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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 


 

FORM 10-K

 


 

x Annual report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005 or

 

¨ Transition report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for the transition period from                      to                     

 

Commission file number: 001-32253

 


 

ENERSYS

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 


 

Delaware   23-3058564
(State of Incorporation)   (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

 

2366 Bernville Road

Reading, Pennsylvania 19605

(Address of principal executive offices)

 

Telephone Number: 610-208-1991

 


 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Common Stock, $0.01 par value

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    x  YES    ¨  NO

 

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  ¨

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    ¨  YES    x  NO

 

Aggregate market value of the voting stock held by nonaffiliates at October 1, 2004: $166,681,080 (based upon its closing transaction price on the New York Stock Exchange on October 1, 2004).

 

Common Stock outstanding at June 1, 2005:   Common Stock 46,164,794 shares

 


 

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

 

Portions of the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement for its Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on July 21, 2005 to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, are incorporated by reference in Part III of this Annual Report.

 



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Special Note About Forward-Looking Statements

 

This Report includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that reflect our current views as to future events and financial performance with respect to our operations. These statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They use words such as “aim,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” “project,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe” and other words and terms of similar meaning in conjunction with a discussion of future operating or financial performance. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include: competitive pricing pressures; unfavorable economic conditions; increasing raw material costs; potential environmental, health and safety liabilities; litigation; currency risks and other risks associated with operating in international markets; our failure to introduce new products or product enhancements; our competitors ability to successfully market new products; our inability to protect our proprietary technology and trademarks; the relocation of our customers businesses; our inability to implement cost reduction initiatives; quality problems; risks associated with acquisitions, including our failure to make planned acquisitions, acquisition integration issues and costs, and our ability to integrate and derive the expected benefits from our recent acquisitions; difficulties in implementing a new enterprise resource planning system; ramifications of any future terrorist attacks or increased security alert levels; our inability to make our debt payments or meet our debt covenants; regulatory changes that could negatively affect the demand for our products; our failure to adequately prepare for potential disasters; and other risks that are set forth in the “Risk Factors” section and other sections of this Report.

 

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect the events or circumstances arising after the date as of which they are made. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements included in this report or that may be made in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission or elsewhere from time to time by, or on behalf of, us.

 

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EnerSys

Form 10-K

March 31, 2005

 

Index

 

              Page

PART I

    
     Special Note About Forward-Looking Statements    A-2
     Item 1.   Business    A-4
         Risk Factors    A-9
     Item 2.   Properties    A-15
     Item 3.   Legal Proceedings    A-16
     Item 4.   Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders    A-17

PART II

    
     Item 5.  

Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

   A-17
     Item 6.   Selected Financial Data    A-18
     Item 7.  

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

   A-20
     Item 7A.   Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk    A-45
     Item 8.   Financial Statements and Supplementary Data    A-47
     Item 9.  

Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

   A-83
     Item 9A.   Controls and Procedures    A-83
     Item 9B.   Other Information    A-83

PART III

    
     Item 10.   Directors and Executive Officers of the Registrant    A-83
     Item 11.   Executive Compensation    A-83
     Item 12.  

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

   A-83
     Item 13.   Certain Relationships and Related Transactions    A-83
     Item 14.   Principal Accountant Fees and Services    A-83

PART IV

    
     Item 15.   Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules    A-84
         Signatures    A-87

 

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PART I

 

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

 

Overview

 

EnerSys (the “Company,” “we,” or “us”) is the world’s largest manufacturer, marketer and distributor of lead-acid industrial batteries. We also manufacture, market and distribute related products such as chargers, power equipment and battery accessories, and we provide related after-market and customer-support services for lead-acid industrial batteries. Industrial batteries generally are characterized as reserve power batteries or motive power batteries.

 

Reserve power batteries also are known as network, standby or stationary power batteries and are used primarily for backup power applications to ensure continuous power supply in case of main (primary) power failure or outage. Reserve power batteries are used primarily to supply standby direct current (“DC”) operating power for:

 

    telecommunications systems, such as wireless, wireline and internet access systems, central and local switching systems, satellite stations and radio transmission stations;

 

    uninterruptible power systems (“UPS”) applications for computer and computer-controlled systems, including process control systems;

 

    portable power applications, including security systems and recreational vehicles;

 

    switchgear and electrical control systems used in electric utilities and energy pipelines; and

 

    commercial and military aircraft, submarines and tactical military vehicles.

 

Motive power batteries are used to provide power for electric material handling and ground handling equipment, primarily electric industrial forklift trucks. They compete primarily with propane- and diesel-powered internal combustion engines used principally in the following applications:

 

    electric industrial forklift trucks in distribution and manufacturing facilities;

 

    ground support equipment used at airports, including baggage tuggers, pushback tractors and belt loaders; and

 

    mining equipment, including scoops, coal haulers, shield haulers, underground forklifts, shuttle cars and locomotives.

