Franklin Electric Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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April 29, 2025
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Operator

and welcome to the Franklin Electric Reports First Quarter twenty twenty five Sales and Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question and answer session. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Interim Chief Financial Officer, Russ Pfleger.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

Thank you, Andrew, and welcome everyone to Franklin Electric's first quarter twenty twenty five earnings conference call. Joining me today is Joe Rozinski, our Chief Executive Officer. On today's call, Joe will review our first quarter business highlights, then I will provide additional details on our financial performance, and Joe will make some additional comments related to our key growth and value drivers, along with our outlook. We will then take questions. Before we begin, let me remind you that as we conduct this call, we will be making forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

These statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward looking statements. A discussion of these factors may be found in the company's annual report on Form 10 ks and today's earnings release. All forward looking statements made during this call are based on information currently available and as except as required by law, the company assumes no obligation to update any forward looking statements. Earlier today, we published a slide deck to accompany our prepared remarks. The slides, titled Q1 twenty twenty five Earnings Presentation, can be found in the Investor Relations section of our corporate website at www.franklinelectric.com.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

With that, I will now turn the call over to Joe.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

All right. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining today's call. Before we begin, I'd like to take a moment to welcome Russ Lager, who recently took on the role of interim chief financial officer and will report our financials today. Russ has been with Franklin Electric since 2023, serving as CFO of our water systems segment, and brings more than twenty years of financial leadership experience into the company. We thank Russ for his commitment and stepping into this role, and I look forward to continuing our partnership.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

With that, I would like to begin my thoughts on the first quarter on slide three. Our underlying business performed in line with expectations. While we worked through some weather related challenges earlier in the quarter in our distribution business, the positive order trend from last year carried into the first quarter, supporting a robust backlog in Q1 and giving us confidence as we look ahead. As we execute our strategy, we're focused on faster growing markets, making great use of our healthy balance sheet, driving efficiency in our operations, and building processes and teams to continue to deliver great service to our customers. We're pleased with our two acquisitions completed in the first quarter, bringing two great businesses and strong products into our portfolio.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

We expect integration to be well executed for these businesses to deliver great value to our customers. I'll touch on these topics later in the presentation. Our Energy Systems segment delivered strong results, which helped offset the slower start in our distribution business, demonstrating the strength of our diversified global portfolio. Several one time costs were a drag on first quarter results, namely expenses related to an executive transition and recent acquisitions. However, our core business fundamentals remain strong, and I'm pleased with the response from our global teams to the uncertainty surrounding the tariff environment.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Moving to page four on the slide deck, I'd like to take a moment to thank our global Franklin Electric team. Our commitment to serving customers, bringing great products to market, and leading in a difficult environment has shown great momentum. These past few months have been challenging as we navigate tariffs, acquisitions, accelerating our strategy, while my first few quarters have brought some change to our structure and focus. The response, dedication, leadership, and support from our global team has been amazing. We will continue to build on our great history and reputation as we grow in 2025.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Turning to results on slide five. Consolidated sales were down slightly as growth in our Water Systems and Energy Systems segment were offset by a decline in our Distribution segment. Gross margin was up slightly for the quarter at 36, showing an underlying operating strength even as we navigated two acquisitions, some FX headwind, and a slower market. Operating margins for the quarter were 10%, down slightly year over year as we absorbed onetime SG and A costs tied to an executive transition and acquisition related expenses. Excluding these items, which totaled about $07 of EPS, SG and A costs were favorable as compared to the prior year as we realized the benefit of our restructuring actions from previous quarters.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Considering the challenging macroeconomic environment and one time costs, we're pleased with our performance and view this quarter as productive start to the year. Before I turn the call over to Russ to discuss the financials in detail, I'd like to give an overview of our segment performance where we've seen some momentum. The Water Systems segment delivered flat sales for the first quarter, in line with our expectations, as unfavorable volumes were offset by strong pricing actions. Additionally, negative impact from foreign currency translation was mostly offset by incremental sales from our recent acquisitions. We also lapped what we anticipated to be the final quarter of a difficult comparable period.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

As a reminder, we capitalized on the pent up demand of our US fleet business for large dewatering products during the prior year period. In water treatment, we continue to see strength despite a weaker housing environment, and The US groundwater market remains healthy. Outside The US, performance was solid despite some currency related headwinds in South America and Turkey. Energy Systems delivered another strong quarter with sales up 8%, reflecting both positive market dynamics and solid execution by the team as both pricing and volumes were favorable. We recorded growth across key product lines supported by robust demand in The US energy sector.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

