PHINIA - Earnings Call - Q1 2025

Executive Summary

• Q1 2025 net sales were $796M, down 7.8% YoY (down ~4.1% ex-FX and contract manufacturing), with adjusted EBITDA of $103M (12.9% margin) and adjusted diluted EPS of $0.94; GAAP diluted EPS was $0.63.
• Results versus consensus: revenue ($796M) missed Wall Street at ~$814.1M*, Primary EPS $0.94 missed ~$1.00*, and adjusted EBITDA $103M was below ~$112.6M*; management flagged OEM volume softness, nonrecurrence of a Q1’24 supplier settlement, stand-alone costs, and new tariff impacts as key drivers.
• Guidance reaffirmed: FY2025 net sales $3.23B–$3.43B, adjusted EBITDA $450M–$490M (13.7%–14.5%), net earnings $140M–$170M, adjusted FCF $160M–$200M, adjusted tax rate 38%–42%.
• Capital returns remained a focal point: $111M returned via $100M buybacks and $11M dividends; liquidity ~ $900M (cash $373M plus undrawn revolver), net debt $616M, and net leverage ~1.4x.
• Near-term stock reaction catalysts: clarity on tariff pass-through (expected 100% recovery in Q2), reaffirmed full-year outlook despite macro and CV softness, and continued share repurchases under remaining $264M authorization.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Adjusted EPS of $0.94 with segment adjusted operating margin of 12.2% despite softer OEM volumes; Aftermarket margin at 16.1% and Fuel Systems at 9.5% (pre pass-through of tariffs), showing operational resilience.
• Strong capital allocation execution: $111M returned (buybacks and dividends) and liquidity of ~$900M with net leverage ~1.4x; “we bought back more than 7.5 million shares or roughly 16.5% of outstanding shares since we were spun out”.
• Strategic wins across geographies/products, including 350bar GDi for E100 in Brazil, Americas FDM wins, China SCR pump, and aftermarket distributor expansions; “We saw sustained momentum in new customer growth... many levers to drive the business”.

What Went Wrong

• Top line softness (net sales down 7.8% YoY; ~4.1% ex-FX and CMA) driven by lower OEM volumes across regions; adjusted EBITDA margin contracted 260 bps YoY to 12.9%.
• Nonrecurrence of a Q1’24 supplier settlement and increased stand-alone corporate costs post TSAs pressured profitability; Q1 tariffs added ~$4M total (~$2M per segment), to be passed through in Q2.
• Adjusted FCF negative at $(3)M vs $13M in Q1’24, given lower earnings (ex non-cash items) despite lower interest payments.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Krista, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the PHINIA First Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you'd like to withdraw that question, again, press star one. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kellen Ferris, Vice President of Investor Relations. Kellen, you may begin.

Kellen Ferris (VP of Investor Relations)

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us. Our conference call materials were released this morning and are available on PHINIA's Investor Relations website, including a slide deck that we'll be referencing in our remarks. We are also broadcasting this call via webcast. Joining us today are Brady Ericson, CEO, and Chris Gropp, CFO. During this call, we will make forward-looking statements which are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from these statements due to a variety of factors, including those described in our SEC filings. We caution listeners not to place any undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. It is my pleasure to turn the call over to Brady.

Brady Ericson (CEO)

Thank you, Kellen, and thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning. I'll start with some overall comments on the first quarter and then provide some thoughts on 2025 and beyond. Chris will then provide additional detail on our financials and discuss our 2025 guidance. We will then open the call for questions. Starting on slide four of the deck, the first quarter developed largely as we expected, with highlights including strong business retention and new conquest wins, delivering on our capital return strategy, and maintaining a healthy balance sheet. During the first quarter, the macroeconomic environment and the automotive industry continued to show signs of slowing, similar to what we experienced in the second half of 2024. Our financial results reflect a soft top line, but with good segment-adjusted operating margin performance. While the environment continues to evolve rapidly, our teams are managing our priorities and our business well.