 

History

 

EnerSys and its predecessor companies have been manufacturers of industrial batteries for over 100 years. Morgan Stanley Capital Partners teamed with the management of Yuasa, Inc. in late 2000 to acquire from Yuasa Corporation (Japan) its reserve power and motive power battery businesses in North and South America. We were incorporated in October 2000 for the purpose of completing the Yuasa, Inc. acquisition from Yuasa Corporation (Japan). The acquired businesses included the Exide, General and Yuasa brands. On January 1, 2001, we changed our name from Yuasa, Inc. to EnerSys to reflect our focus on the energy systems nature of our businesses. In early 2002, we acquired the reserve power and motive power business of the Energy Storage Group, or ESG, of Invensys plc, whose principal brands were Hawker, PowerSafe and DataSafe.

 

Today, our reserve power batteries are marketed and sold principally under the PowerSafe, DataSafe and Genesis brands. Our motive power batteries are marketed and sold principally under the Hawker, Exide and General brands. We also manufacture and sell related direct current—DC—power products including chargers, electronic power equipment and a wide variety of battery accessories. Our battery products span a broad range of sizes, configurations and electrical capacities, enabling us to meet a wide variety of customer applications.

 

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In August 2004, EnerSys completed an initial public offering (the “IPO”) and issued 12,500,000 shares of our common stock at a value of $12.50 per share. The Company’s Registration Statement (SEC File No. 333-115553) for its IPO was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 26, 2004. The Company’s common stock commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange on July 30, 2004, under the trading symbol “ENS.” At the completion of the offering, we had 45,945,559 shares of common stock outstanding, which included 11,014,421 shares that were outstanding prior to the IPO, 22,431,138 shares of common stock converted from preferred shares, and 12,500,000 new shares issued in the IPO. The net proceeds from the offering were approximately $139.2 million. The net proceeds and $1.7 million of other corporate funds were used to prepay the entire principal and accrued interest and prepayment penalty on our senior second lien term loan ($123.0 million) and to prepay a portion ($17.9 million) of our $380.0 million senior secured term loan B.

 

In August 2004, in order to take advantage of the Company’s lower leverage and lower market borrowing costs, we amended our Credit Agreement and reduced our borrowing rates on the senior secured term loan B by 0.50%. The existing term loans ($361.1 million plus accrued interest) were paid off and simultaneously new term loans of $365.0 million were borrowed.

 

Fiscal Year Reporting

 

In this Report, when we refer to our fiscal years, we say “fiscal” and the year number, as in “fiscal 2005”, which refers to our fiscal year ended March 31, 2005. The Company reports interim financial information for 13-week periods, except for the first quarter, which always begins on April 1, and the fourth quarter, which always ends on March 31. The four fiscal quarters in fiscal 2005 ended on July 4, 2004, October 3, 2004, January 2, 2005, and March 31, 2005, respectively. The four fiscal quarters in fiscal 2004 ended on June 29, 2003, September 28, 2003, December 28, 2003, and March 31, 2004. Financial information about segments and geographic areas is incorporated by reference to footnote 20 of our consolidated financial statements.

 

Recent Developments

 

FIAMM Acquisition

 

In March 2005, we amended our Credit Agreement to allow for the Company’s acquisition of the motive power battery business of FIAMM S.p.A. and the secured financing for such acquisition. Additionally, the amendment revised the senior secured leverage ratio for the Company’s next six quarters.

 

On June 1, 2005, we acquired the motive power business of FIAMM S.p.A., which operates primarily in Europe and had net sales of approximately $90 million (approximately €70 million) for its fiscal year ending December 31, 2004. The cash purchase price for this acquisition was €25 million (approximately $31.25 million). The acquisition was financed with proceeds from a €25 million European term loan. The European term loan has amortizing payments and matures on June 30, 2011. Borrowings under the European term loan bear interest at a floating rate based upon a EURIBOR rate plus an applicable percentage.

 

Our Customers

 

We serve over 10,000 customers in over 100 countries, on a direct basis or through our distributors. No single customer accounts for more than 6% of our revenues.

 

Reserve Power

 

Our reserve power customers consist of regional customers as well as global customers. These customers are in diverse markets ranging from telecom to UPS, electric utilities, security systems, emergency lighting and personal mobility. In addition, we sell our aerospace and defense products to numerous countries, including the governments of the U.S., Germany and the U.K. and to major defense and aviation original equipment manufacturers, which we refer to as OEM.

 

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Motive Power

 

Our motive power customers include a large, diversified customer base. We are not overly dependent on any particular end market or geographic region. These customers include materials handling equipment dealers, OEMs and end users of such equipment. End users include manufacturers, distributors, warehouse operators, retailers, airports, mine operations and railroads.

