Kadant Reports Second Quarter 2024 Results

WESTFORD, Mass., July 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kadant Inc. (NYSE: KAI) reported its financial results for the second quarter ended June 29, 2024.

Second Quarter Financial Highlights

• Revenue increased 12% to a record $275 million
• Gross margin was 44.4%
• Operating cash flow increased 25% to $28 million
• Free cash flow increased 69% to $23 million
• Net income increased 5% to $31 million
• GAAP EPS increased 5% to $2.66
• Adjusted EPS increased 11% to a record $2.81
• Adjusted EBITDA was a record $62 million and represented a record 22.5% of revenue
• Bookings increased 17% to $252 million
  

Note: Percent changes above are based on comparison to the prior year period. All references to earnings per share (EPS) are to our EPS as calculated on a diluted basis. Free cash flow, adjusted EPS, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, and changes in organic revenue are non-GAAP financial measures that exclude certain items as detailed later in this press release under the heading “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

Management Commentary
“We had another well-executed quarter with record revenue, record adjusted EBITDA, and record adjusted EPS performance,” said Jeffrey L. Powell, president and chief executive officer of Kadant Inc. “Record aftermarket demand combined with strong capital business helped to deliver these outstanding results.

“The acquisitions we made in the first half of the year are progressing well and contributed to our record revenue performance. Solid execution on our strategic growth initiatives continue to create value for our stakeholders.”

Second Quarter 2024 Compared to 2023
Revenue increased 12 percent to a record $274.8 million compared to $245.1 million in 2023. Organic revenue increased two percent, which excludes an 11 percent increase from acquisitions and a one percent decrease from the unfavorable effect of foreign currency translation. Gross margin was 44.4 percent compared to 43.5 percent in 2023.

Net income was $31.3 million, increasing five percent compared to $29.7 million in 2023. GAAP EPS increased five percent to $2.66 compared to $2.54 in 2023. Adjusted EPS increased 11 percent to a record $2.81 compared to $2.54 in 2023. Adjusted EPS in 2024 excludes $0.15 of acquisition-related costs. Adjusted EBITDA increased 20 percent to a record $61.8 million and represented a record 22.5 percent of revenue compared to $51.6 million and 21.0 percent of revenue in the prior year. Operating cash flow increased 25 percent to $28.1 million compared to $22.5 million in 2023. Free cash flow increased 69 percent to $23.1 million compared to $13.7 million in 2023.

Bookings increased 17 percent to $251.7 million compared to $215.2 million in 2023. Organic bookings increased five percent, which excludes a 13 percent increase from acquisitions and a one percent decrease from the unfavorable effect of foreign currency translation.

Summary and Outlook
“With our excellent start to the year and ability to generate strong cash flows, we are well positioned to capitalize on new opportunities that may emerge in the second half of 2024,” Mr. Powell continued. “We expect industrial demand in the second half of the year to be similar to the first half of the year, despite persistent economic headwinds in certain regions. We are raising the low end of our revenue and adjusted EPS guidance for the full year and now expect revenue of $1.045 to $1.065 billion in 2024, revised from our previous guidance of $1.040 to $1.065 billion. Our adjusted EPS guidance for 2024 is now $9.80 to $10.05, revised from our previous guidance of $9.75 to $10.05. The 2024 adjusted EPS guidance excludes $0.60 of acquisition-related costs, revised from $0.36 of acquisition-related costs in our previous guidance. We now expect GAAP EPS of $9.20 to $9.45 in 2024, revised from our previous GAAP EPS guidance of $9.39 to $9.69. For the third quarter of 2024, we expect revenue of $257 to $269 million, GAAP EPS of $2.27 to $2.39 and, after excluding $0.09 of acquisition-related costs, adjusted EPS of $2.36 to $2.48.”

Conference Call
Kadant will hold a webcast with a slide presentation for investors on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. eastern time to discuss its second quarter financial performance, as well as future expectations. To listen to the call live and view the webcast, go to the “Investors” section of the Company’s website at www.kadant.com. Participants interested in joining the call’s live question and answer session are required to register by clicking here or selecting the Q&A link on our website to receive a dial-in number and unique PIN. It is recommended that you join the call 10 minutes prior to the start of the event. A replay of the webcast presentation will be available on our website through August 30, 2024.

Prior to the call, our earnings release and the slides used in the webcast presentation will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and will be available at www.sec.gov. After the webcast, Kadant will post its updated general investor presentation incorporating the second quarter results on its website at www.kadant.com under the “Investors” section.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In addition to the financial measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), we use certain non-GAAP financial measures, including increases or decreases in revenue excluding the effect of acquisitions and foreign currency translation (organic revenue), adjusted operating income, adjusted net income, adjusted EPS, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, and free cash flow.

