Trading Update

Oct 8, 2021

Earnings release

Welcome to today's Electrocomponents H1 2020 Trading Update. My name is Jordan, and I'll be coordinating your call today. I'm now going to hand over to David Egan to begin. David, please go ahead. Thanks, Jordan, and good morning, everyone. This is David Egan, Chief Financial Officer of Electrocomponents Plc. Welcome to our trading update covering our performance for the first half for the period ended 30 September 2021. Trading during the first half has been strong and ahead of our expectations. We have benefited from a stronger market backdrop, particularly electronics, but delivered market share gains through our industry leading product availability and breadth, fast delivery service and omni channel offer. Most importantly, though, our performance is being driven by our people and everything that they do. We continue to see a change in culture within our group. We've invested in talent, empowered our leaders and incentivized our teams with targets that they can identify and influence. This has been the overriding driver of our market share growth in all three regions, and we continue to develop this changing mindset through ongoing training that encourages greater operational ownership. We have also benefited from moving even closer to our customers, delivering a more tailored user experience and offering services to solve our customers' procurement challenges. Our customer base has continued to grow, and we've seen increased levels of customer engagement during these uncertain times. So we move to the details of our first half. Our like for like revenue increased by 31%, with acquisitions contributing a further 7%, trading days plus 1% and foreign exchange a 6% headwind to deliver total revenue growth on a 1 year basis of 33%. On a 2 year basis, so stripping out the impact of COVID, Like for like growth for the first half was 22%, in line with the 22% reported in the Q1. This is reflecting it reflects a marginal slowdown in the Americas offset by a slight acceleration in APAC during the Q2. We believe that our differentiated offer is what our customers want in this changing world. For this period especially, Our management experience has allowed us to identify the supply issues in the market early and work closely with our suppliers to secure and invest appropriately in greater levels of inventory. This has ensured that we have had strong product availability, Delivery and service and driven our market share growth. Industrial production figures, Supplier indications and results reported by peers show that we are outperforming the industrial market and growing our share. Our industrial products range grew 2 year like for like first half revenue by 20%. Our electronic product range accounting for Circa 22% of group revenue and predominantly supplied into our industrial customers saw 33% like for like 2 year growth. Benefiting from a strong market, our product availability and new customers. Ares Pro, which is our own brand product range, grew revenue by 28% on a 2 year like for like basis. This was despite having limited electronic products within the range. Our offer continues to gain traction with our performance aided by targeted product marketing and new product development. Web revenue, which is a true representation of our digital demand as it excludes e procurement, grew by 26% on a 2 year like for like basis. Digital participation overall was 63%. We have seen an increase in customers wanting to speak to our sales teams and order over the phone given the more difficult supply environment we are facing, a benefit of our omnichannel model. We continue to move our digital marketing spend away from paid advertising towards organic, which is driving a better return on the marketing investment. Our rolling 12 month customer numbers have grown 9% at the end of the first half. Our average order value has been increasing as our customer base returns to a more normal mix, and our web experience and ongoing product breadth Expansion has driven larger basket sizes. Our net promoter score, which is a rolling 12 month measure, Continues to soften. As a result of the issues our business has faced over the last year, including Brexit, Extreme weather in Texas and the industry supply shortages. We're working hard on improving this score, which is part of our employee incentive plans, leading to signs of improvement in the monthly NPS trends. Moving to the regions. EMEA, which is roughly 62% of group revenue, saw like for like revenue grow 29% in the first half or 19% on a 2 year view. The UK, which accounts for roughly 40% of the region's revenue, performed well, but slightly below the region's average due to lower industrial production growth. This was partly associated with labor shortages over the summer relating to the COVID pandemic and supply constraints impacting some industry verticals, especially those within heavy industry. Trading on a 2 year basis has improved in September. Germany is seeing good momentum and market share gains. We're delighted to report that our distribution center expansion opened at the end of September and is in the early stages of commissioning. This enlarged facility will enhance our service offer to European customers and widen our product range. Our new German management team is enthused and ambitious, driving new sales strategies and focus already. Performance during the period was helped by a slightly larger electronics product bias. AECA continues to win new contracts, and the pipeline remains very strong. In many instances, new business rollout has been delayed due to lockdowns restricting our teams moving on-site. Although this is starting to improve now and crucially, We've seen some of our newer European contracts being rolled out to sister locations. Ayes' proposition is more relevant than ever before, And there is no shortage of opportunities within the industrial supply area sorry, integrated supply arena, especially now We have a global offer. Ayesha is working very closely with Cenovos on joint pictures. The Americas, which is roughly 28% of group revenue, delivered 37% like for like growth in the first half or 27% on a 2 year basis. Momentum continues to build, driven by the significant