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| Statement |
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| As a result, second half adjusted EBITDA margins are expected to be nearly 600 basis points higher than the first half margins |
| And so we have, I think, much better visibility in that part of the business on C&I, but not as much, unfortunately, in some of these national account customers that can be I think, a lot more volatile in their order patterns |
| We also experienced significant margin expansion in the quarter, driven by favorable mix and price cost tailwinds on both a year-over-year and sequential basis |
| In addition, we generated record free cash flow in the quarter on the continued reduction of our inventory levels |
| And that's given us really clear insight and really good visibility actually into some local markets |
| We think that there's a huge opportunity for us to be successful in that going forward |
| Global C&I product sales in 2023 reached an all-time record of approximately $1.5 billion, our third consecutive year of strong double-digit growth in the category, resulting in a nearly 30% sales, compounded annual sales growth rate over those three years |
| This included record full year performance in our International segment for both net sales and adjusted EBITDA |
| The strength in our C&I products has helped to offset the headwinds in our residential product categories related to elevated levels of home standby generator field inventory in 2023 and a strong comparable period that included the benefit of excess backlog reduction |
| That's not the most efficient architecture, so as we introduce new products later this year, the next-generation storage products, we're going to improve the capability for AC coupling and make that a more, I'll call it, a better experience, a more sophisticated experience, a lower cost experience going forward |
| Additionally, our return to improving margin performance in the second half of the year, together with the continued reduction in our inventory levels, helped drive cash flow from operations to an all-time record for full year 2023 |
| So, it's just -- it's a little bit -- it's not quite as efficient, but it allows us to leverage the AC generator platform, which in terms of our cost structure, is, frankly, just -- it's just better because we just -- we have scale there, we can offer better value to customers, even though we might be taking away a little bit of value in terms of the AC generators are a little bit louder |
| What we actually think is probably a better opportunity going forward is to take our existing AC product, AC generator products in an AC-coupled environment and allow the generator to act as a as a battery charger through an AC coupling as opposed to a DC |
| And that's where we see -- we are absolutely the strongest manufacturer there in North America in terms of our share and our aggressive stance with these customers |
| This is a way now to -- as natural gas prices have stayed low, electricity prices continue to rise, that has been a very interesting growth opportunity |
| We had a really strong year -- a really strong year in 2022, with telecom, we started to see that soften up in the back half of this year |
| As we ramp up our production in our plants, we'll have obviously favorable overhead absorption, lower warehousing and storage costs as we bring our inventory levels down, that's sort of behind the scenes, there's a lot of -- we don't need as much warehousing space to store the inventory anymore |
| So I think those are encouraging signs |
| And that's encouraging because I think it speaks to the continued not only interest in the product, but obviously, the conversion of prospects into buyers |
| We believe we are nearing the end of the excess field inventory overhang for home standby generators and expect to realize strong year-over-year growth in shipments of these products in 2024 |
| Despite the normal cyclical softness in this vertical that is impacting our overall 2024 expectations, we continue to believe that this end market has substantial runway for growth given the critical need for future infrastructure related projects that leverage our products sold into the rental equipment channels |
| This momentum gives us confidence in continuing to focus on building out our longer-term vision for both residential and C&I energy technology ecosystems |
| And with a market share greater than 70%, we believe Generac is incredibly well positioned to continue to lead the commercialization of this important product category |
| So again, building all that out, I think Ecobee has been just a tremendous -- they have a great team, very adept at what they do |
| For the full year, we expect free cash flow conversion from adjusted net income to be strong at approximately 100% as we continue to monetize working capital builds of prior years |
| In closing this morning, we believe our fourth quarter results reflect a return to positive momentum in our overall business as our residential product sales began to grow again, which should help to offset cyclical softness in certain C&I customers and end markets |
| Dealer productivity trends further improved in the quarter, and we continued to execute on our initiatives to train non-dealer contractors, helping to increase overall installation capacity |
| Notably, close rates improved moderately during the fourth quarter, helping to offset the impact of lower power outage activity and softer home consultations |
| More importantly, activations, which are a proxy for installations, were at an all-time quarterly record in the fourth quarter, increasing slightly from the previous record of the fourth quarter of 2022, providing further support for our belief that the home standby category is holding a new and higher level baseline level of demand |
| Helping to offset this weakness, international net sales in other emerging markets such as India, the Middle East and East Asia grew at a strong rate during the quarter |
| Statement |
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| Sales to our national and independent rental equipment customers in the fourth quarter declined from the prior year as order patterns remained weaker than the stronger prior year comparisons |
| International segment total sales, including intersegment sales, decreased 13% to $190 million in the quarter as compared to $219 million in the prior year quarter, including an approximate 7% sales growth contribution from foreign currency and acquisitions, resulting in approximately 20% core total sales decline |
| For the full year 2023, domestic segment total sales decreased 15% over the prior year to $3.32 billion |
| And as a result, we saw -- we've seen portable gens really come off and also tour products were soft |
| Given our current visibility, we expect shipments to telecom national accounts will remain soft in the coming quarters, weighing on our overall 2024 outlook |
| As disclosed in our press release this morning, we expect global C&I product sales to decline by approximately 10% for full year 2024, as weakness in shipments to certain direct telecom, rental and beyond standby customers is expected to more than offset growth in other regions and channels |
| Net sales for the full year 2023 decreased 12% to approximately $4.02 billion |
| I mean, obviously, in the current environment with a softer consumer tied to big-ticket discretionary |
| That also happens when you have kind of softer power outage environments, which certainly, as we talked about Q4 being a softer environment, that's a headwind to adding dealers, it's tough to get people interested in the category if the demand isn't there necessarily, right? So we saw in-home consultations drop-off in Q4 |
| Aaron Jagdfeld And a tough comp last year |
| As a result, we are projecting global C&I sales to decline by approximately 10% in 2024 compared to the prior year |
| As expected, shipments to national telecom customers declined again during the quarter, particularly when compared to the very strong prior year fourth quarter level as these customers further reduced capital expenditures |
| Internationally, total sales were pressured by lower inter-segment sales, primarily related to declines in inter-company shipments from our Mexican operations to the domestic telecom market, as well as lower shipments of portable generators in Europe, as energy security concerns resulting from the Russia-Ukraine war continue to abate |
| We saw IHCs actually soften in Q4, and that really largely aligns with the power outage environment was well-below the baseline average |
| We said -- we called this out throughout the year last year, we had a tough year with our tour products business |
| And as a result, we expect shipments of products for beyond standby related applications to be negatively impacted in 2024 |
| On the supply side, utility scale, solar and wind power are being incentivized relative to traditional base-load thermal sources, but they are intermittent in nature and continue to face growing siting and permitting challenges |
| And in particular, as more severe weather and volatile weather patterns pick up, that is putting dramatic stress on the grid |
| So I think you can assume that it was -- it didn't drop off because that would have set us negative for the quarter |
| Look, this has been a painful process over the last six quarters |
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