Thermon Group Holdings Inc (THR) 2014 Q4 法說會逐字稿

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  • Operator

  • Good day, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Thermon earnings conference call, Q4 2014.

  • (Operator Instructions)

  • As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Sarah Alexander, Director of Investor Relations. Ma'am, you may begin.

  • - Director of IR

  • Thank you, Sam. Good morning and thank you for joining us for today's conference call.

  • We issued an earnings press release this morning which has been filed with the SEC on Form 8-K and is also available on the Investor Relations section of our website at www.thermon.com. A replay of today's call will be available on our website after the conclusion of this call. This broadcast is the property of Thermon. Any redistribution, retransmission or rebroadcast in any form without the express written consent of the Company is prohibited.

  • During this call our comments may include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and our actual results may differ materially from the views expressed today. Some of these risks have been set forth in the press release and in our annual report on Form 10-K that will be filed with the SEC on or before May 30.

  • We also would like to advise you that all forward-looking statements made on today's call are intended to fall within the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may include, among others, our outlook for future performance and revenue growth, leverage ratios, acquisitions and various other aspects of our business.

  • During the call we will also discuss some items that do not conform to generally accepted accounting principles. We have reconciled those items to the most comparable GAAP measures in the tables at the end of the earnings press release. These non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to and not as a substitute for measures of financial performance reported in accordance with GAAP.

  • And now it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Rodney Bingham, our President and Chief Executive Officer.

  • - President & CEO

  • Thank you, Sarah. Good morning, everyone. And thank you for your continued interest in Thermon.

  • Today we have two of our senior vice presidents joining me on this earnings call. Jay Peterson our CFO, will follow me and present the financial details of our FY14 fourth quarter. George Alexander, our Executive Vice President of Global Sales, will assist in the Q&A session by answering questions that pertain to global market segments and industry trends.

  • For those of you who are not familiar with Thermon, we are a leading global provider of thermal solutions. We serve the oil, gas, chemical, and power generation industries. Our heat tracing systems provide freeze protection and temperature control for piping, vessels, and instrumentation. These mission-critical systems insure the continuous and safe operation of industrial facilities.

  • While Jay will discuss the financial details in a moment, I'd like to touch on some of the highlights of FY14. Thermon recorded another strong fiscal year generating record gross profit that was driven by double-digit MRO/UE growth. Records in adjusted EPS and free cash flow per share were also achieved. Revenue for 2014 was $277 million, a 2% decrease over prior year. This slight downturn was primarily due to a softness in Greenfield project billings from our International business units.

  • FX also had a negative impact of $4 million on revenue, primarily attributable to the depreciation of the Canadian dollar. Our record gross profit of $135 million was driven mainly by increased MRO sales which grew to 67% of our total revenue stream. Our gross margin as a percentage of revenue finished at 48.7, which was up 2 percentage points over prior year. Adjusted EPS grew $0.29 per share to $1.20.

  • Our MRO revenue grew 11.5% over FY13, due mainly to a colder than normal winter in North America and our growing install base. We continue to successfully manage our operating expenses as our SG&A came in on target for the fiscal year.

  • Our backlog on March 31, 2014 was $85 million. Please keep in mind this was a single data point and will fluctuate throughout the year as Greenfield project schedules impact our deliverables.

  • Purchase orders received were up $7 million over prior year. Our expanded cable manufacturing facility enabled us again to meet the peak heating season demands without disruption of delivery schedules or order cancellations.

  • We're continuing to add infrastructure and assets to drive our growth strategies for both Greenfield and MRO revenue in our core market sectors. We're expanding our San Marcus facility by adding a warehouse and increasing our tube bundle production capacity. We believe that we are well-positioned for growth in FY15 and are targeting mid-single-digit topline growth for the fiscal year.

  • Our global footprint continues to be a key component of our strategy to provide value to our customers worldwide and penetrate our targeted markets. As an example we have recently established a direct office in Brazil. We are continuing to benefit from a rebound in the chemical, petrochemical and power generation sectors that are related to the shale, oil and gas developments in the United States.

