Marel hf

ICEX:MAREL

Earnings Call Transcript

[Tinna Molphy, executive]

Good morning, and a warm welcome to our First Quarter Results meeting broadcast to you live from our headquarters in Reykjavik, Iceland. My name is Tinna Molphy, Investor Relations, and I'll be your moderator today. We will start with presentations from CEO, Arni Sigurdsson; and CFO, Sebastiaan Boelen, who will go over the first quarter results, some key business highlights and provide an update on the JBT offer launch. We will then conclude with a Q&A. If you would like to ask a question, please raise your hand in the Zoom feature and -- or alternatively, you can also e-mail [e-mail], and we will then read out your name, your company and the questions.And with that, I would like to hand over to CEO, Arni Sigurdsson.

[Arni Sigurdsson, executive]

Thank you, Tinna. Good morning, everyone. There are 3 things that we want to cover with you today. Number one is our financial results in the first quarter. Number two, an update on the JBT's intention to make an offer and signing of the transaction agreement that happened in the quarter or happened in April actually. And number three, our robust customer engagement in the quarter.Starting with the financial results. We had soft performance in the first quarter, in line with our previous communication. Orders received were EUR 393 million on the lower side with revenues at EUR 413 million, resulting in a book-to-bill of 0.95. We had good momentum in the quarter in aftermarket with revenues at EUR 206 million, growing around 8% year-over-year and now with trailing 12 months revenue in aftermarket above EUR 800 million.EBIT margin was 7.9% and EBITDA margin was 11.7%, and that is mainly due to the lower volume, partially offset by our continued cost discipline. For us to deliver revenue growth and improved operational performance, the order book needs to grow from the current level of 33% of revenues. We are optimistic about the second half with improving market fundamentals and more on that later.Now, I want to introduce you to Sebastiaan Boelen, our new CFO, who will cover the financial results in more detail. Sebastiaan joined Marel only 2 months ago, and we are very excited to have him on board. He brings global CFO experience that will greatly benefit Marel at this time, especially a strong track record of performance improvement with companies like Black & Decker and SPI.Over to you, Sebastiaan.

[Sebastiaan Antonius Boelen, executive]