Both aftermarket segment sales and fuel system segment sales were lower year-over-year, primarily due to lower OEM volumes. As a result, net sales in the quarter were $796 million, down 7.8% in the same period of the prior year, which included contract manufacturing revenues. Excluding the FX impact and CMA agreements that were in place last year, revenue decreased 4.1%. This was in line with our expectations as we see a softer first half of 2025 on a global basis. We reported adjusted EBITDA of $103 million, with a margin of 12.9%, a 260 basis point year-over-year decline. The decrease was primarily due to lower sales, added infrastructure costs to support the business as a standalone entity, and a strong Q1 2024 comparison. Total segment-adjusted operating margins were 12.2%, a 140 basis point decrease when compared with the first quarter of 2024.

Adjusted earnings per diluted share, excluding non-operating items as detailed in the appendix, was $0.94. Our team continued to work closely with suppliers and customers in order to efficiently and effectively work through dynamic business conditions. On the capital side, we continue to take steps intended to drive long-term value for our shareholders. Our balance sheet remained strong with cash and cash equivalents of $373 million, and combined with our undrawn revolver, our total liquidity is approximately $900 million. Importantly, our net leverage ratio was 1.4 times, closing in on our approximate target of 1.5 times. Lastly, our solid financial position enabled us to return $111 million to shareholders via share buybacks and dividends during the first quarter of 2025. In fact, we bought back more than 7.5 million shares, or roughly 16.5% of outstanding shares, since we were spun out in July of 2023.

I've now moved to slides five and six for a discussion of new business wins. We saw sustained momentum in new customer growth and continued to generate growth opportunities in our core business. Additionally, I'm pleased with our efforts around new product development and new customer wins. Our continued focus on deepening our relationship with customers, the expansion of our product offering, and our ability to capture new business wins give us many levers to drive the business. Let me call out a few. A 350-bar gasoline direct injection system, or GDI, for an alternative fuel application, which is using E100. It's with a leading international automobile manufacturer for the Brazilian market, which leverages existing high-performance PHINIA GDI technology while adapting it for decreased carbon emission alternative fuels.

Two high-volume fuel delivery modules, or FDM, wins in the Americas market for a gas truck platform that continues to expand the use of PHINIA's robust and versatile FDM technology. A conquest selective catalyst reduction, or SCR pump, win, for the Chinese market, securing additional LPV and LCV revenue in China focused on lowering tailpipe emissions. Aftermarket business wins in the steering and suspension category with a member of a major customer group in Scandinavia and a major Canadian distributor, which will boost our business in Canada and provides opportunities to expand sales and other product categories over time. Business expansion with a major U.S. distributor, which is a consolidator in the warehouse distribution space, further strengthening our relationship. Increased share of wallet with a major U.S. distributor across all product categories, growing with them as they expand their business.

We are committed to driving expansion in complementary product categories and executing on accretive M&A to drive additional scale in our business. Additionally, we continue to believe that the breadth and scale of our customer base provides a strong foundation for continued growth. Now moving on to slide seven, capital allocation. Our capital priority is, first and foremost, to invest in our business for long-term profitable growth. We return excess capital to shareholders through both dividends and share repurchases. We have a proven track record of being financially disciplined and focused on maximizing long-term shareholder value. We have $264 million remaining under our current repurchase authorization, and we expect to continue to opportunistically repurchase shares as part of our capital allocation strategy. PHINIA continues to demonstrate financial stability and consistency, and I'm confident in our ability to respond to this challenging macroeconomic environment.

Looking ahead and summing up, we have much to be excited about in 2025 despite the dynamic North American market. The global nature of our business, the diversity of the markets we serve, and our substantial aftermarket business will benefit us greatly. We continue to launch new innovative products around the world and look forward to moving from stabilizing the business post-spinoff to building on and further improving the foundation we have built. Regarding the evolving North American market, I wanted to help frame the impact of tariffs on our business. A majority of our North American manufacturing capacity has been in Mexico for more than 30 years and represents roughly $1 billion of our revenues, or less than 30% of our global revenues. The majority of our products are USMCA compliant, and roughly half are sold to customers in Mexico.

We are also working closely with our customers and suppliers on a number of options to adjust sourcing, sales, and logistics flow to mitigate at least some of the impacts of tariffs on products not qualified under USMCA. While we continue to digest the new trade policies and qualified mitigation plans, we feel we have several options and pathways to respond to this dynamic environment. We also believe the diversity of our global business and of our customers has us well-positioned to manage the impact of tariffs on our business. I would like to conclude with a few important messages. First, we are navigating near-term uncertainty well and appreciate the commitment of our strong global team.

