Central Garden & Pet Co (CENT) 2010 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Central Garden & Pet's fiscal fourth-quarter 2010 earnings conference call.

At this time all participants are in listen-only mode.

Later we will conduct a question and answer session, and instructions will follow at that time.

(Operator Instructions) As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, this conference is being recorded.

I would now like to introduce Stuart Booth, Chief Financial Officer for Central Garden & Pet.

Please go ahead sir.

Thank you operator.

Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for joining us on the call today.

With me on the call today is Bill Brown, Central's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Before I turn the call over to reading our Safe Harbor provision language and our prepared remarks, I wanted to make sure everyone knows we had a glitch in the Business Wire related to the issuance of our press release.

It's a mechanical problem that should be resolved in the next 30 minutes.

So in lieu of everyone getting a press release before the call, I'm going to read you a couple of salient points of the press release, and then I will turn it over to the Safe Harbor and Bill's prepared remarks and mine.

So if you just bear with us here for a minute.

These are two paragraphs from the press release, first being --

The company reported net sales of $347 million in the quarter, a decrease of 4% compared to $363 million in the comparable fiscal 2009 period.

For the quarter the company reported a loss of $4.6 million compared to operating income of $19.9 million in the year-ago period.

Net loss was $8.8 million or $0.14 per fully diluted share compared to a net income of $8 million or $0.12 per fully diluted share in the year-ago period.

The results for the quarter include a non-cash, pretax charge of $12 million related to the impairment of an intangible asset.

Without the impairment charge, operating income would have been $7.4 million, and the net loss for the quarter would've been $1.1 million or $0.02 per fully diluted share.

That's the guts of the highlights of the financial reporting for Q4.

I'm now going to turn to a quick summary of the fiscal year.

For fiscal year 2010 the company reported net sales of $1.524 billion, a decrease of 6% from $1.614 billion in fiscal 2009.

The operating income for the year was $109 million, compared to $126 million in the prior year.

Net income for the fiscal year was $45.8 million, compared to $65.9 million in the prior year.

Earnings per fully diluted share were $0.70, compared to $0.94 in the prior year.

Included in the full year results is the non-cash, pretax charge of $12 million related to the impairment of an intangible asset.

Excluding this charge, operating income would've been $121 million, and net income and earnings per fully diluted share would have been $53.5 million and $0.82, respectively.

So those are the guts of the quarter and the year numbers for Central..

I'm now going to turn it over to the prepared remarks.

Thank you for bearing with us.

Before I turn the call over to Bill, I would like to remind you of the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

The statements made during this conference call which are not historical facts are forward-looking statements.

Central undertakes no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent events and otherwise.

These statements are subject to the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth or implied by forward-looking statements.

These risks are described in the company's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 25, 2010, which we expect to file on Friday, and in our other Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

This presentation includes the use of non-GAAP measures.

Reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP measures is included in our earnings release, which is available on our website and will hopefully be ready for everyone to read in about 30 minutes.

So with that, let me turn it over to Bill for his remarks.

Bill?

Thank you Stu, and thank you for joining us this afternoon.

My plan today is to reflect on fiscal 2010 and discuss the road ahead.

I will then turn the call over to Stu, who will recap the quarter and the year.

2010 was a transition year.

While we improved our operations and strengthened our financial position, we failed to deliver topline sales increases, and our business suffered as a result.

One reason was the challenges we experienced in two categories that are particularly important to us, our wild bird feed and grass seed.

Stu will provide you with the details on our performance in these categories in a few minutes.

Another reason was the challenging consumer environment that we faced and continue to face, along with our retail partners.

All that said, the main reason was that we did not execute as well as we should have.

In 2011 we will be relentlessly focusing on growth, and I am determined that we will do better.

In 2010 our pet segment sales were flat.

Our operating income, adjusted for the impairment charge, was up approximately 6%.

In our garden segment, both sales and profitability were down.

The garden sales declines were largely driven by our wild bird feed and our grass seed categories.

Our balance sheet continued to improve with the increased cash, continued working capital discipline, and completion of our debt refinancing program.

We issued $400 million in new senior subordinated notes in March and completed our new $275 million revolving credit facility in June.

The revolver remains undrawn, and along with our available cash, will be the primary sources of capital to finance our organic and our acquisition related growth initiatives.

In July our Board of Directors authorized a new $100 million share repurchase program.

