Lithia Reports Adjusted EPS of $2.03 for Third Quarter of 2015; Revenues Increase 61%
Declares $0.20 per Share Dividend for Third Quarter
(firmenpresse) - MEDFORD, OR -- (Marketwired) -- 10/21/15 -- Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE: LAD) reported adjusted net income of $53.6 million for the third quarter of 2015, the highest quarterly net income in company history and a 54% increase over the prior year period.
2015 third quarter adjusted net income was $2.03 per diluted share. This compares to 2014 third quarter adjusted net income of $34.9 million, or $1.32 per diluted share.
Unadjusted net income for the third quarter of 2015 was $43.4 million, or $1.64 per diluted share, compared to $34.5 million, or $1.31 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2014. As shown in the attached non-GAAP reconciliation tables, the 2015 third quarter adjusted results exclude a $0.39 non-core net charge related to a previously announced employee transition agreement partially offset by an equity investment. The 2014 third quarter adjusted results exclude a $0.01 non-core net charge related to acquisition expenses partially offset by a non-core benefit resulting from a tax attribute.
Third quarter 2015 revenue increased $788 million, or 61%, to $2.1 billion from $1.3 billion for the third quarter of 2014.
"Our third quarter earnings were the highest in company history," said Bryan DeBoer, President and CEO. "Same store sales in all four business lines grew by double digits, led by a 13% increase in used vehicle sales. Total revenues increased 61% and adjusted earnings per share increased 54% over the prior year period. A robust new vehicle sales environment, improving supply of late model used vehicles, and the continued growth in our service, body and parts business is allowing our store leaders to unlock new opportunities to improve performance across our company. We remain positive on the overall outlook for both organic and acquisition growth in 2016."
For the first nine months of 2015, revenue from continuing operations increased 63% to $5.9 billion from $3.6 billion in 2014.
For the first nine months of 2015, adjusted net income per diluted share increased 43% to $5.28 from $3.69 for the first nine months of 2014. Unadjusted net income from continuing operations was $5.10 per diluted share for the first nine months of 2015, compared to $3.58 per diluted share for the first nine months of 2014.
Chris Holzshu, SVP and CFO, said, "Adjusted SG&A as a percentage of gross profit was 66.0% in the third quarter of 2015, bringing the first nine months of the year down to 67.8%, thanks to strong performance from both Lithia and DCH. For the third quarter, incremental throughput, or the percentage of additional same store gross profit dollars that we retain after deducting incremental selling costs, was 49.3% We are targeting consolidated SG&A as a percentage of gross profit in the mid-60s on a full year basis. Additionally, same store F&I per unit was $1,274 per unit, an increase of $71 over the prior year. We still believe opportunity remains to improve this number given continued focus by our store personnel."
As previously announced, in the third quarter of 2015 we acquired a Ford store in Missoula, Montana, an Acura store in Honolulu, Hawaii, and a Subaru Hyundai GMC store in Great Falls, Montana. Also as previously announced, in October, 2015 we acquired a Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram Fiat store in Concord, California. We estimate these stores will contribute approximately $175 million in annual revenues.
Bryan DeBoer, President and CEO, stated, "We have purchased or opened six stores in 2015 which will add cumulative annual revenues of approximately $220 million. We are actively seeking stores in both our Lithia exclusive market strategy and in our DCH metropolitan market strategy. The acquisition market remains robust and we anticipate further transactions for both Lithia and DCH in the near term."
We ended the second quarter with $33 million in cash and $163 million in availability on our credit facilities. Additionally, approximately $144 million of our operating real estate is currently unfinanced, which could provide an estimated additional $108 million in available liquidity, for total potential liquidity of $304 million.
Our Board of Directors has approved a dividend of $0.20 per share related to third quarter 2015 financial results. We will pay the dividend November 20, 2015 to shareholders of record on November 6, 2015.
We project 2015 fourth quarter earnings of $1.61 to $1.65 per diluted share and 2015 full year earnings of $6.89 to $6.93 per diluted share. Both projections are based on the following annual assumptions:
We project 2016 first quarter earnings of $1.46 to $1.50 per diluted share and 2016 full year earnings of $7.15 to $7.35 per diluted share. Both projections are based on the following annual assumptions:
These projections exclude the impact of future acquisitions, dispositions and non-core items. Actual results may be affected by items described under Forward-Looking Statements below.
The third quarter conference call may be accessed at 11:00 a.m. ET today by telephone at 877-407-8029. An updated presentation highlighting the third quarter results has been added to .
To listen live on our website or for replay, visit and click on webcasts.
Lithia Motors, Inc. is one of the largest automotive retailers in the United States. Lithia sells 31 brands of new vehicles and all brands of used vehicles at 135 stores in 14 states. Lithia also arranges finance, warranty, and credit insurance contracts; and provides vehicle parts, maintenance, and repair services at all of its locations.
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This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "Safe-Harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward looking statements include statements regarding our goals, plans, projections and guidance regarding our financial position, results of operations, market position, pending and potential future acquisitions and business strategy, and often contain words such as "project," "outlook," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "estimate," "may," "seek," "would," "should," "likely," "goal," "strategy," "future," "maintain," "continue," "remain," "target" or "will" and similar references to future periods. Examples of forward-looking statements in this press release include, among others, statements regarding:
By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events that depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and our actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity and development of the industry in which we operate may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking statements in this press release. The risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from estimated or projected results include, without limitation, future economic and financial conditions (both nationally and locally), changes in customer demand, our relationship with, and the financial and operational stability of, vehicle manufacturers and other suppliers, risks associated with our indebtedness (including available borrowing capacity, compliance with financial covenants and ability to refinance or repay indebtedness on favorable terms), government regulations, legislation and others set forth throughout Part II, Item 7. Management''s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and in Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, and from time to time in our other filings with the SEC. We urge you to carefully consider this information and not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. We undertake no duty to update our forward-looking statements, including our earnings outlook, which are made as of the date of this release.
This press release and the attached financial tables contain non-GAAP financial measures such as adjusted net income and diluted earnings per share from continuing operations, adjusted SG&A as a percentage of revenues and gross profit, adjusted operating margin, adjusted operating profit as a percentage of gross profit, and adjusted pre-tax margin. Non-GAAP measures do not have definitions under GAAP and may be defined differently by and not comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. As a result, we review any non-GAAP financial measures in connection with a review of the most directly comparable measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. We caution you not to place undue reliance on such non-GAAP measures, but also to consider them with the most directly comparable GAAP measures. We present cash flows from operations in the attached tables, adjusted to include the change in non-trade floor plan debt to improve the visibility of cash flows related to vehicle financing. As required by SEC rules, we have reconciled these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures in the attachments to this release. We believe the non-GAAP financial measures we present improve the transparency of our disclosures; provide a meaningful presentation of our results from core business operations, because they exclude items not related to core business operations and other non-cash items; and improve the period-to-period comparability of our results from core business operations. These presentations should not be considered an alternative to GAAP measures.
Contact:
John North
VP Finance and Chief Accounting Officer
(541) 618-5748
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Datum: 21.10.2015 - 04:55 Uhr
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