Richelieu Hardware Q3 2024 Earnings Report

Richelieu Hardware EPS Results

• Actual EPS: C$0.41
• Consensus EPS: C$0.44
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -C$0.03
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Richelieu Hardware Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $467.75 million
• Expected Revenue: $468.40 million
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$650.00 thousand
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Richelieu Hardware Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q3 2024
• Date: 10/10/2024
• Time: N/A
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, October 10, 2024
• Conference Call Time: 2:30PM ET

Richelieu Hardware (TSE:RCH) Ltd is a Canada-based company that imports, manufactures, and distributes specialty hardware and complementary products. Headquartered in Montreal, the company operates across Canada and the eastern and midwestern regions of the United States. The majority of the company's sales are derived from its operations in Canada. Richelieu's products include furniture, glass, decorative, window, and door hardware, lighting systems, and kitchen and closet storage. The firm primarily serves home furnishing manufacturers, residential and commercial woodworkers, hardware retailers, and renovation superstores.

Richelieu Hardware Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Q3 sales rose 1.9% to $407 M, driven by a 7.5% increase in U.S. manufacturers sales and acquisitions, partly offset by a 1.3% internal decline in Canada and retailer markets.
• EBITDA fell 13.2% to $53 M in Q3 with margin narrowing to 11.3% from 13.3%, pressured by higher-cost inventories, lower selling prices and expenses from expansion projects.
• Net earnings for Q3 dropped 23.9% to $22.7 M, with EPS declining to $0.41 from $0.53 due to acquisition and expansion-related amortization charges.
• Operating cash flow for the quarter decreased to $50.2 M from $104.8 M a year ago, reflecting lower cash generation from working capital changes and overall activity.
• Management signed agreements for 4 new acquisitions expected to add $40 M–$60 M in revenue, aiming for an average of $100 M in annual acquisition-driven growth over the next five years.

Presentation

[Richard Lord, President and CEO at Richelieu Hardware]

Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Richelieu's Conference Call for the Q3 and first nine months, ended 31 August 2024. With me is Antoine Auclair, CFO. As usual, know that some of today's issues include forward-looking information, which is provided with the usual disclaimer, as reported in our financial filings. Overall, we had a good Q3, where we achieved sales growth, sales growth and maintained a healthy and solid financial position, considering the soft demand in the R&R and the new housing market. Total sales growth for the quarter reached 1.9%, partially fueled by our strong performance in the US manufacturers market, where sales increased by 7.5% in US dollar, driven by the significant impact of our acquisitions.

[Richard Lord, President and CEO at Richelieu Hardware]

As for the retailer and renovation superstore market, we continue to see lower sales compared to last year, mainly due to the price deflation and lower demand in this market. Our margins continue to be under pressure from temporary factors, as it was the case in previous quarters. Notably, the charge of inventory purchased at higher than current costs, lower selling prices for certain products, and operating expenses related to our expansion projects. During the quarter, we pursued our network optimization initiative by consolidating two of our new centers in the New York area and on the west coast of Florida. And now I need to go to Antoine for the financial review of the quarter.

[Antoine Auclair, CFO at Richelieu Hardware]

Thanks, Richard. In the Q3, sales reached CAD 407 million, up 1.9%. This growth was driven by a positive contribution from acquisition of 3.2%, partially offset by an internal decrease of 1.3%. In Canada, sales totaled CAD 265 million, down 2%. This decline was mainly due to a 3.5% internal decrease, partially offset by a 1.5% positive contribution from acquisitions. Sales to manufacturers amounted to CAD 222 million, up 0.5%, while sales to hardware retailers stood at CAD 43 million, down 13.4%. In the US, sales grew to $148 million, up 4.8%. Sales to manufacturers reached $141 million, up 7.5%.