  • Thermon's updated pipeline remained robust with over 530 project opportunities and approximately $1.1 billion in estimated value. This was an increase over last quarter.

  • We have continued to look for opportunities where we can leverage our leadership position in providing thermal management solutions to the global energy and industrial markets. Over the past several months we have begun investing more time and resources into researching inorganic growth opportunities. As a result M&A pipeline is building and we are evaluating several attractive opportunities.

  • In closing, our management team would like to thank our employees throughout our global organization for their hard work and dedication. We would also like to thank our customers, investors and advisors for their support and confidence. Thank you again for joining us today. Jay Peterson will now address the financial details.

  • - CFO

  • Thank you, Rodney. Good morning. I would like to start off by discussing our Q4 results, then turn to our fiscal year results and then conclude with high-level guidance for FY15. First off, revenue.

  • Our revenue this past quarter was $67.5 million, and that's a decrease of 6% over the prior year's quarter. Orders for the quarter totaled just under $62 million, and our trailing 12 month order activity totaled $267 million, and that's a 2.5% increase versus the prior year. Order activity on a pro forma basis, excluding the large Kearl Oil Sands project, grew 12% from $235 million to $262 million over this same time period.

  • Our backlog of orders ended March at $85 million versus $95 million at the end of Q4 FY13, and that's a decrease of 11%. However, on a pro forma basis, again excluding the Kearl project, our backlog grew 14% year on year from $68 million to $77 million.

  • Gross margin dollars grew this past quarter to $32.7 million. And on a relative basis, our margins improved to 48.5% due to the high mix of MRO/UE revenues. Versus the prior-year quarter, our margins increased by 400 basis points due to the favorable mix and to a lesser extent, material cost reductions in copper and polymers. And our MRO/UE mix for Q4 was 71% of revenues, whereas Greenfield totaled 29%.

  • Core operating expenses for the quarter, that is, SG&A, and this excludes amortization of intangibles and transaction related expenses, totaled $14.9 million. And that's a reduction of $2 million from the prior year. Our operating expense as a percent of revenue came in at a competitive 22%. And again, that excludes depreciation and amortization.

  • The number of our full-time employees at the end of March was 829, and that's up slightly from the 821 as of calendar year, March 2013. In terms of earnings, GAAP net income for the quarter totaled $9.6 million compared to a prior year of $5.6 million. And this growth was attributable to our strong gross margins, managing our operating expenses, and a reduction in interest expense.

  • Our EBITDA totaled $18.3 million for the quarter, and that's an increase from the prior year performance of $15.7 million. And our EBITDA as a percent of revenue was 27% for the quarter.

  • In terms of the full year 2014 performance, our topline revenue was $277 million in FY14, and as Rodney said that was a decline of 2%. And that our topline revenue was negatively impacted by foreign currency translation by approximately $4 million. And pro forma excluding the FX impact our topline revenue reduction would have amounted to 1%. And major currencies impacting our revenues this year were the euro and the Canadian dollar.

  • Margins for the year were 48.7% versus the prior year of 46.8%. And that's an increase of 190 basis points. Margins were positively impacted by an increase in MRO/UE mix, and that's an increase from 58% in the prior year to 67% in the current year. And gross profit increased by 2% to a record level of $135.2 million.

  • Operating expenses for the fiscal year were flat compared to the prior year at $62 million. And this excludes management fees in FY13 and depreciation and amortization. And as a percent of revenue, OpEx totaled 22.5%, and again that excludes D&A.

  • In terms of earnings for the year our GAAP EPS decreased from $0.85 a share to $0.80 a share. Note however that our GAAP earnings were negatively impacted by a $0.45 charge relating to the retirement of our long-term debt and, number two approximately $0.03 a share impact from the combined effects of foreign exchange when considering both translation and transaction impacts. Adjusted EPS grew from $0.91 a share to $1.20 this past year. And please refer to the table in our earnings press release for the details on all of these adjustments.

