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Twin Disc reported a robust fiscal 2026 third quarter, with revenue increasing 19% year-over-year to $96.7 million and a pivot to a net income of $3.3 million from a prior-year loss. The results were driven by a 20% increase in Marine & Propulsion sales and a 22% rise in Land-Based Transmissions. Defense activity is becoming a core driver, now representing 15% of the $179.5 million backlog, with a pipeline valued between $50 million and $75 million. Management successfully expanded EBITDA margins by 480 basis points through operational improvements and higher volumes. Geographically, strength in North America and Europe helped offset cautious behavior in the North American oil and gas market and timing-related delays in China shipments. The company is actively optimizing its manufacturing footprint, including facility expansions in Finland and assembly relocation to Texas, while mitigating tariff impacts estimated at 1% to 3% of COGS. Twin Disc ended the quarter with $1.8 million in free cash flow and remains focused on converting its healthy backlog into cash through the remainder of the fiscal year. No analyst questions were fielded during the call.

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TWIN DISC INC: Tax Accounting Mirage Masking Structural Cash Flow Deficit

Full Earnings Call Transcript — Q3 • 2026-05-06

Operator: Good morning, and welcome to the Twin Disc, Inc. Fiscal Third Quarter 2026 Conference Call. I am Frans, and I'll be the operator assisting you today.  [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the call over to Jeffrey Knutson, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.
Jeffrey Knutson: Good morning and thank you for joining us today to discuss our fiscal 2026 third quarter results.  On the call with me today is John Batten, Twin Disc's 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.  Now I'll turn the call over to John.
John Batten: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our fiscal 2026 third quarter conference call. Let me start with a few highlights from the third quarter. As we noted during our previous earnings call, we expected a stronger second half, and our third quarter results marked the beginning of that. We delivered meaningful sales growth, margin expansion and improved free cash flow generation through solid execution and healthy demand across our end markets.  Sales increased 19% year-over-year to $96.7 million, supported by strength in marine & propulsion systems, with continued demand for our Veth products, along with contributions from acquisitions and favorable foreign exchange. On an organic basis, sales grew 7%, reflecting healthy demand across marine & propulsion, Defense and select industrial applications. Profitability also improved meaningfully in the quarter.  Gross margin expanded to 28.1%, driven by higher volumes and operational improvements. EBITDA increased to $9.4 million and EBITDA margin expanded by approximately 480 basis points versus the prior year period, reflecting higher volumes as well as the benefit of our margin improvement initiatives. From an operating and cash flow standpoint, we made solid progress as well. Inventory improved again as a percentage of backlog and together with higher profitability, that supported free cash flow generation of $1.8 million in the quarter.  Looking ahead, our six month backlog increased sequentially to approximately $179.5 million, supported by healthy order momentum across core markets, including demand for our land-based transmission products and continued strength in defense-related activity, which continues to serve as an important long-term growth driver for Twin Disc.  At the same time, our third quarter results demonstrated improved execution on that backlog as reflected in meaningful sales growth and margin expansion. Overall, this growing backlog, together with improved execution, gives us solid visibility into near-term demand and supports our confidence in the path ahead.  Turning to our Defense-related business. We continue to see robust demand across multiple programs and geographies, supported by elevated defense spending, both in the United States and across NATO markets. As a result, defense continues to become an increasingly meaningful and durable component of our overall backlog and we view this as a secular trend given the increased geopolitical environment we are currently navigating.  Today, Defense represents approximately 15% of our backlog, and we continue to see encouraging momentum in both backlog and pipeline activity. Defense backlog increased year-over-year by roughly 20% and the opportunity moving forward remains sizable with a pipeline of roughly $50 million to $75 million. That continued momentum reinforces our confidence in the durability of demand we are seeing across this part of our business and supports our outlook for future growth.  From a product perspective, we are well positioned across a broad range of defense applications, including marine transmissions, controls & steering systems, marine & propulsion systems, transmissions, gearboxes and transfer cases. These offerings support a diverse set of end users and programs across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, and we believe that breadth continues to differentiate Twin Disc as customers prioritize modernization across marine, land-based and autonomous platforms.  The opportunity continues to be driven by the same two core buckets we discussed last quarter, activity tied to unmanned and autonomous U.S. Navy vessel programs as well as growing demand in Europe through Katsa Oy supporting NATO-related vehicle platforms. Importantly, we have a substantial portion of the acquired capacity in place today in North America.  However, in Europe, we are advancing targeted facility expansion efforts in Finland to add test stand and assembly capacity, which will better position us to support expected growth in European defense demand over the long term. Overall, with our current structure and targeted investments to support growth, we believe Twin Disc is well positioned to continue capturing this demand and further expand our presence in the defense market.  Now let me walk you through product group performance. Marine & Propulsion Systems remained a key driver of performance in the quarter with sales up 20% from prior year period. We continue to see healthy demand across workboat, both government and specialty marine applications, along with sustained in higher content propulsion solutions and integrated systems, supported by continued demand for our Veth products.  Improved aftermarket execution also drove positive results in the quarter, which is encouraging in light of the short-term softness we discussed last quarter that was largely timing related and not indicative of any change in underlying demand. Overall, we remain encouraged by the demand environment and by how the business is performing.  Land-based transmissions delivered strong year-over-year growth in the quarter with sales increasing 22.2% compared with the prior year period, driven primarily by improved shipment volumes and favorable mix. Importantly, shipment trends improved from the delays we discussed last quarter regarding our shipments, although a subset of deliveries, including certain Oil & Gas transmission shipments to China, shifted into the fourth quarter based on customer timing preferences around complete system deliveries.  