 

Distribution and Services

 

Reserve Power

 

We distribute, sell and service reserve power products globally through a combination of company-owned offices, independent manufacturers’ representatives and distributors managed by our regional sales managers. With our global manufacturing locations and regional warehouses, we believe we are well positioned to meet our customers’ delivery and servicing requirements. We have targeted our approach to meet local market conditions, which we believe provides the best possible service for our regional customers and our global accounts.

 

Motive Power

 

We distribute, sell and service our motive power products throughout the world, principally through company-owned sales and service facilities, as well as through independent manufacturers’ representatives. We believe we are the only battery manufacturer in the motive power battery industry that operates a primarily company-owned service network. This company-owned network allows us to offer high-quality service, including preventative maintenance programs and customer support. Our warehouses and service locations enable us to respond quickly to customers in the markets we serve. The extensive industry experience of our sales organization results in strong long-term customer relationships.

 

Manufacturing and Raw Materials

 

We manufacture and assemble reserve power and motive power batteries and related products at manufacturing facilities located across the Americas, Europe and Asia. We believe that our global approach to manufacturing has significantly helped us increase our market share during the past several years. With a view toward projected demand, we strive to optimize and balance capacity at our battery manufacturing facilities located throughout the world, while simultaneously minimizing our product cost. By taking a global view of our manufacturing requirements and capacity, we are better able to anticipate potential capacity bottlenecks and equipment and capital funding needs.

 

The primary raw materials used to manufacture our products include lead, plastics, steel and copper. We purchase lead from a number of leading suppliers throughout the world. Because lead is traded on the world’s commodity markets and its price fluctuates daily, we enter into hedging arrangements from time to time for a portion of our projected requirements to mitigate the adverse effects of these fluctuations.

 

Competition

 

The industrial lead-acid battery market is highly competitive and has experienced substantial consolidation both among competitors who manufacture and sell industrial batteries and among customers who purchase industrial batteries. Our competitors range from development stage companies to major domestic and international corporations. We also compete with other energy storage technologies such as batteries utilizing chemistries other than lead-acid and fuel cells. We compete primarily on the basis of reputation, product quality, reliability of service, delivery and price. We believe that our products and services are competitively priced.

 

Reserve Power

 

We believe we have one of the largest market shares for reserve power products on a worldwide basis. We compete principally with Exide Technologies, GS Yuasa and C&D Technologies, as well as FIAMM and East Penn Manufacturing.

 

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Motive Power

 

We believe we have the largest market share for motive power products on a worldwide basis. Our principal competitor, on a global basis, is Exide Technologies. On a regionalized basis, East Penn Manufacturing and C&D Technologies compete with us in North America, Hoppecke competes with us in Europe, and JSB, Shinkobe, Yuasa and Hitachi compete with us in Asia.

 

Warranties

 

Warranties for our products vary by geography and product and are competitive with other suppliers of these types of products. Generally, our reserve power products’ warranties range from one- to twenty-years and our motive power products’ warranties range from one- to five-years. The warranty on our battery chargers typically ranges from one- to three-years.

 

The length of our warranties is sometimes extended to reflect varied regional characteristics and competitive influences. In some cases, we may extend the warranty period to include a pro rata period, which is typically based around the design life of the product and the application served. Our warranties generally cover defects in workmanship and materials and are limited to specific usage parameters.

 

Intellectual Property

 

We have numerous patents and patent licenses in the United States and other jurisdictions but do not consider any patent to be material to our business. From time to time, however we apply for patents on new inventions and designs, but we believe that the growth of our business will depend primarily upon the quality of our products and our relationships with our customers, rather than the extent of our patent protection.

 

Although other manufacturers may possess certain thin plate pure lead technology (“TPPL”), we believe we are the only manufacturer of products using TPPL technology in the markets we serve. Some aspects of this technology may be patented in the future. In any event, we believe that a significant capital investment would be required by any party desiring to produce products using TPPL technology for these markets.

 

We own or possess exclusive and non-exclusive licenses and other rights to use a number of trademarks in various jurisdictions. We have obtained registrations for many of these trademarks in the United States and other jurisdictions. Our various trademark registrations currently have a duration of approximately one to 10 years, varying by mark and jurisdiction of registration and may be renewable. We endeavor to keep all of our material registrations current. We believe that many such rights and licenses are important to our business by helping to develop strong brand-name recognition in the marketplace. Some of the significant (registered and unregistered) trademarks that we use include: Armasafe+, Chloride, Cobra, Cyclon, DataSafe, Deserthog, Energy Plus, Envirolink, ESB, Espace, Exide, Exide-Ironclad, GBC, Genesis, Genesis NP, Genesis Pure Lead, Hawker, HUP, Hybernator, Liberator, LifeGuard, LifePlus, Loadhog, Oasis, Odyssey, Oldham, Perfect, PowerGuard, PowerLease, Powerline, PowerPlus, PowerSafe, Smarthog, Superhog, Supersafe, Titan PowerTech, Varta, Waterless and Workhog.

 

See “Litigation—Exide Litigation” for information concerning currently pending litigation involving our continuing right to use the Exide trademark.

