Commercial Vehicle Group Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 7, 2025

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to CVG's First Quarter twenty twenty five Earnings Conference Call. During today's presentation, all parties will be in a listen only mode. Following the presentation, the conference will be opened for questions with instructions to follow at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr.

Operator

Andy Chu, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead, sir.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator, and welcome, everyone, to our conference call. Joining me on the call today is James Wei, President and CEO of CVG. This morning, we will provide a brief company update as well as commentary regarding our first quarter twenty twenty five results. After which, we will open the call for questions. As a reminder, this conference call is being webcast and the Q1 twenty twenty five earnings call presentation, which we will refer to during this call is available on our website.

Speaker 1

Both may contain forward looking statements, including, but not limited to, expectations for future periods regarding market trends, cost saving initiatives and new product initiatives, among others. Actual results may differ from anticipated results because of certain risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties may include, but not limited to economic conditions in the market in which CVG operates fluctuations in the production volumes of vehicles for which CVG is a supplier financial covenants, compliance and liquidity risks associated with conducting business in foreign countries and currencies and other risks as detailed in our SEC filings. I will now turn the call over to James to provide a company update.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Andy. I'd like to turn your attention to the supplemental earnings presentation starting on Slide three. Our first quarter results reflect the strategic steps we have taken to refine our business model over the last several quarters. More recently, we completed the shift to our new segment structure, which has provided enhanced clarity and focus within each business unit, while more closely aligning CVG with our customers and end markets. Enhancing that connection with our customers is critical, especially in the current market conditions.

Speaker 2

Our three operating segments, Global Seating, Global Electrical Systems and Trim Systems and Components are now better positioned to serve our customers in a lower cost structure. We have seen early benefits from this resegmentation, and we continue to believe this structure will accelerate the operational momentum we have created year to date. Also highlighted on this slide is the 10.8% adjusted gross margin we achieved during the quarter, which is a two forty basis point sequential improvement compared to Q4 twenty twenty four. This improved profitability was largely driven by the operational efficiency initiatives we executed and have spoken about previously, including, but not limited to, the divestiture of non core businesses as well as the conclusion of onetime costs from last year, including outside consulting expenses. We expect our gross margin to be supported by further operating leverage going forward as we continue to benefit from the strategic actions taken in 2024.

Speaker 2

Along with improved profitability, we also delivered an almost $18,000,000 improvement in free cash flow compared to last year. As we alluded to last quarter, working capital management is a critical focus for us this year, and we expect to reduce our working capital closer to historical levels over the course of this year with a specific focus on inventory. I will provide more detail regarding our gross margin and free cash flow performance in a moment, but our strong performance on both helped to drive a net debt reduction of $11,700,000 and a gross debt reduction of $18,100,000 in the first quarter. Before I move on, I'd like to comment on our decision to discontinue reporting new business wins. Given the current macroeconomic environment as well as our customers' challenges in predicting future program ramps, we don't believe we have the necessary clarity to accurately predict the timing and magnitude of total wins, particularly as to when they will begin flowing through to our revenue.

Speaker 2

For these reasons, we believe our annual guidance is the best way to contextualize and model our future results. Importantly, while we will not be providing forward looking projections for new business, this does not mean we are any less focused on pursuing and securing new business awards. This remains the lifeblood of this company and we are still seeing a robust pipeline of new business opportunities. Turning to slide four, I want to take you through the sequential gross margin improvement we saw in the first quarter. Reflecting back to the strategic actions taken in 2024, we've been focused on reducing freight, labor and overhead costs.

Speaker 2

In particular, we reduced our reliance on expedited freight, optimized our terms with suppliers, and improved our lead times and order quantities. We are also flexing our direct labor to align with any customer volume changes and continue shifting our production to lower cost facilities. We're also addressing plant salaries and our new segment alignment allows for a more optimized overhead structure. As evidenced by the margin improvement, our focus on operational efficiency improvements as well as our restructuring and footprint rationalization efforts are clearly paying off. This focus on improving our operating model is clearly helping our performance in this lower demand environment, but also positions us well into the eventual end market recovery.