Second, we are very confident in the strength, the resilience, and the overall health of our company, which will allow us to continue to invest in our business, make acquisitions, and return capital to shareholders. Third, our long-term strategy to grow our CV, industrial, and aerospace OE business, and aftermarket and service offerings remains intact, and we believe it will allow us to deliver long-term shareholder value. With that, I will hand it over to Chris, who will walk us through our Q1 results and discuss our outlook for the year. Chris.

Chris Gropp (CFO)

Thanks, Brady, and thank you all for joining us this morning. As a reminder, reconciliations of all non-GAAP financial measures that I will discuss can be found in today's press release and in the presentation, both of which are on our website. Moving to slide nine, our business and financial results demonstrated resiliency and balance sheet strength. As expected, revenue in the first quarter reflects similar market trends to what we experienced in the last half of 2024. We generated $796 million in net sales, down 7.8% versus a year ago. We have experienced some headwinds in U.S. dollar reported sales, which were largely impacted by a continuation of foreign currency devaluation. Excluding the impact from foreign currency and contract manufacturing sales that ended last year, the year-over-year sales for Q1 were down 4.1%. Our aftermarket segment sales decreased 3.9% year-over-year, primarily due to lower OEM sales.

Fuel systems segment sales were down 10.2%, including prior-year contract manufacturing sales, or 7.3% excluding the effect of contract manufacturing. The decline in fuel systems is attributable to lower OE sales across all regions. Adjusted operating income was $73 million, with a 9.2% adjusted operating margin, which represents a year-over-year decrease of $24 million and 230 basis points. Corporate costs were higher as we continued to build out the necessary corporate functions to operate as a standalone entity. We are taking steps to ensure that costs remain aligned with current needs and are closely reviewing all discretionary operating expenses. Our adjusted net earnings per diluted share in the first quarter was $0.94, which excludes non-operating items, which are described in the appendix of our presentation. From a core business performance standpoint, our segments reported solid overall margins. Q1 segment adjusted operating margin was healthy at 12.2%.

However, this did represent a decrease of 140 basis points year-over-year, primarily related to negative sales mix in the aftermarket segment, a one-off retro payment received from a supplier issue in Q1 of 2024 for fuel systems, and approximately $4 million in tariff costs from the newly introduced tariff regime in the U.S. that are expected to be passed through 100% in the second quarter. The aftermarket segment margin decreased 180 basis points, ending the quarter at 16.1% due to negative sales mix, as noted, and about $2 million in tariff costs that are expected to be passed through to customers via increased sales prices in Q2. Q1 fuel systems segment margins were 9.5%, down 130 basis points year-over-year due to reduced volumes.

A prior-year retro settlement from a supplier issue received in Q1 2024 and approximately $2 million in tariff costs that are expected to be charged to customers in Q2 of this year. Let me now bridge our adjusted revenue and adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter, which you can find on pages 10 and 11 in the presentation. Sales in the quarter were impacted by softness in volumes, which was a headwind of $34 million on lower OEM sales across all regions. Compared to Q1 2024, FX was also a headwind of $16 million, as the dollar strengthened against the Brazilian real and the euro. Moving next to the bridge on slide 11, adjusted EBITDA was $103 million for a margin of 12.9%, representing a year-over-year decrease of $28 million and 260 basis points. Lower sales, as I just mentioned, was a headwind of $13 million in the quarter.

Other costs of sales were affected by the one-off supplier recovery. Impact from tariffs and other manufacturing costs totaled $12 million. This was partially offset by supplier savings and recoveries of $5 million. Corporate costs were higher by $6 million, reflecting our standalone status as of last year, combined with other cost increases of $2 million. Also of note, excluding the impact of items not related to the company's ongoing operations, the company's effective tax rate associated with ongoing operations was 36% for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, compared to 38% for the quarter ended March 31, 2024. Progress on improving our tax rate is slow and methodical, but clouded by pre-spin-related tax activity. Now for a quick recap of our balance sheet and cash flow.

Our team's unrelenting focus has enabled us to maintain a solid balance sheet that provides us with financial flexibility to support our capital allocation priorities. We ended the quarter with substantial current liquidity. Cash and cash equivalents were $373 million, and available capacity under our credit facilities was approximately $500 million. Net cash generated from operations in Q1 was $40 million, up from $31 million in the same period of the prior year. During the quarter, adjusted free cash flow was flat to slightly negative compared to $13 million in the prior year. The decrease was primarily due to lower net earnings adjusted for non-cash items, partially offset by lower interest payments. While some uncertainty and risks remain globally, we are confident in our operations and our ability to generate sufficient cash for our needs while also continuing to invest in the future.

