Elbit Systems Ltd (ESLT) 2019 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Elbit Systems' First Quarter 2019 Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

You should have all received by now the company's press release. If you have not received it, please contact Elbit's Investor Relations team at GK Investor and Public Relations at 1 (646) 688-3559 or view it in the News section of the company's website, www.elbitsystems.com.

I would now like to hand over the call to Mr. Kenny Green of GK Investor Relations. Kenny, please go ahead.

Thank you, and good day to everyone. On behalf of all the investors, I would like to thank Elbit Systems management for hosting this call. Joining us on the call today are Mr. Bezhalel Butzi Machlis, Elbit's President and CEO; and Mr. Yossi Gaspar, Elbit Systems' Chief Financial Officer.

Yossi will begin by providing a discussion of the financial results for the first quarter of 2019, followed by Butzi who will talk about some of the significant events during the quarter and beyond. We will then turn over the call to the question-and-answer session.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that the safe harbor statement in the company's press release issued earlier today also refers to the contents of this conference call.

And with that, I would now like to hand the call over to Yossi. Yossi, please go ahead.

Thank you, Kenny. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. As we do every quarter, we will provide you with both our regular GAAP financial data as well as certain supplemental non-GAAP information. This quarter in particular, there were a number of larger differences. Specifically, I would like to mention that our non-GAAP numbers factored out the exchange rate differences, which this quarter were significant mainly through the adoption of ASU 2016-02, Leases. You can find all of the detailed GAAP financial data as well as the non-GAAP information and the reconciliation in today's press release.

The first quarter of 2019 is the first full quarter that consolidates the results of our recent acquisition of IMI. Overall, we are pleased with their performance. With year-over-year revenue growth of 25%, we are now a company with a revenue rate of over $4 billion per year, and our backlog is approaching $10 billion, giving us good visibility over the long term.

I will now highlight and discuss some of the key figures and trends in our financial results. Our first quarter 2019 revenues were $1.022 billion compared with $819 million as reported in the first quarter of 2018, up 25% year-over-year. The strong growth was mainly driven by the consolidation of IMI and Universal, our recent acquisitions.

In terms of revenue breakdown across the areas of operation in the quarter, airborne systems was 36%; C4I systems was 24%; land systems was 30%; electro-optics, 7%; and the rest was 3%. Compared with the first quarter of last year, we saw an increased land systems mainly due to our acquisition of IMI. There was a decrease in C4I sales due to lower sales of systems to Europe this quarter as well as the fact that we haven't consolidated Cyberbit commercial revenues. The increase in airborne was mainly due to the consolidation of revenues of Universal.

In terms of geographic breakdown for the quarter, we continue to be fairly well diversified between the various regions in which we operate, with North America at 27% of revenues, Israel at 26%, Europe at 19%, Asia Pacific at 21%, Latin America at 4% and the rest of the world at 3%. Compared with the first quarter of last year, we saw an increase in sales in North America and Israel, primarily due to the recent acquisitions of Universal in the U.S. and IMI in Israel.

For the first quarter, the non-GAAP gross margin was 27.7% compared to the first quarter of last year of 29.3%. The lower gross margin was primarily reflective of the lower gross margin of IMI.

The first quarter non-GAAP operating income was $84 million or 8.2% of revenues compared to $69.4 million or 8.5% of revenues last year. I note that despite lower gross margins, we managed to close much of the gap in the operating margin. First quarter GAAP operating income was $76 million versus $63.3 million last year.

In terms of our GAAP operating expenses for the quarter, total operating expenses was 19.7% of revenues compared with 21% of revenues in the first quarter of last year. The operating expenses breakdown in the quarter was as follows: net R&D expenses at 7.6% of revenues versus 8.3% last year; marketing and selling expenses at 7% of revenues versus 8.3% last year; and G&A expenses at 5.2% of revenues versus 4.4% last year, with the relative increase primarily due to our recent acquisitions.

Other operating income net was $1.2 million, again resulting from an investment and remeasurement of the company in a subsidiary.

Financial expenses for the first quarter of 2019 were $13.9 million compared with financial expenses of $10.2 million in the first quarter of last year. The higher level of financial expenses this quarter was due to implementation of accounting rule ASU 2016-02 relating to operating leases. In the quarter, this generated a noncash accounting expense of $9.3 million.

In our GAAP results, we had other expenses of $3.4 million, which was mainly due to the adoption of accounting standard ASU 2017-07 relating to non-service cost components of the pension plans.

