Steelcase Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2021 Results

• Revenue and orders continue to be significantly impacted by COVID-19 pandemic
  
• Actions to reduce fixed costs and discretionary spending provided significant savings versus the prior year
• Liquidity position remains very strong at $652 million
  

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Dec. 17, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Steelcase Inc. (NYSE: SCS) today reported third quarter revenue of $617.5 million and net income of $2.1 million, or diluted earnings of $0.02 per share, which included $11.4 million of pre-tax restructuring costs related to previously announced workforce reductions. Excluding those charges, net of related income tax benefits, adjusted earnings were $0.08 per share. The results also reflected a delay of approximately $60 million of revenue to the fourth quarter due to a temporary global operations shutdown implemented to protect the company’s systems during a cyberattack. In the prior year, Steelcase reported $955.2 million of revenue and net income of $54.9 million, or diluted earnings of $0.46 per share.

Revenue decreased 35 percent in the third quarter compared to the prior year, with approximately 6 percent attributable to the shipment delays associated with the temporary operations shutdown. All segments were impacted by the prolonged economic uncertainty and delay in return-to-the-office plans across the world. The revenue decrease included a decline of 40 percent in the Americas, 15 percent in EMEA and 40 percent in the Other category. On an organic basis, EMEA revenue declined by 20 percent and the Other category revenue declined by 29 percent. The company estimates third quarter revenue was negatively impacted by shipment delays of approximately $50 million in the Americas and approximately $10 million in EMEA due to the temporary operations shutdown. Third quarter revenue in EMEA benefited from $17 million of shipments for a project in the education sector that was in the order backlog at the beginning of the quarter.

Orders (adjusted for the impact of the PolyVision divestiture and currency translation effects) declined 39 percent in the third quarter compared to the prior year, driven by broad-based declines across all segments and most major markets. The Americas declined 42 percent compared to the prior year, reflecting a modest sequential decline in average weekly order levels from the second quarter, compared to a historical seasonal strengthening of order patterns. EMEA declined 29 percent compared to the prior year, with broad-based declines across all markets. The Other category declined 36 percent compared to the prior year and included a decline of 40 percent in China, which had grown 32 percent in the third quarter of fiscal 2020 compared to the prior year.

"I'm proud of the dedication and agility of our employees, who helped us deliver a profit this quarter despite the challenges our business faced from the second wave of COVID cases and the temporary shutdown of our operations in response to the cyberattack," said Jim Keane, president and CEO. "We maintained our aggressive cost controls given the current environment, while staying focused on meeting customer needs."

Break-even operating income in the third quarter included $11.4 million of restructuring costs related to the previously announced workforce reductions. Adjusted operating income of $11.4 million represented a decrease of $63.7 million compared to operating income of $75.1 million in the prior year. The decrease was driven by lower revenue across all segments, partially offset by approximately $92 million of savings from cost reduction actions, which included reduced discretionary spending and lower employee costs, and lower variable compensation expense. The Americas reported operating income of $13.8 million, and adjusted operating income of $25.2 million, compared to operating income of $74.7 million in the prior year. EMEA reported an operating loss of $3.7 million compared to operating income of $6.3 million in the prior year. The Other category reported an operating loss of $2.2 million compared to operating income of $3.3 million in the prior year, which included $1.2 million from PolyVision.

“The EMEA operating loss this quarter was largely attributable to the delayed revenue and incremental costs to recover from the temporary operational shutdown,” said Dave Sylvester, senior vice president and CFO. “In Asia Pacific, although our third quarter orders weren’t as strong as the second quarter, our backlog going into the fourth quarter is on par with the prior year, and our pipeline continues to reflect year-over-year growth."

Gross margin of 28.8 percent in the third quarter represented a 430 basis point decline compared to the prior year, with a 40 basis point decline attributable to restructuring costs. The remaining decline was driven by the impact of the lower revenue, and higher labor and freight costs due to the temporary operations shutdown, partially offset by lower variable compensation expense and lower overhead costs.

Operating expenses of $168.8 million in the third quarter represented a decrease of $72.2 million compared to the prior year. The decrease was primarily driven by an approximately $29 million reduction in discretionary spending, $25.5 million of lower variable compensation expense and approximately $12 million of lower wage and benefit expenses as a result of workforce reductions.

The company recorded $11.4 million of restructuring costs in the third quarter related to the actions, which was in addition to $15.6 million of restructuring costs recorded in the second quarter. These restructuring costs related to previously announced workforce reductions, which the company estimates will result in savings of approximately $10 million per quarter. The company also restored most of its salaried workers to their full base pay at the beginning of the third quarter, which resulted in approximately $20 million of additional costs in the third quarter as compared to the second quarter.

Investment income of $0.2 million in the third quarter represented a decrease of $1.1 million compared to the prior year due to lower market interest rates. Other income, net decreased by $1.9 million compared to the prior year, due primarily to lower income from unconsolidated affiliates.

The company recorded an income tax benefit of $6.3 million in the third quarter, which was primarily driven by benefits available under the U.S. Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. In the prior year, income tax expense was $18.9 million and represented an effective tax rate of approximately 26 percent.

