Methode Electronics Inc (MEI) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

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  • Operator

  • Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Methode Electronics Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2023 Results Call. At this time, all participants are placed on a listen-only mode and the floor will be open for questions and comments after the presentation. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Mr. Robert Cherry, Vice President of Investor Relations. Sir, the floor is yours.

  • Robert K. Cherry - VP of IR

  • Thank you, operator. Good morning, and welcome to Methode Electronics Fiscal 2023 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. For this call, we have prepared a presentation entitled Fiscal 2023 Second Quarter Financial Results, which can be viewed on the webcast of this call or found at methode.com on the Investors page. This conference call contains certain forward-looking statements, which reflect management's expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date hereof. These forward-looking statements are subject to the safe harbor protection provided under the securities laws. Methode undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in Methode's expectations on a quarterly basis or otherwise. The forward-looking statements in this call involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations are detailed in Methode's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, such as our 10-K and 10-Q reports. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Don Duda, President and Chief Executive Officer.

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • Thank you, Rob, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our fiscal 2023 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. I'm joined today by Ron Tsoumas, our Chief Financial Officer. Both Ron and I will have opening comments, and then we will take your questions. Let's begin with the highlights on Slide 4. Our sales for the quarter were a record $316 million. This was achieved despite a significant headwind from foreign exchange, which was partially offset by strong sales in China. Lost sales due to the COVID lockdowns in China in the first quarter were recovered in the second quarter. These China sales recoveries are now behind us. Also helping to offset the foreign exchange headwind were ongoing material spot buy and premium freight cost recovery efforts. Driving our overall sales performance was a record quarter for sales in our Industrial segment of over $100 million. The surge in sales was driven by power distribution solutions, both for data center and EV applications and by commercial lighting. Some of the increase was related to the China lockdown sales shift. That aside, it is clear that we are successfully executing our strategy to grow our industrial sales and better balance the business mix between the automotive and industrial segments. In the quarter, we continued to face ongoing cost increases due to the general inflation in material and labor as well as supply chain challenges, which resulted in remedial actions such as spot buys and expedited shipping. We continue to work relentlessly with our customers to share the absorption of these increased costs. We are gaining traction in these efforts, but our ability to pass along price increases will lag as a matter of process as long as high inflation continues. On the order front, we had another solid quarter with over $65 million in annual program awards. These programs were driven by power and lighting applications, 2 of our key growth opportunities. Turning to EV activity. Sales in the quarter reached 20% of our consolidated total. This percentage matches our guidance for the full year. Of the total awards in the quarter, over 80% were in EV applications with most of them being power distribution solutions. In the quarter, we continued to reduce debt, which is at its lowest level since the Grakon acquisition in 2018. Just after the end of the second quarter, we amended our credit facility, which increased our debt capacity. This gives us additional resources and flexibility to fund inorganic growth. During the quarter, we purchased approximately $20 million of stock. As of the end of the second quarter, we now have approximately $97 million remaining in our buyback authorization. This buyback program remains a key part of our capital allocation strategy. Moving to Slide 5. Methode had another solid quarter for business awards. The awards identified here represent some of the key wins in the quarter and represent $66 million in annual sales at full production. As a reminder, the full launch timing of most of these programs could be anywhere in the range of 1 to 3 years from now. Also, while the majority of the dollar value of these awards are for new programs, some of these awards are for extensions were volume increases on existing programs. At the top of the list, our EV programs representing most of the dollar value. The awards are mainly for power products associated with the skateboard architecture such as bossbires for the battery, inverter and motor as well as products such as connectors and distribution units. The awards are also from both traditional automakers as well as EV-focused manufacturer. EV continues to be a solid growth engine for Methode. In other areas, we are awarded programs for lighting and power solutions for applications in auto, data center, defense and energy. Overall, it was a successful quarter for awards that will continue to drive organic sales growth. Furthermore, the pipeline of future awards remains robust. That said, the ongoing inflationary cost environment, geopolitical risk and now an increased foreign currency headwind has caused us to moderate our near-term outlook. To conclude, Methode delivered strong sales in the quarter, driven by our efforts in power and lighting solutions. Furthermore, method is expecting another record year for sales and continued growth in EV applications. Lastly, we are reaffirming our 3-year organic sales compounded annual growth rate target of 6%. This target demonstrates that our business model is not just healthy, but as prospering from the strategic steps that we have taken to grow the business. At this point, I'll turn the call over to Ron, who will provide more detail on our second quarter financial results and outlook for the full year. Ron?