Speaker 2

We believe we have the right approach for CVG to drive accretive growth, accelerate margin expansion, increase our capital efficiency, and ultimately enhance shareholder value. Now moving to slide five, I'd like to revisit a graphic we shared in our Q4 earnings call. While we believe our strategic portfolio actions position us better for the future, they led to cash flow headwinds in 2024, namely through cash burn in our discontinued operations, restructuring spend and inventory build. We mentioned on the Q4 call that we expected each of these three headwinds to ease and in some case reverse in 2025. Considering the decline in market demand, I'm pleased to report solid progress in each area.

Speaker 2

In the first quarter, our discontinued operations were net cash generative. We also had minimal restructuring spend in the quarter at less than $1,000,000 And finally, we saw a $5,000,000 improvement in inventory versus the end of the year. Improvement in these three areas helped drive free cash generation of $11,000,000 in the quarter and positions us well for further improvement in this key metric throughout 2025. With that, I'd like to turn the call back to Andy for a more detailed review of our financial results.

Speaker 1

Thank you, James, and good morning, everyone. If you are following along in the presentation, please turn to Slide six. Consolidated first quarter twenty twenty five revenue was $169,800,000 as compared to $194,600,000 in the prior year period. The decrease in revenues is due primarily to a softening in global construction and agriculture end markets as well as North American Class eight truck demand. Adjusted EBITDA was $5,800,000 for the first quarter compared to $9,700,000 in the prior year.

Speaker 1

Adjusted EBITDA margins were 3.4%, down 160 basis points as compared to adjusted EBITDA margins of 5% in the first quarter of twenty twenty four, driven primarily by lower volumes, but offset by reductions in SG and A expenses. Interest expense was $2,500,000 as compared to $2,200,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty four. The increase in interest expense was primarily related to higher effective interest rate during the current period. Net loss for the quarter was $3,100,000 or a loss of $09 per diluted share as compared to a net income of $1,400,000 or $05 per diluted share in the prior year. Adjusted net loss for the quarter was $2,600,000 or a loss of $08 per diluted share as compared to adjusted net income of $2,800,000 or $08 per diluted share in the prior year.

Speaker 1

Net loss and adjusted net loss were impacted by higher non cash tax provision driven by the geographic mix of income in the quarter. Free cash flow from continuing operations for the quarter was $11,200,000 compared to negative 6,500,000 in the prior year. The free cash generated in the quarter was supported by better working capital management and reduced capital expenditures. At the end of first quarter, our net leverage ratio calculated as our net debt divided by our trailing twelve months adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations was five times. As a reminder, our amended credit agreement calculates the net leverage ratio slightly differently, excluding certain items related to our strategic actions in 2024 that negatively impacted adjusted EBITDA.

Speaker 1

Based on that calculation, we remain below the net leverage covenant set forth in the credit agreement. Moving to the segment results beginning on Slide seven. Our Global Seating segment achieved revenues of $73,400,000 a decrease of 9% as compared to the year ago quarter, with the decrease primarily driven by lower sales volume as a result of reduced customer demand. Adjusted operating income was $2,700,000 a decrease of $100,000 compared to the first quarter of twenty twenty four. While operating income was negatively impacted by lower sales volume and increased freight costs, we saw an improvement in adjusted operating income margin, thanks to the actions we took in 2024 to address our cost and manufacturing footprint.

Speaker 1

Turning to Slide eight, our Global Electrical segment's first quarter revenues decreased 14% to $50,500,000 compared to the year ago quarter, due primarily to lower sales volume as a result of decreased customer demand. Adjusted operating income for the first quarter was $200,000 a decrease of $1,300,000 compared to the prior year, primarily attributable to lower sales volumes and unfavorable foreign exchange impacts. We took further restructuring actions focused on reducing SG and A and indirect headcount as we look to right size staffing levels in this business to align with the current demand outlook, while shifting production to lower cost facilities. We remain focused on global electrical as a core business to CVG and it remains a focal point for our team as we continue to reduce debt, improve free cash flow and win new business at higher margins. Moving to Slide nine, our trim systems and components revenues in the first quarter decreased 17% to $45,900,000 compared to the year ago quarter due to lower sales volume as a result of decreased customer demand.

Speaker 1

Adjusted operating income for the first quarter was $1,600,000 a decrease of $3,100,000 compared to the prior year. The decrease is primarily attributable to lower sales volumes and higher freight costs. We believe we are working through the last of our operational inefficiencies in this segment and that we are positioned for improved performance moving forward. Along those lines, we did see strong sequential gross margin improvements in this segment, up two ninety basis points compared to the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four as our remediation efforts are stabilizing operations and should lead to improved operational efficiency and financial performance. That concludes my financial overview commentary.