[Antoine Auclair, CFO at Richelieu Hardware]

In the hardware retailers and renovation superstore market, sales reached CAD 7.1 million, down CAD 3.1 million. In Canadian dollar, total sales in the US reached CAD 203 million, an increase of 7.5%. For the first nine months, total sales reached CAD 1.4 billion, up 1.6%, of which 0.8% resulted from internal decrease, offset by 2.4% contribution from acquisitions. In Canada, sales reached CAD 773 million, slightly down by 1%. This was driven by a 2.7% internal decrease, partially offset by 1.7% contribution from acquisitions. Sales to manufacturers totaled CAD 642 million, up CAD 5.3 million, or 0.8%.

[Antoine Auclair, CFO at Richelieu Hardware]

Sales to hardware retailers and renovation superstores were CAD 131 million, compared to CAD 143.9 million, down 9%. In the US, sales amounted to $429 million, up 4.3%, with 0.9% attributable to internal growth and 3.4% from acquisitions. They reached CAD 583 million, up 5.3%, accounting for 43% of total sales. In US dollar, sales to manufacturers total $405 million, an increase of $23.4 million, or 6.1%, driven by 2.5% internal growth and 3.6% from acquisitions. Sales to hardware retailers and renovation superstores were down 19.7% compared to last year.

[Antoine Auclair, CFO at Richelieu Hardware]

Q3 EBITDA reached CAD 53 million, down 8 million, or 13.2% over last year. Growth and EBITDA margin remain under pressure due to temporary factors, including inventories at higher than current purchasing costs, lower selling prices for certain products, primarily sourced from Asia, and the temporary impacts of consolidation and expansion initiatives. Consequently, the EBITDA margin stood at 11.3%, compared to 13.3% last year. For the first nine months, EBITDA totaled CAD 147.2 million, down 14.2%, with the EBITDA margin at 10.9%, compared to 12.9% last year. Net earnings attributable to shareholders in the Q3 amounted to CAD 22.7 million, down 23.9%, mainly due to amortization associated with new business acquisitions and expansion projects.

[Antoine Auclair, CFO at Richelieu Hardware]

Net earnings per share were CAD 0.41 compared to CAD 0.53 last year, a decrease of 22.6%. For the first nine months, net earnings attributable to shareholders reached CAD 61.4 million, down 26%. Diluted net earnings per share stood at CAD 1.09, compared to CAD 1.47 last year. Cash flow from operating activities before net change in non-cash working cap items generated cash flow of CAD 7.5 million. As a result, operating activities provided a cash inflow of CAD 50.2 million in the quarter, compared to a cash inflow of CAD 104.8 million in 2023.

[Antoine Auclair, CFO at Richelieu Hardware]

For the first nine months, cash flows from operating activities represented a cash inflow of CAD 106.4 million, compared to a cash inflow of CAD 198 million last year. For the Q3, financing activities used cash flow of CAD 18.4 million, compared to CAD 18.2 million last year. During the quarter, we paid lease obligation of CAD 10.5 million and distributed dividends of CAD 8.4 million. For the first nine months, financing activities used cash flow of CAD 76.1 million, compared to CAD 58 million in 2023, with the variance primarily attributable to common share repurchase amounted to CAD 18.6 million this year, compared to CAD 800,000 last year.

[Antoine Auclair, CFO at Richelieu Hardware]

In the first nine months, we invested CAD 42.4 million, including CAD 17.6 million for three business acquisitions and CAD 25.4 million, primarily for investment related to our consolidation and expansion projects, including our new Calgary location and the purchase of equipment to maintain and improve operational efficiency. We continue to maintain a solid financial position with working capital of CAD 632 million and a current ratio of 3.5 to 1, while holding almost no debt. I now turn it over to Richard.