While our critical asset monitoring business had a slightly slower start to the year, we feel good about this activity in this space and expect to ramp up in the coming quarters. Energy Systems continues to demonstrate our ability to execute and drive productivity and deliver great new solutions. The segment operating margins increased by two fifty basis points in the quarter. Our distribution business faced some short term weather related disruption, particularly in The US Midwest where road restrictions due to frost impacted field installations for several weeks. However, we're encouraged by the team's ability to hold margin despite these challenges and softer sales.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

The fundamentals of this business remain solid, and the market has improved throughout the quarter. We're committed to delivering premier customer service, driving margin efficiencies through our recent cost actions and process improvements along with maintaining pricing discipline. Taken together, the performances across our segments highlight the resilience and diversity of our portfolio and our adaptability to changing conditions while we continue to invest in long term growth. Now I'm going to hand the call over to Russ to review our financials in more detail.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

Thanks, Joe. Our fully diluted earnings per share were zero six seven dollars for the first quarter twenty twenty five versus $0.70 for the first quarter twenty twenty four. While down from the prior year, we were pleased with the results from our base business. Moving to Slide six. First quarter 20 20 five consolidated sales were $455,200,000 a year over year decrease of 1%.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

The sales decrease in the first quarter was primarily due to the negative impact of foreign currency translation and lower volumes in the Distribution and Water Systems segments, partially offset by the incremental sales impact from recent acquisitions as well as favorable results in the Energy Systems segment. Franklin Electric's consolidated gross profit was $163,900,000 for the first quarter, up from prior year's gross profit of $163,600,000 The gross profit as a percentage of sales was 36% in the first quarter, an improvement of 50 basis points compared to prior year. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $119,600,000 in the first quarter of 'twenty five compared to 115,600,000 in the first quarter of 'twenty four. The increase in SG and A expenses was primarily due to employee separation costs related to an executive transition and the additional expense of our twenty twenty five acquisitions, including various deal related costs. Consolidated operating income was $44,100,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty five, down $3,800,000 or 8% from $47,900,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

The decrease in operating income was primarily due to the higher SG and A costs previously mentioned. The first quarter twenty twenty five operating income margin was 9.7% versus 10.4% in the first quarter of twenty four. Moving to segment results on slide seven. Water system sales in The US and Canada were up 2% compared to the first quarter of twenty four. At a product level, sales of groundwater pumping equipment increased 6%, and sales of water treatment products increased 7%, while sales of large dewatering equipment decreased 8% and sales of all other surface pumping equipment decreased seven percent when compared to Q1 twenty twenty four.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

Acquisitions contributed a 1% increase in sales and were offset by the negative impact of foreign currency translation. Water Systems sales in markets outside The U. S. And Canada decreased 2% overall. Foreign currency translation decreased sales by 5%, and recent acquisitions added roughly 4%.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

Excluding the impact of acquisitions and foreign currency translation, sales in the first quarter of twenty twenty five increased low single digits in EMEA, were roughly flat in Asia Pacific, and were down low single digits in Latin America. Water Systems operating income was $43,400,000 down $3,700,000 versus the first quarter of twenty twenty four. The decrease was primarily due to lower gross margin and higher SG and A costs, primarily related to our recent acquisitions as well as the negative impact of foreign exchange. The operating income margin was 15.1%, a year over year decrease of 130 basis points. Distribution's first quarter sales were $141,900,000 versus first quarter twenty twenty four sales of $147,000,000 a decrease of 3%.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

The Distribution segment sales decrease was primarily due to lower volumes and the negative impact of commodity price declines. Distribution segment operating income was $2,100,000 for the first quarter, a year over year increase of $300,000 Operating income margin was 1.5% of sales in the first quarter, an improvement of 30 basis points versus the prior year. Energy system sales in the first quarter were $66,800,000 an increase of $4,700,000 or 8% compared to the first quarter of 'twenty four. Energy system sales in The U. S.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

And Canada increased 10% compared to the first quarter. Outside The U. S. And Canada, Energy Systems sales decreased 6%. Energy Systems operating income was $21,900,000 compared to $18,800,000 in the first quarter twenty twenty four.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

