L B Foster Co (FSTR) 2015 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the quarter one 2015 L.B. Foster earnings conference call. My name is Emma and I will be your operator for today. At this time all participants are in listen-only mode. We will conduct a question-and-answer session towards the end of this conference. (Operator Instructions). As a reminder this call is being recorded for replay purposes.

女士們先生們，美好的一天，歡迎來到 2015 年 L.B. 第一季。福斯特財報電話會議。我叫艾瑪，今天我將擔任您的接線生。此時所有參與者都處於只聽模式。我們將在本次會議結束時舉行問答會議。 （操作員說明）。謹此提醒，本次通話將會被錄音以供重播。

I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. David Russo, Chief Financial Officer. Please proceed, sir.

我現在想將電話轉給財務長 David Russo 先生。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, Emma. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us for L.B. Foster Company's earnings conference call to review the Company's first quarter 2015 operating results. My name is David Russo and I and the Chief Financial Officer of L.B. Foster. Hosting the call today is Mr. Robert Bauer, L.B. Foster's President and CEO.

謝謝你，艾瑪。早安，女士們，先生們。感謝您加入我們的 L.B.福斯特公司召開財報電話會議，回顧公司2015年第一季營運表現。我是 David Russo，我是 L.B. 的財務長。促進。今天主持電話會議的是 Robert Bauer 先生，L.B.福斯特公司總裁兼執行長。

This morning Bob will review the Company's first-quarter performance and provide an update on significant business issues and Company developments. Afterward I will review the Company's first-quarter financial performance and then we will open up the session for questions. Means to access this conference call via webcast were disclosed in our earnings press release and were posted on the L.B. Foster Company website under the investor relations page. This webcast will be archived and available for 30 days.

今天早上，鮑伯將回顧公司第一季的業績，並提供有關重大業務問題和公司發展的最新資訊。隨後我將回顧公司第一季的財務業績，然後我們將開始提問。透過網路廣播參加本次電話會議的方式已在我們的收益新聞稿中披露，並發佈在 L.B.福斯特公司網站投資者關係頁面下。該網路廣播將被存檔並保留 30 天。

During today's call our commentary and responses to your questions may contain forward-looking statements, including such items such as the Company's outlook for our businesses and markets in 2015, cash flows, margins, operating costs, capital expenditures and other key business issues. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from statements we make today.

在今天的電話會議中，我們的評論和對您問題的答覆可能包含前瞻性陳述，包括公司對2015 年業務和市場的展望、現金流量、利潤率、營運成本、資本支出和其他關鍵業務問題等專案.這些陳述涉及許多風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與我們今天所做的陳述有重大差異。

These forward-looking statements reflect our opinions only as of the date of this presentation and we undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revisions to these statements in light of new information or future events except as required by law. All participants are encouraged to refer to L.B. Foster's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 as updated by any subsequent Form 10-Qs or other pertinent items filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for additional information about L.B. Foster and to learn more about the risk factors that may affect our results.

這些前瞻性陳述僅反映我們截至本簡報發布之日的觀點，除法律要求外，我們不承擔根據新資訊或未來事件修改或公開發布這些陳述的任何修訂結果的義務。鼓勵所有參與者參考 L.B. Foster 公司截至 2015 年 12 月 31 日止年度的 10-K 表格年度報告，已透過任何後續 10-Q 表格或向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他相關項目進行更新，以了解有關 L.B. 的更多資訊。促進並更多地了解可能影響我們結果的風險因素。

In addition to the results provided in accordance with US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, our commentary includes certain non-GAAP statements which present earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA. A reconciliation of US GAAP to this non-GAAP measurement has been included within the Company's 8-K filing. Statements referring to EBITDA are considered non-GAAP measurements and while it is not intended to replace the presentation of our financial results in accordance with GAAP, the Company believes that the presentation of EBITDA especially after the recent acquisitions will provide additional meaningful information to investors to facilitate the comparison of past and present and forecasted operating results.

除了根據美國公認會計原則提供的結果外，我們的評論還包括某些非 GAAP 報表，這些報表顯示未計利息、稅項、折舊和攤銷前的收益或 EBITDA。美國公認會計準則與非公認會計準則衡量標準的調節已包含在公司的 8-K 備案中。涉及 EBITDA 的報表被視為非 GAAP 衡量標準，雖然它無意取代我們按照 GAAP 的財務業績表述，但公司相信 EBITDA 的表述，特別是在最近的收購之後，將為投資者提供更多有意義的信息便於比較過去和現在以及預測的經營結果。

With that, we will commence our discussion and I will turn it over to Bob Bauer.

至此，我們將開始討論，我將把它交給鮑伯鮑爾。

Thank you, Dave, and good morning, everyone. I will thank you for joining us today. I am pleased to be discussing the Company's results with you today. It was an exceptional quarter for us because not only are the financial results in line with our expectations, it had several accomplishments that support our initiatives aimed at creating long-term value for our shareholders.

謝謝戴夫，大家早安。我將感謝您今天加入我們。我很高興今天與您討論公司的表現。對我們來說，這是一個非凡的季度，因為不僅財務表現符合我們的預期，而且還取得了多項成就，支持我們旨在為股東創造長期價值的舉措。

Some of the financial highlights for the quarter include sales increasing 24%. Our gross margin is up over prior year, EPS growth came in at 17% and the EBITDA growth came in at 46% in the quarter. And among our strategic highlights they include completing the acquisitions of TEW Engineering and Inspection Oilfield Services, which I will refer to as IOS throughout the remainder of the call. And that follows the December 30 completion of Chemtec Energy Systems so it has been a busy time for us.

