Twin Disc - Earnings Call - Q2 2025

Executive Summary

• Sales rose 23.2% year-over-year to $89.9M; sequentially, revenue increased from $72.9M in Q1 to $89.9M in Q2, driven in part by Katsa Oy ($10M incremental). EPS improved to $0.07 from -$0.20 in Q1, while gross margin compressed to 24.1% on inventory rationalization and mix headwinds.
• EBITDA was $6.3M, up 13.5% YoY and materially higher than Q1 ($1.7M); operating cash flow recovered to $4.3M in Q2 from a weak Q1 (-$4.3M) as inventory actions and timing normalized.
• Backlog remained healthy at $124.0M, though down from $144.3M in Q1; mix shifts favored Europe and North America, while Asia-Pacific softened on oil & gas. Veth thrusters saw record orders and ongoing strength in commercial and luxury yacht markets.
• No specific quarterly revenue/margin guidance was issued; capex outlook was raised to $12–$14M for FY2025, dividend maintained at $0.04 per share, and management continues to target ~60% EBITDA-to-FCF conversion (acknowledged as a stretch for FY2025).
• Post-quarter, TWIN announced acquisition of Kobelt ($16.5M; ~$14M revenue in 2024; immediately accretive to GAAP), expanding controls/braking portfolio—an additional narrative catalyst tied to systems integration strategy.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Double-digit top-line growth with broad-based segment gains: Marine & Propulsion +23.9%, Land-Based Transmissions +19.8%, Industrial +44.8%; organic growth +10.1%.
• Veth thrusters reached record orders with strong North American demand; management emphasized synergy capture and electrification/hybrid leadership ambitions. “We remain focused on leveraging these synergies to address evolving customer needs, particularly around sustainability and electrification.” — CEO John Batten.
• Cash generation and EBITDA improved sequentially; operating cash flow of $4.3M and EBITDA $6.3M, reflecting easing supply chain delays and disciplined inventory management.

What Went Wrong

• Gross margin fell ~420 bps YoY to 24.1% on a $1.6M inventory write-down tied to Katsa rationalization, $0.3M purchase accounting amortization, and unfavorable mix.
• Backlog decreased sequentially to $124.0M (from $144.3M), with FX headwinds and high shipments cited; inventory/backlog ratio rose to 103.4% from 99.7%.
• Oil & gas exposure remained soft: ~8% of Q2 revenue and down ~24% YoY; management cited subdued new builds in North America and Asian macro headwinds.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Welcome to the Twin Disc Inc fiscal second quarter 2025 conference call. We will begin with introductory remarks from Jeff Knutson, Twin Disc's CFO.

Jeff Knutson (CFO)

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today to discuss our Fiscal 2025 Second Quarter Results. On the call with me today is John Batten, Twin Disc CEO. I would like to remind everyone that certain statements made during this conference call, especially statements expressing hopes, beliefs, expectations, or predictions for the future, are forward-looking statements. It is important to remember that the company's actual results could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements.

Information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are contained in the company's annual report on Form 10-K, copies of which may be obtained by contacting either the company or the SEC. Any forward-looking statements that are made during this call are based on assumptions as of today, and the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise these statements to reflect subsequent events or new information.

During today's call, management will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. For a definition of non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial results, please see the earnings release issued earlier today. By now, you should have received the news release, which was issued this morning before the market opened. If you have not received a copy, please call our office at 262-638-4000, and we will send a release to you. Now I'll turn the call over to John.

John Batten (CEO)

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our Fiscal 2025 Second Quarter Conference Call. I appreciate you joining us today. We are pleased to report another quarter of strong double-digit sales growth, with second quarter sales of $89.3 million, reflecting a 23.2% year-over-year increase as we close out a successful first half of the fiscal year. We continue to see meaningful contributions from Katsa Oy, which is allowing us to extend our global footprint and deepen our engineering capabilities, particularly in Europe and North America. We remain committed to ensuring seamless integration of Katsa and are excited to unlock its full potential.

