Savaria Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
November 7, 2024

There are 9 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning. My name is Brittney Morgan, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Savaria Corporation's Quarter 3 2024 Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session.

Operator

This call may contain forward looking statements, which are subject to the disclosure statement contained in Savaria's most recent press release issued on November 6, 2024, with respect to its quarter 3, 2024 results. Thank you. Mr. Barrazza, you may begin your conference.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Brittany, and good morning, everyone. So today, I will start with a small recap of our Q3 results, then I will hand it to Steve for financial update, and JP will then update us with Cevara 1, and we will follow with a small Q and A session. First, I need to say that I'm very proud of our Q3 results as it showed that the transformation is stable with the 3rd good quarter in a row and it continued to have marginal improvement towards the objective of $1,000,000,000 of sales and 20 percent of EBITDA by 2025. So some of the key highlights. For the first time, we have reached 19.5% of EBITDA, which is slightly better than Q2 and it's our best quarter so far, which show that we continue to have a good traction in our SavaraOne transformation and GP will talk more about it later.

Speaker 1

So the full segment of accessibility, Europe and North America together was at 21.3%. Patient Care stood at 17.4%. It all behind our target of 20%, but I'm pretty sure it will catch up soon. Q3 results, 0.5% away from 20% or approximately $1,000,000 of EBITDA to reach that. So I'm pretty sure we still have enough juice in our transformation to get there.

Speaker 1

So we're feeling good about the 20%. Growth. We had a good quarter in North America with 8%, and the year is at 11.3%. So it showed that the demand remains very strong for residential sector in North America. Europe was down 6.6% in Q3, which is, of course, not fantastic.

Speaker 1

But this year, our main objective was to improve the EBITDA margins in Europe. Remember, at our Investor Day in April, we were at 10% to 12% of EBITDA, and now we're at 15.6%. So very good job from the team there. Thank you. Definitely, we have been more selective this year on our contract on some of our partnership in Europe, and we have put some emphasis on margins.

Speaker 1

I'm very confident that soon we'll be back with some growth in Europe with some new products we are launching and a one stop shop with the stairlift, the incline platform, the reticulum platform and some home elevators eventually. So the future is looking positive. Patient Care was more or less flat, but order intake and backlog is very good. There's just a bit of delay on some execution of the project. I'm pretty sure we'll see good Q4 and a good 2025 as we are launching some new product in this segment also and the sales team is making very good effort on the sales growth.

Speaker 1

Overall, I remain very confident with our 8% to 10% of organic growth target for the Cervara 1 as we operate in a growing industry with the aging of the population, the density of the residential housing, which is helping home elevators and the large product offering that we have that make us a very attractive partner. Also, the first part of the transformation was more operation, procurement, pricing as we needed to be the infrastructure of the company if we want to be able to expand our sales. Think now I'm quite happy with the development that we have done in the first half with operation. The second part of the transformation will be definitely more about our sales growth, increasing our share of wallet with the existing and finding some new dealers, launching some new products, which are a team of 50 people dedicated on R and D. Also in this quarter, we are confident to deleverage.

Speaker 1

Now we have a net debt to EBITDA of 1.69 dollars and available loan fund of $247,000,000 So we are very well positioned to do some small mid sized strategic acquisition that can bring some growth to Savaria. I need to say now that we are ready to make some acquisition again because the foundation of Cera One and the team is better than ever. So thank you again to all the dealers and employees for the success in the Q3. So Steve, financial, please?

Speaker 2

Thanks, Sebastien. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining our Q3 conference call. I'm pleased to share some remarks regarding our Q3 2024 financial results. So key highlights for the quarter include continued improvements in profitability, both in gross margin and adjusted EBITDA margin Revenue growth of 8% in North America accessibility coming mainly from elevators and lifts. Cash from operating activities increased liquidity by $35,800,000 with positive effects from working capital items, which has allowed us to repay $26,000,000 of debt year to date and increase our funds available under our credit facility by $24,000,000 this year.

Speaker 2

And correspondingly, our ratio of net debt to adjusted EBITDA reached $1,690,000 at the end of the quarter, a decrease from 2.07 at year end. So for the quarter, we generated revenue of $213,600,000 an increase of $3,500,000 or 1.7 percent versus last year. Overall, the increase came from organic growth of 0.2% and the acquisition of Maytotte, partially offset by the divestitures of Van Action and Freedom Motors earlier this year. We also experienced positive foreign exchange fluctuations. I'm pleased to report that the corporation achieved an impressive quarterly adjusted EBITDA surpassing the $40,000,000 threshold for a second consecutive quarter reaching $41,700,000 in Q3.

Speaker 2

We also delivered strong gross profit and gross margin of $79,100,000 37% compared to $72,600,000 34.5 percent a year ago. The increase in gross profit of $6,600,000 is explained by improved gross margins in both segments due to operating leverage, improved pricing and lower material costs. Supported by Savaria 1 to fuel these strong results, we incurred $5,400,000 in strategic initiative expenses this quarter, which is in line with the previously stated expectations at our Investor Day earlier this year. JP is going to provide more details on ongoing initiatives shortly. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin finished at $41,700,000 19.5 percent compared to $34,500,000 16.4 percent last year.

Speaker 2

I'm pleased to report continued improvements in profitability in both segments coming mainly from improved gross margins as we have seen the positive impacts from our procurement, pricing and operational initiatives under Savaria 1. Now if we look at our segmented results, revenue from our accessibility segment was $169,800,000 an increase of $3,500,000 or 2.1 percent compared to last year. The increase in revenue was due in part to organic growth of 0.6% made up of 8% growth in North America and a contraction of 6.6% in Europe. The growth in North America came mainly from elevator and lift products as we have seen continued demand in both residential and commercial sectors as well as from pricing benefits. While the market remains challenging in Europe and we are reporting a contraction, I will say that we have seen improvements in pricing optimization.

Speaker 2

The focus continues to be on profitable revenue growth. The Accessibility segment benefited from a positive foreign exchange impact of 1.8% for the quarter. Although we did have a negative impact on revenues from the divestment of the vehicle businesses in Q1, this was partially offset by contributions from the Maytop brand we acquired earlier this year, bringing us both material lifts and dumb waiters. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin for accessibility stood at $36,200,000 21.3 percent compared to $29,900,000 and 18 percent last year. The increased profitability was mainly due to slightly higher revenues, improved pricing and lower material costs in both regions.

Speaker 2

To offer additional insight in our regions, the adjusted EBITDA margin for North America was 25.5% for the quarter, while the margin in Europe increased to 15.6 percent, so in line with our Q2 performance and both materially improved versus a year ago. Turning to our Patient Care segment. We saw our revenues reach $43,900,000 for the quarter, which is stable when compared to last year. We have observed balancing effects of increased medical bed frame and mattress revenues and lower sales from ceiling lift packages due to a slowdown in new long term care build activity caused by timing and project delays. As a reminder to our listeners today, our Patient Care business is more affected by project based sales than our Accessibility segment.

Speaker 2

And while the quarter year to date growth in Patient Care has remained relatively flat, we are expecting to see some growth in Q4 as we have a healthy and growing backlog. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin for Patient Care stood at $7,600,000 17.4 percent compared to $6,100,000 14% last year. Increased profitability was mainly due to pricing initiatives, favorable product mix on certain projects and lower material costs partially offset by higher selling expenses. And now on a consolidated basis, net finance costs were $4,400,000 compared to $5,500,000 last year. Interest on long term debt decreased by $1,700,000 due to the reduced balance of debt and a reduction in the variable interest rates.

Speaker 2

During the quarter, we had a net gain on financial instruments and a net loss on foreign currency exchange, which netted to an overall unrealized gain of $500,000 dollars impacting finance costs for the quarter. Net earnings were $13,000,000 or $0.18 per diluted share for the quarter compared to $12,100,000 or $0.18 per diluted share last year. The increase in net earnings was mainly due to higher adjusted EBITDA and lower net finance costs, partially offset by strategic initiative expenses and higher net income tax expense. Turning now to capital resources and liquidity. For the quarter, cash flows from operations before working capital impacts reached $30,500,000 compared to $26,900,000 last year, attributed to the increased EBITDA, but partially offset by higher strategic initiative expenses.

Speaker 2

Net changes in working capital items increased liquidity by $5,300,000 compared to a decrease of $1,600,000 a year earlier. The favorable change was driven by reduced trade receivables and prepaid expenses, partially offset by higher inventories and lower deferred revenues. As a result, cash generated from our operating activities in Q3 stood at $35,800,000 compared to $25,300,000 last year, which is an over $10,000,000 increase. While DIO days of inventory on hand slightly increased, our days of sales outstanding remained stable and days payable outstanding improved versus Q2, in line with our initiatives to enhance working capital management across the business. We remain committed to being diligent about investments in working capital as we grow.

Speaker 2

Cash used in investing activities was $5,900,000 compared to $4,500,000 last year. We disbursed $6,000,000 for fixed and intangible assets in the quarter compared to $4,600,000 in Q2 2023. Some of the larger CapEx investments in this most recent quarter include a new welding machine robot and investments in our paint line in our Surrey facility to enhance production efficiency as well as a new bedding machine in Europe. To foster business growth, we anticipate capital expenditures to remain within our historical range of 2% to 2.5% of revenue for the year for 2024. Cash used in financing activities was $15,400,000 compared to $20,700,000 last year.

Speaker 2

In Q3, we saw reimbursement on our revolving facility of $3,300,000 Interest paid was $3,600,000 and that was $2,600,000 lower than prior year and dividends amounted to $9,200,000 versus $8,400,000 in the prior year. Overall, as at September 30, 2024, our net debt was $259,100,000 and as mentioned, the ratio of net debt to adjusted EBITDA stood considerably improved at 1.69 in comparison to 1.88 at Q2 and 2.07 at the end of last year. And now looking forward with regards to guidance, as stated on the Q2 call, Savaria is not providing guidance for fiscal 2024 as we focus on the achievement of our targets of approximately $1,000,000,000 of revenue and 20% adjusted EBITDA margin by 2025. The global team is focusing on delivering these 2025 objectives and it remains difficult to pinpoint where we will finish 2024 and individual quarters therein. Savaria's future prospects are promising, driven by strong demand, macroeconomic tailwinds and the progress of Savaria 1.

Speaker 2

Our strong cash generation and deleveraging increases our future ability and willingness for acquisitions as we look to wrap up Saverio 1 in 2025. And with that, this completes my prepared remarks. I will now turn the call over to JP to provide further details on how we're progressing with Saverio 1.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Steve, and good morning, everyone. Before I dive in, I just want to take a moment to thank the hundreds of colleagues at Savaria who are contributing to Savaria 1. The results we can speak about today are the results of a team effort. In Q3 2024, as you just heard, Savaria delivered very strong results again, dollars 41,700,000 of adjusted EBITDA, which is almost the same as in Q2, while revenues were about $8,000,000 lower in Q3 than in Q2, which is quite an achievement to maintain the same profitability with $8,000,000 less revenues. We will all prefer to report growing sales, but given those, we continue to improve our profitability this quarter.

Speaker 3

Our EBITDA percentage continued to increase from 19% to 19.5% versus the prior quarter, well ahead of last year. We're very happy with those results as it shows we continue to improve the efficiency of our business and we are well set up to generate more profitable growth once sales are up again. In fact, we view Q3 as the Q2 where we can clearly measure the impact of Savaria 1 on the business and in our results. The recurring monthly gains delivered by Savaria 1 initiatives continue to grow as we implemented for several 1,000,000 of dollars of improvements in the quarter. Yet this improvement in run rate and in quarter benefits was limited by the negative impact of sales.

Speaker 3

We shared earlier this year during the Investor Day our plan to go from $130,000,000 EBITDA in 2023 to $200,000,000 in 2025. Overall, we implemented a bit more than half of the value of the initiatives defined for this initial goal by now and we keep adding new initiatives and ideas to our pipeline regularly. But in principle, we passed the half mark. Let me share a few examples. So in Q3, we implemented about 15 different procurement initiatives.

Speaker 3

Those include raw material negotiations using competitive quotes, but also switching parts between suppliers or substituting parts as well as consolidating purchases between sites and negotiating with suppliers on basis of benchmarks and all of our sites benefited from that. We also succeeded in transferring production between sites with our network to reduce our overall manufacturing costs. For example, we transferred the assembly of elevator controllers to our Mexico facility or we also transferred the assembly of the drive box of our inclined platform to our Italian factory. Finally, we continue to improve our factories. For example, Steve mentioned it, but we upgraded our paint line in Surrey, which both which reduces the manpower needed to operate it, but also reduces the paint usage and increases the recycling on top of enhancing paint quality.

Speaker 3

We also implemented other improvements including a full process in the assembly line of our best manufacturing facility in Beamsville, which increases throughput per shift. Similarly, in field operations, we made major improvements to the productivity of the installation and field operations teams in Europe. To date, we have more success on cost reduction and revenue growth efforts, but I want to specify that this does not mean that we did not put any efforts in sales growth or made improvements to our business practices or systems. We implemented many changes, including equipping our sales associates with better tools and information, providing training and onboarding new reps across the business. We also have clear plans to cross sell and bring more dealers onboard by leveraging our strong value proposition.

Speaker 3

Naturally, it takes more time for those changes to materialize. We also think markets were softer or slower than usual this summer due to factors outside of our control and not related to Savaria 1. So we're still very optimistic about sales growth going forward. At this point in time, our factories are better organized, more efficient and have capacity available to take on more orders. We also improved the quality and safety of our operations worldwide, so we're better equipped than ever to supply high quality products to our end customers and our dealers.

Speaker 3

In any case, our priority for the coming future is to continue to grow sales and we have plans to do so in each business. This being said, we also continue to pursue initiatives to reduce our cost of material, our manufacturing and overhead costs. So we will be pursuing those in parallel. Furthermore, it's important to know that we have a strong product innovation pipeline and we are preparing for new product introductions in the coming months. For example, our new M Series clinical ceiling lift is being launched at the moment.

Speaker 3

It's an impressive product that has lithium ion batteries as opposed to lead acid, thus 4 times more powerful and 4 times lighter. It has digital menu and diagnostics, Bluetooth connectivity, proprietary and patented 3 function emergency down function and with that we are launching an innovative carry bar with integrated Class 3 weight scale. We have more product upgrades and new product launches coming up to support our growth aspirations for 2025, but this was just one example. Furthermore, the Maytop integration is going well. We started to produce the dumbwaiters in Brampton with 3 units produced here in September 6 in October, on track with our plan to produce 100 percent of thumb waiters in Brampton in Q1 2025.

Speaker 3

Also, Coate Builder is now set up to process orders of methot thumb waiters. In conclusion, we're happy with our fundamental progress on scenario 1 in Q3 and look forward to see the results continue to compound and accelerate, especially when sales growth resumes. Thank you for your attention. Let me hand it over back to Sebastien for closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Thank you, JP and Steve for those color on the Savara 1 and on the financials. So I guess, Britney, we are ready with some questions with our analysts.

Operator

Thank you. At this time, we will conduct a question and answer session. Our first question comes from the line of Derek Lesser with TD Cowen. Your line is now open.

Speaker 4

Cohen.

Speaker 5

I just maybe just want to start on you gave some good color on your innovation pipeline. Can we just maybe talk about how you think about the incremental margin contribution from new product introductions? Is it higher than your 20% target? And maybe on that note, is it maybe a little too early to start thinking about you guys potentially exceeding that 20% target goal over time?

Speaker 1

Well, I guess I will start. Thank you, Derek, for the question. So for sure, R and D, okay, there's a mix of things. We're always looking to improve current products, okay, to make sure they're up to code, to make sure we improve the design, the aesthetic and then get a bit of cost savings on our product as well. But for sure, when we launch some new products, okay, we launch it at the right margins or we don't launch it.

