Mativ Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
November 9, 2023

There are 7 speakers on the call.

Operator

Welcome to Mativ's Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. On the call today from Mativ is Julie Shertle, Chief Executive Officer Greg Weitzel, Chief Financial Officer and Chris Cooper, Director of Investor Relations. Today's call is being recorded and will be available for replay later this afternoon. At this time, all participants have been placed in a listen only mode and the floor will be open for your questions following the presentation. We ask that you pick up your handset to allow optimal sound quality.

Operator

It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Mr. Chris Cooper. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on MATF's Q3 2023 earnings call. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that comments included in today's conference call include forward looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from these comments for reasons shown in detail in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our annual report on Form 10 ks and our quarterly reports on Form 10 Q. Some financial measures discussed during this All are non GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these measures to the closest GAAP measures are included in the appendix of the earnings release and accompanying presentation slides.

Speaker 1

Unless stated otherwise, financial and operational metric comparisons after the prior year period and relates to continuing operations. The earnings release issued yesterday afternoon is available on our website atir.mativ.com as are the slides for today's presentation. You can download the slides And or click through these slides at your own pace during the call using the webcast interface. Since the SWM and Neenah merger closed on July 6, 2022, the Q3 of 2023 is the first reporting period since the merger that is truly comparable. However, year to date GAAP results for the first half of twenty twenty two will still include legacy SWM, This was prior to the merger.

Speaker 1

Comparable performance for year to date figures to illustrate how our results compare on a like for like basis are shown in tables in our earnings release and the appendix of our presentation slides. Finally, with the August announcement about the sale of the engineered papers. Results for this business are now being summarized separately as discontinued operations, with all remaining businesses being reported as continuing operations. With that, I'll turn the call over to Julie.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Chris, and good morning, everyone. The Q3 marked the start of our 2nd year as MATIV. Our teams have accomplished a lot over the past year, bringing 2 companies together and establishing one new can do culture, quickly identifying and realizing synergies that are tracking ahead of our $65,000,000 target and completing a detailed strategic assessment of our business portfolio. As we assess our businesses, We analyzed market dynamics coupled with our right to win, looking for the ability to grow and deliver attractive margins and returns on capital. We plan to invest most strongly behind our fastest growing and most profitable categories like filtration and release liners and drive operational efficiencies and margin improvement across all categories.

Speaker 2

Following this review, we made the decision to divest our tobacco related engineered papers business and found a strategic buyer who was able to move quickly with an attractive offer. The transaction is moving forward as planned and on track to close in the Q4. Net proceeds from the sale are expected to be over $575,000,000 and will be used to reduce debt. Now in our 2nd year, we are focused on further augmenting cash flows through both operating savings and capital efficiencies and have a number of activities underway. Our supply chain efforts have been impressive.

Speaker 2

We've right sized crew schedules and asset plans to reflect the current demand environment and reduce costs and have taken out over $50,000,000 of inventory since the Q1. We have plans to further improve inventory efficiencies, measured as a percent of sales, targeting at least another 100 basis points. I mentioned in the past that we would be working on footprint optimization as part of the merger. We recently announced manufacturing footprint consolidation at 3 of our smaller and less profitable facilities and are in the process of consolidating warehouse and distribution operations as well. These changes will begin in early 2024 and while they have minor upfront costs, They will deliver meaningful ongoing savings.

Speaker 2

We have aggressive and specific cost reduction programs for Manufacturing and SG and A. Some of these began delivering value earlier this year and some will begin in early 2024. We're carefully managing capital spending with 2024 spending expected to be below $70,000,000 down from the past 2 years. While tightening our belt, we will continue to invest in projects necessary to safely operate and maintain our equipment, as well as those delivering compelling and our equipment as well as those delivering compelling financial returns. Lastly, synergy realization remains a priority and is ahead of plan with over $25,000,000 of value being delivered in 2023 and another $25,000,000 identified for 2024.

Speaker 2

These efforts are especially appropriate in today's uncertain economic and geopolitical environment. As a manufacturing company, many of our markets are economically sensitive. The U. S. Manufacturing sector as measured by the manufacturing PMI contracted in the Q3 as order softness continued and this was confirmed by volume declines reported by our customers.

Speaker 2

Turning to 3rd quarter results. Sales from continuing operations were about $500,000,000 and reflected lower customer demand due to economic conditions, continued destocking of inventory as well as seasonal slowdowns in some of our European businesses. Sales were down 5% from Q2 and 10% below prior year. Comparisons versus Prior year were impacted more significantly in Specialty Paper and Packaging, where industry wide customer destocking continued this year and compared to a very strong prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA was $55,000,000 for the quarter, similar to Q2, but below prior year levels.