 

Seasonality

 

Our business generally does not experience significant monthly or quarterly fluctuations in net sales as a result of weather or other trends that can be directly linked to seasonality patterns. However, our second fiscal quarter normally experiences moderate reductions in net sales as compared to our first fiscal quarter for that year, due to summer manufacturing shutdowns of our customers and holidays primarily in the United States and Western Europe. In fiscal 2003, 2004 and 2005, the impact of this seasonal weakness was mitigated to a

 

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significant degree by strengthening currencies, primarily the euro, in Europe, where we conduct slightly more than half of our business. Our fourth fiscal quarter normally experiences the highest sales of any fiscal quarter within a given year. Many reserve power telecommunications customers tend to perform extensive service and engage in higher battery replacement and maintenance activities in the first calendar quarter of a year, which is our fourth fiscal quarter. In addition, many of our largest industrial customers are on a calendar fiscal year basis and many tend to purchase their durable goods more heavily in that quarter than any other within the calendar year.

 

Product and Process Development

 

Our product and process development efforts are focused on the creation and optimization of new battery products using existing technologies, which differentiate our stored energy solutions from our competition’s. We allocate our resources to the following key areas:

 

    the design and development of new products;

 

    optimizing and expanding our existing product offering;

 

    waste reduction;

 

    production efficiency and utilization;

 

    capacity expansion, without additional facilities; and

 

    quality attribute maximization.

 

Employees

 

At March 31, 2005, we had approximately 6,600 employees. Of these employees, approximately 3,250, almost all of whom work in our European facilities, were covered by collective bargaining agreements. The average term of these agreements is one to two years, with the longest term being three and one-half years. These agreements expire over the period from 2005 to 2007.

 

We consider our employee relations to be good. We have not experienced any significant labor unrest or disruption of production.

 

Environmental Matters

 

In the manufacture of our products throughout the world, we process, store, dispose of and otherwise use large amounts of hazardous materials, especially lead and acid. As a result, we are subject to extensive and changing environmental, health and safety laws and regulations governing, among other things: the generation, handling, storage, use, transportation and disposal of hazardous materials; remediation of polluted ground or water; emissions or discharges of hazardous materials into the ground, air or water; and the health and safety of our employees. Compliance with these laws and regulations results in ongoing costs. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations, or to obtain or comply with required environmental permits, could result in fines, criminal charges or other sanctions by regulators. From time to time we have had instances of alleged or actual noncompliance that have resulted in the imposition of fines, penalties and required corrective actions. Our ongoing compliance with environmental, health and safety laws, regulations and permits could require us to incur significant expenses, limit our ability to modify or expand our facilities or continue production and require us to install additional pollution control equipment and make other capital improvements. In addition, private parties, including current or former employees, could bring personal injury or other claims against us due to the presence of, or their exposure to, hazardous substances used, stored, transported or disposed of by us or contained in our products.

 

Certain environmental laws assess liability on owners or operators of real property for the cost of investigation, removal or remediation of hazardous substances at their current or former properties or at

 

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properties at which they have disposed of hazardous substances. These laws may also assess costs to repair damage to natural resources. We may be responsible for remediating damage to our properties that was caused by former owners. Soil and groundwater contamination has occurred at some of our current and former properties and may occur or be discovered at other properties in the future. We currently are investigating and monitoring soil and groundwater contamination at certain of our properties, and we may be required to conduct these operations at other properties in the future. In addition, we have been and in the future may be liable to contribute to the cleanup of locations owned or operated by other persons to which we or our predecessor companies have sent wastes for disposal, pursuant to federal and other environmental laws. Under these laws, the owner or operator of contaminated properties and companies that generated, disposed of or arranged for the disposal of wastes sent to a contaminated disposal facility can be held jointly and severally liable for the investigation and cleanup of such properties, regardless of fault.

 

Six of our facilities in the United States and Europe are certified to ISO 14001 standards. ISO 14001 is a globally recognized, voluntary program that focuses on the implementation, maintenance and continual improvement of an environmental management system and the improvement of environmental performance.

 

Quality Systems

 

We utilize a global strategy for quality management systems, policies and procedures, the basis of which is the ISO 9001:2000 standard, which is a worldwide recognized quality standard. We believe in the principles of this standard and reinforce this by requiring mandatory compliance for all manufacturing, sales and service locations that are registered to the ISO 9001 standard. This strategy enables us to provide effective products and services to meet our customers’ needs.

 

Available Information

 

We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). These filings are available to the public over the Internet at the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. You may also read and copy any document we file at the SEC’s public reference room at 100 F Street, N.E., Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the public reference room.

 

Our principal Internet address is http://www.enersys.com. We make available free of charge on http://www.enersys.com our annual, quarterly and current reports, and amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC.

