Middleby Corporation: Reports Q1-2019 Results

Elgin / IL. (tmc) The Middleby Corporation, a leading worldwide manufacturer of equipment for the commercial foodservice, food processing, and residential kitchen industries, reported net sales and earnings for the first quarter ended March 30, 2019. Net earnings for the first quarter were USD 69.0 million or USD 1.24 diluted earnings per share on net sales of USD 686.8 million as compared to the prior year first quarter net earnings of USD 65.4 million or USD 1.18 diluted earnings per share on net sales of USD 584.8 million. Net earnings in the current quarter were negatively impacted by the transition costs resulting from the retirement of the former Chairman and CEO. Excluding these items, earnings per share would have been USD 1.38 for Q1/2019.

2019 First Quarter Financial Highlights

• Net sales increased 17.4 percent in the first quarter of 2019 over the comparative prior year period. Sales related to recent acquisitions added 17.2 percent in the first quarter. The impact of foreign exchange rates on foreign sales translated into U.S. Dollars decreased net sales by approximately 2.1 percent during the first quarter. Excluding the impacts of acquisitions, closure of a non-core business and foreign exchange rates, sales increased 2.9 percent in the first quarter.
• Net sales at the company’s Commercial Foodservice Equipment Group increased 27.1 percent in the first quarter of 2019 over the comparative prior year period. During fiscal 2018, the company completed the acquisitions of Firex, Josper, Taylor and Crown. During fiscal 2019, the company completed the acquisition of EVO. Excluding the impacts of acquisitions and foreign exchange, sales increased 3.4 percent in the first quarter.
• Net sales at the company’s Residential Kitchen Equipment Group increased 0.4 percent in the first quarter of 2019 over comparative prior year period. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates and closure of a non-core business, sales increased 5.5 percent during the first quarter, led by continued double digit sales growth at Viking.
• Net sales at the company’s Food Processing Equipment Group increased 4.4 percent in the first quarter of 2019 over the comparative prior year period. During fiscal 2018, the company completed the acquisitions of Hinds-Bock, Ve.Ma.C and M-TEK. Excluding the impacts of acquisitions and foreign exchange rates, net sales decreased 3.2 percent during the first quarter.
• Gross profit in the first quarter increased to USD 257.3 million from USD 211.6 million and the gross margin rate increased from 36.2 percent to 37.5 percent. The increase in gross margin rate for the quarter was primarily related to improved profitability at the Residential Kitchen Equipment Group.
• Operating income in the first quarter increased to USD 101.1 million from USD 87.0 million in the prior year period. The transition costs resulting from the retirement of the former Chairman and CEO also negatively impacted the quarter by approximately USD 10.1 million.
• Operating income included USD 26.2 million of non-cash expenses during the first quarter, comprised of USD 9.0 million of depreciation expense, USD 16.1 million of intangible amortization and USD 1.1 million of share based compensation. Prior year first quarter non-cash expenses amounted to USD 19.8 million, including USD 8.2 million of depreciation expenses, USD 11.5 million of intangible amortization and USD 0.1 million of share based compensation.
• The provision for income taxes in the first quarter amounted to USD 20.7 million at a 23.1 percent effective rate in comparison to USD 21.3 million at a 24.5 percent effective rate in the prior year quarter.
• Diluted net earnings per share was USD 1.24 in the first quarter as compared to USD 1.18 in the prior year quarter. Net earnings in the current quarter were negatively impacted by the transition costs from the retirement of the former Chairman and CEO. The impact of these costs reduced earnings per share by USD 0.14 for the first quarter.
• Operating cash flows during the first quarter amounted to USD 33.9 million in comparison to USD 44.7 million in the prior year period.
• Net debt, defined as debt less cash, at the end of the 2019 fiscal first quarter amounted to USD 1,811.1 million as compared to USD 1,820.4 million at the end of fiscal 2018. During the first quarter, the company invested USD 12.4 million to fund 2019 acquisition activities.

Timothy FitzGerald, Chief Executive Officer, commented, «At the Commercial Foodservice Equipment Group, we reported growth both domestically and internationally. In the U.S., we continued to benefit from sales momentum with our restaurant chain customers, as they adopt our latest product innovation. International growth reflects improved market conditions in Latin America and Asia, although we continue to face challenging conditions in Europe and U.K. with uncertainty from the impact of Brexit. We continue to work closely with our customers on solutions to address current operator challenges of labor cost and availability, space constraints and rising operating costs, while providing flexibility for menu updates. In particular, we continue to see demand in the areas of beverage, ventless cooking and automated conveyor equipment. Our focus remains on positioning Middleby for long-term growth through strategic investments in technology and our global manufacturing, sales and support capabilities.»

«We continue to make progress on the integration of commercial foodservice acquisitions completed over the past several years. At Taylor, Ebitda margins improved to approximately 25 percent in the quarter and added to our earnings by approximately USD 0.04 this quarter. Investments to achieve our longer-term profitability goals will be ongoing. Most importantly, these efforts include the development of new product innovations for the market in the frozen beverage and dessert categories, which we anticipate will generate future growth and margin enhancement opportunities.»

FitzGerald added, «At our Residential Kitchen Equipment Group, we continued to see favorable progress and market share gains with our brands domestically. Viking again reported double-digit sales growth in the quarter and there is steady interest and momentum with new, innovative product lines including the Viking Virtuoso line which was introduced in the first quarter. Additionally, we expanded our refrigeration offering and are excited to launch a new generation of under counter refrigeration from U-Line. Investments in the residential business are ongoing with the recent grand opening of our New York City Residential Showroom and third residential showroom planned for Southern California in 2019. Outside of North America, we were pleased to also see modest growth in the AGA Rangemaster business during the quarter, reflecting initial benefits of new product introductions. However, challenging market conditions persist in the U.K. and we anticipate consistent growth will be difficult until the market conditions improve.»

FitzGerald further noted, «At the Food Processing Equipment Group, the absence of large projects due to market dynamics, remains a challenge, particularly in the meat processing business. We continue to introduce innovation to the market and launch new products to address growing market categories and trends such as pet foods, dried meats and jerky, and sous-vide cooking and remain optimistic that positive results are achievable in the coming quarters.»

FitzGerald concluded, «We recently announced the acquisitions of the Standex Cooking Solution Group and PowerHouse Dynamics. Through the Standex acquisition, we are excited to add the highly-respected brands Ultrafryer, BKI, APW and Bakers Pride to the Middleby family as this acquisition further extends our technologies in frying, cooking and warming within our Commercial Foodservice Equipment Group. With the addition of BKI, we are now strategically well-positioned to serve and penetrate the growing retail and convenience store market segment. The acquisition of PowerHouse Dynamics significantly adds to our IoT and Cloud-Based offerings and capabilities. This acquisition, as an addition to our current Middleby Connect technology, expands our solutions platform allowing customers to remotely monitor and operate a broad set of operations for restaurants, allowing our customers to achieve gains in labor efficiency, energy conservation, food cost and enhanced food safety.»