Earnings Call Transcript
Toro Co (TTC)
Earnings Call Transcript - TTC Q3 2023
Operator, Operator
Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to The Toro Company's Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. My name is Gigi, and I'll be your coordinator for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will be facilitating a question-and-answer session toward the end of today's conference. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now like to turn the presentation over to your host for today's conference, Julie Kerekes, Treasurer and Senior Managing Director of Global Tax and Investor Relations. Please proceed, Ms. Kerekes.
Julie Kerekes, Treasurer and Senior Managing Director of Global Tax and Investor Relations
Thank you, and good morning everyone. Our earnings release was issued this morning and a copy can be found in the Investor Information section of our corporate website, thetorocompany.com. We have also posted a third quarter earnings presentation to supplement our earnings release and general investor presentation. On our call today are Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Angie Drake, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Jeremy Steffan, Director, Investor Relations. We begin with our customary forward-looking statement policy. During this call, we will make forward-looking statements regarding our plans and projections for the future. This includes estimates and assumptions regarding financial and operating results as well as economic, technological, weather, market acceptance, acquisition-related, and other factors that may impact our business and customers. You are all aware of the inherent difficulties, risks, and uncertainties in making predictive statements. Our earnings release, as well as our SEC filings detail some of the important risk factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those in our predictions. Please note that we do not have a duty to update our forward-looking statements. In addition, during this call, we will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of historical non-GAAP financial measures to reported GAAP financial measures can be found in our earnings release and on our website in our investor presentations, as well as in our applicable SEC filings. We believe these measures may be useful in performing meaningful comparisons of past and present operating results and cash flows to understand the performance of our ongoing operations and how management views the business. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered superior to or a substitute for the GAAP financial measures presented in our earnings release and this call. With that, I will now turn the call over to Rick.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Julie, and good morning, everyone. We are disappointed by our third quarter results, which came in below our expectations, largely due to a reduction in homeowner demand for residential and professional segment lawn care products. This was driven by a combination of macro factors and unusually unfavorable weather patterns. Demand was strong across the rest of our end customer base, and with that, the other businesses in our diverse portfolio delivered excellent growth. In a moment, I'll discuss our initial estimates and assumptions for the third quarter and which of those did and did not come to fruition. Before I do that, it's important to note that we are encouraged by our continued market leadership, and believe we are well-positioned to drive long-term profitable growth in each of our attractive end markets. We're also excited by today's announcements of our partnership with Lowe's, which we expect will further strengthen our mass retail channel. We'll be discussing this development later in the call. But first, I'd like to explain what drove our lower-than-expected results for the quarter. On our June call, we shared expectations for total company net sales growth slightly below 7% in the third quarter. Instead, our net sales of $1.08 billion was a decline of 7%. We also shared expectations of adjusted diluted earnings per share slightly higher than last year's $1.19, and instead delivered $0.95. When we provided our third quarter and updated full-year outlook on our last call, we outlined the key estimates and assumptions underlying our guidance. These included continued strong demand across key professional segment markets, steady supply chain improvements, reduced volume for solutions geared to homeowners, and more normalized weather patterns for the remainder of the year. The first assumption held. Robust demand continued for products in our underground and specialty construction in golf and grounds businesses within our professional segment. The second assumption also held as the supply chain continued to stabilize. This, along with our operational execution, drove meaningful volume growth for these professional segment businesses on a year-over-year basis. While lead times are improving with more stable supply, the sustained strength in demand continues to keep backlog levels significantly elevated. This leads me to the third and fourth assumptions underlying our guidance, neither of which played out as anticipated. Shipments of lawn care solutions within both our residential and professional segments were down much more significantly than expected. This was driven by a sharp decrease in demand from homeowners during this quarter as compared to prior quarters, combined with an acceleration of channel destocking, and this is what led to the change in performance from our previous expectations. The reduced demand from homeowners was due to a number of macro factors and weather. Macro factors included economic uncertainty, higher interest rates and consumer spending preferences following the exceptional demand during the pandemic. With respect to weather, hot and dry weather patterns persisted across key regions. While the abnormal weather patterns delayed replacement needs, macro factors further reduced demand from homeowners leading to purchase deferrals and some trade-downs to lower-priced models. This in turn led to a reduction in replenishment orders by our residential and professional segment dealer