• Record third quarter revenue of $2.1 billion
• Record third quarter EBIT of $140 million
• EPS of $1.27 per diluted share

Lake Forest, Illinois, October 27, 2014 – Tenneco Inc. (NYSE: TEN) reported third quarter net income of $78 million, or $1.27 per diluted share, up from $12 million, or 19-cents per diluted share, in third quarter 2013.   On an adjusted basis, net income was $78 million, or $1.25 per diluted share, an increase from $62 million, or 99-cents per diluted share a year ago.

Revenue

Total revenue in the third quarter was up 6% year-over-year to $2.081 billion.  The increase includes higher revenues in both product lines with Clean Air increasing 8% and Ride Performance up 2%.  Excluding substrate sales, total revenue increased 5% to $1.602 billion.   The year-over-year comparison includes $32 million in negative currency.

Tenneco’s OE light vehicle revenue increased 6% year-over-year, outpacing global industry light vehicle production.  Commercial truck and off-highway revenue was up 15%, driven by Clean Air revenue growth in Europe, China and Japan, and higher North America Ride Performance revenue.  Global aftermarket revenue was essentially flat versus prior year with higher revenues in both product lines in North America offset by lower revenues in the Europe aftermarket.

EBIT

Third quarter EBIT (earnings before interest, taxes and noncontrolling interests) was $140 million, versus $72 million in third quarter 2013.  Adjusted EBIT increased 17% to $152 million, reflecting a 6% increase in Clean Air adjusted EBIT and a 16% increase in Ride Performance adjusted EBIT.   EBIT results this quarter include a $9 million benefit from stock-indexed compensation expense.  The year-over-year comparison includes $5 million in negative currency.

“We recorded another quarter of record high revenue by outpacing global light vehicle industry production, generating strong year-over-year revenue growth in our commercial truck and off-highway business and benefiting from a continued steady contribution from the global aftermarket,” said Gregg Sherrill, chairman and CEO, Tenneco.  “This top-line growth and strong operational performance also drove record high earnings and improved profitability.”

 

Adjusted third quarter 2014 and 2013 results

 

		Q3 2014									Q3 2013
	(millions except per share amounts)	EBITDA*		EBIT		Net income attributable to Tenneco Inc.		Per Share			EBITDA*		EBIT		Net income  attributable to Tenneco Inc.		Per Share
Earnings Measures		$	192	$	140	$	78	$	1.27		$	123	$	72	$	12	$	0.19
Adjustments (reflects non-GAAP measures):
	Restructuring and related expenses		8		8		7		0.12			58		58		59		0.95
	Bad debt charge		4		4		3		0.05			-		-		-		-
	Net tax adjustments		-		-		(10)		(0.19)			-		-		(9)		(0.15)
Non-GAAP earnings measures		$	204	$	152	$	78	$	1.25		$	181	$	130	$	62	$	0.99

Third quarter 2014 adjustments

• Restructuring and related expenses of $8 million pre-tax, or 12-cents per diluted share.
• A charge of $4 million pre-tax, or 5-cents per diluted share related to the bankruptcy of an aftermarket customer in Europe.
• Net tax benefits of $10 million, or 19-cents per diluted share, for tax adjustments to prior year estimates.

Third quarter 2013 adjustments

• Restructuring and related expenses of $58 million pre-tax, or 95-cents per diluted share.
• Net tax benefits of $9 million or 15-cents per diluted share, for tax adjustments to prior year estimates.

EBIT Margin

Tenneco improved its total adjusted EBIT as a percent of value-add revenue to 9.5%, an increase of 100 basis points.

	Q3 2014		Q3 2013
EBIT as a percent of revenue	6.7%	3.7%
EBIT as a percent of value-add revenue	8.7%	4.7%
Adjusted EBIT as a percent of revenue	7.3%	6.6%
Adjusted EBIT as a percent of value-add revenue	9.5%	8.5%

Clean Air adjusted EBIT as a percent of value-add revenue was 10.7%, driven by stronger light vehicle volumes in North America and China, higher commercial truck and off-highway revenue in Europe, China and Japan, and reflecting $4 million in higher engineering investments for new programs, versus last year.  Ride Performance adjusted EBIT as a percent of revenue was 9.8%, primarily due to stronger aftermarket sales in North and South America, and cost savings related to the company’s global product cost leadership initiative.