  • We grew free cash flow earnings to $1.33 a share from a prior-year use of cash of $1.10 and in aggregate, we generated $43 million in free cash flow. And that's measured by cash flow from operations less capital investment. And that's versus a use of cash of $3.4 million in the prior year. EBITDA for the year totaled $74.4 million and that was 27% of revenues.

  • In terms of the balance sheet, our cash balance at the end of March was $72.6 million compared to $43.8 million in the prior-year period, and that's an increase of 66%. Our net debt position and leverage continues to decrease. One year ago March, our net debt was $74.3 million and at the end of March 2014, it was $48.9 million, and that's a 34% reduction.

  • And regarding our net debt leverage, as we ended FY14, our debt to EBITDA leverage was 0.7. And recall at the time of our IPO, it was well above that. And the time of our CHS acquisition, it was actually above 4.

  • For a manufacturing operation, we continue to run a highly capital efficient operation. For example, this last fiscal year, our CapEx spending totaled $3.4 million, including both maintenance and growth capital and that amounted to 1.2% of revenues.

  • And finally, guidance. Two guidance points that I would like to provide. First off we are planning for topline revenue growth in the mid-single digits for the fiscal year. In addition due to growth investments in our tube bundle capacity, our planned CapEx for this year will total $9 million and that's up from typical prior-year levels of $3 million to $5 million.

  • I would now like to turn the call back over to Sam to moderate our Q&A session. Sam?

  • Operator

  • Thank you, sir.

  • (Operator Instructions)

  • Brian Drab, William Blair.

  • - Analyst

  • First question. Looks like the backlog's ticked down sequentially over the last several quarters but the pipeline has ticked up over the last few quarters. So from by my numbers $880 million to $1 billion to $1.1 billion I believe you said, Rodney, on this call. And the pipeline's obviously a leading indicator so I'm wondering when we should expect to see the backlog start to trend up.

  • - EVP of Global Sales

  • This is George Alexander. As you mentioned, our pipeline is trending upward. We're also seeing strong activity in our quotations virtually from all of our business units around the globe. So we are confident.

  • We're bullish on the fact that our backlog is going to start ticking up. The caveat being that again that is a bit of a lumpy process, but again, the indicators that we have as it relates to quotations and the strength of our order bookings and so forth do give us confidence that the backlog is going to start taking upwards.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay. Thanks. And then can you comment at all as to what you expect for the breakdown between Greenfield and MRO for FY15?

  • - CFO

  • Yes. We think we will see more of a normal distribution. We won't -- we don't anticipate to get to the 60-40 historical number that we've seen in many years in the past. We don't anticipate that. But we do expect a higher percent of Greenfield billings this coming year relative to what we saw this last year.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay. So just digging a little deeper on that, then if I put Greenfield at 35% of revenue for FY15, that gives me growth in Greenfield of about 12% and growth in MRO of just slightly better than 0%? Call it 1%. And that gets me a mid-single digit overall growth rate.

  • Does that make sense to you, that we could have a situation where Greenfield is up double digits in 2015 and MRO is only up 1%? I would have expected a stronger growth in MRO.

  • - EVP of Global Sales

  • Well, we had -- this is George again, we had a very strong year as mentioned in the opening remarks. And MRO/UE as far as FY14 is concerned. And we do expect the Greenfield project business to tick upward as we said.

  • But the type of projects though are likely to be -- they're not going to include any mega projects like the impact from the Kearl project, but we do anticipate and are seeing a lot of activity in the Greenfield projects, albeit smaller in terms of the size of the projects. And that's again from every one of the business units.

  • But again, we had a very strong year in FY14 and MRO business. So we do think that that we'll maintain that level. And -- but the upside exposure for MRO is definitely smaller than for Greenfield.

  • - CFO

  • $74.4 million.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay. All right. That makes sense. And okay I'll leave that one at that. Then can you just comment on whether you expect to grow or see a decline in overall for Canada in 2015?