 

Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is applicable to our principal executive officer, our principal financial officer and our controller. Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is available on the Investor Relations section of our website at http://www.enersys.com. Any amendment to, or waiver from, a provision of the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics that applies to one of the officers listed above will be disclosed on the Investor Relations section of our website at http://www.enersys.com. Our Corporate Governance Guidelines and the charters of our Audit, Compensation, and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees are also available on the Investor Relations section of our website at http://www.enersys.com.

 

Risk Factors

 

The following risks and uncertainties, as well as others described in this Report on Form 10-K, could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition:

 

We operate in an extremely competitive industry and are subject to continual pricing pressure.

 

We compete with a number of major international manufacturers and distributors, as well as a large number of smaller, regional competitors. Due to excess capacity in some sectors of our industry, consolidation among

 

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industrial battery purchasers and the financial difficulties being experienced by several of our competitors, we have been subjected to continual and significant pricing pressures. These pricing pressures have prevented us from fully passing through to customers increased costs. We anticipate heightened competitive pricing pressure as Chinese and other foreign producers, able to employ labor at significantly lower costs than producers in the U.S. and Western Europe, expand their export capacity and increase their marketing presence in our major U.S. and European markets. Several of our competitors have strong technical, marketing, sales, manufacturing, distribution and other resources, as well as significant name recognition, established positions in the market and long-standing relationships with original equipment manufacturers and other customers. In addition, certain of our competitors own lead smelting facilities which, during periods of lead cost increases or price volatility, may provide a competitive pricing advantage and reduce their exposure to volatile raw material costs. Our ability to maintain and improve our operating margins has depended, and continues to depend, on our ability to control and reduce our costs. We cannot assure you that we will be able to continue to reduce our operating expenses, to raise or maintain our prices or increase our unit volume, in order to maintain or improve our operating results.

 

Cyclical industry conditions have adversely affected and may continue to adversely affect our results of operations.

 

Our operating results are affected by the general cyclical pattern of the industries in which our major customer groups operate and the overall economic conditions in which we and our customers operate. For example, the significant capital expenditures made by the telecommunications industry during the period from fiscal 1999 through fiscal 2001, as numerous companies expanded their systems and installed standby backup battery power systems, drove demand for our reserve power products. As the telecommunications industry dramatically reduced the building of new systems in response to massive overcapacity, the demand for our reserve power products for this important application declined significantly. Both our reserve power and motive power segments are heavily dependent on the end-user markets they serve, such as telecommunications, UPS and electric industrial forklift trucks. A weak capital expenditure environment in these markets has had and can be expected to have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

 

Our raw materials costs are volatile and expose us to significant movements in our product costs.

 

We employ significant amounts of lead, plastics, steel, copper and other materials in our manufacturing processes. We estimate that raw material costs account for approximately half of our cost of goods sold. Lead is our most significant raw material. The costs of these raw materials, particularly lead, are volatile and beyond our control.

 

Volatile raw material costs can significantly affect our operating results and make period-to-period comparisons extremely difficult. We cannot assure you that we will be able to hedge the costs of our raw material requirements at a reasonable level or pass on to our customers the increased costs of our raw materials.

 

Our operations expose us to the risk of material environmental, health and safety liabilities, costs, and litigation.

 

In the manufacture of our products throughout the world, we process, store, dispose of and otherwise use large amounts of hazardous materials, especially lead and acid. As a result, we are subject to extensive and changing environmental, health and safety laws and regulations governing, among other things: the generation, handling, storage, use, transportation and disposal of hazardous materials; remediation of polluted ground or water; emissions or discharges of hazardous materials into the ground, air or water; and the health and safety of our employees. Compliance with these laws and regulations results in ongoing costs. Failure to comply with these laws or regulations, or to obtain or comply with required environmental permits, could result in fines, criminal charges or other sanctions by regulators. From time to time we have had instances of alleged or actual noncompliance that have resulted in the imposition of fines, penalties and required corrective actions. Our ongoing compliance with environmental, health and safety laws, regulations and permits could require us to incur

 

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significant expenses, limit our ability to modify or expand our facilities or continue production and require us to install additional pollution control equipment and make other capital improvements. In addition, private parties, including current or former employees, could bring personal injury or other claims against us due to the presence of, or exposure to, hazardous substances used, stored or disposed of by us or contained in our products.

 

Certain environmental laws assess liability on owners or operators of real property for the cost of investigation, removal or remediation of hazardous substances at their current or former properties or at properties at which they have disposed of hazardous substances. These laws may also assess costs to repair damage to natural resources. We may be responsible for remediating damage to our properties that was caused by former owners. Soil and groundwater contamination has occurred at some of our current and former properties and may occur or be discovered at other properties in the future. We are currently investigating and monitoring soil and groundwater contamination at certain of our properties, and we may be required to conduct these operations at other properties in the future. In addition, we have been and in the future may be liable to contribute to the cleanup of locations owned or operated by other persons to which we or our predecessor companies have sent wastes for disposal, pursuant to federal and other environmental laws. Under these laws, the owner or operator of contaminated properties and companies that generated, disposed of or arranged for the disposal of wastes sent to a contaminated disposal facility can be held jointly and severally liable for the investigation and cleanup of such properties, regardless of fault.