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 we repurchased approximately 2 million shares of our common stock for approximately $19 million.

That leaves us with $81 million for future repurchases.

My primary emphasis going forward, and that of our entire team, will be on profitable growth.

We anticipate our growth will come from a combination of organic and acquisition related programs, both of which will be driven by a renewed commitment to innovation, quality and service.

We're tackling this initiative with the same energy that we applied to our recent financial initiatives.

While we consider 2010 a transition year, we're excited about the new products and programs that are in store for 2011 and beyond.

We believe that these initiatives will generate profitable sales growth, and I look forward to discussing them with you on future calls.

With that, I will turn it over to Stu, who will recap the financial highlights for the quarter and the year, and then we will take your questions.

Thanks Bill.

Turning to the financial results, net sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 -- which is entirely redundant -- were $347 million, compared to $363 million a year ago, a decline of $16 million or 4%.

Branded product sales were $291 million, a decline of 7%, and sales of other manufacturers' products were $56 million, an increase of 8%.

The decline was driven by the garden segment, whose fourth-quarter sales decreased approximately $27 million or 17% to $133 million, compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009.

Garden branded product sales decreased approximately 18% to $117 million, and sales of other manufacturers' products were $16 million, a decline of 9%.

The decline in sales within the garden segment was due primarily to lower wild bird feed and grass seed sales.

The decline in bird feed sales was due primarily to reduced unit volume and reflected reduced consumer purchases for our products and the entire category.

The decline in grass seed sales was due primarily to price reductions as a result of lower raw material costs, which we passed on to our retailers.

Pet segment sales continued to perform better.

Fourth-quarter sales were $214 million, an increase of 5% from $204 million a year ago.

Pat branded product sales increased 3% to $174 million.

Sales of other manufacturers' products increased 17% to $40 million.

The increase in pet sales was due primarily to our dog and cat category, but we also saw sales increases in almost all of our pet categories, including aquatics, which had struggled for several years.

The company's gross profit for the fourth quarter was $103 million, a decrease of $13 million or 11% compared to a year ago.

As a percentage of net sales, gross margin decreased to 29.8% from 32.0% in the year-ago period due to lower contribution from the garden segment.

Selling, general and administrative expenses for the fourth quarter were $96 million and remained flat versus the same period last year.

As a percentage of net sales, SG&A increased from 26.5% to 27.7%.

This increase was due to the decline in sales, along with increased marketing and brand building expenses incurred during the quarter.

The operating loss for the quarter was $4.6 million, compared to income of $19.9 million a year ago.

This includes a non-cash charge of $12 million for the impairment of an intangible asset.

Excluding this charge, operating income for the quarter would have been $7.4 million.

The garden segment produced an operating loss for the quarter of $7.6 million, compared to operating income of $4.7 million a year ago.

Pet segment operating income for the quarter was $12.9 million, compared to $27.6 million a year ago.

Included in this number is the intangible asset impairment charge.

Excluding this charge, the pet segment produced operating income of $24.9 million for the quarter, a decrease of $2.7 million or 10% compared to the same period a year ago.

Net interest expense for the quarter was $9 million, compared to $4.8 million in the year-ago period.

Interest expense for the fourth quarter 2010 consisted largely of expenses related to our $400 million senior subordinated notes issued in the second quarter.

Our borrowing rate for the quarter was approximately 8.6%, compared to 4.5% a year ago, reflecting the meaningful difference in mix of debt.

The net loss for the quarter was $8.8 million or $0.14 per fully diluted share.

This compares to net income of $8 million or $0.12 per fully diluted share in the same period last year.

Excluding the intangible asset impairment charge, the net loss for the quarter was $1.1 million or $0.02 per fully diluted share.

Capital expenditures for the quarter totaled approximately $8.6 million or $6.1 million last year.

Now looking at fiscal 2010, total company sales were $1.5 billion, a decline of $91 million or 6% compared with fiscal 2009.

Pet segment sales were up $7 million, and garden segment sales were down $98 million year-over-year.

Gross margin increased of [33.8]% from 32.7% a year ago.

Operating earnings were $109 million, compared to $126 million in fiscal 2009.

Excluding the impact of the intangible asset impairment charge, operating earnings were $121 million for fiscal 2010.

This represents a decline of $5 million or 4% year-over-year.

Operating margin, excluding the intangible asset impairment charge, was 7.9%, compared to 7.8% a year ago.

Pet segment sales for the year were $841 million, down $7 million from a year ago, or essentially flat.

Operating income adjusted for intangible asset charge was $110 million, an increase of 8%.

Garden segment sales for the year totaled $683 million, a decrease of $98 million, compared with $[781] million last year.

Operating income was $53 million this year versus $69 million a year ago.

Net income and earnings per fully diluted share for the fiscal year were $45.8 million and $0.70, respectively, compared to $66 million and $0.94 for fiscal year 2009.

Adjusting for the intangible asset impairment charge taken in the fourth quarter, net income for the year was $53.5 million, and earnings per fully diluted share were $0.82 for fiscal 2010.

Turning to the balance sheet, we've maintained working capital balances at lower levels achieved in 2009, and as previously discussed, all of our debt has been refinanced.

Comparing the September 25, 2010 balances to September 26, 2009 balances, accounts receivables were $192 million, a decrease of approximately $14 million or 7% compared to last year.

Inventories were essentially flat at $286 million.

Accounts payable were $113 million, an increase of $4 million or 3% compared to last year.

At year-end 2010 total debt was $400 million, compared with $408 million at year-end last year.

Our cash and short-term investments balance was $107 million this year versus $86 million last year.

Now addressing our credit agreement, our current debt to EBITDA ratio as defined in our credit agreement is approximately 2.6 times, compared to 2.9 times a year ago.

And with that, I will turn the call back to Bill.

Thank you Stu.

As I look forward to 2011, I commit to you that I and the rest of the management team will be relentlessly focusing on growth.

I look forward to sharing with you on our future calls the product innovations, marketing initiatives, and sales programs that will be required to make us a growth company once again.

I'd like to this opportunity to thank all of Central's employees for their everyday contributions in this challenging economic times.

By working hard through this transition year, we have put the company on a solid financial footing.

Now it is time to execute on our growth initiatives with that same energy and same commitment.

And with that, we will now take your questions.

(Operator Instructions) Bill Chappell, SunTrust.

I'm just trying to understand on the garden side, certainly Scotts on their conference call a couple of weeks ago talked about gaining significant share in the grass seed space.

How much of this was just share losses or share -- ceding share?

And how much was it just the category being down?

And then in terms of the birdseed side, now that grains and commodities have come back up, are you looking to actually take pricing increases in 2011?

Or are you kind of stuck where we are until we get more visibility on that?

Well, let's start out first with the grass seed, Bill.

On grass seed our unit sales, our weight, tonnage this year versus last, was the same, if not up a little bit, and it really was driven a lot by price.

I know what Scotts has said on the call, and I commend them for what they've said.

I think the biggest difference between what we sold this year and what they sold, last year was they have a new patch product that is -- it's their EZ Seed product, which did sell well.

We have a comparable product that we launched last year, and we sold out.

We look forward to selling more of our product next year.

On the bird feed side, yes, we're aware that bird feed prices are up.

Grain prices are up approximately 10% to 20% on a blended basis for wild bird feed mix from year end, or end of our fiscal year end.

And we are working with our retail partners to take a price increase.

As you know, the mechanisms are now in place, and they've been working pretty well since we had all the volatility in grain prices in 2007, 2008.

So in summary, on grass seed the price of input, raw materials for grass seed, came down a lot, and pricing moved down, and that is the principal driver for the decrease in grass seed sales.

On birdseed, the volume came down a lot as consumer takeaway has dropped off, and that is the principal reason.

So in one case it is price and commodity, and the other side, it is consumer takeaway and change in behavior.

Next question?

Joe Altobello, Oppenheimer.

First question I guess, just a follow-up on the -- sort of the weakness in the quarter.

It sounds like a lot of those issues are somewhat out of your control, whether it is pricing on the grass seed side or just a weak consumer on the bird feed side.

I understand the spending -- or at least it sounds like some of the spending or initiatives you have got planned to grow the top line in 2011, but if the two biggest issues that are weighing on the top line are sort of macro in nature, what can you guys do as a company to make that consumer buy wild bird feed, for example, or get pricing higher in grass seed if commodities aren't cooperating?

Well, I think there's a fair amount, and we have a lot of initiatives underway on the wild bird feed in terms of driving promotion, putting in different packaging, different driving initiatives.

