Earnings Call Transcript - ECL Q4 2020

Mike Monahan, Senior Vice President, External Relations

Thank you. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Ecolab’s Fourth Quarter Conference Call. With me today are Christophe Beck, Ecolab’s CEO; and Dan Schmechel, our CFO. A discussion of our results along with our earnings release and the slides referencing the quarter’s results are available on Ecolab’s website at ecolab.com/investor. Please take a moment to read the cautionary statements in these materials which state that this teleconference and the associated supplemental materials include estimates of future performance. These are forward-looking statements, and actual results could differ materially from those projected. Factors that could cause actual results to differ are described under the risk factors section in our Form 10-Q for the period ended September 20, 2020, September 30, 2020, and in our posted materials. We also refer you to the supplemental diluted earnings per share information in the release. Starting with a brief overview, fourth quarter earnings continued to show sequential improvement despite the negative impact of a greater-than-expected second COVID wave. As earnings per share decline narrowed once again, as we leveraged our new business wins, increased customer penetration and digital technology, along with lower costs to show the sequentially better results. As before, roughly 80% of our aggregated business showed good sales and strong income growth. Our Institutional Division, which is roughly 20% of our current sales, remained the most impacted, reflecting the effects of COVID-driven restrictions on global restaurants and hotels. But we also note that Institutional is the business that could benefit the most over the coming years as long-term hygiene standards continue to rise. In 2020, we took a number of actions and made targeted investments for post-COVID success. We believe we emerged from 2020 better positioned as our business wins, new product development, digital platforms and our improved field sales force effectiveness should lead to a more effective and profitable Ecolab business. Looking ahead, we expect global efforts to reduce COVID spread, and the expanded rollout of vaccines will lead to further global economic improvement in 2021. We believe our strengthened business will deliver full-year 2021 earnings above 2019 results from continuing operations. For the first quarter, we expect a year-on-year percentage decline, showing modest sequential improvement from the fourth quarter, with the remaining quarters of 2021 showing strong year-on-year growth. In a world challenged by COVID, we saw the value of Ecolab’s premium product and service expertise underscored through strong new business growth, as well as our strengthened existing customer relationships despite the difficult market conditions. Our position as a leader in food safety, clean water, and healthy environments has become even more important. We believe that this position, along with our long-term growth opportunities, remains robust, driven by our significant remaining market opportunity, our leading global market position, our focus on providing our strong customer base with improved results while lowering their water, energy, and other operating costs, and our strong financial position with resilient free cash flow. We believe these sustainable long-term business drivers will continue to lead to superior long-term performance for Ecolab and our investors. And now here’s Christophe Beck with his comments.

