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8-K - LCI INDUSTRIES | v183567_8k.htm |
Exhibit
99.1
Final
Transcript
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Conference Call
Transcript
DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries
Incorporated Earnings Conference Call
Event Date/Time: May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT
|
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
CORPORATE
PARTICIPANTS
Jeff
Tryka
Lambert
Edwards & Associates - IR
Fred
Zinn
Drew
Industries Inc. - President & CEO
Joe
Giordano
Drew
Industries Inc. - CFO & Treasurer
Jason
Lippert
Drew
Industries Inc. - President & CEO, Lippert Components &
Kinro
CONFERENCE CALL
PARTICIPANTS
Scott
Stember
Sidoti
& Co. - Analyst
Kathryn
Thompson
Thompson
Research Group - Analyst
Bret
Jordan
Avondale
Partners - Analyst
Liam
Burke
Janney,
Montgomery, Scott - Analyst
Torin
Eastburn
CJS
Securities - Analyst
DeForest
Hinman
Walthausen
& Co. - Analyst
Arnold
Brief
Goldsmith
& Harris - Analyst
Barry
Kaplan
Maple
Tree Capital - Analyst
PRESENTATION
Operator
Good
day and welcome to the first-quarter 2010 Drew Industries Inc. earnings
conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We
will facilitate a question-and-answer session towards the end of the conference.
(Operator Instructions). I will now turn the call over to your host for today,
Mr. Jeff Tryka from Lambert Edwards. Please proceed.
Jeff Tryka - Lambert Edwards & Associates - IR
Thank
you. Good morning, everyone and welcome to the Drew Industries' 2010
first-quarter conference call. I am Jeff Tryka with Lambert Edwards, Drew's
Investor Relations firm and I have with me members of Drew's management team,
including Leigh Abrams, Chairman of the Board of Drew; Fred Zinn, President and
CEO and a Director of Drew; Jason Lippert, President and CEO of Lippert
Components and Kinro and a Director of Drew; and Joe Giordano, CFO and Treasurer
of Drew.
We want to
take a few minutes to discuss our quarterly results. However, before we do so,
it is my responsibility to inform you that certain statements made in today's
conference call regarding Drew Industries and its operations may be considered
forward-looking statements under the securities laws.
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
As a
result, I must caution you that there are a number of factors, many of which are
beyond the Company's control, which could cause actual results and events to
differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These
factors are identified in our press releases, our Form 10-K for the year ended
2009 and in our subsequent Form 10-Qs, all as filed with the SEC. With that, I
would like to turn the call over to Fred Zinn. Fred?
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
Thank
you, Jeff and thank all of you for joining us on the call and on the webcast. We
are really very gratified that our results this quarter benefited from our
efforts and investments over the past several years. While much of the
improvement in our first-quarter results was due to the 99% increase in industry
production of travel trailers and fifth-wheel RVs, Drew's growth this quarter
substantially outpaced the industries we serve. And that is clearly reflected in
the increase in our content per travel trailer and fifth-wheel RV to about $2200
in the 12 months ended March 31, 2010 and that is compared to about $1900 last
March.
In fact,
since 2001, our content per towable RV has increased by about $1500. Now if the
RVIA projection of 182,000 travel trailer and fifth-wheel RVs this year holds
true, the cumulative increase in our content will have added approximately $275
million to our 2010 sales compared to what it would have been if our content had
not grown. So with our focus on new product introductions, acquisitions, and
market share growth, without that, we would be only about half of our current
size. So clearly, our strategy has worked over the past decade.
Over the
last several quarters, we have continued to invest in new products, both through
acquisitions like the new patent pending wall slide and the new patent pending
high-end leveling device for fifth-wheel RVs, as well as those we have developed
internally like the new RV entry door, the sleek new window designs and other
new products. All of that should help Drew continue to grow.
Further,
our efforts to expand in our Manufactured Housing product line have now begun to
pay off. Despite a 1% decline in industry shipments in manufactured homes this
quarter, and I should point out that our press release says 3%, but just about
an hour ago, the shipment numbers for March for Manufactured Housing came out a
little bit better than we expected, largely in smaller homes, but despite that
small increase in industry shipments in the first quarter, our segment sales in
Manufactured Housing increased by 17% year-over-year. That is the first such
increase in sales in nearly four years.
The sales
increase was primarily due to the addition of entry doors to our Manufactured
Housing product line, market share gains in our window product line and growth
in our sales of aftermarket replacement products. In a few minutes, Joe will
give you some details on our recent growth in those markets.
While this
was still a down quarter slightly for the Manufactured Housing industry, the
rate of decline slowed substantially and our segment sales increased, which of
course is good news. Our sales growth in the future will likely include new
product areas such as components for midsize buses and components for various
types of specialty trailers. In the last few months, our sales of those
products, while still not a significant part of Drew, have increased as we
expanded our efforts in those markets.
On the
cost side of our business, the continued improvements in our production
efficiencies offset a portion of the impact of higher raw material costs last
quarter. However, as the higher-cost steel, aluminum, thermoplastics and other
raw materials flow through our income statement over the coming quarters, the
impact on our cost of sales will increase.
I should
point out, I want to clarify that the $25 million to $30 million increase in raw
material costs that we spoke about in the press release is an annualized basis
based on the raw material prices that we currently know. Historically, as most
of you are aware, we have been able to pass on much of the raw material cost
increases to our customers through sales price increases and we certainly hope
to accomplish that this year as well.
