Ituran Location and Control Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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May 28, 2024

Key Takeaways

  • Ituran added 39,000 net new subscribers in Q1 2024, reaching the high end of guidance due to its globally diverse footprint and new service offerings.
  • A surge in vehicle thefts in Israel has driven insurers to require SVR units, expanding the TAM and accelerating subscriber growth for Ituran in its home market.
  • Q1 net income rose to $13 million (EPS $0.66), up 15% year-over-year, and Ituran maintains a strong net cash position of $53.9 million while declaring an $8 million quarterly dividend.
  • Brazilian subscriber growth benefited from a Santander Bank contract in 2023, but the effect is expected to moderate in 2024 as initial churn kicks in, with longer-term expansion driven by new motorcycle solutions.
  • Q1 gross margin dipped roughly 4% to around 20% due to an atypical product mix, suggesting margin volatility in future quarters.
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Earnings Conference Call
Ituran Location and Control Q1 2024
00:00 / 00:00

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Ituran's First Quarter 2024 Results Conference Call. All participants are at present in listen only mode. Following management's formal presentation, instructions will be given for the question and answer session. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

Operator

You should have all received by now the company's press release. If you have not received it, please contact Ituran's Investor Relations team at EK Global Investor Relations at 1212-378-8040 or view it in the News section of the company's website at www.tituran.co. Il. I would now hand over the call to Mr. Kenny Green of EK Global Investor Relations.

Operator

Mr. Green, would you like to begin?

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator. Good day to all of you, and welcome to Ituran's conference call to discuss the Q1 2024 results. I would like to thank Ituran's management for hosting this conference call. With me on the line today are Mr. Eyal Sharatzky, CEO Mr.

Speaker 1

Udi Mitrahi, Deputy CEO and VP, Finance and Mr. Eli Kamar, CFO, Obituan. Eyal will begin with a summary of the quarter's results, followed by Eli with a summary of the financials. We'll then open the call for the question and answer session. I'd like to remind everyone that the Safe Harbor statements in today's press release also covers the contents of this conference call.

Speaker 1

And now Eyal, please begin.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Kenny. I'd like to welcome all of you to our Q1 2024 call. I would like to thank you for joining us today. We are pleased with our results, especially in the ongoing growth in revenues and continued improvement in profits, as well as the additional net subscribers we brought in the quarter, which came in at the high end of our As our strong financial results demonstrate, our business remains in good shape and continue to be resilient against challenges. I also want to highlight that part of our resilience is due to Ituran being a globally diverse business with a loyal subscriber base of 2.3 1,000,000 customers in Israel, Brazil and other countries in Latin America and around the world.

Speaker 2

Our subscriber base added 39,000 subscribers in the quarter, at the high end of our expectation of between 35,040,000 net new subscribers per quarter. This is well in advance of the long term rate we had in prior years, which was typically between 200,025,000 per quarter and has come about due to our more diverse global footprint as well as the new service we continue to bring to our end markets. I would like to highlight what is happening in the Israeli market. In recent quarters, we've seen steady rise in theft rate, which has somewhat intensified in the last quarter. As a result, insurance companies are pushing their customers to install an SVR unit and connect to the theft prevention service even in vehicles that are not new or have a lower initial value than in the past.

Speaker 2

The outcome of this is that SVR penetration has gone up and our TAM has grown and we as the clear market leader are enjoying an accelerated growth of subscribers in Israel. Given the strong net cash position of $53,900,000 our ongoing growth and our solid profitability, we are pleased to again declare a quarterly dividend of $8,000,000 in line with the dividend policy we updated just last quarter. We are very pleased to share the fruits of our success and we see our ongoing dividends a reward to our loyal shareholders for their long term support of our company. Given the stability of our business, last quarter we began to provide EBITDA guidance in addition to the guidance on

Speaker 1

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Speaker 3

$8,000,000 or 26.2 percent of revenues in the Q1 of last year. Net income for the Q1 was $13,000,000 or diluted earnings per share of $0.66 an increase of 15% compared to $11,400,000 or diluted earnings per share of $0.56 in the Q1 of last year. Cash flow from operation for the Q1 of 2024 was $11,400,000 As of March 31, 2024, the company had cash including multiple securities of $54,200,000 and debt of $300,000 amounting to a net cash position of $53,900,000 This is compared with cash including marketable securities of $53,600,000 and debt of $600,000 amounting to a net cash position of $53,000,000 as of year end 2023. The Board of Directors declared a dividend for the quarter of $8,000,000 in line with the company's recently updated dividend policy, which was increased by 60% in the period quarter. The current dividend takes into account the company's continuing strong profitability, ongoing positive cash flow and strong balance sheet.