Thank you, Arni. Thank you for joining us today as we present our quarter 1 results. My name is Sebastiaan Boelen. I'm Dutch and also have British citizenship. Just a few words on my background following Arni's introduction. I attended the Royal Netherlands Navy Academy studying operations and Delft University of Technology studying IT. After my Royal Navy years, I completed an MBA at INSEAD and worked at McKinsey and Coopers & Lybrand as consultants. Subsequently, I moved into different finance world, where for the last 15 years, I've had a number of CFO roles in different sectors. And as Arni said, I'm now 2 months with Marel.Our orders received were below expectations at EUR 393 million, up year-on-year from a very low level of quarter 1 of last year, but down sequentially against a strong quarter 4. There is still some short-term uncertainty. But having said that, we do see robust commercial activity and the feedback we are hearing from our customers is more constructive and positive. Also, the overall external environment is showing signs of improvement with lower input costs and better pricing for our customers. The main message here is that we're working hard to convert the pipeline into orders and build up the order book.Our revenues were EUR 412 million, which is down quarter-on-quarter and down versus last year at a rate of approximately 8%. This revenue decrease is primarily driven by the materially lower project revenues, EUR 40 million less than in quarter 4 as a result of the low orders received in previous quarters and the soft order book. The positive signal is that the recurring aftermarket revenues continued to be steadily increasing and that these aftermarket revenue provide an increasingly strong revenue base and add a good operational performance.As mentioned, aftermarket revenues do have good momentum with trailing 12 months level reaching a new milestone of above [ EUR 800 million ] this quarter, a 5-year CAGR trend of more than 10% underpins this two. Aftermarket revenues were close to 50% of total revenues this quarter. And with continued focus on aftermarket and with a good installed base and our reputation, we are to continue this trend to increasing our service level offerings and to our significant infrastructure investment with the global distribution center to start operations this June, further digitizing the spare part delivery model.Our EBIT margin was 7.9% on lower volumes. There was continued weakness in margins for Meat and Fish, lower volume for Plant, Pet and Feed, while continued delivery from Poultry, but I will go in that in more detail in the segments later on. Our continued focus on OpEx cost control resulted in a flat quarter-on-quarter cost despite seasonal high sales and marketing efforts in quarter 1. The reduction in FTEs of 9% versus last year and 2% in quarter-on-quarter is also a testament to our efforts to lower our cost base. However, on a lower volume and a lower gross profit level, the EBIT decreased to EUR 32.8 million and the EBIT margin to 7.9%.Our order book was EUR 560 million and below the levels in quarter 1 last year and at year-end. We had a book-to-bill ratio of 0.95 in the quarter. This is a soft order book representing 33% of trailing 12-month revenues. Order book levels are, amongst others, driven by our project and greenfield orders, a certain lumpiness in the orders received and signed and financially secured is, therefore, to be expected from quarter-to-quarter. Having said that, building up the order book and getting a book-to-bill ratio above 1 is a key priority as the order book profile determines to a great extent our revenue forecast, our working capital profile as well as cash generation and the ability to deleverage.Operating cash flow was at EUR 26 million on lower profits and increased working capital commitments. The increased focus on working capital initiated last year continues to progress well. Accounts receivables, accounts payables and inventory continue to show good improvements. However, the fourth element, net contract liabilities had a negative EUR 41 million impact on working capital. Our net contract liabilities are driven by lower orders received. This led to a net increase in working capital of EUR 9.8 million in the quarter.CapEx, excluding capitalized R&D, was at EUR 6.6 million in the quarter, 1.6% of revenues, normalizing after periods of elevated levels due to the transformative infrastructure investments. Leverage increased to 3.75x on lower EBIT and higher working capital in the quarter. While our leverage is above our targeted level of 2x to 3x, we do have good headroom and ample liquidity, consisting of cash on hand and committed credit facilities.Now let's walk through the segments, Poultry. Poultry had a solid quarter with revenue increasing strongly quarter-on-quarter, although down 4.3% from last year. Revenue was driven by increases in project revenues as a result of third-party equipment sales, higher revenue recognition from larger projects and the closing of SLA contracts in the quarter. It was also driven by healthy aftermarket revenue growth. This volume growth in Poultry has in turn resulted in a solid EBIT level for the quarter.Order intake in quarter 1, however, was relatively soft with North America lagging behind. And with the order book being relatively low, the operational performance for Marel Poultry is expected to be impacted in the coming quarter. However, Poultry market fundamentals are improving, and there is a significant interest in new solutions such as the U.S. line split solution. Overall, there's a good market outlook for the second half of the year.Marel Meat: Meat had a difficult quarter with continued softness in orders received. Revenues declined 14% year-on-year -- quarter-on-quarter, driven by lower project revenues while aftermarket revenues remained resilient. The lower project revenues are a result of soft orders received in recent quarters and the decreasing size of the order book. Despite the significant cost base measures taken, the lower project revenues resulted in a negative EBIT margin. Further actions are being taken to partially mitigate the decline in revenues.Meat continues to encounter challenging market conditions and projects continue to be delayed. The order book remains dependent on a pipeline based on a number of high-value projects with uncertain timing of conversion to orders. Recovery will take time in light of these continued challenges, but there is some tailwind from lower feed costs and more positive financial results on customers.Marel Fish: Orders received were stable quarter-on-quarter, but still at a low level. Revenues declined 23.5% quarter-on-quarter, mainly due to the lower project revenues resulting from low level orders in recent quarters. As with Meat and Poultry, aftermarket revenues remain resilient. Marel Fish has taken a number of significant measures to lower the cost base, but the low revenues resulted in a negative EBIT margin. However, return of the growth in salmon consumption is helping market dynamics as does customer engagement, which has been positive in recent trade shows. The pipeline is healthy, although uncertainty around timing continues to impact conversion to orders. A further buildup of the order book is needed to improve on the operational performance.Marel Plant, Pet and Feed: After a strong quarter 4, PPF had a seasonable slow start of the year in orders received, but with outlook improving. Lower revenues, down 39.5% are driven by lower project revenues. And again, aftermarket revenues have been more resilient. The lower EBIT margin of 11.5% is a result of lower volumes, offset partly by improved margin and lower cost. Outlook is solid from Marel PPF with a good pipeline and improving markets outside North America. Management expectations for PPF's profitability is unchanged and in line with the historical performance.And with this summary, I would like to hand over to Arni for an update on JBT's offer launch.