Turning to
conditions in the RV industry, the 99% increase in industry production levels
during the first quarter of 2010 resulted, to some extent, from increases in
dealer inventories. While under certain circumstances an increase in dealer
inventories can be a cause for some concern, most industry analysts reported
that dealer inventories coming into 2010 were relatively low in relation to
retail sales levels.
Further,
recent dealer surveys by these analysts indicate that retail sales of towable
RVs increased significantly in March. We certainly hope that those surveys will
be confirmed by the March retail data, which should be out in about three
weeks.
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
Certainly,
the key to 2010 is for retail sales to improve during the balance of the spring
and summer selling season. But whatever the course of the recovery in the RV
industry, it is very clear that many, many Americans still cherish their RV
lifestyle and they will continue to choose RVing because it is a cost-effective
and family-oriented way to spend their leisure time. And in fact, the RV
Industry Association is promoting just those benefits of RVing in their current
advertising campaign.
In the
Manufactured Housing industry, there have not yet been any significant signs of
improvement, although it was nice to see the rate of decline slow so
dramatically in the first quarter. However, I continue to believe there is
opportunity for growth in the Manufactured Housing industry in the coming
years.
For the 20
years prior to the subprime boom in home financing, Manufactured Housing
shipments represented 20% or more of single-family housing starts, almost each
and every year, year in and out, good years and bad. During the subprime years
when extremely low-cost loans were available for site-built homes, Manufactured
Housing's share of the single-family housing market dropped precipitously to
well below 10% from 20%.
Since the
subprime bubble burst, this market share has increased somewhat to about 12%
despite that interest rates from manufactured home loans remain historically
high relative to rates for site-built home loans. And I think as the economy
recovers, I believe that Manufactured Housing will share in the growth in
single-family housing starts, particularly if rates for manufactured housing
loans become more equitable in relation to site-built home loans. In the
meantime, we remain profitable in that segment and we continue to pursue further
market share growth, increased aftermarket sales and additional efficiency
improvements.
Last
quarter when we spoke, I said that we were pleased with the fourth-quarter
results in light of the state of the economy, but we were far from satisfied
with the bottom line. Since then, the RV industry in general and Drew's results
in particular have improved faster than our expectations or probably anybody's
expectations. However, we will continue to strive for increased sales in both
our existing markets and in new markets, as well as further improvements in our
operating efficiencies and our focus continues to be on improving our long-term
profit potential. Now I will ask Joe to discuss the results in a little more
detail.
Joe
Giordano - Drew Industries
Inc. - CFO & Treasurer
Thank
you, Fred. Last year at this time, I discussed declines in sales and operating
profit, goodwill impairment charges, extra expenses and a reduction in our
borrowing availability. This quarter, I will be discussing substantial
improvements in our sales and operating profits, as well as an increase in our
borrowing availability. This dramatic change is a result of increased wholesale
RV shipments, our market share gains and the implementation of operating
efficiencies and cost-cutting measures by our operating management.
Unfortunately, accounting rules do not allow our goodwill impairment charge for
the first quarter of 2009 to be reversed to reflect the subsequent increase in
fair value of our businesses.
As Fred
mentioned, in addition to our goal of increasing content of our products in new
RVs and manufactured homes, we have gained a greater share of the aftermarket
for replacement components in both the RV and the Manufactured Housing industry.
For the 12 months ended March 2010, our Manufactured Housing and RV aftermarket
sales were approximately $20 million, an increase of 25% from the $16 million
for the 12 months ended March 2009.
Our
Manufactured Housing entry door product line, which was added just six months
ago, has quickly gained market acceptance and for the first quarter of 2010 had
sales of approximately $0.5 million, including new and aftermarket manufactured
homes. We anticipate this new product line will continue to gain market share in
2010.
Our
content per travel trailer and fifth-wheel RV continues to grow, increasing 16%
in the 12-month period ended March 31, 2010 as compared to the 12-month period
ended March 2009. In addition, our content per travel trailer and fifth-wheel RV
for just the first quarter of 2010 alone increased 13% as compared to just the
fourth quarter of 2009 alone. This increase is due to market share gains and new
product introductions, but a portion of this quarterly increase in RV content is
seasonal, also ocurring in the first quarters of 2005 through 2008 apparently
due to RV manufacturers modestly building inventories of our products. It
appears that in the first few months of each year, our customers replenish their
inventory, including our products, as wholesale RV demand increases ahead of the
Spring retail selling season.
Because
the first quarter of 2009 included a $45 million goodwill impairment charge and
$4.9 million of extra expenses, this quarter, we included additional tables in
the press release identifying the classification of these extra expenses in the
statement of operations and by segment for 2009 in order to provide
comparability to the first quarter of 2010.
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
For the
first quarter of 2010, our cost of sales were 77% of sales compared to 88% of
sales in the first quarter of 2009, again excluding these 2009 extra expenses
previously referred to. Cost of sales in the 2010 first quarter benefited from
the spreading of fixed costs over a larger sales base, operating efficiencies,
lower group insurance and warranty costs and fixed cost reductions, while cost
of sales in the 2009 first quarter was negatively impacted by abnormally high
raw material costs, as well as the low levels of industry-wide RV production. In
recent months, raw material costs have once again risen to abnormally high
levels, well above what we experienced in the fourth quarter of 2009 and are
continuing to rise as the economy improves. As Fred said, we are attempting to
obtain price increases from our customers to offset these rising raw material
costs.