Speaker 1

I will now turn the call back over to James to cover our market outlook, key strategic actions being taken and our updated guidance.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Andy. I will start with our key end markets outlook on Slide 10. According to ACT's Class eight heavy truck build forecast, 2025 estimates imply a 23% decline in year over year volumes. ACT forecast a 19% increase in truck builds anticipated in 2026. Despite the weakness projected in 2025, we expect to see a strong rebound in builds in 2026 as the industry prepares for an update in emissions regulations in 2027.

Speaker 2

We understand the EPA is evaluating a potential delay or pushback of the greenhouse gas phase three regulations for commercial vehicles, which would likely change the pre buy dynamics ahead of the expected regulation change date in 2027. However, we believe this would ultimately represent a timing shift as fleet operators still need to replace equipment on a regular basis. Moving to our construction and agriculture market outlook. Based on recent commentary and outlooks from our customers and key market players, we now expect the construction market to be down approximately 5% to 15% and the agriculture market to be down in the same range as higher interest rates, weaker housing starts, slower commercial real estate activity and lower commodity prices continue to weigh heavily on demand. Despite market softness in these markets, which impact our global Electrical Systems business, we continue to remain optimistic about the long term potential of both construction and agriculture markets as we see ongoing replacement needs and underlying secular trends driving a recovery in these markets in 2026.

Speaker 2

Turning to slide 10, I'd like to highlight some of the actions we have and are currently taking to mitigate the impact of tariffs and broader macroeconomic headwinds. First, the strategic portfolio actions we took in 2024 to lower our cost structure are already helping to lower decremental margins and position us well to grow our earnings power as end market demand recovers. Second, we remain focused on driving improved cash generation and aligning our SG and A structure with our current revenue base this year. Specifically, we expect a 50% reduction in planned capital expenditures this year, along with $20,000,000 of working capital reduction focused primarily on inventory. Through the first quarter, we realized $5,000,000 in inventory reduction.

Speaker 2

We also expect $15,000,000 to $20,000,000 in cost savings this year, which should drive incremental margin expansion as our top line returns to future growth. Third, we are in constant communication with our customers, which has improved our line of sight to production schedule changes and will allow us to implement corresponding cost actions in the event of future changes. Furthermore, as soon as the initial round of tariffs was announced, our teams immediately took a number of actions in an effort to mitigate potential impacts. We are actively negotiating price recovery terms with our customers while building contingency plans to create flexibility across multiple scenarios, all with the end goal of securing our business competitiveness and meeting our customers' needs. In addition, we are diligently assessing our relationship with suppliers, including evaluation of reshoring and near shoring opportunities to mitigate the potential impact of tariffs.

Speaker 2

Turning to slide 12, I'll share several thoughts on our updated outlook for 2025, which reflects the current estimated impact of tariffs, trade policies and economic uncertainty as well as the aforementioned actions that we are proactively taking in this current uncertain environment. Reflecting recent macroeconomic developments, prevailing truck build forecasts and ongoing weakness in construction and agriculture markets, we are lowering our quantitative annual guidance for revenue and adjusted EBITDA and tightening the revenue range. We're also introducing a free cash flow metric to our guidance this quarter. Given current demand pressures, we are adjusting our full year 2025 revenue guidance range to $660,000,000 to $690,000,000 which is down from $670,000,000 to $710,000,000 We are also lowering our adjusted EBITDA guidance expectations to the range of $22,000,000 to $27,000,000 for 2025, which is down from $25,000,000 to $30,000,000 Based on this updated outlook, we still expect EBITDA growth and margin expansion compared to 2024 at the midpoint of the ranges supported by our focus on SG and A costs. The lower end of our guidance ranges encompasses a scenario where the EPA pushes back the 2027 emission standards for Class eight vehicles.

Speaker 2

We expect to build on our free cash flow progress, generating at least $20,000,000 of free cash flow in 2025, which will be used to pay down debt. Our focus on reducing working capital and lowering capital expenditures underpin this outlook. Net leverage is expected to decline throughout 2025 and 2026 as we work toward returning to our targeted two times level. With that, I will now turn the call back to the operator and open up the line for questions. Operator?

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Your first question comes from the line of Joe Gomez from NOBLE Capital. Your line is now open.

