Strong execution drives resilient margins and EPS growth; Expecting mid-single-digit fourth quarter sales growth, resulting in low-single-digit full-year growth.

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Global safety equipment and solutions provider MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE: MSA) today reported financial results for the third quarter of 2024.

Quarterly Highlights

• Achieved quarterly net sales of $433 million, a 3% year-over-year decrease on a reported and organic constant currency basis.
  
  
• Generated GAAP operating income of $91 million, or 21.1% of sales, and adjusted operating income of $98 million, or 22.6% of sales.
  
  
• Recorded GAAP net income of $67 million, or $1.69 per diluted share, and adjusted earnings of $72 million, or $1.83 per diluted share.
  
  
• Repaid $38 million of debt, returned $20 million to shareholders through dividends, invested $14 million for capital expenditures, and repurchased $10 million of common stock.

"Our team continued to execute well in the third quarter, delivering earnings growth despite a modest sales contraction," said Steve Blanco, MSA Safety President and Chief Executive Officer. "Revenue was impacted by the timing of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) shipments as well as specific customer order delays. That said, we still grew orders by high-single digits in the quarter, and our backlog increased sequentially. We continued to see excellent performance in our detection business, including double-digit sales growth in portables. We remain confident that the overall resilience of our business, the strength of our long-term fundamentals, and our team's embrace of the MSA Business System will enable us to continue advancing our mission and creating value for our shareholders."

Financial Highlights

Lee McChesney, MSA Safety Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, commented, "We delivered resilient margin performance and strong cash conversion in the quarter. Our balance sheet remains healthy, with net leverage of 0.9 times. We returned cash to shareholders as part of our disciplined and balanced capital allocation strategy, and we remain well-positioned to invest organically in the business and evaluate M&A opportunities. As we look ahead to the balance of the year, we expect to finish 2024 strong with mid-single-digit sales growth in the fourth quarter, resulting in low-single-digit top-line growth for the full year."

Conference Call

MSA Safety will host a conference call on Thursday, October 24, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time to discuss its third quarter 2024 results and outlook. The call and an accompanying slide presentation will be webcast at http://investors.msasafety.com/ under the "News and Events" tab, subheading "Events & Presentations." Investors and interested parties can also dial into the call at 1-844-854-4415 (toll-free) or 1-412-902-6599 (international). When prompted, please instruct the operator to be joined into the MSA Safety Incorporated conference call. A replay of the conference call will be available at http://investors.msasafety.com/ shortly after the conclusion of the presentation and will be available for the next 90 days.

The Americas segment is comprised of our operations in Northern North American and Latin American geographies. The International segment is comprised of our operations in all geographies outside of the Americas. Certain global expenses are allocated to each segment in a manner consistent with where the benefits from the expenses are derived.

Adjusted operating income (loss), adjusted operating margin, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and adjusted EBITDA margin are the measures used by the chief operating decision maker to evaluate segment performance and allocate resources. As such, management believes that adjusted operating income (loss), adjusted operating margin, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin are useful metrics for investors. Adjusted operating income (loss) is defined as operating income excluding restructuring charges, currency exchange (gains) losses, loss on divestiture of MSA LLC, product liability expense, amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, net cost for product related legal matter and transaction costs. Adjusted operating margin is defined as adjusted operating income (loss) divided by segment net sales to external customers. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as adjusted operating income (loss) plus depreciation and amortization, and adjusted EBITDA margin is defined as adjusted EBITDA divided by segment net sales to external customers. Adjusted operating income (loss), adjusted operating margin, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin are not recognized terms under GAAP, and therefore do not purport to be alternatives to operating income or operating margin as a measure of operating performance. The company's definition of adjusted operating income (loss), adjusted operating margin, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. As such, management believes that it is appropriate to consider operating income determined on a GAAP basis in addition to these non-GAAP measures.

