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THOMSON REUTERS STREETEVENTS
EDITED TRANSCRIPT
AMEAS.HE - Q3 2014 Amer Sports Oyj Earnings Call
EVENT DATE/TIME: OCTOBER 23, 2014 / 12:00PM GMT
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OCTOBER 23, 2014 / 12:00PM, AMEAS.HE - Q3 2014 Amer Sports Oyj Earnings Call
CORPORATE PARTICIPANTS
Paivi Antola Amer Sports Oyj - IR
Heikki Takala Amer Sports Oyj - President and CEO
Jussi Siitonen Amer Sports Oyj - CFO
CONFERENCE CALL PARTICIPANTS
Chiara Battistini J.P. Morgan - Unidentified Analyst
Daniel Holman Citi - Unidentified Analyst
Kalle Karppinen Danske Bank - Analyst
Robin Santavirta Handelsbanken - Analyst
Jutta Rahikainen SEB - Analyst
PRESENTATION
Operator
Good day, and welcome to the Amer Sports Corporation Q3 2014 Interim Report conference call. (Operator Instructions). At this time I would like
to turn the conference over to Paivi Antola, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Madam.
Paivi Antola - Amer Sports Oyj - IR
Thank you. Good afternoon from [Michael]. Thank you and welcome to Amer Sports Q3 Results Conference Call. In the call I have [here] with me
the CEO, Heikki Takala and the CFO Jussi Siitonen. And we'll start with the presentation by Heikki, and continue then with questions and answers.
Heikki, please go ahead.
Heikki Takala - Amer Sports Oyj - President and CEO
Thank you, Paivi, thank you. Good afternoon and welcome from my side as well. Q3, it was very much in line with our expectations. We had solid
broad based growth and good overall improvement; net sales up 6% in local currencies driven by footwear apparel; 19% and 14% respectively.
Then, it continues good momentum in Fitness and Sports Instruments, both were up 12%.
Winter Sports Equipment were stable versus a year ago. It was a good performance from our supply chain, a good agility there. More than anything,
we had early phasing of deliveries with quite good peak now in Q3. Ball Sports were down by 3% in line with expectations.
We continued to clean up [with the] distribution, and some of our [SKU details]; and hence some decline, but well in line with our plan. Geographically,
broad based improvement EMEA and the Americas, up 6%, and A-PAC Asia-Pacific up 8%. On retail, it was up 44% and e-commerce almost 90%,
and 87% to be exact.
Gross margin was slightly marginally down versus a year ago reflecting somewhat earlier phasing of the lower margin deliveries in Winter Sports
Equipment to be delivered more on our market product with and which have a lower margin structure. Then, there are quite some adverse margins
development in Russia.
EBIT was up logically versus a year ago. A very broad based improvement. Especially noteworthy is the first impact of the Ball Sports turnaround,
which I starting to be visible and driven by healthier gross margins and some improvements in the operating expenses.
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We booked 18 million of nonrecurring items in the Q3 related to the restructuring program, which we announced in July. Free cash flow was
negative as always in Q3 when we have heavy shipments. It was nevertheless quite and much better versus a year ago.
For the balance sheet overview, I hand it over to Jussi, Jussi Siitonen.
Jussi Siitonen - Amer Sports Oyj - CFO
Thank you, Heikki. [I will take your] (inaudible) [with our] year to date September catalogue. It's always negative. Now it was [EUR35 million] less
negative than a year ago. All of the improvement is from working capital reduction, especially the receivables.
Also, net debt down by EUR40 million from September 2013, and [respective], and gearing down from 79% to 66% [by our] [Bana asset] continues
to be solid for the remaining part of the year.
OK. Then going a bit more into details by business area. The Winter and Outdoor solid growth, 9%, up versus a year ago. I said already, Winter Sport
Equipment at the previous year's level is good. It's good to get the product out there early and [facing] the consumer early.
This is good news, of course. [We would have liked] all of the improvements we have made in the supply chain. I already commented on the gross
margin structure of those earlier deliveries. It's mostly a phasing item.
Footwear, a solid [19. Apparel 14]. The Cycling was slightly down, but all in all cycling continues to fare well versus a year ago. Year to date, it is up
at our target level.
Then, Sports Instruments up 12% for the quarter, reflecting mostly the launch of our [MB3] family; which has been received very positively in the
market. EBIT was slightly down versus a year ago. That's mostly related to the phasing of the Winter Sports Equipment, deliveries, and then the
adverse impact from Russia; which we, anyway, are mitigating for the year.
Amer Sports commented earlier that the [first signs] of the turnaround strategy are now visible. Gross margin was nicely up and OPEX was down.
EBIT [includes] significant [diverse] (inaudible), now almost EUR4 million versus EUR2 million negative a year ago. Net sales are down 3%. I can just
say that it's very much in line with our plan and focused on individuals.