該季度的一些財務亮點包括銷售額成長 24%。本季我們的毛利率比去年同期有所上升，每股盈餘 (EPS) 成長 17%，息稅折舊攤提前利潤 (EBITDA) 成長 46%。我們的策略亮點包括完成對 TEW Engineering and Inspection Oilfield Services 的收購，我將在電話會議的其餘部分將其稱為 IOS。 Chemtec Energy Systems 於 12 月 30 日完工，因此這對我們來說是一段忙碌的時期。

This is change in the mix of Company sales in a way that will increase our exposure particularly to long-term energy investments as well as increasing our mix toward service business models, which has been our intent. We will have more solutions capabilities for pipeline customers, a much deeper solutions capability for rail customers especially in Europe. We have added engineering talent with these and we've created a kind of scale we needed in Europe to reach more customers.

這是公司銷售組合的變化，將增加我們的投資，特別是長期能源投資，並增加我們對服務業務模式的組合，這也是我們的意圖。我們將為管道客戶提供更多的解決方案能力，為鐵路客戶尤其是歐洲的鐵路客戶提供更深入的解決方案能力。我們增加了工程人才，並創造了歐洲所需的規模來接觸更多客戶。

And we now have a footprint of service centers across the US in key energy development areas from which we can launch additional services. We are particularly excited about that. And we have expanded the number of customers we do business with again particularly in the energy markets.

現在，我們在美國主要能源開發地區設有服務中心，我們可以從中推出更多服務。我們對此感到特別興奮。我們再次擴大了與之開展業務的客戶數量，特別是在能源市場。

Completing these acquisitions in such a condensed period of time was a significant accomplishment for us. Some of this was guided by the need to see how energy customers were going to react to lower oil prices before finalizing at least all of the energy related transactions. That of course was very important and I will talk more about that later.

在如此短的時間內完成這些收購對我們來說是一項重大成就。其中一些是因為需要在完成至少所有能源相關交易之前了解能源客戶對油價下跌的反應。這當然非常重要，我稍後會詳細討論。

And switching gears in the operations area, highlights include the fact that we completed Phase 1 of our ERP project which was aimed at all the upfront work of data cleanup and other fundamental process work all aimed at being prepared for what is about to come in the next phases which are now underway. And we reopened our Birmingham coated products plant in mid-January after a complete overhaul of the production technology. I am happy to report that the plant is up and running and meeting expectations although as expected, we did lose volume in Q1 as a result of the shutdown.

在營運領域的切換方面，亮點包括我們完成了ERP 專案的第一階段，該專案旨在完成資料清理和其他基本流程工作的所有前期工作，所有這些工作都是為了為即將到來的情況做好準備。下一階段正在進行中。在對生產技術進行全面檢修後，我們於一月中旬重新開放了伯明罕塗層產品工廠。我很高興地向大家報告，該工廠已啟動並運行並達到預期，儘管正如預期的那樣，我們確實因停工而損失了第一季的產量。

So as I look back on the quarter, I am particularly grateful to our team that spent countless hours focusing on the priorities needed to keep our business running while we took action to shape the company of the future and completed all of these acquisitions that I am speaking about.

因此，當我回顧本季時，我特別感謝我們的團隊，他們花了無數的時間專注於保持業務運營所需的優先事項，同時我們採取行動塑造未來的公司並完成了我正在做的所有這些收購談到。

So let me now turn back to Q1 after the highlights and talk a little bit more about some of the specifics. Acquisitions in the quarter certainly helped drive the 24% sales increase. However, the base company still performed well with nearly 6% sales growth year over year and 16% growth in pretax income for the base company. The base company from a gross margin standpoint improved 40 basis points which helped contribute to the 60 basis point improvement for the overall company. And as expected we incurred considerable expenses for completing the acquisitions in the quarter somewhat compounded by the fact that there wasn't a lot of time between all of these transactions.

因此，在重點介紹之後，現在讓我回到第一季度，並更多地討論一些細節。本季的收購無疑幫助推動了 24% 的銷售額成長。然而，基地公司仍表現良好，銷售額年增近6%，稅前收入成長16%。從毛利率的角度來看，基礎公司提高了 40 個基點，這有助於整個公司提高 60 個基點。正如預期的那樣，我們在本季度完成收購時花費了大量費用，而所有這些交易之間的時間間隔並不長，這在一定程度上加劇了這一情況。

We did not realize a full quarter of sales for TEW Engineering or IOS. In fact with IOS, we closed that transaction on March 13, so there wasn't very much in our first quarter from that business.

我們沒有實現 TEW Engineering 或 IOS 的整個季度銷售額。事實上，對於 IOS，我們在 3 月 13 日結束了該交易，因此我們第一季的業務量並不大。

It is worth pointing out that EBITDA year over year grew from $8.2 million to $12 million or 130 basis points as a percentage of sales on a reported basis including the acquisitions which reflects the profit improvement coming from the new companies.

值得指出的是，EBITDA 年比從 820 萬美元增長到 1200 萬美元，佔報告銷售額的百分比增長了 130 個基點，其中包括反映新公司利潤改善的收購。

And EPS increased $0.41 in the quarter. I feel like that we are headed in a direction where the acquisitions are expected to be accretive to earnings as we previously mentioned as each of these deals were completed.

本季每股收益增加 0.41 美元。我覺得我們正朝著這樣的方向發展：正如我們之前提到的，隨著每筆交易的完成，收購預計將增加收益。

So let me spend some time on these acquisitions. As mentioned in prior meetings regarding the Company's strategy, we were aiming at acquisitions that would have a favorable impact on the overall company profit margins. I believe we have accomplished that. The gross margin contribution in Q1 from the acquired companies was favorable. And when factoring in the impact of D&A and interest costs from the new companies, they are expected to provide us with EPS growth and profit margin impacted as positive and for the full year as well.

讓我花一些時間來討論這些收購。如同先前有關公司策略的會議中所提到的，我們的目標是對公司整體利潤率產生有利影響的收購。我相信我們已經做到了這一點。被收購公司第一季的毛利率貢獻良好。當考慮到新公司的 D&A 和利息成本的影響時，預計它們將為我們帶來全年每股收益成長和利潤率的正面影響。

I wanted to focus though a little bit more on those that are aimed at the energy market, which was particularly interesting to us. The Chemtec Energy and IOS acquisitions can best be described as for us moving into adjacent market segments that will give us exposure to energy infrastructure demand but in segments very closely related to the ones we already served.

