Gentherm Reports 2012 Third Quarter, Nine-Month Results; Record Revenues For Both Periods

NORTHVILLE, Mich., Nov. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Gentherm (NASDAQ-GS:THRM), the global market leader and developer of innovative thermal management technologies, today announced its financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2012. 

On May 16, 2011, Gentherm closed the previously announced acquisition of a majority interest in W.E.T. Automotive Systems AG, a publicly-traded German automotive thermal control and electronic components company.  As a result, the 2011 nine-month period includes operating results of W.E.T. beginning May 16, 2011.  The 2012 third quarter is the first quarter where the year-over-year comparisons include a full three months of W.E.T. financial results for both periods since the acquisition.

President and CEO Daniel R. Coker said, "We had another strong quarter of growth and achieved a significant milestone with the shipment of our 10 millionth Climate Control Seat™ (CCS™) during the period.  Our seat systems for the automotive market continue to gain popularity, which we think reflects the importance of our proprietary thermal technology and our engineering capabilities, as well as the growing consumer interest in driver and passenger comfort during the driving experience.

"We believe this desire for thermal comfort has broad applications, which is why we are now offering our heated and cooled technology in a chair for the office furniture market.  In addition, building on the growing interest we are seeing with our technology in bedding products offered in the U.S., we are now working on another line of bedding products with a partner in the United Arab Emirates," added Coker.  "We remain on track with our guidance for the remainder of the year and continue to move forward in cooperation with W.E.T."

Third Quarter Financial Highlights
Revenues for the 2012 third quarter increased 12 percent to $141.1 million from $125.6 million in the prior year period.  W.E.T. revenues include the positive effect of the first historical Gentherm vehicle program being produced in a W.E.T. facility, which totaled $6.5 million for the 2012 third quarter and $4.4 million for the 2011 third quarter.  Adding back the transferred program's revenues for both periods, historical Gentherm product revenues would have increased $5.6 million, or 16 percent, reflecting new vehicle program launches since the end of the 2011 third quarter and expansion of certain programs into new geographic regions by customers on existing vehicles.  New program launches for CCS include the Ford Flex, Nissan Pathfinder, Infiniti JX, Hyundai i40 and Kia K9 Cadenza.  Certain existing vehicle programs had higher revenue during the period as a result of Gentherm's customers expanding the availability of the product to additional geographic regions.  This includes the Kia Optima, which is now also offered in China and North America. 

Partially offsetting higher product revenues during the 2012 third quarter is a decline related to the weakening of the Euro against the U.S. dollar which negatively impacted the Company's Euro–denominated revenues.  The Euro–denominated product revenue for the 2012 third quarter was €31.9 million and the average U.S. Dollar/Euro exchange rate for the quarter was 1.2514.  If the average exchange rate for the quarter had been equal to the average U.S. Dollar/Euro rate for all of 2011 which was 1.4070, Gentherm would have reported incrementally higher revenue of approximately $5.0 million.

This year's third quarter net income attributable to common shareholders was $2.6 million, or $0.09 per share.  Non-cash purchase accounting impacts related to the W.E.T. acquisition totaled $3.3 million, or $0.06 per basic and diluted share.  In addition, the 2012 third quarter results include convertible preferred stock dividends of $1.5 million, which reduced net income attributable to common shareholders by $0.05 per basic and diluted share.  Adjusting for these factors, Gentherm would have reported net income attributable to common shareholders of $0.20 per basic and diluted share. 

Net loss attributable to common shareholders for the third quarter of 2011 was $1.6 million, or $0.07 loss per share, which included acquisition-related fees and expenses and debt retirement costs totaling $203,000.  In addition, non-cash purchase accounting impacts totaling $5.3 million and convertible preferred stock dividends of $2.8 million were recorded during last year's third quarter.  Excluding these charges, Gentherm would have earned $4.4 million, or $0.12 per share, in the 2011 third quarter.  The fees and expenses associated with the W.E.T. acquisition are detailed in the Acquisition Transaction Expenses, W.E.T. Purchase Accounting Impacts and Other Effects table accompanying the release.

Gross margin as a percentage of revenue for the third quarter of 2012 increased to 26.1 percent, up from 24.5 percent for the third quarter of 2011.  Margins for both Gentherm and W.E.T. improved compared with the prior year's third quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2012 was $18.6 million compared with Adjusted EBITDA of $15.5 million for the prior year period, and was $728,000 higher than Adjusted EBITDA during this year's second quarter of $17.8 million.