Total liquidity, comprised of cash, cash equivalents and the cash surrender value of company-owned life insurance, aggregated to $652.1 million. Total debt was $482.8 million at the end of the third quarter. There were no borrowings under the company's $250 million global credit facility during the quarter, and there are currently no restrictions on the company's ability to borrow under the facility.

The Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.10 per share, to be paid on or before January 11, 2021, to shareholders of record as of December 28, 2020.

Outlook

At the end of the third quarter, the company’s backlog of customer orders was $545 million, or 15 percent lower than the prior year and includes approximately $60 million of delayed shipments from the third quarter. Going into the fourth quarter, average weekly order levels during the first two weeks of December remained similar to the third quarter. As a result, the company expects fourth quarter fiscal 2021 revenue to be approximately $650 million. The company reported revenue of $946.2 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020. Adjusted for $48.4 million associated with an extra week of shipments in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, the divestiture of PolyVision and currency translation effects, the projected revenue translates to an expected organic decline of 28 percent compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020.

The company expects diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021 to be approximately breakeven. The estimate includes: (1) projected operating expenses of between $180 million to $185 million, and (2) projected interest expense, net of investment income and other income, net, of approximately $5 million. Steelcase reported diluted earnings per share of $0.55, and adjusted earnings per share of $0.39, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020.

“With the early stages of vaccine deployment beginning, some customers are reactivating idled project opportunities so they will be ready to return to their offices next year," said Jim Keane. “We are continuing to invest in new products designed to help customers make their offices safe, flexible, productive and inspiring.”

Business Segment Footnotes

1. The Americas segment serves customers in the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean Islands and Latin America with a portfolio of integrated architecture, furniture and technology products marketed to corporate, government, healthcare, education and retail customers through the Steelcase, Coalesse, Turnstone, Smith System, AMQ and Orangebox brands.
2. The EMEA segment serves customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa primarily under the Steelcase, Orangebox and Coalesse brands, with an emphasis on freestanding furniture systems, storage and seating solutions.
3. The Other category includes Asia Pacific and Designtex. In 2020, the Other category also included PolyVision, which was sold in February 2020.
4. Corporate costs include unallocated portions of shared service functions, such as information technology, corporate facilities, finance, human resources, research, legal and customer aviation, plus deferred compensation expense and income or losses associated with company-owned life insurance.

Webcast
Steelcase will discuss third quarter results and business outlook on a conference call at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This earnings release contains non-GAAP financial measures. A “non-GAAP financial measure” is defined as a numerical measure of a company’s financial performance that excludes or includes amounts so as to be different than the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP in the condensed consolidated statements of income, balance sheets or statements of cash flows of the company. Pursuant to the requirements of Regulation G, the company has provided a reconciliation above of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.

The non-GAAP financial measures used within this earnings release are: (1) adjusted earnings per share, which represents earnings per share excluding goodwill impairment charges, restructuring costs and related tax benefits; (2) organic revenue decline, which represents the change in revenue excluding the impacts of acquisitions and divestitures and estimated currency translation effects; and (3) adjusted operating income (loss), which represents operating income (loss) excluding goodwill impairment charges and restructuring costs. These measures are presented because management uses this information to monitor and evaluate financial results and trends. Therefore, management believes this information is also useful for investors.

Forward-looking Statements
From time to time, in written and oral statements, the company discusses its expectations regarding future events and its plans and objectives for future operations. These forward-looking statements discuss goals, intentions and expectations as to future trends, plans, events, results of operations or financial condition, or state other information relating to us, based on current beliefs of management as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the company. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "targets," or other similar words, phrases or expressions. Although we believe these forward-looking statements are reasonable, they are based upon a number of assumptions concerning future conditions, any or all of which may ultimately prove to be inaccurate. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to vary from the company's expectations because of factors such as, but not limited to, competitive and general economic conditions domestically and internationally; acts of terrorism, war, governmental action, natural disasters, pandemics and other Force Majeure events; the COVID-19 pandemic and the actions taken by various governments and third parties to combat the pandemic; changes in the legal and regulatory environment; changes in raw material, commodity and other input costs; currency fluctuations; changes in customer demand; and the other risks and contingencies detailed in the company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Steelcase undertakes no obligation to update, amend or clarify forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Steelcase Inc.
For over 108 years, Steelcase Inc. has helped create great experiences for the world's leading organizations, across industries. We demonstrate this through our family of brands - including Steelcase®, Coalesse®, Designtex®, Turnstone®, Smith System®, Orangebox® and AMQ®. Together, they offer a comprehensive portfolio of architecture, furniture and technology products and services designed to unlock human promise and support social, economic and environmental sustainability. We are globally accessible through a network of channels, including approximately 800 Steelcase dealer locations. Steelcase is a global, industry-leading and publicly traded company with fiscal 2020 revenue of $3.7 billion.

(1)   These amounts include restricted cash of $6.1 and $3.5 as of February 28, 2020 and February 22, 2019, respectively.
(2)   These amounts include restricted cash of $7.3 and $4.9 as of November 27, 2020 and November 22, 2019, respectively.

Restricted cash primarily represents funds held in escrow for potential future workers’ compensation and product liability claims.  Restricted cash is included as part of Other assets in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets.