Dépêches

Hexcel Reports 2010 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results

Dépèche transmise le 26 janvier 2011 par Business Wire

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hexcel Corporation (NYSE: HXL):

“Thanks to the significant number of orders received in 2010 by our key commercial aerospace and wind customers, we have a much improved environment for our markets, which gives us the confidence to reaffirm our previously announced 2011 guidance.”


	Quarter Ended December 31,								Year Ended December 31,
(In millions, except per share data)	2010			2009			% Change		2010			2009			% Change

Net Sales	$	311.0		$	266.6		16.7	%	$	1,173.6		$	1,108.3		5.9	%
Net sales change in constant currency							19.3	%							7.0	%
Operating Income		31.0			14.5		114	%		129.8			103.7		25.2	%
Net Income		22.9			5.7		301	%		77.4			56.3		37.5	%
Diluted net income per common share	$	0.23		$	0.06				$	0.77		$	0.57

Non-GAAP Measures for y-o-y comparisons:
Adjusted Operating Income (table C)	$	31.0		$	22.0		40.9	%	$	133.3		$	111.2		19.9	%
As a % of sales		10.0	%		8.3	%				11.4	%		10.0	%
Adjusted Net Income (table D)		20.0			11.3		77.0	%		77.5			61.9		25.2	%
Adjusted diluted net income per share	$	0.20		$	0.11				$	0.78		$	0.63

Hexcel Corporation (NYSE: HXL), today reported results for the fourth quarter of 2010. Net sales during the quarter were $311.0 million, 16.7% higher than the $266.6 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2009. Operating income for the period was $31.0 million, compared to $14.5 million last year. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2010 was $22.9 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, compared to $5.7 million or $0.06 per diluted share in 2009. The 2010 results include $2.9 million ($0.03 per diluted share) of benefits from reversing valuation allowances against U.S. deferred tax assets. The 2009 results include a $7.5 million charge related to settling a previously disclosed legal matter. Excluding these items, adjusted diluted net income for the fourth quarter of 2010 was $0.20 per share compared to $0.11 per share in 2009 (see Table D).

Chief Executive Officer Comments

Mr. Berges commented, “We are pleased with our 2010 results, especially since we started the year with a great deal of uncertainty about the direction of our core markets. Our sales growth over the last three quarters, along with strong profitability throughout the year, enabled us to improve our 2010 adjusted net income by 25% over last year’s level with only a 7% increase in constant currency sales. A strong focus on working capital improvement resulted in a $26 million inventory reduction in the quarter despite the sequential sales growth in demand, helping us to end the year with $78 million of free cash flow. The overhead absorption impact of the inventory cuts depressed margins for the quarter, but we still managed to deliver our 20% incremental leverage on the year over year adjusted operating margin comparisons. For the second half of 2010, which provides a more normalized view with respect to inventory impacts, our operating margin was 320 basis points higher than the second half of 2009.”

Looking ahead, Mr. Berges said, “Thanks to the significant number of orders received in 2010 by our key commercial aerospace and wind customers, we have a much improved environment for our markets, which gives us the confidence to reaffirm our previously announced 2011 guidance.”

Markets

Commercial Aerospace

Commercial Aerospace sales of $174.1 million increased 27.0% (28.6% in constant currency) for the quarter as compared to the fourth quarter 2009. Revenues attributed to new aircraft programs (A380, A350, B787, B747-8) nearly doubled versus the same period last year and again represented more than 20% of Commercial Aerospace sales. Airbus and Boeing legacy aircraft related sales for the quarter were up 10% compared to last year and were slightly up on a sequential basis.
For the full year 2010, combined sales to Airbus and Boeing and their subcontractors were 22% higher than in 2009 and accounted for nearly 83% of Commercial Aerospace sales. New program sales accounted for over 80% of the increase in Commercial Aerospace sales for the year.
Sales to “Other Commercial Aerospace,” which include regional and business aircraft customers, were the highest since the first quarter of 2009 and about 15% above last year’s fourth quarter. Full year 2010 sales of $111.8 million for this submarket were 6.6% lower than the full year of 2009, but have been gradually recovering in recent quarters.

Space & Defense

Strong Space & Defense sales of $84.2 million were 15.3% higher (17.3% in constant currency) than the fourth quarter of 2009 as the impact of the F22 cancellation is now mostly behind us. Full year 2010 sales of $310.5 million were 4.5% higher in constant currency than 2009, but would have been 8.7% higher if the F22 sales were removed from both periods. We continue to benefit from rotorcraft related growth and participating in a wide range of programs in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Industrial

Total Industrial sales of $52.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2010 were 6.7% lower (1.5% in constant currency) than the fourth quarter of 2009. In October, Vestas, our largest wind energy customer, announced the closure of a number of European plants as they transition production capacity to the U.S. and China. This move, along with associated inventory realignment, negatively impacted both our sales and our operations. Wind sales for the quarter were down over 20% on a constant currency basis from both last year and the third quarter 2010 levels. For the year, wind sales were also down over 20% on a constant currency basis, as the 2010 first quarter sales were hit hard by Vestas’ inventory corrections.
The record wind turbine order intake by Vestas in 2010, combined with the introduction of their new, larger, 55 meter blade leads us to expect a return to double digit growth in wind prepreg sales beginning the first quarter of 2011.
Industrial sales other than wind were up over 30% in constant currency for the quarter from the recent low point in the fourth quarter of 2009. The growth was across all sub-markets. Sales for the year were modestly above the full year of 2009.