Speaker 2

Volume continues to be the biggest driver, including impacts of fixed cost absorption at manufacturing sites. And this offset continued benefit from Synergy Realization and Positive Price Input Cost Management. I noted many of the activities we have underway to reduce Demand generation is also extremely important in this environment, and we are working closely with customers to grow share and for new opportunities. Some of these efforts include the launch of new pearlized high quality packaging papers, where we are the only North American producer capable of making this, a faster dissolving label that improves efficiency for customers, a new mid tier paint protection film to meet growing market adoption rates and advancements in optical films, such as those used in ballistic resistant materials. In total, we expect these initiatives can add over $10,000,000 in new revenue over the next 12 months.

Speaker 2

In addition, we are on track with larger projects to enable added growth in key markets. Release Miner has a strong record of profitable growth. Our new capacity in Mexico recently came online and allows us to continue this growth as we expand our position in North and South America. Air, Industrial and Life Science Filtration, our large fast growing market. Our investment in a new melt blown Spine fiber asset to support these markets is on track to come online early in Q2 of next year.

Speaker 2

As noted in our last call, these two capacity additions represent over $50,000,000 of added revenue. So let me sum up with a few comments. Over the course of the past year, our goal has been and continues to be to reposition Mativ strategically and financially for a strong future. While the short term environment is challenging, We know what we need to do and our teams are focused and executing well. We are addressing the fundamentals by providing customers with innovative new products that meet their needs, managing operations to deliver high quality products in a safe manner in driving continuous improvement in productivity and efficiencies in all areas.

Speaker 2

We are continuing to deliver benefits by managing selling prices to cover input cost inflation and realized merger synergies. We are taking additional actions to reduce costs and increase cash flow, including footprint optimization, spending controls and Working Capital and Capital Spending Initiatives. And importantly, we continue to Accelerate our growth rate and expand our margin. I'm confident our actions will make Mativ stronger in the long run, and I'm excited about our future. I'll talk more about our outlook later in the call.

Speaker 2

But for now, we'll turn it over to Greg to review the Q3 financials.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Julie, and good morning, everyone. Consolidated net sales for the quarter for $498,000,000 compared to $551,000,000 in the prior year. Selling price and currency were up about 3%, but we're more than offset by a 12% volume based decline. Healthcare was our best performing category in the quarter with sales up 12%, while Packaging and Specialty Papers felt the most pressure for the reasons Julie noted. Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations was over $55,000,000 in line with Q2, but down from $70,000,000 in the prior year.

Speaker 3

Volume and manufacturing costs represented a combined $40,000,000 impact, which was only partially offset by $23,000,000 of combined net selling price input cost benefit and favorable impacts from lower SG and A, realized synergies and currency. Turning to each of our segments. Net sales in Advanced Technical Materials of $394,000,000 were down 8% year over year and 6% versus Q2. This reflected lower volumes due to increased customer caution and the uncertain macroeconomic environment as well as seasonal slowing, particularly in Europe. The lower volumes were partially by higher selling prices and currency translation.

Speaker 3

ATM adjusted EBITDA of $59,000,000 was down 6% year over year, reflecting the effects of lower volumes that were partially offset by positive net selling price and book costs, distribution efficiencies in currency translation. Despite weak demand, we improved adjusted EBITDA margin by 30 basis points to 15%, mainly due to realized synergies and favorable product mix. In our fiber based solutions or FBS segment, which now is comprised solely of Packaging and Specialty Papers. Net sales of $104,000,000 were down 2% from last quarter 17% from last year. Year on year results reflected customer destocking along with lower demand for premium paper and packaging in the current quarter.

Speaker 3

Industry data for uncoated freesheet papers indicated demand was down around 25% during the quarter. Results compared to a very strong prior year when there was significant industry wide customer inventory build. Partly offsetting impacts of lower volume were increased sales of consumer papers and higher selling prices. FBS adjusted EBITDA of $15,000,000 was down slightly versus the prior quarter, but down significantly year over year. The comparison to prior year was negatively impacted by a one time benefit in 2022 of almost $7,000,000 as we harmonize inventory costing systems between NENA and FWM following the merger.

Speaker 3

Lower volume and associated manufacturing cost impacts in the current quarter were partly offset by favorable net selling price input costs. Turning to a few of the corporate items. Unallocated corporate adjusted EBITDA expense of around $18,000,000 was flat year on year. Interest expense of $17,000,000 was up $2,000,000 from the prior year period due to higher interest rates under variable debt in 2023. We will be paying off this higher cost debt with proceeds from the EPE sale.

