Matthews International Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
April 28, 2023

Key Takeaways

  • Consolidated sales rose almost 8% year-over-year (10% constant currency) and adjusted EBITDA improved 6% (9% constant currency), keeping the company on target to meet full-year guidance.
  • Industrial Technologies segment sales jumped 60.6% driven by Energy Storage Solutions and the acquisitions of Ulbrich and R&S, with over $200 million of energy orders on track for recognition through fiscal 2024.
  • Memorialization segment delivered steady growth despite normalized death rates, with sales up through improved pricing, market share gains and acquisitions, supporting strong cash flow for debt reduction.
  • SGK Brand Solutions segment experienced lower sales due to unfavorable currency translation and challenging European markets, though cost reduction measures are underway to drive margin recovery.
  • The company is advancing innovative products—including a silicon-based printhead with up to 30% lower lifetime cost and an autonomous vehicle management solution for warehouses—positioning it for future growth.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Matthews International Q2 2023
00:00 / 00:00

There are 7 speakers on the call.

Operator

Greetings. Welcome to the Matthews International Second Quarter Fiscal 2023 Financial Results. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. Please note this conference is being recorded.

Operator

I will now turn the conference over to your host, Bill Wilson, Senior Director of Corporate Development. You may begin.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Shamali. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Matthews International Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. This is Bill Wilson, Senior Director of Corporate Development. With me today are Joe Bartolacci, President and Chief Executive Officer and Steve Nicola, our Chief Financial Officer. Before we start, I want to remind you that our earnings release was posted on our website, www.matw.com, in the Investors section last night.

Speaker 1

The presentation for our call can also be accessed in the Investors section of the website. Any forward looking statements in connection with this discussion are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Factors that could cause the company's results to differ from those discussed today are set forth in the company's annual report on Form 10 ks and other periodic filings with the SEC. In addition, we will be discussing non GAAP financial metrics and encourage you to read our disclosures and reconciliation tables carefully as you consider these metrics. In connection with any forward looking statements and non GAAP financial information, please read the disclaimer included in today's presentation materials located on our website.

Speaker 1

And now, I will turn the call over to Joe.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Bill. Good morning. Let me first thank all of our employees globally for their contributions to our continuing success last quarter. We are very pleased with our results for the fiscal 2023 Second Quarter as we continue to see momentum and interest in our Energy Solutions Growth in our warehouse automation business and strong results in our Memorialization segment despite a significant decline in COVID related deaths. We are on target to meet our financial guidance for the current year and we remain focused on continuing to evolve our businesses to meet the opportunities before us.

Speaker 2

Consolidated sales increased by almost 8% and adjusted EBITDA improved by 6% in the Q2 of fiscal 23 on a year over year basis. Importantly, on a constant currency basis compared to prior year, Our sales increased 10% and our EBITDA increased almost 9%, a strong performance in a challenging environment. Looking at our businesses, Industrial Technologies grew by over 60% year over year, primarily through higher sales from our Energy Storage Solutions business as well as the acquisitions of Ulbrich and R&S Automotive. The interest in our energy storage offerings remains strong as we engage with many industry leaders in the battery space, including most of the Asia Pacific based battery manufacturers. As well as OEMs around the world, We stand positioned to continue to grow this business.

Speaker 2

Progress on the over $200,000,000 of energy orders we announced last quarter Is on track and going well. We look forward to sharing additional information in detail on new orders over the next few quarters as several of our discussions are approaching the final phase of negotiations. Although, Ulbrich has yet to be a contributor to our bottom line, The acquisition was a clear message to the EV market that we now have the skills and the capacity to significantly grow our energy business. But for the Ulbrich acquisition, I am doubtful our current and prospective customers would have entrusted us with the orders we have received, let alone The orders and relationships that we are discussing. We are beginning to raise our prices and reduce our costs at Overt as we look to position the business as a significant contributor to our overall results going forward.

Speaker 2

Our Memorialization business grew despite the return to more normalized death rates following COVID. As stated in our earlier calls, We've evolved this business since COVID to a higher level of overall performance through market share gains, tuck in acquisitions, Our growing cremation products business and significant capital investments designed to improve productivity, this business is poised for continuing success. For example, memorialization sales grew by 44% when compared to fiscal 20 2Q1, The immediately preceding quarter before COVID deaths began to emerge. These improvements assure us of a continued steady cash flow necessary to evolve our overall business and focus on reducing our debt. We are innovators at our core And this attribute can clearly be seen in our product identification business, where we continue to make good progress in the development of our new products.