Cash

Cash generated by operations in the quarter was $115 million, versus $50 million a year ago.  The improvement was primarily driven by higher earnings and managing working capital.

Capital investments in the quarter were $95 million, compared with $57 million in third quarter 2013.  Similar to the higher engineering investments, the increase in capital investments supports future growth in OE Clean Air and Ride Performance programs in North America, Europe and China.  With the addition of incremental new programs and the timing of expenditures, the company now expects its capital investments for the full year to be about $330 million.

Outlook

According to IHS Automotive estimates*, global light vehicle industry production in the fourth quarter is forecasted to increase 3% year-over-year in the regions where Tenneco operates.   North America is expected to increase 4%, China up 6% and India up 10%.  Europe industry light vehicle production is expected to decrease 1% and a decline of 9% is forecasted for South America.

In the fourth quarter, Tenneco anticipates that higher light vehicle unit volumes and higher commercial truck and off-highway content will counteract an estimated 3 percent of total revenue currency headwind, resulting in total revenue about the same to slightly higher compared with the strong fourth quarter last year.  For the quarter, revenues, including the currency impact, are expected to reflect this trend for light vehicle, commercial truck and off-highway and the global aftermarket.

“Higher light vehicle unit volumes and higher content demonstrate the effectiveness of our growth drivers including Tenneco’s strong balance across geographies and end markets, an outstanding platform position with top OE customers globally and a regulatory environment that continues to create opportunities with new programs and incremental content,” said Sherrill.  “This means we should finish 2014 with strong revenue growth year-over-year with light vehicle revenue outpacing global industry production, a strong increase in commercial truck and off-highway revenues, and an increase in global aftermarket revenue.”

*IHS Automotive October 2014 industry production estimates

 

Click here to download Q3 2014 release including all attachments listed below

 

Attachment 1

Statements of Income – 3 Months

Statements of Income – 9 Months

Balance Sheets

Statements of Cash Flows – 3 Months

Statements of Cash Flows – 9 Months

Attachment 2

Reconciliation of GAAP Net Income to EBITDA including noncontrolling interests – 3 Months

Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Earnings Measures – 3 Months

Reconciliation of GAAP Net Income to EBITDA including noncontrolling interests – 9 Months

Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Earnings Measures – 9 Months

Reconciliation of GAAP Revenue to Non-GAAP Revenue Measures – 3 Months

Reconciliation of GAAP Revenue to Non-GAAP Revenue Measures – 9 Months

Reconciliation of GAAP Revenue to Non-GAAP Revenue Measures – 3 Months and 9 Months

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures – Debt Net of Cash/Adjusted LTM EBITDA including noncontrolling interests

Reconciliation of GAAP Revenue to Non-GAAP Revenue Measures – Original Equipment and Aftermarket Revenue – 3 Months and 9 Months

Reconciliation of GAAP Revenue and Earnings to Non-GAAP Revenue and Earnings Measures – 3 Months

Reconciliation of GAAP Revenue and Earnings to Non-GAAP Revenue and Earnings Measures – 9 Months

CONFERENCE CALL

The company will host a conference call on Monday, October 27, 2014 at 8:30 a.m. ET.  The dial-in number is 800-988-9795 (domestic) or 517-308-9366 (international). The passcode is TENNECO. The call and accompanying slides will be available on the financial section of the Tenneco web site at www.tenneco.com.  A recording of the call will be available one hour following completion of the call on October 27, 2014 through November 27, 2014.  To access this recording, dial 800-568-0480 (domestic) or 203-369-3676 (international).  The purpose of the call is to discuss the company’s operations for the quarter, as well as other matters that may impact the company’s outlook.  A copy of the press release is available on the financial and news sections of the Tenneco web site.

Tenneco is an $8 billion global manufacturing company with headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois and approximately 26,000 employees worldwide.  Tenneco is one of the world’s largest designers, manufacturers and marketers of clean air and ride performance products and systems for automotive and commercial vehicle original equipment markets and the aftermarket. Tenneco’s principal brand names are Monroe®, Walker®, XNOx™ and Clevite®Elastomer.