The first quarter twenty twenty five operating income margin was 32.8% compared to 30.3% in the prior year, an improvement of two fifty basis points. Operating income margin increased primarily due to favorable geographic mix of sales as well as price realization and cost management. The effective tax rate was 25% for the quarter compared to 22% in the prior year quarter. This change in the effective tax rate was driven by an increase in foreign earnings taxed at rates higher than The U. S.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

And less favorable discrete items and had an impact on EPS of approximately $03 Moving to the balance sheet and cash flows on slide eight. The company ended the first quarter of twenty twenty five with a cash balance of $84,000,000 and with a $64,000,000 outstanding under its revolving credit agreement. We used $19,500,000 in net cash flows from operating activities during the first quarter compared to $1,400,000 in first quarter of twenty twenty four as we invested in higher inventory levels to get ahead of potential tariffs. We also invested $110,000,000 for the Barnes and Pump In acquisitions during the quarter. The company purchased about 56,000 shares of its common stock for approximately $5,400,000 in the open market during the first quarter of twenty twenty five.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

As of the end of the first quarter of twenty twenty five, the total remaining authorized shares that may be repurchased is about 1,300,000.0. Yesterday, the company announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.02 $65 The dividend will be payable May 22 to shareholders of record on May 8. Moving to Slide nine. While our underlying demand remains strong and plans to manage the tariff environment are in place, we are adjusting the lower end of our EPS guidance by zero one zero dollars We are holding our full year sales expectations of $2,090,000,000 to $2,150,000,000 but adjusting our GAAP EPS to a range of $3.95 to $4.25 While we have price and mitigation plans to account for the tariffs, this range reflects some further restructuring and growth investments we plan to take in 'twenty five, uncertainty in the market, and some added expense and accelerating adjustments to our supply chain. Now I will turn the call back to Joe for some additional comments.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

Thanks, Russ. Turning to slide 10, I'd like

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

to bring back our value creation framework, which we introduced last quarter. Our framework framework is anchored on four key pillars, growth acceleration, resilient margins, strategic investments, and top tier talent. For growth, we're leveraging our strong customer relationships focusing on high growth verticals and utilizing our global presence to introduce new innovative solutions across our various markets. Our margin integrity is supported by our efficient operating system and data driven tools. Strategic investments, including M and A, enhance our competitive positioning, and our commitment to attracting, developing, and retaining top talent drives our value engine forward.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Moving to slide 11, I want to highlight an increased focus on new products and innovation in the markets we know well and the ones we feel are growing faster. We've launched a series of initiatives in the past year to increase our velocity, focus on fewer, more impactful launches, and use our new product development methodology to increase our speed to market. We have some aggressive goals for '25 and expect this trend to continue over the next few years. Here are a few examples of exciting new products in dewatering, building up recent acquisitions and incorporating new features to bring these products and dewatering systems to new markets and two new solutions for our energy systems segment. The first, our oversight solution, is an innovative system to help our major marketers remotely monitor and recover critical systems during power disruptions.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

The second, our new optimizer product, which detects potential circuit breaker deficiencies and enables proactive maintenance actions. Moving to slide 12. During the quarter, we executed two strategic acquisitions, PumpEng, a dewatering pumping business focused on the mining industry and the dewatering market based in Perth, Australia and Barnsley, Colombia, highlighted here, a serial pump manufacturer based in Bogota, Colombia with assembly locations across Latin America. These two acquisitions enhance our product portfolio, expand and enhance our channel reach, and add vertically integrated businesses, including good foundry capacity in regions which Franklin Electric already has a strong presence. Welcome to our new team members.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Before we open it up for Q and

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

A, I want to take

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

a moment to address the current tariff environment and how we're managing through it. At present, we're in a strong competitive position and we feel good about where we stand. We have yet to see any broad based impacts to demand, though it's possible that we see some pressure as customers react to a changing trade landscape. That said, our business is largely in region for region and centered around replacement demand, which historically tends to be resilient even in periods of broader economic softness. We continue to remain highly engaged with our supply partners and customers, and we're monitoring forward indicators closely.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

While our guidance incorporates all known tariffs, we expect that we will have more visibility in the medium to long term tariff environment and we'll be prepared to talk about any future impacts when we speak again in July. Within our supply chain, we moved selectively to position inventory for success. While a slight Q1 drag on working capital, we felt it was prudent to best position our business to mitigate potential tariff unknowns. We we were also active on the cost and pricing front, working to reduce our costs where we can and diligently pass along costs where appropriate. Our team has historically done a fantastic job of navigating through various economic cycles and periods of uncertainty, and I'm proud of their execution this quarter.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

We put our proven playbook to work, and we feel we have an opportunity to gain share in regions with meaningful manufacturing footprints. We've taken thoughtful actions on inventory, pricing, and cost optimization and remain confident and optimistic about our competitive position. We will now turn the call over to Andrew for questions.

