RBC Bearings - Q1 2024
August 4, 2023
Transcript
Operator (participant)
Greetings, welcome to RBC Bearings Fiscal 2024 first quarter earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star 0 on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Josh Carroll, with Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Josh Carroll (Director of Investor Relations)
Good morning, and thank you for joining us for RBC Bearings fiscal 2024 first quarter earnings conference call. With me on the call today are Dr. Michael Hartnett, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Daniel Bergeron, Director, Vice President, and Chief Operating Officer, and Robert Sullivan, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before beginning today's call, I want to remind you that some of the statements made today will be forward-looking and are made under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those projected or implied due to a variety of factors. We refer you to RBC Bearings' recent filings with the SEC for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact the company's future operating results and financial condition.
These factors are also described in greater detail in the press release and on the company's website. In addition, reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP financial information is included as part of the release and is available on the company's website. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Dr. Hartnett.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Thank you, Josh, and good morning to all, and welcome to the RBC conference call. I'm pleased to report that our net sales for the first quarter of 2024 were $387 million. This represents an increase of 9.3% from last year. For the first quarter of 2024, sales of industrial products represented 69% of our net sales, with aerospace products at 31%. As a footnote, over the past 10 years, revenue growth at RBC has been made at the compounded rate of 14.7%. Gross margin for the quarter is $167.9 million, or 43.4% of net sales.
This compares to $441.2 million, or 39.9% for the same period last year, a 350 basis point improvement from last year. Clearly, we are tremendously pleased with the gross margin expansion. Overall, that is a clear result of increased volumes in our aerospace product plants, coupled with the impact of many components of synergy achievement from the Dodge acquisition. Given this trajectory, we can report that we plan now to finish the year with gross margins in the low to mid-40% range. I want to take a moment here and thank the RBC teams for the excellence and execution, both in the plants and the offices, as well as the top grades received for customer satisfaction.
It is you and your tireless attention to detail that make the difference and create a strong preference for the RBC and Dodge branded products in the aircraft and industrial markets. Thank you all for a job well done. Adjusted operating income for the period was $85.3 million, or 22% of net sales, compared to last year of $68.3 million and 19.3%, respectively, a 25% improvement. Free cash flow was a strong $55 million. This has allowed us to reduce debt by over $450 million since the acquisition of Dodge in November 2021. We now have achieved a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.84 over trailing 12 months, down from 5.65 from fiscal 2022.
RBC has grown EBITDA at a compounded rate of 15.2% per year over the last 10 years. Adjusted EPS was $2.13 a share, a 19% improvement from last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $120.4 million, 31% of net sales, compared to $100.7 million and 28.4% of net sales for the same period, a 20% increase. Overall, we're encouraged by the cultural fit now that exists between Dodge and RBC and the environment of teamwork and camaraderie that has developed over the first 18 months since the acquisition, and more importantly, the future that this coupling has created. We look forward to finishing the year at about $1.6 billion in revenue.
On the industrial business during the period, the industrial sector growth was 4.7% against some strong comps last year. Last year, improved supply chain performance allowed shipments of late orders to customers, creating a Q1, Q2 and 2023 sales bolt. That's behind us now. Dodge was a revenue leader in the industrial sector with a 9.4% expansion on a combined OEM and distribution sales. Importantly, several of our target market sectors expanded at a double-digit rate over the period. These include oil and gas, food and beverage, and forest products. We expect this to continue for the balance of the year, driven by world events. On aerospace and defense, overall, we saw an expansion rate of 21.2%, with commercial aero OEM up 26.5% and commercial distribution up 35.9%...
Defense was up 7.9%. OEM defense was up 11%. Jets, missiles, helicopters, and marine were the drivers. Aftermarket was down 3.3%, mainly fighter jets. We have finally shaken off the bad dreams of the pandemic and the continuing endemic problems of the major builders. The demand drivers here, as explained in past calls, now are the large plane builders and their supply chain in support of production of Boeing and Airbus' 787, 737, A320 and A330 planes, and also the private aircraft builders, and of course, the many subcontractors who support the industry. Currently, we are building 737 materials at a rate of 38 per month, and new orders inbound are at a rate of 42.
Given the 787, our current build rate numbers are 3 per month we're building now, and 7 per month, we expect that order rate very soon. It's probably a little past due. As is typical of these products today, RBC generates 70% of its sales from sole source or single-source positions. In summary, let's go over the highlight reel. Q1 sales were up 9.3% for the period. EBITDA $120.4, up 19.5%. Adjusted net income $2.13, up 19%. Full year guidance, revenues $1.6 billion. Gross margins expected to be in the low-to-mid 40s. Debt paydown since November 2021, $450 million. Trailing EBITDA to net debt today is 2.84 from 5.65 in fiscal 2022.
70% of our revenues are to replace products consumed in use, and we are normally number one market share supplier of our products, and 70% of our business is either sole source or we are a primary source for the product. Another point to mention is our backlog numbers. They're not particularly relevant. Probably 70%-75% of our revenues never pass through our backlog. The aircraft business is done on a where orders are, are, are received from a computer screen and shipped as received. Dodge is working normally when they have a very small backlog, if any, and shipments are made subject to orders received, and for the most part, it's, it's a day or two within the receipt of that order.
Regarding our second quarter of 2024, we are expecting sales to be somewhere between $380 million and $390 million dollar range. I'll now turn the call over to Rob for more detail on the financial performance.
Robert Sullivan (VP and CFO)
Thank you, Mike. SG&A for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 was $64.7 million, compared to $55.8 million for the same period last year. As a percentage of net sales, SG&A was 16.7% for the first quarter of fiscal 2024, compared to 15.8% for the same period last year. Other operating expenses for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 totaled $18.2 million, compared to $20.9 million for the same period last year. For the first quarter of fiscal 2024, other operating expenses included $17.5 million of amortization of intangible assets, $0.3 million of restructuring costs associated with our California operations, and $0.4 million of other items.
For the first quarter of fiscal 2023, other operating expenses consisted primarily of $17.3 million of amortization of intangible assets and $3.8 million of costs associated with the Dodge acquisition, partially offset by $0.2 million of other income. Operating income was $85 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2024, compared to operating income of $64.5 million for the same period last year. Excluding approximately $0.3 million of restructuring costs, adjusted operating income was $85.3 million or 22% of sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2024, excluding approximately $3.8 million of acquisition costs. Adjusted operating income for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 was $68.3 million, or 19.3% of sales.
Interest expense for the first quarter of fiscal '24 was $20.5 million, compared to $15.8 million for the same period last year. For the first quarter of fiscal '24, the company reported net income of $50 million, compared to $37.4 million for the same period last year. On an adjusted basis, net income was $67.7 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2024, compared to $57.5 million for the same period last year. Net income attributable to common stockholders for the first quarter of fiscal '24 was $44.3 million, compared to $31.7 million for the same period last year. On an adjusted basis, net income attributable as common stockholders for the first quarter of fiscal '24 was $61.9 million, compared to $51.8 million for the same period last year.
Diluted earnings per share attributable to common stockholders was $1.52 per share for the first quarter of fiscal 2024, compared to $1.09 per share for the same period last year. On an adjusted basis, diluted EPS attributable to common stockholders for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 was $2.13 per share, compared to $1.79 per share for the same period last year. Turning to cash flow, the company generated $61.7 million in cash from operating activities in the first quarter of fiscal 2024, compared to $59 million for the same period last year.
Capital expenditures were $6.7 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2024, compared to $7.9 million of capital expenditures for the same period last year. We paid down $50 million on the term loan during the period, leaving total debt of $1.34 billion as of July 1, 2023, and cash on hand was $56.7 million. Our net debt to adjusted EBITDA for the trailing twelve months is 2.84, compared to 3.06 at the end of fiscal 2023 and 5.65 at the end of fiscal 2022. I'd now like to turn the call back to the operator for the question and answer session.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad, and a confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press Star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for your questions. Our first questions come from the line of Kristine Liwag with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed with your question.
Kristine Liwag (Executive Director, Head of Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Hey, good morning, guys.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Morning, Kristine.
Kristine Liwag (Executive Director, Head of Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
You know, the margin that you guys printed this quarter, I mean, is just, I mean, I'm sorry, but it's just a monster margin. My, my first question is, you know, in hindsight, like, being able to generate margins, at 43.4% gross margin, you know, within about almost 2 years ownership of Dodge, in hindsight, like, where were you surprised? Like, one, were you really surprised that you got this much margin expansion in a short period of time? Number two, can you give some color in terms of where that surprise could have potentially come from? I mean, this is a pretty meaningful change in profitability in such a short of a time for, for a company that's, you know, becoming larger like yours.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Sure. Well, let, let's, let's put it this way, Kristine, we're, we're pleased at the margin expansion that we've been able to achieve with, with the Dodge RBC combination since November of 2021. Are we a little ahead of our plan? I, I would say we are. The, is there any one thing that, that, that we did, to, you know, achieve that kind of performance? You know, there's, there's really never ever one thing that you can do. I mean, there's a whole, there's a whole series of things that has to be done in, in terms of, of, you know, how to, you know, sort of tune up the performance of a business.