Management believes that organic constant currency sales change is a useful metric for investors, as foreign currency translation can have a material impact on revenue growth trends. Organic constant currency sales change highlights ongoing business performance excluding the impact of fluctuating foreign currencies, which is outside of management's control. There can be no assurances that MSA's definition of organic constant currency sales change is consistent with that of other companies. As such, management believes that it is appropriate to consider revenue growth determined on a GAAP basis in addition to this non-GAAP financial measure.

Management believes that organic constant currency sales growth is a useful metric for investors, as foreign currency translation can have a material impact on revenue growth trends. Organic constant currency sales growth highlights ongoing business performance excluding the impact of fluctuating foreign currencies, which is outside of management's control. There can be no assurances that MSA's definition of organic constant currency sales growth is consistent with that of other companies. As such, management believes that it is appropriate to consider revenue growth determined on a GAAP basis in addition to this non-GAAP financial measure.

Management believes that adjusted earnings and adjusted diluted earnings per share are useful measures for investors, as management uses these measures to internally assess the company's performance and ongoing operating trends. There can be no assurances that additional special items will not occur in future periods, nor that MSA's definition of adjusted earnings is consistent with that of other companies. As such, management believes that it is appropriate to consider both net income (loss) determined on a GAAP basis as well as adjusted earnings.

Management believes that Debt to adjusted EBITDA and Net debt to adjusted EBITDA are useful measures for investors, as management uses these measures to internally assess the company's liquidity and balance sheet strength. There can be no assurances that that MSA's definition of Debt to adjusted EBITDA and Net debt to adjusted EBITDA is consistent with that of other companies.

About MSA Safety:  

MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE: MSA) is the global leader in advanced safety products, technologies and solutions. Driven by its singular mission of safety, the Company has been at the forefront of safety innovation since 1914, protecting workers and facility infrastructure around the world across a broad range of diverse end markets while creating sustainable value for shareholders. With 2023 revenues of  $1.8 billion, MSA Safety is headquartered in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania and employs a team of over 5,000 associates across its more than 40 international locations. For more information, please visit www.MSASafety.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

Except for historical information, certain matters discussed in this press release may be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance and involve various assumptions, known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or other comparable words. Actual results, performance or outcomes may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements and may not align with historical performance and events due to a number of factors, including those discussed in the sections of our annual report on Form 10-K entitled "Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors," and those discussed in our Form 10-Q quarterly reports filed after such annual report. MSA's SEC filings are readily obtainable at no charge at www.sec.gov, as well as on its own investor relations website at http://investors.MSAsafety.com. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements, and caution should be exercised against placing undue reliance upon such statements, which are based only on information currently available to us and speak only as of the date hereof. We are under no duty to update publicly any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this earnings press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures:
This press release includes certain non-GAAP financial measures. These financial measures include organic constant currency revenue growth, adjusted operating income, adjusted operating margin, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted earnings, adjusted earnings per diluted share, debt to adjusted EBITDA, and net debt to adjusted EBITDA. These metrics are consistent with how the Company's chief operating decision maker ("CODM") evaluates segment results and makes strategic decisions about the business.  Additionally, these non-GAAP financial measures provide information useful to investors in understanding our operating performance and trends, and to facilitate comparisons with the performance of our peers. Management also uses these measures internally to assess and better understand our underlying business performance and trends related to core business activities. The non-GAAP financial measures and key performance indicators we use, and computational methods with respect thereto, may differ from the non-GAAP financial measures and key performance indicators, and computational methods, that our peers use to assess their performance and trends.

The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures does not comply with U.S. GAAP. These non-GAAP financial measures should be viewed as supplemental in nature, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, our reported results prepared in accordance with GAAP. When non-GAAP financial measures are disclosed, the Securities and Exchange Commission's Regulation G requires: (i) the presentation of the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP and (ii) a reconciliation of the differences between the non-GAAP financial measure presented and the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. The presentation of these financial measures does not comply with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). For an explanation of these measures, with a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure, see the Reconciliation of As Reported Financial Measures to Non-GAAP Financial Measures in the financial tables section above.

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SOURCE MSA Safety