Ball Sports, where we are now really cleaning up the [SKU details] and our distribution channels. [TS Sports], it's healthy. It was at last year's levels;
but equally with a well improved margin structure.
We now continue [solidifying] the gross margins. We've seen the first signs. We continue working on them and making sure that they become
sustainable. But we are encouraged about the developments. That's good. Now, we continue increasingly focusing on reigniting the profitable
growth; which is the [step two] in our turnaround strategy.
Fitness, it had a good solid quarter. That's 12% growth and driven especially by the Americas and A-PAC. The turnaround continues to be solid
here. EBIT improved vertically, we did invest back some additional operating expenses as we continued to consolidate our distributor set up in the
United States.
We took some [state] -- or some dealer businesses in-house in several states. That is an OPEX related item; but, of course, due to a better growth
and a healthier gross margin going forward. It's the right thing to do. The outlook for 2014 remains unchanged.
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We expect that the trading conditions remains somewhat challenging. Our [net sales] growth in local currencies is expected to meet our Company's
long-term target of 5% per year [and EBIT] excluding NRI would improve from 2013. Finally, our glide path, we now continue the very logically
towards our midterm target as confirmed in the Capital Markets Day.
We see good progress across the line. We can confirm that we stayed on the glide path. The model is sustainable. The integration for a scalable
platform is continuing. We are focusing on ongoing [renewal] and restructuring. We are turning around the businesses, which are dragging us
down. But I can say that we are [organized] about this.
Now, we continue increasing the focus on acceleration to ['17] and beyond to continue changing the Company and [their accelerated] top of line
and the bottom line. That's the quickly, the overview from my side. I think it is now time for Q&A.
Thank you, Heikki. [That was as Heikki said]. Operator, we would now be ready for the questions from the audience.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Operator
(Operator Instructions) We will now take our first question from [Chiara Battistini] from J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Chiara Battistini - J.P. Morgan - Unidentified Analyst
Thank you very much, hi, there. Thank you very much for taking my questions. Just a couple of from me. First of all, if you could elaborate more on
the situation in Russia and what you're seeing there; also, from a promotional standpoint.
Then, on Fitness, I was wondering if you could possibly shed more light on the strength of Asia, but even more so on North America? Then finally,
apparel is similarly strong on double digits, but quite [about a] slowdown from the H1 numbers.
I was wondering there, if there's anything you have noticed? If the weather that has been unseasonably warm so far in this quarter has impacted
you at all? Thank you very much.
OK. Three questions Chiara. Let me try. [Yes], the Russian situation, it's not a Q3 impact. It is a full year impact. Of course, nobody knows how long
the kind of downturn in Russia continues. But, of course, we are now starting to see almost the impact from the past month.
We see a slowdown in topline or actually, it's a negative development especially in [off-take] that we see traffic and conversion rates going down.
Of course, the currency has a negative impact as the weakness with the currency continues. The whole trading environment has clearly turned
more into a promotion driven environment as the, and that becomes the name of the game.
That further erodes the topline so growth margins get hurt by that development. We don't want [to stake away] to what's going to happen there.
We are preparing as the business as usual. We are protecting our cash. We are protecting our gross margins. We are protecting our bottom line
through good [cultural of discretion or spending], and being prepared for ongoing weakness in the marketplace.
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Then, at the same time, being of course, prepared to ramp up once we see a positive impact there. But to bit a more concrete, we're expecting
Russia to go down mid-single digit or even more in terms of topline versus a year ago. We are seeing significant gross margins [but also] for the
business; which I mentioned and versus our targeted profitability, we are significantly behind.
But now [we're acting], and we are making sure that we remain healthy in that market. Of course, we remain committed to play in that attractive
market for the long-term now mitigating the short-term and midterm pressure, which [is there].
Your second question was on the business. We have good ongoing momentum in APAC as is indicated. We continue growing double digits. That's
now mostly in China where we see ongoing good growth going on for Precor. Then in the United States, our go-to-market [free invention] is
working really well. We have taken the operation in-house in many states. We now control it [fully].
We have in-house and distribution model in [the gay] market within the United States market. We've seen good double digit growth there. Also,
our innovation and pipeline of product has been well received. We have won quite an important operator contracts and deals in that month; which
is of course, a good sign.
Your third question was apparel. What we see in apparel or actually in softgoods. But we see it continues a very strong momentum in the footwear.
Up high double digit; and then apparel, we have a very good momentum in most markets, but especially the Russian situation.
It now hurting our apparel business. We are prudent there. We are not pushing for this disproportionate growth, but rather preparing for and an
unstable situation. [They're taking] a conservative approach. We do see some impact from the previous winter where, of course, it fell through
some of the key markets of the winter apparel.