Certainly, looking at the price cost of your, your, of your 80/20 items is really important thing to do first, right out of the right out of the base. Trying to understand, if you have a large revenue producer that has a smaller margin than is, than it should have or that's acceptable, what to do about it. You have a lot of smart people, in, in the system that have a lot of good ideas on how to, how to correct things like that.
So you have lots of meetings with many people on issues such as that, product line by product line, to discuss what can be done in terms of operational perf- performance, what costs should be passed along to the marketplace, because we've experienced, you know, some pretty steep material charges from, from suppliers over the years, and they weren't passed along. Whether or not that particular product offered for sale is something you should even offer for sale. I mean, some products linger when they, when they should die. So it's, it- there's a, there's a certain culling effect, and, and that, that imbalance, im- improves the mix.
Yeah, I, and I think the other thing is, you, you look at, you know, all, all the entire customer base has, you know, various discount, discounts associated with how they buy the product. Often those discounts haven't been revisited in a decade. The revisitation of those discounts is, is another important part of the process. Finally, having additional volumes going through our aircraft plants that have been sort of on standby since 2019, is extraordinarily helpful. There's, you know, there's, there's several, there's several components that are working together for us right now that are very positive, and we're on a, we're on a good path. We're on a very good path.
Kristine Liwag (Executive Director, Head of Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Great. Thanks, Mike. Then, you know, you mentioned that backlog isn't a great read-through for the business now, especially with the book-to-ship aspect of the portfolio. First, you know, what have you had to do differently, if any, to be able to forecast, demand and get your demand signals to, you know, your planning, your factory? Then second, you know, how, how accurate has your methodology been in hindsight?
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Well, you know, there's, there's kind of two answers to that. I mean, for, for the, for the bulk of our business, that's aircraft. It's, it's pretty easy to understand what you should be building, and have available for immediate, immediate delivery based upon your contracts and, and Boeing or Airbus's or Cessna's build rate. So you stay pretty close to the build rate. You understand what your bill of materials is for that particular airframe, and you understand what you're obligated to in terms of a statement of work. You, you revisit that monthly, and you make sure that you have materials inbound and, and that you have the right load against your plants so that product's available when it needs to be available.
That's, that's really the way that we got, Supplier of the Year at Boeing, is that's, that's our process. You know, when you look at Dodge, Dodge is a little different. Dodge is very dependent upon being able to do a great job forecasting the demand in their market sectors. Over the years, they have independently developed a, a process of being able to forecast the economics of a given market sector, which then translates down to build rates for items that are sold to that sector.
When I was first introduced to their, their methods, I was really kind of skeptical about it could be done that way, but it can be done that way, and they do an amazing, amazing job with satisfying their customer base and making sure that the right product is available to the right customer at the right time. I think when you, when you tour one of our plants, we'll show you how, you know, a plant with an offering of 10,000 line items makes every line item available every day for shipment to a customer with, with sort of a minimal backup in inventory. It's, it's-
Kristine Liwag (Executive Director, Head of Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
I look forward to that.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Yeah, it's really an experience to see how they do that.
Kristine Liwag (Executive Director, Head of Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Yeah. Then if I could sneak one last in, in terms of your different end markets, can you provide the trends that you're seeing and where you see risks and opportunities regarding your full year outlook?
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Yeah. Well, I, I mean, we're, you know, it's. Are, are we talking industrial or aircraft, defense, or all three?
Kristine Liwag (Executive Director, Head of Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
All of the above, please.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
All the above. Well, aircraft is, you know, unless, unless something different happens, we're, we're pretty much, you know, dialed in on rate and materials and plant loading and plant staffing. We know what the, what the program is, and, and, and at the end of this year, we're gonna be running hard to keep up. That's the way, that's the way that looks. We, we will keep up, but it's, we're gonna-- it's gonna be demanding for us in, in several of our plants. That's the aircraft story.
You know, on the defense side, you know, the marine business is sort of the, you know, one of the leaders in our defense program, and you know, we're busy building submarine components to service the Navy. You know, that's the number one defense priority, is to build submarines. We're a big, big supplier in that, in that category. You know, our contracts are multiyear, multiproducts, multimillions of dollars, and they're in place, and our supply chain is working effectively, and things are starting to move, move through the plant just the way we like to see.
I think, I think that's, that volume will continue to increase as, as we start building more assemblies and shipping more assemblies. We expect to see good growth in that sector going forward for the rest of the year. On the industrial side, you know, there's several, there's several important markets for us in the industrial business, and we've been doing a lot of, lot of study on this to, to understand, 'cause there's so many industrial markets that we service, which are the markets that are really, really material to us and which are the markets that have a, a substantial growth potential. We see markets substantial growth potentials based, based upon demonstrated consumption of our products in food and beverage, forest products, oil and gas, mining and materials, and aggregate.
Those are, those are, those are material markets for us that have, we feel, a double-digit, either they've demonstrated double-digit growth potential or they, there, there's something, you know, coming down the pike, like the infrastructure bill, that's going to encourage that, that, that potential. Those are the markets.
Kristine Liwag (Executive Director, Head of Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Great. Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Okay. Thank you, Kristine.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next questions come from the line, line of Pete Skibitski with Alembic Global. Please proceed with your questions.
Pete Skibitski (Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Hey, good morning, guys. Nice quarter.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Thank you, Pete.
Pete Skibitski (Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Hey, just one, just one follow-up on gross margin. It, it sounds like performance is a big part of the, of the great result there. Just curious, Mike, 'cause I, I know you've talked about, you know, pricing power, being a tailwind for you due to inflation. On, on kind of a relative basis, relative to other factors, how, how much was pricing helpful to the growth margin result?
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Yeah, I, I, I just... You know, I, Pete, I never broke it out. I, I, I do know that, you know, a lot of our businesses, particularly Dodge, it was very supply chain dependent. We saw, you know, substantial price increases from our supply chain for materials. I know the pricing that we put through to the marketplace, to the best of our ability, was to at least neutralize what we saw for material increases. I mean, that's, that's all I have to say on that.
Pete Skibitski (Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Okay, fair enough. No, I appreciate it. Just shifting to SG&A, you guys are running kind of 15-ish % of sales last year in SG&A, and you're at 16.7 here in the first quarter, and you're guiding into the 60s in the second. It just seems like something kind of flipped here on SG&A. I don't, I don't know if it's an R&D bump or something, but can you give us some color there on what's been going on and if that's expected to kind of continue, you know, through the midterm?
Robert Sullivan (VP and CFO)
Yeah. You know, what we're seeing through SG&A is, again, just some investment in, in organic growth throughout the different cost centers. We should see some leverage on that as we enter into the second half of the year. In terms of, you know, what falls down to the operating income EBITDA line, if you look at adjusted EBITDA, quarter-over-quarter, even versus Q4, you're seeing 40 basis points of increase, so it's not all getting caught up in SG&A. It's, it's flowing down.
Pete Skibitski (Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Yep. Yep. Okay. No, that makes sense. I guess last one for me: Why did you guys decide for the first time to give full-year revenue guidance? Just I think I know the reason, but I'm just curious as, as to your thinking there. I guess, you know, we're, we're still expecting, I assume, kind of double-digit growth at, at A&D over, you know, netting out and, I don't know, mid-single digits or so at industrial. Is that kind of the way you're thinking?
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Yeah, that's, that's the way we're thinking. You know, it, it's just that every, every year we get into this situation where we have, you know, our second quarter and our third quarter are typically weak quarters for us, just because of the number of days, the number of vacations, the number of holidays, and so on and so forth. So we, we end up explaining that to everybody ad nauseam, right? So we thought that it'd be better just to, just to say, "Hey, look at... Relax, full year looks healthy.
We've got, you know, we've got two quarters that, that are typically weak, and, and we know that, and we usually have a, and we are expecting to have a very powerful fourth quarter, bringing us, bringing us to those, to those kinds of numbers. We just wanted to sort of take a more offensive position on, on explaining, you know, what the, what the year- how the year is laid out.
Pete Skibitski (Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Yeah. I, I hear you. Make, makes sense. Thanks, guys.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Yep.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Steve Barger with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please proceed with your questions.
