Earnings Call: H2 2020

Feb 9, 2021

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the DKSH Full Year Results 2020 Conference Call and Live Webcast. I am Sandra, the Chorus Call operator. I would like to remind you that all participants will be in listen only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Till Leissner, Head of Media Under Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir. Thank you, Sandra, and good morning or good afternoon, everybody. It's a pleasure to welcome you here on behalf of DTSH. As Sandra said, my name is Till. I'm looking after Investor Relations. Before we start the presentation, please have a look at the disclaimer of our presentation regarding forward looking statements. For those who do not Have the presentation in front of them. You will find them on the web page in the Investor Relations section at www.dksh.com. With that short introduction, I'd like to hand over to Stefan. Thank you very much. Yes. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the presentation of our full year results 2020. I'm joined today by our CFO, Bernard Schmidt. We are calling from Singapore and Till here in Zurich. Today, I will give you an overview of what we have achieved in the last year and then comment on the performance of our business units. Bernhard will follow-up with an outline of the financial review before I conclude with the outlook. I think it's fair to say that 2020 It was an unprecedented year. Across the globe, people stayed at home, travel was canceled, non essential shops closed, production facilities shut down and If we look at the situation in Asia over the course of the year, the pandemic spread in the Q1, most predominantly in Mainland China and Hong Kong. In the Q2, almost all markets in Asia Pacific went into some form of lockdown. In the 3rd and 4th quarters, restriction levels remained high in Asia. When we compare them to those levels in Europe, they are sometimes Even higher. Despite these challenges, we successfully navigated the crisis, thanks to the good performance of our business units and report Solid results for 2020. First, we achieved the GDP plus performance. Our net sales growth at constant exchange rates We're better than Asian GDP. 2nd, we reported a robust EBIT. 3rd, we increased our free cash flow by 34 And 4th, we continue our dividend track record by proposing a 2.6% higher dividend of CHF 1.95 per share. Let us now look at the key developments in 2020. Business units. We diligently implemented our business unit strategies. In healthcare, we increased the share of higher value added commercial outsourcing partnerships. The transformation of the fast moving consumer goods business progressed well and report higher profits for the 2nd consecutive year. In Performance Materials, we expanded our position as a leading distributor of specialty chemicals and ingredients. And in technology, we have set the stage Markets, we increased our share of faster growing markets. The reason rest of Asia Pacific, which includes markets Such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia now accounts for 23% and is therefore the 2nd largest region in our portfolio. People with our new Chief HR Officer and Identity, we rolled out and modified HR strategy, Enhancing our value proposition and increasing our competitive advantage. The KPIs are already developing well. To give you an idea, our internal hire rate stands at over 80%, 25% more than in 2019. We upgraded the caliber of our talent and made some strategic recruitments and functions like consumer goods, marketing and IT. The number of managers in our long term incentive plan increased and we plan to double that number further. Diversity is important to us. We have 75 nationalities at DKSH and a balanced woman to man ratio of 50 3% to 47%. Digital. Our 4 business units to digitally interact with our clients and customers and now offer more e payment solutions to optimize our internal cash collection process. Sustainability. Without going into detail into our sustainability initiatives, please let me highlight that for the first time We have introduced sustainability targets aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Until 2,030, we aim To achieve climate neutrality in all our locations and we also linked the compensation of our entire executive management team also to sustainability targets. To sum it up, despite all challenges, we successfully developed the company in 2020. Please let me now discuss 2 of these developments in more detail, our digital transformation and M and A strategy. Let's start with the digital part first, which is becoming increasingly important for our clients and customers. Last year, we exceeded our e commerce sales target of €150,000,000 and reached sales of well over €200,000,000 That means that we have organically doubled our e commerce business in the last two years. This achievement is a result All our business units rapidly leveraging digital technologies. To give you some examples, we conducted more than 1,000 specialty chemicals online in 2020. As we more and more clients taking up our digital services, We expect good growth in our e commerce business this year. M and As are another focus area. Since 2017, our M and A strategy has delivered 10 acquisitions. This has created shareholder value and as they have expansion potential and we have paid attractive multiples. Last year, we successfully acquired and integrated 