Lithia Reports Record Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2016 Results
Declares Dividend of $0.25 per Share for Fourth Quarter
(firmenpresse) - MEDFORD, OR -- (Marketwired) -- 02/15/17 -- Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE: LAD) today reported the highest fourth quarter and full year revenue and earnings per share in company history.
Fourth quarter 2016 net income per diluted share increased 13% to $2.03 from $1.80 for 2015. Adjusted net income per diluted share increased 7% to $1.86 from $1.74 for 2015. Fourth quarter 2016 net income increased 8% to $51.3 million from $47.7 million for 2015. Adjusted net income increased 2% to $46.9 million from $46.1 million for 2015.
As shown in the attached non-GAAP reconciliation tables, the fourth quarter 2016 adjusted results exclude a $0.17 non-core benefit related to an equity investment, an indemnified legal reserve and a tax attribute. The fourth quarter 2015 adjusted results exclude a $0.06 net non-core benefit related to an equity investment offset by an asset impairment.
Fourth quarter 2016 revenue increased 15% to $2.3 billion from $2.0 billion in 2015.
Total same store sales increased 5%
New vehicle same store sales increased 4%
Used vehicle retail same store sales increased 11%
Service, body and parts same store sales increased 7%
Same store F&I per unit increased $108 to $1,295
Adjusted SG&A expense as a percentage of gross profit was 70.1%
2016 net income per diluted share increased 12% to $7.72 from $6.91 for 2015. Adjusted net income per diluted share increased 6% to $7.42 from $7.02 for 2015. 2016 net income increased 8% to $197.1 million from $183.0 million for 2015. 2016 adjusted net income increased 2% to $189.5 million from $186.0 million for 2015.
As shown in the attached non-GAAP reconciliation tables, the 2016 adjusted results exclude a $0.30 net non-core benefit related to an equity investment, a disposal gain and a tax attribute offset by an indemnified legal reserve. The 2015 adjusted results exclude a $0.11 net non-core charge from an asset impairment and a transition agreement offset by an equity investment and a disposal gain.
Full year 2016 revenue increased 10% to $8.7 billion from $7.9 billion in 2015.
Total same store sales increased 5%
New vehicle same store sales increased 3%
Used vehicle retail same store sales increased 11%
Service, body and parts same store sales increased 9%
Same store F&I per unit increased $94 to $1,291
Adjusted SG&A expense as a percentage of gross profit was 68.9%
Bryan DeBoer, President and CEO, said, "We increased same store sales in all core business lines, including double digit growth in used vehicle sales and record performance in F&I. Our store leaders remain focused on capturing incremental used vehicle sales and driving additional service work. 60 locations attained record profitability in 2016, while significant opportunities remain in the roughly 90 stores that did not achieve record performance this year. We will continue to target gaining market share and controlling costs to improve store performance in 2017 and beyond."
In 2016, we completed the acquisition of 15 stores: a Ford store in Honolulu, Hawaii; the Carbone Auto Group, a nine store platform based in New York and Vermont; a Subaru store in Riverside, California; a Toyota store in Milford, Massachusetts; a Ford store in Thousand Oaks, California; a Ford store in Casper, Wyoming and an Audi store in Calabasas, California. We also opened a Volkswagen store in Freehold, New Jersey. These stores are expected to add over $1.1 billion in annual revenues.
Commenting on the acquired stores, Bryan DeBoer said, "Our entrepreneurial culture allows our team to rapidly grow our store base through accretive acquisitions. Since 2010, when we completed our first acquisitions after the great recession, we have increased our store count from 85 locations to 154, and grown our revenue nearly four hundred percent, from $1.8 billion to $8.7 billion. During this time, we have diversified our brand mix, added metropolitan locations from coast to coast, and maintained our sector low leverage ratio. We remain optimistic that significant acquisition opportunities remain across the United States, and will continue to seek accretive purchases."
We ended the fourth quarter with approximately $50 million in cash and $138 million in availability under our credit facilities. Additionally, approximately $225 million of our operating real estate is currently unfinanced, which we estimate could provide $168 million in capital, for total potential liquidity of $356 million.
Our Board of Directors has approved a dividend of $0.25 per share related to fourth quarter 2016 financial results. We expect to pay the dividend on March 24, 2017 to shareholders of record on March 10, 2017.
In the fourth quarter 2016, we repurchased 47,250 shares at a weighted average price of $91.68 per share. In 2016, we deployed $113 million to repurchase 6% of our outstanding float or 1.4 million shares at a weighted average price of $80.24. Approximately $193 million remains available under our existing repurchase authorization.
We project 2017 full year earnings of $8.00 to $8.30 per diluted share. This projection is based on the following annual assumptions:
Total revenue of $9.2 to $9.4 billion
New vehicle same store sales increasing 1.5%
New vehicle gross margin of 5.5% to 5.7%
Used vehicle same store sales increasing 5.5%
Used vehicle gross margin of 11.5% to 11.7%
Service body and parts same store sales increasing 5.0%
Service body and parts gross margin of 48.2% to 48.4%
Finance and insurance gross profit of $1,270 to $1,295 per unit
Tax rate of 39.5%
Average diluted shares outstanding of 25.3 million
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 fourth quarter conference call may be accessed at 10:00 a.m. ET today by telephone at 877-407-8029. An updated presentation highlighting the fourth quarter results has been added to our investor relations website.
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 and is among the fastest growing companies in the Fortune 500. Lithia sells 30 brands of new vehicles and all brands of used vehicles at 154 stores in 17 states. Lithia also arranges finance, warranty, and credit insurance contracts. In addition, Lithia 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:
Expected operating results, such as improved store efficiency and performance; generating 2017 full year earnings of $8.00 to $8.30 per diluted share and all projections set forth under the headings "2017 Earnings Guidance";
Our ability to improve store performance;
Anticipated acquisition opportunities and additions of dealership locations to our portfolio in the future, and our ability to achieve returns on investments;
Anticipated revenues from acquired stores; and
Anticipated availability of liquidity from our credit facility and unfinanced operating real estate.
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, adjusted SG&A as a percentage of revenue 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
Chief Financial Officer
(541) 618-5748
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Datum: 15.02.2017 - 06:00 Uhr
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News-ID 1486831
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