Speaker 3

And with that, I'd like to open the call for the question and answer session. Operator?

Operator

Thank you. The first question is from Chris Raimo of Barclays. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Taking my questions and congratulations on the strong results. I wanted to ask, if you could comment about the product mix, specifically as it pertains to the gross margin? And any comment on moving parts around that would be helpful.

Speaker 2

Hi. So basically during the Q1 of 2024, our sales which derived from the Israeli market was much higher than the average since we had to compensate Q4 when the war here started and there was almost a shutdown of 2 months which were October November. So I think that it's not a typical quarter in terms of the ratio between the sales and the services, this is basically the major difference. It's not represent forward this sales amount.

Speaker 4

Got it. And more specifically also around Israel, can you comment on any of the trends you're seeing versus last quarter? And if maybe you're seeing some traction that's outperforming your expectations?

Speaker 2

Yes. So the situation in Israel, I mean it's didn't start because of the war. So it's kind of a trend that started soon after the COVID and it's ramped up in the last 2 years. And today, we are facing a material I would say growth in cost of freight. When cost of freight is high it means that the insurance companies are increasing the insurance premiums and they're also much more need security solutions for the car to prevent these car thefts.

Speaker 2

And in that case, when we are the dominant player in Israel by providing this solution, we see a high attraction, high request. And as I said in my speech, we are even facing something that we never faced in the 30 years of since the inception of the company is that even car models which are let's call it secondhand that when they was bought as a brand new card 3 5 years ago and they didn't install security and SVR solution. Today, when they come to renew their insurance policy, they are required to put location and SVR solutions and it means that as you mentioned, we are seeing growth in Israel which is more than we expected for this year, yes.

Speaker 4

That's great. Thanks. That's it for me.

Operator

The next question is from Boris Schneider of MoreMutual Funds. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Yes, hi. Just a question on your 20s on the growth in Brazil, which is actually even higher than the growth in Israel. So if you could speak on what's driving that and how do you see this going forward?

Speaker 2

Just to be clear, the 20 F is actually representing the year 2023 and I can of course give information regarding 2023. And as you remember during the end of 'twenty two, we signed a contract with Santander Bank regarding providing a solution for finance that they provide for car buyers and this support our growth in Brazil in 2023. It's continued by the way because it's under the contract also in 2024, but we have to take into consider that there is always after 18 months this is the contract's churn. So the growth from Santander by definition will decrease, although we are selling the same quantities, but the growth is not the same as when the contract started because always at the beginning there is no churn. After 18 months the churn is come.

Speaker 2

So I'm not expecting that 24 in Brazil will be the same growth as it was in 2023. But on the other segments we are not seeing any dramatic changes meaning we continue to sell our retail solution. There is always some volatility between Monster's and the expectations are to keep the same numbers. And looking forward, we are doing a lot of, I would say, work in order to penetrate new segment and expand the financial customers. So I for talking for mid and longer term, I am expecting that we will continue to show growth in Brazil as well.

Speaker 5

Okay. And previously you mentioned also in Aeronaut several calls, I think you mentioned on the insurance of the motorcycles, which is the vertical that you did penetrate in Brazil. Is there any update on this?

Speaker 2

Yes, of course. There is no update. We just started to sell solutions for motorcycles. It's something quite new. So it still not has a dramatic influence our subscriber base in Brazil, but we see again that it's ramping up.

Speaker 2

And I believe that as always when you issue a new solution for a new segment, it's and when we are talking about subscribers and when the company has $2,300,000 so it's taking time until it's something that it's become more material. So I believe that during 2025, 2026, the motorcycle segments will support the additional growth that we expect.

Speaker 5

Okay. And last final question in terms of gross margin for your product. It was low, even lower than during the crisis of the supply chain. How should we think about in the future quarters?

Speaker 3

Yes, it was a little bit low like 4% less, but you need to remember that usually there is a mixture of products that we are selling all over the country. So basically this is the range more or less of let's say gross margin of 20%, a little bit up or down, but that's the range.

Speaker 5

Thanks.

Operator

There are no further questions at this time. Before I ask Mr. Serhatky to go ahead with his closing statements, I would like to remind participants that a replay of this call will be available tomorrow on Ituran's website at www.ituran.co.il. Mr. Seratzky, would you like to make your closing statement?

Speaker 2

Yes. On behalf of the management of Ituran, I would like to thank you, our shareholders, for your continued interest and long term support of our business. We hope to speak with some of you over the coming quarters. If you are interested in meeting or speaking with us, feel free to reach out to our Investor Relations team. And with that, we end our call.

Speaker 2

Thank you and have a good day.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes Ray Turan's Q1 of 2024 results conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now go ahead and disconnect.

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