Speaker 3

Good morning, and thanks for taking my questions. Morning, Joe. Morning, Joe. So nice work again on the, you know, the cost improvements and everything and just on the gross margin improvement. And wonder if you could just remind us, you know, in a normalized environment, how high you think gross margin could be.

Speaker 1

Yeah. Joe, we we talk about overall, we see the entire business get to a high single digit EBITDA margin, and that would involve us getting to about 15% gross margin. I think right now, we still have a long way there. But as you pointed out, that would 15% will likely be returning to a more normalized end market demand, plus some of our own self help. So as you can see in q one, obviously, the revenue is pretty pretty low in the quarter, but we demonstrated that we were able to pull through some of the self help.

Speaker 1

And then as you continue to see through the rest of the quarter, hopefully, both the the self help and the end market recovery will start to show more towards the end of this fiscal year.

Speaker 2

Yeah. Joe, I'd add, us being able to anticipate, plan, and manage the headwinds of tariffs, inflation, global freight cost, and those things, we're we feel like we have line of sight to mitigating actions. And, our ability to flex quickly depending on what the end outcome is in those areas will give us an ability to continue to drive expansion in gross margin.

Speaker 3

Okay. And then just on the end market side, the way you guys can give us a little bit more color. I mean, I know you you guys quote the the ACT truck build outlook. I also look at some other stuff. Like, you know, if you look at FTR, for class eight orders, in April, they were down to levels of May 2020, which was during COVID when everything was shut down.

Speaker 3

Year to date, orders are down 30%, which if I'm if I'm looking at, know, that type of those types of numbers, it would suggest that it's gonna be very difficult to hit the ACT numbers of build numbers, you know, in 2026. And that's, you know, without if the EPA decides to pull the the deadline of '27 for new admissions at which would add another wildcard. And then if I look at, you know, the the the construction and ag markets, if they're you know, the ads accurate, they're gonna be down five to 15% each this year. And that's that's, you know, over two years of declining at markets there. And just trying to get a better handle.

Speaker 3

I mean, that's you know, those segments account for, you know, the vast majority of your business at this point. And, you know, I'm just trying to get a better handle on how we're going to get through that. And, you know, like, on the have you ever seen these types of downturns previously in, you know, the length of these downturns because they just seem to be extended, especially in the construction and ag markets? Any any additional color you can give is is greatly appreciated.

Speaker 2

Yes. It's a really good question and thanks for asking because I think what you're seeing is part of the result of the actions we took last year, but also improving our capability and flexibility as an organization. So when we look at our cost structure, we look at the low end of guidance and comprehend some of the elements that you had mentioned. We feel that we have adequate plans in place, not only to take cost structure actions as well as discretionary spending in the SG and A line to maintain EBITDA and cash at the lower end. We also have the capability to whenever the markets return, we will have the appropriate capacity to respond, but we're surgically removing cost fixed and variable as we expect these headwinds to continue.

Speaker 2

So I haven't experienced in my overall professional experience this type of year over year, two years in a row stack downturn, but we took some tough measures last year which created some inefficiencies. And now that they're stabilizing, we still see line of sight to continued opportunity for gross margin expansion even in the headwind of these market dynamics. And you're seeing that flow through in our Q1 and we expect throughout the year to continue to harvest those opportunities to maintain our updated guidance range with consideration of EPA push out, with consideration of continued end market demand in ConAg. And some of the successful determine will be determined by our ability to mitigate the end result of tariff actions working with our customers and suppliers, as well as our commodity prices and our footprint on near shoring, on shoring, resourcing to continue to improve our capital utilization as well as be prepared to support customer demand. And then finally, just the, what I would call, customer intimacy and understanding what some of their leading indicators are as they continue to flex their build schedules and modulate their output.

Speaker 2

The order book, I think the end markets based on what we hear from our customers is, people are pausing, organizations are pausing whether it's fleets or Conag dealers, to see where the macroeconomic situation will end up with respect to interest rates and the other elements that we have discussed in the call. And, us having that view helps us to continue to align our flexing to be able to to hold our our margins.

Speaker 3

K. Great. Thank you very much for that. It was much appreciated. I'll get back in queue.

Speaker 3

Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Gary Prestopino of Barrington Research. Your line is now open.

Speaker 4

Good morning, Gene and Andy. How are you guys doing?

Speaker 3

Good, Gary. Good morning, Gary.

Speaker 4

A couple of questions here. First of all, as I look back on on the stats that you gave for a class eight truck build when you reported in March. ACT was at, I believe, 316,000 of production. Now it's down to two fifty five, and that's just really in a two month span. So is that a reaction to the possibility of the a e EPA, considering delaying, some of these emissions, issues, or is that just really a function of that the they felt that the economy is really slowing dramatically and and this is where they think production is gonna be?

Speaker 4

I mean, that it just seems like in a two month period, that's a huge gap down.

Speaker 2

Yeah. It is. And based on information we received from our customers and also that they've presented publicly, their end market demand is somewhat in a wait and see mode with respect to tariffs. Freight rates have gone down, and I think some of that's with respect to tariffs as well as geopolitical issues with supply chain. We we expect to continue to align there, but there is volatility in customer bill due to their pipeline inventory correction.

Speaker 2

So they've scheduled down weeks within quarter and out quarters that we've adjusted in our outlook and forecast, as they modulate their their production. So their inventory pipeline and what's the dealers and what's going to fleets aligns, and they're not over overproducing. So we have to, adjust accordingly. And that's how we are able to continue to address our inventory reduction, as we're changing our terms and conditions on lead times and MOQs with suppliers as well as looking at alternative sources that have shorter lead times, which is giving us an ability to reduce inventory. And also our labor planning and plant scheduling, it's been very disruptive.

Speaker 2

But we are focused both on variable and fixed, and I think that's gonna give us, the appropriate countermeasures to to balance this uncertainty and volatility. But as you've seen these dynamics before, there does come a point of stability and recovery. And I think that we are well positioned, for that time, but we're not waiting until markets recover to expand our gross margin and expand our EBITDA and cash flow. We're taking the actions accordingly, but not being very conscious we don't damage our ability to be ready to respond. So it's it's a dicey set of initiatives that that we're balancing.

Speaker 2

I call it a set of simultaneous equations we're balancing. But so far, we're seeing positive results as we look where we were in Q4 and Q1. And our outlook for Q2, it's again, you'll hear more about that in guidance or you've heard about that in our guidance, but we do expect volatility in these build rates and order rates.

Speaker 4

Okay. Thank you for that. And then just in regard to tariffs and then I have another follow-up question on the debt. With tariffs, what percentage of your COGS are going to be impacted by tariffs? And could you just explain where these inputs are coming from in terms of if you're importing stuff from China, Europe, whatever?

Speaker 4

Can you just help us out a little bit with that?

Speaker 2

Yeah. I would say our largest exposure is on the Mexico and Canada tariffs and we are currently the majority of our business right now in in those that set of tariffs are under USMCA, which we've had some relief from. So we're I believe there's a ninety day pause on some of that. So we're working with customers to make sure that we're aligned with them. We have the appropriate recovery mechanisms in place.

Speaker 2

We are starting to see, tariff recovery come in from customer invoices and POs on the amounts that we've experienced to date. The China tariffs, are on a lower, percentage of our our spend and it's primarily related to our global seating business. And we are working closely with the OEMs to make sure we have recovery mechanisms there. But also, they expect us to implement mitigating actions from the standpoint of near shoring, onshoring, and also renegotiation with suppliers to make sure that they're doing all the things that they have to do similar to our customers expecting us to do that. So there are lot of moving pieces right now.

Speaker 2

Things still haven't settled down, but, we feel like we're making momentum both in the mitigating side and also the recovery side.

Speaker 4

And, Andy, do you have any any number of what percentage of your COGS is affected by this?

Speaker 1

Yeah. So if you think about from a cost structure standpoint, you really have to break that into the different segments. Right? Because they are very different. To James Paul's, our electrical business is mostly a manufacturing space in Mexico.

Speaker 1

So what he's describing is our our finished good products coming back to The US. Right? But we believe that we will have some relief from the USMCA, and our customer understand the dynamics. So we have a lot of very mature conversation already with our customers on recovering that part. Right?

Speaker 1

So that you can call it everything a % of the the the products are subject to terrible exposure. But we believe that with the regulation and the customers, we believe we have that cover there. Then you look at our trim and component business. That business have very little import components from overseas. Right?