Speaker 2

For one of those products, which I've mentioned before, a silicon based printhead, we have received external third party revalidation of value proposition giving us increased confidence of the opportunity ahead as we move to production. Our external research confirms that total cost of ownership of this new product can be up to 30% lower over the lifetime of competitive products. When coupled with the ability to meet changing marketing and coding demands like 2 d codes or QR codes and ease of use, Our business proposition gets stronger each day. In our warehouse automation business, we are in the early stages of a new phase of evolution at this business as well. As you are aware, we are a leading provider of warehouse execution software and pick to like technologies that help companies meet the demand of an ever expanding e commerce market.

Speaker 2

Our latest solution in this business will enable Matthews proprietary autonomous vehicle management solutions to further penetrate the automated warehouse. This solution is still in its early stages, but we have great confidence in our ability to innovate in this space for further success. Moving on to SGK. The business continues to be impacted by a variety of elements, including unfavorable currency rate changes and difficult market conditions in Europe. However, the cost reduction actions we initiated in Europe last quarter are beginning to take effect and have mitigated some of the negative impact.

Speaker 2

Further actions to improve our cost structure in this business, Particularly in Europe, our plan in the coming quarters and we expect margin improvement throughout the remainder of fiscal 2023 and into 2024. As we look forward to the remainder of the year, we are expecting continued consolidated growth. We are only in the early stages of the Energy Solutions Orders we announced in January of this year. As a result, we expect these orders to provide some benefit throughout the remainder of fiscal 2023 and into and through the Q2 of fiscal 2024. But given the nature of these significant orders, the timing of revenue Recognition is subject to change.

Speaker 2

Backlog for our warehouse automation business remains strong, assuring us of another strong year in this business. We remain confident that our Memorialization business will continue to perform despite a return to normalized death rates post COVID. And as for SGK, we do see an improvement of the pricing environment and as discussed earlier, we are also starting to realize the benefits from recently implemented Cost Reduction Actions With these factors in mind, in addition to the continuation of uncertain near term economic environment, We remain cautious in our outlook. Consequently, we are maintaining our previous guidance for fiscal 2023 of adjusted EBITDA of between $215,000,000 to $235,000,000 Although we have the orders to deliver a strong year, We have chosen to remain cautious on the timing of revenue recognition on the existing energy orders and the timing of future orders in this business. Let me now hand over the call to Steve, who will discuss the financial results for the quarter in greater detail.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Joe, and good morning. I'll begin with Slide 7. Consolidated sales for the fiscal 2023 Second Quarter were $479,600,000 compared to $445,000,000 a year ago, representing an increase of $34,600,000 or 7.8%. On a constant currency basis, sales were 10% higher than the same quarter last year. The increase primarily reflected higher sales for the Industrial Technology segment.

Speaker 3

The Industrial Technology segment reported a sales increase of $47,400,000 or 60.6 percent compared to a year ago, primarily reflecting higher engineering, energy storage solutions sales and the impact of the acquisitions of Olbrook GmbH Sales for the SGK Brand Solutions segment were lower than a year ago. On a consolidated basis, changes in currency rates had an unfavorable impact $9,900,000 on current quarter sales compared to a year ago. On a GAAP basis, the company's net income was $9,100,000 or $2.9 per share for the current quarter compared to a loss of $1,900,000 or $0.06 per share for the same quarter last year. The Q2 last year included asset write downs of approximately $10,300,000 or $0.33 per share related to the Russia Ukraine war. On a non GAAP basis, consolidated adjusted EBITDA, which represents net income before expense, income, taxes, depreciation and amortization and other adjustments for the fiscal 2023 Q2 was $58,400,000 compared to $55,200,000 a year ago, representing an increase of $3,200,000 or 5.9%.

Speaker 3

The year over year change primarily reflected increases for the Memorialization and Industrial Technology segments, offset partially by lower EBITDA for the SGK Brand Solutions segment. Changes in currency rates had an unfavorable impact of $1,500,000 on current quarter consolidated adjusted EBITDA compared to a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share for the current quarter was $0.65 compared to $0.74 for the same quarter a year ago. The increase in consolidated adjusted EBITDA for the current quarter was offset by higher interest expense. The increase in interest expense primarily reflected higher interest rates and higher average debt levels compared to a year ago.

Speaker 3

Please refer to the reconciliations of adjusted EBITDA, non GAAP adjusted earnings per share and constant currency sales and adjusted EBITDA provided in our earnings release. Please turn to Slide 8 to begin a review of our segment results. Sales for the Industrial Technology segment for the fiscal 2023 Second Quarter were $125,500,000 compared to $78,200,000 a year ago, representing an increase of $47,400,000 or 60.6%. The acquisitions of Olbrich and R&S Automotive contributed $33,200,000 to the current quarter. The engineering business reported higher sales for the current quarter compared to a year ago, primarily reflecting continued growth on our energy storage solutions business.

