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spk04: Good day and welcome to the first quarter 2022 LB Foster earnings conference call. After the speaker's presentation, there'll be a question and answer session and instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I would like to turn the call over to Stephanie Liswack, the company's investor relations manager. You may begin.
spk01: Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to LB Foster's first quarter of 2022 earnings call. My name is Stephanie Listwalk, the company's investor relations manager. Our president and CEO, John Castle, and our chief financial officer, Bill Tallman, will be presenting our first quarter operating results, market outlook, and business developments this morning. Sean Riley, the company's corporate controller, is also joining us this morning. We'll start the call with John providing his perspective on the company's first quarter performance and updating you on significant business matters and market developments. Bill will then review the company's first quarter financial results. John will then provide perspective on company outlook and his closing comments. We will then open the session up for questions. Today's slide presentation, along with our earnings release and financial disclosures, were posted on our website this morning and can be accessed on our investor relations page at lbfoster.com. Our comments this morning will follow the slides in the earnings presentation. Some statements we are making are forward-looking and represent our current view of our markets and business today, including comments related to COVID-19. These forward-looking statements reflect our opinions only as of the date of this presentation, and we undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revisions to these statements in light of new information, except as required by securities laws. For more detailed risks, uncertainties, and assumptions relating to our forward-looking statements, please see the disclosures in our earnings release and presentation. We will also discuss non-GAAP financial metrics and encourage you to read our disclosures and reconciliation tables provided within today's earnings release and within our accompanying earnings presentation carefully as you consider these metrics. For the purpose of helping you understand the underlying performance of the company, we will be referring to adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted diluted EPS, net debt, and adjusted net leverage ratio during the presentation today as reflected in the reconciliation tables included in the appendix to the earnings presentation. Additionally, In September of 2021, he announced the asset sale of our Piling Products Division. Due to the nature of the sale, we have presented the Piling Products within continuing operations within our financial statements, but we have adjusted certain metrics, as annotated in our presentation slides, to reflect the sale for purposes of an even comparison. So, with that, let me turn the call over to John.
spk03: Thanks, Stephanie, and hello, everyone. Thanks for joining us today for our first quarter earnings call. I'll start the call with some opening remarks on developments within the business in Q1. Despite headwinds we face in the quarter, overall we are encouraged by some of the positive trends realized by the business. Specifically, order intake levels excluding the pilings business increased 17.7% over the prior year quarter and increased 42.2% sequentially. This order intake level resulted in a backlog of $245 million at quarter end, an increase of 3.7% compared to prior year quarter. The strength in orders and our current backlog should position us well for improving revenues as 2022 progresses, including expected sequential increase of at least 25% in Q2. Reflecting the improving commercial environment, we also delivered year-over-year revenue growth in Q1, which was up 3.7% versus last year after adjusting for the piling sale. While the commercial markets have continued to improve, the operating environment remains challenging, and our margins were impacted by inflationary pressures and disruptive supply chains in the quarter. However, our margins began to stabilize in the quarter, and we expect to see improvements in the profitability in the coming quarters as volumes continue to improve and our mitigation actions take hold. Working capital levels are elevated versus last year, with the expected improvement in revenues ahead and efforts to ensure product availability for customers in the challenging supply market. We remain focused on our strategy to leverage our key growth platforms. Precast concrete and rail technologies and services will be making our progress on our execution roadmap. So while we are facing challenges in the quarter, we believe the potential upside in our markets and focus strategy will have us well positioned to drive improved shareholder returns in the coming years. Bill will cover the detailed financials for Q1, and I'll come back at the end with some closing remarks on our outlook. Over to you, Bill.