Christophe Beck, CEO

Thank you so much, Mike, and good afternoon, everyone. It’s a pleasure for me to lead my first quarterly conference call as CEO to share with you our results and our expectations for the future. It’s no understatement to say that these are exciting times to lead this great company when what we do and, most importantly, the way we do it matters more than ever. Ecolab is an exceptional company based on solid foundations and strong values. I’ve had the chance to be part of shaping where we are today and where we’re going tomorrow, so do not expect any sharp turns, as I will keep building on what’s made us strong, resilient, predictable, and successful. The challenges the world is facing today are ultimately also long-term opportunities for Ecolab, and I believe that the best is still yet to come. So I look forward to sharing with you our progress and ambition in this and in other forums. Our performance continued to improve in the fourth quarter, in spite of the short-term reversal of global market trends and like what we and most actually sold coming out of the third quarter Earnings Call. COVID cases went up, lockdowns expanded and restrictions got tighter in most places. For instance, right after our Q3 call, Germany moved from 40% of restaurants being closed to 100%, and a third of the U.S. states tightened restrictions. Nonetheless, our adjusted EPS continued to improve and narrow its decline, decreasing 16% in Q4 versus the minus 24 in Q3. We could have easily delivered more in Q4, but instead, we decided to keep increasing our growth investments in innovation, digital technology, health capabilities, and backbone infrastructure in the quarter to be ready for the rebound and the opportunities post-COVID. Our consolidated sales trend has remained stable versus the third quarter, which is a good indication as well that our investment strategy is working, and importantly, our cash flow remains strong, with fourth quarter free cash flow improved versus the prior year. Excluding the Institutional division, 80% of our aggregated business grew sales 2%, and operating income increased a strong 17%. Healthcare Life Sciences posted 22% top-line growth and a very strong 65% operating income growth. Our largest segment, Industrial, delivered a robust 18% operating income growth with a modest sales decline of 3%. While we will keep improving the performance of all our businesses, Institutional will remain our primary near-term focus, and progress is being made. With temporary closures and unpromised traffic both worsened in the fourth quarter versus the third quarter in the U.S., our Institution bench strength remained unchanged and our margins continue to recover. In 2020, as COVID hit, I believe we responded really well to a unique situation in a global restaurant and hotel industry that’s historically been highly consistent and predictable. We protected our team and our business to make sure we were ready to capture the growth when the market reopens. We took great care of our key customers and enjoyed one of our strongest years of both retention and new business wins. We immediately provided all of our customers with world-class scientific expertise and comprehensive programs like the new no-rinse range of premium sanitizers. It’s a program that kills the COVID-19 virus in 15 seconds; we believe faster than anything else in the world. And we helped our customers protect their business while reassuring their guests with Ecolab Science Certified, a new program that has quickly established itself as a leading certification program in the U.S. We’ve also accelerated the work started a few years ago to continuously augment our critical field sales and service capabilities. We used 2020 to accelerate the implementation of our latest digital field technology, and we expect this technology to further improve our field service effectiveness, customer experience, and operational performance. At the same time, we finalized the fine-tuning of our field safe organization started 18 months ago, so pre-COVID. We expect this to further increase sales firepower and drive unit and penetration share gains as we’ve mentioned over the past few calls. With all of this, I believe Institutional is well positioned to benefit from the market reopening and from the rise of global hygiene standards. Now more broadly, we entered 2021 in a position of real strength. While we expect COVID-19 will continue to have a significant effect on the economy and our end markets, especially in the early part of the year, we expect to see the beginning of the COVID-19 recovery for our global markets to start in the second quarter. It will then take a few quarters to fully realize the new normal. However, we believe that our strong new business wins, product and service innovation, investment in new hygiene and digital technologies, and successful sales and profit initiatives will deliver full-year 2021 earnings above 2019 results from continuing operations. We expect the first quarter to show a modest improvement in year-on-year percentage decline versus the fourth quarter, while the remaining quarters of 2021 will show very strong year on year. In other words, 2021 should be a strong rebound for Ecolab. With hygiene standards that are rising fast, we’re ready to respond to these new trends with breakthrough solutions and a brand that inspires trust. With water and climate challenges that have just gotten tougher, we’re uniquely positioned to help our customers reach their sustainability ambitions with a high financial return. And with an unbeatable global team supported by state-of-the-art digital technology, we look into the future with a great deal of confidence. I look forward to your questions. Mike, the floor is back to you.

Mike Monahan, Senior Vice President, External Relations

Thanks, Christophe. That concludes our formal remarks. Operator, would you please begin the question-and-answer period?

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our first question will be coming from Tim Mulrooney with William Blair. Please proceed with your questions.

Tim Mulrooney, Analyst

I really only have one question, one thing that I want to talk about, which is this. You mentioned improvements in your Field Services organization implemented over the last 18 months. I think that’s part of your Institutional advancement program. And I’m not asking you to give away any competitive secrets here, but can you talk about what those improvements were? Specifically, I think you mentioned improving sales firepower, which should drive both new unit sales and market share gains. Thank you.