我想更專注於那些針對能源市場的領域，這對我們來說特別有趣。 Chemtec Energy 和IOS 的收購可以最好地描述為我們進入了相鄰的細分市場，這將使我們能夠接觸到能源基礎設施需求，但這些細分市場與我們已經服務的細分市場非常密切相關。

So first if I take Chemtec, we are expanding primarily into the Mid-Stream market where we will design and build tailored systems for critical pipeline measurement applications. Pipeline operators expect these investments to continue for the foreseeable future. They are not considered short-term investment decisions and the infrastructure is needed regardless of the cost of oil. In fact, one can argue that as the industry is in search of lower-cost, the pipeline capacity and new installations into the unserved areas will be in even greater demand going forward. This is precisely where our coated tubular products business comes from and we are seeing steady project activity there at the moment.

因此，如果我選擇 Chemtec，首先我們將主要擴展到中游市場，我們將為關鍵管道測量應用設計和建立客製化系統。管道營運商預計這些投資在可預見的未來將持續下去。它們不被視為短期投資決策，無論石油成本如何，都需要基礎設施。事實上，有人可以說，隨著該行業尋求更低的成本，未來對未服務地區的管道容量和新設施的需求將會更大。這正是我們的塗層管材產品業務的來源，目前我們看到那裡的專案活動穩定。

Second, turning to IOS, IOS is a service business that provides nondestructive testing and inspection services and allows us to expand our service oriented business models building on our expertise and services for tubular products. The ability to test, inspect and rehabilitate tubular products for end users and distributors in a meaningful way for users to cut operating costs by redeploying existing tubular assets we think is going to be a great benefit to them. The overall asset integrity services combined with logistic support that they provide throughout the entire US development areas in our opinion makes us uniquely positioned to serve E&P companies in this market.

其次，轉向 IOS，IOS 是一家服務企業，提供無損檢測和檢驗服務，使我們能夠在管材產品的專業知識和服務的基礎上擴展以服務為導向的業務模式。我們認為，能夠以有意義的方式為最終用戶和經銷商測試、檢查和修復管材產品，讓使用者透過重新部署現有管材資產來降低營運成本，這將為他們帶來巨大的好處。我們認為，他們在整個美國開發區提供的整體資產完整性服務與後勤支援相結合，使我們在為該市場的勘探與生產公司提供服務方面處於獨特的地位。

And we can do this all without owning the tubular products which are maintained in customer inventory as opposed to our inventory while we perform these services.

我們可以在不擁有管狀產品的情況下完成這一切，這些產品在我們執行這些服務時保留在客戶庫存中，而不是我們的庫存中。

Drilling demand of course can certainly impact the amount of activity IOS realizes. I like to say that we got a good feel for this before completing the transaction. It was obviously important for us to understand. And so our analysis of the business has taken this into account and went into our revised outlook for the market going forward before we completed the transaction.

當然，鑽探需求肯定會影響 IOS 實現的活動量。我想說的是，在完成交易之前我們對此有了很好的感覺。理解這對我們來說顯然很重要。因此，我們對業務的分析考慮到了這一點，並在完成交易之前修改了對未來市場的展望。

So with specifically with regard to the oil and gas markets now that we have more exposure to that, the extremely fast reaction to reducing capital expenditures on the part of development companies using tubulars for oil and gas drilling leads us to believe that 2015 is looking like the low point in the market. We have already lowered our forecast in line with the projections of capital spending cuts and other operating cutbacks, which have been published by virtually every operator out there at this point.

因此，特別是在石油和天然氣市場方面，我們現在對這個市場有了更多的了解，使用管材進行石油和天然氣鑽探的開發公司對減少資本支出的極快反應使我們相信 2015 年看起來像市場的低點。我們已經根據資本支出削減和其他營運削減的預測降低了預測，目前幾乎所有營運商都已發布了這些預測。

But it is also worth noting that we made these acquisitions for the long-term. They are a great fit with L.B. Foster Company and there are great management teams at both companies that are enthusiastic about our collective opportunity. So these acquisitions are really about the years ahead of us and not just about what is happening in 2015.

但同樣值得注意的是，我們進行這些收購是為了長期目標。他們與 L.B. 非常般配。福斯特公司以及兩家公司都有出色的管理團隊，他們對我們的集體機會充滿熱情。因此，這些收購實際上是為了我們未來幾年的發展，而不僅僅是 2015 年發生的事情。

So let me turn my comments now to the balance sheet that are going to really be brief. It was -- restructuring our credit agreement was a key component of completing the acquisitions. So our balance sheet is reflecting what I call the new environment with long-term debt of $218 million at the end of March. Our credit agreement and the bank (inaudible) behind it put us in a favorable position to use these funds in a very effective way. Our Board of Directors is very much in support of the way we are utilizing capital to create value for our shareholders and are very much behind the strategy that the company is embarking on.

現在讓我把我的評論轉向資產負債表，這將是非常簡短的。重組我們的信貸協議是完成收購的關鍵組成部分。因此，我們的資產負債表反映了我所說的新環境，截至 3 月底，長期債務為 2.18 億美元。我們的信貸協議及其背後的銀行（聽不清楚）使我們處於有利的地位，可以非常有效地使用這些資金。我們的董事會非常支持我們利用資本為股東創造價值的方式，並且非常支持公司正在實施的策略。

So with that I would like to wrap up with the 2015 outlook. I will go through that now and then turn it back over to Dave to talk about Q1 and then if you have some outlook questions we will take those as we open the floor for questions.

我想總結一下 2015 年的展望。我現在將詳細介紹一下，然後將其轉回給戴夫，討論第一季度，然後如果您有一些展望問題，我們將在開放提問時回答這些問題。

We did provide a 2015 forecast which is our best estimate of how the year will unfold. We did note some specific issues that influenced our forecast, some of which included our recognition that there still is some uncertainty and volatility that could exist in the energy markets. Although, as I said a moment ago, it does feel like a more stable environment at the moment.