On the capital allocation front, we paid dividends of $11 million over the quarter and completed share repurchases totaling $100 million. We now have $264 million remaining on the $600 million authorized under our share repurchase program. Capital spend of $35 million was 4.4% of sales in the quarter. Funds were primarily used for investments in new machinery and equipment for new program launches. Now moving to slide 12 for a discussion of our 2025 outlook. We are reaffirming our 2025 guidance, which you can see on slide 12. Despite headwinds related to tariffs and uncertainty in the markets, we now anticipate reduced headwinds related to exchange rates against the backdrop of changes in the U.S. dollar to all other currencies. More than 60% of our sales are generated outside of North America.

Related to those North American sales, we expect any new tariffs incurred to fully pass through to customers. On the macroeconomic front, material changes in the U.S. tariff structure are expected to dampen sales in the U.S. Uncertainty over emissions regulations in both the U.S. and abroad, plus continuation of elevated interest rates, point toward continued softness in the commercial vehicle market. However, we expect the industry to experience trends in 2025 that are similar to those in 2024, with the same level of sales in the first half of the year as the last half of 2024. The company continues to expect its 2025 full-year effective tax rate to be between 38% and 42% as we make slow, steady progress.

I want to reiterate that the foundation of our business is strong, and with our diversified portfolio, scalable operating platform, and strong balance sheet, we believe we can continue to be successful even in the most challenging external environment. In 2025, we will continue our efforts to position our company for long-term success. In closing, we remain firmly committed to building sustainable value for all our stakeholders. Thank you all for your attention today, and we will now move to the Q&A portion of our call. Operator, please open the lines for questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you'd like to withdraw that question, again, press star one. We also ask that you limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. For any additional questions, please re-queue. Your first question comes from the line of Jake Scholl with BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.

Jake Scholl (Automotive Equity Research Associate)

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my question. It looks like in the first quarter, the tariff headwind is about $4 million for the one-month tariffs were in effect. So about $50 million on an annualized basis before we even see the May 3rd parts tariffs. I know you said you expect to be able to pass along these costs to customers, but could you just help quantify what your exposure is, both on a USMCA-compliant and a non-USMCA-compliant basis? Thank you.

Brady Ericson (CEO)

Yeah. I mean, as we mentioned in the call, you know the bulk of our North American business is USMCA-compliant. You know, so it is over, over, well over half. And so we are in a pretty good position there. As I also mentioned on the call, you know more than half of our revenues are also staying within country and supplying to our customers in country. I think we are in a pretty good position. I think your analysis on the current impact level is accurate. Again, we are continuing to work with customers. There is a lot of good discussions going on. I think this is going to be easier, a little bit easier for us to justify and to document versus maybe what we went through a few years ago on trying to go through electricity and freight costs.

Ongoing discussions are good, and we're confident in our ability to work with our customers.

Jake Scholl (Automotive Equity Research Associate)

Thanks, Brady. Can you just talk about any shifts you've seen in the underlying production market, especially it looks like the commercial vehicle OE market has softened pretty significantly over the last few months?

Brady Ericson (CEO)

Correct. Again, that's kind of all contemplated in our updated, I guess, reaffirming our guide, as Chris kind of mentioned. There's a bunch of moving parts, but in general, we see the softening CV, the softening light vehicle market in North America, or maybe I'd say rather than softening CV, we don't see the pre-buy coming in the second half. We think that's going to be muted. We've taken that into consideration. We've taken into account the impact of passing through the tariffs, as well as the impact of the latest FX exchange rates. There's still a little bit of noise there, but I think the team is working through it. We still see, in general, a good order board from our customers. Haven't seen any major impacts.

As Chris kind of mentioned, I think people need to be careful not to overweight the impact of just North America when there's a lot of our business that's outside of North America or stays in country in Mexico. I still think we're in a pretty good position.

