Kaman Q3 Earnings and Revenues Top Estimates

BLOOMFIELD, Conn. — Kaman Corp. reported financial results for the third fiscal quarter ended September 27, 2019. During the third quarter, the Company completed the sale of its Distribution segment for $700 million in cash, excluding certain working capital adjustments. The Distribution segment results are reported as discontinued operations for all periods presented in this release.

Neal J. Keating, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We executed well in the third quarter delivering a significant increase in sales over the prior year period, generating a $0.70 increase in diluted earnings per share from continuing operations, or more than a 200% increase in adjusted earnings per diluted share*. Since we announced the closing of the sale of Distribution in late August, we have been focused on setting the foundation for our next stage of growth. A key step in this process is accelerating our M&A program to deploy available capital with a focus on companies that combine innovative engineering capabilities and world class manufacturing, while extending our reach into new growth markets.

“We are also undertaking a comprehensive review of our general and administrative functions in order to improve operational efficiency and to align our costs with revenues. The objective of this initiative is to ensure that we have an organizational structure that will enable us to successfully compete, while streamlining processes, reducing costs, and providing a scalable infrastructure that will allow us to more effectively integrate new acquisitions. Based on the work we have performed to date, we expect full year run rate savings from these actions to be towards the high end of our prior range of $15 million to $20 million exiting 2020.

“In addition, we look to build upon our legacy as a premier designer and manufacturer of highly engineered products across the aerospace and defense, medical and industrial markets. These efforts incorporate investments to drive organic growth including expanded unmanned capabilities and new composite rotor blades for the K-MAX®, laser guided height of burst sensor and next generation safe and arm technologies, and investments in new specialty bearings and engineered products families including titanium diffusion hardening. We have also been investing in facility expansions and upgrades in the U.S., Germany and the Czech Republic to increase capacity. Today, we have extraordinary businesses and we are investing across our portfolio to ensure we are positioned for growth.”

Chief Financial Officer, Robert D. Starr, commented, “During the quarter we closed the sale of the Distribution business for $700 million, or approximately $600 million net of transaction expenses and estimated taxes. We paid down all amounts outstanding under our revolving credit facility which lowered our debt to capitalization ratio* to 18.6% with the only debt outstanding associated with our convertible notes. As we look to redeployment, we have approximately $1.0 billion of available capital from debt and cash and we expect to use a significant portion of this to execute on acquisitions and organic growth initiatives. We remain disciplined and patient in our approach and will execute on opportunities that best align with our strategic objectives.

“Sales for the quarter increased 16.3% to $182.7 million when compared to the third quarter of 2018. Higher sales primarily resulted from increased sales for our specialty bearings products and initial deliveries under our $324 million JPF DCS contract. These increases were partially offset by lower revenue on our JPF USG program, a $1.4 million foreign currency headwind, and the absence of $1.3 million in sales from the disposition of our engineering services and UK tooling businesses in 2018.

“Operating profit of $15.6 million increased $22.6 million over the prior year period due to an increase in profit across our product offerings and the absence of a $10.0 million intangible asset impairment charge recorded in the prior year period. When adjusted for $3.0 million in costs related to our corporate development activities and $1.2 million in costs associated with the transition services agreement with Distribution, adjusted operating income* more than doubled to $19.9 million, from adjusted operating income* of $7.3 million in the prior-year period. Stronger operating margin resulted from the mix of JPF DCS orders and specialty bearings sales, as well as improved operating results from a number of our aerospace structures programs.

“Through the first nine months of 2019 we had cash flows from continuing operations of $11.3 million and free cash flow* use of $6.1 million. As highlighted in our second quarter remarks, cash usage was due to the buildup of inventory in our Joint Programmable Fuze and self-lubricating bearings products to support the strong sales we experienced in the third quarter and expect to continue in the fourth quarter of 2019. We are leaving our guidance unchanged for 2019, with full year sales from continuing operations in the range of $740.0 million to $760.0 million and Aerospace operating margin in the range of 16.7% to 17.2% based on increased volumes of our JPF DCS and specialty bearings products in the fourth quarter.”