Selling,
general and administrative expenses as a percent of sales was 15% for the first
quarter of 2010, down from 23% in the first quarter of 2009, again excluding the
2009 extra expenses. This decline in SG&A as a percent of sales was achieved
primarily because of the significant fixed cost reductions implemented by
management and the spreading of fixed costs over a larger sales
base.
Operating
profit in the first quarter of 2010, as compared to the same period of 2009,
benefited from fixed cost reductions of approximately $1.5 million. Because of
the growth in our business, additional cost reductions may not be as significant
over the balance of 2010.
Because so
much has changed over the past year, we find it useful to also compare our
results for the current quarter to the most recently completed quarter.
Excluding the extra expenses in the fourth quarter of 2009, first-quarter 2010
operating profit increased by $4.9 million, or 12% of the $42 million increase
in sales, again, as compared to the fourth quarter of 2009. This profit increase
was lower than the 20% incremental margin we would typically expect due in part
to higher raw material costs, as well as retirement costs partially offset by
improved operating efficiencies. The fourth quarter of 2009 also benefited from
lower than typical warranty costs, which did not recur in the first quarter of
2010.
At March
31, 2010, our trailing 12-month EBITDA exceeded $50 million and as a result, the
maximum leverage ratio covenant in both our line of credit and shelf loan
facilities increased from 1.25 to 2.5 times the trailing 12-month EBITDA,
increasing our borrowing availability under these facilities to over $130
million. However, our more than $50 million in cash and short-term investments,
as well as the cash we expect to generate in 2010, are expected to be more than
adequate and no borrowings under these facilities are anticipated.
During the
first quarter of 2010, we completed two acquisitions, aggregate consideration
for which was $21 million paid at closing, plus a contingent earnout to be paid
over the next six years depending upon the level of sales generated from the new
products. The present value of the estimated earnout payments have been recorded
as a liability on our balance sheet. We are required to record interest expense
on the change in the present value of this liability. So assuming no bank debt,
we anticipate recording net interest expense of approximately $2 million in
2010, including $1.6 million related to these earnouts and approximately
$300,000 for fees on our line of credit. Despite our high level of cash and
investments, interest income in 2010 is not expected to be significant due to
anticipated low interest rates and our policy of investing in only extremely
safe investments.
Also as a
result of the acquisitions completed in the first quarter of 2010, the Company
recorded $8 million of goodwill and $24 million of other intangible assets. For
the full year 2010, amortization of these other intangible assets from these two
acquisitions is expected to be approximately $1.1 million, increasing the
estimated depreciation and amortization for 2010 to $17 million compared to
projected capital expenditures for 2010 of between $6 million and $8
million.
Our tax
rate in the first quarter of 2010 was 39.9%, consistent with our full-year 2009
expectations of an effective tax rate between 38% and 40%.
Finally,
for the first quarter of 2010, we have included amortization expense within the
segment operating results rather than as a separate line item. Prior period
segment results have been revised to conform to this new presentation and we
have included prior-year information for 2009 and 2008 in the press release.
This reclassification was made in light of recent acquisitions to match the
amortization expense for patents, customer relationships, trademarks, etc. with
the associated revenues. Thank you for your time. Now I'll turn it back to
Fred.
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
Thank
you, Joe. Now we can certainly open it up for questions.
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
QUESTION AND
ANSWER
Operator
(Operator
Instructions). Scott Stember, Sidoti & Co.
Scott Stember - Sidoti & Co. - Analyst
Good
morning. Could you maybe just remind us the last round of price increases that
you had to put through for commodity costs, just give a framework of how
successful you were?
Fred Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. - President & CEO
Yes,
as Jason will say, we face this issue all the time. Commodity prices have been
volatile for several years. The last huge increase was in 2008 when steel costs
tripled and we were successful at passing on the vast majority of those cost
increases. It is no different really than any other commodity price increase
that we've faced over the past three or four years. So hopefully, we will be
successful, but we are still in the early stages, so we will have to wait and
see. Do you have anything else, Jason, to add?
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
No,
2008 I think was the big answer to this question there. It was early in
2008.
Scott Stember - Sidoti & Co. - Analyst
And
as far as cost cuts, it looks like, at least by the comments, that probably not
a whole lot more. As far as efficiency improvements, you guys have been able to
do a lot to offset rising raw material costs in the past. Could you just maybe
touch on some of the things you can do going forward?
Fred Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. - President & CEO
Yes,
I think, first, I think there will be some additional cost cuts, but now they
are balanced out, if the market continues to grow and our sales continue to
grow, it is not as easy to reduce costs. In some cases, we are adding some,
balancing off the cost reductions. But efficiencies have done very well. Jason,
do you have anything particular to add to that in terms of production
efficiencies?
Jason Lippert - Drew Industries Inc. - President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
No,
nothing specific. When we got into consolidation mode in late 2007 and 2008, I
mean we have just kind of been on that bandwagon consolidating facilities. And
the more we have done, the more we see that there is to do. So the bulk of it is
done. We are doing some skinnying up here and there.
Fred Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. - President & CEO
I
would add just one bit of color to that. I noticed that, at the end of March,
our number of production employees was actually lower than at the end of
December. So in December, we were gearing up for a very strong first quarter,
but apparently Jason has been able to implement some additional efficiency
improvements at least as far as labor goes.
Scott Stember - Sidoti & Co. - Analyst
And
just if we could flesh into the 75% increase in April sales that you alluded to
in the press release, obviously mostly RV and can you just maybe talk about the
Manufactured Housing, how it did?
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
Fred Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. - President & CEO
Yes,
we don't really have the segment sales yet, but just from the feel of it, and
from speaking to people, I think there has been a little bit of spotty strength
in the Manufactured Housing segment. I don't think we are seeing any explosion
in sales or significant increases like we did in RVs. But I think at least for
the time being, it is better than bad. Certainly a lot better than continuing to
see double-digit declines.
Scott Stember - Sidoti & Co. - Analyst
And
just lastly, could you just talk about the competitive landscape? You have been
able to pick off some product lines from some sales competitors in the past.
Could you just talk about what is still out there just from a high
level?
Fred Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. - President & CEO
I
think it always surprises me the product lines that we do get into and which
competitors survive and which ones fail. I would say, to be honest with you,
when we were sitting here a year ago, I probably would have thought there would
be more opportunities. But the industry recovered fairly quickly and small
mom-and-pop suppliers probably thought they can last another year, they will get
a better price. So while I think we did very well in terms of the opportunities,
we just recently acquired the wall slide product and the high end leveling
device and before that several other small acquisitions, I think we did fairly
well. It may not have been the windfall that we were thinking about in terms of
acquisitions.
Scott Stember - Sidoti & Co. - Analyst
Great.
That's all I have. Thank you.
Operator
Kathryn
Thompson, Thompson Research Group.
Kathryn Thompson - Thompson Research Group - Analyst
Hi,
thank you so much. Could you give us an idea what steel pricing was last year
for this year, just basically putting into perspective the $25 million to $30
million anticipated increase for 2010?
Fred Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. - President & CEO
Yes,
the $25 million to $30 million is relative to where we closed 2009. So it was
the fourth quarter give or take of 2009. When Scott asked about the last price
increase, I probably should have mentioned that, in early 2009, we also saw a
huge steel price increase. So last year, it was on a roller coaster, both steel
and some other commodities. It is sometimes hard to talk about the relative
increase unless you are very specific about the period you are measuring
against.
In this
case, we are measuring against fourth-quarter prices as they flowed through our
P&L. And that is where we see steel prices and aluminum and thermoplastics
right now. So it is not what we experienced in the first quarter. If we updated
all of our costs for the year based upon today's steel or most currently
available steel, aluminum and thermoplastic and such prices, it would be $25
million to $30 million higher than it would have been at fourth-quarter price
levels.
Kathryn
Thompson - Thompson Research
Group - Analyst
In
the past, you had said that raw materials were just north of 50% of your cost of
sales and of raw materials, steel is about 50% to 60% of that. Does that still
hold true and how much is aluminum of your overall raw materials?
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
Yes,
steel is still in that same ballpark and that includes -- those numbers include
components that we may buy that are made of steel. It is not just the raw steel
that we buy, but it is still in that neighborhood of 50% plus of our raw
material costs. Aluminum is much lower, I don't know, maybe 20% of that or 15%
of that or something like that.
Kathryn Thompson - Thompson Research Group - Analyst
15%
to 20% of your raw materials?
Fred Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. - President & CEO
No,
of the steel. So it is, I don't know, 5% or 10% of --.
Kathryn Thompson - Thompson Research Group - Analyst
Okay.
And just to clarify in terms of passing on price increase. I know that you have
dealt with this a number of times in the past as you've mentioned in the call.
Are you able to pass on the increase in terms of dollars or on a percentage
basis?
Fred Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. - President & CEO
Historically,
it has been just in terms of dollars. Let me let Jason fill in some color on
that, but historically we are passing along cost increases without margin. Is
that fair to say, Jason?
Jason Lippert - Drew Industries Inc. - President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
Yes.
Kathryn
Thompson - Thompson Research
Group - Analyst
What
is the pushback then from customers so far?
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
Most
of it we are just going out with now because we were carrying some inventory,
but it is -- all of our customers know what commodities do. They track it as
closely as we do. Because on a larger scale, it affects them with the wide array
of commodities that they buy and we are just the steel portion. So they are
tracking what is going on in our industry and they are prepared for it. And the
negotiations always end up fair for both sides in my opinion and we have done
this probably three times since 2007 and it always ends up well for both of us I
think.
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
I
think that is the key, what Jason in the middle there said about negotiations
between our customers winding up -- and us winding up with a fair result. We
hopefully will get a significant portion of the price relief that we
need.
Kathryn Thompson - Thompson Research Group - Analyst
And
how long does it take to really, just from start to finish when you announce a
price increase, for it to really flow through numbers?
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
It
depends. It depends on where we are at with inventory for that customer and
depends on where the start date is obviously of the increase, but it is kind of
hard to put a pinpoint and say, hey, this is where we end up as a
company.
Kathryn
Thompson - Thompson Research
Group - Analyst
It
would take three to six months, is that reasonable?
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
No,
I would say three or less for the most part. Again, depending on the inventory.
I mean some might be a little bit longer, some might be a little shorter. Some
we have already put into -- some we have already put into place.
Kathryn
Thompson - Thompson Research
Group - Analyst
Okay.
Just talking a little bit about moving to retail demand in March. You said you
are hearing some improvements in retail. Any color on that and also how much
order visibility do you realistically have in the current market and how is this
versus last year?