Christophe Beck, CEO

Would love to. Thank you, Tim. Great question. So as you mentioned and as mentioned in my intro as well, those are developments that we had started a few years ago. We’ve made those developments by working together with our field teams and our technology partners as well. We’ve tested those at numerous occasions, really making sure that everything is working efficiently because it’s so important for our team. We were really aiming at two objectives that we’ve accelerated during the past few quarters because we had a unique opportunity during COVID to get it done faster. We could train our people as well during the times that they had available. The first objective is really to help the service delivery. What does that mean for our teams? Ultimately, these digital tools are helping them get their daily program that’s being optimized by the system. If they get an emergency call that’s coming within the daily program, it’s rerouted to ensure they can handle it with minimum time and mileage to get there. They receive all the customer information in real-time when they visit the customer. They have tools to sell better any new solutions, and they have training tools to share with the customers to ensure that those programs are being used as efficiently as possible. The first objective is really about improving the customer experience. It’s improving the work performance of our teams, allowing them to spend more time with the customer. The second objective is really on the sales side of our team. It’s to help them sell more. We’ve shared many times our ambition to increase penetration. These systems are helping do that because they give you real-time customer information. Our teams know how the customer is performing with the products they’re using, the new products that we could be adding, and again showcase the results that have been accomplished. So at the end of the day, it’s easier for our team, it’s better for the customer, and it costs less for the company.

Tim Mulrooney, Analyst

Thank you.

Operator, Operator

Our next question is from the line of Manav Patnaik with Barclays. Please proceed with your question.

Manav Patnaik, Analyst

Thank you. I had a question regarding breakout areas, seeing how Life Sciences has become a very nice growth area for you guys. I think at your last Investor Day you talked about several new ones, and I was just wondering if you could give us some color there and if anything else has popped up either during the past year.

Christophe Beck, CEO

Thank you, Manav. Expanding our total addressable market has also been part of the Ecolab strategy. Finding new growth avenues and aligning resources behind them has been a key component of the company’s growth. You mentioned Life Science. We started this business a few years ago, and it’s turning into exceptional performance. COVID has obviously helped, as the need for our former customers has grown tremendously, driving significant innovation. This includes ensuring that they can produce vaccines in the safest and most profitable way. Interestingly, that way of approaching things has helped us open new markets like data centers. We started that two years ago when we observed that companies were outsourcing their IT to larger companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, etc., and weren’t engaging them with solutions. Those computers generate a lot of energy and need to be cooled down, and we were providing solutions for them as many other customers. We recognized this as a critical market for the future and created a dedicated division behind it, which we did even before COVID. When COVID struck, cloud usage surged, and it’s a market that has been booming since then. The last area I’ll mention is Animal Health. We know that consumers don’t want antibiotics in their food, so how do we help animals stay healthy within the food chain from the outset? That’s how we created a division there. We made a significant acquisition early last year with CID Lines, which has established that critical mass, leading to double-digit growth since the acquisition. So those are just a few examples.

Manav Patnaik, Analyst

Got it. That’s helpful. And I was hoping you could just help us with the cadence of costs and maybe margins for the first part of the year, especially with respect to the rising cost of your raw materials, please.

Christophe Beck, CEO

Manav, just to clarify, you mean for 2021 here, or 2020?

Manav Patnaik, Analyst

Well, 2021, just with the recent increase in all the raw materials, how should we think about how that flows through your numbers?

Christophe Beck, CEO

Yeah, so margins have been improving over time in our businesses, as you’ve noted for many years. In 2020 since the low in Q2, we expect that trend to continue in the quarters to come in 2021, keeping in mind that we see the year 2021 in two parts. The first quarter will be similar to what we’ve experienced in Q4, and then the reopening of the end markets in Q2 will bring clear ramp-ups in Q3 and Q4. So, expect it slightly better in Q1 and then more significant improvements in Q2. We do have good pricing power. Currently, raw materials are expected to be benign, but recent indications show some rising costs in raw materials. We’ll have to mitigate that, but this is something we’ve managed effectively in many situations similar to those we've experienced in the past few years.

Operator, Operator

Our next question is from the line of John Roberts with UBS. Please proceed with your question.

John Roberts, Analyst

Thanks, and congrats on ranking near the top of the Barron’s sustainability list last weekend.

Christophe Beck, CEO

Thank you, John.