Our focus is on capitalizing on cross-selling opportunities, optimizing shared cost efficiencies, streamlining our business lines, and maintaining strong execution. At the same time, we are pleased to see continued strength in shipments of Veth products, meeting the robust demand for cutting-edge electric, hybrid, and conventional propulsion systems. We are maintaining a healthy backlog across all of our end markets and are encouraged by the continued stabilization with our industrial business over the quarter.

Shifting to the product segments, sales in our marine propulsion segment grew 23.9% year-over-year. This performance was driven by ongoing strength in our Veth product line, which once again delivered record orders as demand remained consistent globally. Incoming orders were driven in part by demand from both new North American projects within commercial applications and the luxury yacht market, supported by our Veth-Rolla partnership.

Meanwhile, increased government defense spending has sustained demand for patrol boat projects, mainly driven by evolving market dynamics surrounding ongoing geopolitical conflicts in Southeast Asia and Europe. The integration of Veth continues to yield meaningful synergies, positioning us to capture market opportunities in conventional electric and hybrid propulsion applications with our hybrid marine transmissions and control systems.

We remain focused on leveraging these synergies to address evolving customer needs, particularly around sustainability and electrification. In our land-based transmissions, sales increased 19.8% year-over-year, reflecting continued momentum in our airport rescue and firefighting transmission business, where we shipped a significant volume of units this quarter.

As we mentioned last quarter, demand for ARFF vehicles remained strong, driven by our advanced configurations, unique torque capabilities, and innovative power dividing systems, which continue to position us as the supplier of choice. This trend persists as we benefit from growing international airport development, the replacement of aging fleets, and the global shift towards emissions-compliant transmissions.

Turning to oil and gas, exports were down during the ongoing macroeconomic headwinds in the Asia-Pacific region and subdued new builds in North America. However, we anticipate momentum will begin to build as we have seen recent uptick in quoting activity. Aftermarket demand for replacement parts in oil and gas applications remains stable, underscoring the resilience of both our installed base and the demand driven by North American usage trends.

As fleets continue to age through the replacement cycle, this indicates the potential for new builds and sustained growth for the business. Our industrial segment grew 44.8% year-over-year, driven by both the addition of Katsa and a rebound in our Lufkin orders. We are seeing a continued stabilization sequentially within this segment as order momentum from our Lufkin facility has picked up.

Overall, segment demand has improved, particularly for higher-end content industrial products. We believe our continued engineering focus positions us to capture share in markets that demand specialized solutions, whether that's agricultural equipment, construction machinery, or other high-torque applications. Our backlog remains healthy, and we are encouraged by the rate of sustained order momentum across our portfolio.

As we executed during the quarter, our six-month backlog is lower both sequentially and year-over-year due to high shipments. Foreign exchange also accounted for $11.5 million versus the prior year quarter. As we move through the year, we remain committed to disciplined inventory management and optimizing to lower inventories compared to the backlog.

To conclude my comments, I'd like to address the significant progress we have made to date in executing our long-term strategy. Over the past several quarters, we have maintained strong focus on our long-term strategy, and our recent acquisitions underscore that commitment. The successful integration of Katsa expanded our engineering capabilities and market reach, particularly in Europe and North America. By enhancing our portfolio with Katsa's specialized solutions, we are capturing share in industrial end markets that value customization and technical expertise.

From an operational perspective, we have made significant progress in integration, rationalizing inventory, aligning product lines, and leveraging cross-selling opportunities to enhance customer experience. At the same time, we continue to optimize costs through improved supply sourcing, Kaizen-driven facility enhancements, and strategic inventory management, positioning us for sustained margin expansion.

Looking ahead, we will remain disciplined in executing our operational initiatives and exploring additional strategic acquisitions that complement our core expertise. By steadily improving efficiency, enhancing profitability, and strengthening our technology portfolio, we believe we are well-positioned to deliver sustainable, long-term value for our customers, employees, and shareholders. With that, I will now turn it over to Jeff to discuss the financials. Jeff.