Operator

Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of Ryan Connors with Northcoast Research.

Ryan Connors
Senior Managing Director and Research Analyst at Northcoast Research Partners LLC

Morning. Morning, Ryan. Few questions here. Yes, so I wanted to actually start on the energy segment. Really just remarkable margins there, almost a third of the profitability really on an operating income in the quarter.

Ryan Connors
Senior Managing Director and Research Analyst at Northcoast Research Partners LLC

So should we be extrapolating that type of margin or is that mix benefit that really boosted it in the first quarter, which should we expect that to kind of normalize as we move into the middle part of the year?

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Yes, think Ryan on that, what we've said is, we don't expect the same growth that you've seen over the last five or six quarters, but we do expect to hold those margins at a strong state. And really the reason, there's a couple reasons for that. One is, we've migrated that business to smarter solutions for our end customers, so you see a general movement to those products and a lift that that provides to margins, so a little bit less on the commodity side, more on the smarter solutions. They also did a great job managing price, managing productivity, which contributed to their Q1 result. We would expect those margins to stay strong, but not to see, you know, the continued increase that you've seen over the last four or five quarters or so.

Ryan Connors
Senior Managing Director and Research Analyst at Northcoast Research Partners LLC

Got it. Okay. And then secondly, on water segment, you talk about healthy order trends, which is great to hear. But you yourself also mentioned you're investing in inventory. Any sign that there's some kind of a tariff pull forward associated with that order growth or you think that's really organic?

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Well, we tend to think it's organic. We've looked for bullwhips in the supply chain, we've looked for people making big pulls ahead. I think, you know, related to the inventory positioning, we use the term selective for a reason and that is, you know, products that we felt were most exposed. We've got a, you know, relative to some of our peers, relative small exposure to China, but we still wanted to make sure that we were positioning ourselves well and it turns out that was prudent. When we look at our channel, we see some selective positioning and selective build up, but it's not across the board and our view of inventory in the channel is that it's at a relatively stable position.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

So some of that increase, you know, we've made sure that our channels were well stocked and we were prepared for it, but we haven't seen a huge pull in our channels and we don't think we're sitting on heavy inventory in the channels from a historical standpoint as we get ready for busy season and especially related to the tariff environment.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

Yeah. And if I could just add on that, you know, a significant chunk of our build of inventory, if you look on a a sequential basis on a quarter over quarter and a quarter over twenty twenty four quarter, was the two acquisitions that we made in in March. And we ended 2024 at the lowest level of total inventory in the last three to four years. We generally have a fairly sizable build in q one to get into the busy season. Now some of that season was was delayed in our distribution business because of the weather that Joe spoke about, but we feel pretty good about the inventory level and and where we sit right now.

Ryan Connors
Senior Managing Director and Research Analyst at Northcoast Research Partners LLC

Got it. Okay. And then just a couple others on distribution. Is M and A still a priority there? I know we were very active in M and A for a while.

Ryan Connors
Senior Managing Director and Research Analyst at Northcoast Research Partners LLC

It seems to have slowed down. Is that due to there being a lack of assets for sale or is it just less of a strategic priority? Curious on the M and A there. And then also with distribution, what does the weather comp look like in the second quarter? I know that's a headwind in 1Q, just trying to get a sense of the setup for the second quarter.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Yeah, we'll take those in order. I think on the first one, you know, we're always still active and staying close to the market if there's a good acquisition for us in the distribution space. One thing we've been working on, and I alluded to it in the script is, you know, we also feel that we've got some benefit in terms of how we serve because we've got a great footprint and bringing some of those efficiencies, you know, after the last three, four years of acquisitions. That's a it's a key focus for us, but we're not we're not opposed to doing another deal in that space. I think our focus right now is, you know, serving the market, building those efficiencies, and making sure that we can execute, you know, kind of unparalleled.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

So, you know, that's where we sit right now for acquisitions. I think related to the weather pattern in Q2, you know, we feel we're in a better position where we've been coming into last year, you know, we've kind of seen a flip in terms of one of the wettest years last year that we've gone through and a year that looks more normal this year and we definitely see that. I think if you look at the move to a weather pattern that's drier, you know, we see that benefit starting to show up in some of our regions. I think the blip in the Upper Midwest related to some of the frost restrictions was just basically due to a very, very warm, warm winter last year where the restrictions came off earlier, and we got that benefit in March, and this year, it was pushed out three, four weeks. But q two, from what we can see right now, we feel good about the weather pattern.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

You know, obviously, hard to predict, but, that's that's kinda where we sit right now.