  • Ronald L.G. Tsoumas - VP of Corporate Finance & CFO

  • Thank you, Don, and good morning, everyone. Second quarter net sales were a record $315.9 million compared to $295.5 million in fiscal '22, an increase of $20.4 million or 6.9%, led by record sales in the Industrial segment. This quarter sales were driven by strength in power distribution solutions for both data center and EV applications and by lighting solutions for commercial vehicles. The quarter also benefited from approximately $15 million of sales recovered from Q1 to the COVID lockdowns in China. As Don mentioned, the Q1 China sales recoveries are behind us. Also helping sales was $5.8 million of spot buy and premium freight cost recovery. Partially offsetting these positive factors was an unfavorable currency impact on sales of $22.2 million. Excluding the spot buy and premium freight cost recovery and foreign currency impact, sales increased by $41.2 million or 14.2%. The EV product applications amounted to 20% of sales in the quarter. We still anticipate electric and hybrid vehicles sales to represent 20% of our full year fiscal '23 consolidated sales. Lastly, on sales, the percentage of sales in the automotive and industrial segments in the quarter was 62% and 33%, respectively. The industrial segment is clearly becoming more prominent to the overall company. Second quarter income from operations decreased 1.2% to $32.8 million from $33.2 million in fiscal year '22, mainly due to higher selling and administrative expenses as well as unfavorable foreign currency translation. The higher selling and administrative expenses were mainly related to lower annual performance-based compensation in the prior year. The leverage from the higher sales in the quarter was more than offset from the impact of higher expenses and currency translation. Second quarter diluted earnings per share increased 4.2% to $0.75 per diluted share from $0.72 per diluted share in the same period last fiscal year. The higher sales more than offset the negative impacts from the foreign currency translation and higher effective tax rate. In addition, lower net interest expense contributed to the increased income before income taxes. The effective tax rate in the second quarter was 17.4% as compared to 16.7% in fiscal year '22. The increase in the effective tax rate was mainly due to mix of jurisdictional earnings. Please turn to Slide 8. Second quarter gross margins were 23.5%, an increase of 10 basis points as compared to 23.4% in fiscal year '22. The higher sales in the quarter were the main contributing factor. Mostly offsetting the increased sales was higher materials and other inflationary costs. Also weighing on gross margin was $5.8 million in pass-through recovery sales at 0 margin. Second quarter selling and administrative expenses as a percentage of sales was 11.6% compared to 10.6% in fiscal year '20, a 100 basis point increase. As I previously mentioned, the increase was mainly a factor of lower annual performance-based compensation in the prior year. Also, higher professional fees contributed to the increase. Our historical selling and administrative expense as a percentage of sales is typically in the range of 11% to 12% as it was this quarter. Second quarter operating income margin was 10.4% as compared to 11.2% in fiscal '22, an 80 basis point decrease. The higher selling and administrative expenses more than offset the leverage from the higher sales in the quarter. Over time, we expect our consistent cost recovery efforts, including price increases, will lead to improved margin performance. Please turn to Slide 9. Shifting to EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure, second quarter EBITDA was $46.1 million versus $47.4 million in the same period last year, a 2.7% decrease. EBITDA was negatively impacted by higher costs due to material inflation and unfavorable foreign currency translation. The impact from these factors was partially offset by higher sales. Second quarter EBITDA margin was 14.6% versus 16% in the same period last fiscal year, a 140 basis point decrease. While our margin was down in the quarter, we clearly have the potential to leverage our higher sales trajectory over the longer term as we continue to mitigate the challenging cost environment. Please turn to Slide 10. Year-to-date, we have reduced gross debt by $6.5 million and since our acquisition of Grakon in September 2018, we have reduced gross debt by over $150 million. We ended the second quarter with $129.6 million in cash. During the quarter, we bought back shares for $19.7 million, bringing the fiscal year-to-date total to $31.6 million. Program to date, we have bought back $103 million of shares, leaving $97 million remaining for