Modine Reports First Quarter Fiscal 2021 Results

RACINE, Wis., Aug. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Modine Manufacturing Company (NYSE: MOD), a diversified global leader in thermal management technology and solutions, today reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2020.

First Quarter Highlights:

• Net sales of $347.8 million decreased 34 percent from the prior year, largely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic during the quarter
• Operating loss of $3.2 million and net loss of $8.4 million
• Adjusted EBITDA of $20.5 million
• Loss per share of $0.17 and adjusted loss per share of $0.09
• Significant year-over-year improvement in cash flow, with $12.3 million of cash flow from operating activities and $3.2 million of free cash flow in quarter
• Recently reengaged with potential buyers of automotive business
• Vehicular Thermal Solutions ("VTS") segment now managed and reported as two separate segments, Heavy Duty Equipment ("HDE") and Automotive

"The severe drop in customer demand and resulting plant shutdowns in the first quarter caused by COVID-19 appears to be behind us, but many of our manufacturing facilities continue to operate at well below normal capacity," said Modine Interim Chief Executive Officer, Michael B. (Mick) Lucareli. "The revenue decline in the first quarter was in line with our expectations, and our earnings and cash flows benefited from the swift and decisive cost saving actions we took in March and April. We have completed the separation of the automotive business into the standalone Automotive segment and are running the business to maximize returns and cash flows. We are reengaged with potential buyers of our automotive business as we continue to move towards an eventual exit."

Financial Results

Net sales decreased 34 percent in the first quarter to $347.8 million, compared with $529.0 million in the prior year. The decrease was primarily driven by market-related volume declines in the HDE, Automotive, and Commercial and Industrial Solutions ("CIS") segments. This decline includes the significant impact of COVID-19 related plant closures around the world during the quarter. 

Gross profit decreased 45 percent year-over-year in the first quarter to $46.1 million, primarily driven by volume declines in the Automotive, HDE and CIS segments. This was partially offset by higher gross profit in the Building HVAC ("BHVAC") segment, which increased 6 percent on slightly lower sales volume. Overall gross margin decreased 250 basis points during the quarter to 13.3 percent, primarily due to the lower sales volume, partially offset by positive performance resulting from cost controlling actions.         

Selling, general and administrative ("SG&A") expenses were $44.7 million in the first quarter, which was $18.8 million or 30 percent lower than the prior year. This decrease was primarily driven by lower compensation and travel expenses from cost saving initiatives across the organization, and lower automotive separation and strategy costs than the prior year.

The operating loss in the first quarter was $3.2 million, compared to $18.1 million of operating income in the prior year. This decrease was driven primarily by lower gross profit and higher restructuring expenses in the first quarter of fiscal 2021, partially offset by lower SG&A expenses as compared to the prior year. During the first quarter of fiscal 2021, the Company recorded $4.6 million of restructuring expenses primarily related to employee severance expenses. In addition, the Company recorded $0.5 million of costs to separate and prepare the automotive business for a potential sale. In the prior year, strategy and restructuring expenses and certain other items totaled $10.3 million. Excluding these items, as well as depreciation and amortization expense, Adjusted EBITDA of $20.5 million was down $26.8 million compared with $47.3 million in the prior year. 

The loss per share was $0.17 in the first quarter, compared with earnings per share of $0.16 in the prior year.  Adjusted loss per share was $0.09 in the first quarter, compared with adjusted earnings per share of $0.31 in the prior year. These decreases were primarily due to lower operating earnings compared to the prior year. 

First Quarter Segment Review

• CIS segment sales were $122.5 million, compared with $168.8 million one year ago, a decrease of 27 percent. This decrease was driven by lower sales to commercial HVAC, refrigeration and data center customers, but was partially offset by slightly higher sales to industrial customers. The segment reported gross margin of 12.6 percent, down 180 basis points compared with the prior year, primarily due to lower sales volumes, partially offset by the positive impact of cost savings initiatives and favorable sales mix. The segment was breakeven at the operating earnings level, down $9.0 million, primarily due to lower gross profit and higher restructuring expenses, partially offset by lower SG&A expenses as compared to the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA for the CIS segment was $8.6 million, a decrease of $6.5 million from the prior year.
                    