Ryan Connors
Senior Managing Director and Research Analyst at Northcoast Research Partners LLC

Yep. Okay. Super. Thanks for your time this morning.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Thanks, Ryan.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Matt Summerville with D. A. Davidson.

Matthew Summerville
Equity Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Good morning, Matt. Morning. Couple of questions. I just want to make sure I understand the tariff exposure. While you're seemingly able to mitigate it, I guess I want to understand if it were to go unmitigated, what would your current tariff exposure look like?

Matthew Summerville
Equity Analyst at D.A. Davidson

And then help me sort of understand how the groundwater business is performing in North America when you think about it in terms of the residential side of it and the ag side? Then I may have a follow-up.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Sounds good. I'll take tariff overview and then I'll turn it over to Russ. He can give you some more detail on groundwater. Tariffs obviously have been in place for the last few years, so coming into this year, as we do every year, is to make sure that we're more than accounting price plus productivity to offset inflation and we had a good start to the year. We added not quite $60,000,000 of exposure, you know, over the course of Liberation Day and some of the other tariffs that were put on, so that was the target for us to make sure that we mitigated and offset, and we've had a series of increases.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

We've tried to be thoughtful and measured in terms of what we can account for internally and what we need to pass along, and most of those actions have been taken. Clearly, it's hard to predict exactly what's going to happen with tariffs. Know, as you know, Matt, you've been on these calls here the last few weeks. What we wanted to do is to make sure that we kind of played forward a few different scenarios for what could happen, and I feel we're in a we're in a strong position this year to do that. So so, again, offset for this year, we feel we're in a healthy spot.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

In in addition, we're looking to to take some other actions to make a few other changes to our footprint and supply chain just to make sure we're in a better spot to serve customers as we go forward. Russ, do you want to cover groundwater?

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

Yeah. Your question on growth in groundwater, So, on the residential side in the first quarter, resi was up about 11%. Ag was up about 3%. Now, I will caution that that residential number does include, some sales to our distribution partners at Headwater that you will see in the eliminations. But the that aside, the market was strong for us in mid single digit growth.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

So, you know, pretty strong there, and the the order book is is largely held up as well.

Matthew Summerville
Equity Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Thanks. And then just as a follow-up to the question on the order book. Can you maybe talk about what your organic book to bill looked like in water in Q1? And then from an M and

Matthew Summerville
Equity Analyst at D.A. Davidson

A standpoint, Joe, I think you've

Matthew Summerville
Equity Analyst at D.A. Davidson

indicated in the past, maybe a willingness to explore something a bit more transformational for Franklin. Maybe just an update on your thought there and how that funnel may be developing for you guys? Thanks.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Yeah, I'll start with that last question. It's a good question and as I probably have told you before, as a CEO in his first year, there's a lot of good ideas that come our way and myself with John Grandin, our counsel and his team, we're staying very close to what we think is gonna be, you know, a nice funnel and some good opportunities. I think, you know, we've got opportunities in two spaces. Obviously, some of the strategic bolt ons that put us in a strong position around the world. You saw that in Q1.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

We'll continue to look for those deals. I think related to something that's more strategic, yeah, we are open to it. I think, you know, our position with a healthy balance sheet and the ability to be smart about these deals puts us in a nice spot, so we're working on networking, we're working with our partners to make sure that, you know, we've got good visibility to what may coming up, and yeah, we're still positive about that, and some of the noise and some of the disruption here over the last sixty days, we're making sure that we're prudent with capital, but I still think that there's going be opportunities to do something more strategic and we're keeping our ears to the ground.

Matthew Summerville
Equity Analyst at D.A. Davidson

And then any quantification you have on organic book to bill in water in the quarter? Thank you.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Oh, yeah. Sure.