  • - EVP of Global Sales

  • Canada is again, it's going to have not -- it's not projected as one of our growth areas for FY15. Again, they have a tough comp. And Canada's had the Kearl project as we've talked about.

  • The Kearl Oil Sands as part of their billings for the last three years. We're rolling off of that project so they've got a tough comp. So we are not projecting Canada to be a growth area this year.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay. And then just a last question as we've talked in the past about where you'll make up for that. The challenges in the Canadian business I guess refinery and petrochem markets in the US. And a lot of other markets globally. Maybe you could touch on how you offset the Canadian decline in 2015. Thanks.

  • - EVP of Global Sales

  • Sure. The growth bridge for FY15 is being driven by the fact that as Rodney mentioned in his speech that we are hiring additional sales personnel in key regions around the world that are targeted for growth. We have -- we did experience in FY14 growth in the US market.

  • We believe that growth will continue to be fueled, as its fueled by the development in the shale oil, the downstream aspects of the shale oil and gas. We're seeing a lot of activity in the ethylene cracker construction business in the Gulf Coast, Texas, Louisiana Gulf Coast.

  • Russia continues to be a positive area for us with, as far as activity there. Although we do realize that there is some risk that's associated with that due to the political environment there, but right now it's still a very positive growth area for us.

  • As mentioned earlier, the Latin American market is strong. We've opened an office in Brazil. That's a targeted growth area for us. And Asia-Pacific is also projected as growth overall.

  • So in summary, every business unit except Canada is projected as a growth area for us. In FY15.

  • - Analyst

  • That's very helpful. Thanks, George. Thanks, guys.

  • Operator

  • Scott Graham, Jefferies.

  • - Analyst

  • A couple questions for you guys. On the orders number that you gave us, Jay, for the quarter, $62 million, what did that compared to year ago?

  • - CFO

  • For the quarter?

  • - Analyst

  • Yes.

  • - CFO

  • Let me look that up, Scott. It will take just a second.

  • - Analyst

  • Sure. In the meantime, maybe this is more of a question for you, George. The project side, the Greenfield side has been weak now for a couple quarters and actually down in three of four quarters of 2014. I know that the pipeline is building and the comparable non-Kearl orders are building.

  • When would you expect Greenfield to turn positive for you? Is that a second-half event or could that be the second quarter?

  • - EVP of Global Sales

  • We're actually projecting an upturn in Greenfield in the first half and have it -- it will be building throughout the year. And again, a lot of that is based on -- in the first half is based on the backlog that we currently have in-house.

  • As you know on Greenfield projects, they tend to sit in the backlog for anywhere from three to six months. So we have fairly good visibility there.

  • The thing we don't have control over again as you know is any changes in scheduling based on the construction schedules of the project. But we're feeling pretty good about an upturn, a modest upturn, in the first half of the year. And then that continuing to build and get stronger as FY15 continues.

  • - Analyst

  • So in the past, we've seen this before, right? Because in each of the last two years we were counting on a certain shipment schedule. And to your point, it's not in your control. It's not a Thermon issue.

  • But in fact, these things do tend to push out, not pull forward. So I guess my question would be, if you're expecting an upturn in Greenfield in the first half, are there any kind of fudge factors that you guys have put in learning from the last couple of years experience on that?

  • - EVP of Global Sales

  • Scott, that's a good point. And there is. And when we look at our coverage report, in terms of forecasting the results for the quarter, we do apply a probability factor, particularly for those projects that are at risk, due to factors that are beyond our control. That are related to customer required activities.

  • Some of those things are inspection, timing of inspection, terms of delivery, and that sort of thing. And those are largely out of our control. We certainly expedite the process, but in the end, we can't control whenever the lever's pulled.

  • - Analyst

  • Understood. Understood.

  • - CFO

  • Scott?

  • - Analyst

  • Yes.

  • - CFO

  • I got your I've got your answer if it's convenient for you now.

  • - Analyst

  • Please.