channels. Macro factors also drove an acceleration of destocking by our residential segment mass channel, where in many cases, significant SKUs were left out of stock. For the past several quarters, we have discussed the trend toward more normalized demand patterns for solutions sold to homeowners following a period of exceptional demand during the pandemic. We believe the combination of macro factors and weather factors this quarter exacerbated the rebalancing trend. With this, we now expect dealer inventories of long-term products to be higher than typical heading into next year. These factors also played into the Intimidator Group impairment charges we recorded in connection with the preparation of our third quarter financial statements. Since closing on the acquisition in January of 2022, the operating environment has been more challenging than anticipated. Even so, in its first year of business, delivered top-line growth of 16.5% compared to the 12-month period prior to the acquisition. During the third quarter of this year, the Intimidator business experienced a significant reduction in demand from homeowners who prefer professional solutions, driven by a combination of unfavorable macro factors and unusual weather patterns. As we mentioned on last quarter's call, the end-user sales mix for this business includes a sizable portion of homeowners. In addition, we have also mentioned that this business has a stronger presence in Southern US markets where abnormally hot and dry weather patterns have been more persistent and pronounced than other regions. These factors are reflected in our results and have also dampened our near- to mid-term outlook for this business. While the short-term has not played out as anticipated, we remain confident in our market leadership and our long-term strategy in the attractive zero-turn mower space. We continue to expect benefits from our ability to leverage technology and drive efficiencies in design, procurement, and manufacturing across our three trusted brands: Exmark, Toro, and Spartan. Based on our current visibility for the fourth quarter and taking into account our third quarter results, we are reducing our full-year net sales and adjusted earnings per share guidance. Angie will share the specifics shortly. And while we spelled out the confluence of factors that have affected our near-term outlook, we're encouraged by a number of positive trends and operational initiatives. First, as I mentioned at the outset, we are seeing and expect to continue to see strong performance across much of our professional segment, with notable strength in our underground and specialty construction and golf and grounds businesses. Second, given our long history of delivering consistent positive financial results, we're taking swift action in light of our current market dynamics. This includes scrutinizing all costs, further aligning production with demand, and driving productivity and operational excellence across the enterprise. For our construction and golf and grounds businesses, we intend to enable incremental, flexible production capacity as key component supply continues to stabilize. We expect this will improve lead times and allow us to better serve our customers. Importantly, we plan to leverage our existing manufacturing footprint to do so. And third, we're extremely excited about our new strategic partnership with Lowe's, which was announced in a separate press release this morning. Lowe's leadership position in the zero-turn mower category and strong footprint in key customer markets complements our existing channel strategy, and is expected to bolster placements of our powerful 60-volt battery portfolio. Our full line of Toro-branded all-season outdoor power equipment will be available at Lowe's nationwide for the spring 2024 selling season. As I hand the call over to Angie, I'd like to summarize my introductory remarks by emphasizing the high confidence we have in our ability to navigate the current macro headwinds. And just as importantly, the confidence we have in our ability to continue to capitalize on growth opportunities, including the demand we're seeing across many of our professional businesses and the eventual rebound expected from homeowner markets. With that, I will turn the call over to Angie to walk through the details of our third quarter performance and our updated full-year guidance.
Angie Drake, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Rick, and good morning everyone. While our performance in the third quarter fell short of our expectations, our market leadership remains strong, and many of the businesses in our portfolio delivered excellent growth. Consolidated net sales for the quarter were $1.08 billion, a decrease of 6.8% compared to last year. Reported EPS was a loss of $0.14 per diluted share. This includes non-cash goodwill impairment charges of $151.3 million on a gross basis, offset by an associated tax benefit of $36.7 million for a net of $114.6 million. Adjusted EPS was $0.95 per diluted share, both were down from $1.19 last year. Professional segment net sales for the third quarter were $896.3 million, up 1.1% year-over-year. This increase was primarily driven by higher shipments of construction and golf and grounds products and net price realization. This was partially offset by lower shipments of lawn care equipment, a reflection of reduced demand from homeowners who prefer professional solutions. Overall, the professional segment net sales growth reflects positive volume and price. Professional segment earnings for the third quarter were $13 million on a reported basis, down from $166.2 million last year. When expressed as a percentage of net sales, earnings for the segment were 1.5%, down from 18.8%. The year-over-year decrease was primarily due to gross non-cash impairment charges of $151.3 million and higher material and manufacturing costs. This was partially offset by productivity improvements and net price realization. Residential segment net sales for the third quarter were $175.3 million, down 35.1% compared to last year. The decrease was primarily driven by lower shipments of products broadly across the segments. Residential segment earnings for the quarter were down 85.4% to $3.8 million. When expressed as a percentage of net sales, earnings for the segment were 2.2%, down from 9.8%. The year-over-year decrease was primarily driven by lower volume and unfavorable product mix, partially offset by lower material costs. Turning to our operating results. Our reported and adjusted gross margins were both 34.4% for the quarter, down slightly from 34.5% for both in the same period last year. The decrease was primarily driven by higher material costs, mostly offset by lower freight expense. SG&A expense as a percentage of net sales for the quarter was 22.2%, compared to 20.5% in the same period last year. This increase was primarily driven by lower net sales, higher marketing costs, and increased investment in research and engineering. Operating earnings as a percentage of net sales for the third quarter were a negative 1.8%, inclusive of the impairment charges. This compares to 14% last year. On an adjusted basis, operating earnings as a percentage of net sales were 12.2%, compared to 14.1%. Interest expense for the quarter was $15 million, up $5.8 million from the same period last year. The increase was primarily due to higher average interest rates. The reported effective tax rate for the third quarter was 47.6%, compared with 20.3% last year. This change was primarily due to the tax benefit from non-cash impairment charges in the current-year period. The adjusted effective tax rate for the third quarter was 19% compared with 20.7%. This decrease was primarily due to an increased benefit from the geographic mix of earnings in the current-year period. Turning to our balance sheet as of the end of the third quarter. Accounts receivable were $391 million, up 11% from a year ago, primarily driven by payment terms and higher international sales. Inventory was $1.1 billion, up 18% compared to last year. This increase was primarily due to higher finished goods, largely driven by decreased demand for solutions sold to homeowners. Sequentially, from the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2023, inventory came down slightly, primarily driven by a reduction in work in process. Accounts payable were $407 million, down 16% compared to a year ago, primarily driven by a reduction in material purchases. Year-to-date free-cash flow was $56.1 million. This reflects unfavorable working capital fluctuations year-over-year as we adjust production and cost to demand. This also reflects the timing of capital expenditures, with $99 million spent year-to-date compared to $76 million in the same period last year. We remain within our one to two times target gross debt to EBITDA leverage ratio and are committed to maintaining our investment-grade credit ratings. This supports our strong balance sheet, which in turn provides the financial flexibility to fund investments that drive long-term sustainable growth. Our disciplined approach to capital allocation remains the same. With priorities that include: making strategic investments in our business to drive long-term profitable growth, both organically and through acquisitions; returning cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases; and maintaining our leverage goals. These priorities are highlighted by our recent actions, including our plan to deploy $130 million in capital expenditures this year to fund new product investments, advanced manufacturing technologies and capacity for growth; our dividend payout increase of 13% over last year; and our return of nearly $60 million to shareholders year-to-date through share repurchases. As we look ahead to the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, we expect continued strong demand for our innovative products in key professional segment markets. We are also encouraged by the stabilizing supply chain that is enabling increased production for our construction and golf and grounds product. At the same time, we are entering the fourth quarter with elevated field inventory levels for professional and residential segment lawn care solutions as well as residential snow products. This, combined with the macro factors we've been discussing, are expected to dampen demand for these products in the near term. With this backdrop and based on our current visibility, we are revising our full-year fiscal 2023 net sales and adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance ranges. For fiscal 2023, we now expect total company net sales to be similar to slightly higher than last year compared to our previous expectations for 7% to 8% growth. This reflects anticipated volume reductions for residential and professional lawn care solutions, as previously discussed. This also reflects expectations for a continuation of improved production rates for construction and golf and grounds products as well as the assumption that we will experience more normal weather patterns for the remainder of the year. We expect professional segment net sales to grow mid to high single digits on a full-year basis. Looking at profitability, we continue to expect gross margin improvement in fiscal 2023 compared to fiscal 2022, and still expect our gross margins in the second half of the year to be lower than the first half of the year. We also expect gross margin in the fourth quarter to be lower than the third quarter. This is primarily driven by anticipated manufacturing inefficiencies as we adjust production volumes to demand for lawn care solutions and work to improve our inventory position as we close out the year. We expect these manufacturing inefficiencies to be partially offset by productivity gains and net price realization. In addition, for the full year, we now expect total company adjusted operating earnings as a percentage of net sales to be flat to slightly down compared to last year. We now expect our professional segment earnings margin to be lower than last year, driven by the third quarter impairment charges. We continue to expect a lower earnings margin for the residential segment for the full year as compared to last year. This is a reflection of the expected reduction in volume. For our other activities categories, we expect the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023 to be similar to slightly higher than the average