Oak Brook, Illinois, November 3, 2022 — Federal Signal Corporation (NYSE:FSS) (the “Company”), a leader in environmental and safety solutions, today reported results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2022.
Third Quarter Highlights
Consolidated net sales for the third quarter were $346 million, up $48 million, or 16%, compared to the prior-year quarter. Net income for the third quarter was $31.8 million, or $0.52 per diluted share, compared to $29.2 million, or $0.47 per diluted share, in the prior-year quarter. Net income for both the current-year and prior-year third quarter included certain discrete tax benefits, which contributed $0.06 per diluted share and $0.07 per diluted share, respectively, to GAAP and adjusted EPS.
The Company also reported adjusted net income for the third quarter of $32.2 million, or $0.53 per diluted share, compared to $29.7 million, or $0.48 per diluted share, in the prior-year quarter. The Company is reporting adjusted results to facilitate comparisons of underlying performance on a year-over-year basis. A reconciliation of these and other non-GAAP measures is provided at the conclusion of this news release.
Despite Supply Chain Disruption, Double-Digit Improvement in Net Sales and Earnings
“With benefits from pricing actions, strong aftermarket demand and contributions from recent acquisitions, our businesses were able to deliver double-digit year-over-year net sales and earnings growth, gross margin improvement, and an EBITDA margin towards the high end of our target range, despite supply chain disruption which impacted production and shipments at certain facilities within our Environmental Solutions Group early in the quarter,” commented Jennifer L. Sherman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Within our Safety and Security Systems Group, the supply chain improvement we started to see towards the end of last quarter continued, enabling its impressive third quarter performance, which included 25% top-line growth, at an EBITDA margin of 18.7%.”
In the Environmental Solutions Group, net sales for the third quarter were $285 million, up $36 million, or 14%, compared to the prior-year quarter. In the Safety and Security Systems Group, net sales were $62 million, up $12 million, or 25%, compared to the prior-year quarter.
Consolidated operating income for the third quarter was $39.5 million, up $5.2 million, or 15%, compared to the prior-year quarter. Consolidated operating margin for the third quarter was 11.4%, compared to 11.5% in the prior-year quarter.
Consolidated adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (“adjusted EBITDA”) for the third quarter was $53.5 million, up $6.1 million, or 13%, compared to the prior-year quarter, and consolidated adjusted EBITDA margin was 15.4%, compared to 15.9% in the prior-year quarter.
In the Environmental Solutions Group, adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was $46.5 million, up $3.8 million, or 9%, compared to the prior-year quarter, and its adjusted EBITDA margin was 16.3%, compared to 17.1% last year. In the Safety and Security Systems Group, adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was $11.5 million, up $3.0 million, or 35%, compared to the prior-year quarter, and its adjusted EBITDA margin was 18.7%, compared to 17.3% last year.
Consolidated orders for the third quarter were $382 million, up $32 million, or 9%, compared to the prior-year quarter. Consolidated backlog at September 30, 2022 was $824 million, an increase of $337 million, or 69%, from last year.
New Credit Facility Further Strengthens Our Financial Position, Providing Additional Financial Flexibility to Fund
Growth Opportunities
Operating cash flow during the third quarter was $10 million, bringing the total year-to-date operating cash generation to $32 million. At September 30, 2022, consolidated debt was $332 million, total cash and cash equivalents were $36 million and the Company had $160 million of availability for borrowings under its previous credit facility.
On October 21, 2022, the Company entered into a new five-year $800 million credit facility, to replace its previous $500 million credit facility. The new facility is comprised of a $675 million revolving credit facility and a $125 million term loan. The arrangement also provides the Company with the ability to further expand its borrowing capacity by up to the greater of (i) $400 million and (ii) 100% of Consolidated EBITDA for the applicable four-quarter period preceding such expansion notice, subject to approval by applicable lenders.
“With the increase in borrowing capacity under the new credit facility that we recently executed, our healthy cash generation, and our low debt leverage, we have significant financial flexibility to invest in organic growth initiatives and pursue strategic acquisitions, like TowHaul, which we acquired in early October,” said Sherman. “We also remain committed to returning cash to stockholders through dividends and opportunistic share repurchases.”
The Company funded dividends of $5.5 million during the third quarter, reflecting a dividend of $0.09 per share, and the Board of Directors recently declared a similar dividend that will be payable in the fourth quarter.
Outlook
“Overall demand for our products and our aftermarket offerings remains high, with our third quarter orders up 9% year-over-year, and our backlog at the end of the quarter again setting a new Company record,” noted Sherman. “Although we expect sporadic supply chain disruption to continue for the next several quarters, our teams continue to respond to these challenges and we are encouraged with the recent improvement we have seen. With our performance so far this year, our record backlog and current expectations of component availability, we are raising the mid-point of our full-year adjusted EPS* outlook by establishing a new range of $1.91 to $2.00, updated from the previous range of $1.85 to $2.00. We are also raising the mid-point of our full-year net sales outlook by establishing a new range of $1.41 billion to $1.44 billion, updated from the previous range of $1.38 billion to $1.45 billion.”
CONFERENCE CALL
Federal Signal will host its third quarter conference call on Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The call will last approximately one hour. The call may be accessed over the internet through Federal Signal’s website at www.federalsignal.com or by dialing phone number 1-844-826-3035 and entering the pin number 10172835. A replay will be available on Federal Signal’s website shortly after the call.
About Federal Signal
Federal Signal Corporation (NYSE: FSS) builds and delivers equipment of unmatched quality that moves material, cleans infrastructure, and protects the communities where we work and live. Founded in 1901, Federal Signal is a leading global designer, manufacturer and supplier of products and total solutions that serve municipal, governmental, industrial and commercial customers. Headquartered in Oak Brook, Ill., with manufacturing facilities worldwide, the Company operates two groups: Environmental Solutions and Safety and Security Systems. For more information on Federal Signal, visit: www.federalsignal.com.
“Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
This release contains unaudited financial information and various forward-looking statements as of the date hereof and we undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements regardless of new developments or otherwise. Statements in this release that are not historical are forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to vary materially from those stated. Such risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: direct and indirect impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and the associated government response, risks and adverse economic effects associated with emerging geopolitical conflicts, product and price competition, supply chain disruptions, work stoppages, availability and pricing of raw materials, cybersecurity risks, risks associated with acquisitions such as integration of operations and achieving anticipated revenue and cost benefits, foreign currency exchange rate changes, interest rate changes, increased legal expenses and litigation results, legal and regulatory developments and other risks and uncertainties described in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contact: Ian Hudson, Chief Financial Officer, +1-630-954-2000, ihudson@federalsignal.com
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* Adjusted earnings per share (“EPS”) is a non-GAAP measure, which includes certain adjustments to reported GAAP income from continuing operations and diluted EPS. In 2021, we made adjustments to exclude the impact of acquisition and integration-related expenses (benefits), pension-related charges, coronavirus-related expenses and purchase accounting effects, where applicable. Should any similar items occur in 2022, we would expect to exclude them from the determination of adjusted EPS. However, because of the underlying uncertainty in quantifying amounts which may not yet be known, a reconciliation of our Adjusted EPS outlook to the most applicable GAAP measure is excluded based on the unreasonable efforts exception in Item 10(e)(1)(i)(B).