  • - CFO

  • Orders grew for the quarter 5% from $59 million to $61.8 million. And I think what's also interesting is that if you look at it sans Kearl, they grew in the quarter from $56 million to $62 million, round numbers or 11%.

  • - Analyst

  • You're saying ex-Kearl?

  • - CFO

  • Yes.

  • - Analyst

  • Interesting. Okay. Two other questions for you. And this is more of a general question I guess. This is for Rodney and George. I asked this last time.

  • I'm just wondering, with the rising of -- the rises in opportunities, are we now maybe starting to see that the benefits of the larger facility come through in the orders? In other words, are you now able to bid on business that you weren't able to bid on before and are maybe winning pieces of that with -- I think the orders were up last quarter and looks like they were up again this quarter. Is that what's happening here or is it more just market-driven?

  • - President & CEO

  • It's a combination -- this is Rodney it's a combination of both. We are definitely able to bid on projects that previously our delivery schedules would have been a negative factor and the purchase order decision. But some of these also market-driven. We had -- I think last year's winter was crucial for us to make sure that we had the capacity to ship a lot of heater cable in a very short period of time because of the early winter we had in North America. And I think that definitely helped that MRO/UE sales number last year.

  • - EVP of Global Sales

  • Scott, just to add to that, for FY14, as we mentioned, MRO/UE sales were up significantly year over year. And that was true in all of our business units. So the additional capacity definitely helped us meet that increase in MRO business because again, that's relatively short turnaround requirements.

  • - Analyst

  • Understood. And here's my last question. Thank you for answering all these questions with the detail you have, you guys. The emissions business, how big is that business right now if you're able to say that? And how did it fair for the full year 2014?

  • - EVP of Global Sales

  • This is George. What we call our bundle business which is a little bit broader than the emissions business, the bundle business includes the process analytical part of the market as well. So -- and I don't have the exact numbers on the CEMS only business.

  • But the CEMS business and the process analytical in my guess is -- and that's what it is right now, a guess, is probably an equal contributor but year over year, the business did grow. And that's at least third- if not fourth-year consecutive year in a row that we did see significant growth in our bundle business.

  • So it's still, the two together represent about 10% of our total revenue. But it is one of our growth areas. It is one of the areas that we're investing resources in.

  • As you've seen in the releases, we have some CapEx dedicated to increase our capacity. Our growth this year in 2014 was actually somewhat dampened by the fact that we had more demand to deliver in the bundle area.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay. And you feel that -- is there any reason why that trend should not continue into 2015?

  • - EVP of Global Sales

  • Absolutely not. Absolutely not. We're planning on it.

  • - President & CEO

  • We're planning on it.

  • - Analyst

  • Very good. Thanks a lot.

  • Operator

  • Charley Brady, BMO Capital Markets.

  • - Analyst

  • Just with respect to the CapEx, my first question is, the timing of how that $9 million is going to be spent is it ratably throughout the year is it more front end loaded or backend loaded?

  • - CFO

  • I believe it is more in the second half of the year, Charley. It will be more in the second half of the year. And most of that will -- not most of that, but will be skewed more to the back half of the second half of the year. The last quarter of the year.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay. And will that expansion be done by the end of this fiscal year or does it carry over into next fiscal year as well?

  • - CFO

  • End of the fiscal year.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay. So once that's up and running, should we expect is there any kind of meaningful incremental uptick in SG&A administrative type expense associated with that?

  • - CFO

  • No. Not really. Let's say it's going to cost us $5 million-ish in the useful life of those assets and that building, depending on the asset class, will be a very, very long life. So we're talking very small amount of incremental depreciation per year per quarter.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay. And there's no meaningful uptick in staffing levels and having people to manage that capacity then?

  • - CFO

  • Very, very nominal.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay.

  • - President & CEO

  • Actually, this is Rodney. There'll be some efficiency gains as far as because it's just not adding a two bundle expansion component. It's also adding a very large warehouse that will increase our efficiencies and the handling of the tube bundle product line and raw materials.

  • - Analyst

  • Great. Thanks for that additional color, Rodney. Appreciate it. One more for me and I don't know, maybe I missed it, did you quantify how much Canada was down in the quarter?

  • - CFO

  • In the quarter, Charlie?

  • - Analyst

  • Yes.

  • - CFO

  • In the quarter, Canada was down in aggregate 27%.

  • - Analyst

  • Great. Thanks.

  • Operator

  • Jon Braatz, Kansas City Capital.

  • - Analyst

  • Couple questions. Surrounding gross margins.

  • If we're going to move more towards Greenfield, should be a little pressure on the gross margin. But at the same time, you're talking about raw material cost being somewhat benign. Everything else being equal, how do you think those two factors would play into the margin opportunity or margins for next year?

  • - EVP of Global Sales

  • This is George. I think that your comment about the growth in Greenfield projects is appropriate. It is going to put a little bit of pressure on margins, because the Greenfield projects are generally come in at lower margins.

  • But again we're talking about a move of, Greenfield moving from 67% maybe down to somewhere in the low 60%s. So maybe not getting down to the traditional level of 60% but trending in that direction.

  • We do expect our MRO/UE business to remain strong. And the margin content there is we don't expect any deterioration in that. And so I do think there's a little downward pressure on it, but I don't think it's --

  • - Analyst

  • Okay.

  • - President & CEO

  • This is Rodney. I'd like to give a little bit more on Greenfield versus the MRO business. Remember, we separate our numbers at $1 million for Greenfield. If it's a new construct project and it's below $1 million, it goes into the MRO/UE category.

  • This year, without the mega projects that we've done in recent years, the average dollars per order is going to get closer to the $1 million. There's a lot of activity we've already seen in that range.

  • So it's a little difficult on a year coming up like this to determine how much we're going to have at $800,000 and how much we're going to have at $1.2 million. So those dynamics will filter in a little bit with a different metric I think a different look for this year.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay. George, you talked a little bit about the opportunities ahead for this year including Russia. God only knows what Putin's going to do, but how big of opportunity is that -- I should say, what potentially could that be in terms of a lost opportunity if we don't get that business in Russia?

  • - EVP of Global Sales

  • Well, Russia represents about 6% of our total revenue. So -- but more importantly for us, it's heat tracing paradise. It's cold, it's got a lot of natural resources, a lot of oil reserves, a lot of activity in the Arctic circle. And there's a lot of our customers our existing customers both Russian customers as well as International customers that are involved in those processes.

  • And while we acknowledge the fact that there is risk factors there, that are again out of our control, as it relates to potential sanctions and so forth, and it is somewhat unpredictable, but the activity that we see related to both the state owned enterprises, the rise of interest in the gas problems as well as the International players, the Exxon's, Total's et cetera, it's still very active in Russia. And so we are projecting growth there. And at this point in time, the amount of quoting we're doing the amount of the order flow from Russia supports that. But we do acknowledge there is some risk factor.

  • - Analyst

  • All right. George, thank you very much.

  • Operator

  • Jeff Hammond, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

  • - Analyst

  • So is there a way to quantify what the headwind is from Kearl wrapping up? How much is the Kearl business going to be down in FY15?

  • - CFO

  • At present, Jeff, we went into FY15 with approximately $7 million in backlog with Kearl. Last year, in terms of revenue, Kearl invoiced $25 million.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay. And that $7 million will shift in FY15?

  • - CFO

  • Yes. How much additional invoicing there will be, we don't know. It won't be a lot, but right now, we have $7 million in backlog, $25 million last year, $31 million in the prior-year.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay. So I guess what I'm struggling with, with the guidance and the way you're directing people on OE versus MRO, as you've got this $18 million gap to fill, you've got I guess part of your order backlog headwind has been Kearl but it seems like the trend there has been a headwind. So what gives you the confidence in that healthy Greenfield growth? And is it just simply maybe easier comps into the back half?