我們確實提供了 2015 年預測，這是我們對這一年將如何發展的最佳估計。我們確實注意到了一些影響我們預測的具體問題，其中包括我們認識到能源市場仍然可能存在一些不確定性和波動性。不過，正如我剛才所說，目前確實感覺是一個更穩定的環境。

We are planning on much lower business in 2015 from Union Pacific. In the remaining corridors, we have factored in substantially no sales from Union Pacific as we have been told that they will move business away from L.B. Foster. This action is connected to the ongoing litigation regarding warranty claims for concrete ties. Our position with regard to that has not changed regarding that dispute. And we continue to maintain that certain claims submitted for warranty are not valid claims.

我們計劃 2015 年聯合太平洋公司的業務大幅減少。在其餘的走廊中，我們基本上沒有考慮聯合太平洋公司的銷售，因為我們被告知他們將把業務從 L.B. 轉移出去。促進。該訴訟與正在進行的有關混凝土關係保固索賠的訴訟有關。我們對此爭議的立場並沒有改變。我們仍然認為，為保證而提交的某些索賠不是有效的索賠。

From a standpoint of currency headwinds, they are affecting us much like everyone else doing business in Europe and Canada as well. This is currently expected to reduce sales by about $7 million for the year.

從貨幣逆風的角度來看，它們對我們的影響就像在歐洲和加拿大做生意的其他人一樣。目前預計這將使全年銷售額減少約 700 萬美元。

And then finally, we have taken into consideration but to a much lesser extent steel prices which have been falling throughout the quarter in some projects which are being delayed as customers attempt to find the best timing to save money from the cost of steel whether that is for tubular products or some of our construction products.

最後，我們在較小程度上考慮了一些項目中鋼材價格整個季度一直在下跌的情況，這些項目由於客戶試圖找到從鋼材成本中節省資金的最佳時機而被推遲，無論是適用於管材產品或我們的一些建築產品。

We did not put a cash flow projection in for the year, we are juggling a number of capital spending projects and prioritizing programs related to the new opportunities largely brought in front of us by these acquisitions. So that might be a bit fluid from time to time. We do plan to pay down debt as quickly as possible and we will watch how that unfolds us cash flow unfolds in the quarters ahead. So that is all I will say about that.

我們沒有對今年的現金流進行預測，我們正在處理一些資本支出項目，並優先考慮與這些收購給我們帶來的新機會相關的計劃。所以有時可能會有點不穩定。我們確實計劃盡快償還債務，我們將關注未來幾季現金流的情況。這就是我要說的全部。

So with that let me turn it back over to Dave and he will run through more comments regarding the quarter before we head into questions.

因此，讓我將其轉回戴夫，他將在我們提出問題之前對本季度進行更多評論。

Thank you, Bob. Net sales for the first quarter of 2015 were $137.9 million compared to $111.4 million in the prior year, a 23.8% increase. That sales increase was due to a 146% increase in Tubular and Energy Services, a 5.7% increase in Rail Products and Services segment and a 25.2% improvement in our Construction segment sales.

謝謝你，鮑伯。 2015 年第一季淨銷售額為 1.379 億美元，較上年同期的 1.114 億美元成長 23.8%。銷售額成長的原因是管材和能源服務部門銷售額成長了 146%，鐵路產品和服務部門銷售額成長了 5.7%，以及建築部門銷售額成長了 25.2%。

The Rail segment sales increase was due principally to improved sales in the rail distribution, Allegheny Rail Products and concrete tie businesses partially offset by a decline in our transit products business as activity related to the Honolulu Transit project is all but complete, with less than $2.5 million of revenue left to recognize.

鐵路部門銷售額的成長主要是由於鐵路分銷、阿勒格尼鐵路產品和混凝土枕木業務的銷售額增長，但部分被我們的交通產品業務的下降所抵消，因為與檀香山交通項目相關的活動幾乎已完成，成本不到2.5 美元萬元收入尚待確認。

Sales were negatively impacted in the Rail segment by approximately $1.3 million in the quarter due to the strength of the dollar as compared to last year.

由於美元較去年走強，本季鐵路部門的銷售額受到約 130 萬美元的負面影響。

Tubular segment sales improvement was mostly due to our recent acquisition of Chemtec and IOS as Bob discussed as well as increased coated product sales fueled by our ball winch specialty coatings business. This was partially offset by a decline in our threaded products business.

正如鮑勃所討論的那樣，管材部門銷售的成長主要是由於我們最近收購了 Chemtec 和 IOS，以及我們的球絞車特殊塗料業務推動的塗層產品銷售的增加。這被我們螺紋產品業務的下滑部分抵消。

Our legacy coated business also reported increased sales over the prior year even though our Birmingham facility stopped production for the first three weeks of the first quarter to complete the installation of new production equipment, which we expect will improve capacity and efficiency of that plant. This improvement was completed successfully and is up and running and meeting all of our expectations thus far.

儘管我們的伯明翰工廠在第一季的前三週停止生產以完成新生產設備的安裝，但我們的傳統塗層業務也報告銷售額比上年有所增長，我們預計這將提高該工廠的產能和效率。這項改進已成功完成，現已啟動並運行，滿足我們迄今為止的所有期望。

The Construction segment sales increase was due to a volume related increase in sales of piling products as well as increases from the concrete buildings division and a contribution from our Carr Concrete products acquisition. This was partially offset by a decline in our fabricated bridge product business sales.

建築部門銷售額的成長是由於打樁產品銷售的成長、混凝土建築部門的成長以及收購卡爾混凝土產品的貢獻。這被我們的組裝式橋樑產品業務銷售額的下降部分抵消。

As a percentage of first-quarter 2015 sales, Tubular accounted for 19%, Construction was 25%, and Rail totaled 56% of sales.