Speaker 3

Our warehouse automation and product identification businesses also reported higher sales for the current quarter compared to last year. Changes in currency rates had an unfavorable impact of $3,300,000 on the segment's current quarter sales compared to a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA for the Industrial Technology segment for the current quarter was $15,600,000 compared to $14,400,000 a year ago. The increase primarily reflected the segment sales growth for the current quarter. The segment's adjusted EBITDA margin percentage EBITDA compared to a year ago.

Speaker 3

Please turn to Slide 9. Sales for the Memorialization segment for the fiscal 20 23 Q2 were $222,900,000 compared to $220,000,000 for the same quarter a year ago. The modest increase primarily reflected the benefits of improved pricing, higher sales of cemetery memorial products, mausoleums and U. S. Cremation equipment and the acquisition of Eagle Granite Company.

Speaker 3

These increases were partially offset by lower unit sales of caskets reflecting lower COVID related deaths. Changes in currency rates had an unfavorable impact of $672,000 on the segment's current quarter sales compared to a year ago. Memorialization segment adjusted EBITDA for the current quarter was $48,000,000 compared to $42,900,000 for the 2nd fiscal quarter last year. The increase primarily reflected resulted from higher sales, improved pricing and benefits from operational cost savings initiatives. These increases were partially offset by the impact of lower casket sales volumes and increased materials, labor and other inflation related costs.

Speaker 3

Please turn to Slide 10. The SGK Brand Solutions segment reported sales of $131,200,000 for Quarter ended March 31, 2023 compared to $146,800,000 a year ago. The segment's European businesses $5,900,000 on current quarter sales compared to a year ago. Sales for the segment's retail based businesses were also lower. Adjusted EBITDA for the SGK Brand Solutions segment was $11,000,000 for the current quarter compared to $13,500,000 a year ago.

Speaker 3

The decrease primarily reflected lower sales and inflation related cost increases. These impacts were partially offset by benefits from the segment's recent cost Please turn to Slide 11. Cash flow from operating activities for the fiscal 2023 2nd quarter Was $80,900,000 compared to $99,900,000 a year ago. For the 6 months ended March 31, 20 23 operating cash flow was $44,600,000 compared to $72,700,000 a year ago. Operating cash flow for both year to date periods reflected final payouts for the settlement of the company's U.

Speaker 3

S. Retirement plan obligations. The final payouts for the settlement of the supplemental retirement plans totaled $24,200,000 in the fiscal 2023 Q1. Final payouts for settlement of the company's principal U. S.

Speaker 3

Pension plan totaled $35,700,000 in the 1st fiscal quarter last year. In addition, operating cash flow for the current year reflected an increase in working capital, primarily resulting from higher inventories and reduced current liabilities. Outstanding debt was $778,000,000 March 31, 2023, representing a decrease of $59,100,000 during the current quarter. Outstanding debt was $837,000,000 as of December 31, 2022 $799,000,000 on September 30, 2022. At March 31, 2023, the company's leverage ratio based on net debt, which represents outstanding debt less cash and the trailing 12 months adjusted EBITDA was 3.5 compared to 3.85 At the end of December 2022 and 3.5 at September 30, 2022.

Speaker 3

Based on our projections for the remainder of the fiscal year, we expect these levels to decline further. Approximately 30 500,000 shares were outstanding at March 31, 2023. During the fiscal 2023 Q2, the company purchased 7,600 shares At a cost of $287,000 the purchases related to withholding tax obligations on equity compensation. At March 31, 2023, the company had remaining authorization of approximately 1,200,000 shares under its repurchase program. Finally, earlier this week, the Board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share on the company's common stock.

Speaker 3

The dividend is payable May 22, 2023 to stockholders of record May 8, 2023. This concludes the financial review and we will now open the call to questions.

Operator

And at this time, we will be conducting a question and answer session. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question Our first question comes from the line of Daniel Moore with CJS Securities. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Good morning, Joe, Bill, Steve. Thanks for taking the questions.

Speaker 2

Good morning, Dan.

Speaker 4

Let's start with Thank you. Start with the industrial piece and specifically energy storage. How much if assuming revenue does approach $500,000,000 how much of that is represented by energy storage? And maybe just talk about what you're seeing in terms By Energy Storage and maybe just talk about what you're seeing in terms of the pipeline of new opportunities beyond that $200,000,000 of new orders that we took in?