[Arni Sigurdsson, executive]

Thank you, Sebastiaan. We reached an important milestone in the quarter when we signed a transaction agreement with JBT. The transaction agreement probably more known to our U.S. audience includes terms and conditions customary in an international transaction of this nature, whilst factoring in that Marel is established and listed in Iceland. JBT targets to launch the offer at the end of May with expected closing by year-end 2024. As before, the offer will be subject to customary closing conditions. Those include JBT shareholder approval, Marel shareholder approval and regulatory clearance.We see compelling strategic rationale for the merger with 2 leading solutions providers in food and beverage would be joining forces with this shared vision of strengthening and transforming the way food is processed in partnership with our customers. The 2 product portfolios are highly complementary and will strengthen our offering towards customers with the ability to offer standard products, more comprehensive modular line solutions across a broader range of end markets.The combined global reach will be unique in our industry. Increased customer focus would be at the forefront, and we would have greater ability to further penetrate key markets globally from a sales and service standpoint. We would do that by leveraging our great talent and the dedicated teams around the world as well as the existing infrastructure to improve customer satisfaction.Both companies have invested significantly in the software and digital capabilities over the years. With our combined scale, there is an opportunity to build a best-in-class platform with an expanded suite of solutions to meet customer needs. We will work with our customers to optimize their performance through actionable insights and improved service with predictive maintenance, reduced downtime and better response time.We have exceptional talent with strong relationships and deep knowledge of our industry. And that is our most important asset. We will focus on our ability to better attract, develop and retain talent and enable team members to grow professionally and advance in their career. We would have greater sustainability impact through responsible operations, partnership with our customers on their journey as well because they are focused on more sustainable processing, and we would be ideal to help them there.Last but not least, we foresee an attractive value creation opportunity where 2 high-quality companies are joining forces with meaningful growth and synergy potential at both the top and bottom line. That will be achieved through customer focus, scale, continuous improvement and best practice.Moving now to the customer engagement in the quarter. In the first quarter, that we have basically quite seasonally high trade show activity. When we went through our annual results in February, we touched on IPPE, a key show for our poultry and meat customers in the Americas. Since then, we were, for example, prominent at the Barcelona Seafood Show, which is the largest seafood show in the industry. We were also at Anuga FoodTec, which is a large show focused more on the downstream part of the value chain, the fresh and further processing part of the value chain.The seafood show was very good with robust customer activity, creating new opportunities, closing standard product sales and progressing discussions on some potential larger projects. I really enjoy taking part in these events, and I'm happy to tell you that through my discussions with our customers, I do hear a more positive tone and the sentiment overall seems to be picking up, supported by return to growth in salmon consumption.The Anuga Tec show was also very good with a lot of activity and excitement around some new product launches that we introduced staying true to our passion for innovation. The TREIF HAWK is an entry product for portion cutting, mainly targeted for butchers and retail stores. And the RoboPacker is designed for fast, efficient and precise tray packing.Now turning to the outlook. Persistent headwinds impacting market demand continued in the quarter with orders received and revenues expected to build up in the second half. Market fundamentals are improving, especially in the poultry industry, where we see lower feed prices, lower inventories and improved pricing. I encourage you to look at the results of some of the U.S. poultry producers as they cover kind of those market fundamentals quite well.The recovery trajectory will not be the same for all market segments, but we are optimistic that we will see improvements in the second half. Improved order demand is key to build up the order book to deliver revenue growth and improve performance. Short-term uncertainty, though, still remains, as we have seen with delayed interest rate cuts and increased geopolitical tension, which tends to lengthen the sales cycle, and in some cases, delay projects.I want to extend my thanks to the Marel team. I'm very proud of the talented and dedicated team who's shown great commitment to our vision and continue to navigate the changing landscape that we're in. And for that, they have my sincere appreciation.With that, I will hand it back to you, Tinna.

