Allient Inc Q3 FY2025 Earnings Call

Yes. Thank you, and good morning, everyone. We certainly appreciate your time today as well as your interest in Allient. On the call today are Dick Warzala, our Chairman, President and CEO; and Jim Michaud, our Chief Financial Officer. Dick and Jim will review our third quarter 2025 results, provide a strategic and operational update and share our outlook. We will then open the line for your questions. As a reminder, our Q3 earnings release and the accompanying slide presentation are available on our website at allient.com. If you're following along, please turn to Slide 2 for our safe harbor statement. During today's call, we may make forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated. These risks and factors are outlined in our SEC filings and in our Q3 earnings release. We also discuss certain non-GAAP measures, which we believe will be useful in evaluating our performance. You should not consider the presentation of this additional information in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP. We have provided reconciliations of non-GAAP to comparable GAAP measures in the tables accompanying the earnings release as well as the slides. So with that, please turn to Slide 3, and I'll turn it over to Dick to begin. Dick?

Thank you, Craig, and welcome, everyone. Allient delivered another strong quarter, underscored by double-digit revenue growth, record gross margin and continued deleveraging of our balance sheet. These results reflect the combination of healthy demand across key end markets and the tangible benefits of the efficiency initiatives we have put in place through our Simplify to Accelerate Now program. On the demand side, we saw notable strength in our industrial verticals, particularly power quality solutions for data center applications as well as improving trends in automation. Our defense programs executed well and the medical market delivered steady growth even as mobility solutions remained soft. In addition, our vehicle business improved, led by contributions from commercial automotive and construction. Profitability was another highlight with gross margin reaching a new record and operating leverage driving meaningful year-over-year improvement. Importantly, these gains were not only a result of volume, but also a reflection of mix shift toward higher-value programs and ongoing cost discipline. Cash generation and balance sheet strength remain central to our story. Year-to-date, we have delivered significantly higher operating cash flow and further reduced debt, which has lowered our leverage ratio and enhanced financial flexibility. Jim will walk through some temporary impacts for the quarter, but at a high level, our results so far this year demonstrate our ability to convert top line performance into stronger profitability, robust cash flow and balance sheet progress. Stepping back, Q3 was not just about the numbers. It was about discipline and execution. The results highlight the resilience of our diversified portfolio, the value of our operational transformation and our ongoing alignment with long-term secular growth drivers. Together, these elements reinforce the momentum we are building as we move toward year-end and beyond. With that, let me turn it over to Jim for a more in-depth review of the financials.