Russ D. Fleeger
Russ D. Fleeger
Interim Chief Financial Officer at Franklin Electric

Yeah. On on the book to bill, the book to bill was above a one for the quarter. Our backlog, you know, I will caution again. Backlog incorporates some of our industrial business with fleet, but it was up mid to high single digits in the quarter.

Ryan Connors
Senior Managing Director and Research Analyst at Northcoast Research Partners LLC

Got it. Thanks, guys.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Yes. Thank you, Matt.

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Walter Liptak with Seaport Research.

Walter Liptak
Industry Analyst at Seaport Research Partners

Hi, thanks. Good morning, guys. Good morning, Walter. Just a couple of follow ups. First on the tariffs.

Walter Liptak
Industry Analyst at Seaport Research Partners

I wonder if you could help us understand the supply chain that you have from China and any percentages that you can give us of cost of goods sold, things like that. Do you still have ample supply? And it sounds like you can pass along any kind of tariff related pricing. Is that the correct way to think about it?

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Yeah, that's correct. Well, you know, our overall percentage of COGS from China is under 10%, so we're not hugely exposed there and some of our opportunity or some of that exposure, I would say, hits us in a couple product areas that we worked try to mitigate before coming into the second quarter, you know, hence our comments on some inventory pull, and I think there's further opportunity to do that. You know, I referenced the Barnes deal. One of the things that we love about the Barnes deal is giving us added foundry capacity in The Americas that we can take our tools and look at repositioning. So we're continuing to do that.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

We're going to make some investments to go faster, and we feel good about that ability to protect ourselves from any future noise or disruption there, specifically to China. So, that's the view on China and our exposure and some actions there. Was there another question I'm

Walter Liptak
Industry Analyst at Seaport Research Partners

Yeah. And then just kind of a follow on to the sectors. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about just the resi sounds like it's on a better footing. Why do you think you're seeing better growth this year? Maybe talk a little bit about how April is going.

Walter Liptak
Industry Analyst at Seaport Research Partners

And then with the groundwater and ag, how is it seems like it's a lot hotter and drier this year and an easier comp. You know, how's the visibility as you're getting into the second quarter?

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Yeah, maybe just start on resi and we can then give a couple of comments on just groundwater and ag overall. But, you know, resi, obviously housing starts and sales aren't the driver for that growth for us, so what we've done here over the last few years in the water treatment business and then in the water business is really to focus on how we serve, on making sure that we've got the right footprint and putting ourselves in a good position to grow. So, we view that as, you know, we're taking some share in that resi space, but all of our indicators were positive in Q1 and continue to be positive in April. So, you know, any boost, any help, anything that comes our way from an overall macro standpoint would be in addition to that, but we feel good about our position thus far, and resi continues to stay strong. I think your question, you know, back to my weather comments earlier, just groundwater in general, you know, municipal ag, etcetera, we think is, you know, at least from a weather standpoint, it's a more supportive environment this year than it was last year.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

So those are, you know, trends that we're looking out for on a daily and a weekly basis here, but from what we see right now, and drier I think is an accurate representation.

Walter Liptak
Industry Analyst at Seaport Research Partners

Okay, great. Okay, thank you.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Mike Halloran with R. W. Baird.

Mike Halloran
Analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co

Hey, good morning guys.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Good morning, Good morning, Mike.

Mike Halloran
Analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co

So just want to clarify the guidance as you think about the year from two respects. First, are we implicitly saying pricing up some, organic demand down some to kind of hold that revenue range or are we just saying we don't totally know yet, so keeping it as an offset against each other is fair? And then secondarily, maybe just some thoughts on how you're expecting the cadencing to play out through the year. Is this just relatively normal seasonality based on what

Mike Halloran
Analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co

we know right now?

Mike Halloran
Analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co

And then we'll adjust as we as the uncertainty does or does not hit the P and L?

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Yes. To your first question, Mike, that's a good assumption you're making, which is pricing will be up, but we expect for some pockets of our products that that would push down some of the organic growth, so that is roughly the offset that you see, which is why we're holding sales because there'll be some lift to price, but obviously some pressure on volume. And that pressure, you know, comes in a couple very specific segments, so we're keeping a close eye on that, but that is the offset that we had made as we put that guidance together. In terms of the cadence, yeah, some seasonality and distribution in quarter one. The busy season as we see it right now, our indicators are it looks generally positive, we see momentum, you know, as I mentioned before, as we kind of exited the quarter.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

We see order rates, you know, largely in line with what we expected as we get into the April here. I think the back half for us is, you know, obviously a lot can change. The world is a moving place here, but, you know, for the most part, we feel good about our plans. Where we can see a little further out in terms of backlog, you know, take for an example the energy business, strong backlogs and feel relatively good about the next couple quarters. I think it's harder for us to see in that distribution business where it's obviously shorter cycle, but you know, what we tend to look there is that short cycle trends, obviously leading indicators, talk to and put a heat map together for our major customers, drillers, etcetera, and you know, there's a general confidence there in terms of the outlook and in terms of the order book.