• BHVAC segment sales were $47.6 million, compared with $49.0 million one year ago, a decrease of 3 percent. This decrease was driven primarily by lower sales of heating and ventilation products, but was partially offset by higher sales to data center customers in the U.K. The segment reported gross margin of 30.5 percent, which was 260 basis points higher than the prior year, primarily due to favorable customer pricing, materials and labor costs. The segment reported operating income of $7.1 million, an increase of $1.8 million, primarily due to higher gross profit and lower SG&A expenses resulting from costs savings initiatives. Adjusted EBITDA for the BHVAC segment was $7.9 million, an increase of $1.8 million, or 30 percent, from the prior year.
                             
• HDE segment sales were $123.5 million, compared with $216.4 million one year ago, a decrease of 43 percent. This decrease was driven by lower sales to all end markets around the world, largely as the result of lower end market demand. The segment reported gross margin of 9.2 percent, down 580 basis points from the prior year. This decrease was primarily due to lower sales volume partially offset by the benefit of cost saving initiatives. The segment's operating loss of $2.5 million decreased $19.8 million compared to operating income of $17.3 million in the prior year. This decrease was primarily due to lower gross profit on the lower sales volume, partially offset by lower SG&A expense as compared to the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA for the HDE segment was $5.5 million, a decrease of $18.7 million from the prior year.
                              
• Automotive segment sales were $62.1 million, compared with $113.6 million one year ago, a decrease of 45 percent. This decrease was driven by lower sales in Europe and North America due to lower end market demand. The segment reported gross margin of 7.7 percent, down 330 basis points compared with the prior year, primarily due to lower sales volumes, partially offset by performance improvements and favorable materials. The segment's operating loss of $3.8 million was down $3.8 million, primarily due to lower gross profit partially offset by lower SG&A and restructuring expenses as compared to the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA for the Automotive segment was $1.4 million, a decrease of $5.1 million from the prior year.

Balance Sheet & Liquidity

Net cash provided by operating activities for the quarter ended June 30, 2020 was $12.3 million, an increase of $11.8 million compared with the prior year. Free cash flow for the first quarter of fiscal 2021 was $3.2 million, a $23.0 million improvement from the prior year, primarily resulting from improved working capital in part due to improved inventory management, lower capital expenditures and lower cash restructuring and strategy payments. Cash payments for restructuring activities and automotive strategy and separation costs during the quarter were $7.2 million. 

Total debt was $486.7 million as of June 30, 2020. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the first quarter were $77.2 million, and the Company maintained $118.4 million of capacity under its revolving credit facility, resulting in total available liquidity of $195.6 million as of June 30, 2020. Net debt was $409.5 million as of June 30, 2020, a decrease of $2.0 million from the end of fiscal 2020. 

Outlook

Lucareli concluded, "We maintain a strong financial position, a disciplined approach to cost management, and our global teams remain in frequent communication with our customers who are all beginning to recover at various speeds. Although we are growing more confident in our short-term customer order book, the medium- and long-term outlooks remain highly unpredictable. We currently expect that our first quarter sales will serve as the trough of our quarterly performance this year, and expect to see incremental revenue and earnings improvements each quarter throughout fiscal 2021."

Conference Call and Webcast

Modine will conduct a conference call and live webcast, with a slide presentation, on Wednesday, August 5, 2020 at 8:00 a.m. Central Time (9:00 a.m. Eastern Time) to discuss its first quarter fiscal 2021 financial results. The webcast and accompanying slides will be available on the Investor Relations section of the Modine website at www.modine.com. Participants are encouraged to log on to the webcast and conference call about ten minutes prior to the start of the event. A replay of the audio and slides will be available on the Investor Relations section of the Modine website at www.modine.com on or after August 5, 2020. A call-in replay will be available through midnight on August 10, 2020, at 800-585-8367, (international replay 416-621-4642); Conference ID# 2368339. The Company will post a transcript of the call on its website, on August 10, 2020.

About Modine

Modine, with fiscal 2020 revenues of $2.0 billion, specializes in thermal management systems and components, bringing highly engineered heating and cooling components, original equipment products, and systems to diversified global markets through its four complementary segments: CIS; BHVAC; HDE; and Automotive. Modine is a global company headquartered in Racine, Wisconsin (USA), with operations in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. For more information about Modine, visit www.modine.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements, including information about future financial performance and market conditions, accompanied by phrases such as "believes," "estimates," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "intends," and other similar "forward-looking" statements, as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Modine's actual results, performance or achievements may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements because of certain risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to those described under "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of Part I of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2020 and under Forward-Looking Statements in Item 7 of Part II of that same report.  Other risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the national and global economy, our business, suppliers, customers, and employees; the overall health and price-down focus of Modine's customers; our ability to successfully execute our strategic and operational plans, including our ability to successfully exit the automotive business; our ability to effectively and efficiently reduce our cost structure in response to sales volume declines and complete restructuring activities and realize benefits thereon; our ability to comply with the financial covenants in our credit agreements and to fund our global liquidity requirements efficiently, particularly in light of the volatility and negative impacts to the financial markets resulting from COVID-19; operational inefficiencies as a result of program launches, unexpected volume increases, product transfers, and delays or inefficiencies resulting from restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; economic, social and political conditions, changes and challenges in the markets where Modine operates and competes, including foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, tariffs (and potential trade war impacts resulting from tariffs or retaliatory actions), inflation, changes in interest rates or tightening of the credit markets, recession, restrictions associated with importing and exporting and foreign ownership, public health crises, and the general uncertainties about the impact of regulatory and/or policy changes, including those related to tax and trade, the COVID-19 pandemic and other matters, that have been or may be implemented in the U.S. or abroad, and continuing uncertainty regarding the impacts of "Brexit"; the impact on Modine of any significant increases in commodity prices, particularly aluminum, copper, steel and stainless steel (nickel) and other purchased component inventory, and our ability to adjust product pricing in response to any such increases; the nature of and Modine's significant exposure to the vehicular industry and the dependence of this industry on the health of the economy; the concentration of sales within our CIS segment attributed to one customer; Modine's ability to recruit and maintain talent in managerial, leadership, and administrative functions; Modine's ability to protect its proprietary information and intellectual property from theft or attack; the impact of any substantial disruption or material breach of our information technology systems; costs and other effects of environmental investigation, remediation or litigation; and other risks and uncertainties identified by the Company in public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  Forward-looking statements are as of the date of this release, and the Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Non-GAAP Financial Disclosures

Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted earnings per share, net debt, and free cash flow (which are defined below) as used in this press release are not measures that are defined in generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).  These non-GAAP measures are used by management as performance measures to evaluate the company's overall financial performance and liquidity.  We believe these measures provide a more consistent view of performance than the closest GAAP equivalent for management and investors. Management compensates for this by using these measures in combination with the GAAP measures. However, these measures are not, and should not be viewed, as substitutes for the applicable GAAP measures, and may be different from similarly-titled measures used by other companies. 

Definition – Adjusted EBITDA

Net earnings excluding interest expense, the provision or benefit for income taxes, depreciation and amortization expenses, other income and expense, restructuring expenses, impairment charges, costs associated with the review of strategic alternatives for and separation and potential sale of the automotive business, and certain other gains or charges.  The Company believes that adjusted EBITDA provides a relevant measure of profitability and earnings power.  The Company views this financial metric as being useful to assess operating performance from period to period by excluding certain items that it believes are not representative of its core business.  Adjusted EBITDA, when calculated for the business segments, is defined as GAAP operating income excluding depreciation and amortization expenses, restructuring expenses, impairment charges, and certain other gains or charges.

Definition – Adjusted earnings per share

Diluted earnings per share plus restructuring expenses, impairment charges, costs associated with the review of strategic alternatives for and separation and potential sale of the automotive business, and excluding certain other gains or charges.  Adjusted earnings per share is an overall performance measure, not including non-cash impairment charges, costs associated with restructuring activities and certain other gains or charges. 

Definition – Net debt

The sum of debt due within one year and long-term debt, less cash and cash equivalents. This is an indicator of the company's debt position after considering on-hand cash balances.

Definition – Free cash flow

Free cash flow represents net cash provided by operating activities less expenditures for property, plant and equipment.  This measure presents cash generated from operations during the period that is available for strategic capital decisions.

Kathleen Powers
(262) 636-1687
kathleen.t.powers@modine.com

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SOURCE Modine Manufacturing Company