NORTHVILLE, Mich., July 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Gentherm (NASDAQ-GS:THRM), the global market leader and developer of innovative thermal management technologies, today announced its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2017.

Second Quarter 2017 Highlights

• Quarterly revenue totaling $243.4 million represents growth of 5%
• Net income of $8.5 million and adjusted EBITDA of $35.1 million
• Diluted Earnings Per Share of $0.23 for the quarter, or $0.53 after adjusting for the unrealized currency loss and other impacts
• Euro strength results in significant unrealized foreign currency loss of $12.0 million
• Automotive revenue grew by nearly 2% despite an automotive production headwind of nearly 3% in both Europe and North America
• Gentherm Global Power Technologies (GPT) revenues continue to show recovery and increased by 83% from the prior year quarter
• CSZ continued to grow reporting $20.1 million in revenue, a 20% increase from prior year second quarter

"The second quarter saw revenues for our automotive products grow by nearly 2%.  This growth came despite the automotive industry, our most important end market, experiencing significant weakness.  Global automotive production volumes declined by nearly 0.30% in the second quarter and, more importantly, production in North America and Europe were down by more than 3% on a combined basis," said President and CEO Daniel R. Coker.  "This illustrates the strength in our underlying products but still does not reflect the coming benefits from some of our exciting new products including our advanced battery thermal management product, which will begin shipping later this year, and our innovative electronic controlling devices which are expected in early 2019," Coker added.

Coker continued, "Our corporate goal to add non-automotive markets to our product offerings has helped offset the uncertainty in the automotive industry.  Both GPT and CSZ had impressive results for the quarter increasing revenue by 83% and 20%, respectively, helping to supplement the overall outlook for Gentherm." 

Second Quarter 2017 Financial Review
Our product revenue grew $10.7 million, or 5%.  The increase came almost equally from each of our Automotive, GPT and CSZ product groups which had higher product revenues totaling $4.0 million, $3.4 million and $3.3 million, respectively.  Revenue growth for the automotive group, which was the slowest representing a 2% increase, was unfavorably impacted by a declining industry production rate especially in North America.  This lower production volume impacted revenue of CCS disproportionately.  CCS revenue also experienced a decrease associated with certain vehicles that changed from the higher priced active cooling solution to the lower priced heated and ventilated version.  Strong growth in the other automotive products combined to help offset the lower revenue in CCS.

Higher revenue at CSZ included improvements in both medical products and environmental climate chambers; however, the strong first quarter growth attributable to the blood heater cooler, or Hemotherm, was replaced by increased shipments in environmental climate chambers.  

The revenue growth at GPT reflects increased market activity, especially from gas pipeline projects that had been deferred during 2016.  While the energy markets that GPT serves continue to be challenging, our revenue performance is expected to generally trend upward due to previously delayed projects now being completed.  Of course, our customers in this sector are still cautious and project timing fluctuations are expected.

The gross margin percentage during the 2017 second quarter was 32.2% compared to 30.7% during the 2016 second quarter, or 32.4% after adjusting for the one-time purchase accounting impact of CSZ incurred during the second quarter of 2016, the period during which it was acquired.  This slight decrease was due to a lower gross margin for CSZ during the current period partially offset by higher product revenues from the higher gross margin GPT business.  Lower CSZ gross margin was attributable to a higher mix of revenue favoring lower margin test chamber equipment projects.

Operating expenses of $53.2 million increased $4.0 million, or 8%, compared to the year ago period.  The increase over the prior year included higher stock based management incentive compensation, continued investments in new products and technologies and enhancements to our operating infrastructure.

Net research and development expenses (R&D) of $21.4 million increased by $2.3 million, or 12%, during the second quarter of 2017, compared with 2016, as the activities associated with new product development increase.  These activities include the advanced battery thermal management device, which is set to launch later this year, and an innovative electronic controlling device which is scheduled to begin production in early 2019.  Other focus areas for our advanced engineering teams include automotive interior thermal management devices, medical thermal management devices and battery management systems.

Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) of $31.8 million increased by $2.4 million, or 8%, during the second quarter of 2017, compared with 2016.  The increase in SG&A resulted from higher equity based management incentive compensation, a portion of which is adjusted based on the trading price of our common stock.  Gentherm Common Stock appreciated during the second quarter of 2017 but decreased during the second quarter of 2016 resulting in an increase in compensation expense totaling $2.6 million.  

