Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the first quarter 2022 Quanex Building Products Corporation earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during this session, you will need to press star one on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star, then zero. I would like to hand the conference over to your host today, Scott Zuehlke, SVP, CFO and Treasurer. Please go ahead.
Thanks for joining the call this morning. On the call with me today is George Wilson, our President and CEO. This conference call will contain forward-looking statements and some discussion of non-GAAP measures. Forward-looking statements and guidance discussed on this call and in our earnings release are based on current expectations. Actual results or events may differ materially from such statements and guidance, and Quanex undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect new information or events. For a more detailed description of our forward-looking statement disclaimer and a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, please see our earnings release issued yesterday and posted to our website. I'll now discuss the financial results.
We reported revenue of $267 million during the first quarter of 2022, which represents an increase of 16% compared to $230.1 million during the first quarter of 2021. The increase was largely attributable to volume increases in our fenestration segments, combined with higher prices related to the pass-through of raw material cost inflation. More specifically, we realized net sales growth of 14.5% in our North American Fenestration segment, 15.5% in our North American Cabinet Components segment, and 18.6% in our European Fenestration segment, excluding the foreign exchange impact.
We reported net income of $11.2 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, for the three months ended January 31st, 2022, compared to $7.9 million, or $0.24 per diluted share during the three months ended January 31st, 2021. On an adjusted basis, net income increased by 25.9% to $11.3 million or $0.34 per diluted share during the first quarter of 2022, compared to $9 million or $0.27 per diluted share during the first quarter of 2021. The adjustments being made to EPS are for restructuring charges, loss on the sale of a plant, foreign currency transaction impacts, and transaction and advisory fees. On an adjusted basis, EBITDA for the quarter was essentially flat year-over-year at $24.4 million, compared to $24.3 million during the same period of last year.
The increase in earnings for the three months ended January 31st, 2022, was attributable to continued strong demand, operational efficiency gains, and increased pricing. However, the decrease in margin percentage was driven by inflationary pressures and time lags on material index pricing mechanisms. Moving on to cash flow and the balance sheet. Cash used for operating activities was $21.7 million for the quarter, compared to $3.4 million for the same period of last year. Due to the typical seasonality in our business, free cash flow was negative in the first quarter of this year. In addition, the value of our inventory increased further due to inflationary pressures, which had a negative impact on working capital. As a reminder, we usually generate most of our cash in the second half of each year.
Our balance sheet continues to be strong, our liquidity position is solid, and our leverage ratio of net debt to last 12 months adjusted EBITDA was at 0.4 x as of January 31st, 2022. We will remain focused on generating cash, paying down debt, and opportunistically repurchasing stock as the year progresses. As stated in our earnings release, demand remains healthy, but the rate of inflation continues to pressure margins. However, based on improvements in labor performance, the expected continuation of our pass-through pricing strategy, conversations with our customers, and the latest macro data, we're now comfortable providing the following guidance for fiscal 2022. Net sales of $1.13 billion-$1.15 billion. Adjusted EBITDA of $135 million-$140 million. Depreciation of approximately $31 million. Amortization of approximately $15 million.
SG&A of $115 million-$120 million. Interest expense of $2 million-$2.5 million. Tax rate of 28%. CapEx of $30 million-$35 million. Free cash flow of $55 million-$60 million. While we do expect some level of volume growth in our fenestration segments for the remainder of the year, note that our current expectation is that revenue growth for the remainder of the year should be driven more by price as opposed to volume, and we expect margin expansion to be second half-weighted. From a cadence perspective for Q2, we expect net sales to be up mid- to high-single digits year-over-year in each segment.
However, due to inflation and the time lag associated with passing on price increases for most of our raw materials, we believe it will be a challenge to realize margin expansion in any segment in Q2. Looking ahead into the second half of the year, on a consolidated basis, we currently expect mid-single-digit% net sales growth year-over-year in Q3 and Q4. In addition, due to easier comps than the expected benefit from our pricing strategy, coupled with some volume growth in our Fenestration segments, we expect to realize some margin expansion in Q3 and Q4. I'll now turn the call over to George for his prepared remarks.
Thanks, Scott. Prior to my comments, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge Joe Rupp for his long and dedicated service to Quanex as a board member and as our Lead Independent Director. Joe's guidance was key during our transition into a pure-play building products company several years ago, and more recently, his mentorship and support proved invaluable as I transitioned into the CEO role. I would like to thank Joe for all he has done, and I wish him all the best. I will now discuss results for the quarter and then conclude with a discussion on the macro environment and guidance. Demand was healthy across all product lines during the first quarter of 2022.