John Roberts, Analyst

A few vacation locations have actually seen pretty solid hotel occupancy and restaurant traffic; not a lot but some have. Do you have any data to show in those specific areas that the overall cleaning product revenue per room or revenue per diner has structurally increased since the pre-pandemic levels?

Christophe Beck, CEO

I don’t have detailed numbers to share with you, but it’s very clear that in the spaces that have reopened, such as the ones you mentioned, we’ve helped those customers with more solutions to prevent the risk of infection. This has led to better sales than what we had before. To your point, those are individual areas like vacation groups that you described. Unfortunately, those are just selective ones, but they are good indications at the moment that the overall market is going to reopen. That’s how we expect it to unfold in the second quarter, compounding our growth opportunities in those units.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of David Begleiter with Deutsche Bank. Please proceed with your questions.

David Begleiter, Analyst

Thank you. Christophe, Industrial had a very strong quarter and full year. Looking at Industrial in 2021, can that segment expand margins? How much of a headwind will these discretionary costs be as they come back into the numbers in 2021?

Christophe Beck, CEO

Yes, Industrial will keep developing its margins. It’s been the case, as you noted, in 2020. In 2021, we expect pricing to remain at a similar level as we’ve seen. The raw materials will be a bigger headwind than what we experienced in 2020. So net-net, margins will be similar but operating income will keep growing.

Dan Schmechel, CFO

Sure. Thank you. To ground us in the very strong performance that we had in 2020, first of all, working capital was a net contributor to strong cash flow because although we saw a little deterioration in collections and an increase in inventory from a days perspective, the favorable cash flow effect from declining volumes made working capital a net contributor. Moving into 2021, it will be somewhat the opposite; as the business continues to rebound, we’ll invest more in receivables and inventory. So not significantly, but we’ll invest in working capital in 2021. Having said that, we’ll remain very focused on collections. We are determined to be paid for the value we create for customers. Regarding inventory, our expectation is to build the right inventory for the right customers in anticipation of the rebound. The favorable inventory dynamics from 2020 will reverse in 2021, but it won’t be a significant drag on overall cash flow performance.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Gary Bisbee with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.

Gary Bisbee, Analyst

Hey, guys. Good afternoon. I guess the first question is just to go back to the Institutional initiatives. Can you provide a little more detail? I’m trying to get at how much of it is about rightsizing costs versus other changes that would promote growth? Your prepared remarks clearly touch on the spend to deliver this and cost savings after the fact, but what you discussed earlier focused more on growth positioning. Just a little more color would be appreciated. Thank you.

Christophe Beck, CEO

Thank you, Gary. It’s not cost-driven. What we’re doing in Institutional is part of an ongoing initiative for years. It’s driven by two things. First, as mentioned earlier, increasing our sales firepower. We always want more dedicated people towards selling new customers and new solutions to existing ones. We’ve shared earlier our ambitions to increase penetration by 20%. We need to increase our sales force accordingly, which requires more people and dedicated hours. Technology significantly assists in this regard. On the other side, our service is focused on improving customer experience. When one of our service representatives visits a customer, we want them to spend minimal time collecting data or organizing paperwork. With better organization, they can effectively address any issues a customer may have. If that works, it’s beneficial for both the customers and for us. Ultimately, we enhance our sales firepower and improve service efficiency, leading to a better cost structure overall. So regarding long-term contracts, yes, we usually sign agreements with most of our customers globally. This is our business model, and it will continue. We have plans to increase demand from all of them, which is why we invest heavily in our customers. To Mike’s earlier point, 80% of our aggregated business has been growing in 2020. Those segments will maintain growth in 2021.

Gary Bisbee, Analyst

Okay. That’s helpful. Then can you help us think through volumes earned in areas that have benefited from the pandemic, such as sanitizers or disinfectants? How might those persist versus moderate at some point in the future? Are you signing new long-term contracts with volume expectations, or is there a risk that incremental revenue could decrease once the pandemic is behind us? Thank you.