Speaker 1

That is mostly chemical, plastic business with a little bit component, very tiny coming from overseas. The North America ceiling is the one that, if you remember, we talked about we have some global platform, some metal components that come from China, but I'll call it it would still be a a tiny fraction of our cost structure. I'll call it maybe less than 10% of our cost structure is coming from China. So that's the one that we are actively working with the customer, getting a a solution on the recovery. So far, couple of our top customers have already indicated that they will be very helpful in collaborating.

Speaker 1

We're finding ways to reduce the cost of our customers as well as the customer will be expected to support in terms of a relief for us. Okay.

Speaker 4

Thank you for that. And then just the last question revolves around debt and covenants. I mean, your net leverage ratio is at five times. What what are what are your covenant levels?

Speaker 1

Yeah. So if you remember, we talked about back in December, we have done an amendment to allow us to mostly, the amendment was allow us to calculate our, covenant level considering some of these one time, unusual cost that we incur during 2024 because of all these strategic actions and one time Mhmm. Footprint actions. So overall so it's around four times and we'll gradually step down during throughout the year. So and as I mentioned in my previous remarks, right now, we are within our government compliant and but at the same time, as I previously talked about, given the majority of our our basically, our debt is gonna be maturing in 2027.

Speaker 1

In 2025, we already started looking for options for refinancing for our entire debt structure. So that's what we're doing right now.

Speaker 4

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Next question comes from the line of John Franzreb from Sidoti and Company. Your line is now open.

Speaker 5

Good morning, guys, and thanks for taking the questions.

Speaker 4

Like to go back

Speaker 5

the topic of the revenue profile for the current year. I'm curious how April played out relative to March. Are you seeing the revenue profile decrease in line with the ACT numbers or is it more or less aggressive than that than that forecast?

Speaker 2

It's it's depends. In some areas, it's in line. In some areas, it's not quite as low. So, the ACT forecast primarily impacts our global seating and our trim systems and components business. And depending on the customer and depending on the platform, you see a mixture of, what models they're continuing to to build and what models they put down weeks in in their production.

Speaker 2

And we correspondingly, do that with our plants. But we feel like that, we're aligned with them with our increased, interaction with their organizations on the planning and supply standpoint as well as production supply. And they've been very helpful in communicating to their supply base when they expect to have down weeks in the three twelve week to thirteen week outlook. So that does give us time to to flex a bit. We don't exactly know when things will stabilize, and I think they're watching it closely as well.

Speaker 2

So we're just remaining flexible and and agile to to make the adjustments necessary. And as it relates to to April versus March, we don't really see a significant shift in revenue profile. It's, it's it's coming in as we expected back in the February, March time frame for April.

Speaker 5

Okay. And James, you you just referenced now and you and you referenced in your prepared remarks about scheduled downtime. That scheduled downtime, it it sounds like it's in the current quarter and then not giving you visibility beyond that. Is that a fair assessment?

Speaker 2

It's it's usually in the the ten to twelve, thirteen week range. They have production schedules that they manage. So we have about a a two to three month visibility. It becomes more, firm in the four to eight week range, and it becomes pretty firm in the four week range. So, knowing what they're planning in the June and in July time frame helps us prepare accordingly.

Speaker 2

And seasonally, with class a truck production, a lot of the customers have model change and they already have downtime scheduled in the July period. So we've seen some adjustments made there where, in some cases, it's extended, but they had originally planned to be down. So we're evaluating how we correspond our production and schedules as well as inventory build, safety stocks, and those things to make sure we continue on our inventory reduction path, but also make sure that, we continue our focus on on time delivery with those customers. So, it's managing a lot of fluctuation right now, but I feel like we have a somewhat of a better handle on it than we did in in q four last year.

Speaker 5

Understood. And you said some of the cost savings initiatives you implemented have improved the incremental, decremental margin profile. Can you just remind us what that profile looks like today versus, I don't know, year end?

Speaker 1

Yeah. So I would say in general, again, this is different segment. You'll see different profile. But in general, look at around 20% is what we're currently seeing. Overall, you would expect once we started to see the rebound of our electrical system business.

Speaker 1

So you'll see a a a higher incremental because right now we're also burdened by the additional fixed cost that we talked about with the two new plans. If you look at the trim business, you will see a little bit more incremental there. But the trim business, I would just like to also add a little bit with the new segments. And since you asked about, like, the impact and what we see with the class eight, with the new segment that you see and you actually see now the trim segment as we previously did described, that is a North America based class eight mostly end market related business. So when you think about modeling about our our revenues movements with the end market, that one has the most correlation with North America class eight.