So we think there's a lot of things.

We've done a lot of work with consumers to understand the leverage points, the behaviors, and work with our retailers to drive that and bring that back of up.

On the grass seed side, Stu, what would you comment on that?

Well, if you're looking just at the fourth-quarter, Joe, it is a pretty weak -- it's a pretty light quarter.

Our garden season is really quarters two and three.

So that said, we're down a measurable amount year-over-year.

I think we're down in the -- rough numbers -- $35 million year over year.

And that is all spelled out in the K, by the way, because it is a huge category for us.

It is one of our largest categories that we participate in.

So it has been a tough year.

But to answer your question, going forward, again, we sold out of one of the hottest selling products that is being comp'd by Scotts this year, and that's our repair kit.

So we've got that underway for next year.

And also we're very excited about our grass seed listings across the board.

So it's really kind of -- stay tuned.

Hopefully the consumer will select our products versus the competitors' next year.

The listings are there.

It is really the takeaway.

Got it.

Then just secondly to following up on that, you guys have obviously been discontinuing some SKUs.

Was that an impact?

Or did that impact the fourth quarter?

And is that now behind us?

Are we comparing like for like growth in 2011 versus 2010?

Or are we still going to see some discontinued SKUs next year?

I would say that the -- there will be more like to like next year.

There may be some discontinuation of SKUs but not in the magnitude that we've been working through.

You get the biggest stuff first, and we did that.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

[Per Osland], Jefferies & Company.

Thanks.

Good afternoon everybody.

To start out with a question on pet, since that hasn't been as touched upon yet, if I heard correctly in your remarks, Stu, it sounds like the pet sales were up about 5%, but yet the profit, even excluding the impairment, was down a little bit.

And it sounded like the garden segment was more the culprit on the gross margin side.

So what is it in pet that looks to have driven a lower margin there?

Is it mix?

Is it -- what are the factors there?

If you're talking about operating margin, there is always a little bit of mix shift going on, but I think one of the biggest things going on this year, especially in the fourth quarter, is we've started to put more money behind our brands and our marketing initiatives for 2011.

So there's been a tremendous turnover in our expenses within SG&A.

And a lot of the hard work that Bill and the operating team have been doing to streamline some of the businesses has really dropped down to the bottom line this year, and we've redeployed a lot of that savings and in this instance a little bit more for brand building and marketing for our products for next year.

So that is really on the garden side and the pet side.

If you do it on the adjusted basis on pet, I think we were down $2 million.

That is pretty easy to mask with some additional brand building expense.

Sure.

Now, that makes sense.

I know the other manufacturers' products are comparatively smaller in the portfolio vis-a-vis your branded.

Is there anything to the outperformance of the other manufacturers' products versus your own?

It looked like both segments was much better on the other manufacturer side.

Sometimes we bring in new products or new manufacturers into those businesses.

And so in the aggregate they'll bump up because we've actually taken on a manufacturer or two or three that we didn't have before that bring incremental volume.

The increases are off a much smaller base, so (multiple speakers)

No, that true, and I didn't want to make too much of that, but I think the explanation that there's new entrants into that side of the business for you guys, that's I think probably enough clarification on that side of things.

Then maybe one last question -- it sounds, in the prepared remarks, like maybe there is a little bit more line of sight to acquisition activity happening.

I don't want to put words in your mouth, but are you maybe further along in discussions with another party than maybe you were a quarter or two ago?

Well, I think I would frame it up this way -- if you went back a year ago at this time, we had very little if any activity on the M&A side going.

We really kicked that in gear in earnest probably in -- around the March time frame.

We have many different discussions going at many different levels and different stages in their evolution.

We're not in a position to tell you that anything of substance is imminent.

That's not the case.

But when you fish enough ponds with enough lines, our past experience would indicate usually some good things happen.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Reza Vahabzadeh, Barclays Capital.

Just on the grass seed side and the wild bird feed side, how did your volumes trend for the year?

Well, on grass seed our volumes were actually -- in unit volume -- weight or tonnage of unit volumes was actually up year over year.

On bird feed it is down.

On the bird feed side, unit volume was the primary driver for the decline of sales on the bird feed category.

And what percentage (multiple speakers)

That is true -- that is true on the bird feed for the market in general.

Bird feed consumption is way off, it's substantial, and it is across the market.

