NORTHVILLE, Mich., April 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 first quarter ended March 31, 2017.

First Quarter 2017 Highlights

• Total revenue growth of 16% to $249.3 million
• Net income of $25.4 million and adjusted EBTIDA of $45.2 million
• Gentherm Global Power Technologies (GPT) revenues partially recovered and increased by 40% from the prior year quarter and on a sequential quarter basis by 79% to $7.4 million
• CSZ continued to grow reporting $20.0 million in revenue, a 26% increase from prior year first quarter pro forma revenue; helping to achieve goal for long-term non-automotive growth
• Gross margin improved by 2.6 percentage points to 34.2% due to higher CSZ and GPT revenues and higher margin content in automotive seat heaters
• Operating expense leveled off from the recent increases funding key drivers of future revenue growth

"Our revenue performance and growth rate, which benefited from the impact of our acquisition of CSZ in the second quarter of 2016, were right in line with our expectations.  We are starting to benefit from a modest recovery in GPT, our business that sells into the energy sector, which has experienced market related softness for over a year now.  The automotive market, which represents the majority of our revenues, continues to be strong, benefiting from improved opportunities for our existing products as well as potential future revenues from new products still in our development pipeline," said President and CEO Daniel R. Coker.

Mr. Coker, continued, "While we have seen an expected temporary slowdown in the revenue growth rate of our CCS revenue, we have accelerated growth in other areas.  For example, our efforts in recent years to become vertically integrated in electronic control modules is today providing higher unit content on existing products.  This is most evident in automotive seat heaters, where we have added significant sales of our own control modules on newly launched replacement programs.  We also have new stand-alone electronic product opportunities, which we expect to begin generating revenue in the first quarter of 2019.  We continue to be very encouraged by the progress of CSZ, which provided acquisition related revenue growth but also grew impressively on a comparable organic basis."

Mr. Coker concluded, "Although the 2017 first quarter is likely to be the best revenue growth quarter of the year due to the timing in 2016 of the CSZ acquisition, we believe we are on track to deliver solid improvements as we continue to work on significant new opportunities that will begin to materialize in the form of product revenues at the end of this year."

First Quarter 2017 Financial Review

Our product revenue grew $33.6 million, or 16%, which included $20.0 million in acquisition related product revenues from CSZ.  On a pro forma basis, CSZ's revenue grew over the prior year by $4.1 million or 26%.  This increase was mainly the result of strong shipments of patient temperature management products, especially the Hemotherm blood heater cooler which has benefited from improved market penetration. While we expect the Hemotherm revenue to moderate, the outlook for CSZ continues to be strong in the coming quarters.  Including the prior year CSZ first quarter revenue on a pro forma basis, consolidated revenues grew organically by nearly 8%.   

Additionally, we experienced higher revenue in all our other major products, however, three stand out as the growth leaders during the quarter.  These include seat heaters, steering wheel heaters and remote power systems from GPT.  These product categories grew by $7.1 million, or 10%, $3.5 million, or 30% and $2.1 million, or 40%, respectively. The increase for seat heaters was driven both by strong production volumes and new program launches but also reflects greater vehicle content. This content increase is driven by an increasing number of vehicle programs offering seat heaters in rear seat positions and higher system level content due to a greater number of programs having Gentherm electronic controllers.  Steering Wheel Heaters increased due to new program launches and higher application rates on existing vehicles and reflects a continued strong market trend where more vehicle models have added the feature. The revenue growth at GPT represents a reversal from declines in revenue over the past five quarters.  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.

Gross margin as a percentage of revenue for the quarter rose to 34.2% from 31.6%. This improvement was due to the addition of CSZ revenue and the increased GPT revenue, both of which have a higher than average gross margin percentage, favorable foreign currency impact on production expenses and improved gross margin in our automotive segment reflecting the improved content in seat heaters.

Operating expenses of $50.3 million increased $12.0 million, or 31%, compared to the year ago period, but leveled off as compared sequentially to the prior year fourth quarter, which had operating expenses of $52.1 million. The increase over the prior year included new operating expenses of CSZ totaling $7.0 million as well as our continued investments in new products and technologies and enhancements to our operating infrastructure.

Net research and development expenses (R&D) of $19.5 million increased by $3.8 million, or 24%, during the first quarter of 2017, compared with 2016, as a result of new production programs for existing products, new product development, and a program to develop the next generation of seat comfort products. The types of new products and future growth drivers that we are investing in include automotive interior thermal management devices, medical thermal management devices, battery thermal management devices, battery management systems and advanced automotive electronics solutions.  Many of these new products have begun to reach the more cost intensive phases that typically occur after we receive firm customer orders or later as we ramp up our manufacturing operations specific to these products.

Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) of $30.8 million increased by $8.2 million, or 36%, during the first quarter of 2017, compared with 2016.  The increase in SG&A resulted from expenses related to ownership of CSZ totaling $6.1 million as well as a higher management incentive compensation. Our management incentive program includes various forms of equity compensation including stock options, restricted stock and stock appreciation rights ("SARs").  Stock options and restricted stock are accounted for using the equity method and are valued at the grant date fair value and amortized over the respective service period of the employee beneficiary.  SARs are accounted for using the liability method since they are settled in cash which requires mark-to-market adjustments based on the current trading price of Gentherm Common Stock.  Since Gentherm Common Stock appreciated during the First Quarter 2017, we recorded SAR related compensation expense totaling $2.0 million for the period.  This SAR related compensation expense was $2.4 million higher as compared with a benefit during First Quarter 2016 of $461,000.  The benefit in 2016 was due to a decline in the Company's Common Stock trading price during that period.  On a sequential quarter basis, SG&A decreased by $2.9 million, or 9%.  This was partially due to a one-time, $2.0 million management reorganization expense during the 2016 fourth quarter and a related reduction in ongoing expenses during the 2017 first quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA increased for the quarter to $45.2 million compared with Adjusted EBITDA of $40.4 million for the first quarter of 2016.  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 $0.69 and $0.33 for the first quarter 2017 and 2016, respectively.  As outlined in the accompanying table, these amounts included acquisition transaction expenses of CSZ, purchase accounting impacts, and other effects.  These other effects include unrealized currency gains during both quarters and the tax expenses associated with a reorganization of our North American operations during 2016.  After adjusting for these impacts and effects, our fully diluted earnings per share would have been $0.77 and $0.73 in 2017 and 2016, respectively.

Total cash as of March 31, 2017 was $133.9 million when compared with total cash of $177.2 million at December 31, 2016.  This decrease was primarily related to a $31.6 million tax payment associated with the first quarter 2016 reorganization of our North American operations.  This tax was accrued during 2016 but became payable during 2017.  Total cash combined with borrowing availability under the Company's credit agreements, provides available liquidity totaling $336.9 million as of March 31, 2017.

Guidance

We continue to expect full year 2017 revenue growth of between 5% and 10%.  Our guidance reflects the impact from a stronger USD and a full year of CSZ revenues.

Conference Call

As previously announced, Gentherm is conducting a conference call today to be webcast at 8:00 AM 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 and the Conference ID number is 13660078.  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 13660078.

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

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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SOURCE Gentherm