, but we would expect that recovery to be in '23.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our final question comes from the line of Peter Arment with Baird. Please proceed with your question.

Peter Arment

Analyst

Thanks. Good morning, Chris. And Chris, thanks for all the details on that kind of the progress we're making on E3, but kind of just tying back to your comments that you've been operating in 7 quarters in the pandemic that feel like eternity but did -- you set up the E3 program before the pandemic, did you get any kind of opportunities that evolved during the last 7 quarters where you think there is significantly more upside that you can do from the 350 million target that you put out there? Thanks.

Chris Kubasik

Management

Now, Peter, the 350 target we threw out was the cost synergies from the merger. We'll be putting a bow on that here in the next few quarters, and we've over-driven the synergies that we laid out. Anything post the merger synergies will count towards the E3 program. I think we've learned a lot, as I've said, relative to the pandemic, how we do business. And I didn't really get to focus on International as an example. And it's still amazing to me that we're effectively double-digit on international growth. And it's probably the worst time ever to do business internationally during the pandemic, but I think we learned a lot as to how to better use our time. I've been on all sorts of Zoom calls at strange hours of the data to connect with customers. And if you have those prior relationships so it's still going to be beneficial to get on an airplane and see people face-to-face. But I think we've been able to find a way to do business more effectively. We're going to have about 10% of the workforce working remotely permanently and have about 20% doing hybrid. So those are all new and different ways to do business. And we're excited about the future. Haven't less people in the facilities, we've been able to go ahead and make some of the changes or highlight it in the factory and go ahead with the -- some of the robots that we're using, some of these light guide tools. It's just easier to get those things done. Jay mentioned the facility consolidation. We probably lost a little bit of time, as you would imagine, due to the pandemic, no one being vaccinated, and the difficulty getting labor, but now we're picking that pace back up again. Yes, we see this as really being a differentiator, something that's in our DNA and something that everybody is engaged with. Thank you for the question, Peter. I guess with that, we'll just wrap it up for the day. Obviously, I'd like to recognize the 47,000 employees who were focused on delivering value for our stakeholders, and they continue to overcome the unprecedented challenges presented by the pandemic. Their resilience, combined with the many opportunities ahead, keep me, Jay, and the whole leadership team excited about the future of L3Harris. I thank you for joining the call, and look forward to talking to you again in January. Have a great week. Thanks.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation and have a wonderful day.