Dorel Industries Inc.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Durell Industries' second quarter 2024 results conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star, then 1 on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star, then 0. Before turning the meeting over to management, please be advised that this conference call will contain statements that are forward-looking and subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded today, August 9th, 2024. I would now like to turn the call over to Martin Schwartz, President and CEO. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good afternoon, and thank you all for joining us for the REL's second quarter earnings call for the period ended June 30th. With me are Jeffrey Schwartz, CFO, and Jason Kwasnick, VP of Finance. We'll take your questions following our comments, and again, all figures mentioned during this call are in U.S. dollars. The REL Juvenile has continued its trajectory of growth and improvement. Our profit turnaround is ongoing, driven by strong results in North America, where our market share has grown for several consecutive quarters. This is also true in our other major market of Europe, where our innovative new product launches are leading the way with our retail partners and consumers. This positive outcome is a testament to our commitment to excellence and innovation. Our home segment continues to operate in difficult environments, with the ongoing high inflation and interest rates affecting our consumers and the demand for new furniture. As a result, reduced earnings and cash flow projections forced us to record a non-cash impairment loss of goodwill of $45.3 million in the quarter. Excluding this, our adjusted operating loss was similar to prior year's second quarter. On a positive note, the Costco home Costco Home product line of folding indoor furniture, stepstools, and utility products is growing year over year, and sales to our brick-and-mortar retailers increased overall. We have also significantly reduced our operating expenses, and it remains a focus. We're excited about our new product listings, and we remain committed to improving our operations, focusing on new product development, and expanding our market presence. And now a look at our two segments. In juvenile, we are returning to much better levels of profitability and are approaching where we expect to be. Our second quarter revenue is the highest since the second quarter of 2022. Adjusted operating profit approached $7 million and versus last year improved by $15 million. This shows that the investments we are making in new product innovation are gaining traction and this is evidenced by us gaining market share at our competitors' expense. Second quarter was fueled by a number of product introductions across the juvenile segment. I would like to highlight the Kindred Collection by Maxi Cosi, a high-end product line featuring a rotating car seat, a luxurious travel system, and home equipment, including bassinets, which incorporate our unique AI-based cry detection technology. which allows parents to better understand the reason for their baby's cries. The detail to quality and fashion in this collection really created a lot of excitement with customers and we were able to benchmark ourselves against the competition. Based on our perception as well as the feedback from customers, our product offering was the most compelling. Success in the specialty channel in the U.S. is a strategic priority and we are making significant inroads. This is a great growth opportunity for us, but of course this does not mean that we are de-emphasizing our more traditional channels and the mass channel was the driver of our success in the first half. Worth mentioning is the recent rebrand of both Safety First and Costco. Costco now known as Costco Kids. Those rebrands are working and we see it in our sales. We have three powerhouse brands in North America. each resonating with consumers at the opening, mid, and high price points. In Europe, the momentum from our April customer event, where we introduced our new Maxi Cosi Fame stroller, is continuing. Order levels exceeded expectations, and a significant shipping will begin in the third quarter. During the quarter, we also received several accolades on other products in the portfolio. Europe's largest automobile association and very influential reviewer of car seats, awarded us a four-star overall rating on the