Speaker 2

I think I heard 2 questions here. So I'll try to get it to you. So if we are approaching $200,000,000 $500,000,000 worth of revenue, Timing of our recognition of revenue is going to be determinant about how much of that is made up out of energy. We're expecting that dollars 200,000,000 worth of orders to be recognized about half in this particular fiscal year and we have other revenues that we're going to be recognizing. So if we were to achieve half, I would Half of the 500, yes.

Speaker 2

Okay. Now I was saying, okay, half of the orders were recognized, Dan. So out of the 200,000,000 About half of it if we hit that to 150 percent of those orders this fiscal year, We should have somewhere around $140,000,000 to $150,000,000 of energy orders for the fiscal Timing of that is dependent on revenue recognition, which is not necessarily in our control. In terms of what else is happening, you heard in my commentary, The ramp up of inquiries is significant. We are in final stages of negotiations with fairly significant orders From several of the OEMs we've mentioned before like ACC and Ola, But we are also in more relationship negotiations with a lot of the APAC related battery manufacturers that could resolve in significant orders as well.

Speaker 2

So we're pretty bullish as we have always been in this innovative technology that we have and where it's gone.

Speaker 4

Very helpful. And obviously, you've discussed this before, margins on Ulbrich and R and S are lower than Average and that's why margins are a little lower this quarter. Just talk about the path to getting kind of overall segment margins back to maybe double digits and maybe even mid teens ultimately?

Speaker 2

We expect for the full year to be in double digits From an EBITDA margin standpoint, we are starting to take actions at the latter part of this fiscal year this fiscal quarter, The 3rd fiscal quarter as it relates to our Overkin R and S and those actions are both costs as well as pricing actions that should continue to improve that business for the quarters So we're confident that they're going to be a contributor to the organization in their traditional business. But mind you, we would probably not be able to do of the orders that we're talking about today on the energy side without them. So, it was a good move on our behalf, I believe, and where we think this business will go.

Speaker 4

Certainly. And then while we stick with industrial, just you mentioned warehouse Automation, and sounds like you got some incremental progress on the new print head solution. That's 1. And 2, just overall kind of order activity in warehouse solutions. And then I'll jump back to queue.

Speaker 2

Yes. Warehouse is full for the year, so we're not expecting any significant. Now you've been with us for a while, Dan, you understand When economic crisis sometimes it people pause projects, we don't lose those projects, they get paused. In our guidance, we're not anticipating a pause of any those projects. The order activity is a little bit slower than we would like at this time of the year, but we've watched this Business change pretty rapidly when it comes to order intakes, and it's given the size of some of these contracts, it can change very, very rapidly in terms of where we see going into next year.

Speaker 2

On the new product development, we are calling that out Specifically, because one of the things that we have done is an external third party validation of our business propositions. That external party validation reconfirms and adds to our confidence, frankly. We are moving our Production we are moving to a new fab lab for production purposes, and that is ramping up as we speak. We expect to be in market in 2024 and the opportunities get bigger every day. So we're pretty confident Right now with all three of those businesses in our Industrial Technologies, we've been building these little businesses into something fairly significant.

Speaker 2

We think next year could be another It's a stellar year for us, but clearly the balance of this year will should remain strong.

Speaker 4

Very helpful, Joe. I'll jump back in queue with any follow ups. Thanks.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Liam Burke with B. Riley. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 5

Thank you. Good morning, Joe, Steve and Bill.

Speaker 2

Good morning, everyone.

Speaker 5

Good morning. Steve, in your prepared comments, you highlighted lower year over year operating cash from operations And specifically talked about higher inventories. Could you give us some color? Is it just timing or what's in that number?

Speaker 3

Business driven, Liam. So our operating cash flow in the second quarter was still very good. It was 80,900,000 But it was a little bit lower than last year's number, and that had to do partly with inventory build. And the two areas that I Point 2, our energy related businesses, those inventories were higher and as you would expect, driven by increased revenues, increased demand, increased work, and similarly our granite inventories on the memorialization inside of the business because that business has been growing and we've seen volume increases there as well. So inventory growth to support Growth in those two businesses.

Speaker 5

Great. Thanks, Steve. And just sticking with the Granite, it seems like a consistent or the Cemetery Products seems to be a consistent contributor to revenue growth. Is there something in the business that's Change, it used to be rather variable on a quarter to quarter. This seems to be a consistent contributor now.