在 2015 年第一季銷售額中，管材佔 19%，建築佔 25%，鐵路佔 56%。

As mentioned in our earnings release, first-quarter bookings were $153.3 million, down 9.2% compared to last year's first quarter. The reduction from last year was due to a decrease in bookings in our coatings, rail distribution, piling and bridge businesses partially offset by increased bookings in our Concrete Buildings division and contributions from our recent acquisitions.

正如我們在財報中提到的，第一季的預訂量為 1.533 億美元，比去年第一季下降 9.2%。與去年相比減少的原因是我們的塗料、鐵路配送、打樁和橋樑業務的預訂量減少，部分被我們的混凝土建築部門的預訂量增加以及我們最近收購的貢獻所抵消。

Order backlog, which is becoming a little less meaningful given our recent acquisitions stood at $217.3 million at the end of the first quarter of 2015, down 14.2% from the first quarter of last year. This decrease was due to reductions in our coated business, our concrete tie division and piling products and bridge divisions. This was partially offset by the backlog of our recent acquisitions.

考慮到 2015 年第一季末我們最近的收購金額為 2.173 億美元，比去年第一季下降了 14.2%，積壓訂單的意義變得越來越小。這一下降是由於我們的塗層業務、混凝土枕木部門以及打樁產品和橋樑部門的減少所致。這部分被我們最近收購的積壓所抵銷。

Chemtec does have a reasonable reported backlog. However, our IOS acquisition is not at all backlog driven. They attempt to fill orders as soon as they get them. And at the end of any one period of time, there is a very insignificant amount of backlog at IOS.

Chemtec 確實有合理的報告積壓。然而，我們的 IOS 收購根本不是由積壓驅動的。他們會在收到訂單後立即嘗試履行訂單。在任何一段時間結束時，IOS 的積壓量都非常小。

Gross profit margin was 22.2% in the first quarter of 2015, 60 basis points higher than the prior year quarter. This operating improvement was principally due to increased Tubular and Rail margins partially offset by our lower Construction products margins.

2015年第一季毛利率為22.2%，較去年同期高出60個基點。這項經營改善主要是由於管材和鐵路利潤率的增加，部分被我們較低的建築產品利潤率所抵銷。

The Tubular gross margin increase was driven by our specialty coatings business as well as a positive contribution from our March 2015 IOS acquisition. The Rail improvement was due to volume and operational improvements in our Allegheny Rail Products and Rail distribution businesses. The Construction segment decline was principally due to reduced bridge and piling products gross margins partially offset by improved volume related leverage in the concrete building division.

管材毛利率的成長得益於我們的特種塗料業務以及我們 2015 年 3 月收購 IOS 的積極貢獻。鐵路的改善是由於我們的阿勒格尼鐵路產品和鐵路分銷業務的數量和營運改善。建築部門的下滑主要是由於橋樑和樁工產品毛利率的下降，但部分被混凝土建築部門產量相關槓桿率的增加所抵消。

Selling and administrative expenses increased by $4.2 million or 23.4% to $22.3 million in the first quarter of 2015 principally due to increases in the cost of our acquired businesses, increased personnel related costs in our base business as well as acquisition activity related costs.

2015 年第一季度，銷售和管理費用增加 420 萬美元，即 23.4%，達到 2,230 萬美元，主要是由於我們收購業務的成本增加、我們基礎業務的人員相關成本以及收購活動相關成本增加。

First quarter S&A expense represented 16.1% of sales in the first quarter of 2015 as compared to 16.2% of sales in the prior year quarter. First-quarter pretax income was $6.7 million or 4.8% of sales compared to $5.3 million or 4.8% of sales in the prior year.

第一季的銷售與管理費用佔 2015 年第一季銷售額的 16.1%，而去年同期為 16.2%。第一季稅前收入為 670 萬美元，佔銷售額的 4.8%，而前一年為 530 萬美元，佔銷售額的 4.8%。

As mentioned in our earnings release, the effective tax rate for the first quarter of 2015 was 35.7% compared to 31.4% in the first quarter of last year. The increase in the rate was due principally due to the recognition of favorable uncertain state tax positions during the prior year quarter.

正如我們在財報中所提到的，2015 年第一季的有效稅率為 35.7%，而去年第一季為 31.4%。稅率上調的主要原因是確認上一季有利的不確定州稅收狀況。

First-quarter net income was $4.3 million or $0.41 per diluted share in 2015 compared to $3.6 million or $0.35 per diluted share in the prior year quarter.

2015 年第一季淨利為 430 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.41 美元，去年同期淨利為 360 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.35 美元。

EBITDA was $12 million in the first quarter of 2015 compared to $8.2 million in the prior year quarter, an increase of 46.3%.

2015 年第一季 EBITDA 為 1,200 萬美元，較去年同期的 820 萬美元成長 46.3%。

Turning to the balance sheet, working capital net of cash increased by $30.5 million in the first quarter of 2015. Accounts (technical difficulty) by $16 million during the first quarter and our DSO decreased to 49 days from 50 days at December 31, 2014. Inventory, however, increased by $8.3 million while accounts payable and deferred revenue decreased by $13.6 million.

轉向資產負債表，2015 年第一季扣除現金的營運資本增加了3,050 萬美元。第一季的帳目（技術難度）增加了1,600 萬美元，我們的DSO 從2014 年12 月31 日的50 天減少到49 天。然而，庫存增加了 830 萬美元，而應付帳款和遞延收入減少了 1,360 萬美元。

Cash used by operating activities in the first quarter of 2015 was $7.4 million compared to $32.2 million of cash provided in the prior year quarter. The prior year quarter was favorably impacted by a significant reduction in accounts receivable which was anticipated as we resolved slow collections on certain projects and related to certain customers that built up in the second half of 2013.

2015 年第一季經營活動使用的現金為 740 萬美元，而去年同期提供的現金為 3,220 萬美元。上一年季度受到應收帳款大幅減少的有利影響，這是由於我們解決了某些項目的收款緩慢以及與 2013 年下半年建立的某些客戶相關的問題而預期的。

In 2015, we continued to perform well on the receivable front but inventory increased more than anticipated due to certain projects shipping slower than expected and accounts payable decreased substantially as we purchased inventory early in the quarter and paid for it before quarter end. Also adding to the unfavorable comparison were increased tax payments.