Steve Barger (Managing Director, Equity Research Analyst)
Hey, guys. Good morning. no surprise-
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Morning, Steve.
Steve Barger (Managing Director, Equity Research Analyst)
I have a gross margin question, too. For Mike, for the year, you said low to mid 40% range, which is incredible because that obviously includes 44% or 45%. That would be a huge win relative to 43.4 this quarter. Can you talk about what the upper limit is when you say low to mid 40%?
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
You really want me to do that, Steve?
Steve Barger (Managing Director, Equity Research Analyst)
I do.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
I'm going to let Rob do that because he's always pulling on my collar.
Robert Sullivan (VP and CFO)
Yeah, look, Steve, I mean, if you look even versus where we were at the end of Q4 and now where we are into Q1, I mean, we're seeing some significant step up in, in gross margin. You know, we feel 43 is a comfortable spot for us at this point. You know, obviously, you've seen our playbook. You know we will continue to, to push the limits where we can. That's, you know, that's kind of why we're saying, you know, low to mid at this point.
Steve Barger (Managing Director, Equity Research Analyst)
Got it. Okay. Well, you know, I know segment margins come in the queue, but with a 52% incremental operating margin this quarter, one or both of the segments must have been exceptional. Can you tell us which was-
Robert Sullivan (VP and CFO)
Yeah.
Steve Barger (Managing Director, Equity Research Analyst)
the real outlier?
Robert Sullivan (VP and CFO)
Yeah. You'll see industrial gross margins were about 45% this quarter. We haven't even seen the full benefit of what aerospace is going to bring to the table as those plans start to push even, even higher. That's where we have some, some upward mobility.
Steve Barger (Managing Director, Equity Research Analyst)
Got it. On the industrial side, another bearing company this week took guidance down, saying its industrial distribution and its off-highway customers are destocking, even though they think that, you know, underlying demand will stay positive. Are you seeing any similar issues across the Dodge portfolio? Do you expect the industrial segment will, you know, remain positive from a growth standpoint each quarter this year?
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
... yeah, how did I know you were going to ask that question?
Steve Barger (Managing Director, Equity Research Analyst)
Because I cover industrial.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
You know, I, I, you know, I, after reading through the transcripts of, of the other bearing companies, I thought that, you know, we should, we should investigate the destocking issue ourselves internally, because I haven't heard very much about it. Normally I would hear, you know, I would get at least one or two panic phone calls if that were occurring. We, we don't see that occurring. We, we do see what's happened was last year, the supply chain was still fragile and people were worried about getting the product that they needed to run their plants. There was a lot of panic buying. We had a backlog of, many, you know, many tens of millions of dollars that, that were shipped. As soon, as soon as we, we took the order, it was late.
It was past due the minute they took the order. We didn't have the product available because it wasn't, it wasn't produced, and yet we had this order that we could ship anytime, so because of the panic buying. This year, the panic buying, I think people have more confidence in the performance of their supply chain, so we don't see that at all, that level of panic buying, and things are definitely back, back to normal. We suspect that's really what's going on.
Steve Barger (Managing Director, Equity Research Analyst)
I understand. Are you happy with your own inventory position relative to what you see for demand across both aerospace and industrial?
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Yeah. Yes, we are. Actually, I think we have a little bit too much inventory, and we're trying to bleed that down. You know, we, we got caught up in the, in the supply chain problem, too, where, you know, too much material came in because we had to, had to go to several sources, and then they all solved their problems and sent it in. We'll be bleeding inventory down for the, for the most part, for, for much, for much of the, for much of the year, particularly in the industrial businesses. The aircraft business is just maybe just the opposite. Materials or material lead times are out, out to. From what's normal of 40-week material lead time to now it's 60, and maybe even more, 70 weeks.
You know, we are, we are taking, sort of a more aggressive position to bring in safety stock of, of key materials to make sure that we don't disappoint our customers.
Steve Barger (Managing Director, Equity Research Analyst)
Very good. Thanks for the time. I'll pass it along.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Yep.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next questions come from the line of Michael Ciarmoli with Truist. Please proceed with your questions.
Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Hey, good morning, guys. Nice results-
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Good morning.
Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
nice, gross margins.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Thank you.
Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Before I try and dig into the, the gross margins a little bit more, just I, I may have missed it: What was the year-over-year growth rate for industrial OEM and distribution, if you guys have that?
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Industrial OEM was up- actually down 9.2% year-over-year.
Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Okay
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
... industrial distribution was up 12.7%.
Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Got it. Perfect. Just back to the margins. And I guess maybe to try and attack it, you know, another way. You know, you, you talked about 41%-41.5% this quarter, you know, sequentially, you made some really big improvements on down revenues. You know, I know you talked about the aerospace volumes, but, but aero was down. Did anything change, you know, quarter to quarter? Did you have a lot of, you know, contracts or pricing flow through? Or Mike, I think you mentioned kind of culling the portfolio and, and taking out some product lines. It, it just seems to, to get this gross margin leverage on, on weaker sales sequentially seems pretty, pretty surprising too. Maybe anything kind of jump out recently here?
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Well, you know, I, you know, I think the just, just to go through my, my list of, of, of the obvious. Certainly, we talked about the volumes in the aircraft businesses, that that's going to help us more and more and more this year. Secondly, you know, we have we have several processes that we've that we were working on in 2019, and right, right before the pandemic. We were early on the learning curve for those processes. So we've had from 2019 to now, you know, 2023, to mature those processes and, and achieve and, and introduce volume.
That's, that's happened in a few, in a few plants where the, where the, where the designs were very complex and required a, you know, a disproportionate learning curve to, to get it to the pro forma gross margin that we were targeting. That, you know, that, that two or three years where the volume demands were off, where it was very helpful to maturing those processes. When the volume demands are on and you have immature processes, you don't have the resources to mature them because you're, you, you're, you're, you know, you're busy trying to ship product to a customer who needs to incorporate that product in what he's producing. That time frame was very helpful.
Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Okay.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Also, I think we've insourced components that, that, over the period, just accrued to the benefit of the margin.
Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Okay. Yeah, I wanted to actually ask on that, the, the status of the insourcing, you know, kind of what inning are you in there? I know, I think you talked about at one point, $200 million of savings, so it sounds like you're starting to see some of that benefit.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Yeah, we're, you know, we, we're, we. You know, that's a, that's a long road, and, but that's one of the, that's one of the spokes in the wheel, and, and we're working it. We're not, we didn't say 200, though. We, you know.
Yeah. Our synergies were $70-$100.
Yeah.
Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Yeah, no, I, I thought there was $200 million of product that Dodge sourced that you could potentially start sourcing internally. I, I thought that's what it was. No, I, I, I got the synergy side of it, but I thought you had flagged a $200 million number at one point.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Yeah, well, there's, there's a pool of, you know, 200 plus.
Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Yeah
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
to choose from.
Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Right.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Yeah.
Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Right.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Not all of it fits, but some does.
Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Right. Got it. Last one on the year, I think you were still calling or last quarter, double-digit aerospace revenue growth and high single for industrial as part of that, that $1.6 billion. Are those still directionally correct?
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Yeah, that, that math, that, that math works.
Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Okay.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
I think, I think, I think-
Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Go ahead.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Yeah, I think industrial is maybe, you know, Our goal has always been 2 times GDP. I think that's kind of where that fits.
Michael Ciarmoli (Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Got it. Perfect. Thanks, guys. I'll jump back in the queue.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Yep.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. Our next question comes from the line of Joe Ritchie with Goldman Sachs. Please proceed with your questions.
Vivek Srivastava (VP, Equity Research)
Hi, thanks. This is Vivek Srivastava on for Joe. Maybe just wanted to zoom in on the industrial side and particularly on the classic RBC Industrial. Looks like sales declined, sort of mid-single digit, in the classic RBC Industrial part. Just any color on what drove that decline? How, how does that growth in, in the classic business look going forward in the coming quarters?
Dan Bergeron (VP and COO)
Yeah, this is Dan Bergeron. I'd say on the, on the industrial side of the classic RBC, on the OEM side, it was mainly driven by semicon, wind, machine tool, holders, and collets, warehousing, and a little on the heavy truck. We just had a really hard comp to last year. I think some of these markets are coming back, and we should see some of them improve them in the second half of the year.
Vivek Srivastava (VP, Equity Research)
Got it. Maybe just looking at the next quarter's guidance, just the low end of the sales would suggest industrial, probably decelerates from here. Just want to understand what underpins the low-end top-line guide, assumption, especially on the industrial side.