Speaker 1

That's one thing for sure. After that, right now, I think the 20% EBITDA target, I think we can see it is achievable. Hopefully, next year we'll be there. But to say that the next what is the next after the 20%, I think we'll need to wait a bit the next guidance or the next Investor Day to see what is the next milestone. But definitely, the R and D is helping to improve the margins and the most important the R and D is helping to launch new products that we can get some growth.

Speaker 5

Okay. That's fair. And maybe just on M

Speaker 2

and

Speaker 5

A, could maybe just talk about what are some of the criteria you're looking for? Is it product fill? Is it expanding geographies, capacity expansion? What is it exactly that you might be targeting?

Speaker 1

I think if we look at the past without talking too much for the future, but really in the past what has been good for us, Derek, some of our dealers that want to retire, no second generation were a natural buyer to those distribution centers looking to the sales service and maintenance. After that, the complementary product that can help us to generate growth and make sure we remain one of the best source of one stop shop. Example, the May Tata in April was a strategic acquisition that we can bring in new products and maybe use our supply chain, which is pretty strong to improve the cost on this product line. So definitely dealer opportunity, if someone wants to retire, a strategic acquisition that can bring some products mix to add Europe and North America is definitely what we're looking for. And small, midsize, that's a bit what we can look for.

Speaker 5

Okay. Thanks, Sebastien. I'll reach you.

Operator

Thank you so much. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Michael Glen with Raymond James. Your line is now open.

Speaker 6

Hey, good morning. So I recall you spoke to your stairlift business in both Europe and North America during the Investor Day. Can you just frame are you able to frame for us the opportunity in North America for the stairlift business now that you have the product line that you want in the region? I'm just trying to understand what is the size of the opportunity for stairlifts in North America for Savaria?

Speaker 1

It's a good question. So I would say for sure, when we acquired Endicare, we brought back some manufacturing for curved stairlift in North America. Now in our Brampton facilities, we manufacture 2 products, one which is the 4,000, which is 2 tube system and one which is a free curve, the single tube. And I would say right now, our lead time are outstanding on a curved stairlift, okay? We can do a curve sterlify within a week and I think that give us a very key advantage.

Speaker 1

For sure, unfortunately, we don't disclose really the growth per product. So, I think maybe one data is something we should do if you will have interest. But definitely, we look at North America. We had a good year so far, 11% growth. So I think definitely the Stirlift is a key element where we want to be better.

Speaker 1

In terms of market size, I think it's a bit difficult to give perfect data. But definitely Stirlift, we can be much better in North America because now we manufacture local.

Speaker 3

And are you able to

Speaker 6

give an indication like the size of your European stairlift business relative to the size of your North American stairlift business? Is there a number there?

Speaker 2

I would say just to jump in here, Michael, I would say, I mean, our Europe business is primarily a stairlift business, right? And our legacy North America business is primarily elevators and lifts. So with that being said, the biggest opportunity for us is to grow within our existing dealer base in North America, grow with them through stairlift sales. And when we look to add products such as the May Dot line, which we added in with dumb waiters and material lifts, I mean that gives us one more product in the portfolio and it gives us a bit more leverage on getting share of wallet with our existing dealer base to increase the stairlift portion of that. So we have we are a market leader in North America on the elevators and lifts and stairlift is the focus.

Speaker 2

But we think now with Sebastian mentioned the lead times and the production here. With that and the complete offering that we have a good opportunity. But for sure, our I mean, our stairlift sales in Europe, I would say, are significantly larger than our sales in North America.

Speaker 6

Okay. And I just want to circle in on the pricing initiatives that you're going after as well. So I recognize there's likely a lot of complexity to how you price product and it's probably not as easy as saying you're just like 5% below where you should be. But I'm just wondering if you can share any notable takeaways that you've seen as you dig into how you price relative to your peers right now. I know it might be a little competitive sensitive, but any insight there would be interesting.

Speaker 2

I mean, generally on pricing, we're not a we're a market leader. We're not a market follower. We try to be respectful of our dealers and try at the same time to make sure that we're having a good margin come through to the bottom line. So our price increases are different by each region depending on the factors in that local market. So for example, the price increases that we target in Europe are different than what we're doing in North America.

