Marine Products - Earnings Call - Q3 2025

Executive Summary

• Net sales rose to $53.1M (+7% y/y) while diluted EPS fell to $0.07 (vs. $0.10 y/y) as higher R&D and warranty cost adjustments pressured profitability; gross margin improved to 19.2% (+80 bps), but EBITDA margin contracted to 6.9% (-170 bps) and net income margin to 5.0% (-180 bps).
• Dealer destocking appears largely behind the company; field unit inventory was ~6% below the prior year, helped by price/mix strength (+7%) and stabilizing production schedules.
• Full-year 2025 CapEx outlook was lowered to $1.0–$1.5M from prior ~$3M, reflecting disciplined investment amid macro uncertainty; year-to-date operating cash flow and free cash flow were $11.7M and $10.8M, respectively.
• Management highlighted cautious optimism: demand stabilization, strong interest in larger boats, and positive feedback on 2026 model launches; however finance buyers remain restrained, and tariffs/interest-rate trajectory are key watch items.
• Dividend maintained at $0.14 per share; cash ended Q3 at $47.4M with no debt; CFO flagged a Q4 discrete tax adjustment tied to liquidation of a supplemental executive retirement plan that will lift the effective tax rate and require ~$3M corporate cash distribution.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• First y/y sales growth in over two years as dealer destocking largely abated and production recovered from 2024 lows: “This is the first quarter of year-over-year growth in over two years”.
• Gross margin expanded +80 bps to 19.2% driven by better margins on larger boats and improved manufacturing cost absorption as production schedules stabilized.
• New 2026 model year Chaparral and Robalo introductions received positive dealer feedback: “We are encouraged by the strong interest in our larger boats and initial positive feedback on our 2026 model year offerings”.

What Went Wrong

• EPS fell to $0.07; net income declined 22% y/y as SG&A rose 31% y/y with increased R&D, warranty cost adjustments, and other expenses varying with sales; net income margin fell 180 bps to 5.0%.
• EBITDA declined 15% y/y to $3.7M; EBITDA margin contracted 170 bps to 6.9% as mix and opex investments weighed despite gross margin improvement.
• Finance buyers remained restrained while tariff uncertainties persisted; supply chain issues still present (though less severe than prior years) and management expects a higher effective tax rate for the rest of the year.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good morning and thank you for joining us for Marine Products Corporation's Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call will be hosted by Ben Palmer, President and CEO, and Mike Schmidt, Chief Financial Officer. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue up for questions. I would like to advise everyone that this conference call is being recorded. I'll now turn the call over to Mr. Schmidt.

Mike Schmit (CFO)

Thank you and good morning. Before we begin, I want to remind you that some of the statements that will be made on this call could be forward-looking in nature and reflect a number of known and unknown risks. Please refer to our press release issued today along with our 2024 10-K and other public filings that outline those risks, all of which can be found at www.marineproductscorp.com. In today's earnings release and conference call, we'll be referring to several non-GAAP measures of operating performance and liquidity. We believe these non-GAAP measures allow us to compare performance consistently over various periods. Our press release and our website contain reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures. I'll now turn the call over to our President and CEO, Ben Palmer.

Ben Palmer (President and CEO)

Thanks, Mike, and thank you all for joining our call. Third quarter sales were up 7% compared to the prior year as the largest part of our destocking of channel inventory appears to be behind us, and production is off the lows we experienced in the second quarter of 2024. This is the first quarter of year-over-year growth in over two years. Macro and geopolitical risks remain and have added uncertainty to the market. However, the industry seems to be cautiously optimistic. Further interest rate cuts could provide a tailwind, especially to the reluctant finance buyers who have seen both higher selling prices and higher financing cost. Our annual dealer meeting was well attended with positive feedback from new and upgraded Chaparral and Robalo models. Recent announcements like our new financing, partnership, and marketing efforts resonated with our dealers.