Operations

Gross margin was 21.7% of net sales for the quarter as compared to 21.1% in the same period last year. Inventories decreased $26 million in constant currency in the fourth quarter of 2010, after increasing almost $14 million in the third quarter of 2010. While the quarter benefited from higher sales than last year and favorable exchange rates, it was offset by the unfavorable absorption impact of the inventory decline and the operational impacts of our customer’s European wind plant closures.
For the year, gross margin was 24.1% compared to 22.4% for last year with about 40 basis points of the improvement coming from exchange rates. Higher sales volume, factory productivity, cost reduction initiatives, and a favorable product mix allowed us to more than offset the step-up in depreciation expense included in cost of sales of $4.5 million versus last year. As usual, the second half was seasonally weaker than the first half, but less pronounced than 2009. Gross margin for the second half of 2010 was 22.8% as compared to 20.7% for the second half of 2009.
Fourth quarter adjusted operating income of $31.0 million, or 10.0% of sales, was a significant improvement over the 2009 amounts of $22.0 million, or 8.3% of sales, primarily reflecting the higher sales. Full year adjusted operating income of $133.3 million, or 11.4% of sales, was a full 140 basis points better than 2009. For the year, incremental leverage on the growth was almost 34%.

Tax

The tax provision was $4.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. Excluding the one-time benefit of $2.9 million from the reversal of valuation allowances against U.S. deferred tax assets, the effective tax rate was 25.7%. For the full year, the effective tax rate excluding one-time items was 29.4%, and 28.4% for 2009.

Cash and other

Free cash flow for the quarter was $40.1 million and for the year it was $77.7 million versus $74.4 million for 2009. Free cash flow is defined as cash provided from operating activities less cash paid for capital expenditures. Total debt, net of cash as of December 31, 2010 was $215.0 million, a year to date decrease of $67.2 million, which is the lowest level since 1996.
Interest expense for the fourth quarter was $4.2 million compared to $6.3 million last year. The decrease reflects the lower borrowing rate from the July 2010 refinancing, less debt outstanding and a $0.7 million one-time benefit from reduced interest on liabilities for uncertain tax positions.
As previously announced, we will redeem $150 million of our $225 million 6.75% senior subordinated notes on February 1, 2011 at a call premium of 2.25%. The redemption will primarily be funded by the $135 million add-on to our senior secured credit facility that was completed in December 2010. The add-on increased the Company’s $150 million revolving loan facility to $285 million. As a result of the redemption, we will accelerate the unamortized financing costs of the senior subordinated notes being redeemed and expense the call premium incurring a pretax charge of $4.9 million (estimated after tax of $0.03 per diluted share) in the first quarter of 2011. At December 31, 2010, proforma for the February 1, 2011 redemption, Hexcel has about $247 million of cash on hand and available borrowing capacity.

2011 Outlook

We reaffirm our 2011 outlook, which was previously issued on December 13, 2010. Our 2011 outlook includes:

Sales to be in the range of $1,225 to $1,300 million
Adjusted diluted earnings per share to be in the $0.90 to $0.98 range
Capital expenditures to be $150 to $175 million
Target free cash flow to be break-even by year-end

Hexcel will host a conference call at 11:00 A.M. ET, tomorrow, January 27, 2011 to discuss the fourth quarter results and respond to analyst questions. The telephone number for the conference call is (719) 325-2352 and the confirmation code is 3245905. The call will be simultaneously hosted on Hexcel’s web site at www.hexcel.com/investors/index.html. Replays of the call will be available on the web site for approximately three days.

Hexcel Corporation is a leading advanced composites company. It develops, manufactures and markets lightweight, high-performance structural materials, including carbon fibers, reinforcements, prepregs, honeycomb, matrix systems, adhesives and composite structures, used in commercial aerospace, space and defense and industrial applications such as wind turbine blades.