It was not that good. There may be some impact, but we don't see any underlying weakness. A very strong momentum in (inaudible) and good
momentum in [Arc'teryx] and good momentum in [Salomon].
Perfect, and just if I may a follow-up on (inaudible) [of watching Europe since that] particularly weak in the quarter. If you could comment on that,
too, please?
Unidentified Company Representative
Chiara, I'm sorry. On which area, can you please (inaudible)? (Multiple speakers)
Sorry, for weakness, and that's for Fitness in Western Europe.
OK. No, I mean, in Western Europe, we had [Gearing] last year, and --
[What do you mean]?
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Yes. EMEA, and they had a very good year last year. Now we are consolidating. We're making sure that the margin structures are good. We are not
pushing for disproportionate growth. We are -- you may remember from our Capital Markets Day [where] we say that we now need to make sure
that the growth is sustainable.
We have a healthy gross margin level. Now, the focus is more on gross margin to making sure that we get [to our] targets so that we hit our
profitability target in line with (inaudible) [like that].
Perfect, thank you very much.
Operator
We will now take our next question from [Dan Holman] from Citi. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Daniel Holman - Citi - Unidentified Analyst
Afternoon all, and two questions from me. The first was around the Winter Sports Equipment and just looking into Q4. Would you expect the same
sort of margin movement as Q3 based on the preorders that you've seen so far, if there is a negative mix effect occurring.
OK, Dan, the as is known, we expect that everything we've done in the past couple of years to get our operating model to be very efficient, the
agility and supply chain, and good margin structure and improvements there. We expect that [price will start to go on].
We would rather see these a phasing item. That's what we tried to communicate. There was a [model] --the mix was less attractive in Q3. We expect
a normal mix in Q4. You should see a normal and logical gross margin structure in Q4.
OK, thank you. Then the second question was just to do with your business to [continue] (inaudible). Are you using any third party websites at all
to sell your product?
No. You mean (inaudible) --? Well, I would need to ask you to (inaudible) from the question what exactly you mean. But, of course, we have an
in-house e-commerce where we sell and operate directly.
That's Amer Sports operation. But then, of course, we operate with the various customers who are online operators, [e-tailers] as we call them. We
manage the mix [of the curve], but primarily our own e-commerce it's really managed by ourselves. It's an in-house operation.
OK. Thank you very much.
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Operator
We will now take our next questions from Kalle Karppinen from Danske Bank. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Kalle Karppinen - Danske Bank - Analyst
Hi, a question about the Ball Sports from Q3 gross margin. It looks like the gross margin was up in the ballpark of, I don't know 3%, 4%, or 5%. A
really good development. Hopefully you have just really started to take these actions.
Can you specify a little bit how much of this improvement is a direct result of the restructuring actions and the mix improvements that you are
driving? Or, is there something exceptional here? How much of this improvement should be extrapolated going forward?
Hi, Kalle. Jussi here. You're absolutely right that we are in a neighborhood of 4% with improvement. Out of that, probably 2.5% is solid improvement
based on the (inaudible) [of] what we had in play. Then the remaining one-half is, [of course], [their IMCs] what we have every now and then. But
I would say the major [part] is from those programs with [new continue now].
Kalle Karppinen - Danske Bank - Analyst
Thank you very much.
Operator
We will now take our next question from Robin Santavirta from Handelsbanken. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Robin Santavirta - Handelsbanken - Analyst
Yes, hi. First a question on overall demand. You report this solid growth in both Europe and North America. What are you seeing now? What's the
expectation now for the rest of the year, the newest [flow] or [overall when] Europe has been a bit soft recently? Are you seeing anything in line
with that?
No, I think the way we'll get demand is demand our response fundamentals. I mean, as long as we continue driving our fundamentals, we are able
to drive demand. There's a lot of space for us to grow even though [they're] -- [we're any] sluggishness in demand.
Again, it goes back to are we driving our consumer and customer, or commercial fundamentals. That's what we continue to do as we always present.
That's why the glide path is based on a sustainable growth model which is really built on sustainable fundamentals and giving us more visibility
and more space, and more awareness, and more [trial], and all of these things.
We believe that we can manage and navigate even in a more difficult demand situation. Then and having said that, you also see that in many key
markets there is healthy demand. We see it in our websites. We see it in our conversion rates.
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From that point of view there is not a significant slowdown in any of our key markets. Maybe with the exception now, of course, in Russia and to
an extent in Latin America where the political situation is a bit challenging. [That's] (inaudible) [thing] consumer and access to the product. Of
course, the currency fluctuations may cause some changes.