Chris Gropp (CFO)

Yeah. Jake, I also want to point out we have seen since end of last year, but it continued into this year, our LV market in China has gotten stronger and has really held up. CV has been about the same. It's not increased in polls in China, but still going at about the same rate. LV has gotten noticeably stronger. Europe has held up for us quite well. That is going to be the majority of our book of business.

Jake Scholl (Automotive Equity Research Associate)

Thanks, Brady. Thanks, Chris.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Joseph Spak with UBS. Please go ahead.

Joseph Spak (Managing Director)

Good morning, everyone. I guess just to maybe follow up on that a little bit, it does sound like there's some moving parts. Is there any way to sort of help quantify how much FX is sort of better versus prior that's sort of offsetting maybe some of the softer end markets you pointed to?

Brady Ericson (CEO)

Yeah. I think in our original guide, we had FX as a, I think, Chris, about $80 million of headwind. I think that's down to closer to around $20 million now. It's really just the impact in Q1. We don't see it having an impact in the kind of rest of the year. It's kind of in line with 2024. That's then obviously offset with the $50 million of pricing on the tariff expected to be passed through. Also, some volume kind of being a little bit softer in CV than originally expected due to no pre-buy. Those are kind of the big three. We have some upside, as Chris mentioned, in Asia and Europe still kind of remaining strong for us as well.

Those are kind of the little bit of volume here and there in different parts of the world and the FX and the tariff pass-through impact.

Joseph Spak (Managing Director)

Okay. That's helpful. I guess given that, and I know you sort of reiterated the guidance range, though, would you say how would you sort of classify where within that range you think you're trending? The reason I ask is because if you look at sort of the first quarter and sort of the margins you put up, it looks like you need to average about 14.5% EBITDA margins over the remainder of the year, which is obviously higher than the first quarter level, higher year-over-year as well. You are sort of talking about some lower volume. What really drives the margins higher over the balance of the year that would get you to the midpoint, or is the low end a little bit more likely than not?

Brady Ericson (CEO)

No, I mean, remember when we're talking about.

Yeah, Chris?

Chris Gropp (CFO)

No, go ahead. Go ahead.

Brady Ericson (CEO)

Again, when we're talking about lower volumes, it's lower versus our prior guide. Again, Q1 came in about in line from a revenue standpoint as we kind of expected. From a run rate perspective, we're seeing higher revenue that then will convert. That's kind of what we're seeing going forward. Again, you've got 50 basis points on the EBITDA that was low because of tariffs that will then come back. We'll get a little bit of that back. We'll have a little bit of upside there as well. We should have some upside with higher revenues on a run rate perspective in the second half of the next three quarters. We also were expecting that Q1 was going to be soft just because the start of the year was kind of midweek.

A lot of the customers kind of eased into coming back online in that first week. We were expecting that to kind of flow through. I think we're still seeing us solidly in the midrange of our guide.

Chris?

Joseph Spak (Managing Director)

Okay.

Chris Gropp (CFO)

Yeah. For a lot of reasons, Q1 is our weakest quarter. On the aftermarket side, if you go backwards, Q1 has always been the weakest quarter for aftermarket. After Q1, it consistently rises as you get into summer season, warmer season, more driving in the seasons. Aftermarket is consistently much higher in Q2, Q3, usually in Q4, but that is going to depend also on weather and driving. For the fuel system side, it is usually also one of the weaker quarters. It is going to depend on what the OEs are doing. Right now, our units are seeing some good numbers, but this market, we are trying to be as conservative as we can be. It is really hard to tell right now what the markets are going to do because we are seeing still good pulls and still good demand from the OEs.

We realize that that can change on a dime. We are watching really close.

Joseph Spak (Managing Director)

Okay. Thanks, fair enough. Maybe last one, Brady. I know as you guys have highlighted, there is sort of maybe increasing uncertainty out there. I know tucking M&A is part of your longer-term strategy. How do you sort of view this uncertainty in the context of that M&A? I mean, is it sort of a time where you want to maybe try to preserve some cash, or is some of this uncertainty creating some opportunities for you?

Brady Ericson (CEO)

I think it's, I mean, again, we're in a really strong position. We still have a strong cash on hand and a lot of liquidity. We continue to generate free cash flow even in this environment. We have a lot of confidence there. The targets that we're looking at are going to be smaller in nature as well. We're not going to do a deal that's going to lever us up to two times or more. That's not what we're looking for. We're looking for those kind of tuck-in acquisitions, and they're going to be acquisitions that are going to be cash-flowing. They're not going to be cash-burning entities.