Jeff Knutson (CFO)

Thanks, John. Good morning, everyone. In the second quarter, we delivered sales of $89.9 million for the quarter, up $15.9 million, or 23.2% from the prior year, driven by a $10 million incremental benefit from Katsa. On an organic basis, which excludes the impacts of acquisitions and foreign currency exchange, revenue increased 10.1% as demand in our global end markets remained healthy.

Net income attributable to Twin Disc for the second quarter was $900,000 or $0.07 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $900,000 or $0.07 per diluted share in the second quarter of fiscal 2024. Earnings per share were impacted by an increase in other expenses related to interest expense and additional pension amortization in the quarter. Gross profit margin decreased to 24.1% compared to 28.3% during the prior year period, and gross profit increased 5% to $21.7 million.

The decline in gross profit margins was driven by a $1.6 million inventory write-down related to the Katsa acquisition, as we eliminated redundant inventory, along with a $300,000 purchase accounting amortization expense tied to the acquisition and unfavorable product mix in the quarter. Looking at top-line sales distribution, we delivered double-digit growth in all three of the marine and propulsion systems, land-based transmission, and industrial segments.

This was mainly driven by ongoing healthy market demand and geographic expansion, including the additional benefit of the Katsa acquisition and the continued stabilization in the industrial segment, which fostered strong year-over-year growth. Touching on geographic distribution, we again saw increased sales in Europe as a result of our acquisition of Katsa, as well as a larger proportion of sales from North American markets on strength in the Veth projects in the region.

Compared to the second fiscal quarter of 2024, net debt increased $12.3 million-$9 million in the quarter, primarily driven by an increase in total debt due to the Katsa acquisition. We ended the quarter with a cash balance of $15.9 million, 24.3% lower than the prior year. Operating cash generation of $4.3 million was strong in the quarter, and EBITDA increased to $6.3 million in the second quarter, up 13.5% compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2024.

Gross margin decreased approximately 420 basis points from the prior year period, largely reflecting the impact of inventory rationalization in our industrial segment as we continued to integrate Katsa and eliminated redundant inventory. Additionally, we saw unfavorable mix in the quarter, which further pressured margins.

As we move through the year, we are taking a disciplined approach by streamlining operations, optimizing our cost structure, and driving efficiency across our supply chain. At the same time, we continue to prioritize higher-margin products and services while maintaining a strong focus on pricing discipline. In terms of inflationary and supply chain challenges, we have seen near-term shipment delays that impacted the prior quarter largely subside.

On capital allocation, our priorities remain the same. We are committed to generating consistent cash flow in order to maintain leverage within a comfortable range. Our primary focus for acquisition is on businesses that complement our expertise in industrial marine technology, allowing us to accelerate growth in these key markets while enhancing our value proposition to customers. Equally important is our commitment to fueling organic growth.

This means investing in research and development to push the boundaries of innovation, expanding our presence in under-penetrated geographies, and advancing market efforts to deepen customer engagement and capture new opportunities. By balancing disciplined external investments with thoughtful internal initiatives, we're ensuring that Twin Disc is positioned for sustained growth and shareholder value creation both now and in the future. I'd now like to turn the call back to John to share some closing remarks.

John Batten (CEO)

Thanks, Jeff. In summary, we delivered another strong quarter of top-line growth, buoyed by robust demand in marine and propulsion and recovery in industrial, along with ongoing integration successes with Katsa. While we navigated margin headwinds from product mix, we have made proactive steps to right-size our inventory rationalization and enhance profitability. Our backlog, albeit lower sequentially due to FX, remains at a healthy level, and cash flow has improved significantly as a result of inventory management.