purchases under the board authorization as of the end of the second quarter. Net debt, a non-GAAP financial measure, increased by $35.9 million to $74.4 million from $38.5 million at the end of fiscal '22, mainly due to the share repurchases of $31.6 million and some unfavorable working capital changes. Our debt-to-trailing 12-month EBITDA ratio was approximately 1.3, and our net debt trailing 12-month EBITDA ratio was approximately 0.5. We recently amended our credit facility, which increased the revolving credit committees to $750 million from $400 million. In addition, there is a $250 million accordion feature, which can be activated with the lenders consent. We believe the increased capacity will offer the company more flexibility from a capital allocation perspective, especially for inorganic growth initiatives. The details of the credit facility can be found in our recent 8-K filing. Please turn to Slide 11. Second quarter cash from operating activities was $15.4 million as compared to $27 million in fiscal year '22. The decrease of $11.6 million was primarily due to increased accounts receivable as a result of the record sales in the second quarter. Second quarter capital expenditures was $8.4 million as compared to $5.4 million in fiscal '22, an increase of $3 million. The increase was mainly a function of a lower level of spending in the prior year quarter as the spending level of this quarter was also a bit lower than anticipated. This is due to timing and not due to a concerted effort to reduce CapEx. Second pre-quarter cash flow, a non-GAAP financial measure was $7 million as compared to $21.6 million in fiscal '22, a decrease of $14.6 million. The decrease was primarily the result of higher accounts receivable and higher CapEx during the quarter. We expect cash flow to improve in the remainder of fiscal year '23 as we target reduced inventory levels and other positive working capital initiatives, combined with increased net income, all while supporting increased CapEx. We have a strong balance sheet, and we will continue to utilize it by investing in our businesses to grow organically and by pursuing opportunities for inorganic growth. Please turn to Slide 12. Regarding fiscal '23 guidance, it is based on management's best estimates and is subject to change due to a variety of factors, including the ongoing semiconductor shortages, other supply chain disruptions, inflation, economic instability in Europe, both short and long-term supply chain rationalization, successful cost recovery actions, restructuring efforts and the ongoing impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in China. While we have experienced some success in recouping cost recoveries, we expect these headwinds will be with us at least through the remainder of fiscal year '23. The expected revenue range for fiscal year '23 has been narrowed to $1.17 billion to $1.2 billion. The lower end of the previous range was raised $10 million and the upper end was reduced by $10 million, leaving the midpoint unchanged. In keeping with our historical cadence, we expect a sequential dip in 3Q sales due to seasonality, followed by a sequential increase in Q4 sales. The expected diluted earnings per share range has been updated to $2.70 to $2.90, with the lower end on change and the upper end reduced by $0.20, thus reducing the midpoint by $0.10. A key reason for the reduced earnings per share midpoint is an increase in negative foreign currency translation and as such, our new EPS guidance range reflects the foreign currency rates as of the end of the second quarter. Also increasing uncertainty for the second half of the year are the execution of cost recovery actions, as well as potentially product mix. Our other guidance assumptions have been updated as follows: our estimated annual effective tax rate is now 17% to 18% narrowed from 16% to 18%. It does not include any potential discrete tax items. We anticipate CapEx of between $40 million and $45 million, narrowed from the range given in the first quarter as we gain better visibility on the remainder of the year spending. Estimated depreciation and amortization expense has been lowered to $50 million to $55 million from $54 million to $58 million due to lower estimated CapEx for the remainder of the year. As a reminder, based on the strong bookings we have realized over the past 2 fiscal years, much of which is for the EV market, we previously announced a 3-year organic sales compounded annual growth rate target of 6% with fiscal year '22 as the base year. The CAR considers the anticipated roll-off of all relevant programs and reinforces that our organic growth strategy is putting the company on a solid sales trajectory. Don, that concludes my comments.