Speaker 2

Yes, Liam, we've been calling it out for a while. We've had both market share gains in every one of those businesses as well as Strong pricing realization that has allowed us to maintain that. As I said in my comments, this business has been reset from where we were pre COVID. Volumes will be back to normal, but the revenues we anticipate our bottom line to be Going forward are materially different than they were before. The steps we're taking to continue to improve it, if I were to images of the automation that we put into businesses, gives us great confidence in our continued ability to generate strong cash flows and improve our margins going forward.

Speaker 5

Great. Thank you. And real quick on the cemetery, you highlighted U. S. Sales on cremation, excuse me, were higher.

Speaker 5

How has the margin contribution been there?

Speaker 2

I mean, let's put it this way, Liam. On the cremation sales, we sold a little over $125,000,000 of cremation related products and services, And it's growing. I would tell you that the margins over there are consistent in the mid teens, And we hope that over time that gets better. We are moving into some new incineration projects and new incineration goals in the UK business that we think will improve our overall margins in our cremation segment as well.

Speaker 5

Great. Thanks, Steve. Thanks, Joe.

Operator

And our next question comes from the line of Justin Bergner with Gabelli Funds. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 2

Good morning. Good morning, Justin.

Speaker 3

Good morning.

Speaker 6

How are you, Joe? Are you Steve?

Speaker 2

We're well. Good. Early morning.

Speaker 6

First question relates to the warehouse automation. You mentioned that you're seeing some pausing going on in activity, but you don't expect that to, I guess, affect the Current fiscal year, can you sort of speak to what that might mean for the first half of the next fiscal year or sort of just looking beyond The next question

Speaker 3

comes from the line

Speaker 2

of Jefferies. Yes. It's difficult to tell. We're not anticipating any impact to the current So right now, the orders are in house and our projects are in on time to deliver a strong year. As you might expect, projects of this scale end up being I did and won months in advance.

Speaker 2

We're seeing a slowing, probably consistent with I would say the overall market might be feeling, and I would call it more a cautiousness rather than a pause from our customer base as they try to figure out what's happening with the economic environment we're in. But that changes very, very, very quickly, Justin. Some of these projects can be $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 that you can land relatively quickly that you weren't anticipating necessarily at this time. We still have 4, 5 months before we begin next year. Some of the orders we have now will roll in the Q1 at least of next year.

Speaker 2

So right now, we're not anticipating any major challenges into next year, but We'll keep you up to date over the course of the next quarter or 2.

Speaker 6

Okay. And Secondly, you alluded to some of the new, I guess, product and technology initiatives on the warehouse automation side. Could you just Elaborate a little bit further in terms of the additional areas you're looking to get into?

Speaker 2

So one of the projects that we are working on that I think has some significant opportunities is the management of what's called AGVs, Autonomous guided vehicles. Autonomous guided vehicles are basically robotic moving carts that will move around A warehouse autonomously and allow the movement of product without the conveyors. And the magic in this whole system is managing multiple AGVs in a warehouse That could be upwards of 1,500,000 square feet. So, we're developing that technology. We've got a test model going out here hopefully in the next 6 months or so with a large U.

Speaker 2

S. Customer that I'm not at liberty to speak about. Obviously, if that is successful, We'll be rolling it out over the years to come. The commentary about that is more around we're not static.

Speaker 3

In each

Speaker 2

one of these three businesses, what we call industrial technology and for that matter in all of our businesses, we continue to evolve them. And I think that part of it is lost on a lot of the market. The opportunities that are presented to us, Justin, are things that It will allow us to continue to grow these businesses and meet market demands and be innovators in that space.

Speaker 6

Got it. And then in terms of the

Speaker 2

It's a European fabrication lab here in the coming month or 2. Our expectation is we're going to start the production levels of that. It takes As you might expect, this is not an overnight production. We have a product. We have found a partner for the development of that product And for the production of that product, excuse me, and I would tell you it is a 'twenty four event.

Speaker 6

Okay. And then lastly, I believe you mentioned the relative cash outflows to Settle your pension this year and last, could you repeat those? I just didn't realize after that.

Speaker 3

Sure. So this year, we settled our supplemental plans in the Q1, dollars 24,000,000 last year we settled in the Q1 our U. S. Pension plan And that was a little over $35,000,000

Speaker 6

Great. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2

You're welcome, Justin. Thank you.

Operator

And we have reached the end of our question and answer session. I'll now turn the call back over to Bill Wilson for closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Very good. Thank you. Again, thank you for joining us today in Euthers and Matthews. For additional information about the company and our financial results, Please contact me or visit our website. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Operator

And this concludes today's conference and you may disconnect your line at this time. Thank you for your participation.

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