quarterly run rate year-to-date. In line with our revised net sales expectations and manufacturing adjustments, we are revising our full-year adjusted EPS guidance range to $4.05 to $4.10 per diluted share from the previous range of $4.70 to $4.80. This adjusted diluted EPS estimate excludes the impact of non-cash impairment charges, as well as the benefit of the excess tax deduction for share-based compensation. Additionally, for the full year, we now expect depreciation and amortization of about $120 million to $125 million, interest expense of about $59 million, and free cash flow conversion of approximately 50% to 60% of reported net earnings. We continue to expect an adjusted effective tax rate of about 21%. We believe our organization is positioned to emerge from this challenging time even stronger. We're prepared to remain nimble as we drive execution on cost reduction and productivity initiatives, while continuing to prudently invest in the future. We're building our business for long-term profitable growth and remain confident in our ability to drive sustained value for all stakeholders. With that, I'll turn the call back to Rick.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Angie. Our business fundamentals remain strong, supported by our outstanding team of dedicated employees and channel partners. We have a long and proven track record of managing through economic cycles and seasons with agility and resiliency. We expect that resiliency will help us navigate through the current rebalancing of homeowner demand. While consumer rebalancing in this macro-environment had a greater impact in the quarter than expected, we have a number of factors that we believe will drive positive results in the coming quarters. First and foremost, we are encouraged by very positive demand trends in other parts of the business. For example, we expect continued demand strength across the majority of our professional customer base, including professional contractors, golf courses, municipalities, sports fields and grounds, and our construction customers. Second, we believe our new strategic partnership with Lowe's is an excellent opportunity to complement and strengthen our mass channel in the residential segment. Third, the supply chain has been more stable, and we expect that it will continue to improve. This should enable productivity gains across our manufacturing facilities and help us drive incremental production for our backlog businesses. Finally, we're taking decisive actions to adjust our production and cost structure in the current demand environment. We believe these actions will drive near- and long-term productivity and margin benefits. I'd now like to provide additional comments on the factors we're seeing in our end markets which could impact future results. We anticipate continued strength in demand for our construction and golf and grounds businesses. We expect the drivers to be the same as we've noted previously, including infrastructure spending and support, sustained momentum in new golfers and rounds played, and the prioritization of public green spaces. Our order backlog for these businesses remains significantly elevated, and our team is focused on driving incremental output and reducing lead times to support our customers. Our goal is to return backlog to more normalized levels as soon as possible. For snow and ice management, we continue to expect more subdued demand heading into the upcoming season, driven by a lack of snowfall earlier this year. At the same time, early season snowfall events in key regions would typically drive an uptick in orders. And finally, looking at residential and professional lawn care solutions, for homeowners, we're watching consumer confidence, spending preferences and weather patterns. For landscape contractors, we expect budgets to remain healthy, and we'll continue to watch business confidence and other macro factors. We're also keeping an eye on inventory levels in the field and inventory management actions across our channels. Despite the recent dynamics, we believe these remain excellent long-term markets for us and our leadership position is strong. The solutions we provide for these markets are essential for turf maintenance and have regular replacement cycles. We believe we are extremely well-positioned to expand share in these attractive markets with our leading brands, innovative products and best-in-class channels. Looking longer-term, we remain confident in our ability to drive sustained value for all stakeholders, guided by our enterprise strategic priorities of accelerating profitable growth, driving productivity and operational excellence and empowering people. We continue to prioritize investments in innovation and transformational technologies, including alternative power, smart connected and autonomous solutions. We are leveraging these investments across our broad portfolio to accelerate new product development and capitalize on growth opportunities. A great example of this is our proprietary HyperCell battery management system, which is now powering solutions across our professional segment including lawn care equipment, golf and grounds solutions and specialty construction products. We're excited about our new product pipeline and our ability to help our customers increase productivity while also addressing their sustainability goals. We expect our expanding suite of innovative solutions to strengthen our market leadership now and into the future, bolstered by our trusted brands and extensive distribution networks. On that note, I would like to thank our employees and channel partners for going above and beyond every day to support our customers, even in the most challenging of times. You are the key to The Toro Company's long-term success. I would also like to extend my gratitude to our customers and shareholders for your continued support. With that, we will open up the call for questions.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. Your first question comes from the line of Michael Shlisky from D.A. Davidson & Company.
Michael Shlisky, Analyst
Yes. Hello. Good morning, and thanks for taking my question. A lot to unpack here...
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Mike.
Michael Shlisky, Analyst
Good morning. There's a lot to unpack here, maybe I'll start with the questions on the Lowe's agreement. I guess, first of all, I mean, this sounds like a pretty heavy invoice you'll be giving them. It's a pretty big sell-in or stock-up order for them happening in the spring, I would imagine. Angie, was that part of the reason why maybe the free cash might be a little challenge in the near-term, do you have to build inventory and work in process in advance of that shipment? And then, just some kind of sizing as to how much that first invoice could be? I'm trying to think back to what happened with Tractor Supply. Just some sensibility of the sizing, too, if you could?
Angie Drake, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Okay. Sure, Mike. I'll start by answering your question on the free cash flow. I would say, no, that wasn't a big impact to our free cash flow for the quarter. We have been working on our working capital metrics really all year long. Inventory is higher than we want it to be today, but not necessarily driven by the Lowe's impact or building up inventory for that. We do expect to see improvement throughout the year on our free cash flow. I know we've guided down now to 50% to 60% from our previous 90% to 100%, and expect that historically to get back to our conversion rate of about 100%. And it's really based on all working capital metrics, inventory, AP and AR. Rick may want to comment further on the Lowe's piece.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
We are very excited about our partnership with Lowe's, which is a great match for us for several reasons. Firstly, Lowe's strong presence, especially in the zero-turn category, aligns well with the demographics of their store locations. Our leadership in this area and the combination of our two brands create a significant opportunity for both parties. This partnership allows us to introduce our Flex-Force products to a wider customer base, which is important to us. We appreciate all our long-term channel partners, but we truly believe that this move is beneficial for both us and our customers, as it increases product availability. We anticipate that this partnership will be substantial for us right from the beginning in the first year. While we are not providing specific guidance for 2024 yet, we expect it to positively impact our results for that year.
Michael Shlisky, Analyst
Okay. And just a follow-up there, does what's happening at Lowe's change how you work at all with Home Depot? As far as I know, it's sort of exclusive until now, obviously, is it change in terms or the mix that you might have in that store going forward?
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
As with all of our partners, Home Depot has been a terrific and continues to be a terrific partner for us. So, we will continue to look to them and each of our partners to provide a unique value proposition for each of their customer sets. There are differences, and we really want to work with each of our partners to help them grow their business as we grow as well. So, we continue to view Home Depot as a strong partner as we do our other mass, and certainly our dealer channel as well, all important to us, bringing our products and our offerings to our customers in different ways, in the ways that they would like to have access to them.
Michael Shlisky, Analyst
Okay. And then turning to the other piece of big news, how the lawn care business was impacted by dry weather. I'd be curious, on the other side of things, did you have a good quarter or good outlook here for the golf irrigation business? If things were so dry, but people are still playing. Do you feel people are getting a lot of usage out of their systems and looking to upgrade or add some new products going forward on some of the golf courses out there?
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you for the question. We had a fantastic quarter in the golf segment of our business. The non-landscape contractor part of our professional business performed particularly well, especially in golf grounds and irrigation, as well as underground specialty construction. A significant factor in this success has been the steady improvement in our supply chain, as our plants are operating more consistently. Our supply chain team has excelled in collaborating with our suppliers to ensure a more reliable supply of components, and our plants are approaching pre-pandemic operational levels more consistently. This has been a key driver for us. Demand across these segments has remained strong, and we have been able to meet that demand more effectively recently.
Michael Shlisky, Analyst
Okay. Thank you. I'm going to leave it there. I appreciate the help.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Okay. Thank you, Mike.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Tim Wojs from Baird.
Tim Wojs, Analyst
Yeah. Hey, guys. Good morning.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Tim.
Tim Wojs, Analyst
Could you provide some insight into the lawn care business within the pro segment, particularly in terms of the decline we saw in the third quarter? Additionally, it would be helpful to know how the other areas, such as underground and golf and grounds, performed during the same period to understand the overall dynamics.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
The demand remains very strong for the other segments. Looking at the third quarter year-over-year, the split between residential and professional sectors, like landscape contracting, was quite balanced. We had anticipated a greater reduction in demand from landscape contractors than what actually happened, which ended up being a larger factor. Additionally, the inventory management by our channel partners contributed to this situation, as they aimed to lower their stock levels based on seasonality and carrying costs. However, the underground specialty construction and golf grounds segments continue to perform well, supported by strong underlying demand for infrastructure and golf.
Tim Wojs, Analyst
Okay, good. And regarding field inventory, it seems you expect to finish the season with increased inventory. What discussions are you having with distributors and dealers, considering you might face challenging comparisons in the first half of '23? With the projected higher inventory levels and increased carrying costs, do you think distributors and dealers might adopt a just-in-time inventory approach or hold back until closer to the season?
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Field inventory for us is really a story that's different depending on which of the categories. If you do think about those areas of high demand, our field inventory is very low. For example, the underground specialty construction, much, much lower than we would like to see it. That product is going directly to customers. The same with golf and grounds. The other end of the spectrum is what you're talking about, which is for those landscape contractor products specifically, in some categories of residential, we go into a lower part where they're off part of the season with higher field inventory. So, we do expect that, that will take into 2024 to work through that. And probably realistically, if it gets carried through the off-season, it's going to be largely the second quarter when the demand is high enough to really bleed that off in a significant way and get back to a more normal level, just kind of working through the rebalancing of demand, the channel expectations, and what our production is.
Tim Wojs, Analyst
Okay. That makes sense. All right, appreciate the color, guys. Good luck on the rest of the year.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you.
Angie Drake, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Eric Bosshard from Cleveland Research Company.
Eric Bosshard, Analyst
Thank you. First, looking back, the only residential mass customer was Home Depot, which seemed like a strategic choice. Over the past three years, however, you've added Tractor and now Lowe's. I'm interested in understanding what changed in the market or in your strategy that led you to decide to work with all three companies, considering there was a deliberate choice to work with just one before. What shifted?
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
I don't know that anything has necessarily changed. We make that kind of calculation on an annual basis. We think through our strategies, we look at particular product categories where we're looking to grow. And we value all of our long-term and medium-term partners as you've mentioned. We just look at the opportunity that was there with Lowe's to bring our product to more customers and look at the entire picture, and we believe that it was the right thing to do for us now. And so, we have the opportunity to bring our brand to more customers and that ability to leverage at higher volumes, it's important for us as we're investing in new technologies and so forth to the level of investments in new product development becomes even greater. And to have larger scale and larger volume really is a help for all of our partners. We have a relationship with each of our channel partners, and we have an incredibly important dealer channel that we think of in every decision, and we believe we have the opportunity to grow at each of those channel types of channel partners as we go forward.
Eric Bosshard, Analyst
Okay. Secondly, Intimidator, I'm interested in understanding more about this situation. I would assume that when you evaluated the business, the revenue growth last year in the mid-teens likely exceeded your expectations. I'm surprised to see such a significant write-off 18 months later, especially since the initial 12 months' performance may have been better than anticipated. Is this write-off related to inventory or goodwill? Is there something in the medium term that has changed the outlook for this business, prompting this decision today?
Angie Drake, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
We experienced notable growth in the first year of Intimidator Group, achieving around 16.5%, which is quite strong. However, this year, that segment and our other residential and homeowner businesses were negatively affected. Our Q3 results fell significantly below expectations. The typical summer seasonality we anticipate did not materialize, primarily due to the weather. June turned out to be exceedingly hot, impacting the southern regions where we operate. Additionally, our customers predominantly consist of homeowners who favor purchasing professional-grade products. Combined with the macroeconomic factors previously mentioned by Rick, this had a substantial effect on that business. Consequently, it is primarily the goodwill and trade name that have been impaired, not a reduction in their assets.
Eric Bosshard, Analyst
Okay. I admit I don’t fully understand the accounting aspect, but what confuses me is how the hot month of June and the seasonal impact could affect the way you value the asset on the balance sheet. It seems like a significant change if it really is just due to the hot weather and some unique seasonal factors. There doesn’t appear to be anything different on a sustainable basis; it seems to stem only from what occurred this summer.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
It's mostly a mathematical exercise for us, and the near-term impacts on our model are more significant. The actual results from the current quarter, for instance, and our projections into next year have a considerable effect on the overall business model. Interest rates were also significantly higher. When you consider all these factors, I felt it was appropriate for us to recognize the impairments related to goodwill and trade name that we're carrying.
Angie Drake, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yeah. I would just also add to that, they're going into next year as well with a lot of field, a lot of channel inventory, so just like our residential business.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
So, we'll take into 2024 to get through that. I will say just not to get lost in this discussion, we still feel incredibly positive about the Intimidator Group and the Spartan business, we have no regrets about that becoming part of The Toro Company and have very strong expectations for that business going forward.
Eric Bosshard, Analyst
Okay. Thank you.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Tom Hayes from C.L. King.
Tom Hayes, Analyst
Hey, good morning everyone. Appreciate the time today.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Tom.
Tom Hayes, Analyst
Hey Rick, you mentioned several times in your prepared remarks that it seems like the supply chain is improving. Could you elaborate on that? Do you believe there will be further improvements moving forward?
