Glenview, IL - Anixter International Inc. reported sales of $1.58 billion for the quarter ended June 28, 2013, a 0.2 percent increase compared to the year ago quarter. Organic sales growth, which excludes the impact of the following items, declined by 0.6 percent year-over-year.
Year-over-year reported sales growth would have been approximately 1 percent excluding the negative impact of the previously reported conclusion of a large security solutions contract in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Operating income of $85.8 million decreased by 4.6 percent from $89.9 million in the prior year period. The year-over-year decrease in operating income was caused by weaker copper pricing and fewer large industrial projects in the Electrical and Electronic Wire and Cable segment along with weaker manufacturing levels affecting OEM Supply volume offsetting the improvement in the Enterprise Cabling and Security Solutions segment. Sequentially, operating income improved in both the Enterprise Cabling and Security Solutions and the OEM Supply segments.
Operating margin of 5.4 percent was flat with the previous quarter and compares to 5.7 percent in the prior year period. Net income from continuing operations of $45.9 million improved by 4.2 percent compared to $44 million in the prior year quarter. Earnings from continuing operations of $1.39 per diluted share increased by 8.6 percent, from $1.28 in the year ago quarter.
“As we expected, growth in the first half of the year was muted by the global macroeconomic climate. Our people delivered very sound performance despite these challenging conditions,” commented Bob Eck, President and CEO. “We were encouraged by improving market conditions in our core ECS business, which led to strong sales and margin performance in that segment’s North America region. We also experienced improving trends in Europe in all three of our segments. Our continued focus on margin and working capital efficiency while aligning our expense structure with the current environment positions us to deliver solid financial results in a business environment that we expect will be characterized by slow growth.”
Income Statement Detail
Gross margin of 22.5 percent compares to 22.7 percent in both the first quarter of 2013 and the year ago quarter. The decrease compared to the prior year reflects a lower gross margin in the Electrical and Electronic Wire and Cable and OEM Supply segments, partially offset by an increase in gross margin in our Enterprise Cabling and Security Solutions segment.
Excluding the incremental costs from the prior year acquisition of Jorvex and excluding the impact of foreign currency, operating expenses decreased 0.5 percent compared to an organic sales decrease of 0.6 percent. Interest expense of $11.3 million decreased by $3.5 million compared to the prior year quarter due to the redemption of the convertible notes in the first quarter of 2013. Foreign exchange and other expense of $4.0 million improved from $5.5 million in the prior year quarter primarily due to a lower foreign currency expense. The tax rate in the current quarter of 34.9 percent compares to 36.7 percent in the year ago quarter with the lower rate primarily due to the country mix of income.
Segment Update
Enterprise Cabling and Security Solutions (“ECS”) sales of $813.8 million compares to $820.5 million in the prior year period. The 0.8 percent decline was caused by on-going macroeconomic weakness in the European and emerging markets regions and the continuation of improving but slow growth trends in North America. Sequentially, global sales were 9.2 percent higher than the first quarter of 2013, reflecting improved performance versus the prior quarter in all regions. Reported sales year-over-year would have increased by 0.6 percent excluding the conclusion of a large Security Solutions contract. Security sales increased by 2.9 percent, and would have increased by 8.7 percent excluding the same concluded contract.
ECS operating income of $42 million compares to $39.6 million in the year ago quarter. The year-over-year increase reflects improved performance in the segment’s North America and EMEA geographies. Operating margin for ECS of 5.2 percent compares to 4.8 percent in the year ago quarter. Sequentially, operating margin improved 50 basis points from the first quarter, driven by strong expense leverage.
Electrical and Electronic Wire and Cable (“W&C”) achieved record second quarter sales of $530.6 million, a 2.8 percent increase from the prior year period despite the negative impact of an 8 percent decline in copper pricing and a decrease in the number of large projects. Excluding the $26.6 million favorable impact from the acquisition of Jorvex, the $8.8 million unfavorable impact from a $0.29 decline in the average price of copper, and the $3.9 million unfavorable impact from foreign exchange, organic sales increased by 0.2 percent. The segment’s EMEA and emerging markets achieved record second quarter sales. Sequentially, global sales were 2.5 percent higher than the first quarter of 2013.
Operating income of $38.1 million compares to $43.4 million in the year ago quarter. Operating margin of 7.2 percent compares to 8.4 percent in the year ago quarter and to 8 percent in the first quarter of 2013. The decline in margin was caused by weaker geographic and product mix combined with negative cost leverage due to lower copper pricing.
OEM Supply (“OEM”) sales of $235.1 million declined by 2.3 percent from the prior year quarter, reflecting a year-over-year decline in heavy truck production levels in North America. Sales increased in both the EMEA and emerging markets geographies primarily due to slightly improved production levels in certain customer verticals. On a sequential basis, sales increased 3.1 percent driven by a general increase in OEM manufacturing activity including heavy truck production levels in North America.
Operating income of $5.7 million compares to $6.9 million in the year ago quarter. Operating margin of 2.4 percent improved from 2.1 percent in the first quarter of 2013 and compares to 2.9 percent in the year ago quarter.
Cash Flow and Leverage
In the quarter, the company generated $59 million of cash from operations bringing the year-to-date cash flow from operations to $112 million. This compares to $59 million of cash from operations in the first half of 2012.
“Our disciplined working capital and cash management processes give us the flexibility required to manage through an uncertain economic environment. With an expectation of continued positive cash flow for the fiscal year, we constantly evaluate the optimal use of our funds,” commented Ted Dosch, Executive Vice President and CFO. “Our financial position continues to be very strong and we remain committed to investing in our growth initiatives and returning excess capital to our shareholders, as we have done consistently over the past five years.”
Key capital structure and credit-related statistics for the quarter:
- Debt-to-total capital ratio of 45.1 percent compares to 50.3 percent at the end of 2012
- Weighted average cost of borrowed capital of 4.9 percent compares to 6.2 percent in the year ago quarter
- $403.5 million of availability under bank revolving lines of credit at quarter end
- $235 million of outstanding borrowings under the $300 million accounts receivable securitization facility at quarter end
Business Outlook
"As we enter the third quarter we remain cautiously optimistic about the second half of 2013 and expect to deliver low single digit organic sales growth for the full year. While global markets are difficult to predict, we took aggressive measures in 2012 that position us to expand our leadership position within each of our segments, further leveraging our global supply chain platform to better serve our customers,” stated Eck. “We have seen progress in our organic growth initiatives, particularly security, industrial communication and control, in-building wireless and e-commerce, and we believe our investments in those areas will continue to yield benefits. With ongoing pressure on companies to reduce costs, our business model, which is based on helping our customers lower their supply chain costs and reduce execution risk, is of even greater value. We believe we are well positioned financially, operationally and strategically to capitalize on opportunities.”
