CALHOUN, Ga., Oct. 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mohawk Industries, Inc. (NYSE: MHK) today announced a 2020 third quarter net profit of $205 million and diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.87. Adjusted net earnings were $233 million, and EPS was $3.26, excluding restructuring, acquisition and other charges. Net sales for the third quarter of 2020 were $2.6 billion, an increase of 2% as reported and on a constant currency basis. For the third quarter of 2019, net sales were $2.5 billion, net earnings were $156 million and EPS was $2.15, adjusted net earnings were $199 million, and EPS was $2.75, excluding restructuring, acquisition and other charges.

For the nine months ending September 26, 2020, net earnings and EPS were $267 million and $3.75, respectively. Net earnings excluding restructuring, acquisition and other charges were $379 million and EPS was $5.31. For the 2020 nine-month period, net sales were $6.9 billion, a decrease of 8% versus prior year as reported or 7% on a constant currency and days basis. For the nine-month period ending September 28, 2019, net sales were $7.5 billion, net earnings were $480 million and EPS was $6.61; excluding restructuring, acquisition and other charges, net earnings and EPS were $564 million and $7.77.

As previously disclosed, Mohawk received subpoenas from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to allegations in a class action suit against Mohawk. With the assistance of outside legal counsel, the Company’s Audit Committee completed a thorough internal investigation into these allegations of wrong doing and concluded that the allegations are without merit. The Company is cooperating fully with the ongoing governmental investigations and will continue to vigorously defend against the lawsuit, which the Company does not believe has merit.

Commenting on Mohawk Industries’ third quarter performance, Jeffrey S. Lorberbaum, Chairman and CEO, stated, “Our results in the period significantly exceeded our expectations, with sales recovering and operating income substantially increasing above last year’s levels. Under continued pandemic conditions, people all over the world are spending more time in their homes and working remotely. Globally, this trend is increasing investments in home remodeling as well as driving new home purchases.

“All of our businesses and geographies were stronger due to higher demand and customers increasing inventory in our distribution channels. Flooring Rest of the World delivered the strongest results in the quarter as our northern European, Russian and Australian businesses were less impacted by the pandemic. Our Global Ceramic and Flooring North America segments also improved substantially while being more affected by COVID and postponed commercial projects. Our laminate, LVT and sheet vinyl outperformed our other categories, and our new plants improved their output and efficiencies. Fluctuations in worldwide exchange rates negatively impacted our EBIT by about $7 million, with declines in most currencies offsetting the strengthening Euro.”

During the period, demand for our products exceeded our production, and inventory declined by about $80 million, as we ramped up plants across the world. Our increase in manufacturing in the period was limited by challenges with hiring, training and capacity. To cover higher operating, material and logistics costs, we have announced selective price increases in some markets and product categories. We have made significant progress on our previously announced restructuring actions and are in line with our planned schedule and savings estimates. In response to higher demand levels, we have postponed some restructuring projects while we assess future conditions.

As our business responded to the COVID crisis, our focus has remained on keeping our employees safe. Throughout our offices, operations and distribution systems, we have implemented procedures that exceed public health guidelines. We are tracking all identified COVID cases, testing all contacts and successfully containing the spread within our global operations. Throughout the pandemic, our people have collaborated to protect each other and support our customers around the world.

In the second quarter, we took advantage of the favorable rate environment to pay off $1.1 billion of short-term debt and prefund our future long-term maturities. In the third quarter, we generated about $530 million of cash, bringing our cash and short-term investments to approximately $1.2 billion at the end of the period. We will pursue additional investment opportunities, including internal growth, acquisitions and stock purchases as the pandemic and economies improve. We believe our stock represents an attractive investment and our Board of Directors recently approved a plan to repurchase $500 million of company stock.

For the quarter, our Global Ceramic Segment sales declined 1% as reported and increased 2% on a constant currency and days basis. The segment had an operating margin of 8% as reported and 10% excluding restructuring cost. Operating income decreased by 11% as reported versus prior year and increased by 11%, excluding restructuring charges, primarily due to productivity, increased volume and lower energy cost partially offset by unfavorable price and mix. All of our ceramic businesses improved substantially in the third quarter with low inventories limiting both our sales and service. Most of our plants have staffed up to run all of their capacity to meet present demand and increase inventories in the fourth quarter. In the U.S., we are seeing increased traffic in our showrooms and galleries as well as at our customers’ retail shops. We have shifted sales focus from commercial to new home construction, which is expected to increase through next year. Commercial sales improved from the prior period but are still lagging. We have announced price increases to cover higher freight and operations costs. Our quartz countertop plant is performing as planned, and we are increasing our higher styled veined collections to improve our mix. We closed two tile manufacturing facilities and consolidated distribution points. We have also reduced SG&A and labor costs and discontinued lower performing products. Our plants in Mexico are operating near capacity to reduce order backlogs, running shorter production quantities and optimizing our SKU offering. Our Brazilian ceramic business had the best quarter in its history with significant growth in both its domestic and export markets. To offset rising inflation, we have announced a price increase that will go into effect later this year. Our European ceramic business delivered strong results in the period as residential sales improved and inventories in the channel were replenished. Increased pricing pressures during the period were offset by higher volumes and productivity, lower inputs and SG&A leverage. In Russia, our ceramic business recovered and is performing better than last year, driven by strong results in new construction and increased sales in our owned retail stores.