 

We cannot assure you that we have been or at all times will be in compliance with environmental laws and regulations or that we will not be required to expend significant funds to comply with, or discharge liabilities arising under, environmental laws, regulations and permits, or that we will not be exposed to material environmental, health or safety litigation.

 

Recent legislation proposed by the European Union could affect us and the lead-acid battery industry.

 

Recent legislation proposed by the European Union may affect us and the lead acid battery industry. In November 2003, the European Commission issued a Directive that recommends the elimination of mercury in batteries and the reclamation of spent lead and cadmium batteries for recycling (a “closed-loop” life cycle). On April 20, 2004, the European Parliament approved legislation that would effectively ban lead and cadmium in batteries as well as mercury, with the exception of batteries for which no suitable alternatives exist. While we do not believe that such alternatives currently exist, a suitable substitute for lead acid batteries may be identified or developed. In response to the vote of the European Parliament, the European Commission stated it would not endorse a ban on lead or cadmium in batteries and affirmed its original proposal for closed-loop recycling regulations. The European Council, the main decision-making body of the European Union, re-examined the proposals from the European Parliament and, in December 2004, came to an agreement on a new draft Battery Directive. Under the latest proposals, there would be no ban for lead or cadmium in automotive and industrial batteries. The draft directive will be passed back to the European Parliament for further debate later in 2005. If the European Parliament were to re-introduce the lead and cadmium ban through an amendment to the legislation, then enactment and implementation of the directive by the Member States could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

We are exposed to exchange rate risks, and our net income and financial condition may suffer due to currency translations.

 

We invoice foreign sales and service transactions in local currencies, using actual exchange rates during the period. We translate our non-U.S. assets and liabilities into U.S. dollars using current rates as of the balance sheet date. Because a significant portion of our revenues and expenses are denominated in foreign currencies, changes in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies, primarily the euro and British pound, may adversely affect our revenue, cost of revenue and operating margins. For example, foreign currency depreciation against the U.S. dollar will reduce the value of our foreign revenues and operating earnings as well as reduce our net investment in foreign subsidiaries.

 

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Most of the risk of fluctuating foreign currencies is in our European operations, which comprised over half of our net sales during the last two fiscal years. The euro is the dominant currency in our European operations.

 

The translation impact from currency fluctuations on net sales and operating earnings in the Americas and Asia is minimal, as virtually all net sales and operating earnings are in dollars or are pegged to the dollar.

 

Foreign currency depreciation will make it more expensive for our non-U.S. subsidiaries to purchase certain of our raw material commodities that are priced globally in U.S. dollars. Significant movements in foreign exchange rates can have a material impact on our results of operations and financial condition. We do not engage in significant hedging of our foreign currency exposure and cannot assure you that we would be able to hedge our foreign currency exposures at a reasonable cost.

 

Our international operations may be adversely affected by actions taken by foreign governments or other forces or events over which we may have no control.

 

We currently have significant manufacturing and distribution facilities outside of the U.S., including in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, Mexico, Poland, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy and Canada. We may face political instability and economic uncertainty, cultural and religious differences and difficult labor relations in our foreign operations. We also may face barriers in the form of long-standing relationships between potential customers and their existing suppliers, national policies favoring domestic manufacturers and protective regulations including exchange controls, restrictions on foreign investment or the repatriation of profits or invested capital, changes in export or import restrictions and changes in the tax system or rate of taxation in countries where we do business. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully develop and expand our international operations and sales or that we will be able to overcome the significant obstacles and risks of our international operations.

 

Our failure to introduce new products and product enhancements and broad market acceptance of new technologies introduced by our competitors could adversely affect our business.

 

Many new energy storage technologies, other than lead-acid, have been introduced over the past several years. In addition, recent advances in fuel cell and flywheel technology have been introduced for use in selected applications that compete with the end uses for lead-acid industrial batteries. For many important and growing markets, such as aerospace and defense, lithium-based battery technologies have large and growing market shares and lead-acid technologies have decreasing market shares. Our ability to achieve significant and sustained penetration of key developing markets, including aerospace and defense, will depend upon our success in developing or acquiring these and other technologies, either independently, through joint ventures or through acquisitions. If we fail to develop or acquire, and manufacture and sell, products that satisfy our customers’ demands, or we fail to respond effectively to new product announcements by our competitors by quickly introducing competitive products, then market acceptance of our products could be reduced and our business could be adversely affected. We cannot assure you that our products will remain competitive with products based on technologies other than lead-acid.

 

We may not be able adequately to protect our proprietary intellectual property and technology.