We use organic revenue to understand our trends and to forecast and evaluate our financial performance and compare revenue to prior periods. Organic revenue excludes revenue from acquisitions for the four quarterly reporting periods following the date of the acquisition and the effect of foreign currency translation. Revenue in the second quarter of 2024 included $27.4 million from acquisitions and an unfavorable foreign currency translation effect of $2.3 million compared to the second quarter of 2023. Revenue in the first six months of 2024 included $51.8 million from acquisitions and an unfavorable foreign currency translation effect of $1.5 million compared to the first six months of 2023. Our other non-GAAP financial measures exclude amortization expense related to acquired profit in inventory and backlog, acquisition costs, and other income or expense, as indicated. Collectively, these items are excluded as they are not indicative of our core operating results and are not comparable to other periods, which have differing levels of incremental costs, expenditures or income, or none at all. Additionally, we use free cash flow in order to provide insight on our ability to generate cash for acquisitions and debt repayments, as well as for other investing and financing activities.

We believe these non-GAAP financial measures, when taken together with the corresponding GAAP financial measures, provide meaningful supplemental information regarding our performance by excluding certain items that may not be indicative of our core business, operating results, or future outlook. We believe that the inclusion of such measures helps investors gain an understanding of our underlying operating performance and future prospects, consistent with how management measures and forecasts our performance, especially when comparing such results to previous periods or forecasts and to the performance of our competitors. Such measures are also used by us in our financial and operating decision-making and for compensation purposes. We also believe this information is responsive to investors' requests and gives them an additional measure of our performance.

The non-GAAP financial measures included in this press release are not meant to be considered superior to or a substitute for the results of operations or cash flows prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, the non-GAAP financial measures included in this press release have limitations associated with their use as compared to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, in that they may be different from, and therefore not comparable to, similar measures used by other companies.

Second Quarter

Adjusted operating income, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted EBITDA margin exclude:

• Pre-tax amortization of acquired profit in inventory and backlog of $1.2 million in 2024.
• Pre-tax acquisition costs of $0.9 million in 2024.
• Pre-tax indemnification asset provision of $0.1 million in 2024 and pre-tax indemnification asset reversal of $0.2 million in 2023.
• Pre-tax relocation costs of $0.1 million in 2023.

Adjusted net income and adjusted EPS exclude:

• After-tax amortization of acquired profit in inventory and backlog of $0.9 million ($1.2 million net of tax of $0.3 million) in 2024.
• After-tax acquisition costs of $0.8 million ($0.9 million net of tax of $0.1 million) in 2024.
• After-tax relocation costs of $0.1 million in 2023.
  

Free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow less:

• Capital expenditures of $5.0 million in 2024 and $8.8 million in 2023.
  

First Six Months

Adjusted operating income, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted EBITDA margin exclude:

• Pre-tax amortization of acquired profit in inventory and backlog of $4.4 million in 2024.
• Pre-tax acquisition costs of $2.1 million in 2024.
• Pre-tax indemnification asset reversals of $0.2 million in 2023.
• Pre-tax relocation costs of $0.1 million in 2023.

Adjusted net income and adjusted EPS exclude:

• After-tax amortization of acquired profit in inventory and backlog of $3.3 million ($4.4 million net of tax of $1.1 million) in 2024.
• After-tax acquisition costs of $1.7 million ($2.1 million net of tax of $0.4 million) in 2024.
• After-tax relocation costs of $0.1 million in 2023.
  

Free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow less:

• Capital expenditures of $11.2 million in 2024 and $13.2 million in 2023.
  

Reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are set forth in this press release.

About Kadant
Kadant Inc. is a global supplier of technologies and engineered systems that drive Sustainable Industrial Processing. The Company’s products and services play an integral role in enhancing efficiency, optimizing energy utilization, and maximizing productivity in process industries. Kadant is based in Westford, Massachusetts, with approximately 3,500 employees in 20 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.kadant.com.

Safe Harbor Statement
The following constitutes a “Safe Harbor” statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including forward-looking statements about our future financial and operating performance, demand for our products, and economic and industry outlook. These forward-looking statements represent our expectations as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those set forth under the heading "Risk Factors" in Kadant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2023 and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These include risks and uncertainties relating to adverse changes in global and local economic conditions; the variability and difficulty in accurately predicting revenues from large capital equipment and systems projects; our acquisition strategy; levels of residential construction activity; reductions by our wood processing customers of their capital spending or production of oriented strand board; changes to the global timber supply; development and use of digital media; cyclical economic conditions affecting the global mining industry; demand for coal, including economic and environmental risks associated with coal; failure of our information systems or breaches of data security and cybertheft; implementation of our internal growth strategy; supply chain constraints, inflationary pressure, price increases and shortages in raw materials; competition; changes to tax laws and regulations; our ability to successfully manage our manufacturing operations; disruption in production; future restructurings; loss of key personnel and effective succession planning; protection of intellectual property; climate change; adequacy of our insurance coverage; global operations; policies of the Chinese government; the variability and uncertainties in sales of capital equipment in China; currency fluctuations; changes to government regulations and policies around the world; compliance with government regulations and policies and compliance with laws; environmental laws and regulations; environmental, health and safety laws and regulations impacting the mining industry; our debt obligations; restrictions in our credit agreement and note purchase agreement; soundness of financial institutions; fluctuations in our share price; and anti-takeover provisions.

Contacts
Investor Contact Information:
Michael McKenney, 978-776-2000
IR@kadant.com 
or
Media Contact Information:
Wes Martz, 269-278-1715
media@kadant.com