Revenue estimates in this release are based on OE manufacturers’ programs that have been formally awarded to the company; programs where Tenneco is highly confident that it will be awarded business based on informal customer indications consistent with past practices; Tenneco’s status as supplier for the existing program and its relationship with the customer; and the actual original equipment revenues achieved by the company for each of the last several years compared to the amount of those revenues that the company estimated it would generate at the beginning of each year.  These revenue estimates are also based on anticipated vehicle production levels and pricing, including precious metals pricing and the impact of material cost changes.  Currency is assumed to be constant at $1.33 per Euro throughout the entire period.  For certain additional assumptions upon which these estimates are based, see the slides accompanying the October 27, 2014 conference call, which are available on the financial section of the Tenneco website at www.tenneco.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements.  Words such as “may,” “expects,” “anticipate,” ”projects,” “will,” “outlook” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations of the company (including its subsidiaries). Because these forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, the company's plans, actions and actual results could differ materially. Among the factors that could cause these plans, actions and results to differ materially from current expectations are: 

(i) general economic, business and market conditions;

(ii) the company’s ability to source and procure needed materials, components and other products and services in accordance with customer demand and at competitive prices;

(iii) the cost and outcome of existing and any future claims, legal proceedings, or investigations, including, but not limited to, any of the foregoing arising in connection with the ongoing global antitrust investigation, product performance, product safety or intellectual property rights;

(iv) changes in capital availability or costs, including increases in the company's costs of borrowing (i.e., interest rate increases), the amount of the company's debt, the ability of the company to access capital markets at favorable rates, and the credit ratings of the company’s debt;

(v) changes in consumer demand, prices and the company’s ability to have our products included on top selling vehicles, including any shifts in consumer preferences to lower margin vehicles, for which we may or may not have supply arrangements;

(vi) changes in automotive and commercial vehicle manufacturers' production rates and their actual and forecasted requirements for the company's products such as the significant production cuts during recent years by automotive manufacturers in response to difficult economic conditions;

(vii) the overall highly competitive nature of the automobile and commercial vehicle parts industries, and any resultant inability to realize the sales represented by the company’s awarded book of business which is based on anticipated pricing and volumes over the life of the applicable program;

(viii) the loss of any of our large original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) customers (on whom we depend for a substantial portion of our revenues), or the loss of market shares by these customers if we are unable to achieve increased sales to other OEMs or any change in customer demand due to delays in the adoption or enforcement of worldwide emissions regulations;

(ix) the company's continued success in cost reduction and cash management programs and its ability to execute restructuring and other cost reduction plans, including our current European cost reduction initiatives, and to realize anticipated benefits from these plans;

(x) workforce factors such as strikes or labor interruptions; 

(xi)  increases in the costs of raw materials, including the company’s ability to successfully reduce the impact of any such cost increases through materials substitutions, cost reduction initiatives, customer recovery and other methods; 

(xii) the negative impact of higher fuel prices on transportation and logistics costs, raw material costs and discretionary purchases of vehicles or aftermarket products;

(xiii) the cyclical nature of the global vehicular industry, including the performance of the global aftermarket sector and longer product lives of automobile parts;

 (xiv) product warranty costs;

(xv) the failure or breach of our information technology systems and the consequences that such failure or breach may have to our business;

(xvi) economic, exchange rate and political conditions in the countries where we operate or sell our products;

(xvii) the company's ability to develop and profitably commercialize new products and technologies, and the acceptance of such new products and technologies by the company's customers and the market; 

(xviii) changes by the Financial Accounting Standards Board or other accounting regulatory bodies to authoritative generally accepted accounting principles or policies;

(xix) changes in accounting estimates and assumptions, including changes based on additional information;

(xx) the impact of the extensive, increasing and changing laws and regulations to which we are subject, including environmental laws and regulations, which may result in our incurrence of environmental liabilities in excess of the amount reserved; 

(xxi) natural disasters, acts of war and/or terrorism and the impact of these occurrences or acts on economic, financial, industrial  and social condition, including, without limitation, with respect to supply chains and customer demand in the countries where the company operates; and

(xxii) the timing and occurrence (or non-occurrence) of transactions and events which may be subject to circumstances beyond the control of the company and its subsidiaries.

The company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release. Additional information regarding these risk factors and uncertainties is detailed from time to time in the company's SEC filings, including but not limited to its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2014.

 

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