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • Ron, thank you very much. We are ready to take questions.

  • Operator

  • Ladies and gentlemen, the floor is now open for questions. If you have any questions or comments, please press star 1 on your phone at this time. We ask that while posing your question, you please pick up your handset if listening on speaker phone to provide optimum sound quality. Please hold while we poll for questions. Thank you. Our first question is coming from Luke Junk with Baird. Please go ahead.

  • Luke L. Junk - Senior Research Analyst

  • Thank you. Good morning, thanks for taking my question. Don, to start hoping you could give us your updated thoughts on the macro, especially specific to auto. I'd be most interested in your updated views on China right now and with recent Covid developments there as well as any current thinking on energy risks in Europe. Based on the prepared remarks, am I hearing that China may have impacted your thinking on the updated guidance specifically?

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • Let me answer that one first. It was a good quarter in China. Some of that was a catch-up as Ron talked about. What's the biggest risk for us, we are concerned about shutdowns in China. We have seen some of our customers slow down their releases, particularly in the data center. So we've taken that into account in our guidance, but we do see a little slowing and we are apprehensive about shutdowns. We saw that in the fourth quarter last year and the first half of the first quarter, those were dramatic for us. I'm pleased we did probably recover all of that, but that's probably our #1 concern. As far as Europe, we're taking a little bit of a wait-and-see approach. I'm not as concerned, but we've seen softening in our e-bike business that we view that as temporary, but that came into play into our thinking and guidance. As Ron pointed out, we lowered the high end because we just didn't think, of all the factors I just talked about, we didn't think that was likely to occur, particularly also with the FX effect because that was not taken into account. We initially gave guidance. Ron, is there anything?

  • Ronald L.G. Tsoumas - VP of Corporate Finance & CFO

  • No. Those 2 items are our biggest areas of concern. Obviously, the dollar against the euro and that has weakened in the last couple of weeks. So we'll see where FX ends up the remainder of our fiscal year. Look, to your energy question, as far as method facilities are concerned, we're operating in multiple, we're operating in Egypt and we have a smaller facility in Belgium, but the 2 major facilities should not be impacted, but our customers could be impacted, which would have a direct effect on ourselves. I think we're okay, perhaps maybe there might be an issue in Belgium, but it will be the effect on our customers that could cause us to have issues.

  • Luke L. Junk - Senior Research Analyst

  • Okay. Great. Thanks for all that. Then second question for Ron, just regarding working capital. Inventory, of course, has been ramping the last year plus or so, but it kind of blended out this quarter. Instead, there's a big step-up in AR side to the higher sales. Can you just expand on how you're thinking about working capital into year-end and into next year, both as it relates to cash flow, which you already commented on, to some extent, but I'm wondering, maybe more importantly, strategically relative to the credit environment as well.

  • Ronald L.G. Tsoumas - VP of Corporate Finance & CFO

  • Yes. So, clearly, Luke, we had a very strong quarter and the AR especially was negatively impacted. We expect that to turn around. I mean, if you look at the midpoint of our guidance, from the revenue perspective, it's going to be a little less than where we were for the first half of the fiscal year. So we expect improvement in that. We are pleased to see the inventory at least turn put on that, and we expect some improvement over the next 6 months on that perspective. There will likely be a gradual improvement. So with more pronounced improvements as we get through some of our make-where we sell strategy and localize things or near shore things a little bit more. We would expect inventory improvement certainly in the next fiscal year as well. So we clearly haven't been up to the Methode historical standards in terms of how we generate cash, but we are on a trajectory to get that to be where we more have historically been.

