Zimmer Biomet Reports Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2016 Financial Results

WARSAW, Ind., Jan. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. (NYSE and SIX: ZBH) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2016.  The Company reported fourth quarter net sales of $2.013 billion, an increase of 4.1% over the prior year period, and an increase of 4.4% on an adjusted constant currency basis.  Excluding approximately 230 basis points of contribution from the LDR Holding Corporation transaction and adjusting for one less billing day in the quarter, revenues increased by 3.5% over the fourth quarter of 2015.  Diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $0.33 reported, a decrease of 46.8% from the prior year period, and $2.14 adjusted, an increase of 2.4% adjusted over the prior year period. 

Full-year 2016 net sales were $7.684 billion, an increase of 28.1% over the prior year, and an increase of 3.4% on a constant currency, adjusted pro forma basis.  Full-year revenues increased by 2.3% on a constant currency, adjusted pro forma basis, excluding approximately 110 basis points of contribution from the LDR transaction.  Diluted earnings per share for the year were $1.50 reported, an increase of 94.8% over the prior year, and $7.96 adjusted, an increase of 15.4% over the prior year.

"Zimmer Biomet delivered solid revenue growth in the fourth quarter.  Our performance was driven, in part, by the reacceleration of our Knee and Hip businesses, as well as the ongoing strength of our S.E.T. category and Asia Pacific region," said David Dvorak, President and CEO of Zimmer Biomet.  "As we reflect on the completion of our first full year as a combined company, our achievements have further strengthened our confidence in the unique value-creation opportunity we offer in the dynamic global healthcare environment.  We will continue to drive growth across our broad musculoskeletal portfolio in 2017, as we remain focused on delivering against our net synergy commitments and making ongoing progress towards optimizing and harmonizing our supply chain, and manufacturing and quality systems."

Net earnings for the fourth quarter were $66.6 million, a decrease of 47.5% from the prior year period, and $434.1 million on an adjusted basis, an increase of 1.3% over the prior year period.  Operating cash flow for the fourth quarter was $627 million.

Net earnings for full-year 2016 were $302.9 million, an increase of 106.1% over the prior year, and $1.611 billion on an adjusted basis, an increase of 22.9% over the prior year.  Operating cash flow for full-year 2016 was $1.632 billion.

In the quarter, the Company paid $48.1 million in dividends and declared a fourth quarter dividend of $0.24 per share.  The Company also repaid $310 million on certain of its outstanding USD denominated debt.

For full-year 2016, the Company paid $188.4 million in dividends and repaid $1.010 billion of debt related to the Biomet acquisition. 

Guidance
The Company expects constant currency revenue for full-year 2017, as compared to 2016 revenue, to increase between 3.7% and 4.7%, inclusive of approximately 120 basis points of contribution from the LDR transaction.  The Company expects foreign currency translation to decrease revenues by approximately 1.5%.  Therefore, 2017 revenue is expected to increase between 2.2% and 3.2% when compared to full-year 2016 revenue, or to be in a range of $7.855 billion to $7.930 billion.

The Company expects its full-year 2017 diluted earnings per share to be in a range of $4.37 to $4.67, and in a range of $8.50 to $8.68 on an adjusted basis.

Conference Call
The Company will conduct its fourth quarter and full-year 2016 investor conference call today, January 31, 2017, at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time.  The live audio webcast can be accessed via Zimmer Biomet's Investor Relations website at http://investor.zimmerbiomet.com.  It will be archived for replay following the conference call.

Individuals in the U.S. and Canada who wish to dial into the conference call may do so by dialing (888) 312-9837 and entering conference ID 7278985.  For a complete listing of international toll-free and local numbers, please visit http://investor.zimmerbiomet.com.  A digital recording will be available 24 hours after the completion of the conference call, from February 1, 2017 to March 3, 2017.  To access the recording, U.S. callers should dial (888) 203-1112 and international callers should dial +1 (719) 457-0820, and enter the Access Code ID 7278985.

Sales Tables
The following fourth quarter sales table provides results by geography and product category, as well as the percentage change compared to the prior year quarter on a reported basis and an adjusted constant currency basis.  The following full-year sales table provides results by geography and product category, as well as the percentage change compared to the prior year on a reported basis.

About the Company
Founded in 1927 and headquartered in Warsaw, Indiana, Zimmer Biomet is a global leader in musculoskeletal healthcare. We design, manufacture and market orthopaedic reconstructive products; sports medicine, biologics, extremities and trauma products; office based technologies; spine, craniomaxillofacial and thoracic products; dental implants; and related surgical products.

We collaborate with healthcare professionals around the globe to advance the pace of innovation. Our products and solutions help treat patients suffering from disorders of, or injuries to, bones, joints or supporting soft tissues. Together with healthcare professionals, we help millions of people live better lives.

We have operations in more than 25 countries around the world and sell products in more than 100 countries. For more information, visit www.zimmerbiomet.com or follow Zimmer Biomet on Twitter at www.twitter.com/zimmerbiomet. 

Website Information
We routinely post important information for investors on our website, www.zimmerbiomet.com, in the "Investor Relations" section.  We use this website as a means of disclosing material, non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.  Accordingly, investors should monitor the Investor Relations section of our website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls, presentations and webcasts.  The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, our website is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this document.

Note on Financial Statements
The effects of purchase accounting adjustments reflected in the financial statements of this press release related to the acquisition of LDR and other 2016 acquisitions are preliminary, and as a result our annual goodwill impairment testing is not yet complete.  Our financial statements to be filed in our annual report on Form 10-K may change as we refine our purchase accounting estimates and complete our goodwill impairment testing.  The provision for income taxes in the three-month period ended December 31, 2016 includes provisions that were related to previous periods.  We have evaluated the effect of these out-of-period adjustments on the three-month period ended December 31, 2016, as well as on the previous interim and annual periods in which they should have been recognized, and concluded for both quantitative and qualitative reasons that these adjustments are not material to any of the periods affected.  We are still in-process of evaluating the internal controls that did not operate effectively in preventing these errors.

Note on Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This press release includes non-GAAP financial measures that differ from financial measures calculated in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP").  These non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similar measures reported by other companies and should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, other measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Sales growth information for the three-month period ended December 31, 2016 is presented on a GAAP (reported) basis and on an adjusted constant currency basis, as well as on a basis that excludes the contribution from the Company's acquisition of LDR Holding Corporation in July 2016 and an adjustment for one less billing day in the three-month period.  Sales growth information for the year ended December 31, 2016 is presented on a GAAP (reported) basis and on a constant currency, adjusted pro forma basis, as well as on a basis that excludes the contribution from the LDR transaction.  Projected revenue growth information for the year ended December 31, 2017 is presented on a GAAP basis and on a constant currency basis.  Adjusted revenue growth refers to a comparison against revenue for the prior year period adjusted to reflect the impact of the previously announced divestiture remedies.  Constant currency growth rates exclude the effects of foreign currency exchange rates.  They are calculated by translating current and prior-period sales at the same predetermined exchange rate.  The translated results are then used to determine year-over-year percentage increases or decreases. Pro forma revenue growth refers to a comparison against revenue for the prior year that has been adjusted to reflect the inclusion of Biomet revenue. 

Net earnings, diluted earnings per share and projected diluted earnings per share are presented on a GAAP (reported) basis and on an adjusted basis.  Adjusted earnings and earnings per share measures exclude the effects of inventory step-up and other inventory and manufacturing related charges, certain claims, special items, intangible asset amortization, financing and other expenses/gains related to the Biomet merger and other acquisitions, debt extinguishment charges, the tax effects of these items and other certain tax adjustments.  Special items include expenses resulting directly from our business combinations and/or global restructuring, quality and operational excellence initiatives, including employee termination benefits, certain contract terminations, consulting and professional fees, dedicated project personnel, asset impairment or loss on disposal charges and other items.  Other certain tax adjustments primarily include internal restructuring transactions that provide the Company access to offshore funds in a tax efficient manner, resolution of certain matters with taxing authorities and adjustments to deferred tax liabilities recognized as part of acquisition-related accounting.

We use these non-GAAP financial measures internally to evaluate the performance of the business and believe they are useful measures that provide meaningful supplemental information to investors to consider when evaluating the performance of the Company.  We believe these measures offer the ability to make period-to-period comparisons that are not impacted by certain items that can cause dramatic changes in reported operating results, to perform trend analysis, to better identify operating trends that may otherwise be masked or distorted by these types of items and to provide additional transparency of certain items.  In addition, certain of these non-GAAP financial measures are used as performance metrics in our incentive compensation programs.

Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in this press release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This communication contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as "may," "will," "expects," "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "assumes," "guides," "targets," "forecasts," "sees" and "seeks" or the negative of such terms or other variations on such terms or comparable terminology.  All statements other than statements of historical or current fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements.  Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially.  These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the possibility that the anticipated synergies and other benefits from mergers and acquisitions will not be realized, or will not be realized within the expected time periods; the risks and uncertainties related to our ability to successfully integrate the operations, products, employees and distributors of acquired companies; the effect of the potential disruption of management's attention from ongoing business operations due to integration matters related to mergers and acquisitions; the effect of mergers and acquisitions on our relationships with customers, vendors and lenders and on our operating results and businesses generally; compliance with the Deferred Prosecution Agreement entered into in January 2017; the outcome of government investigations; price and product competition; the success of our quality and operational excellence initiatives; challenges relating to changes in and compliance with governmental laws and regulations, including regulations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the "FDA") and foreign government regulators, such as more stringent requirements for regulatory clearance of products; the ability to remediate matters identified in any inspectional observations or warning letters issued by the FDA, while continuing to satisfy the demand for our products; changes in customer demand for our products and services caused by demographic changes or other factors; the impact of healthcare reform measures; reductions in reimbursement levels by third-party payors and cost containment efforts of healthcare purchasing organizations; dependence on new product development, technological advances and innovation; shifts in the product category or regional sales mix of our products and services; supply and prices of raw materials and products; control of costs and expenses; the ability to obtain and maintain adequate intellectual property protection; the ability to form and implement alliances; changes in tax obligations arising from tax reform measures or examinations by tax authorities; product liability and intellectual property litigation losses; the ability to retain the independent agents and distributors who market our products; dependence on a limited number of suppliers for key raw materials and outsourced activities; changes in general industry and market conditions, including domestic and international growth rates and general domestic and international economic conditions, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; and the impact of the ongoing economic uncertainty affecting countries in the Euro zone on the ability to collect accounts receivable in affected countries.  For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see our reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  Copies of these filings, as well as subsequent filings, are available online at www.sec.gov, www.zimmerbiomet.com or on request from us.  We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be set forth in our periodic reports.  Readers of this communication are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, since, while management believes the assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, there can be no assurance that these forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate.  This cautionary statement is applicable to all forward-looking statements contained in this communication.