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you for the question. We have observed a significant improvement in the supply chain, particularly on a year-over-year basis; it's been a consistent enhancement. The categories we have discussed over the past quarters, such as wiring harnesses, hydraulic components, and chips, still experience occasional challenges, but the frequency and duration of these issues affecting our plants have notably decreased. In many cases, we are nearing pre-pandemic production levels. We have also been able to reallocate production to facilities with lower demand for the reasons mentioned earlier. Some of these capabilities were actually developed during the pandemic, which has made us more flexible. I can say that after visiting several of our plants in the last month, there is a noticeable difference compared to a short while ago—products are consistently moving down the lines, and the facilities are actively producing. Overall, it is clear that we are in a much better situation now than we were 12 months ago, although there are still areas and specific facilities where we need to improve.
Tom Hayes, Analyst
Okay. As a follow-up on the residential side, I'm wondering if the broad-based decline in activity this quarter was seen across both traditional gas-powered engines and battery products, or was one performing better than the other?
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
It was spread across both, yeah, pretty similar response. Okay, thank you.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of David MacGregor from Longbow Research.
David MacGregor, Analyst
Yeah. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for taking my questions.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, David.
David MacGregor, Analyst
Good morning, Rick. Can we start with what percentage of the LCE business today is attributed to residential customers compared to professional landscape contractors? I'm trying to get some context for what's happening here.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
In the landscape contractor category across the three brands, the residential segment, which we consider as homeowners, constitutes a significant portion of our businesses, although it varies somewhat by brand. Exmark has a larger percentage of professional users and larger contractors, but it still attracts some homeowners. Conversely, Spartan has a higher percentage of homeowners, with Toro falling somewhere in between. We don’t disclose specific numbers, as most competitors are private and seek this information when we speak about it publicly, but it is a significant portion.
David MacGregor, Analyst
Could you share where you're noticing strength in golf and construction equipment, especially considering the substantial backlog you're working with? Additionally, can you comment on the trends in incoming orders? Are you observing any changes, such as a slowdown or cancellations, particularly from smaller courses or dealers?
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
The order flow remains very strong across the backorder categories, particularly in golf, grounds, and underground construction. Recently, we conducted an aging review of our backorders, and the majority of them are from the current year, which marks a change. Although the overall backorder number has only slightly decreased, it has been refreshed as we've been able to fulfill orders, and new orders are still coming in. Lead times have improved, meaning that the multiyear orders we are working to fulfill are significantly smaller than they were a couple of years ago.
David MacGregor, Analyst
So, when you say that the backorders, the majority of those backorders are in the current year, are you saying 4Q, we're going to work down a very large portion of your current backlog in 4Q?
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
I would just say the composition of what we refer to as backorders or open orders were generated this year as opposed to last year or the year before.
Angie Drake, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Right. As we still work out kind of the COVID era, it still takes some time to do that. So we're still working through orders that had come in, in '21 and '22.
David MacGregor, Analyst
Okay. I got it. Thank you for that distinction. And then, is there any way to isolate within the margins the impact of manufacturing curtailments versus everything else that's going on?
Angie Drake, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
No. We are seeing manufacturing variances affect us, but we don't break it out specifically.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
And to that point, obviously, when we see a decline in demand, the first thing we do is make adjustments within our plants to make sure we're not producing products that we don't need and making any expense adjustments that we need to make sure we're right-sized relative to the market opportunity. But in Q3 and Q4, manufacturing variance is a factor, definitely, as you can imagine, with the reduction in volume.
David Macgregor, Analyst
Sure. That makes sense. Last question from me. During the quarter, you had kind of a short two-week period where you did not have any retail promotions, and that was kind of a gap between one sales event and the other. What did you see in the way of POS elasticity during that period? I'm just trying to get a sense of how impactful incentives might ultimately be in terms of helping you kind of elevate demand here and clear inventory, or whether the market has just become maybe a little more insensitive to incentives. But just maybe what did you see during that period that would inform that thought?
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
We are returning to a more normal situation. The programs we run do have an impact, particularly in generating demand. We're going back to a response level similar to what we experienced before the pandemic. During the pandemic, we weren't able to run those types of promotions due to product unavailability. Now, we are in a more normal situation where we can utilize those promotions throughout the season to stimulate demand, and they have been effective.
David Macgregor, Analyst
Thanks very much and they have been working, okay.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yes.
David MacGregor, Analyst
Thank you.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Joshua Wilson from Raymond James.
Joshua Wilson, Analyst
Good morning, and thanks for fitting me in.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Josh.
Joshua Wilson, Analyst
Just one clarification on the backlog before I get to some other questions. You said it was down slightly versus three months ago. Is that right?
Angie Drake, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
That's correct. Yes. We're down slightly from year-end.
Joshua Wilson, Analyst
Okay. And then as it relates to the new relationship with Lowe's, are there going to be any product exclusives or anything like that in the relationship? And then separately, do you have a sense of who you're displacing at Lowe's?
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
In terms of specific SKUs, that will be part of our discussions with each of our channel partners, including Lowe's. We can't really comment on the displacement, as that involves discussions between Lowe's and their other suppliers, but we are very excited about the opportunities that Lowe's offers us as we move forward.
Joshua Wilson, Analyst
And do you have any sense of the net gain or loss in like shelf space between Lowe's and Home Depot?
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
We don't at this point. As you can imagine, we're pretty early in the relationship, and all of those details are being worked out right now. And we're not really guiding to what's going to happen in '24. We'll be much more specific in December.
Joshua Wilson, Analyst
Got it. Thank you very much.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Ted Jackson from Northland Securities.
Ted Jackson, Analyst
Thanks. Down to the wire for me.
Angie Drake, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Hi, Ted.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Hi, Ted.
Ted Jackson, Analyst
How are you? I have a couple of follow-up questions. Most of the main ones I wanted to ask have been addressed. First, regarding Lowe's, can we assume that we will see the impact of Lowe's in the second quarter of the next fiscal year in terms of how it affects your business as they prepare their inventory for the season?
Angie Drake, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yeah. I think, Ted, you'll begin to see that in the spring 2024 selling season.
Ted Jackson, Analyst
Again, since your second quarter is in April, we would expect to start seeing that impact then.
Angie Drake, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yeah. While we aren't certain about the guidance at this time, that's a reasonable assumption.
Ted Jackson, Analyst
I'm discussing timing. Additionally, regarding inventory, you mentioned that inventories are elevated due to weakness in the homeowner segment of lawn care, and you indicated that this would normalize by the second quarter of 2024. Can you clarify what you mean by "normal"? Are you referring to it in terms of turnover, days of inventory, or dollar amounts? What is the specific metric you are considering?
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
I believe it will take until fiscal 2024 for things to normalize. The second quarter presents the biggest opportunity due to the traditional scale of sales for these products as a percentage of the year. This is when the volume becomes significant enough to truly impact the field. In the meantime, we are collaborating with our channel partners to ensure we have the appropriate stock levels, and they are making decisions based on their own business metrics. When we refer to normal, we mean returning to more historical inventory levels and the metrics we usually monitor, and we have moved beyond those levels.
Ted Jackson, Analyst
As the newcomer who lacks the company's historical context, I'm curious about the typical days of inventory.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, it depends on both the channel and the specific brand and the flow of the product. So, I can't say that specifically in general.
Ted Jackson, Analyst
If I were to look back at a year, could you give me a year I can calculate out like what you'd say would be a typical year that I would want to go look at for a reference point?
Angie Drake, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yeah. We might be able to cover some of that a little bit later. I think that we are still trying to figure out what some of that normal means post COVID as well. But just to give you some comfort, we are seeing something good. We're making good progress in WIP, and we have seen the inventory come down two quarters in a row. So, we do believe to be in a better position in F '24.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
And I was referring to field inventory there. So there are probably two different matters, yeah.
Ted Jackson, Analyst
I understand your point, and I appreciate it. As a final note, I’ll step back after this. I know we’re not discussing guidance regarding Lowe's or anything similar. However, I can’t recall if you've ever shared details on the percentage of your revenue that comes from mass markets. If you have, could you clarify?
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
We have not provided specific numbers. In the past, when we were a smaller company, we reported those figures because they represented more than 10% of our business. However, we no longer do that now that we have grown. That said, it remains a significant part of our overall business, particularly within the residential sector. Therefore, when considering the total for residential, it constitutes a considerable portion of that.
Ted Jackson, Analyst
Okay. I guess that's all I can ask for. All right, thanks very much.
Rick Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Okay. Thank you.
Angie Drake, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. This concludes the question-and-answer session. Ms. Kerekes, please proceed to closing remarks.
Julie Kerekes, Treasurer and Senior Managing Director of Global Tax and Investor Relations
Thank you all for your questions and interest in The Toro Company. We look forward to talking with everyone again in December to discuss our fiscal 2023 fourth quarter and full year results.
Operator, Operator
Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes the presentation. You may now disconnect. Good day.