spk00: Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. I'll begin my comments by covering the consolidated highlights of our first quarter on slide 7. Note that the schedules in the appendix provide more detailed information on our financial results, including the non-GAAP measures Stephanie referenced. As a reminder, our piling business was divested in September last year and is not being treated as a discontinued operation. Accordingly, the amounts presented today include the piling business within the steel products and measurement segment, unless otherwise noted as adjusted for comparability purposes. First quarter sales were $98.8 million, down $17.3 million, or 14.9%, from Q1 last year. However, adjusting for the piling divestiture, sales were up 3.7% year over year. Gross profit was down in Q1 due to the piling divestiture, coupled with raw material and labor inflation as well as labor and supply chain disruptions impacting the balance of the business. Gross profit margins were up 40 basis points on a reported basis due to the piling divestiture. However, gross profit margins adjusted for piling were down 190 basis points year over year. I would highlight that the 16.6% reported Q1 gross profit margin compares to 16.9% in Q4 of 2021. So the rate of margin decline sequentially has eased some in the current quarter. We are implementing price increases to mitigate the impact of inflation on the business where possible. and some parts of the business have been more successful than others given contractual and competitive considerations. However, we expect to see further progress from our pricing and margin improvement actions and believe we will see margins increase as we continue through 2022. EBITDA in Q1 declined $1.1 million to $1.7 million with $300,000 due to the piling divestiture and the balance due to lower gross profit and slightly higher SG&A costs in the remaining business. The first quarter is a seasonally low period for sales on top of a slower period in Q4. As a result, operating cash flow was a usage of $7.6 million in Q1. We expect operating cash flow to improve as the year progresses. First quarter orders totaled $135 million and were up $20 million, or 17.7% excluding pilings. And as John discussed, we ended the quarter with a robust backlog of $245 million. Over the next three slides, I'll cover the performance of each of our segments, starting with our rail segment on slide eight. First quarter rail segment revenue decreased $2.5 million year over year, largely driven by lower volumes and timing of orders in the rail products business unit. The decline in rail products was offset in part by higher sales in our friction management and technology services and solutions business units. Despite the lower sales, gross margins increased 30 basis points year over year, due to higher volume and more profitable friction management and technology services and solutions businesses, as well as improved margins in rail products. Rail segment margins in Q1 were also up slightly versus Q4 of 2021. As reflected on slide nine, precast concrete product segment revenues increased $2 million or 18.4 percent year-over-year. However, gross margins were down 330 basis points year-over-year due primarily to higher input costs as well as labor and engineering disruptions impacting production and fixed manufacturing costs of absorption. Sequentially, Q1 margins in the precast business were down 30 basis points. Orders and backlog remain robust in our precast segment, and we expect this favorable trend to continue with the announced government funding programs. The strong demand coupled with our margin improvement actions should result in improved profitability in precast as the year progresses. The steel products and measurement information on slide 10 has been adjusted to remove the impact of the piling divestiture for comparability purposes. Overall revenues increased by $4 million, or 22.7% year over year, with the increase primarily attributable to threaded and measurement product lines. While volumes were improved in parts of the segment year over year, gross profit margins declined 690 basis points due to higher steel, labor, and project costs for the bridge products business, and unfavorable manufacturing absorption in the protective coatings business. Sequentially, Q1 margins were down 210 basis points, reflecting the ongoing cost and volume challenges in this segment. The longer-term improvements we've made in our liquidity and credit metrics are reflected on slide 11. Over the past four years, and despite the adverse effects of the pandemic on overall demand and cash flow, we've systematically reduced our debt and improved our credit metrics. Total net debt was $29.4 million at quarter end, down $2.4 million from last year. The increase in the adjusted net leverage ratio to 1.7 times at the end of Q1 was the result of lower trailing 12-month EBITDA realized primarily in our codings and measurement business. Our leverage ratio remains below two times, and we've stated that we are comfortable with a leverage ratio around two times given our financing leads and longer-term cash generation performance. We are still anticipating $8.5 million in federal income tax refunds and we have $90 million in federal net operating loss carry-forwards that will help to reduce our federal tax burden for the foreseeable future. Capital spending remains around 1% of sales, in line with our overall Capital Light business model. My closing comments will be on slides 12 and 13, covering orders, revenues, and backlog by business. The book-to-bill ratios on slide 12 reflect the continuing strength we've seen in all of our businesses in Q1. This is the third consecutive quarter where precast concrete product orders have outpaced sales with a trailing 12-month order run rate of approximately $80 million. After a softer Q4 last year, rail technologies and services orders increased by over 50% sequentially and were up about 32% on a year-over-year basis. Additionally, steel products and measurement realized a 67% sequential increase in orders from Q4 of last year. And lastly, our consolidated backlog on slide 13 reflects the robustness of the precast concrete and rail technologies and services businesses. Our year-end backlog is at a four-quarter high and demonstrates the underlying strength in the business and commercial markets that we serve. As a result, we remain optimistic that revenues and margins will improve in the coming quarters as we continue to execute our strategic playbook. Thank you for your time this morning, and I'll now turn it back over to John for his closing remarks. John?