change in the management and sales teams, which is focused on improving returns through linking operations with commercial functions. This, coupled with a strong market, is driving our outperformance. We are delivering strong growth in web revenue, Iris Pro penetration and increased productivity and warehouse efficiencies. Our enlarged distribution center enables us to widen and deepen our product offer, including adding more MRO inventory. Although this is a gradual process that reflects customer demand and will not materially impact our inventory turns. Cenovus is driving cross benefits, business benefits as we introduce Allied as a supplier and also offer Ares Pro products as a competitive alternative to the branded range. Like IEA, there has been a delay in implementing new contracts due to clients' on-site restrictions as a result of COVID. However, we have signed a number of new contracts with global in the technology and pharmaceutical verticals, and we're happy with the way the business has progressed as part of the group. Asia Pacific, approximately 10% of group revenue, grew by 31% like for like in the first half or 29% on a 2 year basis, reflecting the earlier recovery post COVID than other regions. Asia Pacific's growth has been underpinned by a greater electronics exposure, but industrial product performance has been solid, and we've been taking market share. Again, a change in management culture has led to more focused and productive sales processes as we've increased attention on more profitable opportunities. This has certainly been the case in Japan and Greater China as two examples, which have delivered the strongest performances on a 2 year basis within the region. Now moving on to gross margin costs and cash. We've taken actions to improve our gross margin through revising our discount policy, ensuring Pricing options reflect demand elasticity, growing our own brand ranges and negotiating buying terms better. We are delivering gross margin benefits, although this is partly offset by regional and product mix dilution and ongoing pressures from inbound freight inflation. The cost pressures have not abated. Freight rates continue to increase with, in some instances, premium fees to expedite shipments given the shortage of containers. Our parcel delivery charges have also increased in the UK. We are managing what we can control, which includes working partly to mitigate this by storing our products closer to the customer, but this takes time to achieve. We can see labor inflation pressures build. We awarded a pay rise across the group earlier in the year, but we are seeing inflationary pressures build given general employment shortages, especially within our American and U. K. Distribution centers and for technology engineers. We know that we have lower employee turnover than most, given our culture and benefits. But like other companies, the current challenge is the competition for New Talent. Lastly, Brexit costs continue and will annualize during the year given they were only in the last quarter of FY 'twenty one. We have increased OpEx investment with our underlying model to strengthen our expertise, technological capabilities and product and services capacity to improve our operating basics. We want to be the best in class in each discipline and invest in our business to ensure it can support the Strong organic growth that we are delivering and the inorganic opportunities that we see. We want to be better at the basics to drive greater operational leverage over the medium term. Our RISE programs Simplify, the group is on track, and we're excited by the benefits we are seeing having a more agile business and leaders with greater operational focus and ownership. Now moving on to cash. We have seen strong cash generation in the first half. Our inventory position has increased, which reflects the investments that we've made to bring forward supply orders to mitigate some of the shortages that the industry is facing. Our low inventory turn, strong relationships with suppliers And being a high margin partner has meant that our availability rates to our customers have reduced only slightly and remain industry leading. Our cash spend on capital expenditure has fallen in the first half as we annualized against the spend associated with expanding the American at the division center. We expect our full year net capital expenditure to be similar to the $55,000,000 that was spent in FY 'twenty one. We continue to work on a number of inorganic opportunities that accelerate our growth strategy. The number and size of deals has increased, but there has been no change in our strict cultural, strategic and financial criteria when assessing each one. Our corporate development team is very busy, and we have some interesting opportunities that we are pursuing. Looking forward, as we move into the second half, we will experience much tougher comparatives and a number of external challenges, including supply chain shortages affecting industrial production and customer demand and increasing cost pressures. However, the strong performance in the first half means that our revenue growth And adjusted operating profit margin are running slightly ahead of expectations and the full year guidance provided within our Q1 update. We expect our full year profits to be more weighted to the first half than what we have seen in previous years. We're on track to deliver our Destination 2025 strategic plan, which targets a 30% adjusted operating profit conversion And mid teens adjusted operating profit margin. Despite the external market uncertainty, which has worsened over the last 6 months, We have never been more confident in our strategy. We're performing very well. Our people are engaged and enthused, and our business is well positioned for what our customers increasingly want. We see significant opportunity to drive further market share gains, increasing operating efficiencies and generating long value creation long term value creation through organic and inorganic growth. And with that, Jordan, I'll open it up to Q and A, please. Of course. For those of us dialing in online, you can register a question with the flag icon. We have a question from David Brockton of Numis. David, the line is yours. David, it's very hard to hear you, sorry. Is that better? Not really. You able to get a bit closer to your microphone or just speak very loudly? Sure. I'll speak loudly. Hopefully, you can hear it a bit. Three questions. Firstly, on the exit rate, it feels like the tender has been a tough month for a number of industrial businesses. And I make a caution in your guidance. I just wanted to understand to what extent you've seen a slowing And then the final question, hoping you can hear me. In respect of M and A. I noticed that the number of private deals has increased. I just wondered if you could touch on vendor expectations and what we're seeing there. Thanks, David. So in terms of the exit rates for We've not really seen any real change in terms of the exit rates. September has been solid for us and continue through Q2. As we look forward into the second half, however, what I would say is that What's within our control, we're very confident with, but there are elements that are not ordinarily within our control, particularly around the supply chain and the customer impacts on the supply chain. So the element of our caution as we look forward is more centered around what It's not within our control, and that is predominantly around the customer and obviously some supply chain challenges, but then there's obviously labor availability, etcetera. But the main sort of caution as we look forward is more to do with the external factors. In terms of the supply chain and our ability to move, the first step in that was to create additional capacity, And that is why we invested in both the U. S. And in Germany to create additional capacity to put more products closer to the customers. Then the second stage is to then negotiate with suppliers in terms of where you buy the product, ultimately with the objective of reducing In the number of miles that the product then moves. So that is a slower process. It takes time. And there's complications in terms of the various metrics that go into that in terms of buy price, currency, Transport costs, etcetera, etcetera. But ultimately, our objective is to move more products closer to the customer and utilizing the expanded facilities that we have to our advantage. And then in terms of M and A, your question around M and A, Our pipeline is strong and solid. The number of opportunities are there. We have walked away from a couple of opportunities during the first half, either due to cultural fit All valuation challenges, vendor expectations, I think, are relatively high, but the key for us is to ensure that we have dialogue with vendors And that we try to get into exclusive arrangements as quickly and as promptly as we possibly can such that we can manage appropriate valuations with the vendors early on through the stage in the process. But we're pleased with the progress that we have made, And the prospects and opportunities remain strong, but our discipline around M and A also remains incredibly strong and tight. Thank you. I've just fixed my microphone, but thank you very much. Thank you, Our next question comes from Sanjay Vidyarthi of Liberum. Sanjay, please go ahead. Good morning, David. I think at the Q1 stage, You mentioned that you haven't yet put through price increases. And today, you've talked about lower levels of invoice discounting and Just adapting to kind of price elasticity of demand. So just wondering where we are in terms of price increases now as to Q1? Sure. Thanks, Sanjay, and good morning. We have not seen the impact of the price increases at Q1 Any material impact, what we have done is we certainly put prices up for the vast majority of our products. If you look at the growth rates, around about 3% of that growth is price And the rest is volume. So we've got elasticity. We're able to pretty much cover any material cost increases through price increases. The greater challenge for us is more around the transport and the logistics because we do pay for transport. So I think we've been front footed on the pricing. We haven't sort of been gouging or specifically opportunistic. I think we've been sensible, bearing in mind that we are already a high value, high price distributor because we're delivering significant value. So we We have to trade carefully and do what's right for our customers. Okay. Thanks so much. Just one more question. You talked a lot about The importance of cultural change and I think particularly in the U. S, you mentioned incentives, empowerment, operational ownership. Is it possible to give an example or 2 of the things that you really that you think have really made a difference, particularly in the U. S? Sure. So I think really over the last 12, 18 months, we've significantly changed up the President, and Ken Bradley is now the leader. He was also Spent some time here in the U. K, went back to the U. S. And is now running the team. He's pretty much changed up a fair amount of his direct reports. So a combination of those that were within the business, but also then brought new talent in, typically from outside industry. And then those respective teams have also then mixed and changed up their talent. So again, I think there is a greater sense of urgency. There is a greater sense of ambition. We've invested in terms of the distribution centers, so we've shown commitment to the team. The team has become far more customer orientated. It's focused on customer. We've seen significant growth and improvement in digital and web in particular. So we're seeing very, very strong growth in web in our North American business. Value added services are on the agenda and being introduced as is RS Pro. So I think it's There's not one sort of silver bullet here. It's been a combination of factors, but it's being led by people and culture and mindset, Empowerment and then reward. That's great. Thank you very much, David. We have no further questions on the phone lines. So with that, I'll hand back. Thank you, Jordan, and thank you, everyone, for your time this morning and for listening into our first half trading update. We look forward to speaking to you at our interim results, where Lindsay will be joining us and other members of our team. So see you in a couple of weeks' time. Thank you, and good morning.