Good thanks. Then a question on the winter [now] or solid growth of 9% down on topline. But almost 2.5% down the EBIT margin. Now, you said
that it's Russia and phasing off of Winter Sports Equipment, deliveries, and the mix there. Is this all? Or is there something else apparel and footwear
margin, weaker than last year? Or, it's all Russia and the delivery mix of the Winter Sports Equipment?
No, we remain in growth mode. We're investing back in the business. We have opened a significant number of [on retail] outlets especially in the
United States. In the past quarter, we have continued to ramp up many of the growth programs.
We are not holding back. That guarantees that we have over a billion (inaudible) going forward. Then we have a few items. Research is a clearly -is an adverse item for the time being. We need to mitigate that. Winters Sport Equipment, we all know that the demand is slower all over versus
what we have expected after a good winter.
It means we didn't have a good winter. But we're mitigating that impact. We're holding our margin structure there and making sure that we remain
effective in operations. That's under control. All in all, I would say that it's pretty much business as usual. We see no major deviation [versus] our
plan.
Robin Santavirta; OK, right. Can I still -- just, I mean, this is a little bit nitty-picky. But [was] (inaudible) with the Sports Equipment phasing, which
one is more important, [so to] just looking at Q3 and [that's after] the weakness there?
OK, [Q] -- Winter Sport Equipment is clearly phasing. As I said already, so that's a phasing item. But Russia, hopefully it's a short phasing item. But
unfortunately, it may turn out to be a midterm phasing item. Clearly, we see the deterioration of topline and margin structure in Russia. Of course,
we need to be prepared for that to go on for some time. I think it goes very much inline with what many other companies are experiencing and
reporting at the moment. We are [clearing out in my opinion].
OK, good, and thanks. Then finally on Fitness performing very well. But did I understand correctly that there was some extra cost from this transfer
towards in-house distribution or increased in-house distribution now in Q3?
We remain in line with our glide path. We have the target well in place for all of the business units. Our (inaudible) targets are sustainable. I'm
talking here profitability improvement targets. They are sustainable. They're based on building blocks.
Those building blocks include appropriate investment back into the business so that we don't move into the situation where we squeeze the
business and [make short their] profits. Just realizing that it's not sustainable to continuing investing back to the right structural things. [They have
bid] our go-to-market model and [be it] our operations model, or be it all of the innovation pipeline.
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[If the] pipeline is healthy, we have put in place appropriate investment there. That continues, but of course, you see ongoing improvement in the
topline and bottom line. That's exactly what we call ourselves, a sustainable [equipment].
Yes.
Good, thanks.
Operator
(Operator Instructions) We will now take our next question from Jutta Rahikainen from SEB. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Jutta Rahikainen - SEB - Analyst
Thank you, and good afternoon. I have a question which is actually a follow-up on the previous one, and more specifically, boiling it down to the
OPEX level. You say in the report that operating expenses increased by 12 million year-on-year. I assume that's been in a local currency. That was
actually somewhat higher than I expected.
Then the question here is that do you think that was (inaudible) [since a high Op] extending in the quarter? Or was that a normal spending? Then
the second part of the question would be that's going to into Q4 is that the similar OPEX [route] we should expect? Or, is there some seasonality
or lumpiness, which we should be aware of between quarters? Thank you.
No. it's just I would say that again it is a sustainable growth model. It calls for some OPEX efficiency as we presented in the Capital Markets Day. We
are clearly de-coupling topline and OPEX [as we speak]. Many of the platform investments and the [base] investments, which we needed to put in
place a couple of years ago.
They're starting to now yield good results [and be it] in go-to-market, or being in [on retail], or being in the back office. Or, the functions of the
models, which were created between 11, 12, and 13. We're seeing those now giving good results. It's not an indication [or perhaps] starting to scale
back significantly.
But, of course, a lot of that investment (inaudible) as we reported in the past. It is relatively complete. Now we, going forward, we are looking for
increased OPEX efficiencies as part of the -- or as a contributor to us reaching our midterm targets. Getting some benefit from the scale and synergies
as we always say.
That's, (well on that) answering your questions. It's [current and new] (inaudible) [you assumed]. We are not opening those investments (inaudible)
[made in his] OPEX [now on] a quarterly basis. But wet we can see now is that [this made in his] OPEX, it's actually flat. It was slightly positive at the
moment.
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The main (inaudible) is driven by our [state] and distribution OPEX. You might remember what we said in Capital Markets Day. This season is also
including preseason OPEX for spring and summer when we have selling processes going on.
Jutta Rahikainen - SEB - Analyst
OK, thank you, and the latter part in particular. It was very helpful. That's all, thanks.
Operator
(Operator Instructions). There are no further questions at this time.
In that case, I would like to thank everybody for participating, and thank you for the questions, and have a good day, thanks.
Operator
Thank you. That will conclude today's conference call. Thank you for participation, ladies and gentlemen. You may now disconnect.
END
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