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
Most
of the color we get on retail demand comes from you, Kathryn. Of course, we're
reading everybody's dealer surveys and there are some good ones out there,
including yours and listening to our customers. So most people are saying that
March retail should be up. They expect it was up certainly double-digit. So we
will wait and see.
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
Registrations
are coming in pretty strong according to a lot of our customers right
now.
Kathryn
Thompson - Thompson Research
Group - Analyst
Okay.
And how is your visibility today versus last year?
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
In
terms of order flow? It is about the same really. We can see we have orders just
for a very short amount of time and I know Jason and his team are talking with
our customers all the time, but our visibility is measured in weeks, not in
months. So I don't know whether it is four weeks or six weeks, but beyond that,
it gets a little more cloudy.
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
That
is correct and our customers have -- the manufacturers have a lot -- visibility
a lot further out and I think it is fair to say that their visibility is a lot
longer today than it was last year at this time.
Kathryn
Thompson - Thompson Research
Group - Analyst
Okay,
all right. Thank you so much.
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
Operator
Bret
Jordan, Avondale Partners.
Bret
Jordan - Avondale Partners -
Analyst
Hey,
good morning. Kind of a quick question. One of those just on Jason's comment
about registrations coming in pretty strong, is that sort of April data that you
are getting back through the channel?
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
Yes,
that's recent.
Bret
Jordan - Avondale Partners -
Analyst
Okay,
great. And then in '08 when you had the last big pricing pass-through, was that
pricing then generally passed through at retail pricing as well. Did it at some
point get absorbed into the channel or will they take some margin cut or does
the consumer usually pick up the tab?
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
I
think my impression is, and I will ask Jason to fill in, but my impression is
everybody pays a little bit. So we don't get 100% and our customers eat a little
bit and the dealer eats a little bit and the consumer, depending on the nature
of the price increases, the consumer might see some additional costs in the
RV.
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
A
lot of times too, one of the areas we work with customers, that is a time for
them to start looking seriously at maybe taking advantage of some cost-cutting
or efficiency measures we have offered up in the past where there is a little
bit more incentive when there is a price increase facing them to do those kinds
of things and soften it for everybody.
Bret
Jordan - Avondale Partners -
Analyst
Okay.
And just to follow up on your last response, I think you had said it was likely
within a quarter that any incremental input costs can be passed
through?
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
Yes.
Bret
Jordan - Avondale Partners -
Analyst
Okay,
great. Thank you.
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
I
think what happened in 2008, we kept seeing increase after increase, so we were
always a little bit that quarter behind or so. We'll have to wait and see what
form this takes. With a strong economy, it is hard to predict what kind of
further increases we will see in the raw materials or whether they will come
down.
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
Bret
Jordan - Avondale Partners -
Analyst
But
it is not a multi-month negotiation process; it is generally a price sheet is
rolled out and accepted or rejected?
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
More
or less.
Bret
Jordan - Avondale Partners -
Analyst
All
right. Thank you.
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
There
is always some negotiation. Our customers are in this business to make money
just like we are and so there will be pushbacks undoubtedly and discussions back
and forth. Hopefully it won't, as Jason said, hopefully won't take an extended
period of time, but it could take a short period of time to get the price
increases through.
Bret
Jordan - Avondale Partners -
Analyst
Is
anything going on in the motorhome space with this new slide technology you
have? Have you gotten any incremental footholds there?
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
You
mean with respect to the in wall slide?
Bret
Jordan - Avondale Partners -
Analyst
Right.
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
On
motorhomes specifically?
Bret
Jordan - Avondale Partners -
Analyst
Yes.
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
Yes,
I think that is one of the large target areas we have got right now. I mean we
have got a lot of traction on the motorhome side of the business right now.
Specifically because it takes all the large bulky slides out from under the
floor and we put them right in the wall and integrate it to the slide-out room
of the unit.
Bret
Jordan - Avondale Partners -
Analyst
So
is that actually being sold and installed now or is that still sort of in the
discussion process?
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
Jason Lippert - Drew Industries Inc. - President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
No,
we have got business going on right now. It's a 35-pound slide-out mechanism
compared to -- I mean the old systems weighed anywhere from 150 to 250 pounds
per mechanism.
Bret Jordan - Avondale Partners - Analyst
All
right, great.
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
And
motorhomes are obviously a lot more sensitive in the towables to
weight.
Operator
Liam
Burke, Janney Montgomery Scott.
Liam Burke - Janney, Montgomery, Scott - Analyst
Thank
you. Good morning, Fred. Good morning, Joe. I guess, Joe, in your discussion,
you talked about the aftermarket business growing. It looks like to about 14% or
15% of total revenues. Just generally, could you give us a sense as to what the
growth expectation would be and what the gross margin implication would be for
the aftermarket, vis-a-vis OEM sales?
Joe
Giordano - Drew Industries
Inc. - CFO & Treasurer
We
really don't give any projections or forecasts. I do know that this has been an
area of focus for us. We'll keep our efforts there. Last year, we had talked
about the entry door business for Manufactured Housing that we were getting into
and that being a $25 million to $30 million market of which about half of that
was in the aftermarket itself. And we -- again, I've talked about just having
$0.5 million of sales in that now. So there is some opportunity and area for
growth there. And again, we don't give any forward-looking information in terms
of what we think the sales would be there.