We believe we are well-positioned for long-term growth thanks to our expanding portfolio of higher-content, high-value solutions and increasingly diversified global footprint and a strategic focus on electrification and hybrid systems. We are committed to delivering value to our customers, employees, and shareholders through consistent execution and strategic investment. That concludes our prepared remarks, and now Jeff and I will be happy to answer your questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please press Star and the number one on your telephone keypad. We will pause for just a moment to compile the roster. Our first question comes from the line of Simon Wong from Gabelli Funds. The line is open.

Simon Wong (Analyst)

Jeff, John, good morning.

Jeff Knutson (CFO)

Hey, Simon. Just a quick note. John, unfortunately, wasn't able to join us for the Q&A session today, but I'm happy to take your question and anybody's question.

Simon Wong (Analyst)

Okay, no problem. Just my quick question on the oil and gas. You talked about export being down. Can you quantify how much your oil and gas business is this quarter? And how much was it down year over year?

Jeff Knutson (CFO)

Yeah, good question, and I was prepared for that question, Simon. Yeah, it was down. It was about a little under 8% of revenue for the quarter and down compared to the prior year, Q2, down about 24%.

Simon Wong (Analyst)

Okay. In your prepared remarks, you're talking about quoting activity remains high. Is that North America quoting activity, or is that Asian quoting activity?

Jeff Knutson (CFO)

It's both. It's North America, it's Asia, and also some South American activity as well.

Simon Wong (Analyst)

South America, or?

Jeff Knutson (CFO)

Yeah.

Simon Wong (Analyst)

Okay.

Jeff Knutson (CFO)

Yeah.

Simon Wong (Analyst)

It sounds like the ordering trend or activity from the oil and gas customers in light of the change in administration, you're seeing them getting back to work. Is that a correct statement?

Jeff Knutson (CFO)

I think maybe it's a little bit early to say that. I think what we've seen is, yeah, increased level of activity, some new calls, some new potential projects. It feels like, yeah, we would say it's kind of a renewed level of activity in that market.

Simon Wong (Analyst)

Okay, great. Can you just refresh your CapEx outlook for the year? On the free cash flow, are you still targeting to convert 60% of your EBITDA to free cash flow?

Jeff Knutson (CFO)

Yeah, I mean, that's certainly our goal, right? As we talked about after Q1, we had a difficult Q1 for a variety of reasons in terms of free cash flow. Bounced back nicely in Q2. Free cash flow in Q2 of about $6.4 million. Yeah, we're still targeting to get to that 60% of EBITDA. I think it's a bit of a stretch this year given the difficult Q1, but we're on a good trend now following Q2.

In terms of CapEx, I think no big change there. We're, I would say, a little bit behind pace. We've spent something like $5 million through the first half of the year. We have some bigger projects coming through in the second half. I think in the range of $12 million-$14 million is probably where I'd peg it right now.

Simon Wong (Analyst)

Okay. If I can squeeze one more in, if I can. You talk about R&D, investing in R&D to expand your market or to capture growth in the market. Anything that you can talk about that's being commercialized this year that will contribute to growth?

Jeff Knutson (CFO)

No, I don't think there's anything that we're ready to talk about specifically in terms of new products or new technologies. I think we continue to focus on the hybrid electric market, and that's an ongoing development. We continue to get more and more traction there, more orders, more interest, more activity, and we continue to expand our capabilities in that market, and that's a big focus for growth for us.

Simon Wong (Analyst)

Perfect. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Again, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star and the number one on your telephone keypad. Our question comes back from the line of Simon Wong from Gabelli Funds. Please go ahead.

Simon Wong (Analyst)

Jeff, since no one's asking questions, let me get one more in. The electric frac fleet that you're piloting about two, three quarters ago, any uptake on that product?

Jeff Knutson (CFO)

Yeah, I would say it's stable. It's ongoing. I wouldn't say there's anything newsworthy in the quarter that we could share. It's just an ongoing process for us.

Simon Wong (Analyst)

Okay. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Seems like there are no more questions in the queue. That concludes our question and answer session. It also concludes this conference call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.