[Richard Lord, President and CEO at Richelieu Hardware]

Thank you, Antoine. We are pursuing our acquisition strategy as we sign agreement in principle in the Q3, in view of four new acquisitions, two in Canada and two in the US. We feel confident about achieving good future performances, considering that the current housing shortage in North America is offering a great potential of growth for the share and that the R&R market is expected to recover in the coming months. We are committed to seize this opportunity. We benefit from a strong positioning with a robust network, unmatched offering, expert team, outstanding website, a distinctive service appreciated by our customers in our diversified segments, and we have a solid innovative drive in all the growth sector of residential and commercial renovation. Thanks, everyone. We'll now be happy to answer your questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. Merci. Ladies and gentlemen, if you are an analyst and would like to ask a question, you will have to press star followed by one on your touchtone phone. You will then hear a prompt that your hand has been raised, and if you would like to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by two. And if you're using a speakerphone, you will need to lift the handset first before pressing any keys. Please go ahead, press star one now if you have any questions. And your first question will be from Hamir Patel at CIBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

[Hamir Patel, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at CIBC Capital Markets]

Hi, good afternoon. Richard, if you're successful in completing those four acquisitions, would you expect that to be completed in the fourth fiscal quarter? And what would be the total revenues associated with the four deals?

[Richard Lord, President and CEO at Richelieu Hardware]

Yes, it will be settled before the end of the Q3. And Antoine, just to have the precise number of the-

[Antoine Auclair, CFO at Richelieu Hardware]

Yeah. Before the end of the Q4 or slightly after that, but definitely in 2024. And we're talking about adding CAD 40 million to the CAD 60 million that we've already completed at the beginning of the year.

[Hamir Patel, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at CIBC Capital Markets]

Okay, great. Thanks, Antoine. And that, would that be largely on the manufacturer side?

[Antoine Auclair, CFO at Richelieu Hardware]

Yes.

[Hamir Patel, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at CIBC Capital Markets]

Okay. And then, Richard, are you able to give an indication of how sales fared in the month of September?

[Richard Lord, President and CEO at Richelieu Hardware]

Yeah, in the month of September, as we already have discussed during our last meetings in Montreal, basically, the month of September has been in the same trend that we have seen in the past. We see the trend, for example, with the kitchen cabinet manufacturer, to be a slight increase in this market. The commercial woodworking industry is doing well with an increase of 6%. We have other specialized markets, which is anything else, an increase of 1%. All the other market have a slight decrease of something like 2.5%-3%. Basically, we don't see any sign of recovery yet, but we're certain that in the coming months, the market will certainly improve.

[Richard Lord, President and CEO at Richelieu Hardware]

Richard is now working with his team to make the budget for the next year. Many of our people are very positive about what will happen in the market. We just hope that these things will materialize, but there is no doubt in our mind the market will have to improve. The question is only when?

[Hamir Patel, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at CIBC Capital Markets]

Okay, fair enough. And Richard, I know the margins kind of troughed in Q1, you had a improvement in, in Q2 and Q3. How do we think about just given? Sounds like near term, things are still a bit sluggish. Would you expect any margin improvement in Q4? And how do you think about maybe where full year margins could go in 2025?

[Antoine Auclair, CFO at Richelieu Hardware]

Yeah, it's Antoine. Slight improvement. To change the margin materially, we would need to see a recovery in the market. So we're in distribution, so top line additional sales goes down the bottom line very quickly. Same thing if there's a reduction in sales. But in a better market, you will see the margin improving. If not, there are a few things we're doing, like improving our expansion projects and those projects we have ongoing. So this will improve the EBITDA, but not materially if the market does not recover.

[Hamir Patel, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at CIBC Capital Markets]

... Okay, fair enough. That's all I have for now. I'll get back in the queue. Thanks.

[Operator]

Thank you. Next question will be from Zachary Evershed at National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.

[Zachary Evershed, Equity Research Analyst at National Bank Financial]

Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for taking my questions. How consistently do you think you can add CAD 100 million in run rate revenue through acquisitions? It. Do you think that's an average target or an annual minimum going forward?

[Richard Lord, President and CEO at Richelieu Hardware]

It is an average target. So we have to. It's the plan that we have. This is what we would like to achieve. If one year we make only CAD 50 million, the next year we're going to have to make CAD 150 million. So basically, average for the next five years should be around CAD 100 million, which is quite possible. I mean, we see the portfolio of a potential acquisition that we have in our hands. As we speak, we just said that we have an agreement in principle for four, but there are other coming soon as well. The timing seems to be pretty good.