Maxi-Cosi Pebble 360 Pro, the Roddy Fix Pro 2, and the Mika 360 Pro, which topped its category. In addition, Maxi-Cosi achieved the Red Dot 24 Design Award for three products. Red Dot, an international design competition for product and communication design, recognized the Mika 360 Pro car seat, and in addition, the Oxford stroller and the C Pro baby monitor. They each received accolades for their sophisticated design, safety features, and advanced technology, setting new industry standards. These ratings and awards for Maxi Cosi's highlights our commitment to safety, quality, and innovation. Norel Juvenile Brazil marked its 15th anniversary with a significant presence at the 7th Puri Expo, Latin America's largest trade fair for premium juvenile products, where we unveiled over 60 new products. We won in three categories of the Puri Trends Award for the Maxi-Cosi Pebble 360 Pro, the Infantimia car seat, and the Maxi-Cosi C Pro 360 Baby Monitor. Dorel Juvenile Brazil is an important part of our business and is a key contributor to our overall profit, and I want to acknowledge their success and our gratitude to the team there on this major milestone. Overall, our product portfolio has never been healthier, and we are seeing consumer excitement for these new products across each of the divisions. and our distributor partners around the world. Now turning to Durell Home. The furniture sector faces a challenging environment with interest and mortgage rates, coupled with fewer consumers relocating to new homes, suppressing demand in the home segment. Increased promotional incentive offerings are continuing and lower sales volumes and production levels and are ready to assemble factories results in lower factory overhead absorption. Both of these factors continue to pressure margins in the short term. The brick-and-mortar channel is a bright spot of the growth of the REL Home. The positive trend continues to be at strength, and we have increased opportunities, which will lead to new placement in the balance of the year. In particular, Costco Home and Office continue to be a significant contributor to the segment as the division's revenue and profits were up substantially. The segment continued to see results from its previously announced restructuring initiatives, as selling, general, and administrative expenses were reduced over the previous year by 15.9% or $2.4 million. Unfortunately, to reduce costs and match its operations to the reality of current demand, The home segment continued its path to streamline operations, and on July the 8th, we announced the closure of the ready to assemble manufacturing facility in Tiffin, Ohio. Production of all RTA furniture will be done at our facility in Cornwall, Ontario. Equipment and customer orders have already started the transfer to Cornwall, with the goal of having one highly efficient and profitable facility for domestic RTA furniture production. This decision was painful, but necessary, and I want to thank all affected employees for their contributions to the REL over the years. As I said at the end of the first quarter, we are working towards being a more streamlined, efficient operation, and remain confident that even with a diminished furniture industry, the REL home will be able to work within it and be profitable. The Darrell Juvenile segment is on track and we still expect our second half results to improve versus the first half. The new product launches thus far this year will drive higher revenues in the back half, with the fourth quarter expected to be the strongest. While there is a risk of a slowing economy and we are facing higher supply chain costs, we believe we have the ability to offset these challenges and are confident that our strategic initiatives and focus on operational efficiencies will continue to drive growth and deliver value. Despite not seeing an industry improvement for Doral Home, we are cautiously optimistic that we will deliver increased sales in the second half. This is based on our new product pipeline and the success we are seeing at brick and mortar. With our focus on cost reduction, we anticipate improving gross margins and a much improved second half versus the first and last year's comparative quarters. We continue to monitor the macro environment and will make additional operational improvements. We remain committed to delivering quality products and value to our customers. I will now ask Jeffrey to review the financials.

