Thanks everyone. My name is Rajat Gupta, a member of the automotive equity research team at JP Morgan. Very pleased to have with us the team from Gentherm, Bill Presley, President and CEO, Jon Douyard, the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Bill has a couple slides they would like to run through, and then we will get into Q&A. Thanks, Bill and Jon.
Great. Thanks. Glad to be here today. Just to tell you guys a little bit about Gentherm, in case you do not know. We are a $1.5 billion global leader in thermal and precision flow management technologies. Our technology and systems are deployed really through four core platforms. That would be thermal fans, which are called air moving devices, pneumatics, which are pillows or baffles where air moves in and out of, and valve systems. We have about 14,000 employees worldwide. We operate in just about every region in the world. Primarily automotive and medical today, 97% automotive, 3% medical, but we have very definitive plans to diversify into other markets and change our mix to be more favorable than just so heavy light vehicle. In automotive, you would know our products as heated/cooled seats, heated steering wheels. That is something very typical.
We sell to over 50 different automotive manufacturers, and we created the market in 1996. Today we are 50% of the market, intend to hold our position there. Medical is about a $50 million business. We have intentions of growing that. Products that you would know in medical, if you have ever been in surgery, would be the warm air blankets that go over you, or the heated pads that go underneath you, or fluid warming devices that keep temperature of fluids that go into the human body. All of the core technologies between those two businesses are the same. We are very confident in our growth path. Very confident in our growth path for two main reasons. Number one is we know the automotive business is going to continue to grow.
We are a penetration and take rate story, and we see our market share continuing to grow there in all regions. Number two, we know that our core technology and our four core platforms can push into other markets and other products, which we will talk about in a little bit. That is proving out to be true in both home and office, where we are gaining market share in home and office and pushing our products into home and office, as well as the medical business, where we are using core automotive technology to refresh the product line in that business. We are also very confident in our tangible plans to expand our margin. At the end of this year, we will have completed a two-year footprint consolidation plan, where in every region, we are reducing the floor space that we have to maximize revenue and operating income per square foot in our plants.
And over the past 18 months, we've been focused on implementing an operating system that's driven by KPIs that maximize utilization of assets. So we're focused on improving direct labor efficiency, overall equipment effectiveness, and we've put inventory on what we call a plan for every part model that will lower net working capital. The reason that we're doing that is so as the growth that we're confident comes, that we can convert that volume at an appropriate conversion rate. So as we were working last year, Jon and I both joined January 1st of last year on putting in the operating system, strengthening the core platforms. We started rebuilding the M&A funnel. As we were rebuilding the M&A funnel, we had two very specific criteria.
We wanted companies that were core to what our technology is, which is thermal management or flow management, and we wanted access to attractive markets, which we considered to be commercial vehicle or off-road, because we knew we could create a value proposition in those markets. So in January, we announced the major step in transforming the company. We will be combining with Modine Performance Technologies, who is a large heat exchanger company, and they are primarily in commercial vehicle and off-highway, which is ag, construction, as well as power generation, which are large diesel and liquefied natural gas generators that provide backup power to critical infrastructure. That market right now is really being driven by data center expansion. So very excited about what we can do there together. On day one, we'll be a $2.6 billion company with a 12%+ EBITDA and a very different market mix.
So we will be less than 70% light vehicle at that point and strong cash flow generation. Both of the business units have a very strong line of sight to mid-single-digit growth over market, as well as EBITDA expansion plans to 15%+. So by 2030, we're very confident in our ability to be a $3.5 billion company generating over $500 million in EBITDA. Once the companies are combined, our leverage will be very manageable. We'll be about one turn levered, and by 2030 we'll generate $1 billion in cash, and we intend to use that to continue to fund our strategic investment in M&A, as well as return some value to the shareholders. So overall, we're at an inflection point. The team is executing the strategy well to diversify our markets and to expand margins.
We're excited about where we're going, and we think it's a great time to invest in Gentherm.
Great. No, thanks, Bill, for that quick overview. Maybe we can just start with Modine directly. Maybe go back to the quarter and the guide. Maybe help us think through the strategic rationale. Why was this the right deal at this time? Was it just primarily diversification, cross-sell opportunities, cyclicality? Just curious, help us run through.