Mike Halloran
Analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co

And and two more just related to that. Remind me what the percentage of replacement is for your distribution and your water businesses on the more, you know, submersible side of things?

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

It's north of 70%, seventy five %.

Mike Halloran
Analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co

Okay. And then lastly, just in light of all the tariffs, maybe just a thought from your perspective on how your footprint is positioned competitively, all

Mike Halloran
Analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co

else equal.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Yeah. Well, you know, one is we're you know, I might comment on in region, for region. It's important for us. We've never been a big you know, build a huge factory across the world and then move products. Labor arbitrage and really chasing that product has never Franklin's key focus.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

We've worked on putting manufacturing footprint close to where we serve. Now that's not pure or perfect, but in general, that's been part of our strategy. You know, when I look at some of our investments, and Russ alluded to a few investments that we want to accelerate and make sure that we get well executed this year, We're expanding our manufacturing footprint in Turkey. We're expanding our manufacturing footprint in India. Both of those are largely to serve those regions.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

In some cases, it's, you know, it's to serve The Middle East and to serve, you know, a few other places. In addition, when we looked at Barnes, we looked at that vertical capability and how we would make good use of that foundry, not only for what is now a very nice and sizable market for us in Latin America, but obviously to serve Mexico, Northern Latin America, and The US. So, those are in process right now and we're working on taking advantage of that. I think from a footprint standpoint, some strategic advantages that we have. We've also looked at, I know as other companies have, in terms of what makes sense to move or to shift.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

For us, it's more about assembly and supply chain, not a major shift in our manufacturing strategy overall.

Mike Halloran
Analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co

Great. Really appreciate it. Thanks.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And I'm showing no further questions at this time. So with that, I'll hand the call back over to Chief Executive Officer, Joe Pizenza, for any closing remarks.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

Thank you very much, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. I'd like to close out by sharing that I'm very pleased with our team's hard work and execution during this very busy first quarter. We feel good about our start to the year and how we're positioned as we enter the second quarter. We are widening our guidance on the low end of EPS, but have plans in place to address tariffs, solve problems, and serve our customers every day. We feel good about our strategy.

Joe Ruzynski
Joe Ruzynski
CEO at Franklin Electric

It's the right one, and we're focused on improving our margins, finding the next best acquisition, and delivering great new products to our customers. Our expectation is for a great year of progress and strong performance. Thank you, everyone, and have a great week.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating. This does conclude today's program and you may now disconnect.

Executives
    • Russ D. Fleeger
      Russ D. Fleeger
      Interim Chief Financial Officer
    • Joe Ruzynski
      Joe Ruzynski
      CEO
Analysts
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Key Takeaways

  • Consolidated Q1 sales decreased 1% to $455M, gross margin rose 50 bps to 36%, and operating margin was 9.7%, modestly down due to ~$0.07 EPS of one-time SG&A and acquisition costs, while core fundamentals stayed strong.
  • Energy Systems grew sales 8% to $66.8M and achieved a 32.8% operating margin (+250 bps) driven by pricing, favorable mix, productivity gains, and higher-value “smart” solutions.
  • Water Systems delivered flat Q1 sales as strong pricing and ~11% growth in U.S. residential groundwater demand offset lower volumes and foreign currency headwinds.
  • The company added ~$60M of tariff exposure but has largely offset it through price increases, productivity improvements, and targeted inventory positioning, keeping 2025 sales guidance at $2.09–$2.15B and revising EPS to $3.95–$4.25.
  • Two strategic Q1 acquisitions—PumpEng (Australian dewatering) and Barnes (Colombian pump manufacturing)—expand the dewatering portfolio, channel reach, and vertically integrated foundry capacity in key regions.
A.I. generated. May contain errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Franklin Electric Q1 2025
00:00 / 00:00

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