Speaker 2

I will say that we have had good benefits from the pricing impacts. It's not just from increasing pricing in both markets. It's also from being more diligent around discounting and ensuring that we're not participating in sort of those races to the bottom when it comes to some opportunities that although they come in front of us, they are a low margin sale. So we're not necessarily going after that. We're being focused on focusing on the more profitable sales.

Speaker 2

And so it's both elements of increasing price, but also making sure that we're not discounting just to get the volume.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Frederic Tremblay with Desjardins Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Good morning. On the margin in Europe, 15% over 15% now over the past two quarters, you feel like you've reached the maximum effect from your pricing discipline there? And if so, can you maybe go through some of the other drivers that could potentially lead Europe to a higher margin over time?

Speaker 3

Yes. So I'll take this one, Fred. Thank you for the question. So I don't think we've reached a limit at all, okay? So what we've done to date is improve our cost of goods sold.

Speaker 3

There are a lot of sourcing initiatives that's gone through. We've been a bit more, let's say, lean in our operations and in our staff. So we did improvements in the factories. We looked at our staff in the headquarters. But there is more to come, okay?

Speaker 3

And if you think about what could make a big difference for us is now with the new cost structure we have, any incremental sale is very profitable. So one thing we're working on in Europe now is growing again now that we've kind of reset the foundations and the infrastructure like Sebastien was mentioning before. So any incremental sale, as you can imagine, will increase our margin overall and the average margin. We also have many opportunities to bring products to Europe, okay. So we're working on certifying our products for Europe now, the ones that we make in North America, and that will use the same infrastructure of salespeople, the same infrastructure of manufacturing as you can imagine, right.

Speaker 3

The same or is the same supply chain, but we can get more revenues from these products that tend to be high margin products. So we still see room for growth in margins in Europe.

Speaker 4

Okay, great. And just on those new product introductions into Europe, do you have any comments on the timing of that? Is it the first half of twenty twenty five or second half? What are we looking at for that?

Speaker 1

Yes. Good question, Fred. So it's always touchy a bit to talk about the R and D launch thing that are not public yet, but typically we are working on it. And I will say definitely in the first half of next year, we should be able to have some vertical platform for Portfolio, okay, more very early next year. And we should have probably home elevator in the first half of next year.

Speaker 1

So I think definitely those will add to get some growth and I think the team is really looking for it because the one stop shop has been one of the success of Savara so far.

Speaker 4

Okay, great. Thanks for that. Maybe switching to Patient Care, bit of a slower growth profile in recent quarters, but I think you did mention that Q4 is shaping up nicely there. Can you maybe just go through some of the factors that are leading to your confidence on that? Is it some of the delayed projects starting to start up?

Speaker 4

Or is there something else there that's sort of making you optimistic on the Q4?

Speaker 2

Fred, I will just say for Patient Care, without giving too much away, I mean, we're Q4 is typically the strongest quarter. I mean, with that being said, we are expecting it to be a little bit stronger this year. Q1, Q2 and Q3 were a little bit disappointing, to be honest. And we have been building the backlog and really throughout those quarters. So we're going to see some of that come through in Q4.

Speaker 2

So some of it's timing on projects, some of it's just stuff that we've had in the pipeline. But yes, we are expecting patient care to be turning a quarter.

Speaker 4

Okay, great. That's all I had. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank

Operator

you so much. We'll move on to our next question, please. Our next question comes from the line of Zachary Evershed with National Bank Financial. Your line is now open.

Speaker 1

Hi, Zach.

Speaker 7

Good morning. Congrats on the quarter. So just to dive back into patient care there on those project delays, anything to flag or is it just normal construction hiccups?

Speaker 1

I think I saw a nice report from an analyst not too long ago, Zach, about the potential of the patient care in the beds. So I would say good report. So again, definitely the patient care, sometimes they're jumping us from one corner to the other. And I think you will see some we have launched some new product this year. We have improved some new products.

Speaker 1

So I think definitely you will see some growth in the coming quarter.

Speaker 7

Got you. Thanks. And then switching to politics, one of your competitive advantages is sourcing and pre assembly in China. Can you tell us about your potential exposure to tariffs given the results of the American election?

Speaker 1

Zach, politics is super important and I would say we are always reviewing the news to make sure we know things when they become available. But we start to be neutral between one side or the other. And I will say that the beauty of Savaryoche, we are vertical integrated in many places. We know we have opened a new factory in Mexico 2 years ago to be a bit diversified. We know we manufacture some parts into our key factory in North America, in Vancouver and Toronto.

Speaker 1

So we think we're in pretty good position if the rules of the game change. And after that, okay, we'll have the exchange rate that sometime if there is some tariff become available, maybe the exchange rate will help us as well. So we don't know the future. We will adapt as we can. And I think on the Patient Care, our 2 factory are really made in USA.

Speaker 1

So I think that can play in our advantage also.

Speaker 7

Got you. Thanks. And then last one for me. Just as you're ramping up Savaria 1, are you seeing any diverging trends between your direct store initiatives versus dealer sales? Any difference in your growth or profitability strategies there?

Speaker 3

I don't think so. This is JP. So I'm trying to reflect on so we had good success with our direct stores this year. They're not all equal, to be fair. So I don't see much difference.

Speaker 3

So both businesses are improving. Yes, and it's not consistent between one direct store to another either, but in general, we're improving. So I don't think there's any particular insight on this one. I'm sorry.

Speaker 7

No worries. Thank you very much. I'll turn it over.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Zach.

Operator

Thank you so much. One moment for our next question, please. Our next question comes from the line of Justin Keywood with Stifel. Your line is now open.

Speaker 8

Good morning. Thanks for taking my call. Just wondering if there's any change on the competitive dynamics in any of your segments, if there's been perhaps some exits in the industry or some competitors perhaps getting a bit more aggressive on pricing or other competitive aspects? Thank you.

Speaker 1

That's a tough question this morning. But I would say, yes, competitors are okay. We're lucky we are in a good industry. There is some healthy competition. Again, as Steve said a bit earlier, we don't do the race to the bottom to grow, grow, grow and eventually make margins.

Speaker 1

So everybody has this total territory. We have different product offering, different strength. We think we're the consolidator of the industry. We're in a better position. But yes, some of our competitors are owned by PE.

Speaker 1

So from time, they change from one end to the other. We saw that maybe some of the dealer, they try to expand, so they might buy another dealer from time to time. But I think I will speak more about my competitors today. It's a good industry.

Speaker 8

Okay. And then just on another question with the incoming U. S. Administration, any potential impact on the Patient Care segment within the U. S?

Speaker 1

Again, I think it's a bit similar to the answer before. I think it's a bit too early to say, okay? Again, without talking too much, we know we're in the past. The Trump administration has been quite good with the VA. So maybe that's one segment that we could benefit from it.

Speaker 1

But other than that, I think it's way too early to say. And but again, we need more long term care. We need more beds. The population in Canada and U. S.

Speaker 1

Has grown a lot in the last few years. There's probably some shortage of beds. So definitely, we should be good positioned for the future.

Speaker 8

And just on the exposure to Canada, what is the overall percentage of sales? Is it still relatively very minor?

Speaker 2

Just in Patient Care or you're just timing our total sales within Canada?

Speaker 8

Both, if you have that.

Speaker 2

I mean, it is minor. So sales is about 20%. It's about 20% of our total sales are in Canada.

Speaker 8

And of that, which how much would be attributed to patient care?

Speaker 2

So I can speak to the numbers in the quarter and the numbers year to date. So in the quarter, of the total $44,000,000 of patient care sales, dollars 16,000,000 came in Canada.

Speaker 8

Okay. So sizable in that regard. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Speaker 1

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you so much. I am showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to Sebastian Boraza for closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Okay. Thank you, Brittany. And I would say good question this morning from all the analysts that cover us. You are very important to add the promotion of Savaria. So thank you.

Speaker 1

And I would say thank you for the quarter. It was a good quarter in Q3. I will go back to work to make sure we have a good Q4. So thank you,

Operator

Brittany. Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

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Earnings Conference Call
Savaria Q3 2024
00:00 / 00:00