2015年，我們在應收帳款方面繼續表現良好，但由於某些項目的運輸速度慢於預期，庫存增長超過預期，而應付賬款大幅減少，因為我們在季度初購買了庫存並在季度末之前付款。納稅額的增加也加劇了不利的比較。

Capital expenditures were $4.5 million for the first quarter compared to $3.5 million in the prior year. We anticipate spending approximately $18 million to $22 million in capital programs in 2015 which includes an estimated $6 million to $7 million on our ERP program. The 2015 anticipated capital programs are inherent in all three business segments and are aimed at providing new and expanded manufacturing capabilities, improved service and product availability to the customer, and increased manufacturing efficiencies in future periods that we believe will improve shareholder value on a longer-term basis.

第一季的資本支出為 450 萬美元，去年同期為 350 萬美元。我們預計 2015 年將在資本項目上支出約 1,800 萬至 2,200 萬美元，其中包括估計 600 萬至 700 萬美元的 ERP 項目。 2015 年預期的資本計畫是所有三個業務部門所固有的，旨在提供新的和擴展的製造能力，改善客戶的服務和產品可用性，並提高未來時期的製造效率，我們相信這將在較長時期內提高股東價值。術語基礎。

We anticipate that full-year cash generated from operating activities will exceed capital expenditures, debt service payments, dividends and share repurchases in 2015.

我們預計 2015 年全年經營活動產生的現金將超過資本支出、償債支付、股利和股票回購。

Our debt at the end of the first quarter was $218.2 million, our revolving credit agreement, as Bob mentioned, was amended and restated during the first quarter to accommodate the increased acquisition activity we have focused on. The revolving credit facility had approximately $216.2 million outstanding at the end of Q1. This revised facility allows for borrowings of up to $335 million with a $100 million accordion feature. And it also has a five-year tenor and provides us strong liquidity and flexibility.

第一季末我們的債務為 2.182 億美元，正如鮑伯所提到的，我們的循環信貸協議在第一季進行了修改和重述，以適應我們重點關注的收購活動的增加。截至第一季末，循環信貸額度的未償餘額約為 2.162 億美元。修改後的貸款可允許高達 3.35 億美元的借款，其中包括 1 億美元的手風琴功能。而且期限為五年，為我們提供了強大的流動性和靈活性。

That concludes my comments on the first quarter of 2015. I will now send it back to Emma to open up the session for questions.

我對 2015 年第一季的評論到此結束。我現在將其發回給 Emma，以開始提問環節。

(Operator Instructions). Mike Baudendistel, Stifel.

（操作員說明）。麥克鮑登迪斯特爾，斯蒂菲爾。

Just we wanted to ask you with the comments on Union Pacific, can you just remind us or give us some guidance as to how big of a customer they are, maybe the 2014 revenue from UP?

我們只是想問您對聯合太平洋的評論，您能否提醒我們或給我們一些指導，他們有多大的客戶，也許是 2014 年 UP 的收入？

Yes, in the past, Mike, on an annual basis we would do roughly in the neighborhood of about $40 million a year with UP. That has been declining somewhat here lately. And as I mentioned while we are still making some concrete ties for them, we have removed substantially all of the other business from our forecast so that that wouldn't be in there going forward and wouldn't be something that you had to take into consideration.

是的，麥克，過去我們每年都會向 UP 投入大約 4000 萬美元。最近這裡有下降。正如我所提到的，雖然我們仍在為他們建立一些具體的聯繫，但我們已經從我們的預測中刪除了基本上所有其他業務，這樣未來就不會出現這些業務，也不會成為您必須考慮的事情考慮。

Okay. And I think you said on earlier calls that there were certain contracts with Union Pacific that rolled over later in 2015. Is UP under obligation to purchase concrete ties in a certain volume from you and have they already gone ahead and not renewed those contracts or just any detail on how those things work.

好的。我想您在之前的電話會議上說過，與聯合太平洋公司的某些合約將在2015 年晚些時候到期。UP 是否有義務從您那裡購買一定數量的混凝土枕木，他們是否已經繼續購買，並且不再續簽這些合同，或只是有關這些事情如何運作的任何細節。

Yes, I will separate the concrete tie from the rest of the business. So with the rest of the business, they can take that business to whomever they want to and there isn't really any contract in place that would assure us that we will retain the business from here going forward.

是的，我會將具體的領帶與其他業務分開。因此，對於其餘業務，他們可以將該業務交給他們想要的任何人，並且實際上沒有任何合約可以確保我們今後將保留該業務。

With regard to concrete ties, there is a supply contract in place for revenue ties that they would purchase from us that pertains to our Tucson facility. And so that remains in place, it was the contract that was renewed in 2012 that had a five-year term on it. So that meant 2013 through 2017 is the term on that contract.

關於具體關係，他們將從我們這裡購買與我們圖森工廠相關的收入關係供應合約。因此，2012 年續約的合約有效期為五年，這一點仍然有效。因此，這意味著 2013 年至 2017 年是該合約的期限。

Great, that is helpful. And I also wanted to ask you on the SG&A, that increased sequentially and I know you said that a lot of that was due to acquisition related costs and just wanted to get a sense for were any of those acquisition related costs that showed up in the SG&A line one term in nature and are likely to go down? Or is the 1Q a good run rate?

太好了，很有幫助。我也想問您有關 SG&A 的問題，該費用連續增加，我知道您說其中很大一部分是由於收購相關成本造成的，我只是想了解一下是否有任何收購相關成本出現在SG&A 本質上是一期並且可能會下降？或者 1Q 的運作率是否良好？

Well there was -- we incurred approximately I would say $350,000 of just straight acquisition costs, Mike. And then probably another $150,000 or so of what we would probably call integration costs. So both -- certainly the acquisition costs are behind us. We will certainly continue to spend a little bit of money on integration. But -- and the rest of it was just -- there was a significant amount of SG&A that is just the current run rates of our new acquisitions that will continue.