[Zachary Evershed, Equity Research Analyst at National Bank Financial]

Good color, thanks. And then the US customer lost in Q2, how's it going on backfilling that, those volumes?

[Richard Lord, President and CEO at Richelieu Hardware]

We're getting some sales from other customers. Just to explain, that was low. So we were supplying them with hinges and slides with the Blum name, for example, have decided to have their own brand names importing from China. I don't think it's a good move for them because the people, when they replace the hinges or slides into the kitchen cabinet, it's only printed Blum, or let me show you, onto the slide, because we both together, I think we have something like 80% of the market. But then that's their decision.

[Richard Lord, President and CEO at Richelieu Hardware]

We have to respect that, and we have to find ways, you know, with other customers, which we're doing with customers like Tractor Supply, for example, that we have a good commitment from them, and we're gonna see our sales increasing in the next quarters as well. Basically, we should get that business back from other customers and we have to sell more to the retail market in the US, where we have to refine our plan. We would like to make an acquisition in this market as well. Eventually, that will happen.

[Zachary Evershed, Equity Research Analyst at National Bank Financial]

Understood. Thanks. And on the topic of Blum, you mentioned that they were pushing for a price hike last quarter. How well is that flowing through so far, and are you seeing other suppliers start to follow suit?

[Richard Lord, President and CEO at Richelieu Hardware]

No, we don't see that, but that's going to happen because the suppliers that are not from Asia, they have to increase their cost by, you know, the rent are increasing, you know, the salary increasing. So basically, I think that this is obvious that eventually all these suppliers, the North American, the European suppliers, will have to increase their price again.

[Zachary Evershed, Equity Research Analyst at National Bank Financial]

Got you.

[Richard Lord, President and CEO at Richelieu Hardware]

That does not apply to Asia, though. Because Asia, the communication that we have with our suppliers in Asia is that they don't have much to do, so they're quite willing. They give us better price, though. So that this is we improve the margin for the future, but they don't have much to do, so we don't see them, we don't see that they will increase their price shortly.

[Zachary Evershed, Equity Research Analyst at National Bank Financial]

Understood. Thanks. Then just a last one from me. When do you think we start to get out from under the modernization and expansion costs?

[Antoine Auclair, CFO at Richelieu Hardware]

I would say early next year, Zach.

[Zachary Evershed, Equity Research Analyst at National Bank Financial]

That's it for me. Thanks. I'll turn it over.

[Richard Lord, President and CEO at Richelieu Hardware]

You-

[Operator]

Thank you. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, if you are an analyst and would like to ask a question, please press star followed by one. And at this time, Monsieur Lord, we have no other questions registered. Please proceed.

[Richard Lord, President and CEO at Richelieu Hardware]

Okay, thanks, everyone. Now, we would be happy to answer your question. Hello? Hello? Hello?

[Operator]

Hello, Monsieur Lord?

[Richard Lord, President and CEO at Richelieu Hardware]

Yes.

[Operator]

Yeah, we have no other questions at this time, sir.

[Antoine Auclair, CFO at Richelieu Hardware]

Oh, sorry. No, that's fine, and thanks a lot for attending, and if you have any question, you can give us a call.

[Richard Lord, President and CEO at Richelieu Hardware]

So I have to apologize. I received a phone call in the middle, so I had to answer immediately, so it took ten seconds, but the timing was not good for you. So I apologize again.

[Operator]

Thank you, gentlemen.

[Richard Lord, President and CEO at Richelieu Hardware]

Thank you. Bye.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude your conference call for today. Once again, thank you for attending, and at this time, we do ask that you please disconnect your lines.

Participants

Executives

• Antoine Auclair, CFO
• Richard Lord, President and CEO

Analysts

• Hamir Patel, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at CIBC Capital Markets
• Zachary Evershed, Equity Research Analyst at National Bank Financial