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • I think I would comment. There's nothing in AR that any any concerns there. Then inventory in large part is up because the products that we're keeping in inventory have gone up dramatically. I think Melvern said it was like 30.

  • Unidentified Company Representative

  • Almost 50% or 60% of the inventory increase is due to the standard cost and things of that nature. Still the material prices go down. So what we're really focused on what we can control is the logistics and how we order. So that's where the team is focusing on right now.

  • Luke L. Junk - Senior Research Analyst

  • Okay. Then lastly, just a bigger picture question Don, wondering if you could comment on the evolution of busbar in terms of EV architecture and applications in the awards this quarter, you said the busbars not only for battery applications, but also for e-motor and inverter, I think there maybe have been one inverter ward in the past, if I look back at your historical bookings. Just wondering, is there an expanding use case for busbars just just the battery that you're seeing right now? Thanks.

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • In general, those are the 3 areas of the vehicle that you would see busbars, and we've talked historically about the battery busbars that we've started to ship those quite some time ago. But we have moved into the inverters and into the motors. If you go to our investor deck, I think there's one slide in there that shows pictures of all 3. So the majority of our bookings have been in battery busbars, but we are moving into those other 2 areas. That would be natural because I have several busbar suppliers. It's your major one is the battery supplier should be able to do the others. So no, it's a change. It doesn't represent huge bookings at the moment, but we anticipate those. That is one of the reasons we have a robust pipeline.

  • Luke L. Junk - Senior Research Analyst

  • Okay, great. I'll go ahead and leave it there. Thanks for all the comments.

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • Thanks, Luke.

  • Operator

  • Our next question is coming from John Franzreb with Sidoti & Company. Please go ahead.

  • John Edward Franzreb - Senior Equity Analyst

  • Good morning guys and thanks for taking the questions. Congratulations on a greater quarter. Thank you. I want to circle back to the Asia question, I guess, is how I phrase it, sequentially, revenues went from $30 million last quarter to roughly $45 million this quarter. How much of that you characterize as a catcher phrase? And would you expect that business to dip again or stay at this kind of level? What are your thoughts there?

  • Ronald L.G. Tsoumas - VP of Corporate Finance & CFO

  • There was certainly a catch-up. The other thing we had there, John, was our power business into data centers, which is a nice business for us, kind of lumpy business. In the first 2 quarters, we experienced really great sales from that. In our guidance, we contemplated a bit of lowering or tempering of and not maintaining that level in the second half of the fiscal year.

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • Yes. I think in both those areas, we achieved our full year numbers. So we are anticipating a slower third and fourth quarter there. You take that into account and then you take the catch up. So no, I would say it's going to be down.

  • John Edward Franzreb - Senior Equity Analyst

  • Okay. All right. Fair enough. If I look at the industrial segment and you called out that data center, as we just mentioned, EV and commercial vehicles as far as the year-over-year growth. Can you kind of quantify which of those 3 had the greatest impact year-over-year?

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • Sure. If we look at the segment, the power piece of it, the data center and the EV piece had the biggest growth. Then the second factor would have been our commercial vehicle lighting. Then behind that would have been our atonic radio remote control in that order.

  • John Edward Franzreb - Senior Equity Analyst

  • Okay. Fair enough. And it sounds like the M&A pipeline may have improved or changed from 3 months ago. Can you talk a little bit about what you're seeing out there as far as potential inorganic growth?

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • Sure. I would say the pipeline stays robust. We brief the board once a quarter on what opportunities there. They've maintained their pace. Nothing that is imminent, but I'm not unhappy with the amount of looks that we see. The credit facility, it was expiring, so we needed to re-up that and then and then took the opportunity to avail ourselves of more in capacity if we needed it. Prices, I don't know that they've come down appreciably yet. We think they will. Perhaps private equity is a little bit on the sidelines, which gives us maybe an advantage, but we'll have to see how things pan out if we get to the point of discussions of pricing with a particular target.

  • Ronald L.G. Tsoumas - VP of Corporate Finance & CFO

  • Yes, I would agree with those assessments. Getting the expanded credit facility was a good thing for us and certainly gives us more flexibility and latitude from that part of the capital allocation strategy.

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • I think that gives us an advantage. We're talking to targets down the, hey, we're ready to go if we can get to the right due diligence and the right price. So I think that's a definite advantage.

  • John Edward Franzreb - Senior Equity Analyst

  • Fair enough. I guess one last question. You've been far more aggressive buying back stock than repaying debt. What are your thoughts on that on a go-forward basis? Or maybe to phrase it differently, do you have a lower share count embedded into your guidance for this year then you closed at the end of the second quarter?

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • John, I think it's more about timing within our strategy over the next couple of years in terms of how we foresee allocating capital. Absent in acquisition, we have been allocating more capital towards share repurchases. In terms of that reduction, prior to the facility that we just updated on October 31, there was a term loan A component to that. If we were to repay that, we would basically lose the ability to reborrow against that. Now under the new facility that doesn't have that component, so we'll have more flexibility without it being punitive on our ability to reborrow, mainly, we just continue to generate cash and allocate capital towards the share repurchases, and we can pivot and deviate if we were to do an acquisition.

  • John Edward Franzreb - Senior Equity Analyst

  • Got it. Thanks I appreciate that. Thanks for taking my questions.

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • Thank you.

  • Operator

  • Thank you. Our next question is coming from David Kelley with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

  • David Lee Kelley - Equity Analyst

  • Hey, good morning and thanks for taking my questions. I wanted to follow up on the earlier power distribution and busbar EV discussion. I was hoping you could talk about the bidding opportunity there versus what you're seeing with win rates with customers. Are you seeing a step-up in both and thus implying some market share gains there?

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • Yes. We've been shipping busbars since 2006 and method has been in the busbar business probably since the 60s, maybe, so we're well versed in how to make those. That gives us a competitive advantage. We also are a solid Tier 1 supplier with a great quality record. So we don't always get the wins, but we get a lot of looks across the board on bus bars and as I said earlier, moving into power distribution under the motor busbars. So are we gaining market share? Yes. We have our threshold to pain, however, we're pretty disciplined on that. We track our wins. We've talked in the past about how we look at our booking opportunities. We have embryonic, we put a percentage to it 50%, and then we have 75% and we track over the years what our win rate is. I think the last one we looked at, and this is across the board for Methode, it's not just EV, 75% were in the 60 percent rate. If we lose, we lose because we've reached a price point that we don't want to go. So I think that's a definite market share gain for us, and we've talked about that.

  • Ronald L.G. Tsoumas - VP of Corporate Finance & CFO

  • Yes. I think the team has done a great job in capitalizing on being, I guess, early mover within the space because we have such a rich history. We have the capacity in the manufacturing systems and everything on 3 continents to support all of the EV in a more local manner. So we're in a good spot. As Don mentioned, '06 with Tesla. So we've been mixing it up for quite a long time. So we've been getting some good looks with our existing relationships with the OEMs, the automotive OEMs, and we've done a good job at closing business.

  • David Lee Kelley - Equity Analyst

  • Okay. Got it. That's really helpful. Maybe one more follow-up on the supply chain discussion that's been ongoing here. Curious if you're seeing any signs of improved visibility or incremental product availability. I guess taking a step further, do you foresee any opportunity for some relief from some of the spot buys into the back half of the year? Or are you assuming any relief there as we think about updated full year guidance?