麥克，我們大約花了 35 萬美元的直接採購成本。然後可能還有 15 萬美元左右，我們可能稱之為整合成本。所以，當然，收購成本已經過去了。我們肯定會繼續在整合上花一點錢。但是——剩下的就是——大量的銷售、管理及行政費用只是我們將繼續進行的新收購的當前運行率。

Okay. And in your press release you talked about continuing the aggressive acquisition strategy. I was thinking maybe you would take a little bit of a breather now with a lot of the recent acquisitions. It sounds like you are still pursuing them aggressively. Am I interpreting that correctly and are those likely also be related to energy?

好的。在您的新聞稿中，您談到了繼續積極的收購策略。我在想，也許你現在應該在最近的大量收購中休息一下。聽起來你還在積極地追求他們。我的解釋正確嗎？這些也可能與能量有關嗎？

No, I think, Mike, I would go with what you started off saying earlier in your point, we do need to take a little bit of a breather and digest what we have. So what we tried to say in our earnings release and comments is that we have previously talked about having a more aggressive acquisition strategy. And I think it is pretty fair to say that we have done that and we have got a lot completed. I am incredibly excited about the companies that are now a part of L.B. Foster and it took a lot of effort to get this done in the last 90 to 120 days.

不，我想，麥克，我會同意你之前所說的，我們確實需要喘口氣，消化一下我們所擁有的東西。因此，我們在財報發布和評論中試圖表達的是，我們之前曾討論過採取更積極的收購策略。我認為可以公平地說我們已經做到了這一點並且我們已經完成了很多工作。我對現在屬於 L.B. 的公司感到非常興奮。 Foster 在過去的 90 到 120 天內花了很多努力才完成這項工作。

It would be good for us to just settle in here right now and work on those and that is where our concentration is focused. And beyond that I will just say that when you have a more aggressive strategy you know your funnel tends to get more full of prospects. And so we see more deals out there now than we had in the past.

對我們來說，現在就定居在這裡並致力於這些工作是有好處的，這就是我們的注意力集中的地方。除此之外，我只想說，當你有更積極的策略時，你知道你的漏斗往往會充滿潛在客戶。因此，我們現在看到的交易比過去更多。

So that means that a few are still always coming across our desk from time to time but if I could control the timing I would certainly like to take a little bit of a breather right now and get these integrated. But we will see what unfolds and we will see what comes across our desks here for the balance of 2015.

因此，這意味著有些人仍然會不時來到我們的辦公桌前，但如果我能控制時間，我肯定想現在休息一下並將這些整合起來。但我們將會看到接下來會發生什麼，我們將會看到 2015 年剩下的時間裡我們的辦公桌上會發生什麼。

Great, that is helpful. And then the last one from me is IOS's gross margins, it looked like those were a little bit higher than L.B. Foster's legacy business gross margins. Can you just talk about how that margin has trended for the IOS business since it is new to us, is that down substantially because of the lower energy prices?

太好了，很有幫助。然後我最後一個是IOS的毛利率，看起來比L.B.高一點點。福斯特的傳統業務毛利率。您能否談談 IOS 業務的利潤率趨勢如何，因為它對我們來說是新的，是否由於能源價格較低而大幅下降？

Well, let me say this, we are not going to put out the full profit numbers on iOS. But in order to help you try to put together a model, the IOS business is off about 30% from prior year as we anticipated. And we think that is very much in line with what the rest of the industry has seen and given the fact that the service business model that it has actually helps operators cut costs. We are actually seeing new business come to us as a means that end-users are using to actually reduce costs on their tubular assets in lieu of buying new products.

好吧，讓我這麼說，我們不會公佈 iOS 上的完整利潤數據。但為了幫助您嘗試建立一個模型，IOS 業務比我們預期的去年下降了約 30%。我們認為這與行業其他公司所看到的非常一致，並且考慮到它所擁有的服務業務模式實際上可以幫助營運商削減成本。實際上，我們看到新業務作為最終用戶用來實際降低管狀資產成本而不是購買新產品的一種手段。

As a service business they can adjust their headcount and it is largely a labor-related business with a service model as opposed to manufactured products. So there is a bit less overhead as well. They have been able to do that and they have been able to keep their gross margins at a pretty good rate. And that rate would be a bit better than the L.B. Foster Company average, yes.

作為服務企業，他們可以調整員工數量，而且它主要是與勞動力相關的企業，具有服務模式，而不是製造產品。所以開銷也少了一些。他們已經能夠做到這一點，並且能夠將毛利率保持在相當不錯的水平。這個比率會比 L.B. 好一點。福斯特公司平均水平，是的。

Okay, great. That is all for me, thank you.

好的，太好了。這就是我的全部，謝謝。

Brent Thielman, D.A. Davidson.

布倫特·蒂爾曼，D.A.戴維森。

Good morning. Bob or Dave, on your revenue guidance can you just kind of walk me through the expectations by segment? Are you assuming kind of a roughly flattish or lower year for Rail and Construction with the growth principally coming from Tubular and Energy Services?

早安.鮑伯或戴夫，關於你們的收入指導，你們能告訴我按細分市場的預期嗎？您是否認為鐵路和建築業的成長大致持平或較低，成長主要來自管材和能源服務？

Well, I will answer that I guess from a base company standpoint. And you know Rail is the least affected by the acquisitions. TEW Engineering was the meaningful one that we got done there in January. But if you look at the base company, the marketplace is still in good shape. And we expect continued spending there as well as project activity in the transit space. So as we began the year, we expected that sales would be up modestly meaning a few mid-single-digit percent. But we have made adjustments to that now because we have removed Union Pacific business from those sales. So that is what would be affecting the Rail business.