Speaker 1

Global seating now with the new segment, you can see it's it's truly a global North America, Europe, and APAC. So you can see even in q one, the correlation with the end market North America drop is a little less correlated now with North America. That's you can see the drop is less than the trim business. And, obviously, now you look at the electrical business, it's mostly follows the construction and agriculture.

Speaker 5

Understood, Andy. And what cost saving measures remain to be implemented in 2025?

Speaker 2

Our continued focus on operational and material cost outs remain our largest lever. Continued improvement in operational excellence, labor productivity, plant efficiency, supply chain optimization with lead times and MOQs as well as terms and conditions on payables with our suppliers is also an ongoing focus. So with our new, COO, Scott Reed, and he's building, an organization and his we're already seeing the benefit of, the functional subject matter expertise in putting in someone that's over both manufacturing operations and procurement, we have better alignment and there's also reducing some of the inefficiencies that we had previously, as we're looking at the plants more on a product segment versus, the segmentation we had previously. So for example, all the seating plants in North America are now under one operational executive, and we're leveraging some of the synergies looking at it from a product and supply chain standpoint, which helps improve our cost too. So, those are the primary areas that we're focused on as well as inventory reduction to generate more cash.

Speaker 2

So it's both on the P and L side as well, margin side as well as the cash flow side.

Speaker 4

Got

Speaker 5

it. And James, if I recall properly, in your prepared remarks, you mentioned freight costs a number of times. Can you kind of quantify how much freight costs impacted you in the first quarter, say versus a year ago?

Speaker 2

I would say there was a higher impact as compared to a year ago, but we had different initiatives going on where we were doing divestitures and plant consolidations a year ago versus now it's a more stable environment. Also, some of the the freight dynamics, from last year with potential port strikes, canal and shipping disruptions, increased container rates as well as, in this year, we're seeing lower freight demand. So we're also seeing lower, container rates and container usage. So it's it's looking at all those elements. And year over year, I don't really have the specific number, but it's Andy, I think it's

Speaker 1

So, John, I think the the most important message here is if you look at our q four and q three performance last year. Right? So when we say that we are under a lot of operational inefficiencies because of the footprint changes and the strategic actions, a lot of that came in the form of expedited freight. Right? Because when we move things around, it becomes very difficult to manage the supply chain, and we have to keep the customer production schedule on time.

Speaker 1

So what James' prepared remarks suggested is that if you look at our 240 basis point improvement, a third of that came from our stabilization of those footprint changes, and now we were able to get rid of those expedite freight. And we are not fully done yet. We still have some actions to do as as we continue to optimize our inventory positions. So this is gonna be continue to be a source of our margin expansions throughout the year.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Andy. That that was actually very helpful. Thank you, guys. I'll get back into queue.

Speaker 1

Thanks, John.

Operator

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. Turning over back to Mr. Ray for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you all for joining today's call. We are remaining agile to support our customers in this dynamic environment and we are highly focused on continuing to execute our long term strategy. We look forward to discussing CVG's progress next quarter. Thanks again for participating and your questions. Have a good day.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.

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Key Takeaways

  • CVG completed a shift to three operating segments—Global Seating, Global Electrical Systems, and Trim Systems & Components—to improve customer alignment and drive operational momentum under a lower cost structure.
  • The company delivered a 10.8% adjusted gross margin in Q1 (up 240 basis points sequentially) through efficiency initiatives, non-core divestitures, and the end of one-time consulting costs.
  • CVG generated $11.2 M in free cash flow from continuing operations (versus –$6.5 M last year) and reduced net debt by $11.7 M, while targeting further working capital and inventory reductions.
  • Q1 revenue fell to $169.8 M (from $194.6 M) amid softer demand in global construction, agriculture, and North American Class 8 trucks, resulting in an adjusted EBITDA of $5.8 M (3.4% margin) and a net loss of $3.1 M.
  • For 2025, CVG narrowed its revenue guidance to $660–690 M, cut adjusted EBITDA outlook to $22–27 M, introduced a ≥$20 M free cash flow target, and plans $15–20 M in cost savings alongside a 50% capex reduction.
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Earnings Conference Call
Commercial Vehicle Group Q1 2025
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