  • - EVP of Global Sales

  • Well, the last thing you mentioned is true. This is George. The last thing you mentioned is true. We are going to have some easier comps.

  • But to give you a little bit of flavor, as we talked about we don't project, we're not projecting growth in Canada. But our business in Canada ex-Kearl remains very, very strong. The business in the -- that we're getting out of the SAGD activity and our MRO business in Canada is still strong.

  • So we're not expecting we're not projecting to see the $15 million decrease just because Kearl is not there, the difference in Kearl is not there. So that's in addition to -- so our activity in Canada remains strong. Our other business outside of Kearl remains very robust and very active.

  • So that gives us confidence that we can make up a little bit of that deficit in Canada itself. And then take that and add it to the comments I made earlier about the rest of the business unit. So that's where we're getting our mid-single digit growth projections.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay. And then just back to the gross margin, clearly you get an uplift from still the still healthy mix at MRO but as you look geographically, Canada's always been your highest margin business. And so how should we think about that as we think about the gross margin trajectory into 2015? Are gross margins under some pressure into 2015 from that and the normalizing MRO Greenfield mix?

  • - EVP of Global Sales

  • Yes. It's kind of a double-edged sword, Jeff. With the uptick in Greenfield projects that we expect, there will be a little bit of downward pressure on margins, but again as Rodney mentioned, this uptick is largely in smaller Greenfield projects. It's not on mega projects.

  • Whenever we're involved with mega projects, they tend to be even lower than your typical Greenfield project margins. So it's kind of an offsetting effect as it relates to the lack of a mega project versus an uptick in smaller Greenfield projects. So again, my comment earlier was that I do expect a little bit of downward pressure, but I don't think it's going to be significant.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay. Great. And finally, how should we think about tough compares in MRO and if you look at the back half of FY14, how much do you think of that strength was just driven by the really cold weather?

  • - EVP of Global Sales

  • This is George again. In North America, that's certainly had an effect. But again, we had strong MRO/UE sales in all four business units.

  • So it was positive across the globe. And that's mainly driven by our install base and our incumbent status and the other things that drive MRO business.

  • But yes, there's no doubt that we did get an uptick in North America because of the severe winter. Especially in the power side.

  • - Analyst

  • Okay. Thanks, guys.

  • Operator

  • (Operator Instructions)

  • Scott Graham, Jefferies.

  • - Analyst

  • That was an important line of questioning, the Kearl because we were all wondering that. And I just want to frame your responses to that question with what the guidance is.

  • So if we look at Kearl, off of that math, that's a 6% detriment to sales. So I think what I hear you saying and I don't want to put words in your mouth, Rodney but I want to hear you say it, that you see, ex-Kearl, Thermon as a company getting back to that organic double-digit low double-digit type of topline growth again, ex-Kearl in FY15. Is that what you're messaging here?

  • - President & CEO

  • Yes.

  • - Analyst

  • And then would be fair to say then that by extension with the project pipeline that you see out there building that that can continue into FY16?

  • - President & CEO

  • Yes it can. The energy industry is not through drilling yet. And obviously a lot of the activity we see in the pipeline is associated with that and we still believe there's a lot of runway left.

  • - Analyst

  • Understood. Last question. And this is about the MRO business, which I think you're saying flattish, but correct me if I'm wrong. Flattish more because the second half was so strong? First half of the year looks like the comparisons are actually fairly benign.

  • Can you be up in the first half and then let's say down in the second half on MRO? Is that maybe your thinking as well?

  • - President & CEO

  • Yes.

  • - Analyst

  • Very good. Thanks.

  • Operator

  • Thank you. And at this time I'm not showing any further questions. I'd like to turn the call back to management for any closing comments.

  • - President & CEO

  • This is Rodney. Once again, thank everybody for their continued interest in Thermon. And we look forward to a growth year and a profitable one. So again, thank you very much.

  • Operator

  • Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in today's conference. This does conclude today's program. You may all disconnect. Everyone, have a wonderful day.