Earnings Labs

Universal Corporation (UVV)

Q2 2013 Earnings Call· Tue, Nov 6, 2012

$54.06

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon. My name is Kenisha [ph], and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Universal Corporation Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2013 Results Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Thank you. Ms. Candace Formacek, you may begin your conference?

Candace C. Formacek

Management

Thank you, Kenisha. Thank you for joining us today. George Freeman, our Chairman, President and CEO; and David Moore, our Chief Financial Officer are here with me today. They will join me in answering questions after these brief remarks. This call is being webcast live and will be available on our website and on telephone-taped replay. It will remain on our website through February 5, 2013. If you are listening to this call after that date or if you’re reading a transcription, we have not authorized such recording or transcription. It has been made available to you without our permission, review, or approval. We make no responsibility for such presentation. Any transcription inaccuracies or omissions or failure to present available updates are the responsibility of the party who is providing it to you. Before I begin to discuss our results, I caution you that we will be making forward-looking statements that are based on our current knowledge and some assumptions about the future. For information on some of the factors that can affect our estimates, I urge you to read our 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2012, as well as the 10-Q for the second fiscal quarter of 2013, which was filed today. The factors that can affect our estimates include such things as customer mandated timing of shipments, weather conditions, political and economic environment, changes in currency, industry consolidation and evolution, and changes in market structure or sources. Finally, some of the information I have for you today is based on unaudited allocations, and is subject to reclassification. Net income for the first half of fiscal year 2013, which ended on September 30, 2012, was 71.1 million, $2.50 per diluted share and includes restructuring charges amounting to $0.05 per share. Last year’s net income for the six…

Operator

Operator

(Operator instructions). Your first question comes from Ann Gurkin. Ann Gurkin – Davenport & Company: Good afternoon. Can you all hear me?

Candace C. Formacek

Management

Hi, Ann. Yes. Ann Gurkin – Davenport & Company: Hi, great. I wanted to start first with the cash build we saw for the first six months and are you all at a level now of comfort to start buying back your stocks?

Candace C. Formacek

Management

Well, Ann, we don’t really give advanced guidance on repurchases of our stock. I think our cash build, in part, has been due to not only our prudent management of the balance sheet, but the smaller crops this year and some shifts in the timing of the working capital. And so we’re just pleased that we’ve been able to keep a strong balance sheet at this time. Ann Gurkin – Davenport & Company: Okay. And then, Candace, do you have an uncommitted inventory number for global, the global industry, you gave Universal, but global?

Candace C. Formacek

Management

Yeah, the global, this is at 6/30, it was 87 million. Ann Gurkin – Davenport & Company: Great. And then I was wondering, George, I think in the release you commented that looking forward you expect the market conditions to improve. Can you just elaborate on that statement? So what’s behind that statement, are you referencing volume or more crops…

George C. Freeman III

Analyst

I mean, you can sort of tell from what’s going on that there’s a – demand is pretty – is pretty strong and crop sizes were small particularly in Africa and in Brazil they came down and we think the volume will improve next year. Ann Gurkin – Davenport & Company: Okay. And then any comments on – there’s a WHO meeting starting, I think, next week. I don’t know if burley’s on the agenda. Is there any concern that the use of burley might be restricted or is there anything in that meeting that we should watch out for related to the leaf company?

George C. Freeman III

Analyst

No, not – not really. I mean, of course it’s – we’ll monitor and watch, but we don’t expect anything radical. Ann Gurkin – Davenport & Company: Okay. And then there’s an expectation for a larger crop in Malawi, is that going to return that market back to more normal levels or are you worried about a slight overbuild in Malawi?

George C. Freeman III

Analyst

No, we’re hoping it will be up to a nice – a nice level that is sustainable, but we don’t see it coming back, you know, to the huge numbers we’ve seen in some of the recent years. Ann Gurkin – Davenport & Company: And then the increase in Other Tobacco, I realize some of its timing of shipments. Is there any new business win in that number?

Candace C. Formacek

Management

I’m sorry, in which? Ann Gurkin – Davenport & Company: The Other Tobacco regions, the upside or the strong Q2 results for other regions, was it timing on shipments?

Candace C. Formacek

Management

Yeah, the primary driver there was recovery in our Indonesian markets and you may recall last year in the second quarter, in most of last year there were weather-related crop damages there that didn’t allow us to have the same volumes in that market that we were able to see this year.

David C. Moore

Analyst

And some of it’s timing of shipment, Ann. This crop, generally speaking, around the world began sooner and shipments begin quicker than they did in the prior year. Ann Gurkin – Davenport & Company: Okay, but no new business wins in there?

David C. Moore

Analyst

Say that again ,please? Ann Gurkin – Davenport & Company: Any new business wins in that number? Increased customer contacts?

Candace C. Formacek

Management

Ann, we’re not specifically pointing to that in – you’re specifically asking in Other Tobacco? Ann Gurkin – Davenport & Company: Yes.

Candace C. Formacek

Management

In Other Region segment? Ann Gurkin – Davenport & Company: Yes. Okay, and then finally, the tax rate. What should we use for tax rate for this year?

David C. Moore

Analyst

Well, you could see in the first six months, the tax rate was below the statutory rate. You know, on a forward view, I always tell you to use 35%, the 36%. There were some one-off transactions in the first six months that reduced specifically the income that we generated in the six months. Ann Gurkin – Davenport & Company: Okay, great. Thank you all very much. Congratulations.

David C. Moore

Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

There are no further questions at this time.

Candace C. Formacek

Management

No questions? Thank you very much Kenisha. We appreciate your time this evening and we look forward to speaking with you next quarter.