Historical Gentherm financial results and Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2012 (which are non-GAAP measures) are provided to help shareholders understand Gentherm's results of operations due to the acquisition of W.E.T.  These non-GAAP financial measures should be viewed in addition to, and not as an alternative for, Gentherm's reported results prepared in accordance with GAAP.

The Company's balance sheet as of September 30, 2012, had total cash and cash equivalents of $72.3 million, total assets of $458.5 million and shareholders' equity of $212.0 million.  Total debt was $60.3 million, and the book value of the unredeemed Series C Convertible Preferred Stock was $29.6 million as of September 30, 2012.

Year-to-Date Summary
For the first nine months of 2012, revenues increased to $406.7 million from $238.6 million in the prior year period.  The increase in revenues primarily reflects a full nine months of W.E.T. revenues in the first nine months of 2012 compared with four and a half months of W.E.T. revenues in the first nine months of 2011 and higher revenues for historical Gentherm.  Had Gentherm acquired W.E.T. on January 1, 2011, pro-forma combined revenues during the first nine months of 2011 would have been $371.1 million.  Revenues for the first nine months of 2012 were approximately 9.6 percent higher than the pro-forma combined results.  W.E.T. revenues include the positive effect of the first historical Gentherm vehicle program to be produced in a W.E.T. facility which totaled $20.7 million for the first nine months of 2012 and $4.4 million for the year-earlier period.  Adding back the transferred program's revenues for both periods, historical Gentherm product revenues would have increased $14.1 million, or 14 percent.  

Partially offsetting higher product revenues during the first nine months of 2012 is a decline related to the weakening of the Euro against the U.S. dollar which negatively impacted the Company's Euro–denominated revenues.  The Euro–denominated product revenue for the first nine months of 2012 was €95.5 million and the average U.S. Dollar/Euro exchange rate for the first nine months was 1.2824.  If the average exchange rate for the first nine months of 2012 had been equal to the average U.S. Dollar/Euro rate for all of 2011 which was 1.4086, Gentherm would have reported incrementally higher revenue of approximately $12.1 million.

Net income attributable to common shareholders for the first nine months of 2012 was $9.0 million, or $0.32 per basic and $0.31 per diluted share.  Non-cash purchase accounting impacts related to the W.E.T. acquisition totaled $9.8 million, or $0.20 per basic and diluted share.  In addition, the results for the first nine months of 2012 include convertible preferred stock dividends of $5.5 million, which reduced net income attributable to common shareholders by $0.20 per basic and $0.19 per diluted share.  Adjusting for these factors, Gentherm would have reported net income attributable to common shareholders of $0.72 per basic and $0.71 per diluted share. 

Net loss attributable to common shareholders for the first nine months of 2011 was $3.9 million, or $0.17 loss per share, which included acquisition-related one-time fees and expenses totaling $5.4 million, debt retirement expense of $970,000, non-cash purchase accounting impacts totaling $9.6 million and convertible preferred stock dividends of $5.7 million.  Excluding these charges, Gentherm would have earned $12.9 million, or $0.58 per basic and $0.55 per diluted share, in the first nine months of 2011.  The fees and expenses associated with the W.E.T. acquisition are detailed in the Acquisition Transaction Expenses, W.E.T. Purchase Accounting Impacts and Other Effects table accompanying the release.

Gross margin as a percentage of revenue for the first nine months of 2012 was 25.4 percent compared with 25.5 percent in the year-earlier period.  This decrease reflects the full year impact of including W.E.T. revenues, which have an overall lower gross margin than historical Gentherm, in the consolidated total revenues.

Adjusted EBITDA for the first nine months of 2012 was $52.2 million compared with Adjusted EBITDA of $35.5 million for the prior year period.

Interest Expense and Revaluation of Derivatives
Interest expense for the third quarter and first nine months of this year was $898,000 and $3.1 million, respectively, compared with $1.2 million and $2.5 million for the prior year periods.  Approximately $1.1 million in interest expense during the first nine months was related to the debt of W.E.T., and the balance resulted from financing used to fund a portion of the W.E.T. acquisition.

For this year's third quarter and first nine months, the Company recorded losses related to the revaluation of derivative financial instruments of $993,000 and $1.1 million, respectively, compared with losses of $4.3 million and $5.6 million for the prior year periods.   Derivative losses stem from W.E.T.'s Cash Related Swap (CRS) contract and portfolio of currency derivative instruments.