Thank you, Dick, and good morning, everyone. Please turn to Slide 5. Q3 revenue increased $13.5 million year-over-year, reaching $138.7 million, reflecting strong industrial market demand along with solid performance in our other core end markets. Foreign exchange contributed $2.3 million in tailwinds with the remainder organic. Sequentially, revenue declined less than 1% as the second quarter included $3 million to $4 million of customer pull-ins related to anticipated supply constraints on components with heavy rare earth content. Sales to U.S. customers accounted for 57% of Q3 revenue, with Europe, Canada and Asia Pacific representing the balance. Breaking down performance by market. Industrial market revenue advanced 20%, led by strong demand for power quality solutions in data centers as well as improving industrial automation trends, which more than offset softness in oil and gas. Medical grew 6% with surgical instruments offsetting weaker mobility solutions. Vehicle sales were up 6%, supported by commercial automotive and construction. Aerospace and defense revenue was up 2% as scheduled defense and space program deliveries continued. We did experience some short-term shipment delays linked to customer validations during our Dothan facility transition, but overall, demand remains intact and positions us well as validations complete. Distribution channel sales were down 6%, though they represent a smaller share of our overall mix. Turning to Slide 6. Here, we show the composition of our revenue over the trailing 12 months, along with the year-over-year change in each market and the key drivers of that change. As you can see, our industrial market is our largest vertical at 48% of total revenue, supported by continued strength in data center applications. While industrial automation is still working through the tail end of destocking, we are seeing healthier order flow, which has helped offset softer demand in oil and gas applications. Aerospace and defense increased to 15% of revenue, reflecting both timing of defense and space program deliveries as well as strong execution on our growth initiatives in this sector. Demand remains solid and our pipeline in defense continues to provide visibility and sustained growth. Medical accounted for 15% of revenue led by higher demand for surgical instruments. This growth was partially offset by softness in certain pump-related products and mobility solutions. But overall, the medical sector continues to represent a steady contributor. Vehicle represented 17% of revenue compared with 22% in the prior year. The year-over-year decline primarily reflects reduced demand in powersports and select truck applications. That said, within the quarter, we did see strength from commercial automotive helping to partially balance the softness in recreational markets. Overall, this slide reinforces that our revenue base is better aligned with higher-value, margin-accretive opportunities. We are deliberately positioning the company towards markets with strong secular growth drivers while also managing through areas experiencing softness. Turning to Slide 7. Gross profit reached $46.2 million with gross margin expanding to a record 33.3%, up 190 basis points year-over-year and 10 basis points sequentially. This marks our fifth consecutive quarter of margin expansion. Drivers included mix improvement, higher volumes, disciplined lean manufacturing execution. On Slide 8, operating income increased sharply to $12.2 million or 8.8% of revenue, reflecting the continued scalability of our business model. This represents an improvement of 350 basis points year-over-year and 40 basis points sequentially. Operating leverage was a key driver as operating expenses declined to 24.5% of revenue, a 160-basis point improvement versus last year, even as we continue to invest in strategic initiatives. This demonstrates the effectiveness of our cost discipline and the structural benefits we are capturing. Our Simplify to Accelerate Now program continues to play a central role in driving these results. We delivered $10 million in annualized savings in 2024, and we remain on track to achieve an additional $6 million to $7 million in 2025. These savings are being realized through footprint optimization, accelerated product development and lean manufacturing disciplines. Importantly, we are already beginning to see margin tailwinds from the Dothan Fabrication Center of Excellence, with the full benefit expected to phase in during the latter part of 2025. We did record $800,000 in realignment costs during the third quarter to support this transformation, but these actions are positioning us for sustained efficiency and margin improvement moving forward. Slide 9 shows our bottom line performance. Net income more than tripled year-over-year to $6.5 million or $0.39 per diluted share. Adjusted net income was $9.9 million or $0.59 per share. Our effective income tax rate was 22.2% for the third quarter of 2025, and we continue to expect our full year rate to land between 21% and 23%. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $20.3 million or 14.6% of revenue, driven by strong conversion on higher volumes and a more favorable mix. This represents margin expansion of 310 basis points year-over-year and 20 basis points sequentially. Turning to Slide 10. Year-to-date operating cash flow was $43.1 million, up 46% from last year. This reflects both stronger profit generation and disciplined working capital execution. Our free cash flow this past quarter was impacted by approximately $5 million of temporary inventory build largely tied to rare earth magnets and to ensure continuity during the Dothan transition. In addition, we experienced a modest increase in days sales outstanding, which rose to 61 days, reflecting sales mix, and we also had the timing impact of certain insurance premium payments. Despite these temporary factors, our underlying cash generation remains very strong. Year-to-date capital expenditures of $5.1 million reflected continued investment in key customer-driven projects. Given project timing and fourth quarter expectations, we have narrowed our full year CapEx forecast to $6.5 million to $8.5 million from the prior $8 million to $10 million range. Importantly, we are executing well against our 3 financial priorities for 2025. Reducing inventory and strengthening working capital management, we've already improved inventory turns to 3 in Q3, up from 2.7 at year-end despite the temporary build this quarter. Cost discipline, evident in our SG&A leverage and ongoing benefits with Simplify to Accelerate Now. Reducing debt, supported by the strong cash flow we've generated. With that, let's turn to Slide 11 to review the impact on our balance sheet. Debt declined by $12 million sequentially in Q3, bringing total year-to-date debt reduction to nearly $34 million. Net debt now stands at $150.8 million, and our leverage ratio has improved to 2.1x compared with 3 at the end of 2024. This consistent deleveraging, combined with strong liquidity, provides us with substantial flexibility to continue investing in strategic priorities while also strengthening our financial foundation. With that, if you advance to Slide 12, I will now turn the call back over to Dick.