Thank you, Martin. For the second quarter of 2024, Doral's revenue increased by 2.9 million or just under 1% compared to last year in the quarter. Organic revenue was approximately 1.7% after removing variations of foreign exchange rates. I do want to point out here that despite the general economy still being in inflationary times, our businesses are actually more in deflationary times and have been for a while now, a couple of years since after COVID. We're seeing reduced selling prices as well as reduced costs. So that 1.7 is actually more meaningful than it seems. The revenue in organic or revenue improvements was in Durrell Juvenile, which was partially offset by the decline in Durrell Home. In Durrell Juvenile, the revenue improvements were in the majority of markets, but most significantly in the United States, in Brazil, and in Australia. In Durell Home, the revenue and organic decline is mostly or pretty much explained by reduced online sales, which was almost entirely offset by an increase in brick and mortar channels. Gross profit for the second quarter increased by 5.9 million or almost 10 percent. Gross margin for the second quarter increased by 160 basis points, 19 percent versus 17.4 last year. The improvement was all in the Durrell Juvenile, partially offset by a decline in Durrell Home. As Martin mentioned, the impairment loss on Goodwill of $45.3 million was recognized in the quarter. The impairment loss was related to the Durrell Home division due to reduced earnings and cash flow projections in light of the general economic and financial conditions globally from the ongoing high inflationary environment and sustained high interest and mortgage rates. This continued to have a negative impact on the furniture industry and seems to be the case for, you know, the immediate future. For the second quarter, Dorrell reported an operating loss of $49.3 million compared to $13 million last year. The improvement in the loss was mainly due to sorry, the increase in the loss was mainly due to the loss on goodwill, which was partially offset by the increase in gross profit dollars from the increase in gross margin and percentage of revenue and the overall lower expenses, operating expenses for the businesses. Excluding restructuring and the impairment loss, adjusted operating loss decreased by 9.6 million to 3.4 million from 13 last year. Finance expenses increased by $3.5 million to $9.6 million during the quarter, mainly from higher debt balances as well as higher average interest rates. Overall, the loss for the second quarter was $59.5 million, or $1.83 per share, compared to $16.7 million, or 51 cents, last year. However, if you exclude the restructuring and impairment charges, the loss was 13.6 million or 42 cents a share compared to the 16.7 or 51 cents from last year. If we look over to the juvenile business, it continues to do well. The second quarter revenue increased by 4.7 million or 2.2 percent. Organic revenue improved by about 3.7 percent. The improvement, again, was mostly All over the place, however, the US, Brazil, and Australia were the biggest contributors. In the US, the increase was pretty much across the board in all the brands and product categories. In Brazil, revenue improvement was both in the specialist channels and also in the e-commerce channels. And in Australia, we gained mostly from direct-to-consumer channel and other online sales. The gross profit in the second quarter increased by $6.7 million. in juvenile, or 12.3 percent compared to last year. The gross margin was 28.5, which was an improvement of 260 basis points over last year's 25.9. The increase was driven by a combination of lower input costs, better product mixes, and higher sales volume in the U.S. The operating profit was 6.3 million during the quarter compared to 800,000 last year. And then if we exclude the restructuring costs, adjusted operating profit improved by $6 million to $6.9 versus the $800,000 last year. The increase in operating profit in the second quarter is mainly explained by an increase in gross profit dollars, which was partially offset by some higher operating expenses. Moving over to the home segment, Revenue declined 1.8 million or 1.4 percent. The small decline in revenue in the second quarter was mainly explained by reduced online sales, which was almost entirely offset by increases sales in brick and mortar channels. The increase in the brick and mortar channels could be highlighted in areas like folding furniture, futons, and stepstools. Again, the current interest environment continues to constrain consumer spending related to home furnishing items, and we're seeing it acutely in the online area. Gross profits for the second quarter decreased by 800,000 or 14.8 percent compared to last year's second quarter. The gross margin in the quarter was only 3.4 percent, representing a decline of 60 basis points from the 4 percent last year. However, it was a large decline from the Q1. The decrease, you know, is mainly related to, you know, some promotional incentive offerings, some reduced online business that generates higher margins, but mostly because of the lower volume efficiencies and production levels at our factories. And as Martin mentioned, merging our two RTA factories into one, we hope we'll have a material impact going forward in that area. And finally, the loss in the home segment was $43.7 million for the quarter. So, the loss increased by $43.7 million. to 53.6. Of course, that comes mostly from the impairment on the goodwill, which is non-cash, and some lower gross profits partially offset by lower operating expenses. And with that, I'll pass it back to Martin.

All right. Thank you, Jeffrey. Okay. With that, I now ask the operator to open the lines for questions and request that you limit them to two in the first round. Operator.

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. The first question comes from Derek Lessard with TD Cohen. Please go ahead.

Yeah, good afternoon, everyone. I just want to hit maybe on juvenile. I think, Martin, in your prepared remarks, you said that juvenile is getting closer to where you want it to be. Can you just maybe put that into context in terms of, you know, sales level, margins, and maybe operating profit?

Yeah. Interesting choice of words. I think what was meant by that statement was more like we're at where we want to be today, not where we're going. So, you know, basically we're on plan for our internal plans for the year. That's kind of what the statement was supposed to say. I do see the other side of it, which means this is like as good as it gets. It isn't. We have significant plans. to go forward to increase the net margins of the division, as well as increasing the sales. We have a lot of new product that we talk about was introduced, but wasn't really, isn't in the market as fast as we would like it. We have some, I'm going to call it limited production on some of our new SKUs that are doing well, and we're in the process of increasing that production so we can meet demand. So there's a lot of opportunities there. So I think, you know, that maybe if I rephrase it that way, it's not the same.

Yeah, no, thanks for clearing that up, Jeffrey. That makes sense. And I guess maybe to your last point on, I guess, some backlog on the production of those new SKUs, is that – Because your organic growth rate in juvenile, it's still pretty solid, but it is down from Q1. Is that part of the reason?

Yeah, I mean, that is part of the reason. We also had a pretty good, I think, second quarter in sales last year, if I'm not mistaken, in the U.S., But, I mean, that certainly hurts. I mean, we've introduced the new stroller. Martin talked about the fame. And our demand is significantly outstripping our supply right now, which is obviously frustrating in this environment. But we are working on increasing production and getting the product to meet the demand. So, yeah, I mean, that would be partially some of it. But, you know, we do expect a better second half, even though we're happy. Better meaning, I think... more top-line growth in the second half. But overall, this is the second year in a row that we can say that our juvenile numbers are coming in where we want them to be for the current year, and we continue to have high expectations going forward. Okay.

You know what? I'll let somebody else take a question, and I'll read through. Thanks. Okay.

The next question comes from Stephen McLeod with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good afternoon, guys. Just a couple of questions here. Just firstly on the home business, can you talk about what your actual in-store versus e-commerce growth rates were in the quarter?

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know, we're mid-teens for growth in brick and mortar, and obviously a decline of slightly more than that on the online area.

Okay. No, that's helpful. And then – oh, sorry, go ahead.

Go ahead.

Just along those lines, when you think about the brick-and-mortar business being up, are you still seeing that coming from inventory replenishment, or are you seeing growth more in line with what the POS trends are showing you?

If anything, I believe where replenishment is actually... I think they're actually, POS is outselling replenishment, if I'm not mistaken. So, no, it is actually a couple of things going on here. One, the retailers are realizing that they could do well in store now and that there has been some shift, you know, not a great shift, but a shift towards buying in store. We also are able to service, I think this is the reason why we're winning So, well, we have everything we need to service the retailers with the brick and mortar business. It's, you know, we have full customer service. We have the ability to bring in the inventory. We have a lot, you know, the ability to get large quantities of goods. Online is a lot more little players that, you know, bring in 100 pieces at a time or 500 pieces, and it's just a lot harder for us to be as good as we are in the brick-and-mortar side. I think the retailers realize that. I think that's why we're winning there, and it's a lot harder on the other side. We're digging in deep and leaning into more opportunities in brick-and-mortar, and there are. I think that's what we're aiming for going forward.

Okay. That's great. Then maybe just turning to the juvenile business. I just wanted to clarify. I thought I heard you say that your back half improvement, is that just for sales, or is that also for profitability?

Yeah. I know the sales number is up. I know Q4 is always our best quarter. We're going to have all of our newest stuff at the time. I'm not... ready to comment on. Yeah, I'm not going to comment on the second half of it. It'll be good. You know, we don't have any, there's no issues. I just don't want to, like, put out a number yet.

Yeah, no, understood. Okay. That's great. I'll pass it back to the line. Thanks so much. Okay.

This concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Martin Schwartz for any closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Thank you. I just want to thank everybody for joining us here this afternoon, and I wish you all a good weekend.

This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.