[Tinna Molphy, executive]

Thank you, Arni, and thank you, Sebastiaan, for your presentation. Let's move into Q&A. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please raise your hand in the Zoom window or you can e-mail [e-mail] first question comes from Klas Bergelind from Citi. Is the mic open for Klas Bergelind? Just bear with us. We're having a bit of a moment trying to unmute Klas Bergelind and I'm surely it will happen in just a few seconds.

[Klas Bergelind, analyst]

Yes. Can you hear me now?

[Tinna Molphy, executive]

Wonderful. Yes.

[Klas Bergelind, analyst]

Yes, Arni, Sebastiaan. Klas, Citi. So my first question is on the comment that you're now seeing an improvement from the second half, not specifying the second quarter. And then you're highlighting that trading in Poultry will likely be weaker here in the second quarter. I'm just trying to understand this better. We're hearing from the likes of Tyson of an improving Poultry backdrop. So I guess you mean on a weaker revenues and therefore, margin in Poultry in the second quarter, not necessarily that orders will be weaker. I will start there.

[Arni Sigurdsson, executive]

Yes. So thank you, Klas. We're mainly talking about the revenue side. The market fundamentals, as you point out, are starting to improve. We have also talked about it, it's hard to predict exactly kind of the timing on when the pipeline converts to orders. So what we are kind of talking about is that is mainly Q2 because as we've explained before, when we get the orders for those projects in Poultry and Meat, for example, it takes time to convert those orders into revenue based on kind of the project profile and so on. So it can -- we first need to see that improvement in the order demand, and then we will convert that to revenue.

[Klas Bergelind, analyst]

And a follow-up to that. So if poultry today is driving all of the group performance now in a big way, more than actually in other quarters, if you see incremental weakness here in the second quarter in Poultry, that will leave the year quite back-end loaded to get to a 10% to 11% margin. So effectively, you also highlighted it takes time to convert both the backlog -- both the pipeline to orders, but also orders to revenues, right? There is a lead time. Obviously, getting Meat and Fish to close the gap looks unlikely. So it's very much about Poultry this year as I see it. So can we talk about that?

[Arni Sigurdsson, executive]

Yes. So it is -- Poultry is obviously a big part of our revenue and an even larger part of our profitability. We also saw a relatively soft quarter for Plant, Pet and Feed, which we foresee to improve just like Sebastiaan pointed out, we still have the view that they will be able to perform in line with historical performance for the year. So that will be a tailwind. We're also kind of taking some actions kind of continuously to navigate the volume landscape that we're seeing in Meat and Fish. So kind of that's what I would also think about in context of the next few quarters. But indeed, Poultry will impact the results on the shorter side.

[Klas Bergelind, analyst]

My final one is on the gross margin comment. It sort of improved here quarter-on-quarter, and you talk about execution and mix. On the mix side, am I right to assume that this was largely that you got quite a lot of sales in Poultry, which is high margin. And then also, obviously, the aftermarket is still very solid. And then on execution, is it pricing that is now running ahead of cost? Or is pricing in line with cost inflation in the P&L? I'm just trying to understand mix and execution, execution being price cost basically.

[Sebastiaan Antonius Boelen, executive]

Yes. There's indeed a slight improvement in the margin. I think on the inflation and the pricing, we have increased prices. We don't want to lower them too much or on a competitive basis. Inflation is running much lower than it was before. So we do see those lined up quite nicely and not a major effect. So the small differences in gross margin are due to the execution on the supply chain efficiencies and a bit of a mix.

[Tinna Molphy, executive]

Okay. If there are any further questions, please raise your hand in the Zoom feature, and we will then let you speak. If not, I'm guessing the presentation was very clear today, and we will be able to finish early. Thank you all so very much for attending this presentation, and have a great day.