好吧，我會從基礎公司的角度回答我的猜測。你知道鐵路是受收購影響最小的。 TEW Engineering 是我們一月份在那裡完成的有意義的工程。但如果你看看基礎公司，你會發現市場狀況仍然良好。我們預計該領域的支出以及交通領域的專案活動將持續下去。因此，在今年年初，我們預計銷售額將小幅成長，即中個位數百分比。但我們現在對此進行了調整，因為我們已將聯合太平洋業務從這些銷售中刪除。這就是影響鐵路業務的因素。

Construction is going to be up nicely in our forecast because piling should rebound. Piling was -- we didn't have a great year last year and so we are back to thinking that we ought to have double digit growth in the piling segment. The bridge segment and construction will be roughly flat year-over-year. But our concrete buildings business is actually looking very good right now. And that also includes our adding Carr Concrete acquisition earlier in 2014 so the full-year impact of that is not so great but the integration and synergies and just the rest of the activity in the marketplace including our organic growth programs I think they are going to result right now it looks like in a double digit year for that. So Construction, I have hopes to continue reporting positive news on that.

我們預測建築業將大幅成長，因為打樁工程將會反彈。去年我們的打樁業務表現不佳，因此我們重新考慮打樁業務應該達到兩位數的成長。橋樑部分和施工量將與去年同期大致持平。但我們的混凝土建築業務目前看起來實際上非常好。這也包括我們在 2014 年初增加對 Carr Concrete 的收購，因此全年的影響並不是那麼大，但整合和協同效應以及市場上的其他活動，包括我們的有機增長計劃，我認為他們將會現在的結果看起來是兩位數的年份。因此，建築業，我希望繼續報道這方面的正面消息。

And then Tubular, yes, there is so much impact from the acquisitions in what we are not referring to as the Tubular and Energy Services segment that most of it will be impacted by that. But our core coated products business is doing good, but that is offset a little bit by threaded products, which is probably going to have a little bit of a down year, single-digit because there isn't much of a drought in the Southeast like there is in the West Coast.

然後管狀，是的，收購對我們所說的管狀和能源服務領域產生了很大的影響，以至於大部分都會受到影響。但我們的核心塗層產品業務表現良好，但這被螺紋產品抵消了一點，螺紋產品可能會出現一些下滑，個位數，因為東南部沒有太多乾旱就像西海岸一樣。

All right, that is very helpful. When you look at all of these deals you have done, any thoughts or estimates or cost synergies you think you will realize over the next 12 months or beyond that?

好的，這非常有幫助。當您查看您已完成的所有這些交易時，您認為在未來 12 個月或更長時間內將實現什麼想法、估計或成本協同效應？

Well, we have some that we are working on. Of course, we are not in a position to really put out a number on that right now. We are still working through some of that. I would tell you that from a cost standpoint, it wouldn't be a real -- a very substantial number because we are not consolidating factories, these aren't companies that are going to be smashed together with existing companies. So more of our synergies are ones that are out in the marketplace and using an IOS service platform to launch new service offerings to customers, things of that nature.

嗯，我們正在研究一些。當然，我們現在無法真正給出具體數字。我們仍在努力解決其中的一些問題。我想告訴你，從成本的角度來看，這不是一個真實的數字——一個非常大的數字，因為我們沒有整合工廠，這些公司不會與現有公司一起被粉碎。因此，我們更多的綜效是在市場上的綜效，並使用 IOS 服務平台向客戶推出新的服務產品，類似的事情。

We have some facility expansion to do in some cases like for Chemtec, they are already at capacity. So the kinds of things that we're going to get some cost benefit from are in the back office side, some of that infrastructure. But some of it is not going to go down because these companies need a little bit more support from that standpoint. So don't think of that being a real big number anyway.

在某些情況下，我們需要進行一些設施擴建，例如 Chemtec，它們已經滿載運作。因此，我們將從後台辦公室獲得一些成本效益，其中包括一些基礎設施。但其中一些不會下降，因為從這個角度來看，這些公司需要更多的支持。所以無論如何，不要認為這是一個真正的大數字。

Okay. And then any I guess thoughts on the run rate for amortization and interest costs going forward just with all of these deals combined?

好的。然後，我對所有這些交易的未來攤銷和利息成本的運行率有什麼想法嗎？

Yes, for interest, Brent, our forecast for this year is right around $4.6 million give or take a little bit depending on where rates may go and when our cash flow will enable us to maybe accelerate some debt pay down versus not. But about $4.6 million. And right now a little difficult to give you a good amortization run rate because we really have not put the IOS excess purchase price allocation into our numbers from the amortization side. We are still working on the valuation and the allocation of purchase price. But it is going to be in the -- amortization will be in that $12 million range probably this year.

是的，就利息而言，布倫特，我們今年的預測是 460 萬美元左右，具體取決於利率的走向以及我們的現金流何時能讓我們加速償還債務。但大約460萬美元。現在給你一個好的攤銷運行率有點困難，因為我們確實沒有把 IOS 超額購買價格分配從攤銷方面納入我們的數字中。我們仍在進行評估和購買價格的分配。但今年的攤銷額可能會在 1200 萬美元左右。

Got you. And just last clarification. The $18 million to $22 million in CapEx this year is inclusive of IOS?

明白你了。最後澄清一下。今年 1,800 萬至 2,200 萬美元的資本支出包括 IOS？

Yes.

是的。

Okay, great. Thank you.

好的，太好了。謝謝。

Yes, it includes all of the acquisitions, the whole company.

是的，它包括所有收購，整個公司。

Geat, thank you.

蓋特，謝謝你。

I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Bauer for closing remarks.

現在我想將電話轉交給鮑爾先生，讓他致閉幕詞。

All right, great. Well, it sounds like the questions were brief this time around. I guess that is good. I will take that as a message that we had a thorough report. Again appreciate you joining us today and we will look forward to catching up with you next quarter. Thank you very much.

好吧，太好了。嗯，聽起來這次的問題很短。我想這很好。我將以此作為一個訊息，表明我們已經有了一份詳盡的報告。再次感謝您今天加入我們，我們期待下個季度與您會面。非常感謝。

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes the presentation. You may now disconnect. Good day.

感謝您參加今天的會議。演示到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線。再會。