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • I take some comfort to only one quarter in that our spot buys were lower this quarter. I would feel better at the end of this quarter, if they were less than the same in the fourth. So that's only one data point. We still are challenged every day on supply issues. Is it less? Yes. Is it coming to an end? I'm not willing to say that yet. I think we're at least through the end of our fiscal year, and there's been a lot of people that have been predicting an improvement and they've been wrong. So that's almost a nonanswer, but we don't know. We can track it, but it's still difficult. We've seen our customers continue to have issues.

  • David Lee Kelley - Equity Analyst

  • Okay. Got it. So just to clarify, it sounds like you're assuming some cadence of spot buys continuing into the back half of the year and guidance?

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • Definitely, that's fair.

  • David Lee Kelley - Equity Analyst

  • Okay. Yes. Okay. Got it. Thanks guys, it's really helpful.

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • Thank you.

  • Operator

  • Once again, ladies and gentlemen, if there are any remaining questions or comments, please press staer 1 on your phone at this time. Our next question is coming from Gary Prestopino with Barrington Research. Please go ahead.

  • Gary Frank Prestopino - MD

  • Hi, good morning everyone. Most of the questions have been answered. I just want to get an idea, what was your share count at the end of the quarter? I get like $37 million out of the Q. Is that correct? Is that what you're using for EPS calculation? This quarter looks like 37%. Yes, that would be it?

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • Yes.

  • Gary Frank Prestopino - MD

  • Okay. Yes. So then a couple of other questions I would have is most of the FX headwinds are coming from the euro. Is that correct?

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • From the euro with the RMB secondary, yes.

  • Gary Frank Prestopino - MD

  • Okay, euro and RMB. When you're producing in places like Malta in Belgium, you say you have a plant as well?

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • Yes.

  • Gary Frank Prestopino - MD

  • Okay. So there's some offsets there with the expenses you're incurring in those local currencies as you translate back in the U.S. Is that correct, too?

  • Ronald L.G. Tsoumas - VP of Corporate Finance & CFO

  • There are, absolutely. A lot of it is just, fortunately for us, we do a good job of earning a profit in our non-U.S. locations. Just from the translation to the financials from a U.S. GAAP perspective, they're worth less than they would have been with the dollar strengthening. But we absolutely do a lot of internal offsetting at each of our locations and then have an FX program that looks at everything from a consolidated basis as well when we start getting into receivables and payables and things of that nature across border, we take actions here as well. So pretty robust FX management protocol.

  • Gary Frank Prestopino - MD

  • Okay. Then lastly, in terms of your end clients, your end users, I know you talked about trying to pass on price increases there. Has that become any easier for lack of a better word or more acceptable? Other suppliers that I've talked to have said that they've developed a mode of success of passing on some of these cost increases.

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • Oh boy, I think if we had our salespeople in the room, they would say absolutely not. It's difficult with any customer. We're a customer to our suppliers, and we're pretty tough. So it has to be a justification, it takes a while. You're always walking a fine line between yes, I need to book more business, but I got to get pretty tough here on price increases. Is it easier than it was before the pandemic? I guess you could say it is because customers are somewhat used to that, but it's not. I don't know that it's getting any easier. We're achieving some success, but in fact, I think we've had a lot of success, but we need inflation to temper before we see the benefit of it. I don't know.

  • Ronald L.G. Tsoumas - VP of Corporate Finance & CFO

  • No. You start going to the well more than once, going a second time it gets that part of it makes it more delicate that's for sure.

  • Gary Frank Prestopino - MD

  • Okay. Thank you.

  • Operator

  • Thank you. At this time, there appear to be no further questions in queue. So I will hand it back to Mr. Duda for any closing comments you wish to make.

  • Donald W. Duda - President, CEO & Director

  • Well, thank you very much, and thank you, everyone, for listening today and wish everyone a very safe and pleasant holiday season. Good day.

  • Operator

  • Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and this does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation.