Briggs & Stratton Corporation reports fiscal 2020 first quarter results

Briggs & Stratton Corporation (NYSE: BGG) announced financial results for its first quarter of fiscal 2020, which ended September 29, 2019.

• Fiscal 2020 first quarter net sales were $314 million, up $35 million or 12% from $279 million for the prior year. Both engines and products segments drove the sales growth, including higher revenue in service parts, as expected, on improved throughput. Sales of engines and turf products serving commercial applications increased by double digits, partially offset by lower job site sales due to timing of certain shipments. Storm-related generator shipments declined from a year-ago due to the relatively low amount of power outages caused by Hurricane Dorian.
• As expected, quarterly GAAP gross profit margin of 13.8% and adjusted gross profit margin of 15.6% declined from GAAP gross profit margin of 15.7% and adjusted gross profit margin of 16.9% from the first quarter of fiscal 2019, principally from unfavorable sales mix within the products segment, tariff costs and residual inefficiencies from last year’s implementation of the business optimization program. This was partially offset by strong margin improvement in the engines segment.
• First quarter GAAP net loss of $33.6 million, or $0.81 per share, included $6.4 million in pre-tax charges for business optimization and engine manufacturing consolidation. Excluding these items, the adjusted net loss for the fiscal 2020 first quarter was $27.6 million, or $0.67 per share, compared to adjusted net loss of $21.0 million, or $0.51 per share, for the fiscal first quarter of the prior year.
• The company refinanced its revolving credit facility with a new credit facility which provides up to $625 million in borrowing capacity, subject to a borrowing base.

“Our first quarter results were solid relative to our plan and we made meaningful progress on our key focus areas to drive better overall business performance,” stated Todd J. Teske, chairman, president and chief executive officer.  “We are particularly pleased with the improved fulfillment levels in our service parts business, which is returning to industry-leading parts delivery and performance. We also saw further operational improvements in Vanguard commercial engines with quarterly production exceeding planned rates. There remains more work to be done, but our performance during the quarter has us encouraged that we are making the right progress to meet customer expectations and drive the planned efficiency improvements.” Teske continued, “Managing working capital is an important focus.  Despite having seasonally elevated inventory levels, we are tracking to plan to deliver a meaningful reduction in inventory by the end of the fiscal year. This, combined with the refinancing of our revolving credit facility, is an important first step in strengthening the balance sheet.”   

Fiscal 2020 outlook:

The company is maintaining its previous financial guidance for fiscal 2020. Net sales are expected to be within a range of $1.91 billion to $1.97 billion, which contemplates midpoint growth of approximately 5.5% over fiscal 2019’s performance. Adjusted net income is expected within a range of $9 million to $17 million, or $0.20 to $0.40 per diluted share, prior to the impact of costs related to the company’s business optimization program and the engine manufacturing consolidation project. Storm-related generator sales in the first quarter drove modest upside to our planned results, which helps support the achievement of the outlook for the year. The outlook does not contemplate potential incremental demand related to power outages in California.