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
And
just to clarify, the aftermarket isn't 15% of our sales. That $20 million that
Joe mentioned, that was for the trailing 12 months.
Liam
Burke - Janney, Montgomery,
Scott - Analyst
Okay,
great. And obviously you laid out your capital budget for the year. Are there
any priorities you have there, any kind of delayed investing that you've based
on a slower 2009?
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
No,
I don't think so. I think, as we see opportunities, we have the cash to invest,
which is always good. If we see opportunities to improve our efficiencies, we
will invest where we have to. But I think, right at this point, we are still
talking about the $6 million to $8 million. So still quite modest.
Liam
Burke - Janney, Montgomery,
Scott - Analyst
Great,
thank you.
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
Operator
Torin
Eastburn, Drew Industries (sic).
Torin
Eastburn - CJS Securities -
Analyst
I
think all my questions have been answered. Thank you.
Operator
DeForest
Hinman, Walthausen & Company.
DeForest Hinman - Walthausen & Co. - Analyst
Hi,
I had a few questions. Can you talk about the raw materials as a percentage of
the cost of goods sold, what level that was in the first quarter and then also
the fourth quarter '09?
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
Well,
I can give you some generalities there. Usually we think more in terms of
material costs as a percentage of sales. And they were north, just north of 50%.
So it may have been up a point or two or whatever it turned out to be in the
first quarter as compared to the fourth quarter, but generally, it is between
50% and 55%.
DeForest
Hinman - Walthausen & Co.
- Analyst
Okay.
Can you give us a little bit more color on the movement we are seeing in the
SG&A line? We had a pretty sizable sequential increase. I know some of that
is probably driven by the increase in sales. I know we do profit-sharing, but
over the last few quarters, the number has really moved around quite a bit. Can
you kind of give us some color about how to think about that as we progress
through the year?
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
Sure,
the SG&A line has obviously both variable and fixed costs. As you said, one
of the biggest variable costs is the incentive compensation that varies not with
our sales, but with our profitability. So the stronger the profits, the more we
are accruing for incentive compensation. But included in SG&A as well are
our distribution costs. We put our distribution costs, shipping, freight-type
costs in SG&A as well. So a portion of the non-incentive compensation,
SG&A is also variable. Does that help at all?
DeForest
Hinman - Walthausen & Co.
- Analyst
Well,
I guess another way of asking it, either from a dollar perspective or a
percentage of revenues perspective, I mean there is just a lot of variability
there and maybe some help from a modeling perspective as to some type of range
we can be looking at for the remainder of the year.
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
I
don't think that is something that we have disclosed in the past. I'm not
prepared to do that right at this point. Although I would say that, a few
percent for our distribution cost, just a few percent for the freight and
delivery costs and the balance, as you know, we accrued 20% of our --
approximately 20% of operating profits for incentive compensation. So this
quarter was more profitable -- as this quarter was more profitable than last
year, part of that increase is the 20% incentive compensation
accrual.
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
Joe
Giordano - Drew Industries
Inc. - CFO & Treasurer
Correct.
Last year was a loss, so there was no incentive compensation in last year's
first quarter 2009. And as we have said when you are looking and modeling, we
don't typically get into the cost of sales and SG&A line. The sanity check
is the 20% incremental margin when looking forward and trying to project the
model.
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
That's
exactly right.
Joe
Giordano - Drew Industries
Inc. - CFO & Treasurer
Now
again, in 2010, as we have said half a dozen times already, the biggest factor
that will offset or impact that 20% incremental margin will be raw material
costs. We just have to monitor that piece of it.
DeForest
Hinman - Walthausen & Co.
- Analyst
Okay.
And speaking of the raw materials, in the past, we have been in a strong balance
sheet position. I know it was either a year ago or a couple years ago, we did
some pre-buy on imported steel. Are we looking at anything like that at this
point?
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
Not
at this point. I think it is very difficult in this kind of economy to know
whether steel is going up. It's not only supply and demand; it is the forces of
China, so it is very difficult. I don't see us doing an awful lot of pre-buying.
Jason, do you have any other thoughts on that?
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
No,
steel has been flat the last couple of months and there is talk that the steel
prices will either level off or maybe even fall this summer, fall. Or just -- we
are just kind of taking it month-to-month. It rose real rapidly in a real short
period of time and smarter for us just to kind of play it month-by-month right
now.
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
I
think if you asked a dozen analysts on where steel prices are going to go, you
would get a dozen different responses. So we are not smart enough to make a big
bet on it one way or the other.
DeForest Hinman - Walthausen & Co. - Analyst
All
right. Can you kind of comment on the acquisition pipeline, what you are seeing
from a multiple perspective? Are they moving away from what we've historically
paid?
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
Certainly,
in terms of pricing, things have changed. We rarely, if ever, talk about
multiples of prior earnings. We are looking at, in the case of an acquisition of
a business as opposed to a patent or an idea as the last two were, but in the
case of an acquisition of a business, we are talking about assets, maybe some
earnout. If things go better than we expect, maybe they get some additional
payments. So in terms of the pricing, it is just a different way of formulating
our offer.
In terms
of the pipeline, we are still seeing opportunities. We don't have -- if we had
something to announce, we would. But at this point, we are just continuing to
pursue those that come our way. Most of our acquisitions have been as much
opportunistic as strategic. We make the acquisitions because we think we can do
well with them, but when you are dealing with a small business owner, usually a
small family-owned business, it is very hard to convince them when to sell. They
make up their mind when to sell and we evaluate the opportunity.