Thank you, Jim. Orders in Q3 totaled $133.1 million, down slightly from Q2, but up significantly from last year. Our book-to-bill ratio of 0.96 reflects the normal seasonal cadence we typically see, and importantly, it also underscores solid underlying demand, particularly in our industrial and A&D markets despite the cancellation of the M10 Booker tank program by the U.S. Army, which did have a direct impact on Allient. Our backlog ended the quarter at $231 million, with the majority expected to ship within the next 3 to 9 months, consistent with our historical conversion patterns. This backlog mix, together with our active quoting pipeline, gives us confidence in the resiliency of demand. As we look ahead, we recognize that the global industrial environment is gradually improving but remains uneven. Policy and tariff risk, supply normalization and cost volatility continued to influence capital deployment across many verticals. We continue to proactively address tariff-related challenges. Although mitigation efforts are underway, tariffs resulted in a net quarterly impact of approximately $385,000 that we were unable to recover through pricing or other measures. The majority of this impact occurred within our power quality business, and mitigation efforts are already underway. On rare earth supply, even though it appears that we will gain some breathing room given the agreement that was reached with China, our multipronged strategy, which includes broadening suppliers, qualifying alternative materials and managing inventory dynamically in close collaboration with customers will continue to be central to our strategic supply chain security initiatives. At the same time, our focus is primarily on advancing strategic initiatives that enhance long-term value, driving further margin expansion, maintaining working capital discipline and investing in technology for higher-value solutions. The operational and financial momentum we generated in Q3 provides a strong foundation to carry forward into the balance of the year. Finally, it's important to remember that secular growth drivers such as electrification, automation, energy efficiency, digital infrastructure and precision control continue to underpin our strategy. These themes align directly with Allient's capabilities and positions us to deliver sustainable profitable growth through varying market conditions. With that, operator, please open the line for questions.

And the first question comes from Tomo Sano with JPMorgan.

I'd like to ask about the orders and backlog for the first. And the book-to-bill ratio remained healthy at 0.96, as you mentioned. And how would you view the quality and the visibility of the current backlog? And are there any areas of concern?

Overall, I want to clarify that we would have exceeded 1, but we did have a cancellation in our backlog related to the M10 Booker program. If it weren’t for that, we would have been above 1. Regarding quality, we are very pleased with what we're observing. The power quality sector, particularly in data centers, is performing well. We see solid activity in defense, and industrial sectors are beginning to improve. Europe has also started to show signs of recovery in industrial areas, although it’s not back to previous levels. Overall, we are quite encouraged by the quality and margin potential from our new orders and existing backlog.

And a follow-up on the margin side and especially like Simplify to Accelerate Now initiatives. Could you elaborate on the progress and the future potential of the initiatives for 2026? Are there further cost savings or margin opportunities ahead?

Yes, definitely. This year, I would say that some of the actions taken last year and this year were relatively straightforward, and we've confirmed that these actions have led to legitimate cost savings. The major step this year involved our Dothan facility, which previously handled final assembly integration, testing operations, and some machining, and was mixed with various markets and product types. This year, we worked on transferring production from Dothan to two other facilities, one in Reynosa, Mexico, and another in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which aligns better with our markets and the products being produced. In Dothan, we will maintain a strong machining capability, and this is where we discuss the transition of Dothan into a fabrication center of excellence. This transition is set to begin early next year after the transfer is expected to be completed by the end of this year and extended into next year. We see many opportunities for cost optimization concerning the components we have been purchasing and re-evaluating some aspects of our operations for better strategic sourcing. Therefore, I view this as an opportunity to advance our fabrication center, where we expect to achieve significant cost savings and growth in other areas. We have promising opportunities contingent upon our continued expansion in high-precision motion applications, which Dothan will support. I want to emphasize that when we say fabrication, we refer to both additive manufacturing and machining, not just machining alone. In the past, we talked about a machining center of excellence due to their operations, but we believe there is added value in fabrication as well. Additionally, we are establishing guidelines and working closely with all our operations. We had to clarify some of our businesses, focusing on necessary investments, design cycle times, and lead times for design wins and produced products, which previously created inefficiencies. We are now better aligned and close to completing these efforts, enhancing our alignment with the vertical markets we serve and streamlining production processes for consistency. This alignment allows us to identify significant improvement opportunities, which will unfold in the coming year. While we have yet to specifically quantify the cost savings, we are also focused on the front end. We are looking for business opportunities that offer better margin capabilities, ensuring we don't get drawn into activities that appear valuable but may actually involve considerable capital investment and yield lesser returns. Thus, we are concentrated on the right markets that can meet our margin goals without being sidetracked by seemingly great opportunities that could require long-term effort and investment. There's a lot happening.