For the first quarter, non-GAAP net income was $65.8 million or a net margin of 6.4% versus $55.1 million or a net margin of 6.7% in the first quarter of last year. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share were $1.54 compared with $1.29 in the first quarter of last year. On a GAAP basis, first quarter net income was $50.5 million versus $49.6 million in the corresponding quarter last year. GAAP diluted net earnings per share were $1.18 compared with $1.16 in the first quarter of last year.

Our backlog of orders as of March 31, 2019, was $9.66 billion, $1.61 billion higher than the backlog at the end of the first quarter of 2018 and $258 million higher than that of the end of -- at the end of the -- 2018. This represents a 20% increase in backlog in year-over-year. The increase from a year ago was primarily due to the additional backlog following our acquisition of IMI in November 2019 (sic) [November 2018]. Approximately 61% of the current backlog is scheduled to be performed during 2019 and 2020, and the remainder is scheduled for 2021 and beyond. The ratio is similar to that of the first quarter of last year.

Operating cash flow for the quarter was a positive of $46.5 million compared with a negative cash flow of $147.9 million in the same quarter last year. The Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.44 per share for the first quarter of 2019.

That ends my summary and shall now turn the call over to Mr. Machlis. Butzi, please.

Thank you, Yossi. We are very pleased with our start to 2019, with Elbit being a company of significantly greater scale than it was only a year ago. Our revenues are 25% greater than those of the first quarter last year, and our backlog is 20% ahead of where it was last year, with the growth in both being partly organic and partly due to the acquisition of IMI and Universal.

Our long-term growth has always been built on both investing in our existing businesses, growing it on an organic basis, while at the same time acquiring and adding synergetic businesses to our organization. While it will take time to bring the margins of IMI up to where Elbit margin currently stand, we have a working plan in place that we have already started implementing. We see significant synergies with our new land division, and we have already began a restructuring process.

Already this quarter, we have started to enjoy the initial fruits of our effort. Despite the low gross margins due to IMI contribution, we are pleased that we managed to report similar consolidated operating margin at Elbit as a whole to those of the first quarter last year. While the integration process will continue to take time and effort, we have decades of experience in successfully assimilating acquisitions and expect to be successful with IMI as well.

Beyond IMI, in April, we announced an agreement with Harris to acquire their Night Vision businesses for $350 million. This third acquisition in the past year will be significant to our long-term growth strategy and will enhance the product portfolio and customer offerings, strengthening our position in the U.S.

While we have been busy with acquisitions, our core businesses continue to perform well, and we continue to win more businesses in all our target solutions, as you can see by continued growth in our backlog, adding $258 million to the backlog since last quarter. We see ongoing demand for our solutions, which are a strong indication of the operational importance of advanced and combat-proven capabilities that we have in all domains, in operational engagement, maritime, land and air. As of 2019, Elbit now a company of more significant scale, and we are increasing our status as a major player in the global defense market.

And with that, I will be happy to take your questions. Operator?

(Operator Instructions) The first question is from Pete Skibitski of Alembic Global.

I want to ask -- just start with a couple of balance sheet questions because there are newer items. The premises evacuation money that you have on the balance sheet, I think you have a $334 million current asset and another smaller longer-term asset. Are those monies essentially cash you've received from the government, but you can't categorize it as cash because it's sort of earmarked specifically for the IMI relocation? I just wanted to understand that.

Upon the evacuation of the present location, there is a specific milestone in the contract according to which we are going to get that money from the government. However, we are looking at having an earlier release of that fund. We'll see how it works out. Therefore, we've put it in the short-term asset.

Okay. And when you get it, it'll all essentially flow through CapEx when you actually get it approved?

The CapEx will flow -- probably a significant part of that will flow into CapEx somewhere in the coming years when we establish the modern production facility in the southern part of Israel.

Okay, okay. And then, Yossi, also on the pension, the pension assets and liabilities that you've absorbed for IMI, I think the net pension deficit is now $464 million. Can you tell us, how much cash do you expect you'll have to contribute to the pension plan this year? And maybe on a longer-term basis, is there some minimum amount that we should assume that you'll be contributing each year of the plan?

This is spread over many years in the future, probably somewhere over 15 years on average. However, with the accelerated departure of some of the employees of IMI, we may spend a part of that cash to compensate that. And that was the initial agreement with the government and with the unions when we bought IMI. The rest is spread over many years.

Okay. Do you expect to receive any further cash from the government for the pension plan?

No.

No. Okay, okay. Okay, switching off balance sheet, couple program questions that look really positive. First, the Israeli deal that I think you signed the initial USD 125 million contract for the self-propelled Howitzer. I just want to ask, is that a brand-new development program you're starting? And I think some of the press reports indicated that longer term, it would end up being worth much more than $125 million. Would you agree with that?