DeForest
Hinman - Walthausen & Co.
- Analyst
Okay,
and this is more of a high-level question on the balance sheet. Historically, we
haven't really held a very large amount of cash going back the last 10 years or
so. We find ourselves in a position again with a lot of cash. We're still
looking at acquisitions. You just did two in the first quarter. We still have a
lot of cash. Is it our position to maintain a very high level of cash or do we
look to get some of that back to shareholders at some point?
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
Well,
it is certainly not our position to hold a high level of cash. While we are
debt-averse, we won't borrow as much as other companies, we have no problem
borrowing for the right opportunities. Our first priority for spending our cash
and for even incurring debt would be for acquisitions. And at this point, we
hope and expect to see enough opportunities so that we need to keep our cash for
the time being available for that use.
But I
understand that, at some point, if we are not spending as much on acquisitions
and growth as the cash flow that we are generating, we need to think about
returning some to stockholders. So at every Board meeting for the past quite a
few Board meetings, that is a topic that comes up for discussion.
DeForest
Hinman - Walthausen & Co.
- Analyst
All
right. And then my last question is just an update on some properties you have
for sale. I think we talked about those on previous calls, but I don't know if
you mentioned them on this one.
Joe
Giordano - Drew Industries
Inc. - CFO & Treasurer
There
have been no significant changes during this quarter. I think the market is
starting to pick up a little bit in some of the areas, but there has been no
significant movements.
DeForest
Hinman - Walthausen & Co.
- Analyst
So
those properties are for sale still?
Joe
Giordano - Drew Industries
Inc. - CFO & Treasurer
Yes.
DeForest
Hinman - Walthausen & Co.
- Analyst
Okay,
thank you.
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
What
do we have? 10, Joe?
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
Joe Giordano - Drew Industries Inc. - CFO & Treasurer
Yes,
there's around 10.
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
And
three of those are leased.
Joe Giordano - Drew Industries Inc. - CFO & Treasurer
Three
of those -- yes, that's right. Three of them are under leases for the next one
to three years. So there are seven actively being marketed.
DeForest
Hinman - Walthausen & Co.
- Analyst
All
right. Thank you.
Operator
Owen
Brief, Goldsmith & Harris.
Arnold
Brief - Goldsmith & Harris
- Analyst
That
is Arnie Brief, I believe.
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
We
know who you are, Arnie.
Arnold
Brief - Goldsmith & Harris
- Analyst
Sometimes
I don't know who I am. Just a few questions. What would be the impact of the
housing credits that were in effect and now expiring, having expired? What would
be the overall impact of that transition and financing on Manufactured Housing?
And as a corollary, why would you think interest rates on Manufactured Housing
mortgages would come down when the outlook for interest rates on a longer-term
basis is probably for them to go up?
And then
the second question is could you -- you did a little bit, but could you do a
little bit more on giving us the size of the market on some of the new products
and acquisitions that you made for those particular products?
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
Let
me try and answer them in order. Your first question related to the housing
credit, the $8,000 housing credit. And from all reports, it had virtually no
effect on Manufactured Housing. You need to have a lender, even if you have an
$8,000 credit, you still need to find lenders to provide financing for the
purchase. And there weren't an awful lot of lenders available.
Arnold
Brief - Goldsmith & Harris
- Analyst
But
the expiration will have no impact?
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
Yes,
I don't think the expiration will have any significant -- from the people I have
spoken to, the expiration will have no significant impact.
In terms
of the interest rates on Manufactured Homes, I wasn't saying that the interest
rates would be low or would decline. I am hoping, although I don't know if I am
expecting, I am hoping that the differential between a Manufactured Housing loan
and a site-built home mortgage will decline. It is higher than it has
historically been. It is not the highest it has ever been, but relative to the
average over history, it is high. And of course that influences more people to
buy site-built homes when the financing for site-built homes is relatively less
expensive than historically it would be.
Arnold
Brief - Goldsmith & Harris
- Analyst
You
don't think the tax credits on housing shifted people towards site-built homes
versus --?
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
No,
I don't think so. I really don't know. But if you think about it, on a $300,000
site-built home, the $8,000 credit was a couple of percent, 2.5%, but on an
$80,000 manufactured home, it was a 10% credit at its peak anyway. So I don't
think so. There aren't good statistics on it, so I don't know for sure, but my
gut tells me probably not much impact.
Arnold
Brief - Goldsmith & Harris
- Analyst
How
about the second question, market size, some of the new products and
acquisitions?
Fred Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. - President & CEO
Oh,
for the recent acquisitions? I think the biggest acquisition obviously we made
is the wall slide. We tend to focus on the wall slide piece of that acquisition,
but there were a number of other components. We had some other nice products and
I don't know, maybe the wall slide is half of the value or something like that
of that acquisition.
And I
think the market size there is hard to peg because what we are looking at first
is what our opportunity is to increase our share and as Jason said, that starts
with motorhomes or at least starts in part with motorhomes. But as the product
develops, we could see -- it become a very significant portion of the overall
slide-out market.
There are
-- if there were 180,000 towable RVs, travel trailer and fifth-wheel RVs and
maybe an average of something like 1.5 slides in each, you could be talking
about 250,000 or 300,000 total market for slide-outs in towables in addition to
what you find in motorhomes. I am rambling on here a little bit, but it is a
very big potential. We don't know how much of that huge market this new wall
slide will capture. We are hoping to fill in and expand our marketshare, but I
don't know how much of the total market we will be able to capture.