Disclaimer on Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that are forward looking, including statements relating to anticipated trends in constant currency for the market segments we serve (including changes in commercial aerospace revenues, the estimates and expectations based on aircraft production rates made publicly available by Airbus and Boeing, the revenues we may generate from an aircraft model or program, the impact of delays in new aircraft programs, the outlook for space & defense revenues and the trend in wind energy, recreation and other industrial applications); our ability to maintain and improve margins in light of the changes in product mix, efficiency improvements, continued cost reduction efforts and the current economic environment; and the impact of the above factors on our expectations of 2011 financial results. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in the forward looking statements due to a variety of factors, including but not limited to changing market conditions, increased raw material costs, competition, product mix, inability to achieve planned manufacturing improvements and cost reductions, conditions in the financial markets and changes in currency exchange rates, interest rates, governmental and environmental regulations and tax codes. Additional risk factors are described in our filings with the SEC. We do not undertake an obligation to update our forward-looking statements to reflect future events.

Hexcel Corporation and Subsidiaries
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
	Unaudited
	Quarters Ended					Years Ended
	December 31,					December 31,
(In millions, except per share data)	2010			2009		2010			2009
Net sales	$	311.0		$	266.6	$	1,173.6		$	1,108.3
Cost of sales		243.4			210.3		891.0			859.8

Gross margin		67.6			56.3		282.6			248.5
% Gross Margin		21.7	%		21.1%		24.1	%		22.4	%

Selling, general and administrative expenses		28.8			26.8		118.5			107.2
Research and technology expenses		7.8			7.5		30.8			30.1
Other operating expense (a)		—			7.5		3.5			7.5

Operating income		31.0			14.5		129.8			103.7

Interest expense, net		4.2			6.3		23.2			26.1
Non-operating expense (b)		—			—		6.8			—

Income before income taxes and equity in earnings
from affiliated companies		26.8			8.2		99.8			77.6
Provision for income taxes (c)		4.0			2.6		22.9			22.0


Income before equity in earnings from affiliated companies		22.8			5.6		76.9			55.6
Equity in earnings from affiliated companies		0.1			0.1		0.5			0.7

Net income	$	22.9		$	5.7	$	77.4		$	56.3



Basic net income per common share:	$	0.23			0.06	$	0.79			0.58

Diluted net income per common share:	$	0.23			0.06	$	0.77			0.57



Weighted-average common shares:

Basic		97.7			96.9		97.6			96.9
Diluted		100.1			98.5		99.9			98.2

a)		Other operating expense for the year ended December 31, 2010 reflects an increase in environmental reserves primarily for remediation of the site of a manufacturing facility which we sold in 1986. The fourth quarter of 2009 included $7.5 million legal settlement expense.
b)		$6.8 million is the accelerated amortization of deferred financing costs as a result of refinancing our Senior Secured Credit Facility.
c)		Provision for income taxes for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 includes a $2.9 million benefit from the reversal of valuation allowances against U.S. deferred tax assets. The year ended December 31, 2010 also includes a $3.5 million benefit from New Clean Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits awarded in January 2010 for qualifying capital investments made in our U.S. wind energy facility in 2009.

Actualités

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Hexcel Corporation and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
	Unaudited
	December 31,			September 30,			December 31,
(In millions)	2010			2010			2009
Assets
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	117.2		$	78.5		$	110.1
Accounts receivable, net		173.9			182.9			158.4
Inventories, net		169.9			197.5			157.2
Prepaid expenses and other current assets		36.7			40.9			35.4
Total current assets		497.7			499.8			461.1

Property, plant and equipment		1,063.9			1,048.1			1,045.1
Less accumulated depreciation		(465.6	)		(468.2	)		(443.0	)
Net property, plant and equipment		598.3			579.9			602.1

Goodwill and other intangible assets, net		56.2			56.5			56.7
Investments in affiliated companies		19.9			19.3			17.7
Deferred tax assets		63.6			73.1			85.6
Other assets		22.4			22.4			23.4
Total assets	$	1,258.1		$	1,251.0		$	1,246.6

Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity
Current liabilities:
Short-term borrowings and current maturities of long-term debt	$	27.6		$	10.5		$	33.5
Accounts payable		83.0			82.6			74.3
Accrued liabilities		95.3			103.8			93.9
Total current liabilities		205.9			196.9			201.7

Long-term notes payable and capital lease obligations		304.6			321.1			358.8
Other non-current liabilities		88.2			97.8			110.5
Total liabilities		598.7			615.8			671.0

Stockholders' equity:
Common stock, $0.01 par value, 200.0 shares authorized, 99.6 shares
issued at December 31, 2010, 99.4 shares issued at September 30, 2010,
and 98.6 shares issued at December 31, 2009		1.0			1.0			1.0
Additional paid-in capital		552.3			548.9			535.3
Retained earnings		148.4			125.5			71.0
Accumulated other comprehensive (loss)		(15.1	)		(12.6	)		(7.0	)
		686.6			662.8			600.3
Less – Treasury stock, at cost, 2.2 shares at December 31, 2010 and
September 30, 2010 and 2.0 shares at December 31, 2009		(27.2	)		(27.6	)		(24.7	)
Total stockholders' equity		659.4			635.2