LKQ Corporation Announces Results for Second Quarter 2019

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LKQ Corporation Announces Results for Second Quarter 2019

 

July 25, 2019

 

• Revenue growth of 7% to $3.25 billion
• Parts and services organic revenue declined 2.1%; (1.3% on a per day basis)
• Non-cash impairment charge of $25 million, net of tax, related to assets held for sale
• Net income from continuing operations attributable to LKQ stockholders of $150 million (down 4%); adjusted net income of $204 million (up 6%)
• Diluted EPS from continuing operations attributable to LKQ stockholders of $0.48 (down 4%); adjusted diluted EPS of $0.65 (up 7%)
• Operating cash flow of $461 million (up 151%) for the quarter; free cash flow of $413 million (up 217%)
• Repurchased 4.4 million shares for $120 million; paid down $220 million of debt
• 2019 annual guidance updated

CHICAGO, July 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LKQ Corporation (Nasdaq:LKQ) today reported revenue for the second quarter of 2019 of $3.25 billion, an increase of 7.2% as compared to $3.0 billion in the second quarter of 2018. For the second quarter of 2019, parts and services organic revenue declined 2.1%, (1.3% on a per day basis), and acquisition revenue growth was 12.6%, while the impact of exchange rates was (2.5%), for total parts and services revenue growth of 8.0%.

Net income¹ for the second quarter of 2019 was $150 million, a decrease of 4.2% year-over-year. Diluted earnings per share¹ for the second quarter of 2019 was $0.48 as compared to $0.50 for the same period of 2018, a decrease of 4.0%. The second quarter 2019 results included a $25 million non-cash impairment charge, net of tax, related to an expected recovery below carrying value of our previously announced assets held for sale. On an adjusted basis, net income was $204 million, an increase of 6.3% as compared to the $192 million for the same period of 2018. On an adjusted basis, diluted earnings per share for the second quarter of 2019 was $0.65, an increase of 6.6% as compared to $0.61 for the same period of 2018.

Dominick Zarcone, President and Chief Executive Officer of LKQ Corporation, stated, “We continued to make progress on our key productivity initiatives during the second quarter, which are having a positive impact on our financial and operational performance. We delivered this performance notwithstanding difficult revenue growth comparisons across all of our operating segments, a soft collision environment in the U.S. and the ongoing macroeconomic challenges and the impact of one less selling day in Europe. Against this backdrop, our continued focus on integrating and simplifying our operating model to drive cash conversion resulted in LKQ generating the highest quarter of operating cash flow in the Company’s history. Additionally, in North America we produced Segment EBITDA margins of 14.4%, a 130-basis point improvement over last year and the highest level since the second quarter of 2017.”

On a six-month year-to-date basis, revenue was $6.3 billion, an increase of 10.4% from $5.8 billion for the comparable period of 2018. Parts and services organic revenue for the first six months of 2019 declined 1.1% (0.1% on a per day basis).

Net income for the first six months of 2019 was $248 million, a decrease of 19.9% as compared to $310 million for the first half of 2018. Diluted earnings per share for the first six months of 2019 was $0.79, a decrease of 20.2% as compared to $0.99 for the same period of 2018. On an adjusted basis, net income for the first six months of 2019 was $380 million, an increase of 5.0% as compared to the $362 million for the same period of 2018.  On an adjusted basis, diluted earnings per share for the first six months of 2019 was $1.21, an increase of 4.3% as compared to $1.16 for the same period of 2018.

¹ References to Net Income and Diluted earnings per share, and the corresponding adjusted figures, in this release reflect amounts from continuing operations attributable to LKQ stockholders.

 

Cash Flow and Balance Sheet

Cash flow from operations totaled $638 million on a six-month year-to-date basis, up 94%, from a year ago. Free cash flow totaled $537 million, up 152%, year-over-year. We paid down $220 million of borrowings during the quarter, and as of June 30, 2019, our balance sheet reflected net debt of $3.7 billion. Net leverage as defined in the credit facility decreased to 2.8x EBITDA.

During the second quarter of 2019, we repurchased approximately 4.4 million shares of our common stock returning approximately $120 million of capital to our stockholders. Since initiating our plan in late October 2018, we have repurchased 9.3 million shares for a total of $251 million.

Company Outlook

We updated our guidance for 2019 as set forth below.

	2019 Updated Guidance	2019 Previous Guidance
Organic revenue growth for parts & services	0.5% to 2.0%	2.0% to 4.0%
Net income attributable to LKQ stockholders (1)	$540 million to $565 million	$586 million to $625 million
Adjusted net income attributable to LKQ stockholders (1)(2)	$718 million to $743 million	$732 million to $771 million
Diluted EPS attributable to LKQ stockholders (1)	$1.73 to $1.81	$1.87 to $2.00
Adjusted diluted EPS attributable to LKQ stockholders (1)(2)	$2.30 to $2.38	$2.34 to $2.46
Cash flows from operations	$800 million to $875 million	$775 million to $850 million
Capital expenditures	$225 million to $275 million	$250 million to $300 million

(1) Amounts reflect continuing operations.

(2) Non-GAAP measures. See the table accompanying this release that reconciles the forecasted U.S. GAAP measures to the forecasted adjusted measures, which are non-GAAP, for further details.

 

Varun Laroyia, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, commented, “Our operational focus and continued momentum on active working capital management and prudent capital spending enabled us to increase our 2019 annual guidance for free cash flow. However, our revised guidance also reflects the soft macroeconomic environment we are facing in Europe and the headwinds from lower scrap metal prices, two dynamics we believe will continue for the balance of 2019, though partially offset by our ongoing cost structure optimization.”