spk03: Thanks, Bill. Please turn to slide 15, where we'll start our closing remarks with a brief overview of how we see our key end markets developing in the coming quarters. As previously mentioned during update calls, our businesses have benefited from significant government funding of infrastructure projects in the past, and the funding levels approved over the last two years are greater than we've ever seen before. While it's difficult to predict the magnitude of the impact on our markets and demand for our products, we're optimistic we'll be seeing improving demand. As previously mentioned, our order intake levels and backlog have positioned us to expect sequential revenue growth at least 25% moving into Q2. It's important to mention that we do not expect to see any meaningful revenue from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2022. We would expect revenues from this funding program to come in 2023 and beyond. However, we do have line of sight of significant infrastructure projects across our portfolio that are well aligned with our growth strategy. Our energy related businesses appear to have bottomed out at historical low levels of demand. While there is some increased discussion around energy security in the market today, as well as some increased order activity in our measurement businesses, We do not expect to see a meaningful improvement in the demand of our energy-related products lines for the foreseeable future. Addressing the erosion in our margins remains a top priority for us. We're being aggressive where possible with pricing actions and creative in solving labor and supply chain constraints and disruptions. We are adding inventory where appropriate to reduce the impact of supply chain disruptions and identifying alternative sourcing arrangements to
spk04: Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star then 1. If your question hasn't been answered and you'd like to move yourself in the queue, press the pound key. Our first question comes from Chris Sasaki with Singular Research. Your line is open.
spk02: Hi, good morning. Hi, Chris. Good morning, Chris. How are you? Good, good. Good. Just a question on, I guess, new orders in the precast segment. There was a decline there. Can you comment on that and where you see the new orders in the next quarter?
spk03: Yeah, thanks, Chris. When you look at comparison over the quarters, Q1 to Q1, there was a little bit of a downtick, but that's because we received a very, very large order Q1 of 2021. So, in fact, that was an $11 million order that went over multiple years. So we actually feel very good about where we stand on the pre-cash side of the business. And backlog, as we stated, ended at $72 million, which is an uptick from where it was at the same point in time with that very large order back in Q1 of 2021. So... Orders are coming in from all over, both industrial, commercial accounts, the nationals, the state, federal parks. The infrastructure bill, we haven't seen any work there, but the Great American Outdoors Act has been a fantastic stimulus for us. We're seeing just a great amount of extra, or I don't know if extra is the right word, but quite a bit of funding and focus into our state and national parks. So the business looks strong.
spk02: Okay, great. And I didn't get the PDF with the slides, but was there a backlog for coatings and measurement? How is that going?
spk03: So, well, as we mentioned, I mentioned you in the script, and Bill had some commentary, too. You know, we definitely have hit the bottom as it relates to that particular business, and we are seeing significantly more compared to where we were in the second half of last year as far as bidding activity. When you look at, we really break it out into the entire group, those steel products and measurements. So that backlog stands at $49 million, which is just $3 million off of where it was at the same period last year. So we are pretty flat on a year-over-year basis with more bidding activity in the coating side than we've seen in the past.
spk02: Okay, great. Thanks for the answers.
spk03: You're welcome. Thanks for joining us today.
spk04: Again, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star then one. I'm not showing any additional questions. I'd like to turn the call back over to John Tassel for any closing remarks.
spk03: Thanks, Michelle, and thanks for everybody joining us today. Really appreciate everybody's focus on where we're at as a company. We feel very good about where we're at related to our ending backlog of $245 million and the emphasis of growing revenue by greater than 25% heading into Q2. We stand behind that, and we're anxious to get into the quarter and have a strong second half three-quarters of the year or so. Thanks everybody for joining us today and we look forward to hooking up with you after the end of the next quarter. Take care and be safe.
spk04: This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.
spk03: Everyone have a great day.
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