Research and Development, Selling, General and Administrative Expenses
The 2012 third quarter results include a year-over-year decrease in net research and development expenses of $1.2 million.  Net research and development expenses for the first nine months of 2012 were up $11.4 million, reflecting a full nine months of W.E.T. research and development expenses incurred the first nine months of this year compared with four and a half months of W.E.T. expenses incurred in the year-earlier period.

Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses for this year's third quarter and first nine months increased $3.0 million and $19.9 million, respectively.  This was primarily due to a full nine months of W.E.T. expenses incurred in the first nine months of this year compared with four and a half months of W.E.T. expenses in the prior year period.  Increases in historical Gentherm SG&A expenses for both periods include expenses related to a Domination and Profit and Loss Transfer Agreement (DPLTA) for W.E.T., expenses related to the Sarbanes-Oxley compliance implementation for W.E.T., and one-time fees during the quarter associated with an investigation of a potential acquisition which was not completed.

Guidance
The Company expects combined revenues of Gentherm/W.E.T. in the 2012 fourth quarter to be in-line with the Company's full year forecast.  Barring unforeseen economic turbulence, including worsening of the European market or unfavorable fluctuations of the Euro exchange rate, 2012 revenue appears to be strong for the combined companies.  Gentherm is expecting revenue growth for the full year in the range of 10 percent over the combined Gentherm/W.E.T. 2011 revenues (which were $501.2 million on a full year pro-forma basis).

Conference Call
As previously announced, Gentherm is conducting a conference call today to be broadcast live over the Internet at 11:30 AM Eastern Time to review these financial results.  The dial-in number for the call is 1-877-941-1427.  The live webcast and archived replay of the call can be accessed in the Events page of the Investor section of Gentherm's website at www.gentherm.com.

Note Regarding Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Certain of the information set forth herein, including Adjusted EBITDA and historical Gentherm financial results, may be considered non-GAAP financial measures.  Gentherm believes this information is useful to investors because it provides a basis for measuring Gentherm's available capital resources, the operating performance of Gentherm's business and Gentherm's cash flow that would normally be included in the most directly comparable measures calculated and presented in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Gentherm's management uses these non-GAAP financial measures along with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in evaluating Gentherm's operating performance, capital resources and cash flow. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, financial information presented in compliance with GAAP.  Reconciliation between net income and EBITDA is provided in the financial tables at the end of this news release.

About Gentherm
Gentherm (NASDAQ-GS:THRM) is a global developer and marketer of innovative thermal management technologies for a broad range of heating and cooling and temperature control applications. Automotive products include actively heated and cooled seat systems and cup holders, heated and ventilated seat systems, thermal storage bins, heated seat and steering wheel systems, cable systems and other electronic devices.  The Company's advanced technology team is developing more efficient materials for thermoelectrics and systems for waste heat recovery and electrical power generation for the automotive market that may have far-reaching applications for consumer products as well as industrial and technology markets.  Gentherm has more than 6,000 employees in facilities in the U.S., Germany, Mexico, China, Canada, Japan, England, Korea, Malta, Hungary and the Ukraine.  For more information, go to www.gentherm.com.

Certain matters discussed in this release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may be different.  Important factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from its expectations in this release are risks that sales may not significantly increase, additional financing, if necessary, may not be available, new competitors may arise and adverse conditions in the automotive industry may negatively affect its results.  The liquidity and trading price of its common stock may be negatively affected by these and other factors.  Please also refer to Gentherm's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings and reports, including, but not limited to, its Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2012, and its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011; all of which are available free of charge on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Amerigon expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

TABLES FOLLOW

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In evaluating its business, Gentherm considers and uses Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental measure of its operating performance.  The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and deferred financing cost amortization, less transaction expenses, debt retirement expenses, unrealized currency (gain) loss and unrealized revaluation of derivatives.  Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA is a meaningful measure of liquidity and the Company's ability to service debt because it provides a measure of cash available for such purposes. Management provides an Adjusted EBITDA measure so that investors will have the same financial information that management uses with the belief that it will assist investors in properly assessing the Company's performance on a period-over-period basis.

The term Adjusted EBITDA is not defined under GAAP, and is not a measure of operating income, operating performance or liquidity presented in accordance with GAAP.  Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and when assessing the Company's operating performance, investors should not consider Adjusted EBITDA in isolation, or as a substitute for net income (loss) or other consolidated income statement data prepared in accordance with GAAP.  Gentherm compensates for these limitations by relying primarily on its GAAP results and using Adjusted EBITDA only supplementally.

SOURCE Gentherm

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