Carpenter Technology Reports Third Quarter Results

Carpenter Technology Corporation (NYSE:CRS) today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2014. Carpenter reported net income of $30.6 million or $0.57 per diluted share, compared to $32.9 million or $0.62 per diluted share in the same quarter last year (or $0.69 per share excluding special items).

Financial Highlights

"In Carpenter’s third quarter, we made some significant progress toward our short and long term objectives,” said William A. Wulfsohn, President and Chief Executive Officer. "At the same time, as we previously announced, earnings were significantly impacted by approximately $8 million of additional weather-related expenses. This was primarily due to a spike in electricity rates in the quarter.

"These weather-related expenses mask some strong operating performance. Specialty Alloys Operations (SAO) sales volume grew by 12 percent sequentially. In addition, our Performance Engineered Products (PEP) segment realized significant operating income growth due to its increased focus on operational excellence. Finally, while our reported operating margins were down sequentially, they would have been up by 120 basis points were it not for the $8 million of additional weather-related expense.

"Looking forward, we expect sales volume to grow, but gradually. Demand has increased in each of our end markets. Our SAO sales backlog grew 19 percent during the quarter and is now more than the prior year.

"That said, many of our key SAO work centers are now fully booked. In addition, while the Carpenter team did a great job starting up our new Athens facility ahead of schedule and under budget, the facility can only ship a limited range of products at this time. The site is fully operational, but we are working to obtain the internal and customer approvals required to tap the facility’s full potential. Some of these approvals will come quickly, within the next several quarters, while others will take longer. Thus, while we believe Athens is a game changer for Carpenter, the facility’s impact on our sales growth will be limited in the short-term and it will gain momentum over time.

"We have been able to complete the majority of our Athens-related capital spending while retaining a strong balance sheet. With the Athens capital spending ramping down, we expect to once again become a strong cash flow generator in the fourth quarter.”

Net Sales and Operating Income

Net sales for the third quarter of fiscal year 2014 were $566.3 million, and net sales excluding surcharge were $467.2 million, a decrease of $4.0 million (or 1 percent) from the same quarter last year, on 8 percent higher shipments.

Operating income was $49.5 million, a decrease of $3.5 million from the third quarter of the prior year. Operating income—excluding pension earnings, interest and deferrals (EID)—was $55.5 million, a decrease of $5.5 million (or 9 percent) from the third quarter of the prior year. Excluding the $8.0 million of weather-related impacts, and adding back the $2.9 million of special items in the third quarter of the prior year, operating income excluding pension EID was relatively unchanged year-over-year.

Cash Flow

Cash flow from operations was $81.0 million, which included a $6.3 million decrease in working capital and $1.5 million of pension contributions. This compares to a cash flow from operations of $26.5 million in the prior year’s third quarter, which included a $2.6 million increase in working capital and $85.4 million of pension contributions. Free cash flow in the third quarter was negative $22.2 million, compared to negative $66.4 million in the same quarter last year. Capital spending in the third quarter, largely related to the construction of the Athens facility, was $93.6 million, compared to $83.6 million in the prior year’s third quarter. Approximately 90 percent of the Athens project spend has occurred; the remaining spend will occur over the next 15 months.

Total liquidity, including cash and available revolver balance, was $577 million at the end of the third quarter. This consisted of $85 million of cash, and $492 million of available revolver.

End Markets

* Excludes sales through Carpenter’s distribution businesses

Aerospace and Defense

• Tons were flat versus the prior year, but higher sequentially.
• Revenue per ton was down due to greater sales volume of structural component materials and continued demand weakness for nickel engine and fastener materials.
• Titanium fastener revenues were up 25 percent year-over-year.

Energy

• The directional rig count grew 5 percent compared to the same quarter last year.
• Energy tons sold were up 10 percent year-over-year. Revenue per ton was down due to softer demand for oil and gas completion materials.
• Amega West increased sales primarily as a result of higher levels of drill collar rentals.

Medical

Year-over-year sales growth was driven by:

• Stabilizing demand for orthopedic and surgical devices.
• Increased distributor demand for titanium materials.

Transportation

• North American light vehicle sales continue to rise.
• Carpenter results benefit from strong demand for materials used in the next generation of fuel delivery systems.

Industrial and Consumer

Demand for materials has been strong in:

• Plant and equipment applications.
• Bridge infrastructure projects.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release includes discussions of financial measures that have not been determined in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). A reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, accompanied by reasons why the Company believes the non-GAAP measures are important, are included in the attached schedules.

Conference Call and Webcast Presentation

Carpenter will host a conference call and webcast presentation today, April 24, at 10 a.m. ET, to discuss the financial results and operations for the fiscal third quarter of 2014. Please call 610-208-2097 for details. Access to both the call and webcast presentation will also be available at Carpenter’s website (http://www.cartech.com) and through CCBN (http://www.ccbn.com), and a replay of the call will soon be made available at http://www.cartech.com or at http://www.ccbn.com. Presentation materials used during this conference call will be available for viewing and download at 7:00 a.m. ET today, at http://www.cartech.com.

About Carpenter Technology

Carpenter produces and distributes premium alloys, including special alloys, titanium alloys and powder metals, as well as stainless steels, alloy steels and tool steels. Information about Carpenter can be found at http://www.cartech.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those projected, anticipated or implied. The most significant of these uncertainties are described in Carpenter’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2013, 10Qs for the quarters ended September 30, 2013 and December 31, 2013, and the exhibits attached to those filings. They include but are not limited to: (1) the cyclical nature of the specialty materials business and certain end-use markets, including aerospace, defense, industrial, transportation, consumer, medical and energy, or other influences on Carpenter’s business, such as new competitors, the consolidation of competitors, customers and suppliers, or the transfer of manufacturing capacity from the United States to foreign countries; (2) the ability of Carpenter to achieve cash generation, growth, profitability, cost savings, productivity improvements or process changes; (3) the ability to recoup increases in the cost of energy, raw materials, freight or other factors; (4) domestic and foreign excess manufacturing capacity for certain metals; (5) fluctuations in currency exchange rates; (6) the degree of success of government trade actions; (7) the valuation of the assets and liabilities in Carpenter’s pension trusts and the accounting for pension plans; (8) possible labor disputes or work stoppages; (9) the potential that our customers may substitute alternate materials or adopt different manufacturing practices that replace or limit the suitability of our products; (10) the ability to successfully acquire and integrate acquisitions; (11) the availability of credit facilities to Carpenter, its customers or other members of the supply chain; (12) the ability to obtain energy or raw materials, especially from suppliers located in countries that may be subject to unstable political or economic conditions; (13) Carpenter’s manufacturing processes are dependent upon highly specialized equipment located primarily in facilities in Reading, Latrobe and Athens, for which there may be limited alternatives if there are significant equipment failures or catastrophic events; and (14) Carpenter’s future success depends on the continued service and availability of key personnel, including members of the executive management team, management, metallurgists and other skilled personnel, and the loss of these key personnel could affect Carpenter’s ability to perform until suitable replacements are found. Any of these factors could have an adverse and/or fluctuating effect on Carpenter’s results of operations. The forward-looking statements in this document are intended to be subject to the safe harbor protection provided by Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Carpenter undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

In the quarter ended March 31, 2013, there were $0.07 of special items including consulting fees for the inventory reduction initiative, restructuring costs from certain manufacturing footprint optimization activities, increased interest from a debt offering and the impacts on the tax provision related to the discretionary pension contribution, partially offset by benefits realized form the enactment of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (R&D tax credit extension).