2 companies, Axseo and Crossmark in Australia and New Zealand. With Akceo, we gained broader market coverage and customer reach in Asia Pacific. Already within the 1st 9 months, large clients such as Ashland, Alimenti and Chinezu joined us in Australia and New Zealand. Transaction activities slowed down in the second half and in the second and third quarters, excuse me, of 2020 and have since then picked up again. We will continuously scan the market and we do have A solid M and A pipeline to drive market consolidation across all business units. Let me now continue with an update on our business units, Starting with healthcare. Contrary to expectations, the pandemic impacted Healthcare industry in Asia. Patients avoided hospitals, spend less, operations were canceled and medical tourism collapsed. Our own results, however, proved resilient. Net sales at constant exchange rate were down only 5%. This is mainly due to our diversified portfolio across channels, categories and markets. We played a key role in supplying the public with medication And one new client. For example, by entering the Philippines with LOTUS, we also grew Pfizer in Taiwan, Luoye Pharma in Thailand, as well as with HealthStream across Asia Pacific. EBIT at constant exchange rates remained at last year level due to stringent cost discipline and a higher share of commercial outsourcing partnerships. Due to the ongoing lockdowns, Demand for healthcare services has not yet recovered and medical tourism remains at a minimal level. Therefore, we will continue to monitor our expenses, expand our digital channels and drive growth in higher value segments and services such as commercial outsourcing deals, biosimilar partnerships or the extension of the medical device segment. Let me also say a couple of words about the distribution of the COVID-nineteen vaccines at this point. In our business unit healthcare, We are committed to making high quality medical products accessible to patients across Asia. We have long standing relationship With large vaccine manufacturers and a track record of being the trusted partner to reliable distribute general vaccines across 6 markets in Asia. We are well prepared to have governments and private organizations in their vaccine initiatives. In anticipation of increasing demand, We also expanded our coaching capacity by 25% in certain markets. However, The distribution of COVID-nineteen vaccines is still at an early stage in Asia and the further cause remains to be seen. In any case, our future direction will be guided by prioritizing the common good. We will keep you duly informed once we have more news to share. Please let me now move on to the business unit consumer goods. In our fast moving consumer goods segment, The transformation initiated at the end of 2018 continued to progress very well. Thanks to a leaner structure in FMCG under the unit's leadership team and our optimized product portfolio, we increased The EBIT in FMCG strongly. We rebuilt the spirit of a winning team, regained trust in the markets and won several key client contracts. Especially also in e commerce in Indonesia, we recorded high growth The Luxury and Lifestyle segment within CG was significantly impacted by the pandemic as retail shops closed And tourism fell heavily. Net sales and EBIT declined by a substantial double digit percentage. We immediately implemented cost saving initiatives, which will support profitability going forward. On a positive note, the watch brand Maurice Lacroix gained market share and reported a small profit for the 2nd year in a row. Maurice Lacroix continues to strengthen its brand position in a prestigious manufacturing of switch watches. Alongside the biggest names in the watchmaking industry, the brand has been chosen for the first time this year to present its new products at the digital edition of the Watches and Wonders Geneva exhibition in April. Taking both segments Net sales and EBIT at constant exchange rates remained at last year's level for the business unit consumer goods. Let's continue with business unit performance materials where we delivered another year of growth. At constant exchange rate, net sales were up 15% and EBIT 7%. We grew well in all the life science segments where we cater to the pharma, food, beverage, as well as personal care industries. Across all segments, We expanded distribution agreements with key clients such as Stepan in India, Korea and Vietnam, Elementis in France and Zebec and Eastman across Asia Pacific. We also increased market coverage by adding more than 1,000 new customers globally and continue to invest in value adding innovation formulation soothing and regulatory capabilities. With 2 new food and beverage innovation center openings in Indonesia and Korea, we increased the total number to 48 centers. Another milestone was the acquisition of Axios in Australia and New Zealand. This deal not only helped us to strengthen our geographical reach, it also markets the biggest transaction for the business unit. The integration is going well and the business is already implemented on our SAP platform. In 2021, we plan to increase Profitability further enhance our digital and value added capabilities and assess new acquisition targets. We have a clear roadmap and see further growth opportunities. Finally, let me please continue with the business unit technology. This division was significantly impacted by COVID-nineteen. Especially in the Q2, customers temporarily shut down production facilities and As a result, net sales declined by 6.7% at constant exchange rate And EBIT stood at CHF 21,800,000. We took prompt actions and set up a cost saving plan to secure profitability. We intensified our business development focusing on growing segments like Scientific Instrumentation, Precision Machinery Industry 4 0 and after sales services. To name a few examples, we expanded our partnership with HP for 3 d printing and started providing integrated services for Thermo Fisher's range of ultra low temperature freezers in Thailand. This partnership contributed towards specimen storage for COVID-nineteen testing and according to the WHO guidelines. With a focus on higher value added services, digital marketing and cost control, we intend to further stabilize the business And deliver growth to exceed pre COVID-nineteen levels in the midterm. With that, I hand over to our CFO, Bernhard Schmidt, who will walk you through the full year results 2020 in more detail. Thank you, Stefan. Dear ladies and gentlemen, Welcome also from my side here out of Singapore. I am pleased to further explain our 2020 full year results to you. In essence, we delivered solid numbers. Despite unique market conditions, net sales, EBIT and profit after tax We remained around last year's level at constant exchange rates. At the same time, we strongly grew our free cash flow And our ROADOC of 18.1% remained on a solid level. Let me now explain the numbers in more detail. Despite COVID-nineteen, our net sales at constant exchange rates matched last year's level. Our organic growth rate was only down 4.2% amidst lower demand in several markets. Cheer preferably, we experienced the strongest headwinds in Thailand and Hong Kong. At the same time, we grew at good rates in Vietnam and Indonesia. These markets are part of the region Rest of Asia Pacific, which today accounts for About 23% of our net sales and with that is the 2nd largest contributor to our business. In addition, we successfully acquired and integrated several new companies. We had to quickly learn how to roll out our SAP system online without traveling. Since 2019, Orec Pacific, SPC, DOLs and CDTE contribute to our results. In 2020, we closed 2 deals with CrossMark and Axio. Combined, these 6 acquisitions add 2.1% of our As the Swiss franc weather is strengthened against our Asian currencies, actions rate had a negative 5.1% impact on net Let me now discuss the EBIT in more detail. The EBIT in 2019 was £5,400,000 Adding back the one time restructuring cost of $14,500,000 in consumer goods, The adjusted EBIT was 279.9. The organic development was minus 6% and acquisitions added 8,800,000 or 3.1%. Currency effects reduced the EBIT by 5.1%. In sum and at constant exchange rate, EBIT of €257,500,000 was only down 2.9% as well as outsourced transportation to third parties. Our capital intensity measured as capital expenditures as a percentage of net sales is very low. In the past years, on average, it only accounted for 0.4% of net sales. For this year, we again expect to see a CapEx level of around 0.4% of net sales. This means that we will stay asset light. We delivered a strong free cash flow of $210,200,000 Firstly, we improved our inventory and receivables management. Secondly, we benefited from an unwinding of working capital due to the slightly lower sales. Let me now move on to our balance sheet. Our solid balance sheet It's a key criterion why clients choose to work with us. This is even more true in volatile periods like that of last year. Furthermore, our strong financial position enabled us to continue paying dividends and close to acquisitions. Despite our acquisition strategy, we still carry very little goodwill on our balance sheet. Goodwill accounts only for 30.5% of our equity. In sum, our balance sheet remains strong with a net cash position of 342,200,000 And a solid equity ratio of 35.2%. This will allow us to drive market consolidation via acquisitions in the years to come. Before I hand over to Stefan for the dividend and outlook, Let me provide you with a few financial indications. With the integrated acquisitions of Axio and Crossmark, We expect a positive M and A effect on our net sales of 0.1% for this year. We hope to add More growth in the course of 2021 with further acquisitions. If current spot rates prevail, you should have an Sorry, and significant translational FX effect on our net sales. We expect the tax rate between 27% to 29% and CapEx of around CHF 40,000,000 to CHF 45,000,000 Many thanks for your attention. And with that, I hand over back to Stefan, in Zurich. Thank you for this financial review, Bernard. At DKSH, We agree what makes a good investment is not only the amount of the dividend, but also the consistency of its distribution. I would like to remind you that our ordinary dividend has been growing reliable every year. In line with our track Our Board proposes a 2.6% higher dividend of CHF195 at our Coming Annual General Meeting in March. Let us now look forward. While visibility of the evolution of the pandemic Remains limited for all of us, we are optimistic that in 2021 will bring at least a return to some form of normality and a slightly improved economic outlook towards the end of the year. We are convinced that we will emerge stronger from last year's challenges. We will continue implementing our strategy with a focus on digitization, sustainability and M and A, while ensuring operational excellence and cost discipline, sorry. Assuming an easing of the impact Of COVID-nineteen, such as rebounding tourism and stable currencies, we expect an EBIT above last year for 2021. We also hold to our progressive dividend policy and are committed to driving market consolidation through M and Looking ahead, we remain very confident about Asia's long term potential. The recent formation of the RCEP, the world's largest free trade pact should intensify regional trade and economic activity in Asia Pacific in the years to come. At DKSH, we are very well positioned to benefit from favorable market, industry and consolidation trends. Thank you very much for listening. Operator, please let's now move to the Q and A session please. We will now begin the question and answer session. The first question comes from Pascal Frode from Vontobel. Please go ahead. Good morning. Three questions, if I may. The first question is with regards to your regional performance. So here Thailand was down 13 Or even around 20% on a reported basis in the second half. Of course, you had strong FX Had wind both still organically it's down almost 10%. Can you elaborate a bit what happened here in your Key market. Then my second question is with regards to consumer goods. Do you observe a change in trend in consumer behavior in Southeast Asia triggered by COVID-nineteen? For example, it's fair to assume that there was shift back to multinationals, which Basically sell trusted brand names and which have been historically well represented in your portfolio Because 2 years ago, you wanted to go more after local players. So my question is here, what's your portfolio mix Currently. And then last question in terms of luxury and lifestyle. The SOX division has been a drag for many years. So first, we had Morris Lacqua, your whole box Distribution network, which both you can restructured successfully, but now we have COVID-nineteen stores are closed. My question, does this sub segment require a change in strategy or would you even consider sort of a disposal? Thank you. Yes. Thank you very much, Pascal, for your questions. And let me start with the first One regarding Thailand. Yes, I mean, we all know about the economic environment in Thailand And that's definitely not favorable for any market player out there and 2020 was another disappointing year In general, GDP development, if you look at our business in Thailand and what is driving The decline, you have to consider 2 things. 1 is, we have quite a significant presence in healthcare In Thailand and that business is partially also based on medical tourism as well as over the counter products for tourists. I don't have to share with you. You know that very well that the tourism almost went down to 0. So that's a major drag on our numbers. In consumer goods, we were actually able to gain some market The share in unfavorable conditions. 2nd question regarding the consumer goods trend. There is a little bit of change of buying pattern. I agree with you Between multinational and local brands, it also depends a little bit on the different pricing points. But the main Driver we actually see is that we gain more and more trust from those large multinationals and they're accelerating that Trend towards outsourcing. So, if I look at our BD pipeline, the stake of the large multinational business It's growing significantly, which is also a component of the new and or renewed trust, let's call it that way. The leadership team there has On the ground and a few of those contracts, we are allowed to publish and we did so most recently. Regarding luxury and lifestyle, yes, you are right. I mean, obviously, We were hit significantly. So the revenue is down over a third in luxury and lifestyle Retail obviously significantly impacted by all the lockdowns across the different countries. ML is a nice development, which is exceptional in this case based on very good management and a very attractive collection They have. As I said or as we said already on the Capital Market Day, Luxury and retail for us, it's not a significant part of the portfolio. It's You know, under 10% in terms of sales, but it obviously has quite attractive profitability. Overall, the strategy is to really focus on the 90% of our business, the FMCG business, Where we have the critical size, where we are the number one player across Southeast Asia and beyond And harvest a little bit the luxury and lifestyle business over the years to come. So definitely from a strategic perspective, This is not a growth area. Did I answer your questions, Pascal? Perfect. Any follow-up? Thank you. Let's move on to the next question in the call please. The next question comes from Nicole Mannion from UBS. Please go ahead. Hi. Good morning, everyone. Just one for me, please, on Healthcare, if that's okay. Just noting your comments around the plan maybe to focus on more high value segments. Is that something that you're looking at in the short term or is more of a kind of And with that in mind, could you remind us what the mix split is and what you might want it to end up looking like in healthcare? Okay. Thanks for your question, Nicole. Actually, this strategy to enlarge the stake Of high value services and products within our portfolio is already happening. I mean continuously over the last 2 years, We were able to enlarge the stake of full commercial outsourcing business or full service business within the portfolio 4PL or just 3PL business as well as the stake of the medical device business which also has a higher profitability It's increasing consistently. So this is in action while we sit here and over time we do expect to enlarge it further Again, based on the trend towards an increased outsourcing also in the healthcare sector by our clients. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Nicole. Let's move on to the next question please. The next question comes from Gianmarco Vero from ZKB. Please go ahead. Thank you. Hi, everybody. Two topics from my side. First, transformation in consumer goods and then on the other side, Also the e commerce business. So first, for the consumer goods business during your Capital Markets Day, you mentioned that you want to close the first transformation phase until the end of last year. So are you currently fully focused on Phase 2 at the moment? And can you also elaborate on the Data analytics that you want to use during this second phase. Then also in relation to that, you mentioned that you target And EBIT margin for the second half of this year for Consumer of around 2 point 5 percent. Is this still a valid target? And then switching to e commerce, you nicely exceeded your target, Now reaching €200,000,000 or above €200,000,000 in sales in e commerce. So I was also wondering the 3% to 4% share of group sales that you are expecting now for 2021 could even imply Did you expect up to additional €100,000,000 in sales in e commerce this year? Do I read this right? And Can you elaborate a bit more on the dynamics there in this channel? Thank you. Yes. Thank you very much, John Marco. Regarding CG, yes, the first phase where we were primarily or the strongest focus was actually on setting the organization, streamlining some processes. We made some very good progress Improving the forecasting capabilities by introducing new SVNO processes that went very well. Streamlining the portfolio obviously also started already in Phase 1 and we discussed also at the half year That we really go through all the SKUs and all the clients and try to optimize the portfolio from a growth as well as from a profitability perspective. Right now, I mean, we the focus is really on to further capitalize on the Trends towards accelerated outsourcing as well as entering new markets. If you take an example of Indonesia, Indonesia, we are growing significantly and in the meantime is one of our 5 largest markets. And we just started with CG entering that market in 2018. So we are seeing some very good tailwinds And the focus is on accelerating that growth further. In terms of data analytics, We are making some very good progress by putting intelligence in the hands of our sales people. So what we mean by that, that if Our sales people are entering especially a traditional outlet or traditional store that we compare The SKU portfolios they have in their neighborhood available with growth rates delivered In close by shops around him, so that we give the opportunity that our salesperson become a very sophisticated consultant About what the best SKU portfolio is in that neighborhood for the store owner and we have some very good data about the acceleration of growth happening in those stores as well about the percentage of reordering of those products from our customers. Regarding the EBIT margin of 2.5%, which we forecasted for the second half of 2021, to be honest, we have to see how 2021 is going to play out because obviously when we make the statement, no one had COVID on the agenda and the biggest hit for this business unit driven by COVID It's obviously the significant decline in luxury and retail. We just also discussed with the question from Pascal. So to be honest, it depends now a little bit if tourism is coming back into our key countries, Thailand, Hong Kong, if stores will be open, especially after Q1, 1, in Q1, I think we can't expect it and see how the luxury and lifestyle business is going to develop. Otherwise, we might be a little bit short, driven by the COVID crisis. But I really would like to point out that The 90% of our business, the underlying FMCG business, we are making some very good progress in terms of margin and overall The e commerce question will be taken by Till. Yes. Thanks, Jean Marco. A little bit of clarification on the online business, which you see on slide 5 of the presentation. So what we have done for the percentages is to show you what we call the addressable net sales. So we have taken out the entire pharma business From our top line, so last year we had €10,700,000,000 of sales. We have taken out about €3,500,000,000 for the pharma Because that is legally not allowed to trade online, yes. So based on that, we achieved last year about a 3% penetration and we expect to increase to 3% to 4% for this year and can confirm that we also had a solid good start in terms of e commerce business during this the 1st month of this year. Very clear. Thank you. Thank you, Gianmarco. And let's move on to the next question. Gentlemen, so far there are no more questions. Okay. Thank you very much. If there are no more questions, we can close the call. Also on behalf of Bernard and Stefan, thank you very much. Have a good afternoon and we stay in touch with you. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now over. Thank you for choosing Chorus Call and thank you for participating in the conference. You may now disconnect your lines. Goodbye.