Christophe Beck, CEO

Yes, we always establish contracts with the vast majority of our customers globally—that’s part of our model and will continue. We expect demand to keep rising across the board, which is why we dedicate so much to supporting our customers. To Mike’s comment, 80% of our aggregated business has been growing in 2020. These businesses will continue to grow in 2021. We anticipate a mix difference over time, with Life Sciences seeing elevated demand for understandable reasons. In healthcare, we secured contracts for government deals related to COVID, yielding underlying growth estimates at around 5% to 6%, which is our baseline—as how we run the business. While growth comparisons in 2021 will appear softer, this is due to an unfair comparison rather than a decline in actual performance expectations. I expect sustainable performance from these products, although sanitizer growth probably won’t match the standards we saw during the peak of COVID, but will at least exceed pre-COVID levels from 2019.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Rosemary Morbelli with G Research. Please proceed with your question.

Rosemary Morbelli, Analyst

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone.

Christophe Beck, CEO

Good afternoon, Rosemary.

Rosemary Morbelli, Analyst

Just going back to the demand, the high demand in Life Sciences and healthcare, do you have a sense that there may be some inventory build-up in some of the channels, and could you see a decline in revenues for full-year 2021?

Christophe Beck, CEO

I don’t think so, Rosemary. Life Sciences operates on a direct business model, so there isn’t any in-between distribution, mostly bulk product that’s not really storable. The inventory is essentially just-in-time in Life Science and has grown strong over 2020 and plans to continue growing in 2021. While we recognize that 2020 was an exceptional year, and comparisons made in 2021 will appear softer, it is essential to focus on the underlying growth, which, as we have always managed our business, is projected to stabilize at about 5-6% for healthcare.

Rosemary Morbelli, Analyst

Okay. Thanks. That’s helpful. Christophe, looking at 2021, you expect your results to approach those of 2019. Do you expect this to be the case for all segments? For both revenues and operating income?

Christophe Beck, CEO

The 80% we discussed, with healthcare, Life Sciences, and Industrial, will be ahead of 2019 as they performed ahead in 2020 as well. They are expected to continue that momentum through 2021. In contrast, Institutional, starting at a much lower level in Q2 2020, has seen moderate improvements in Q3 and Q4. Q1 is expected to remain steady. However, the recovery will accelerate, aiming for improvement in Q2 and beyond. We should consider that we will be making investments in the business throughout 2021, the same as we did in 2020, and I’ll continue to increase those investments. The mix may be unfavorable due to the slower recovery in Institutional, but we are confident the earnings for 2021 will exceed those of 2019.

Operator, Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Chris Parkinson with Credit Suisse. Please proceed with your questions.

Chris Parkinson, Analyst

Great. Thank you. Despite a fairly choppy fourth quarter and first quarter, there were some positive aspects highlighted across your supplemental presentations. When speaking to your teams, can you highlight two or three end markets for which you’re now incrementally more confident or constructive, given pent-up demand once the world truly opens back up? Additionally, any insights on preliminary share gains would be greatly appreciated.

Christophe Beck, CEO

To be clear, Chris, you’re asking about the end markets we anticipate rebounding during 2021?

Chris Parkinson, Analyst

Yes. And any comments on market share would be great. Thank you.

Christophe Beck, CEO

Okay. The primary area is definitely Institutional, so restaurants and hotels. We gauge performance in this down-market today by examining the number of units compared to the low point in Q2 and how many solutions we sell to existing units. It’s crucial we improve our base so that once demand returns, we can scale growth rapidly. We anticipate this not to happen in Q1 but in the second quarter. The second area is downstream, directly tied to oil and gas demand. As cars, planes, and cruise ships begin operating again, oil and gas demand is set to surge. Our focus is on refineries and providing more solutions to them, and that sector looks promising currently. Those are two major areas that we foresee rebounding in the second quarter. All other significant businesses remain on a path of improvement.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vincent Andrews with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed with your questions.

