“With our first-quarter earnings and strong backlog, we are more confident in our revenue forecast and have greater visibility into the mix of projects we will be executing over the remainder of the year, allowing us to increase our earnings outlook for fiscal 2013 to USD 0.48 to USD 0.58 per share, from USD 0.40 to USD 0.50 per share, on mid single-digit revenue growth,” said Joseph F. Puishys, Apogee chief executive officer.
Apogee Enterprises, Inc., a US provider of distinctive value-added glass solutions for the architectural and picture framing industries, has announced fiscal 2013 first-quarter results.
FY13 first quarter vs. prior-year period were as follows:
- revenues of USD 154.1 million were up 1%;
- operating income was USD 2.3 million, compared to a loss of USD 3.4 million;
- per share earnings were USD 0.06, compared to a loss of USD 0.08;
- architectural segment revenues were flat, with an operating loss of USD 1.9 million compared to a loss of USD 7.1 million;
- backlog grew USD 30.3 million, or 13%, to USD 267.3 million;
- large-scale optical segment revenues increased 7%, with operating income of USD 5.3 million compared to USD 4.6 million.
“We started the new year with strong earnings on revenues that grew 1%,” said Joseph F. Puishys, Apogee chief executive officer. “With strong orders and awards leading to an architectural backlog increase of 13%, we have confidence in our planned growth for the full year.
“Gross and operating margins for both our architectural and large-scale optical segments improved year on year, and we operated well throughout Apogee’s businesses,” he said. “Cash and short-term investments ended at USD 58 million after normal first-quarter seasonal uses and capital investments for growth and productivity enhancements, with ongoing positive working capital performance.”
Architectural Products and Services:
- revenues of USD 134.9 million were flat;
- strong growth from share gains in the storefront and installation businesses was offset by the expected first-quarter gap in architectural glass project timing;
- operating loss was USD 1.9 million, compared to a loss of USD 7.1 million;
- results improved from the prior-year period, with higher architectural glass pricing and the impact from storefront volume growth, partially offset by lower margin work in the installation business as expected;
- backlog was USD 267.3 million, compared to USD 237.0 million in the fiscal 2012 fourth quarter and USD 237.1 million in the prior-year period;
- approximately USD 188 million, or 70%, of the backlog is expected to be delivered in fiscal 2013, and approximately USD 79 million, or 30%, in fiscal 2014.
Large-Scale Optical Technologies:
- revenues of USD 19.3 million were up 7%,
- operating income was USD 5.3 million, compared to USD 4.6 million;
- operating margin was 27.4%, compared to 25.7%;
- improvements resulted from a better mix of higher value-added picture framing glass and acrylic across all markets;
- long-term debt was USD 30.9 million, compared to USD 20.9 million at the end of fiscal 2012;
- long-term debt includes USD 30.4 million in long-term, low-interest industrial revenue and recovery zone facility bonds; reflected in the total is USD 10 million in industrial revenue bonds issued in the quarter by Michigan for current and projected capacity expansions in the storefront business;
- cash and short-term investments totalled USD 57.5 million, compared to USD 79.3 million at the end of fiscal 2012;
- non-cash working capital was USD 61.2 million, compared to USD 44.4 million at the end of fiscal 2012 and USD 63.3 million in the prior-year period;
- capital expenditures were USD 9.5 million, compared to USD 1.6 million in the prior-year period. Fiscal 2013 expenditures include purchase of curtainwall fabrication equipment for new geographies, and investments to increase capacity and improve productivity in the storefront and architectural glass businesses;
- depreciation and amortization was USD 6.5 million.
“With our first-quarter earnings and strong backlog, we are more confident in our revenue forecast and have greater visibility into the mix of projects we will be executing over the remainder of the year, allowing us to increase our earnings outlook for fiscal 2013 to USD 0.48 to USD 0.58 per share, from USD 0.40 to USD 0.50 per share, on mid single-digit revenue growth,” said Puishys. “Our anticipated revenue growth for fiscal 2013 will come in part from continued US geographic expansion in our installation and storefront businesses, while earnings for the year are expected to benefit from improved architectural glass pricing, higher project margins in the second half and the ongoing strong performance of our picture framing glass and acrylic business.
“I am pleased by the first-quarter growth in our architectural backlog at improving margins,” noted Puishys. ”Based on the margins of projects in our backlog and our continued outlook for mid-single digit revenue growth for the year, we anticipate that our second half will be better than the first half of fiscal 2013.
“For the full year, we continue to expect positive free cash flow after spending capital of approximately USD 25 million for investments to improve productivity, increase capacity and introduce new products, as well as for maintenance requirements,” he said.
“I believe that our focus on operational improvements, new product introductions and geographic expansion will deliver improving top and bottom-line results during fiscal 2013 and beyond,” Puishys said. “Apogee is a great company with significant opportunities to grow our business at home and internationally.”