Our guidance for the full year 2019 is based on current conditions (including acquisitions completed through July 25, 2019), and assumes no material disruptions associated with the United Kingdom’s potential exit from the European Union. The guidance for the full year 2019 is based on scrap prices remaining at current levels and exchange rates for our primary currencies holding near current levels. Changes in these conditions may impact our ability to achieve the guidance. Adjusted figures exclude (to the extent applicable) the impact of restructuring and acquisition related expenses; amortization expense related to acquired intangibles; excess tax benefits and deficiencies from stock-based payments; losses on debt extinguishment; impairment charges; and gains and losses related to acquisitions or divestitures (including changes in the fair value of contingent consideration liabilities).

Conference Call Details

We will host a conference call and webcast on July 25, 2019 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time (7:00 a.m. Central Time) with members of senior management to discuss our results. To access the investor conference call, please dial (833) 236-5754. International access to the call may be obtained by dialing (647) 689-4182. The investor conference call will require you to enter conference ID: 4683713#.

Webcast and Presentation Details

The audio webcast and accompanying slide presentation can be accessed at (

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) in the Investor Relations section.

A replay of the conference call will be available by telephone at (800) 585-8367 or (416) 621-4642 for international calls. The telephone replay will require you to enter conference ID: 4683713#. An online replay of the audio webcast will be available on our website. Both formats of replay will be available through August 8, 2019. Please allow approximately two hours after the live presentation before attempting to access the replay.

About LKQ Corporation

LKQ Corporation (

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) is a leading provider of alternative and specialty parts to repair and accessorize automobiles and other vehicles. LKQ has operations in North America, Europe and Taiwan. LKQ offers its customers a broad range of replacement systems, components, equipment and parts to repair and accessorize automobiles, trucks, and recreational and performance vehicles.

Forward Looking Statements

Statements and information in this press release that are not historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are made pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of such Act.

Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our outlook, guidance, expectations, beliefs, hopes, intentions and strategies. These statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors including those identified below.  All forward-looking statements are based on information available to us at the time the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

You should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual events or results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. The risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from the events or results predicted or implied by our forward-looking statements include the factors set forth below, and other factors discussed in our filings with the SEC, including those disclosed under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 and in our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. These reports are available on our investor relations website at 

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 and on the SEC website at 

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.

These factors include the following (not necessarily in order of importance):

• changes in economic and political activity in the U.S. and other countries in which we are located or do business, including the U.K. withdrawal from the European Union (also known as Brexit), and the impact of these changes on our businesses, the demand for our products and our ability to obtain financing for operations;
• increasing competition in the automotive parts industry (including the potential competitive advantage to original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) with "connected car" technology);
• fluctuations in the pricing of new OEM replacement products;
• changes in the level of acceptance and promotion of alternative automotive parts by insurance companies and vehicle repairers;
• changes to our business relationships with insurance companies or changes by insurance companies to their business practices relating to the use of our products;
• our ability to identify sufficient acquisition candidates at reasonable prices to maintain our growth objectives;
• our ability to integrate, realize expected synergies, and successfully operate acquired companies and any companies acquired in the future, and the risks associated with these companies;
• the implementation of a border tax or tariff on imports and the negative impact on our business due to the amount of inventory we import;
• restrictions or prohibitions on selling certain aftermarket products through enforcement by OEMs of intellectual property rights;
• restrictions or prohibitions on importing certain aftermarket products by border enforcement agencies based on, among other things, intellectual property infringement claims;
• variations in the number of vehicles manufactured and sold, vehicle accident rates, miles driven, and the age profile of vehicles in accidents;
• the increase of accident avoidance systems being installed in vehicles;
• the potential loss of sales of certain mechanical parts due to the rise of electric vehicle sales;
• fluctuations in the prices of fuel, scrap metal and other commodities;
• changes in laws or regulations affecting our business;
• higher costs and the resulting potential inability to service our customers to the extent that our suppliers decide to discontinue business relationships with us;
• price increases, interruptions or disruptions to the supply of vehicle parts from aftermarket suppliers and vehicles from salvage auctions;
• changes in the demand for our products and the supply of our inventory due to severity of weather and seasonality of weather patterns;
• the risks associated with operating in foreign jurisdictions, including foreign laws and economic and political instabilities;
• declines in the values of our assets;
• additional unionization efforts, new collective bargaining agreements, and work stoppages;
• our ability to develop and implement the operational and financial systems needed to manage our operations;
• interruptions, outages or breaches of our operational systems, security systems, or infrastructure as a result of attacks on, or malfunctions of, our systems;
• costs of complying with laws relating to the security of personal information;
• product liability claims by the end users of our products or claims by other parties who we have promised to indemnify for product liability matters;
• costs associated with recalls of the products we sell;
• potential losses of our right to operate at key locations if we are not able to negotiate lease renewals;
• inaccuracies in the data relating to our industry published by independent sources upon which we rely;
• currency fluctuations in the U.S. dollar, pound sterling and euro versus other currencies;
• our ability to obtain financing on acceptable terms to finance our growth;
• our ability to satisfy our debt obligations and to operate within the limitations imposed by financing arrangements;
• changes to applicable U.S. and foreign tax laws, changes to interpretations of tax laws, and changes in our mix of earnings among the jurisdictions in which we operate; and
• disruptions to the management and operations of our business and the uncertainties caused by activist investors.

 

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