We've made strong efforts to manage channel inventory and have reduced our field inventory by 6% year-over-year while generating year-over-year net sales growth this quarter. Our absolute inventory levels remain low, ignoring the impacts from COVID, and are consistent across both brands. Because field inventory levels were reasonable, our retail promotional activity is ongoing but declined slightly during the quarter. We continue to evaluate various programs to support our dealers who are taking a more targeted approach. Supply chain costs and availability of materials and key components remain a key focus area. Store parts do persist, but are much less significant than the last few years. Model year price increases were modest despite the tariff uncertainties. Tariffs remain fluid with what seems like new developments every week, which could require us to revisit pricing, but currently we do not expect any additional increases.

We're actively engaged with government and trade associations to address industry concerns resulting from tariffs, but visibility here is limited. It will take some time to see whether current interest rate cuts are sufficient to positively impact the industry. Given the time of year, it may take months before we fully appreciate the impact, but with additional rate cuts expected in the market, we're hopeful this supports retail demand. We're optimistic for the year ahead as our trends appear to be normalizing with lower field inventories. Our new product introductions and rollouts are being well received, which feature new models, model upgrades, changes, and alternative features. At Chaparral, we upgraded and rebranded both our CERF and SSX lines. We will continue to thoughtfully invest in our brands to best position ourselves in the categories in which we compete and look for strategic investments to accelerate growth when appropriate. Now Mike will provide an overview of the financial results.

Mike Schmit (CFO)

Thanks Ben. Our third quarter financial results with comparisons to the third quarter of 2024 are as follows. Sales were up 7%, driven by a positive 7% net increase in price and mix and offset by a slight decrease in the number of boats sold during the quarter. Recall that in the third quarter of last year we decreased production to help destock field inventory. We note sales have been stabilizing over the past few quarters as evidenced by the 7% sales increase. Gross profit increased 11% to $10.2 million, while our gross profit percentage of 19.2% was up 80 basis points from the prior year. Our increase in gross margin was due to better margins on larger boats and improved manufacturing cost absorption as production schedules stabilized with demand. SG&A expenses were $7.4 million in the quarter, up 31% compared to last year's third quarter.

SG&A as a percentage of sales was 13.9%, up 260 basis points compared to the prior year, primarily due to the timing of new product R&D investments and compensation accruals as well as warranty cost adjustments. Our tax rate was 19.9% in the quarter and is likely to be higher than this level for the remainder of the year. Diluted EPS was $0.07 in the third quarter, down from $0.10 last year. EBITDA was $3.7 million, down 15% from $4.3 million last year. Year to date, we have generated operating cash flow of $11.7 million and free cash flow of $10.8 million. CapEx was approximately $968,000 year to date and while we expect lower CapEx this year compared to last year, it will likely pick up in the remainder of the year and track towards approximately $1 million-$1.5 million for the full year.

We paid $14.7 million in dividends year to date and we finished the third quarter with $47.4 million cash and no debt. In the fourth quarter, we are planning to liquidate our terminated supplemental executive retirement plan. Related to this, we expect to pay a net cash distribution from corporate funds of approximately $3 million subject to market changes and expect to record a discrete adjustment increasing our effective tax rate. I'll now turn it back over to Ben for a few closing remarks.

Ben Palmer (President and CEO)

Thanks, Mike. The Marine industry continues to weather a challenging environment, but we are optimistic about the days ahead. Feedback from our August dealer meeting was positive, with dealers remaining cautious but encouraged. We're pleased to see a year-over-year increase in third quarter sales while our field inventory declined. We have continued to use our strong balance sheet to invest in new models and enhance features and benefits within the Chaparral and Robalo models. We will evaluate strategic growth opportunities and partnerships to enhance our portfolio and believe our financial position and operational approach makes us a buyer of choice. In closing, I want to thank our employees for their dedication and hard work and our dealers and suppliers for their continued collaboration and support. That concludes our prepared remarks and with that operator, I'll turn it over for questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. At this time, in order to ask a question, press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. We'll pause for a moment to compile a Q&A roster, and there are no questions at this time. I will now turn the call back over to Ben for closing remarks.

Ben Palmer (President and CEO)

Okay, thank you very much. Appreciate those listening in and hope you have a good rest of the day. Thank you very much.

Operator (participant)

Today's call will be available for replay on marineproductscorp.com within two hours following the completion of the call. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.