Vincent Andrews, Analyst

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. I wanted to follow up on the new business wins, particularly in Institutional, but feel free to touch on other segments as well. Given the clear opportunity as COVID hit to secure new business, is there perhaps a second phase of new business opportunities unique to COVID that you anticipate occurring during the reopening, as customers realize they want to change providers or upgrade services? How do you see that situation unfolding?

Christophe Beck, CEO

That’s a great question. In 2020, our net new business was considerably higher than in 2019, which was unexpected. Specifically, Institutional achieved the highest new business generation across the company. This was due to two main factors: our team focused on new business during the pandemic and, importantly, clients sought scientific expertise. Understanding what COVID was and how to adequately address it led many clients to us during that time, including our enhanced capacity to supply, particularly sanitizing products. Demand for those products outstripped supply considerably, and we built lots of capacity to meet that demand for customers. We expect good new business prospects across all businesses in 2021, especially in Institutional, as we proved to clients that we are their reliable partner during COVID.

Vincent Andrews, Analyst

Okay. And, Dan, I have a quick question regarding the balance sheet. Post-retirement healthcare pension benefits seems to have risen, around $140 million year-over-year. Is that primarily due to changes in discount rate assumptions, or is it related to return on plan assets? What drove that?

Dan Schmechel, CFO

Yes, the year-on-year change is primarily driven by discount rates.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question is from the line of John McNulty with BMO Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

John McNulty, Analyst

Yeah, thanks for taking my question. The ESG emphasis, especially from Industrial customers, appears larger than anticipated a few years ago. In light of that, when considering your water platform on the Industrial side, can you address the engagement level you’re experiencing? Is it higher than you expected a couple of years ago when you provided a long-term outlook with a growth rate of 6% to 8%? Have we reached a tipping point where we might see multiple years of growth acceleration?

Christophe Beck, CEO

The interest in ESG has definitely exceeded our expectations. During COVID, I initially thought it would lose focus, but thankfully, that hasn’t happened. Notably, we’ve had more customers approaching us for assistance in achieving their ESG ambitions in water usage, carbon dioxide emissions, waste management, and more. Concurrently, many are asking us to share our internal practices and achievements as we have been recognized for our own efforts. For example, a large consumer goods company approached us towards the end of last year requesting a plan to become water positive by 2030. Such requests are new to us, yet we know how to respond effectively. Microsoft announced their ambition to be water positive by 2030 as well, and we are helping them reach that goal. This trend is continuously growing larger, surpassing what I initially anticipated.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Justin Hauke with Robert W. Baird. Please proceed with your questions.

Justin Hauke, Analyst

Hi. Thank you. I wanted to ask some questions about the restructuring program, just because it has changed a couple of times and it’s somewhat difficult to track where you are. Regarding the $355 million total spend you’re discussing through 2023, what’s been spent under those programs as of the end of 2020? Also, for the $365 million in annual savings that you’re looking for in 2024, what’s the current run rate within the 2020 base?

Christophe Beck, CEO

I’ll let Dan address that.

Dan Schmechel, CFO

Sure. So just to clarify, we disclosed an actual cost associated with the $365 million of anticipated savings of $335 million, of which at the end of 2020, $275 million has been accrued. We’re making excellent progress across all these programs. From a run rate perspective, as of the end of 2020, we’ve recognized about $200 million of total savings. Expect significant pickup in 2021, which will more or less stabilize or taper off through 2022 to 2024.

Justin Hauke, Analyst

Thanks. That’s helpful. To clarify, when you mention that 2021 adjusted earnings will exceed the comparable 2019 level, I believe you referenced a pro forma number that excluded Champion at $520 million. Is that the benchmark we should use?

Dan Schmechel, CFO

We would steer you toward the continuing operations number, which is $512 million in 2019.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of P.J. Juvekar with Citigroup. Please proceed with your question.

P.J. Juvekar, Analyst

Yes. Hi, good afternoon, Christophe, and welcome.

Christophe Beck, CEO

Thank you, P.J.

P.J. Juvekar, Analyst

In your Institutional advancement program, where you’re investing in field reps and digital technology, is all of this aimed at gaining market share? Are your customers demanding this? How do you charge for it, primarily through market share gains? Lastly, how do you perceive your competition doing in relation to this?

Christophe Beck, CEO

Great question. Our perspective on market share is self-serving; we prefer to frame it around what’s right for the customer. During COVID, our Institutional arena taught us customers need comprehensive solutions. Infection risk management isn’t solely about sanitizing hands; it encompasses sanitizing tables, floors, drains, and ensuring food safety, among other things. The customer asks, ‘Which partner can help me safeguard everything in my unit?’ Currently, Ecolab stands out as that partner. Thus, our organizational changes aim to address these customer needs and to package solutions that ensure maximum safety and security for their operation.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mike Harrison with Seaport Global Securities. Please proceed with your questions.

Mike Harrison, Analyst

Hi. Good afternoon.

Christophe Beck, CEO

Good afternoon, Mike.

Mike Harrison, Analyst

I wanted to ask about your competitor, Diversey. They recently entered into a partnership with a water treatment provider to target the food and beverage market more aggressively. Do you think this could shift the competitive dynamics you’re observing in the Food & Beverage or Water sectors?

Christophe Beck, CEO

Well, two things here, Mike. First, we know that water and hygiene together are a winning proposition; we’ve demonstrated this for years. However, partnerships often do not work; this is the second attempt issue we’ve seen from them. The first was with Nalco many years ago, and it didn’t succeed. It's challenging enough within a company to align multiple businesses toward a single customer need, and attempting that with partnerships seems even more difficult. It’s a theoretically good idea, but I wish them luck in practice. Regarding downstream business, while facing challenges due to reduced activity, we recognize the trend towards larger, more integrated petrochemical refineries. The opportunity at larger, complex refineries compared to smaller facilities of equal capacity is favorably skewed towards us as they demand more solutions and yield better margins. This focus is where we aim our resources moving forward, as we’ve seen positive growth in petrochemical, even amid challenging conditions.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Adam Harrington with Stifel. Please proceed with your question.

Adam Harrington, Analyst

Hi. This is Adam on for Shlomo Rosenbaum. I was curious if you could discuss what contributed to the margin level in the Health Care business this quarter and the interplay between delivered product cost, mix, etc.

Christophe Beck, CEO

Health care in 2020 demonstrated strong margin development as compared to 2019. The margins were better in Q3 versus Q4 because the volume was higher due to those one-time government deals previously mentioned. However, the driving factors contributing to margin improvements in health care include focused sales programs, infection prevention strategies, digital technologies, pricing adjustments, and margin development efforts; all of these will continue to support margin improvement in 2021 and beyond.

Adam Harrington, Analyst

Okay. And about the earnings for 2021 in comparison to 2019 levels, can you provide more detail on what needs to happen, as well as how much of that anticipated improvement will stem from explicit cost savings?

Christophe Beck, CEO

Certainly. To achieve the EPS in 2021 that exceeds the $5.12 from 2019, as Dan previously mentioned, there are three primary components. The first is that 80% of our business—Industrial, healthcare, Life Science—needs to keep growing, as they have good momentum from 2020 into 2021. The second point is that Institutional must begin its recovery from Q1, which will be flat, into Q2 and Q3, where improvements are expected toward pre-COVID levels. Lastly, our cost-saving initiatives that Dan highlighted will support us along the way. However, we need to balance those with ongoing investments in our business. As travel resumes and compensation increases, we’ll seek a smart balance between cost management and investments. Together, we believe the momentum in our 80% growing components, institutional recovery, and judicious cost savings will drive toward achieving our targeted outcome for 2021.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. At this time, we’ve reached the end of our question-and-answer session. I’ll hand the floor back to Mr. Mike Monahan for closing comments.

Mike Monahan, Senior Vice President, External Relations

Thank you. That wraps up our fourth quarter conference call. This conference call and the associated discussion and slides will be available for replay on our website. Thank you for your time and participation today, and our best wishes for the rest of the day.

Operator, Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation. This does conclude today’s teleconference. You may now disconnect your lines at this time. Have a wonderful day.