Tennant Company Reports 2018 First Quarter Results

Tennant Company ("Tennant”) (NYSE: TNC), a world leader in designing, manufacturing and marketing of solutions that help create a cleaner, safer, healthier world, today reported net sales of $272.8 million and net earnings of $3.3 million, or $0.18 per share, and adjusted net earnings of $5.0 million, or $0.27 per share, for the quarter ended March 31, 2018. The 2018 first quarter results reflected $2.3 million in pre-tax charges, or $0.09 per share, related to non-operational special items, including IPC acquisition integration costs. Additionally, the 2018 first quarter results included a pre-tax charge of $5.5 million, or $0.22 per share, from amortization of the intangible assets related to the IPC acquisition. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the first quarter were $25.2 million, or 9.2 percent of sales, compared to $13.0 million, or 6.8 percent of sales, in the year-ago quarter. (See the Supplemental Non-GAAP Financial Table).

"We are very pleased with our strong start to the year and are well positioned for additional momentum throughout the rest of 2018,” said Chris Killingstad, Tennant Company's president and chief executive officer. "In the first quarter, we made important, ongoing progress against our growth and value-creation initiatives by improving field-service utilization and manufacturing efficiencies, introducing new products, developing strategic relationships to drive innovation, and executing on our sales strategy across all of our geographies, especially with our strategic accounts. We are confident in the platform we are building to enhance both top- and bottom-line performance, as well as the long-term success of the business.”

First-Quarter Operating Review
The company's 2018 first quarter consolidated net sales of $272.8 million increased approximately 42.8 percent over the same period last year. This includes a 33.2 percent increase due to acquisitions, a foreign currency benefit of 3.1 percent and a 6.5 percent increase in organic sales. Organic growth during the period was driven by all regions, particularly the Americas.

Geographically, sales in the Americas region improved 13.9 percent, up 8.2 percent organically, reflecting the impact of strategic accounts and improved sales in the company’s service, parts and consumables business in the North America region, as well as 11.4 percent organic growth in the Latin American region from strong growth in Brazil. Sales in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region were up 166.9 percent, or 2.1 percent organically, reflecting solid growth in the France, Netherlands and Iberian markets, as well as strategic accounts. Sales in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region rose 42.5 percent, up 1.0 percent organically, reflecting strong results in Australia.

Tennant's gross margin in the 2018 first quarter was 40.5 percent, compared to 41.7 percent in the same period last year, reflecting the negative mix of the IPC business of 66 basis points and a negative impact of an inventory write-down of approximately 40 basis points. Gross margin was also impacted by a higher mix of strategic accounts sales, which were partially offset by improved operational performance in both manufacturing and service. Throughout the first quarter, Tennant made progress on productivity initiatives within its field service truck operations and manufacturing operations, and the company remains intently focused on gross margin expansion.

Research and development (R&D) expense for the 2018 first quarter totaled $8.0 million, or 2.9 percent of sales, versus $8.4 million, or 4.4 percent of sales, a year ago. The lower-than-forecasted R&D expense for the first quarter reflects the timing of anticipated project spend in 2018, primarily related to the announcement of the company’s strategic relationship with Brain Corp ("Brain”) to accelerate development of Tennant’s autonomous floor cleaning technology. Tennant remains committed to investing in a robust pipeline of new products and technologies and expects 2018 R&D investments to be in line with the previously disclosed range of 3.0 to 3.5 percent of sales.

Selling and administrative (S&A) expense in the 2018 first quarter was $92.3 million, or 33.8 percent of sales, compared to $74.0 million, or 38.7 percent of sales, a year ago. The first quarters of 2018 and 2017 included non-operational costs of $2.3 million and $10.9 million, respectively. Excluding these items, S&A expense as a percent of sales was 33.0 percent in both 2018 and 2017. In addition, the first quarter of 2018 included a non-cash amortization expense related to IPC of $5.5 million, or 2 percent of sales, which was not included in the prior year. Tennant continues to leverage disciplined spending control with investments in key growth initiatives. (See the Supplemental Non-GAAP Financial Table.)

Tennant’s 2018 first quarter net earnings were $3.3 million, compared to a net loss of $4.0 million in the 2017 first quarter. Excluding the non-operational items, the 2018 first quarter net earnings were $5.0 million, compared to net earnings of $5.4 million in the 2017 first quarter.

During the 2018 first quarter, Tennant generated cash flow from operations of $5.5 million, compared to net cash used in operations of $11.1 million in the 2017 first quarter. Cash on the balance sheet at March 31, 2018, totaled $54.0 million versus $58.4 million at December 31, 2017. The company’s total debt was $376.0 million compared to $380.0 million at the end of 2017. During the 2018 first quarter, Tennant paid $3.8 million in cash dividends to shareholders.

New Products and Technology
In 2018, Tennant Company plans to introduce new products and product variants to help drive our vitality index above the stated goal of 30 percent. So far this year, the company:

• Launched its newest family of automatic scrubbers: the Tennant T600 Series. Each unit is designed with the latest in cleaning technology and innovation to deliver consistent, high-quality performance to exceed the needs of today’s facility managers and to deliver consistent results, reliable operation and quality assurance.
• Announced its plans to launch its first autonomous floor care machine designed to operate in complex, real-world environments without direct operator control. Through the company’s newly forged relationship with Brain, an artificial intelligence ("A.I.”) company specializing in technology for autonomous robots, the autonomous Tennant T7 will seamlessly integrate Brain’s proprietary A.I. robotic technology software platform, BrainOS^®, to deliver a cleaning solution designed to maximize productivity, increase efficiency and optimize safety. The first Tennant autonomous solution is expected to be available in North America on the T7 floor scrubber in late 2018 with further expansion into global markets and additional models to follow.

2018 Business Outlook
Killingstad concluded, "We are confident that the structural and operational improvements we made in 2017 are and will continue to drive strong results in 2018, and we are pleased to increase our previously announced 2018 full year guidance ranges for sales, adjusted EPS and adjusted EBITDA. The multiple initiatives we have in place to drive growth underscore our optimism. As we look ahead, we remain committed to maintaining our robust new product and technology pipeline and accelerating our leadership in this area, successfully completing the integration of IPC, building our global market coverage, improving operating efficiency and strengthening our financial position to generate significant returns for shareholders.”

Following strong momentum and 2018 first quarter results, along with currency related tailwinds, Tennant is increasing the low and high end of the previously announced 2018 full year guidance range for sales by $10 million. The company anticipates net sales to be in the range of $1.08 billion to $1.11 billion, up 7.6 percent to 10.7 percent compared to the prior year and reflecting organic growth of 3.0 percent to 3.5 percent. Based on the anticipated higher level of sales, Tennant is increasing its anticipated range for adjusted earnings per share by $0.05 per share to a range of $1.85 to $2.05. This excludes $3.0 million to $4.0 million of special items, including IPC acquisition costs. The company expects the 2018 full year reported GAAP earnings to remain in the range of $1.70 to $1.90 per share and is increasing the anticipated adjusted EBITDA range by $2 million to a range of $113 million to $118 million.

Tennant's 2018 annual financial outlook includes the following additional assumptions:

• Reasonable growth in all regions, especially strategic accounts in North America;
• Gross margin performance in the range of 41.0 percent to 42.0 percent;
• R&D expense in the range of 3.0 percent to 3.5 percent of sales;
• Capital expenditures in the range of $25 million to $30 million; and
• An effective tax rate of approximately 24 percent.

Conference Call
Tennant will host a conference call to discuss 2018 first quarter results today, April 23, 2018 at 10 a.m. Central Time (11 a.m. Eastern Time). The conference call and accompanying slides will be available via webcast on Tennant's investor website. To listen to the call live and view the slide presentation, go to investors.tennantco.com and click on the link at the bottom of the home page. A taped replay of the conference call, with slides, will be available at investors.tennantco.com until May 23, 2018.

Company Profile
Founded in 1870, Tennant Company (TNC), headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a world leader in designing, manufacturing and marketing solutions that empower customers to achieve quality cleaning performance, reduce their environmental impact and help create a cleaner, safer, healthier world. Its products include equipment for maintaining surfaces in industrial, commercial and outdoor environments; detergent-free and other sustainable cleaning technologies; cleaning tools and supplies; and coatings for protecting, repairing and upgrading surfaces. Tennant's global field service network is the most extensive in the industry. Tennant Company had sales of $1.0 billion in 2017 and has approximately 4,300 employees. Tennant has manufacturing operations throughout the world; and sells products directly in 15 countries and through distributors in more than 100 countries. For more information, visit www.tennantco.com and www.ipcworldwide.com. The Tennant Company logo and other trademarks designated with the symbol "®” are trademarks of Tennant Company registered in the United States and/or other countries.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this document, as well as other written and oral statements made by us from time to time, are considered "forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These statements do not relate to strictly historical or current facts and provide current expectations or forecasts of future events. Any such expectations or forecasts of future events are subject to a variety of factors. These include factors that affect all businesses operating in a global market as well as matters specific to us and the markets we serve. Particular risks and uncertainties presently facing us include: our ability to effectively manage organizational changes; our ability to attract, retain and develop key personnel and create effective succession planning strategies; the competition in our business; fluctuations in the cost, quality or availability of raw materials and purchased components; our ability to successfully upgrade and evolve our information technology systems; our ability to develop and commercialize new innovative products and services; our ability to integrate acquisitions, including IPC; our ability to generate sufficient cash to satisfy our debt obligations; geopolitical and economic uncertainty throughout the world; our ability to successfully protect our information technology systems from cyber security risks; the occurrence of a significant business interruption; our ability to comply with laws and regulations; the potential disruption of our business from actions of activist investors or others; the relative strength of the U.S. dollar, which affects the cost of our materials and products purchased and sold internationally; unforeseen product liability claims or product quality issues; and our internal control over financial reporting risks resulting from our acquisition of IPC.

We caution that forward-looking statements must be considered carefully and that actual results may differ in material ways due to risks and uncertainties both known and unknown. Information about factors that could materially affect our results can be found in our 2017 Form 10-K or 2017 Form 10-Qs. Shareholders, potential investors and other readers are urged to consider these factors in evaluating forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Investors are advised to consult any further disclosures by us in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in other written statements on related subjects. It is not possible to anticipate or foresee all risk factors, and investors should not consider any list of such factors to be an exhaustive or complete list of all risks or uncertainties.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This news release and the related conference call include presentation of non-GAAP measures that include or exclude special items. Management believes that the non-GAAP measures provide useful information to investors regarding the company’s results of operations and financial condition because they permit a more meaningful comparison and understanding of Tennant Company’s operating performance for the current, past or future periods. Management uses these non-GAAP measures to monitor and evaluate ongoing operating results and trends, and to gain an understanding of the comparative operating performance of the company.

We believe that disclosing Selling and Administrative Expense - as adjusted, Profit from Operations - as adjusted, Operating Margin - as adjusted, Profit Before Income Taxes - as adjusted, Income Tax Expense - as adjusted, Net Earnings Attributable to Tennant Company - as adjusted, and Net Earnings Attributable to Tennant Company per Share - as adjusted (collectively, the "Non-GAAP Measures”), excluding the impacts from restructuring charge, acquisition costs, certain non-operational professional services, and debt financing costs write-off, are useful to investors as a measure of operating performance. We use these as one measure to monitor and evaluate operating performance. The non-GAAP measures are financial measures that do not reflect United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). We calculate Selling and Administrative Expense - as adjusted, Profit from Operations - as adjusted, Operating Margin - as adjusted, and Profit Before Income Taxes - as adjusted by adding back the pre-tax effect of the restructuring charge, acquisition costs, and certain non-operational professional services. We calculate Income Tax Expense - as adjusted by adding back the tax effect of the restructuring charge, acquisition costs, certain non-operational professional services and debt financing costs write-off. We calculate Net Earnings Attributable to Tennant Company - as adjusted by adding back the after-tax effect of the restructuring charge, acquisition costs, certain non-operational professional services, and debt financing costs write-off. We calculate Net Earnings Attributable to Tennant Company per Share - as adjusted by adding back the after-tax effect of the restructuring charge, acquisition costs, certain non-operational professional services, debt financing costs write-off and dividing the result by the diluted weighted average shares outstanding.

We believe that disclosing Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) and EBITDA Margin, excluding the impact from restructuring charge, acquisition costs, certain non-operational professional services, and debt financing costs write-off (EBITDA - as adjusted), is useful to investors as a measure of operating performance. We use these measures to monitor and evaluate operating performance. EBITDA - as adjusted and EBITDA Margin are financial measures that do not reflect GAAP. We calculate EBITDA - as adjusted by adding back the pre-tax effect of the restructuring charge, acquisition costs, certain non-operating professional services, debt financing costs write-off Interest Income, Interest Expense, Income Tax Expense, Depreciation Expense and Amortization Expense to Net Earnings (Loss) - as Reported. We calculate EBITDA Margin - as adjusted by dividing EBITDA - as adjusted by Net Sales.

Investors should consider these non-GAAP financial measures in addition to, not as a substitute for, or better than, financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations of the components of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the Supplemental Non-GAAP Financial Table to this earnings release.

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