It's important to note that we view those remaining delays, as timing related and not reflective of any broader change in underlying demand. From a market standpoint, conditions remain mixed. In North America, Oil & Gas customer behavior continues to be cautious with rebuilds and refurbishments still outpacing new equipment purchases, although we are beginning to see signs of that cycle is maturing.  Internationally, order trends have shown improvement, particularly in Oil & Gas, where activity in China and customer engagement continues to support outlook for the business. We also continue to see healthy demand in ARFF applications and are advancing next-generation electrified and hybrid solutions that support longer-term growth.  Industrial sales increased 15.2% year-over-year, largely due to the contribution from Kobelt as well as steady underlying demand. We continue to focus on higher content solutions on leveraging engineering and manufacturing capabilities across the platform, which we believe will help improve mix and support better margins over time. Our 6-month backlog increased approximately to $179.5 million in the third quarter, up both sequentially and year-over-year. Growth was driven by broad-based demand across our core markets such as Land-Based Transmissions and by continued Defense-related order activity. Backlog also included approximately $2.5 million of negative foreign exchange impact relative to the prior quarter.  We also continue to make progress on working capital management as inventory declined by roughly $3 million from the second quarter and inventory as a percentage of backlog improved to approximately 89%. Overall, that improving backlog profile continues to support solid visibility into near-term demand and our improved working capital management demonstrates our focus on converting backlog effectively into cash. Looking forward, our long-term strategy remains unchanged. We are focused on driving profitable growth through operational excellence, footprint optimization and disciplined capital allocation.  As discussed earlier, we continue to execute targeted initiatives across our manufacturing footprint, including the planned relocation of ARFF assembly to our Lufkin facility and target expansion efforts in Finland to support expected growth in European defense demand. Together, these actions are intended to improve operational flexibility, mitigate tariff exposure and better align capacity with demand. With continued momentum across our core markets, a growing backlog and improving profitability, we believe Twin Disc is well positioned to build on this progress through the balance of the fiscal year.  With that, I'll now turn the call over to Jeff to discuss our financial results in greater detail.
Jeffrey Knutson: Thanks, John. Good morning, everyone. During the third quarter, we delivered sales of $96.7 million, an increase of 19% compared to the prior year period. This growth was driven primarily by strength in Marine & Propulsion systems and contributions from our recent acquisition of Kobelt. Gross profit increased 25% to $27.1 million and gross margin expanded to approximately 28.1%, reflecting higher volumes and operational improvements. ME&A expenses were $21.3 million in the quarter compared to $19.8 million in the prior year. As a percentage of sales, however, ME&A decreased by approximately 230 basis points, reflecting strong operating leverage on higher revenue.  Net income attributable to Twin Disc was $3.3 million or $0.23 per diluted share compared to a net loss of $1.5 million or $0.11 per diluted share in the prior year period. This improvement was driven by higher operating income and lower expenses. EBITDA was $9.4 million in the quarter, representing an increase of approximately 135% year-over-year and an EBITDA margin improvement of roughly 480 basis points when compared to the prior year period, reflecting higher volume and the successful implementations of our margin improvement initiatives.  Geographically, sales growth was led by North America and Europe, supported by sustained demand for vet products and incremental contributions from recent acquisitions. As a result, North America represented a higher share of quarterly revenue, while Asia Pacific and Latin America made up a smaller portion, reflecting regional market dynamics, a trend that we expect to continue and should soften tariff impact moving forward. Turning to cash flow.  We generated approximately $1.8 million of free cash flow in the quarter, reflecting improved operating performance and continued signs of working capital normalization. We ended the quarter with cash of approximately $16.1 million. Total debt increased to $45.1 million and net debt increased to approximately $29 million, an increase of 10.5% and 18%, respectively, primarily reflecting higher long-term debt associated with the Kobelt acquisition. Margin performance was a key highlight of the quarter with significant expansion both sequentially and year-over-year. This improvement was driven by increased volume and the impact of margin improvement initiatives. Sequentially, growth was supported by increased aftermarket execution as we effectively delivered against strong demand.  Regarding tariffs, we continue to monitor the evolving landscape closely and are actively executing mitigation initiatives, including adjustments to our manufacturing strategy where appropriate. Based on the current environment and our favorable regional mix, we expect tariff-related impacts in the upcoming quarter to be approximately 1% to 3% of cost of goods sold. Looking ahead, we expect continued progress supported by backlog conversion, improving mix, and ongoing operational initiatives. From a capital allocation perspective, our priorities remain unchanged. We continue to focus first on investing in the business to support growth, including capacity, operational efficiency and product development while maintaining a strong and flexible balance sheet. At the same time, we remain disciplined in our approach to capital deployment with an emphasis on preserving liquidity, managing leverage and improving working capital efficiency as we convert backlog into revenue and cash.  I'll now turn the call back to John for his closing remarks.
John Batten: Thanks, Jeff. In closing, the third quarter represented a strong step forward for Twin Disc as we delivered meaningful improvement in revenue, margins and cash flow. Underlying demand across our core markets remains healthy, supported by a growing record backlog and continued momentum in key areas such as Marine & Propulsion systems, Land-Based Transmissions, along with increasing Defense-related activity. At the same time, working capital continues to improve along with enhanced profitability, positioning us for stronger cash generation in the fourth quarter.  As we look ahead, we remain focused on executing our operational initiatives, optimizing our footprint and supporting long-term growth. With improving profitability, healthy demand visibility and continued execution, we believe Twin Disc is well positioned to build on this progress through the balance of the fiscal year. These conclude our prepared remarks. We will now turn the call back over to the operator and open the line for questions.
Operator: [Operator Instructions]. There are no further questions at this time. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for joining, and that concludes today's conference call. All participants may now disconnect. Thank you.