Volume growth in our fenestration segments and higher prices in all segments, mostly related to the pass-through of raw material cost inflation, resulted in revenue growth of 16% year-over-year. On a consolidated basis, we estimate that revenue growth for the quarter was weighted approximately 10% due to an increase in volume and approximately 90% due to an increase in price. The first quarter began with continued supply chain challenges and significant labor disruption caused by COVID absenteeism, driven by the Omicron variant. However, these issues started to subside towards the end of the quarter. The rate of raw material cost inflation remains a challenge, as we typically see a 30-day to 90-day time lag in passing these increases through to our customers. Looking at the individual segments, I will start with the North American Fenestration.
This segment generated revenue of $146.6 million in Q1, which was $18.5 million or 14.5% higher than prior year Q1. Strong demand in our IG spacer and screen product lines, volume growth in vinyl fencing components, and price increases across all product lines were the main drivers of the growth. We estimate that revenue growth in this segment was weighted approximately 45% due to an increase in volume and approximately 55% due to an increase in price. Adjusted EBITDA of $16.3 million in this segment was essentially flat versus prior year Q1. Improved pricing, volume-related efficiency gains, and productivity-related improvements were more than offset by inflationary pressures on raw materials, which caused margin erosion of approximately 170 basis points for the quarter.
However, our current expectation is for margin expansion in this segment later in the year, assuming that the rate of inflation subsides. Our European Fenestration segment generated revenue of $58.9 million in the first quarter, which was $9.8 million or 20% higher than prior year. Excluding foreign exchange impact, this would equate to an increase of 18.6%. We estimate that revenue growth in this segment was weighted approximately 20% due to an increase in volume and approximately 80% due to an increase in price. Strong demand in both IG spacers and vinyl extrusions, combined with material-related price increases, accounted for the strong performance year- over- year. These favorable volume-related impacts and pricing actions were more than offset by inflationary pressure on raw material costs and by inefficiencies caused by the COVID-related absenteeism early in the quarter.
As such, adjusted EBITDA came in at $10.4 million for the quarter, which was $300,000 less than prior year and yielded margin compression of approximately 420 basis points. Similar to our expectations for other segments, we do anticipate that margins will improve as the year progresses, again, assuming that the rate of inflation subsides. Our North American Cabinet Components segment reported net sales of $62.4 million in Q1, which was $8.4 million or 15.5% higher than prior year. Volumes decreased in this segment year-over-year, mainly as a result of customers' decisions to reduce overtime hours worked in their plants. Increases in hardwood index pricing, as well as discretionary pricing actions, offset the volume and resulted in revenue growth year-over-year.
Adjusted EBITDA was $2 million for the quarter, which was $1.2 million less than prior year and resulted in margin compression of approximately 280 basis points. Improvements in lumber yield and labor efficiency were more than offset by a significant increase in hardwood lumber costs during the quarter. Weather-related challenges in the Appalachian wood region, as well as increases in maple demand, were the main drivers of the increases in lumber costs. As a reminder, we have material index pricing mechanisms in place, but they typically have a 90-day lag, and we will require a period of flat or declining wood pricing before we're able to catch up on our margin performance in this segment. As we look forward through the remainder of the year, we feel good about the demand environment across all of our product lines.
In North America, the housing market remains strong and our customers continue to have high levels of backlog, which we anticipate will slowly dwindle throughout the year. The rate of inflation and the potential for further interest rate hikes could impact demand at some point in the future, but we do not expect this to occur in the near term due to the high backlog levels. In continental Europe and the U.K., the demand environment remains healthy, although consumer confidence could ultimately be impacted if inflation continues to ramp and energy costs continue to increase. From a Quanex perspective, we have seen enough improvements in our supply chain and stabilization in our labor force to say that the main challenge we now face is the rate of inflation and the ability to pass through price in an expedited manner.
As Scott mentioned earlier, we have enough data points and adequate visibility into our customers' backlog to give us confidence in providing full year guidance. Again, we expect to generate revenue of $1.13 billion-$1.15 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $135 million-$140 million. If we execute to plan and are able to post results within these ranges, it will mark the third straight year of record performance for the Quanex team. Moving on to a more recent and tragic subject, which is the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is difficult to see these events unfold in real time and watch what you believe to be unfathomable turn into reality.
We have employees and business partners with personal ties to Ukraine, and our hearts are with them, their families, and all the Ukrainian people being affected by this pointless and horrific war. At this point, it is too early for anyone to accurately predict or estimate the impact that this war will have on the European or global economies or what supply chain disruptions or other impacts this may have on our industry. We anticipate there will be challenges, especially if the situation worsens substantially. However, at this point it is much too early to predict or forecast those impacts. Nonetheless, our team has managed through COVID and numerous global supply chain challenges over the past two years, and we are very confident in our ability to navigate this event as well. With that operator, we are now ready to take questions.
Thank you. If you have a question at this time, please press star then one on your touchtone telephone. If your question has been answered or you wish to remove yourself from the queue, please press the pound key. Our first question comes from the line of Daniel Moore with CJS. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Thank you, George and Scott for all the color and taking questions.
Thanks.
Particularly around price and quantity, that's really helpful. Obviously inflation is the kind of the remaining challenge as you described. Just talk about looking across each of the segments, the cadence, what you're seeing, whether prices are flattening, re-accelerating, you know, kind of in real time and just trying to get a sense for your confidence around the trajectory of margins recovering, you know, in the back half of the year. I've got a quick follow-up. Thanks.
It really varies, Dan, by product line. In general, if I look at each of our raw material segments, the ones that continue to see the most levels of inflation are primarily tied to oil or chemical-based raw materials. Resins, any of the components like carbon black, some of our butyl rubbers that are very tied to oil, still see some significant inflationary pressures. At one point, we started to see some leveling out in the metals, but those have ticked up again. Same thing with wood.
We started to see some leveling out of wood, but we've had a pretty tough winter in the Appalachian region with snow and rain that makes it really hard to harvest some of those lumber yards. Those are primarily the biggest issues right now.
When I kind of look at, let's say, the midpoint of your guidance range, does that imply kind of pricing where we are today? Does it leave room for some additional inflation? Just how do we think about that?
Yeah, I mean, as you can imagine, that's very hard to forecast inflation and pricing. However, we have a pretty good handle on the pricing aspect, which some of that's built into the model as well as some cushion on inflationary costs going a little higher from where we are today.
Perfect. Really helpful. Scott, I typed as fast as I could. Can you just repeat the SG&A as well as if there's CapEx guidance for the year?
Sure. CapEx, $30 million-$35 million.
Yep.
SG&A, $115 million-$120 million.
Perfect. You know, one more, and I'll jump back in queue. Obviously, you know, seasonally this is typically a little bit of a use of cash, and yet the balance sheet remains extremely strong. You know, it implies you'll generate $80 million+ , potentially in the next three quarters. Just talk about, you know, capital allocation. Maybe when you might be willing to be a little bit more aggressive or sort of, retrigger the buybacks given the authorization and, you know, what the M&A pipeline looks like, if anything. Thanks again.
As we look forward, I think your cadence on the cash flow is correct. You know, I think we'll stay focused on repayment of debt. We've made it public that, you know, our target is to approach net debt free by the end of the year. We have some pretty large CapEx projects that, you know, we're gonna be focused on throughout those years. Those two will remain the priority. We'll opportunistically balance our cash flow incoming and where the stock price is, and we'll be active as we told you know, the board authorized a $75 million repurchase plan. You know, as our projects align, we will repurchase stock. Then finally, the M&A pipeline.
You know, there are things that we'll continue to look at and be interested in. I would say that the amount of deals crossing our desk seems to have slowed, and I think that that's been reinforced by some of the feedback that we get from the banks, that the deal pipeline in general has slowed down a little. You know, we're gonna continue to remain diligent on our checklist of things that meet our requirements for an M&A. If something's there, we're in great position to capitalize on it. At this point, nothing imminent.
All right. Very helpful. I'll jump back with any follow-ups. Thanks.
Thanks.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Steven Ramsey with Thompson Research Group. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning. Maybe to start with the expectation that inflation subsides in the second half, is that the main reason for margin expansion at that time? Or what other factors help? Is that pricing flowing through better volume output? Maybe just talk through the drivers and what ranks in order of magnitude to drive that margin.
Yeah. I think if you looked back at last year's second half, we started to see inflation really kick up in the third and especially in the fourth quarter. From a comp perspective, the comps get a little easier from a margin perspective in the second half. What should drive that margin expansion year-over-year, obviously volume's gonna help, but I think more so is gonna be pricing, as we enter the second half. Like I said, there is a little bit of an assumption that inflation ticks up a little higher from where we are today, but we do expect it to subside. At least we're forecasting for that.
It's more the rate of inflation, you know. At some point, even if inflation continues to tick up, at least it gives us the ability to catch up. I think that's the major assumption we see in the second half, at least at this point.
Okay. Makes sense. Is it kind of all segments with margin expansion in the second half, or do certain segments expand more and others go flattish to down?
The expectation is definitely in North America for margin expansion in both of those segments. I mean, Europe, we're hopeful that'll happen in 3Q, but probably more likely in 4Q. I mean, margin profile in Europe continues to be strong.
Okay. Fair. One more thinking about inflation with the SG&A guidance. The low end of that SG&A range, flattish year-over-year. Kind of surprised given inflation in the U.S. normalizing of T&E. Maybe you can talk to how you're thinking about SG&A and budgeting for that.
You know, I think we've done a good job of continuing to find ways to optimize our whole SG&A structure. You know, we have internal projects where, you know, we've been able to reduce SG&A in some areas. Stock-based comp has obviously had a big benefit to that as well as, you know, we've aggressively managed our medical costs and it's, I think, performed relatively well. Although we see inflation, it's. I think we've done better than, you know, the market in managing our medical costs. Those are the three big areas that I think has allowed us to remain flat in SG&A, even with inflationary pressures that we see.
Great. Last quick one from me. If I think about the high end of the guidance range on sales and EBITDA, it implies lower incremental margin on the high side of both numbers than it does on the low end. Curious if there are certain drivers to drive that result or if it's just a math problem.
Yeah, I wouldn't. There's nothing really to point to explain either one. I think it's more the math and the ranges there. I will say that sitting here today, probably more comfortable with the higher end of the revenue guidance range than we are on the EBITDA range just because of the inflationary environment we're in.
Makes sense. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Julio Romero with Sidoti & Company. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning, George and Scott.
Morning.
I really appreciate you guys providing guidance. You listed a couple of contributing factors to that decision. You know, the improvements in labor performance, continued pricing and speaking to customers, et cetera. Is it fair to say the biggest kind of swing factor is labor improvement? I know you were having some issues last quarter in terms of short-term delivery schedules and truckers kind of showing up for the day. Are you seeing better visibility on that? If so, could you expand on that?
I think the improvement in labor comes from a couple areas. One, you know, is the supply chain started to stabilize. That obviously helps the scheduling of our plants and the ability to schedule production in the most efficient manner. That had a big impact. I think our human resource teams across the company have done a very good job of filling in and filling the open positions across all the plants. You know, we made some labor adjustments in terms of our wage rates throughout last year. As you bring new people on and get them acclimated to our processes, the learning curve around that has improved versus prior year, and that's been a big deal.
Just finding continued different ways to operate in this environment. We're getting better at it. In our North American Cabinet Components segment where we talked about, you know, our customers reducing labor hours, that, you know, that's mainly attributable to them, you know, losing labor. You know, the reduction of overtime and scaling back to a five-day or a 40-hour, 48-hour workweek has been a big help in that area as well, especially for that segment.
Got it. Labor improvement sounds a little more broad-based than just kind of drivers.
Yes.
Are you seeing better retention rates?
I would say in general, yes. I mean, it's that tends to be more plant specific. But I think as we try to do different things internally, we have some very you know active retention projects in place across the company. It has begun to improve. So we're pretty happy with the internal actions that we have going on right now. Focusing on training and those types of projects on a go-forward basis will continue to help that as we look ahead.
Okay. Understood. Just last one for me, and I appreciate the commentary on Russia-Ukraine, and you know, very early to kind of understand all the impacts there. If I could try to zero in on just you know, any aluminum impact since that kind of just sticks out to me as a potential impact from my seat. You know, how are you thinking about any potential availability constraints or in terms of aluminum in Europe?
Yeah. I think as I look at it as it relates to Quanex, the main areas that I'm gonna be focused on as it relates to our impact, well, first and foremost will be, you know, the European economy. What will it do to the window industry demand? What will it do to demand in general, and what will it do to some of the components that go into a window, for example, glass? To make glass, it takes a lot of energy. A lot of that energy in Europe is provided by Russia, as we know.
A rapid inflation of heating and energy costs will drive and could drive the cost of glass and the components up to pretty significant levels that may impact obviously the price of a window and negatively impact demand. I keep an eye on that. In terms of our components, aluminum pricing, which we're already starting to see on the rise, and I'm not as worried about supply, but you know, people are trying to capitalize on this to drive price up. We'll obviously be able to recover it, but then it goes into the time lags. The other areas tend to be things like carbon black and butyl rubbers, which do have a lot of components that have micro ingredients that come from Russia.
Those are the areas that I'm gonna stay focused on as it relates to Quanex.
Really helpful. Definitely appreciate the detail you provided there. Thanks very much.
Thanks.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ken Zener with KeyBanc. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Good morning, gentlemen.
Morning.
Good morning, Ken.
I wonder if you can comment on not just your, right, supply cost challenges, but also, you know, as a supplier. In the window business, you kind of are, right, Northern Europe, more the spacers, U.K., actually, you know, the windows versus the U.S. Can you just talk about how demand trends might be a little different in COVID using the U.K. and the U.S. as counterpoints just to not an extended answer, but just how different those markets have been in terms of demand.
You know, when I look at them, demand has been extremely strong in both of the markets because a lot of the fundamental economic indicators are the same. I mean, both companies have tight housing markets. Discretionary spending has been high in both markets. You know, we've seen strong demand in both areas. I think, you know, where I contrast, on a go-forward basis, in the U.K. and Europe, I think discretionary impact will be impacted more by increases in energy costs even more so than, you know, what we complain about here in the U.S. about, you know, fuel and heating fuel and energy costs going up. It's significantly higher in Europe.
I think it'll have the potential to impact the U.K. and Europe much faster than we'll see here in the U.S.
George, Scott, I'm not sure which one of you made the comment or which region, but I believe you said something about customers or somebody not doing overtime as much. Could you talk about that and in the U.S., what that means in terms of the backlogs that you are seeing in terms of backlogs going down? I know there's been some public companies that have talked about four months backlog falling down to half that or more. Can you just talk about your customer's ability to handle or work through backlog?
Yes. I made that comment as it related to the cabinet component segment. You know, in those markets, the labor piece of it, especially in 2021, you know, when it was so difficult, you had wages going up and so many job openings across the entire country, you know, people were, you know, when you have companies that are working 50 hours-60 hours and sometimes more than that hours a week, you know, you were significant loss of employees. You cannot continue to work at that level. Someone will go across the street, make the same amount of money. And so they realized in that segment, our customers there, that, you know, they're working too many hours. They physically made the decision, we're gonna back off and let the backlogs grow.
That's what we saw during the course of last year, and it's remained. Now they've also, as they start to retain their employees because of the reduction in working hours, you know, we're seeing better performance because they're able to retain their labor. You know, I don't think we'll see the continued growth in that backlog, but that's what happened.
In windows, since you called out cabinets, could you talk to the cadence perhaps of your customers there. I mean, you talked, one of the things people focus on is when do price increases create demand destruction, which you mentioned, and I don't know if you just were being very holistic in your comments. If you-
Yeah.
Are we seeing that labor issue in the window category at all? Since you brought up pricing, just some comments there. Thank you very much.
Yeah. The two pieces, I'll start with your second question first. I was being a little holistic in terms of my discussion on the impact that additional costs will have on demand. We have not seen that yet. Could it be a possibility? Sure. But we haven't seen it at this point. And that was more related to Europe than it is to U.S. Now, in terms of the backlogs with my window customers, they seem to be handling that more. I don't think the backlogs have been growing, and we anticipate that their continued improvement in operations will continue to drive that down. Not to the level where it will disappear. That's what gives us so much confidence as we look at our demand going forward because of such high backlogs.
They've done a very good job of being able to control their labor and fulfill demand as much as possible.
Thank you. Appreciate it.
Thank you. Our next question is a follow-up question from the line of Daniel Moore with CJS. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Sorry, just gotta get off mute. Thank you again. You know, this has been an obviously, you know, multiple years of an unprecedented operating environment with everything that's gone on. If we ever get back to normalization, one thing we haven't talked about as much in recent calls is, you know, what kind of opportunity is left to drive margins higher longer term? I realize Europe is, you know, at pretty significant margins right now, but specifically in North American Fenestration and or the cabinets, you know, be it with automation or other internal initiatives. Thanks.
We've touched on this in the past, and I don't think it's changed much. I think going forward in a more normalized environment, and it's anybody's guess what normal means going forward, but I think you're right. In Europe, the margin profile is strong, and it's really more about protecting margins there than growing margins there. We've done a lot of work. In North America, I still think, and we still think, that the biggest opportunity for margin expansion is in the cabinet components business. We've gone through quite a long period here of chasing price and the 90-day lag hurting us, and it's really masked all the things we've done on the shop floor to improve efficiencies and things of that nature. I think once pricing does stabilize and come down on the wood side, you're gonna see that margin expansion at some point.
Just don't know when that's gonna be. In the North American Fenestration segment, we still think there's some meat left on that bone too, and it's probably more related to our screens business and the vinyl business and not so much the vinyl windows business. As you know, we've been ramping up production and manufacturing of the vinyl fencing business, and I think going forward, that should start to move the needle at some point.
Very helpful. Thank you again.
All right.
Thank you. I'm showing no further questions at this time, and I would like to hand the conference back over to George Wilson for any further remarks.
We appreciate everyone's time today. Thanks for joining, and we look forward to providing an update on our next earnings call in June.
This does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for participating. Everyone, have a great day.