Congrats on the quarter.

And the next question comes from Greg Palm with Craig-Hallum Capital Group.

Congratulations from me as well. I think at the segment level, industrial definitely stood out. I know you mentioned stronger data center activity, so could you remind us what you're selling into that market? Is there something happening that's driving the increased demand there? Last quarter, you talked about a facility expansion, and I’d like to get more details on that specific market.

You're absolutely right, Greg. The significant increase we've observed in that area is largely due to our data center solutions, specifically related to our power quality equipment. We are expanding our primary facility for producing this product, which we expect to be operational by the second quarter of next year. The demand has seen a notable uptick, and we anticipate this trend will continue. This is one of the key factors driving our growth, and it also has a positive impact on our margins. In the industrial automation sector, we previously experienced a standout year, heavily influenced by supply chain issues. As demand returned, we managed to deliver at a high rate, even noting a $46 million headwind going into last year. Averaging over three years, we expected demand to normalize, and we are indeed observing that this year. Each quarter has shown an encouraging increase in our run rates, and while we aren't quite at the expected normalized run rate yet, we're approaching it. This segment is also concentrated in higher-end controls, which contribute positively to our margins. Regarding other industrial markets, particularly in Europe, we've seen a significant decline, impacting a couple of our businesses with about a 25% reduction. Although we aren’t back to previous levels, we are beginning to make incremental improvements and have a path ahead to recover and ideally surpass those levels. However, I anticipate the ramp-up will be gradual as we move into next year. On the defense side, we are encountering numerous exciting opportunities, especially in the drone sector. Our established manufacturing capabilities are being leveraged to meet the rising demands for various drone applications. We are well-prepared to cater to both cost-effective disposable drones and high-performance models in the market. There is considerable activity in this area, and we’re optimistic about our position to capitalize on these opportunities. Additionally, there have been some munitions orders released, and we expect those orders to come through soon, with promising signs of volume increases. The medical sector has shown positive trends as well, particularly in medical instrumentation and surgical services. Overall, I would say the indicators are favorable. We have discussed our ongoing efforts to enhance our cost structure and improve efficiencies. Your question about growth opportunities reflects our current focus on addressing these areas.

When might we see more of an uptick or a step-up in the drone space specifically? And then maybe you can just confirm, since you mentioned defense overall as a segment, what was the bookings impact on that M10 program?

The bookings impact for this year was approximately $5 million that we had to absorb. The long-term effect for us is a backlog of shipments averaging around $7 million a year for several years ahead. We have done a lot of work on that. We are currently reviewing costs, and there are definitely cancellations occurring. We are unsure if there will be another outlet for the M10 Booker tank. At this point, it appears that the program will be winding down, completing orders that are already in production and canceling the remainder. This quarter reflects a $5 million impact. As I stated, it would have resulted in a positive book-to-bill ratio. Regarding the drone, it's similar to other processes; we need to go through the design cycle and get approvals. We are already involved in drone applications and expect to see more growth. I believe we will see an increase in activity throughout next year.