Speaker 3

Other income was around 0 in 2023, down $2,000,000 from 2022 when we recorded gains on certain foreign currency contracts. Our tax rate was negative in the quarter. This rate was driven by the goodwill impairment that was not deductible for tax purposes and a change in the valuation allowance against one of our tax assets. As you saw in our GAAP results, during the Q3, we performed a goodwill impairment analysis that recorded a pretax non cash charge of $401,000,000 The write off included goodwill created at the time of the merger when our company market valuation was higher and reflected today's weaker economic conditions and associated impact on the valuation of certain acquisitions. I'd note that while current valuations for some acquisitions are lower than when they were acquired a few years ago, when conditions were more robust and interest and discount rates were lower, These acquisitions are still attractive and gaining momentum.

Speaker 3

During the quarter, we also recorded $19,000,000 of non cash costs to write down assets, including sites impacted by rationalizing our manufacturing footprint and just over $5,000,000 of cash costs related to the pending sales of Engineered Papers.

Operator

At the end of

Speaker 3

the quarter, net debt was a little over 1,600,000,000 and available liquidity was $414,000,000 Our debt matures on a staggered basis between 20262028. As announced in August, with our revised capital allocation priorities, we resized our quarterly dividend to $0.10 a share. We made our first dividend payout of $5,500,000 in September at this new rate. This revised payout We also repurchased over $4,000,000 of shares in the quarter. Our intent is to opportunistically repurchase shares to offset dilution from stock compensation.

Speaker 3

We We expect repurchases in the Q4 to be at or below this amount. The prior use of cash flow, however, remains paying down debt. The sale of our Engineered Papers business, which is on track to close this year, will enable us to pay off more than a third of our outstanding net debt. We expect the reduction of over $575,000,000 will decrease annual interest expense by more than $40,000,000 For For modeling purposes, following the sale of Engineered Papers, depreciation and amortization expense should decline by around $20,000,000 annually, and we expect a normalized tax rate of about 24%. With that, I will turn the call back to Julie for her closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Greg. I'll start with a few near term outlook comments before getting into 2024. Discussions with customers, vendors and others indicate near term demand will remain subdued given the still uncertain environment. While indications are that destocking is largely over, customers typically manage inventories down at year end, so there may be a small sequential impact on our sales in the Q4. We also take maintenance and holiday downs across our facilities, which may add $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 of incremental costs to the bottom line, in addition to impact from lower quarterly sales.

Speaker 2

Looking ahead to 2024, expectations are for demand to stabilize and then began to pick up modestly later in the first half with recovery accelerating in the second half of the year. Input costs generally appear to have reached their low point and are projected to modestly increase. We will continue to implement our disciplined pricing practices that overcome input cost pressures. Overall, we expect growing sales and profits in 2024. Improvement should accelerate in the back half of the year as volumes recover, allowing us to reach quarterly EBITDA of $70,000,000 as we exit the year and grow from there.

Speaker 2

To bridge this number, a 5% increase in annual sales adds $35,000,000 annually of profit contribution, and we expect to deliver an additional $25,000,000 in synergies as procurement contracts go into effect and footprint efforts are executed. Combined, this represents an incremental $15,000,000 of quarterly EBITDA and excludes any upside from additional cost saving initiatives underway. However, the key to this starts with demand recovery. As market dynamics stabilize and recover, Mativ is well positioned for long term growth. Following the sale of Engineered Papers, about 80% of our revenues will come from ATM, which has stable mid teen EBITDA margin.

Speaker 2

This business is global, serving both industrial and consumer markets with attractive growth drivers such as clean air and water in Infrastructure Investment. Our technical capabilities are broad, and we have long standing relationships with leading customers with specified products that can uniquely meet their needs. You've heard this morning that our teams are aggressively executing plans to reduce costs, Drive operating and capital efficiencies and working closely with customers to generate demand. Our business and capital allocation strategies are clear and designed to accelerate profitable growth, strengthen our financial position and deliver value to our stakeholders. I remain confident in our success in the years ahead and look forward to sharing our progress with you.

Speaker 2

That concludes our prepared remarks. Thank you for joining us and please open the line for questions.

Operator

Thank First question comes from Jon Tanwanteng from CJS Securities. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Hi, this is Justin on for John. How are you?

Speaker 2

Good morning.

Speaker 4

I know you just mentioned about the quarterly EBITDA run rate of $70,000,000 I was just hoping to get a little more color on When you expect to hit that and what kind of volume or macro improvements do you need to see to get there?

Speaker 5

Sure. So I would say as we think about 2024, we believe the Q1 will be similar to our current pace. And over the course of the year, we'll continue to make progress toward an exit rate of $70,000,000 in EBITDA. So in Q1, we expect demand to remain fairly subdued with a modest pickup in Q2 and then continued recovery in the back half of the year. And then as I mentioned, we are expecting in total stronger top line and bottom line in 2024, And it doesn't take much to get there to the $70,000,000 We were at $70,000,000 last Q3 with a stronger macro environment, a 5% increase in top line coupled with our synergies adds $15,000,000 to our current pace.

Speaker 5

So I'm really bullish about it. We just need a little bit of modest market recovery to get there.

Speaker 4

Okay. That's helpful. Thank you. And then can you give some more detail on which end markets do you see remaining weak or strengthening heading into Q4 and then 2024.

Speaker 5

Yes. From an end market standpoint, I'd say we've seen the most Strength in healthcare and where we compete in healthcare, weakness primarily in construction and that's new construction, rebuilds, commercial and residential. And that impacts us from an industrial standpoint or a lease liner standpoint in our Adhesives and Films and Protective Solutions, and then a little bit of weakness in transportation as well. So strongest in Health, hygiene, I'd say moderate, weakest in construction and transportation. And then our paper business, we have good visibility to our customers' inventories We can see there is continued destocking in that business inventory.

Speaker 5

They're still remaining a little bit elevated.

Speaker 4

That's great. And then just one more if I could squeeze it in. Can you give a little more detail on the valuation allowance you had in the quarter? Where is that coming from?

Speaker 3

Sure. Justin, this is Greg. That was related to The tax asset that we had associated in Luxembourg associated with the EP business that we are now releasing With the sale of EP, don't see the ability to fully utilize that asset.

Speaker 4

Okay, that's great. Thanks for taking my questions.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question is from Daniel Harriman from Sidoti. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Hey, good morning, everyone. Please don't worry, I'm not going to ask a question about destocking, I promised you last time. But it seems like margins in both segments held up fairly well for the quarter despite The negative impact of volumes. So could you maybe just provide a little bit more color about the ongoing cost reduction efforts and what you're planning to do as we enter 2024. And then Julie, you mentioned footprint optimization, I was just hoping to get a little bit more color on that as well.

Speaker 5

Sure. Yes, I'm really bullish on our margins and how well the team has Our margins will continue to show really nice expansion. From a cost reduction standpoint, we talked earlier this year about a $10,000,000 target versus Q1 in manufacturing costs. We achieved that in Q2 and then that continues to pull through in Q3 and Q4. That's mainly driven by staffing changes, asset schedule changes, maintenance and purchase service reductions.

Speaker 5

Then there's an additional $5,000,000 in cost improvement that will come as we consolidate some of these smaller assets that I mentioned. So we've announced the consolidation at 3 small sites that will migrate mostly to different sites that we have. Some of the business won't, The majority of it will. There's some upfront costs. It's fairly minimal and then it adds about $5,000,000 going forward.

Speaker 5

And that really starts, I'd say, mid to late Q1 of 2024. And then the last thing I would mention is, as we divest EP, it's a great time For us to launch an SG and A effort to ensure that we're rightsizing our internal infrastructure To mirror, what we have from a remaining business standpoint. So we have launched that. We're using an outside resource because I think it's Important to somebody to help us kind of look really strongly in the mirror what we need to reduce so that we don't end up with stranded So those are really the 3 big buckets I would think about from a cost standpoint, manufacturing costs, asset consolidation and then SG and A efforts.

Speaker 6

Okay, great. That's really helpful. And then last one for me is just how should we think about the company's leverage target. Obviously, as you build up through 2024 and you see that $70,000,000 and EBITDA run rate in the Q4. Is there a particular target that the company is looking to achieve by year end 2024?

Speaker 3

Yes, Daniel. The target still remains the same of 2.5x to 3.5x. The journey there is a little more prolonged based on kind of the market dynamics that we just talked about. As we recover and work our way to that $70,000,000 a quarter that's what gets us there. The fact that that metric is based on a trailing 12 months Little bit, but the target remains the same and our plan to get there remains the same.

Speaker 6

Perfect. That's very helpful. Thank you both.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Dan.

Operator

We have no further questions on the call at this time. So I'll hand the call back to the team.

Speaker 5

Yes. Thank you for joining us this morning and your interest in MATIV, and we look forward to talking to you at our next quarterly call.

Operator

This concludes today's conference. Thank you all very much for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

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Earnings Conference Call
Mativ Q3 2023
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