 

We rely on a combination of copyright, trademark, patent and trade secret laws, non-disclosure agreements and other confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to establish, protect and maintain our proprietary intellectual property and technology and other confidential information. Certain of these technologies, especially in thin plate pure lead—TPPL—technology, are important to our business and are not protected by patents. Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary intellectual property and technology and other confidential information, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy or otherwise obtain and use our intellectual property and proprietary technologies.

 

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We may lose our right to use the Exide trademark.

 

Exide Technologies, during the course of its Chapter 11 proceedings, has sought to reject certain agreements related to the 1991 sale of Exide Technologies’ industrial battery business to Yuasa, including the exclusive, perpetual, worldwide and transferable license to use the Exide name on industrial batteries that we acquired in the Yuasa purchase. If the court were to find in favor of Exide Technologies, our license to use the Exide name could be terminated.

 

The Exide trade name is one of our better-known brands. We introduced testimony in the court proceedings from an expert witness who estimated that we would suffer damages of approximately $60 million over a seven-year period from price erosion, profit on lost sales and incremental rebranding expense in the event that the license were terminated. This expert’s assessment of our damages assumed, contrary to our current belief, that the court would not delay the effective date of the termination.

 

As with any litigation, the outcome of this proceeding is uncertain. We cannot assure you that we will retain the right to use the Exide brand, even for a brief period of time, upon the resolution of this dispute by the court.

 

Relocation of our customers’ operations could adversely affect our business.

 

The trend by a number of our North American and Western European customers to move manufacturing operations and expand their businesses into Asia and other low labor-cost markets may have an adverse impact on our business. As our customers in traditional manufacturing-based industries seek to move their manufacturing operations to lower-cost territories, there is a risk that these customers will source their energy storage products from competitors located in those territories and will cease or reduce the purchase of products from our manufacturing plants. We cannot assure you that we will be able to compete effectively with manufacturing operations of energy storage products in those territories, whether by establishing or expanding our manufacturing operations in those lower-cost territories or acquiring existing manufacturers.

 

We may fail to implement our cost reduction initiatives successfully and improve our profitability.

 

We must continue to implement cost reduction initiatives to achieve additional cost savings in future periods. We cannot assure you that we will be able to achieve all of the cost savings that we expect to realize from current or future initiatives. In particular, we may be unable to implement one or more of our initiatives successfully or we may experience unexpected cost increases that offset the savings that we achieve. Given the continued competitive pricing pressures experienced in our industry, our failure to realize cost savings would adversely affect our results of operations.

 

Quality problems with our products could harm our reputation and erode our competitive position.

 

The success of our business will depend upon the quality of our products and our relationships with customers. In the event that our products fail to meet our customers’ standards, our reputation could be harmed, which would adversely affect our marketing and sales efforts. We cannot assure you that our customers will not experience quality problems with our products.

 

We offer our products under a variety of brand names, the protection of which is important to our reputation for quality in the consumer marketplace.

 

We rely upon a combination of trademark, licensing and contractual covenants to establish and protect the brand names of our products. We have registered many of our trademarks in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. In many market segments, our reputation is closely related to our brand names. Monitoring unauthorized use of our brand names is difficult, and we cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will prevent their unauthorized use, particularly in foreign countries where the laws may not protect our proprietary rights as fully as in the U.S. We cannot assure you that our brand names will not be misappropriated or utilized without our consent or that such actions will not have a material adverse effect on our reputation and on our results of operations.

 

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We may fail to implement our plans to make acquisitions.

 

As part of our business strategy, we have grown, and plan to continue growing, by acquiring other product lines, technologies or facilities that complement or expand our existing business. We may be unable to implement this part of our business strategy and may not be able to make acquisitions to continue our growth. There is significant competition for acquisition targets in the industrial battery industry. We may not be able to identify suitable acquisition candidates or negotiate attractive terms. In addition, we may have difficulty obtaining the financing necessary to complete transactions we pursue. In that regard, our credit facilities restrict the amount of additional indebtedness that we may incur to finance acquisitions and place other restrictions on our ability to make acquisitions. Our failure to execute our acquisition strategy could have a material adverse effect on our business. The amounts we may pay for acquisitions are subject to limits on individual transactions and aggregate limits over the term of the credit facilities—until 2011 under the senior secured credit facility. Our individual transaction limits are $25.0 million cash and $75.0 million total (cash and company stock), and our aggregate limits are $100.0 million cash and $200.0 million total. Our ability to incur additional indebtedness also is restricted such that any significant acquisitions that could not be financed through cash generated from operations would need to be financed through issuance of additional company common stock. Exceeding any of these limitations would require the consent of our lenders. We cannot assure you that our acquisition strategy will be successful.

 

Any acquisitions that we complete may dilute your ownership interest in EnerSys, may have adverse effects on our financial condition and results of operations and may cause unanticipated liabilities.