Yeah.
The mechanics and the timing of the deal.
Yeah. So when we started, as I said, rebuilding the M&A funnel, we said thermal management. We said markets that we find attractive. We knew at that time that Modine was planning on divesting of the light vehicle business. So we actually approached Modine, and we said we would be interested in the entire Performance Technologies division. And we had a couple of reasons for that. One is we believe that there are substantial cross-selling opportunities. We believe that by us selling into the markets where they are and them selling into the markets where we are and can help them, there's $100 million additional revenue between those synergies to be had by 2030. Secondarily, we have the opportunity to open up geographic expansion. We've been interested in opening up the India market.
We've been pushing on that hard over the last year, and every time we talk to the Indian market, the message is clear. "Love your products. We make 20 million two-wheelers a year here. We can see a market for your valves. We would love to have the cooled seats over here. We see a market for your fans, but if you do not have infrastructure here and you don't have a business development and commercial team here, can't do business with you." Modine has manufacturing floor space there. Modine has a business development team and a commercial development team there. So on day one of close, the Indian market is open to us, so that was another opportunity.
The third thing was, if you look at Modine's heat exchangers and the valve circuits that they play in or how they operate, they need valves and air moving devices to work. Their heat exchangers require two of the building blocks that are in Gentherm's portfolio, so putting those together creates natural synergy. We know that there are valves that they use today that we have in our product catalog. We know that there are opportunities that they do not quote today because they have no valve catalog, and we know that between their heat exchanger technology and our valve technology and air moving devices or fans, we can open up other markets that neither of us are in today. All the pieces fit. Modine Performance Technologies is a well-run company. The entire division is coming over with leadership intact.
Jon and I felt like now was the right time for all the right reasons. I do not know, Jon, if you would add anything.
Just in terms of structure, this is going to be a Reverse Morris Trust. We announced the transaction in January. We have gotten through all the regulatory approvals. There are a couple outstanding items in terms of IRS ruling. We announced yesterday that our shareholder vote on this transaction will be on September 10th, but we feel like all the building blocks are in place. We have secured committed financing, as Bill talked about, in terms of our capital structure, and we have $800 million of secured financing. We said this is targeted to close early Q4, and we are very much on track for that to happen.
Just to follow up on some of the cross-sell opportunities around the valves, combined with the heat exchangers and power generation, is the portfolio in good shape today? Do you need to add something to the valve portfolio? Is any minor M&A required for you to have a full suite that you can target that market better along with Modine? Help us think through that.
Do you want to I mean, we'll continue to. Bill talked about the acquisition being really a platform for growth. I think there are a number of organic opportunities. There's also inorganic. Our products do fit in and drop in today, as Bill talked about, but there's certainly other, whether it's pressure specifications or composition of valve systems as examples, that we'll look to build out that M&A funnel. We will be looking for areas in other markets that are adjacent to where Modine is today and look to invest where it makes sense.
Yeah. We do feel the portfolio's in really good shape. There are other things, as Jon said, that we'll look to build out just as we enter the new markets with the specifications that they require.
The $100 million number, does that include power gen or is it more outside of power gen at this point?
I wouldn't even talk about it in terms of a market. I'll talk about it in terms of product line. When we say $100 million, that $100 million will be flowing by 2030, and more than half of it will be in the valve business. That could be a result of opening up India market with two-wheelers. That could be integrating into the power gen. It's broadly applicable.
And one of the other interesting thing about the timing is we were in a cyclical trough on the commercial vehicle side for the last couple of years. Was that a factor in the decision here as well? We're on the cusp of a recovery. Maybe help us talk through that aspect.
Yeah. When you look at the portfolio composition of the Modine business, 20% of it's light vehicle, 15% of it is power generation, 65% is a split between commercial. Both of those segments we viewed as being at cyclical bottoms or coming close to the bottoms. Based on market indicators, as you listen to other companies talk, the commercial vehicle site or business or markets appear to be coming out a little bit sooner. There's been a lot of positive order activity and those types of things that are indicating a recovery from that perspective. As we looked at the transaction, we knew that these markets were soft. We knew there was a recovery. We were happy to not be buying a business at a top, view as more of a bottom. We see strong growth.
As Bill talked about earlier, we've got a clear path for this business to go from $2.6 billion- $3.5 billion+ over the next four years. There's potential growth opportunities even beyond that when you think about strength and power generation and how strong the cyclical recovery is in commercial. So I'm very pleased with where the business is in terms of the cycle as we acquire it later this year.
Great. Okay. Going back to just more near term and the quarter, what stood out for you in the strong results? Just how should we think about the cadence into the back half? What are the most visible areas that's expected to drive upside in the more near to medium term?
Yeah, we had a fantastic first half. When you look at the results, very strong top line. Saw improvements from a margin and operational perspective as well. I think a couple of things behind that. We've had very strong award activity over the last three or four year into production launches and driving revenue increases. That's geographically, we saw very strong growth in China, but also saw growth in North America and Europe. From a product perspective, it's really across the board where we've seen strength led by our pneumatic lumbar and massage products that we continue to execute new launches on. I would say the strength is relatively broad-based. But again, a really good first half. We've talked about this year being U-shaped from a margin perspective, and so very strong Q1.
That stepped down in the second quarter as we dealt with some of the inflationary issues that are impacting the broader industry, as well as inventory adjustments that we're making just given the footprint transitions that we're going through. It's a bit of a U-shaped year from a margin perspective, potentially a little bit softer on the top line than what we saw in the first half, just based on timing of OEM production schedules. But we're setting up for a very strong year. We did take up our guidance a couple of weeks back when we announced earnings, and so we feel like we're in a position to put together a great year.
Right. You've also given some initial 2027 color. This is also a time of the year when we are starting to look into puts and takes for 2027. Anything you would like to highlight there that gives you comfort in that outward trajectory? Any key regions or products we should be watching?
Yeah, I think when you look at our business, we've had strong award activity over the last couple of years. A question that we get is how does that translate into revenue? When we announced our guidance for 2026 earlier this year, we also put out a 2027 revenue number, which was 10% growth off the midpoint at that time, and that's based on very strong visibility that we have today. Again, I would consider it largely broad-based by region and product. Lumbar and massage will continue to be probably the highest growing product that we have, just given where that is in the maturation curve. But we expect 2027 to set up for a good year.
If you take that forward with mid-single digit growth above market beyond 2027, if you think about some of the adjacent market activity that we've talked about, it's setting Gentherm up to be a $2+ billion company here, the legacy Gentherm to be $2+ billion by 2030.
Got it. Since you mentioned lumbar and massage, it's obviously been a star of the automotive business. You've framed it on a similar adoption curve to Climate Seat's.
Yeah.
Several years behind. Help us think through where we are in adoption penetration today. How do you see the trajectory progressing the next several years? How is the visibility awards, even beyond 2028, for example?
Yeah. You talked about the lag, and that's spot on, Rajat. If you look at Climate Seat's today, heated/cooled seats today, we say the take rate is about 50%. About 50% of the seats today have some form of Climate Control Seat. We see that going to 70% by 2030. So there's a very strong push, that tailwind that keeps moving there. Our pneumatic solutions are actually displacing the old mechanical, electromechanical solutions. If you think about seats in the past, you either had a knob that you turned or you had a button that would move a solenoid. That is being displaced by our pneumatic solutions. Our pneumatic solutions replace all of the mechanical structure with air bladders, and then we have a valve that moves the air in and out of the bladder. So it's a lighter solution.
It's a solution that the OEMs like because it packages easier. Right now, that's at about 15% of a take rate in a vehicle. Lumbar and massage is much bigger, but again, pneumatics is displacing that. We see the pneumatics doubling by 2030 as well. The pneumatics adoption curve is probably about five years behind the Climate Control Seat adoption curve. We see that as a tailwind for the next five to seven years.
Got it. I'll just pause there for a second to see if there are any questions from the audience. None at this time. I'll continue. A persistent investor perception is that you're mainly a luxury content play, when the reality, your biggest customers are the high volume names. How do you reframe that? How much runway there is to move comfort content into more mass market vehicles? Help us think through that.
That mass market adoption is what is pushing the take rates up. If you look at vehicles today, if you've had a heated and cooled seat or a heated steering wheel, then you go buy a new car, you don't want a new car that doesn't have it. Just to put it in perspective, I've been traveling back and forth to China for over 15 years, and today in China, you can get a $30,000 car that is loaded with climate comfort features, lumbar and massage features, and that is actually pushing global OEMs like Mercedes-Benz and BMW to improve the take rates on their low trim levels. So it's gone from being kind of a luxury item or a high-end item to being standard cost of entering the market.
The reason is because it provides the consumer with such a direct benefit and experience that the OEMs can price for that. It's tangible. They understand it. OEMs love it. Customers demand it. So it's no longer a luxury item. It's becoming mainstream.
Got it. That is helpful. Before we get into furniture and medical, I do want to spend some time on that, but just wanted to go back to China and just the overall growth over market algorithm. In China, obviously, your growth over market keeps running ahead of your own targets. You have stepped up the full-year outperformance framing this quarter. What is the normalized growth over market you want to point investors to, and what is driving that? Is it take rate driven adoption versus new program launches versus content per vehicle? Just help us think through the pieces there.
Yeah. If you look at our China business, we have had very strong growth, certainly through the first half of this year, and even prior to that. We do expect that to moderate somewhat over time. But we have really seen success in a couple areas. One, we have partnered with local Chinese OEMs, and had some significant launches here late Q4 into the first half of this year that are accelerating growth. We will continue to do that, particularly as we look for our business to reflect the mix of the China market in terms of whether it is local OEMs or global OEMs. I would say the second piece is, Bill gave the example where $30,000 Chinese OEM vehicles are fully loaded. That is actually driving increased adoption on global OEMs who are selling cars into the country.
We have seen some great strength coming out of global OEMs from that perspective as well. I think as you look at those two dynamics, they will certainly normalize over time, but we would expect to be able to continue to grow mid, potentially high single digit over market, in China for the long term here.
The China margins, I believe are above corporate average levels, despite probably lower price points. How sustainable is that as domestic OEMs push on price over time?
Yeah. We've done a lot of work, and the team's done a great job reacting to the local market. We've set China up to operate somewhat independently from the rest of the company, given the industry and market dynamics there. That's everything from procurement and supply chain into commercial. Through that, we've been able to work from a pricing perspective and push that through the supply base to manage the margin profile. We are not out there looking to chase every Chinese OEM. There's hundreds of OEMs out there. We're looking for the ones where we can have strong partnerships, long staying power, where brand quality, on-time delivery are meaningful, and that's how we've really differentiated ourself.
And you've also described China for China model. How much of a structural cost and learning advantage does being in that market give you globally?
Yeah. Look, we actually love the Chinese market. We think it's an advantage to compete in the Chinese market. To your point, Rajat, our product line management in China is different from the rest of the world. While it uses the same core components, we're very sensitive to the Chinese specifications for requirements over there. So what that means is our product is China for China. And why that's important is, one, the Chinese market reiterates their product and refreshes very fast, every 18 months. So that gives us our innovations and our technology. Number two, the biggest competition we see are Chinese suppliers. So now we're competing with the Chinese suppliers on their home front. So we're getting a look at them in the most competitive environment before they compete with us and the rest of the world.
And number three, as the Chinese OEMs have moved into other regions like Europe, they're looking for partners that they know that have footprint where they're going. And we're already there. So we view the Chinese market as a great advantage to compete there. We went in saying a lot of Western suppliers make the mistake of thinking, "If my part's good enough for the West." That's the wrong mindset going in. So we very much have adopted a localization strategy there, and we're taking those lessons learned and reading them across the globe as a competitive advantage.
As these Chinese OEMs, they are exporting more cars, you feel very comfortable that your content will travel with them and you will have to set up shop in Europe as well?
Yeah. We are already in Europe, right?
Yeah.
As they move into Europe, it is just a matter of a BYD or a Li Auto calling us saying, "Hey, we are going there. You guys are already there. This is what we are looking at.
Got it. Just quickly pausing for any questions. Jim?
I just wanted to get your answer on the. You have been asked this before, but when we think about Lear and their vertical integration, they have argued it is translating into being able to move faster in terms of bundling the capability as opposed to you and some of your seat partners. Can you just kind of give us the reality check of?
Well, no.
We are winning business, we are gaining share. Can you just give us a snapshot of that competitive dynamic?
Sure. Win-win for both of you guys. I would never speak poorly of a former employer because I did work at Lear for 10 years. But look, this is what I will tell you. I understand their position for vertical integration. But what I will tell you is it is factually true that we are often sourced before the seat supplier is picked. So we work directly with the OEMs. That is our commercial model. So we are integrating into their product life cycle plan. And the reasons the OEM like that is because then they can take our solutions and scale them across multiple platforms and car lines regardless of who the seat supplier is.
So that is number one. Number two, we do not run into instances in the market where Lear is not the seat supplier and they are quoting Climate or pneumatics. So their vertical integration play is probably absolutely true. The other data points are the other data points.
Got it. That is helpful. Just moving into some of the adjacent markets, furniture and medical. Home and furniture, office furniture has scaled remarkably quickly. You added two more brands this quarter. You said those wins were more sizable than the initial KUKA award, because they pulled content faster. What does that tell you about the adoption curve? How firm it is in your 2028 and 2030 plans?
Yeah. So we are very excited about home and office. Home and office was one of the markets where we knew we could. It was a near adjacent market and create value. And to give you guys an example, we started working on home and office in June of last year, and we were in production by December. So it is six months time to revenue, and they are using the exact product technology and equipment that we supply to automotive. KUKA HOME furnishings was our first award, and it was a relatively small award, but the reason was Maddox product and a single sofa, and they said, "Let us get it out into the market."
And if you look at their product, it is actually tagged on their sofas. It says Comfort by Gentherm. So it is co-branding. Very excited about the market. Again, I will use KUKA because we are public with them.
They make 5 million sofas a year. When Jon and I sat down with the CEO earlier this year, he said, "Bill, we make 5 million sofas a year. I haven't talked to you about recliners, love seats, or mattresses yet, all of which we see an opportunity for your products in." Since then, we've added four other OEMs, who they'll be announced later this year because they like to go to trade shows and be first to make the public announcement. We'll have gone from zero to we're very comfortable with $100 million by 2028. That's a 24-month ramp up to $100 million from something that was nothing. The TAM there is quite large, north of $500 million right now from just what we're working on and what we have visibility to, but we expect that to grow.
The products that it's applicable in that we're seeing pull from are home furnishings, as we've said, sofas, couches, love seats, mattresses has an opportunity, and then office furniture, specifically with thermal environments on the desk. You think of how many people have these little space heaters or heaters under their desk. The office companies are saying, "Hey, we have power now in our desks to raise and lower them. We can create these microclimates. We're very interested in your technology." We're so confident in that we've actually segregated that business within Gentherm, and we've put a dedicated commercial and business development team there to go out and continue to grow that.
Is there extra capital needed?
There's no capital that we've invested.
How.
We're filling open capacity, utilizing the same core technology and building blocks.
Yeah. In some cases, we're literally shipping the same part number that we would to auto to a.
Right.
Feature company.
Presumably these are much better incremental margins than the core.
Right.
We like home and office.
That's clear. On medical, you've cleared a key regulatory milestone for ThermAffyx and expect initial sales shortly, addressing patient warming and securement during robotic surgery. What does the go-to-market look like across GPOs, distributors, hospitals? How quickly can that consumable model compound into revenue?
Yeah. It will convert into revenue this year. We're bringing ThermAffyx to market this month. ThermAffyx actually solves the problem of controlling hypothermia in patients while positioning them on what they would call a Trendelenburg or a robotic surgery table that moves around during surgery to provide the surgeon access or to move organs out of the way. The problem in the past was there was fixation done, but there was no slick way of doing the heating. They were cobbling solutions up, wrapping blankets around people. We combined a piece of automotive technology that's used in heated seating with a high-density foam pad that provides fixation and integrated them together with a controller, and have taken that to the medical community, and it's been very well-received.
We did a product soft launch in April at the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses in New Orleans, and we had 60 people sign up for training in our facility last month on the equipment. 50 have signed up for the trial period already, which we're starting now. And we've already won contracts with GPOs. That's moving very quickly, but again, it was taking a piece of automotive technology, that's that thermal platform, reading it across to an adjacent market and solving a problem that there was no answer for. We've said medical would double in size between 2030, and we expect ThermAffyx to be a big portion of what launches that. Could the adoption curve be faster? Yes. Hard to say, but we will start generating revenue with that product this month, and it'll be the first new product in the medical business in over five years.
Maybe the IME acquisition like how is that expand ambitions and opportunity?
Yeah. IME is a leading patient or thermal management system, really for post-op or injury type of applications. It is a business that is about $17 million, $18 million in revenue this year on a full year basis, that delivers EBITDA margins above 20%. It is a business that we acquired, that for us provides an expansion to the product portfolio that we have across the Gentherm Medical business. A high level of synergy. They are very focused on the VA, where we do not necessarily have that channel, and so we are opening up access really from a product perspective to both sides. We view it as attractive from a return perspective.
The business has grown well in the past, and has significant penetration opportunities. The synergy opportunities are certainly an added benefit, but it fits very well as we look to continue to build out that medical business and medical portfolio. Bill talked about it being a $50 million business combined today. We expect it to be north of $100 million, pushing $150 million by 2030. As you look at the mix of the business or the growth opportunities between home and office and medical, you have $150 million-$200 million of better margin growth that is really starting from almost zero over the next couple of years. We are really excited about the growth in the auto business, but also what there is from an adjacency perspective and how it impacts the overall mix and profitability of the company.
Got it. I just wanted to round out the discussion on margins. 300 basis points of expansion targeted over the next five years. Talk us through the drivers of that. How much is just footprint consolidation? How much is restructuring driven? How much is just volume leverage? Help us go through the drivers.
Yeah. When you look at, I will break it into the legacy Gentherm business and the Modine business. Both have very comparable starting points at about 12%. If you look at legacy, the Gentherm, we are going through footprint consolidation really in every region across the globe right now. We have done a lot of work on improving pricing as well in our contracts, particularly in the pneumatics business. As these programs launch, we will see improved margins from that. Then you have the growth lever as the business goes from $1.6 billion this year to north of $2 billion by 2030. We think the combination of those three gets Gentherm from call it 12%- 15%+ .
You also have added mix benefits that I just talked about in terms of home and office, medical growing faster than the overall average, so we are very confident in the path there. I think as you look at the Modine business, which is, call it a $1.1 billion with roughly 12% margins, that is a business where they have done a lot of work, both from a footprint perspective, but also Modine is an 80/20 company. Really focusing on reallocating resources and optimizing business with top customers. They have done a tremendous job of improving the margin profile while revenue has been down over the last couple of years. We feel that business is very well positioned to have accretive margins and grow margins while those markets recover.
As you look at the combined company, there is a pretty clear path for us to get from where we are today at 12% to north of 15% by the end of the decade.
Got it. Just one more quick check for questions. Maybe to end a little more forward-looking, how do you see your product and offering in an autonomous world or a robotaxi world, and also in a world where a lot of these cars, they are just going to have a lot more electronics, sensing, compute. How do your products play in there or benefit from these trends?
Yeah, look, all of that is advantageous to us. I would say, latter half first, where you talk about electronics, where you talk about compute, where you talk about hybrids, all of that will require energy thermal management systems. All of the electronics, all of the battery storage systems, all of that needs to maintain an appropriate temperature to operate. That is right where Modine and Gentherm play perfect together with the heat exchangers and the valve systems and the air moving devices. We are very excited about that. Actually, if you think about robotaxi, if you think about autonomous, the experience for the operator or the experience for the passenger becomes even more critical. We just see that as driving more take and more want for the Climate and comfort solution. We are excited about the future.
We think we are well positioned regardless of what it brings, and we are going to stay focused on driving scale on our core technology platforms.
Great. That is a great way to end. Just 10 seconds left. Thanks, Bill and Jon.
Thank you.
Great to see you.