There is a change in consumer takeaway, and we and the retailers need to turn that around.

Right.

And what order of magnitude did the category come down and did your volumes come down?

Well, double-digit.

I don't have the percentage.

We're down -- it'll be in the K tomorrow, but we're down $30 million, 30 plus million dollars year-over-year and in wild bird feed.

So call that -- it's double digits.

The category (multiple speakers)

Pardon me?

The category was about the same?

Oh, the overall category?

Yes.

And what do you think the plan is to turn around category consumption?

Got to get those birdfeeders to do more feeding.

Let's leave it with consumer confidence.

This is a recession resistant portfolio.

This is a -- it's a discretionary item, even though it is a great hobby, it is discretionary.

And some folks are worried about other purchases more than bird feed.

Right.

And I'm sorry, you said that the bird feed costs are up 20% since the end of your fiscal year?

That's correct -- 10% to 20% on a blended basis, yes.

That is not in our results.

Of course we purchase enough to take care of our requirements at least a quarter out, but what we're foreshadowing is that there is movement up, and we will downstream be facing, along with everybody else in the market, higher costs, and I think the question was, did we intend to address that with price changes, and the answer is yes.

And the price changes would be effective sometime in January time frame?

It depends, from customer to customer.

Well, it depends on each situation in the process we need to go through and get it done.

Sometimes it is faster, sometimes it is slower.

So because of what we went through several years ago, the entire organization is acutely attuned to it.

I never heard us talk about telling you ahead of time that it moved (laughter) and that we're doing something.

So we're on it.

No problem with that.

Then last question, as far as M&A, you said that you have placed more focus on that.

Is there a target-rich environment out there that makes you think something can get done in the next year?

Well, when we're active we, at any one time, might have 50 or more discussions going, and we're in that state.

Some of those are meet, greet and size up.

And they won't mature for two, three, four, five years.

Others can be they are ready to talk now.

So we're in our process of going through that, as we have historically.

When they fall out, they fall out.

If you look at the M&A field right now, the published data on multiples, and what we see are higher than we would typically like to see and might see, which is a bit surprising coming out of the climate we came out, but that is the state of affair, and so we're careful about what we buy and what the prospects are and how it fits into the portfolio.

Thank you much.

(Operator Instructions) Carla Casella, JPMorgan.

This is Millie here for Carla.

Can you talk a little bit more about the pet food market and if you're facing any competition from natural and organic foods?

And what is your outlook for this market in general?

Well, first of all, the outlook for the market continues to be quite favorable.

The dog and cat foods, and particularly the dog foods and the natural products which we provide, is growing, and growing faster than the category, and the category is growing.

So we think it is quite attractive.

Our challenge and mission is to continue to grow our share faster than the category.

At this time I would say we're on track to do that.

That's great.

And on bird feed, do you think Scotts is taking share in any of your regions where there is a strong focus on bird feed?

We do not.

Thank you.

Joe Lind, DDJ Capital.

Thanks for taking my question.

Your operating results in the garden segment were off significantly, and the two reasons you cited where birdseed and grass seed, and it seemed like grass seed was just a pass-through of lower commodity prices.

So was all the operating weakness due to the birdseed?

Well, I think it is two parts.

Stu talked about increasing our marketing spend.

So when you get to the operating results, we not only have the sales volume and sales issue, we also have what we're doing on spend as part of the equation.

And you put all those pieces together, and we've focused on birdseed and grass seed because they are the two principal areas.

There is a cluster of a number of other issues that contributed to the softness but none of them material, in and of themselves.

And are retailers telling you you need to increase marketing spend in order to maintain your space?

I haven't been thinking about it that way.

I've been thinking about it in terms of what we want to do to drive our brands and expand their prominence in terms of our growth initiatives.

And with sales down, what is the lag in that marketing spend versus seeing sales growth?

Well, for what we've put in place this year, we certainly are expecting to do better next year, whether that is six months, 12 months, three months, depending on the type of program and the type of initiative, certainly not looking at spends that are going to deliver results two years out.

Okay, thanks.

At this time, Mr.

Brown, there are no more questions.

Well, thank you for joining us on the call today, and we appreciate your questions, and we will look forward to chatting with you on the first quarter results as they come through.

Goodbye everybody.

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's conference.

Thank you for your participation.

You may now disconnect.

Have a good day.