 

Future acquisitions may involve the issuance of our equity securities as payment, in part or in full, for the businesses or assets acquired. Any future issuances of equity securities would dilute your ownership interests. In addition, future acquisitions might not increase, and may even decrease, our earnings or earnings per share and the benefits derived by us from an acquisition might not outweigh or might not exceed the dilutive effect of the acquisition. We also may incur additional debt or suffer adverse tax and accounting consequences in connection with any future acquisitions.

 

Implementation of a new enterprise resource planning system could adversely affect our operations.

 

We are considering the implementation of a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in certain of our locations over the next five years to integrate the separate systems that we currently employ. An ERP system automates various business tasks including accounting, distribution and sales. Successful implementation of this system will be critical to our cost reduction initiatives and to our ability to comply with the financial reporting and internal audit compliance obligations of a public company. Integration and conversion of information from the systems to be replaced by this new system will significantly affect many aspects of our business, including our accounting, operations, purchasing, sales, marketing, and administrative functions, and could disrupt our business, distract management and increase our costs. If we were to experience difficulties or delays in the implementation of this new system, then our ability to provide products to our customers on a timely basis could be adversely affected, which would harm our operating results and relationships with our customers. Additionally, any integration difficulties or delays could adversely affect the processing and reporting of our accounting and financial results. There can be no assurance that we would be able to correct any such difficulties or problems on a timely basis. Furthermore, there can be no assurance that, once successfully implemented, the new system will provide the intended benefits or that it will be adequate to support our operational needs.

 

The failure of critical computer systems could seriously affect our sales and operations.

 

We operate a number of critical computer systems throughout our business that can fail for a variety of reasons. If such a failure were to occur, then we may not be able to sufficiently recover from the failure in time to avoid the loss of data or adversely impact certain of our operations that are dependent on such system. This could result in lost sales and the inefficient operation of our facilities for the duration of such a failure.

 

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Our substantial indebtedness could adversely affect our financial condition.

 

As of March 31, 2005, we had $375.5 million of total consolidated debt. This level of debt could:

 

    increase our vulnerability to adverse general economic and industry conditions, including interest rate fluctuations, because a significant portion of our borrowings bear and will continue to bear interest at floating rates;

 

    require us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to debt service payments, which would reduce the availability of our cash to fund working capital, capital expenditures or other general corporate purposes, including acquisitions;

 

    limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and industry;

 

    restrict our ability to introduce new products or new technologies or exploit business opportunities;

 

    place us at a disadvantage compared with competitors that have proportionately less debt;

 

    limit our ability to borrow additional funds in the future, if we need them, due to financial and restrictive covenants in our debt agreements; and

 

    have a material adverse effect on us if we fail to comply with the financial and restrictive covenants in our debt agreements.

 

This list of factors that may affect future performance is illustrative, but by no means exhaustive. Accordingly, all forward-looking statements should be evaluated with the understanding of their inherent uncertainty.

 

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

 

Set forth below is certain information, as of June 1, 2005, with respect to our principal properties.

 

Location


  

Function/Products Produced(1)


  

Size

(sq. feet utilized)


   Owned/Leased

North America:

              

Reading, PA

   Corporate Offices    109,000    Owned

Hays, KS

   Reserve Power Batteries    351,000    Owned

Warrensburg, MO

   Reserve Power Batteries    341,000    Owned

Richmond, KY

   Motive and Reserve Power Batteries    277,000    Owned

Tijuana, Mexico

   Reserve Power Batteries    156,000    Owned

Ooltewah, TN

   Motive Power Batteries    90,000    Owned

Monterrey, Mexico

   Reserve and Motive Power Batteries    80,000    Owned

Cleveland, OH

   Motive Power Chargers    66,000    Owned

Saddlebrook, NJ

   Distribution Center, Motive and Reserve Power Batteries    58,500    Leased

Sumter, SC

   Metal fabrication, Motive and Reserve Power    52,000    Owned

Brampton, Canada

   Distribution Center, Motive and Reserve Power Batteries    37,000    Leased

Santa Fe Springs, CA

   Distribution Center, Motive and Reserve Power Batteries    35,000    Leased

 

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Europe:

Location


  

Function/Products Produced(1)


  

Size

(sq. feet utilized)


     Owned/Leased

Arras, France

   Reserve and Motive Power Batteries    484,000      Owned

Manchester, England

   Reserve Power Batteries    284,000      Owned

Hagen, Germany

   Reserve and Motive Power Batteries    185,000      Owned/Leased

Newport, Wales

   Reserve Power Batteries    233,000      Owned

Montecchio, Italy (2)

   Motive Power Batteries    207,000      Leased

Bielsko-Biala, Poland

   Motive Power Batteries    172,000      Leased

Crumlin, Wales (2)

   Motive Power Batteries    123,000      Leased

Herstal, Belgium

  

Distribution Center, Motive and Reserve Power Batteries

   56,000      Leased

Zamudio, Spain

  

Assembly and distribution, Reserve and Motive Power Batteries

   55,000      Owned