During the 2017 second quarter we incurred a net foreign currency loss of $13.2 million which included a net realized loss of $1.2 million and a net unrealized loss of $12.0 million.  The unrealized loss was primarily the result of holding significant amounts of U.S. Dollar ("USD") cash at our subsidiaries in Europe and due to certain intercompany relationships between these European subsidiaries and our U.S. based companies.

Adjusted EBITDA increased for the quarter to $35.1 million compared with Adjusted EBITDA of $31.5 million for the first quarter of 2016, an increase of 11%.  A reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, to net income is provided in a table accompanying this news release.

Our fully diluted earnings per share were $0.23 and $0.50 for the second quarter 2017 and 2016, respectively.  As outlined in the accompanying table, these amounts included certain purchase accounting impacts from acquisitions, the unrealized currency loss in 2017 and an unrealized currency gain in 2016.  After adjusting for these impacts and effects, our fully diluted earnings per share would have been $0.53 and $0.57 in 2017 and 2016, respectively.

Total cash as of June 30, 2017 was $164.2 million as compared with total cash of $177.2 million at December 31, 2016.  This decrease was primarily related to a $32.6 million tax payment associated with the first quarter 2016 reorganization of our North American operations.  This amount was offset by favorable operating cash flow during the second quarter totaling $27.5 million.  The cash combined with borrowing availability under the Company's credit agreements, provides available liquidity totaling $367.6 million as of June 30, 2017.

Guidance
We expect that our full year 2017 revenue growth is likely to be at the lower end of our previously stated range of between 5% and 10%.  Our guidance reflects year-to-date actual results including the extra quarter of CSZ revenue and an expected softer automotive production level for the remainder of 2017.

Conference Call
As previously announced, Gentherm is conducting a conference call today to be webcast at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time to review these financial results.  The dial-in number for the call is 1-877-407-4018 or, for international callers, 1-201-689-8471.  The live webcast and archived replay of the call can be accessed on the Events page of the Investor section of Gentherm's website at www.gentherm.com.

A telephonic replay will be available at approximately 11:00 a.m. ET and will be accessible for two weeks. The replay can be accessed by dialing 1-844-512-2921, or for international callers, 1-412-317-6671. The passcode for the live call and the replay is 13667294.

Investor Relations Contact
investors@gentherm.com
248-308-1702

About Gentherm
Gentherm (NASDAQ-GS: THRM) is a global developer and marketer of innovative thermal management technologies for a broad range of heating and cooling and temperature control applications. Automotive products include variable temperature Climate Control Seats, TrueTherm® cupholder and storage bins, heated automotive interior systems (including heated seats, steering wheels, armrests and other components), battery thermal management systems, cable systems and other electronic devices. Non-automotive products include remote power generation systems, heated and cooled furniture, patient temperature management systems, industrial environmental test chambers and related product testing services and other consumer and industrial temperature control applications. The Company is also developing a number of new technologies and products that will help enable improvements to existing products and to create new product applications for existing and new markets. Gentherm has over twelve thousand employees in facilities in the United States, Germany, Canada, China, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Vietnam.  For more information, go to www.gentherm.com.

Except for historical information contained herein, statements in this release are forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements represent Gentherm Incorporated's goals, beliefs, plans and expectations about its prospects for the future and other future events.  The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made as of the date hereof or as of the date specified and are based on management's current expectations and beliefs.  Such statements are subject to a number of important assumptions, risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual performance to differ materially from that described in or indicated by the forward looking statements. Those risks include, but are not limited to, risks that new products may not be feasible, sales may not increase, additional financing requirements may not be available, new competitors may arise, currency exchange rates may change, and adverse conditions in the industry in which the Company operates may negatively affect its results. The foregoing risks should be read in conjunction with other cautionary statements included herein, as well as in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 and subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

TABLES FOLLOW

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In evaluating its business, Gentherm considers and uses Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental measure of its operating performance.  The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, deferred financing cost amortization, transaction expenses, debt retirement expenses, unrealized currency gain or loss and unrealized revaluation of derivatives.  Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA is a meaningful measure of liquidity and the Company's ability to service debt because it provides a measure of cash available for such purposes. Management provides an Adjusted EBITDA measure so that investors will have the same financial information that management uses with the belief that it will assist investors in properly assessing the Company's performance on a period-over-period basis.

The term Adjusted EBITDA is not defined under GAAP, and is not a measure of operating income, operating performance or liquidity presented in accordance with GAAP.  Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and when assessing the Company's operating performance, investors should not consider Adjusted EBITDA in isolation, or as a substitute for net income or other consolidated income statement data prepared in accordance with GAAP.  Gentherm compensates for these limitations by relying primarily on its GAAP results and using Adjusted EBITDA only supplementally.

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