We're looking at things that are opportunistic, but we're also going to always compare that to what our share price is and whether that kind of makes more sense as we do kind of every quarter.

Joseph Spak (Managing Director)

Okay. Appreciate it, Brady.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Bobby Brooks with Northland Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Bobby Brooks (Senior Research Analyst and VP of Multi-Industry and Energy)

Hey, good morning, guys. Thank you for taking the question. You mentioned that the year-over-year decrease in EBITDA was in part driven by non-recurrence of the supplier settlement and increased standalone costs as you exit from TSA. Those seem more one-off in nature. I was just curious, when would you expect those headwinds to subside? Also, is the supplier settlement something that you could maybe come back to and become a tailwind, or is that really more one-off?

Brady Ericson (CEO)

No, that was actually a headwind for us in 2023. We settled that agreement with that supplier and got some retro recovery, which then hit our Q1 of 2024. Again, as I try to remind a lot of folks, the year-over-year, there is always going to be some noise in it. I try to look at more of our operating performance. I think the units from an operating segment performance standpoint performed pretty well. Our fuel systems were sub-double digit, which is kind of our threshold. That was a little bit due to tariffs. Without that, they are right close to double digits. Our aftermarket had really strong performance at over 16% and even with a few million of tariff impact. From a segment perspective, I think they continue to perform really, really well.

I am also not going to get overly concerned from one quarter because we are always going to have some noise of whether aftermarket, some volumes get pushed out or pulled in. The same thing with timing of shutdowns and adjustments in the market based on the quarter end. As you have seen over the last few years, we can have some decent swings, plus or minus a couple of hundred basis points of margin for the segments. Over the full year, it still kind of balances out where we expect it to be. We are still confident in the ability of our business to continue to deliver strong results on a full-year basis.

Bobby Brooks (Senior Research Analyst and VP of Multi-Industry and Energy)

Fair enough. That's a really good call. Just maybe to follow up on it, the TSAs, is that going to be, do you expect that to kind of continue to be a headwind the next couple of quarters? Could you just maybe remind us of the timeline of when you expect to get out of all those?

Brady Ericson (CEO)

We are out of, just so we're clear, we are out of all TSAs as of kind of Q2 of last year. What was mentioned was when we compared to Q1 of last year, the CMA and the TSAs were still partially in place in Q1 of last year. Now we are fully out of all the CMAs. We are out of all the TSAs. It is just more from a comparison standpoint when we look back to 2024. I think there was $16 million-$17 million of contract manufacturing that we had in our revenues in Q1 of 2024. That is not in this number. That is why the revenue reduction is probably more from a net perspective, it was over 7%, but when we take out CMA, it was closer to 4%. Those were kind of low margin, no margin.

I think most of that, I think, continues to go down next quarter. I think it was basically completely out or only a million in Q3 of 2024. It is kind of phasing out. Really from a year-over-year perspective, I think once we're to Q3, there is really pretty much all the noise from 2024, TSAs and CMAs are out.

Chris Gropp (CFO)

Yeah.

Bobby Brooks (Senior Research Analyst and VP of Multi-Industry and Energy)

Thank you for the clarification there.

Chris Gropp (CFO)

Let me clarify one thing on the corporate costs and the TSAs. These are all gone. In fact, we were doing some reverse TSAs for BorgWarner that is all out as of now. In terms of the corporate costs, they are running higher. You have to remember that we do project those based on what our units are projecting in terms of their activity and performance. We are on EV, economic value added, and the units are really pushing hard to achieve their numbers. Right now, their volumes are good, but they are also looking at their working capital and everything else. They are fighting hard to make sure they keep the EV in line. They are doing a good job, but we project based on that. It may look elevated.

Now, if volumes come down, obviously, depending on how we do with EV, there's ways to achieve your numbers even in a falling volume, but it's a lot harder. Taking out expenses and making sure your working capital and your balance sheet is in line is what the units are doing.

Bobby Brooks (Senior Research Analyst and VP of Multi-Industry and Energy)

That's really helpful comment. Thank you, Chris. You called out kind of the number of business swings in the first quarter. I was just hoping to maybe double-click on that. Specifically with the 350-bar GDI in Brazil, could you maybe discuss the timeline of the initial discussions to eventually winning that deal? Secondly, you mentioned the increased wallet size with a major U.S. distributor. Could you maybe just give a sense of how much that wallet expanded? Did it go from 10% to 14%? Maybe it's not that specific, but was just hoping to hear that type of color.

Brady Ericson (CEO)

Yeah. I mean, typical, first we'll go with the Brazil. We've been doing, you've probably heard a number of different announcements where we're seeing E100 and alternative fuels in different markets. I think we're continuing to invest in Brazil. We see a lot of opportunities. In general, those are programs that we've been working on for over a year, doing development and prototypes, and now we're being awarded. They'll be then going into production in the next two to three years is a typical kind of timeframe. It is nothing unique, but we are seeing more and more interest in alternative fuels around the world for things that are capable of running to an E100 type technology. This is another key win for us as well and see more opportunities moving forward.

As far as share of wallet, we won't share the exact amount, but I think it's a key area for our growth and how we're continuing to gain market share in that segment. Anything that we're going to put on this list, we think is meaningful and is going to help drive our revenues and allow us to continue to grow organically. It's just a good example of another key win for our aftermarket team as they continue to perform well.

Bobby Brooks (Senior Research Analyst and VP of Multi-Industry and Energy)

Awesome. Just last one for me is, I know you had mentioned in the reaffirmed guidance that any tariff impacts are going to get passed through to the customers. I'm sorry if I missed this, but could you maybe just dive a little bit deeper? What gives you the confidence that any tariff impact will easily be pushed through to customers? Just kind of wanted to hear the reasoning through that.

Brady Ericson (CEO)

I mean, we've already been having discussions with them for months, and we already have a number of agreements already in place. The team has done a really nice job of leveraging our systems to make the audit process a lot more seamless with adding it into both our invoices as well as into our IT systems in order for us to track it more accurately. Again, the teams are doing a good job working collaboratively with our customers to try to mitigate things going forward.

We are not at a position where we are just saying, throwing our hands up and saying, "Hey, you have got to pay for it." It is, "Yeah, you need to pay for it, but let's work on ways that, how can we mitigate it for them and save them the money as best as possible?" One way is going through what they call a virtual pedimento, where we are working with customers to not get double tariffed, having our parts go back to the U.S. to have a tariff and then back to them. That is why the fact that we are sending a lot of our revenues directly to our customers in Mexico is one way that we are really helping them mitigate the impact.

Bobby Brooks (Senior Research Analyst and VP of Multi-Industry and Energy)

Fair enough. Thank you for the caller, and I'll return to the queue.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of David Silver with CL King. Please go ahead.

David Silver (Senior Managing Director)

Yeah. Hi, good morning. I'll just preface my remarks by saying due to some technical difficulties, I joined a little late, so I apologize in advance if I'm making you repeat yourself. I did want to follow up maybe from a different angle on your reiterated full-year guidance. I think in general, and again, I apologize if this is a gross oversimplification, but I think the companies that I speak with understand the direct tariff impacts on their business pretty well, but maybe the uncertainty is in terms of customer behavior and things like that. Along those lines, my first question would be about the pace or any changes in your collaborative work, either on R&D or product development or moving a program from the drawing board into production.

Has customer caution or rethinking or just delaying or pausing while tariff and trade policy issues might shake out? Are you seeing that in your business in any significant degree, or is it pretty much full speed ahead on the development activities? Thank you.

Brady Ericson (CEO)

It's full speed ahead. We really haven't seen any changes. The RFQs and the new business requests and quotes is really kind of continuing as normal. Again, as we've seen, we've actually seen some increases just from people realizing that electrification is not going to be 100%, or at least battery electric vehicles are challenged. And we continue to see increased interest in extending combustion programs as well as a few customers talking about updating engines and new engine programs for hybrid and plug-in hybrid applications.

We really haven't seen any reductions or delays and continue to see a strong book of business coming our way.

David Silver (Senior Managing Director)

Okay. Thank you for that. I did want to ask, I believe last quarter you mentioned that regarding your efforts in aerospace, you had mentioned that you had received a key license that would be a precursor or a milestone to moving forward with a customer order. I was just wondering about an update, do you think that the movement towards qualifications or licenses, as the case may be, does that indicate, let's say, over the medium term that there will be incremental aerospace business or key business in other newer areas for the company?

Brady Ericson (CEO)

Yeah, absolutely. That was actually our quality certification that is ongoing this month. We are still making great progress there. For us, it is starting to pick up even more. We have actually been engaging and had a number of additional customers coming and visiting us and evaluating our capabilities. The reception has been really, really good. We are expecting to continue to invest in that area and see continued opportunities there.

David Silver (Senior Managing Director)

All right. Last one from me. I believe last year, in terms of new products coming to market, I think the number was 3,600 SKUs or in that range. I just wanted to circle back on that. In your plans for this year, how does the new product, the commercialization rate kind of look? Has anything changed in that regard, let's say, from the first of the year till today? Thank you.

Brady Ericson (CEO)

No, I think we continue to expect to add a couple thousand plus SKUs a year, both replacing as some come off as we then add new programs. That is a key area, again, for us to continue to drive market share growth is to ensure that we continue to quickly add those new product lines as they become available. That is a continued focus for us. We have got a dedicated team that is really all they work on every single year. We expect to continue on that couple thousand plus units of SKUs being added a year.

David Silver (Senior Managing Director)

Okay. Great. I appreciate the color. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from the line of Federico Merendi with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Federico Merendi (Equity Research Associate)

Good morning, everyone. One quick question on the commercial vehicle environment. From my understanding, the import from China is coming down significantly. I guess that because of the impact of the tariffs, other volume for some of the commercial truck customers is expected to come down. On top of that, earlier this week, the administration has vented the possibility of an investigation for heavy-duty trucks, which may result in tariffs. I know that it's still very uncertain, but did you have any conversation with some of your customers? What's the sentiment there?

Brady Ericson (CEO)

Yeah. I mean, again, I think the bulk of their sentiment is CV volumes for primarily in North America are not going to have that pre-buy effect, which is why we've kind of adjusted our numbers or expectations as well. Regarding China, we do not export anything from China from a CV perspective into the North American market. We are not concerned with that. As Chris mentioned, our CV business in China is still stable. We will continue to kind of keep a monitor on the CV side of things, primarily in North America, but at least at this point, other than not seeing a pre-buy in the second half, we have not seen any significant changes in their expectations. We had a CV was already kind of, especially in North America and Europe, was soft second half of last year.

We're continuing to see that softness in the first half of this year. We think it'll pick up a little bit in the second half, but it's not going to be to the level that we expected before. We are seeing year over year being relatively flat, plus or minus.

Federico Merendi (Equity Research Associate)

Do you have any thoughts on the potential tariffs for heavy-duty trucks?

Brady Ericson (CEO)

It's anyone's guess at this point. I mean, I think with truck manufacturing, we still see a lot of that is in the U.S. There's not a tremendous amount of engine production either for those commercial vehicle engines in Mexico. We see them predominantly in the U.S. as well. We will continue to monitor it. It's anyone's guess on what will or will not happen.

Federico Merendi (Equity Research Associate)

Thank you. One last is on your free cash flow, which, yes, it's expected to be positive. Given the high level of uncertainty, how should we think about return of capital to shareholders? More specifically, what should we expect for share buybacks?

Brady Ericson (CEO)

Yeah. I mean, again, as we tell a lot of folks, we'll look at it every single quarter and look at the M&A pipeline, look at our share price, and look at our cash flow forecasts and kind of where we are. We'll do that each quarter and then make an assessment. As a reminder for everybody, we do have one limitation is the Tax Matters Agreement that should be wrapping up on July 3rd that limits us to maximum repurchasing upwards of 20% of our shares. We're getting pretty close to that limit. That would be the only kind of limiting factor here in Q2. Again, as we say, we don't give a specific number, but hopefully our history kind of shows that we're good stewards of capital and looking to maximize shareholder value.

Federico Merendi (Equity Research Associate)

Thank you, guys.

Brady Ericson (CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

That concludes our question and answer session. I will now turn the conference back over to Brady Ericson for closing comments.

Brady Ericson (CEO)

Great. Thank you, everybody. Really appreciate it. It's obviously a challenging time, but I think in general, our teams are working very closely with our customers and our suppliers and are doing the right things. We will continue to execute as an organization and think our long-term strategies are still in place and are continuing to win new business and look for opportunities for further growth. Really appreciate your support. We'll talk to you soon. Thank you. Have a good day.

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.