Dan Bergeron (VP and COO)
I know I, I, I think on the range, you know, when, you know, we, we look how many production days are in the quarter compared to the first quarter, there's less amount of production days, so it kind of hits both the industrial side and the aerospace and defense side of the business. Then it all depends what, what big projects that we're shipping on, on the defense side, on the marine and on aerospace, like the F-35, projects like that, and they could be lumpy quarter to quarter. You know, that range is pretty wide to forecast some of that. We kind of have the same impact in Q3 because of the holiday season.
Q4, we have an extra 5-7 production days, you know, you're shipping, you know, an extra 5-7 days of product for, for your businesses. It's kind of a. When things normalize year-over-year, it's always that U-shaped effect. When we're in a steep growth period, you don't see it, but now that Dodge is integrated for a year, now we go back to our normal kind of routine that we have with seasonality, mainly driven by production days.
Vivek Srivastava (VP, Equity Research)
Thanks for that. Maybe if I can squeeze one, one last one, just a more longer-term question on the industrial business. You've talked about two times GDP growth and always trying to, like, attack some of the smaller green shoots across the businesses. Maybe highlight some of the green shoots that are helping your industrial business right now in this current environment and for the upcoming, like, two, three quarters. Thanks.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Yeah, well, you know, I think, I think we talked about, where, where we saw, quarter-to-quarter, growth in our, in some of our markets, and, and, and, and that was food and beverage.... forest products, oil and gas, mining and aggregates, those are all very strong markets for us. So in, in, in part, what we have to do is make sure that, our resources, our selling and field resources are properly aligned with those markets so that we, we can benefit in, in their growth. You know, this, this is probably some organizational tweaking that has to be done to achieve that. On the oil and gas side, we, you know, we're pretty, pretty much capped out on capacity, manufacturing capacity, to service that, oil and gas market right now.
We, we're working to add capacity, which, you know, in our industry, that, it takes a little while because it's machinery, and the machinery has to be built. We, we would expect to see additional capacity online for that business by by late, our late fourth quarter. To some extent, that's one sector that's, that's a material sector for us in terms of scale, that, is, it has some capacity constraints.
Dan Bergeron (VP and COO)
I'll add one more to it, just to give you an idea of some of the green shoots that we work on. One is the space industry. In 2021, we shipped around $4 million of product into space. Last year, we shipped in $10 million, and just the first quarter this year, we shipped $4 million. That's over about 15 different RBC facilities participating in that market. That's just one of many green shoots that these guys are working on that are driving volume.
Jordan Lyonnais (Analyst)
Great. Thanks.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Jordan Lyonnais with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.
Jordan Lyonnais (Analyst)
Hey, good morning.
Dan Bergeron (VP and COO)
Morning.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Morning.
Jordan Lyonnais (Analyst)
I just had a quick question. With the step-up coming for the aerospace OEM production rates, would you guys be able to give more details on ship set value or any increased content you guys are expecting?
Dan Bergeron (VP and COO)
Yeah, we, we don't publish our ship set contents, but we are picking up market share on different platforms on both the commercial side and the defense side. You know, our bigger ships for us would be like the 737, the 787, the 777X, the F-35, and of course, we have a significant content on our marine programs on the Virginia and the Columbia, subs for the Newport News and Electric Boat.
Jordan Lyonnais (Analyst)
Got it. All right. Thank you.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Kristine Liwag with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed with your questions.
Kristine Liwag (Executive Director, Head of Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Hey, guys. Thanks for letting me back into the queue. Maybe now that we've had a few, you guys have had a few quarters of Dodge already, almost 2 years, and the leverage is approaching manageable levels, and Dodge is integrated, what's your appetite to restart the M&A pipeline? You know, historically, you guys have wanted to be 50% aerospace defense, 50% industrials. What's your appetite today, and what does that pipeline look like?
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Well, obviously, with those, with those ratios improving to that extent, and they'll continue to improve through the balance of this year, you know, our appetite for an acquisition in aerospace defense is good. We're looking, you know, we're looking where we need to look and trying to evaluate what, what's, what's the right, what's the right partner to court. That, that's, that whole process is, is, is starting over again now.
Kristine Liwag (Executive Director, Head of Aerospace and Defense Equity Research)
Great. Thank you.
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Yeah.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Dr. Hartnett for any closing re-
Michael Hartnett (Chairman, President, and CEO)
Okay, well, thank you, and I appreciate, I appreciate all the discussion today on RBC. I hope you... We got a chance to explain our business a little bit better and what the future looks like. We'll speak again in November. Good day.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference. We appreciate your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Enjoy the rest of your day.