Yes, that's -- the $124 million, that's only the first part. It's a much larger program. That's good. And we are in the middle of development. Actually, we had a prototype, a firing prototype, and we are adopting it. And we are concluding the development, and we expect to announce this program with the government in the coming year.

Okay. That's great, that's great. And then the other one that I saw that I don't think is signed yet, but it sounds like you're the leading contender now, is the Indian artillery program, which I think you're submitting the ATHOS system for that program. I saw at least one press report that indicated that could be worth potentially over USD 1 billion for you. So that sounded really positive. Is that kind of what you're thinking? And when do you think you might sign it?

It's certainly a significant contract and program, and we are expecting this program to be concluded in the near future. And we will, of course, let you know whenever this contract is concluded.

The next question is from Ella Fried of Bank Leumi.

I would like to congratulate you on the results. I would like to ask you on the free cash flow improvement in the quarter despite the substantial expenses that you had in this quarter. And if you could just explain sort of just how is it going to proceed? And do we have to expect some more improvement of the working capital and the policy in this field for the next quarters or years?

I think in the past, we explained some strategic movements that we have decided on several years ago regarding the use of our strong balance sheet in order to capture customer positions in addition, of course, with advanced technology and our capabilities. This was applied to prime customers. We did give them longer terms of payment in the past, starting probably 2.5, 3 years ago and so on.

Recently, we -- after we were successful in achieving these positions with our customers, we have reviewed our strategy and started to reduce the aspect of the long-term payments. I think I addressed that in the year-end discussion. And through that, we start to see the coming back, I would say, of the cash at a higher rate. The first quarter might be -- and the first quarter last year may be the initial steps of that. But on the longer term, first of all, I would not take a quarterly number as something representative. However, on average, we are going to see a decrease in the working capital of the company because of this change.

And following this matter, in the previous quarter, you've mentioned some factoring that was in the year-end results. Are you going on? Did the factoring decrease because you only specified it in the annual report?

In the annual report, we definitely gave all the details of our financial activities. We continue to look at factoring of debt of our customers. However, going forward, for the long term, this will be less and less of an item. We might look at some other aspects of factoring, for example, factoring debt of prime customers. But when it will happen we'll, of course, explain that.

And the last question, if you could give us some color on the progress of the Bradley contract.

It's an important and significant contract for the company, bringing active protection systems, the IRON-FIST system to the U.S. forces. There is a process in the U.S. to activate the order. Whenever it will happen, we will let you know. But it's a significant contract, and we hope it will happen soon.

Are there any formal milestones that you have to pass in order to advance? Or is it just negotiation? How does it work?

We are in dialogue with the U.S. Army. I prefer not to enter into the details, but I believe that there is a good chance that this program will happen quite soon.

(Operator Instructions) The next question is from Pete Skibitski of Alembic Global.

Just a couple of follow-ups, guys. First of all, congratulations on the Night Vision acquisition. I think it's a great deal for you. And I just wanted to clarify, should we expect you're going to issue debt to finance that deal?

I think presently, we have enough bank lines and credit lines and capital and cash to do that acquisition. After the acquisition, we will look at how much cash are we generating and some other targets that might be on the horizon. And according to that, we will have to make a decision how we proceed.

Understood, understood. Okay. And then last question just, Yossi, can you maybe update us on the status of the new ERP system implementation?

We are putting a lot of energy in that project. I think it is more or less on the schedule that we have planned. ERP systems, there might be some glitches here and there from point of view of timescale. However, we still are looking at that happening 2019 and then following on 2020, 2021 in the rest of the group and the other operations. And gradually, we will definitely reap the benefits of one ERP system within the group, which will cause us improved deals, will reduce inventory and other aspects of commonality and better operations. But still, we are in -- generally speaking, we are on track on this program.

There are no further questions at this time. Before I ask Mr. Machlis to go ahead with his closing statement, I would like to remind participants that a replay of this call will be available 2 hours after the conference ends. In the U.S., please call 1 (888) 782-4291. In Israel, please call 03-925-5925, and internationally, please call 972-3-925-5925. A replay of the call will also be available at the company's website, www.elbitsystems.com.

Mr. Machlis, would you like to make your concluding statement?

I would like to thank all our employees for their continued hard work. To everyone on the call, thank you for joining us today and for your continued support and interest in our company. Have a good day, and goodbye.

Thank you. This concludes the Elbit Systems Ltd. First Quarter 2019 Results Conference Call. Thank you for your participation. You may go ahead and disconnect.