Arnold Brief - Goldsmith & Harris - Analyst
How
about some of your other new products?
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
The
others are more modest. The opportunities for us are that the seller didn't have
the financing to go after the big players or for whatever reason couldn't expand
the way we believe we can expand. But they are not of the same order of
magnitude as that slide-out. Now except for -- it wasn't an acquisition, but the
aftermarket efforts we are making are fairly significant and I think Joe
mentioned $25 million or $30 million that was doors alone for Manufactured
Housing and we are increasing our efforts on bathtub and other thermoform
products in both RV and Manufactured Housing. We are increasing our efforts on
aftermarket windows, particularly for Manufactured Housing and a number of other
products. Jason, do you have anything --?
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
No,
I would say one of our largest focuses is content. I mean we have got arguably
the largest selection of products in the industry as a supplier for RVs. And as
a lot of the products that we have introduced over the last two, three, four
years become increasingly popular, more and more manufacturers want them, so we
are doing a bigger and better job making sure that the rest of the community
gets some of those content pieces.
Arnold
Brief - Goldsmith & Harris
- Analyst
Could
I just squeeze -- you discussed the raw material cost increases in a lot of
detail. What concerns me is that we are seeing cost increases during a period
where generally manufacturing capacity is running at pretty low levels of
utilization. What is the outlook for these raw material costs as you look out
one or two years if the economy continues to recover? They could be rather penal
I would think.
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
Well,
unfortunately, I am not the expert and there probably aren't any experts there.
Particularly steel, steel is the big number for us and it is not only the
domestic economy, it is not only supply and demand, it is the role that China
plays in both supply and demand. So it is impossible really to peg, but our
customers use a lot of steel, they use a lot of other commodities. They know
what the markets might be and we will work with them over time to offset as much
of those whatever raw material costs we see.
Arnold
Brief - Goldsmith & Harris
- Analyst
And
this question has been asked, but maybe I will elaborate it a little bit. It
seems to me that, given your level of cash and the cash that you are generating
at this point, I would wonder that you would be able to use all that cash in the
businesses that you are currently in. You discussed dividends a little bit.
Maybe you can elaborate or would you -- again, I have asked this question before
-- look for a third leg on the stool?
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
I
think those are all possibilities. I think, Arnie, you have known us for quite
some time. You know that we are not going to rush into anything, particularly in
new markets. That doesn't mean that we can't develop a third leg on the stool,
as you say. So I think that is an opportunity for us that we continue to explore
and more than that, I really can't say. We will see how the acquisition
landscape turns out, what kind of opportunities we have both within the RV and
Manufactured Housing markets and outside. But as you know, we have been cautious
in the past about exploring other markets and we will continue to be
cautious.
Arnold Brief - Goldsmith & Harris - Analyst
Thank
you.
Operator
Barry
Kaplan, Maple Tree Capital.
Barry
Kaplan - Maple Tree Capital -
Analyst
Hi,
good morning. I was just wondering if, just from your perspective, what you're
seeing in terms of availability of financing down the chain to your customers,
to the dealers and ultimately to their customers, if there has been any
improvement at the margin? And also just out of curiosity, I was wondering how
that Tow-N-Stow is doing?
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
|
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
Well,
in terms of financing, Jason is probably a lot closer to it than I am, but what
I've seen, what I've heard in analyst reports and in talking to others is that
there has been some improvement on the retail level, I think retail in
particular, but certainly a little bit of improvement also on the dealer finance
level and hopefully that will continue. I don't think there has been anything
dramatic yet. It is not like the floodgates have opened up, but improvement at
the margins. I think the quotes that I saw were on the order of -- you still
need a 700 plus FICO score to get a loan, but now you can actually get them as
opposed to just banks talking to you about them. Jason, anything else that
you've heard on financing?
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
No,
I think improvement is the key word. That is kind of what we are hearing more
and more every month.
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
And
Tow-N-Stow still nothing significant. Jason, anything in recent days on
that?
Jason
Lippert - Drew Industries Inc.
- President & CEO, Lippert Components & Kinro
No,
I mean that is a big marketing campaign project in the early stages and we are
reaching out to a lot of the potential big buyers of the product and making a
little bit of progress every quarter. So whether or not that plays out to be a
big component of ours, we will know in the next 12 to 18 months.
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
As
you know, we introduce a lot of new products and I think we've got a pretty good
track record of success in those new products. Not everyone turns out to be a
barnburner. We don't have a huge investment in Tow-N-Stow and if it turns out to
be a winner, that would be great. If not, we move onto the next
one.
Barry
Kaplan - Maple Tree Capital -
Analyst
Thanks
a lot.
Operator
It
appears there are no additional questions at this time.
Fred
Zinn - Drew Industries Inc. -
President & CEO
Very
good. Well, I certainly thank all of you for your participation in this call. I
look forward to speaking with you again at the end of the second quarter. I also
spend a fair amount of time on the road speaking with investors and I would be
delighted to speak with any of you when I visit your cities and we will talk to
you soon. Take care.
Operator
This
concludes today's presentation. You may now disconnect. Good day.
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Final Transcript
May 03, 2010 /
03:00PM GMT, DW - Q1 2010 Drew Industries Incorporated Earnings
Conference Call
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