It's encouraging to see that you're generating mid-teens EBITDA margins and have had two consecutive strong quarters. While you probably won't disclose specific future targets, it appears that a significant portion of your business is still operating below historical revenue levels. As volumes improve, it seems likely that you will continue to experience additional operating leverage. Is that an accurate assessment?

Yes, that's a fair observation. I'm focusing on evaluating each aspect, including the foundation we have created, what we refer to as technology units, and how we reorganize the companies into business units to set specific targets. Each component needs to contribute and improve, which is crucial. I believe we are now establishing clarity on what we can achieve. I'm confident this will lead to improvements across all areas, which is our objective. There are definitely opportunities to explore here.

And the next question comes from Ted Jackson with Northland Securities.

I have a few questions for you. There are some minor items to address and then a few larger ones. Regarding the situation with the tank, which is disappointing, will you need to account for any write-downs in future periods because of that?

No. No, there's full recovery of costs in transit. We're working through that right now. But no, we will not have to write anything down.

Okay. Then going over to the positive FX impact. Within your revenue verticals, where was that?

Yes, that was in the euro-denominated transactions.

I mean, but was it in any –- it was across any verticals? Was it concentrated into anything in particular, I mean, industrial, for instance?

No, no.

Okay. Can you remind me about the orders that were pulled forward from the third quarter into the second quarter? What verticals were those in?

Power quality primarily. HVAC.

In the vehicle market, I know you've worked very hard at reducing your exposure in the powersports sector, and I'm curious about the revenue mix in that segment. You mentioned strength in commercial vehicles and construction, so how much of your business is now related to powersports? What is the revenue distribution between powersports and construction, and how much comes from commercial vehicles? Additionally, could you provide some insight into your solutions in construction and commercial vehicles?

I want to start by saying that we haven’t provided detailed specifics on the market percentages in the past, but I can give you some guidance. We've always indicated that commercial automotive would be less than 10% of our annual revenues, and it currently is below that threshold. We’re focused on maintaining core unit volume, which gives us strategic purchasing power and allows us to apply our automotive market knowledge to other related vehicle markets, helping us achieve cost advantages. Our commercial automotive market is performing well. A few years ago, we faced challenges related to supply chain issues and price increases, but we’ve successfully navigated those obstacles, and the overall performance has been positive. Regarding powersports, we mentioned that one of our major customers had plans to diversify their supply sources, which affected our business starting over a year ago, leading us to lose some of that revenue. As a result, the powersports sector is currently down and below 10% of our total business. To provide context, back in 2013 or 2014, powersports accounted for around 22% to 23% of our business, but now it has decreased to below 10%. We believe this is a healthy shift, though we recognize there are factors that will impact it moving forward, such as tariffs and trade agreements. We have developed a strong solution that performs well, and we're also seeing diversification into other markets. However, powersports has significantly changed from its peak, especially when power steering became standard in vehicles, during which we enjoyed higher margins. Currently, we also see contributions from large trucks, rail, marine, construction, buses, and agricultural vehicles, which collectively make up a solid part of our business. We are focusing on growing these areas, and that’s the best insight I can provide at this time. I hope that clarifies things for you.

No, it's great insight, Dick. I appreciate it. If you look at that segment, as you mentioned, a little over a year ago, you shifted to dual sourcing. The business has really stabilized, hovering around $20 million to $22 million in quarterly revenue. This is the current state of that business. The challenges it faced, particularly in powersports, are easing. I want to understand the mix to determine where the growth will come now that you're in this situation. The powersports market itself seems to be flatlining at this point, and there are other verticals to consider. I want to understand this better because this segment is actually positioned to start performing better. I had another question I wanted to ask quickly. Give me a moment; I lost my train of thought. I'll step back for now, but if it comes to me, I'll jump back in.

And that does conclude the question-and-answer session. So I would like to turn the floor to management for any closing comments.

Well, thank you, everyone, for joining us on today's call and for your interest in Allient. As always, please feel free to reach out to us at any time, and we look forward to talking to you all again after our fourth quarter 2025 results. Have a great day.

Thank you. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines.