MSC Reports Fiscal 2016 Fourth Quarter And Full Year Results

MELVILLE, N.Y. and DAVIDSON, N.C., Nov. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

FISCAL Q4 2016 HIGHLIGHTS

• Net sales of $745.1 million, increased 2.4% year-over-year (3.6% decline on an Average Daily Sales basis)
• Gross margin of 44.8% reflecting continued stabilization in an ongoing difficult environment
• Operating margin of 13.3% resulting from cost containment and ongoing monitoring of discretionary spend
• GAAP diluted EPS of $1.02

FISCAL 2016 HIGHLIGHTS

• Net sales of $2.9 billion decreased 1.6% over the prior year (3.5% decline on an ADS basis)
• GAAP diluted EPS of $3.77

MSC INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY CO. (NYSE: MSM), "MSC" or the "Company," a premier distributor of Metalworking and Maintenance, Repair and Operations ("MRO") supplies to industrial customers throughout North America, today reported financial results for its fiscal 2016 fourth quarter and full year ended September 3, 2016. Both periods included an additional week of operational results as compared to the prior periods.

 

 

Erik Gershwind, president and chief executive officer, said, "Conditions remained very difficult throughout the fourth quarter, much as they have for the past few quarters. Low oil prices and the strong US dollar continued to depress demand, particularly in metalworking and heavy manufacturing. Despite these headwinds, our execution remains strong, including continued share gains, sustained gross margin stabilization and strong expense controls."

Rustom Jilla, executive vice president and chief financial officer, added, "Our diluted EPS for the quarter was $1.02, 4 cents above the mid-point of our guidance range. We continued executing on our gross margin and cost reduction initiatives, but the fourth fiscal quarter's higher EPS was mostly attributable to sales being above guidance. For the full year, we succeeded in delivering an operating margin roughly in line with prior year levels despite lower sales. Finally, our cash flow generation was particularly strong in fiscal 2016, and we returned $500 million to our shareholders through dividends and share buybacks."

Gershwind concluded, "As we look to fiscal 2017, MSC is well positioned regardless of what happens in the industrial economy. Should conditions improve or even just stabilize, the Company is poised for a tremendous growth and leverage story. On the other hand, if difficult conditions persist, we will continue to capitalize on the opportunities a challenging environment creates for MSC, making the future growth and leverage story even more compelling."

Outlook

Based on current market conditions, the Company expects net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2017 to be between $676 million and $688 million. At the midpoint, average daily sales are expected to decline roughly 3.5%, as compared to last year's first quarter. The Company expects diluted earnings per share for the fiscal first quarter 2017 to be between $0.90 and $0.94.

An explanation and reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures contained in this press release to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the attached tables.

Conference Call Information

MSC will host a conference call today at 8:30 a.m. EST to review the Company's fiscal 2016 fourth quarter and full year results. The call, accompanying slides, and other operational statistics may be accessed at: http://investor.mscdirect.com. The conference call may also be accessed at 1-877-443-5575 (U.S.), 1-855-669-9657 (Canada) or 1-412-902-6618 (international).

An online archive of the broadcast will be available until November 8, 2016.

The Company's reporting date for fiscal first quarter 2017 results will be January 11, 2017.

About MSC Industrial Supply Co.

MSC Industrial Supply Co. (NYSE: MSM) is a leading North American distributor of metalworking and maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) products and services. We help our customers drive greater productivity, profitability and growth with more than 1 million products, inventory management and other supply chain solutions, and deep expertise from over 75 years of working with customers across industries.

Our experienced team of more than 6,000 associates is dedicated to working side by side with our customers to help drive results for their businesses - from keeping operations running efficiently today to continuously rethinking, retooling, and optimizing for a more productive tomorrow.

For more information on MSC, please visit mscdirect.com.

Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

Statements in this Press Release may constitute "forward-looking statements" under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that we expect, believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future, including statements about expected future results, expected benefits from our investment and strategic plans, and expected future margins, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The inclusion of any statement in this release does not constitute an admission by MSC or any other person that the events or circumstances described in such statement are material. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include: general economic conditions in the markets in which we operate, current economic, political and social conditions, changing customer and product mixes, competition, industry consolidation, volatility in commodity and energy prices, credit risk of our customers, risk of cancellation or rescheduling of orders, work stoppages or other business interruptions (including those due to extreme weather conditions) at transportation centers or shipping ports, financial restrictions on outstanding borrowings, dependence on our information systems and the risk of business disruptions arising from changes to our information systems, disruptions due to computer system or network failures, computer viruses, physical or electronics break-ins and cyber-attacks, the inability to successfully manage the upgrade of our core financial systems, the loss of key suppliers or supply chain disruptions, problems with successfully integrating acquired operations, opening or expanding our customer fulfillment centers exposes us to risks of delays, the risk of war, terrorism and similar hostilities, dependence on key personnel, goodwill and intangible assets recorded as a result of our acquisitions could be impaired, and the outcome of potential government or regulatory proceedings or future litigation relating to pending or future claims, inquiries or audits. Additional information concerning these and other risks is described under "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q that we file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement MSC's unaudited selected financial data presented on a basis consistent with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP"), the Company discloses certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted operating income, adjusted net income, and adjusted net income per diluted share. The adjusted supplemental measures for the thirteen weeks and fiscal year ended August 29, 2015 exclude non-recurring costs associated with the Class C Solutions Group ("CCSG") acquisition and executive transition and separation costs, and related tax effects. There were no adjustments for non-recurring costs for the fourteen weeks and fiscal year ended September 3, 2016. These non-GAAP measures are not in accordance with or an alternative for GAAP, and may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies. We believe that these non-GAAP measures have limitations in that they do not reflect all of the amounts associated with MSC's results of operations as determined in accordance with GAAP and that these measures should only be used to evaluate MSC's results of operations in conjunction with the corresponding GAAP measures. The presentation of this additional information is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the most directly comparable GAAP measures. We compensate for the limitations of non-GAAP financial measures by relying upon GAAP results to gain a complete picture of Company performance.

In calculating non-GAAP financial measures, we exclude these non-recurring costs to facilitate a review of the comparability of the Company's operating performance on a period-to-period basis because such costs are not, in our view, related to the Company's ongoing operational performance. We use non-GAAP measures to evaluate the operating performance of our business, for comparison with forecasts and strategic plans, and for benchmarking performance externally against competitors. In addition, we use certain non-GAAP financial measures as performance metrics for management incentive programs. Since we find these measures to be useful, we believe that investors benefit from seeing results "through the eyes" of management in addition to seeing GAAP results. We believe that these non-GAAP measures, when read in conjunction with the Company's GAAP financials, provide useful information to investors by offering:

• The ability to make more meaningful period-to-period comparisons of the Company's on-going operating results;
• The ability to better identify trends in the Company's underlying business and perform related trend analyses; and
• A better understanding of how management plans and measures the Company's underlying business.

The following tables reconcile GAAP operating income, GAAP net income and GAAP net income per diluted share ("EPS") to non-GAAP adjusted operating income, adjusted net income, and adjusted net income per diluted share:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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SOURCE MSC Industrial Supply Co.