During the quarter, our Flooring North America Segment’s sales decreased 2% as reported with an operating margin of approximately 8%. The year-over-year decrease in operating income, excluding restructuring charges, was primarily due to lower volume and unfavorable price and mix, partially offset by strengthening productivity and lower raw material cost. The segment’s performance improved substantially from the prior period as residential channels strengthen offset by continued weakness in Commercial. Our restructuring programs are progressing and achieving the expected cost savings in manufacturing, logistics and SG&A. Our residential carpet business improved with retail remodeling and polyester products outperforming. To cover higher costs, we are implementing price increases in the market. Our rug sales increased as consumers used them as an easy way to update their home décor. During the period, laminate had strong growth, with expanding distribution and sales in all channels. To increase our laminate production and provide new features, we are installing a new line that should begin production in the fourth quarter of next year. Sales of our residential LVT collections continued to expand at a rapid pace, with rigid products increasing their share and our new product launches improving our mix. To offset higher tariffs on our sourced collections, we implemented price increases in the period. Our sheet vinyl collections continue to take market share, and our costs in the category improved due to greater efficiencies.

For the quarter, our Flooring Rest of the World Segment’s sales increased 13% as reported and 10% on a constant currency basis. The segment’s operating income grew 56% with a margin of 19% as reported due to strengthening volume and productivity as well as favorable material costs partially offset by unfavorable price and mix. During the period, the segment outperformed since the majority of its sales are in northern Europe, where commerce was less affected by the pandemic and has less participation in commercial end markets. Our laminate sales growth was limited by manufacturing capacity in Europe and we began shipping product from Russia to support higher demand. Our strong brands, industry-leading innovations, and our differentiated products are improving our mix. During the quarter, sales of our LVT collections grew the most as our production levels, efficiencies and costs improved as we anticipated. We expect our LVT productivity and cost to continue improving as we expand the utilization of our operations and enhance our material yields and efficiencies. In the fourth quarter, we will begin shipping our next generation of rigid LVT products with new features that will strengthen our market position. Our sheet vinyl provides the best flooring value in the market place, and our sales increased as our retail customers re-opened. Raw material costs for LVT and sheet vinyl are increasing, and we have announced a price increase to offset. Our Russian sheet vinyl plant performed well with higher utilization and margins. We completed the consolidation of our wood manufacturing operations in Malaysia and significantly reduced our cost. Our boards and insulation products rebounded after our markets re-opened, and we announced price increases to compensate for rising raw material prices. Our Australia and New Zealand businesses recovered with strong sales growth, improved product margins and the success of our updated product offering. Godfrey Hirst is well positioned with its strong brands and products in both carpet and hard surfaces.

We enter the fourth quarter with improved sales and margin trends and have a solid order backlog across the enterprise. Residential remodeling and new home construction are forecasted to remain strong as the pandemic has transformed our living spaces into schools and offices and as participation in other activities has fallen. The fourth quarter is slower for our industry due to normal seasonality, and we expect lower growth in channel inventory levels. Our higher margin commercial business will continue to be slow, with completed projects likely to outpace new starts. We anticipate service improving with our inventories rising as production levels exceed sales. We are implementing our restructuring plans and are on track to reduce costs as expected. Our visibility continues to be limited by many uncertainties, including how government restrictions and demand will evolve. Assuming that the current economic trends continue, we anticipate our fourth quarter EPS to be $2.75 to $2.87, with a non-recurring tax rate of approximately 5% for the period.

Our businesses have responded effectively to the Covid crisis, changing government restrictions and varying market conditions. Residential remodeling and new construction are expected to improve next year. The commercial business should increase from its present low levels as economies recover going forward. Our strong balance sheet, cash generation and liquidity will allow us to move from a defensive posture to a more aggressive growth strategy.

ABOUT MOHAWK INDUSTRIES

Mohawk Industries is the leading global flooring manufacturer that creates products to enhance residential and commercial spaces around the world. Mohawk’s vertically integrated manufacturing and distribution processes provide competitive advantages in the production of carpet, rugs, ceramic tile, laminate, wood, stone and vinyl flooring. Our industry leading innovation has yielded products and technologies that differentiate our brands in the marketplace and satisfy all remodeling and new construction requirements. Our brands are among the most recognized in the industry and include American Olean, Daltile, Durkan, Eliane, Feltex, Godfrey Hirst, IVC, Karastan, Marazzi, Mohawk, Mohawk Group, Pergo, Quick-Step and Unilin. During the past decade, Mohawk has transformed its business from an American carpet manufacturer into the world’s largest flooring company with operations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, India, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia and the United States.

Certain of the statements in the immediately preceding paragraphs, particularly anticipating future performance, business prospects, growth and operating strategies and similar matters and those that include the words “could,” “should,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “expects,” and “estimates,” or similar expressions constitute “forward-looking statements.” For those statements, Mohawk claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements will be accurate because they are based on many assumptions, which involve risks and uncertainties. The following important factors could cause future results to differ: changes in economic or industry conditions; competition; inflation and deflation in raw material prices and other input costs; inflation and deflation in consumer markets; energy costs and supply; timing and level of capital expenditures; timing and implementation of price increases for the Company’s products; impairment charges; integration of acquisitions; international operations; introduction of new products; rationalization of operations; taxes and tax reform, product and other claims; litigation; the risks and uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic; and other risks identified in Mohawk’s SEC reports and public announcements.

Conference call Friday, October 30, 2020, at 11:00 AM Eastern Time
The telephone number is 1-800-603-9255 for US/Canada and 1-706-634-2294 for International/Local. Conference ID # 8291468. A replay will be available until November 30, 2020, by dialing 1-855-859-2056 for US/local calls and 1-404-537-3406 for International/Local calls and entering Conference ID # 8291468.

Contact: Frank Boykin, Chief Financial Officer (706) 624-2695