CNH Industrial (CNH) 10-Q2024 Q1 Quarterly report

CNH Industrial N.V. qualifies as a Foreign Private Issuer, as determined by Rule 3b-4 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and is exempt from filing quarterly reports on Form 10-Q by virtue of Rules 13a-13 and 15d-13 under the Exchange Act. CNH Industrial N.V. has voluntarily elected to file this quarterly financial report using Form 10-Q.

As a Foreign Private Issuer, CNH Industrial N.V. is also exempt from the proxy solicitation rules under Section 14 of the Exchange Act and Regulation FD, and its officers, directors, and principal shareholders are not subject to the reporting and short-swing profit recovery provisions contained in Section 16 of the Exchange Act.

CNH Industrial N.V. (“CNH” or the “Company”) is incorporated in, and under the laws of, the Netherlands. CNH is a leading company in the capital goods sector that designs, produces and sells agricultural equipment and construction equipment. In addition, CNH’s Financial Services segment offers an array of financial products and services, including retail financing for the purchase or lease of new and used CNH and other manufacturers’ products and other retail financing programs and wholesale financing to dealers.

The consolidated financial statements of CNH Industrial N.V. and its consolidated subsidiaries have been voluntarily prepared by the Company without audit. Although prepared on a voluntary basis, the consolidated financial statements included in the report comply in all material respects with the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) governing interim financial statements. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in annual financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) have been condensed or omitted as permitted by such rules and regulations. All adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, have been reflected in these consolidated financial statements. Management believes that the disclosures are adequate to present fairly the financial position, results of operations, and cash flows at the dates and for the periods presented. These interim financial statements should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and the notes thereto appearing in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023. Results for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of those to be expected for the fiscal year. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts and related accompanying notes and disclosures. Significant uncertainties, including rising inflation, and geopolitical events may impact the Company's business, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the estimates and assumptions used in preparation of the financial statements including, but not limited to, future cash flows associated with goodwill, indefinite life intangibles, definite life intangibles, long-lived impairment tests, determination of discount rates and other assumptions for pension and other post-retirement benefit expense and income taxes. Changes in estimates are recorded in results of operations in the period during which the events or circumstances giving rise to such changes occur.

Certain financial information in this report has been presented by geographic region. Our geographic regions are: (1) North America; (2) Europe, Middle East and Africa ("EMEA"); (3) South America and (4) Asia Pacific. The geographic designations have the following meanings:

The Company’s basic earnings per share (“EPS”) is computed by dividing net income by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period.

Diluted EPS reflects the potential dilution that could occur if dilutive securities were exercised into common stock. Stock options, restricted stock units and performance stock units are considered dilutive securities.

A reconciliation of basic and diluted earnings per share is as follows (in millions of dollars and shares, except per share amounts):

The following table summarizes the components of net periodic benefit cost of CNH’s defined benefit pension plans and postretirement health and life insurance plans for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 (in millions of dollars):

In 2021, CNH communicated plan changes for the U.S. retiree medical plan. The plan changes resulted in a reduction of the plan liability of $100 million. This amount will be amortized from other comprehensive income to the income statement over approximately 4 years, which represents the average service period to attain eligibility conditions for active participants. For the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, $6 million and $6 million of amortization was recorded as a pre-tax gain in Other, net, respectively.

The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 was 19.2% and 27.6%, respectively. The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2024 was lower than the effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2023 due to discrete items that reduced the rate in 2024 compared to discrete items that increased the rate in 2023.

The Company operates in many jurisdictions around the world and is routinely subject to income tax audits. As various ongoing audits are concluded, or as the applicable statutes of limitations expire, it is possible the Company’s amount of unrecognized tax benefits could change during the next twelve months. We do not expect changes to our assessment to have a material impact on the Company's results of operations, balance sheet, or cash flows.

The operating segments through which the Company manages its operations are based on the internal reporting used by the Company’s Chief Operating Decision Maker (“CODM”) to assess performance and make decisions about resource allocation. The segments are organized based on products and services provided by the Company.

Revenues for each reported segment are those directly generated by or attributable to the segment as a result of its business activities and include revenues from transactions with third parties as well as those deriving from transactions with other segments, recognized at normal market prices. Segment expenses represent expenses deriving from each segment’s business activities both with third parties and other operating segments or which may otherwise be directly attributable to it. Expenses deriving from business activities with other segments are recognized at normal market prices.

With reference to the Agriculture and Construction segments, the CODM assesses segment performance and makes decisions about resource allocation based upon Adjusted EBIT. The Company believes Adjusted EBIT more fully reflects Agriculture and Construction segments profitability. Adjusted EBIT of the Agriculture and Construction segments is defined as net income (loss) before income taxes, Financial Services' results, Industrial Activities’ segments interest expenses (net), foreign exchange gains/losses, finance and non-service component of pension and other post-employment benefit costs, restructuring expenses, and certain nonrecurring items. In particular, non-recurring items are specifically disclosed items that management considers rare or discrete events that are infrequent in nature and not reflective of on-going operational activities.

Wholesale receivables arise primarily from dealer floorplan financing, and to a lesser extent, the financing of dealer operations. Under the standard terms of the wholesale receivable agreements, these receivables typically have "interest-free" periods of up to twelve months and stated original maturities of up to twenty-four months, with repayment accelerated upon the sale of the underlying equipment by the dealer. Financial Services is compensated by Industrial Activities for providing the "interest-free" period based on market interest rates. After the expiration of any "interest-free" period, interest is charged to dealers on outstanding balances until CNH receives payment in full. The "interest-free" periods are determined based on the type of equipment sold and the time of year of the sale. The Company evaluates and assesses dealers on an ongoing basis as to their creditworthiness. CNH may be obligated to repurchase the dealer's equipment upon cancellation or termination of the dealer's contract for such causes as change in ownership, closeout of the business, or default. There were no significant losses in the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 relating to the termination of dealer contracts.

As part of its overall funding strategy, CNH periodically transfers certain receivables into special purpose entities (“SPE”) as part of its asset backed securitization ("ABS") programs or into factoring transactions.

SPEs utilized in the securitization programs differ from other entities included in the Company's consolidated financial statements because the assets they hold are legally isolated from the Company's assets. For bankruptcy analysis purposes, the Company has sold the receivables to the SPEs in a true sale and the SPEs are separate legal entities. Upon transfer of the receivables to the SPEs, the receivables and certain cash flows derived from them become restricted for use in meeting obligations to the SPEs' creditors. The SPEs have ownership of cash balances that also have restrictions for the benefit of the SPEs' investors. The Company's interests in the SPEs' receivables are subordinate to the interests of third-party investors. None of the receivables that are directly or indirectly sold or transferred in any of these transactions are available to pay the Company's creditors until all obligations of the SPE have been fulfilled or the receivables are removed from the SPE.

Certain securitization trusts are also VIEs and consequently, the VIEs are consolidated since the Company has both the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the VIEs' economic performance and the obligation to absorb losses or the right to receive benefits that could potentially be significant to the VIEs.

The Company may retain all or a portion of the subordinated interests in the SPEs. No recourse provisions exist that allow holders of the asset-backed securities issued by the trusts to put those securities back to the Company, although the Company provides customary representations and warranties that could give rise to an obligation to repurchase from the trusts any receivables for which there is a breach of the representations and warranties. Moreover, the Company does not guarantee any securities issued by the trusts. The trusts have a limited life and generally terminate upon final distribution of amounts owed to investors or upon exercise of a cleanup-call option by the Company, in its role as servicer.

Factoring transactions may be either with recourse or without recourse; certain without recourse transfers include deferred payment clauses (i.e., when the payment by the factor of a minor part of the purchase price is dependent on the total amount collected from the receivables), requiring first loss cover, meaning that the transferor takes priority participation in the losses, or requires a significant exposure to the cash flows arising from the transferred receivables to be retained. These types of transactions do not qualify for the derecognition of the assets, since the risks and rewards connected with collection are not substantially transferred and, accordingly, CNH continues to recognize the receivable transferred by this means in its consolidated statement of financial position and recognizes a financial liability of the same amount under asset-backed financing.

The secured borrowings related to the transferred receivables are obligations that are payable as the receivables are collected. At March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the carrying amount of such restricted assets included in financing receivables are the following (in millions of dollars):

Allowance for credit losses for the three months ended March 31, 2024 is as follows (in millions of dollars):

Allowance for credit losses for the three months ended March 31, 2023 is as follows (in millions of dollars):

A restructuring of a receivable constitutes a troubled debt restructuring (“TDR”) when the lender grants a concession it would not otherwise consider to a borrower that is experiencing financial difficulties. As a collateral-based lender, the Company typically will repossess collateral in lieu of restructuring receivables. As such, for retail receivables, concessions are typically provided based on bankruptcy court proceedings. For wholesale receivables, concessions granted may include extended contract maturities, inclusion of interest-only periods, modification of a contractual interest rate to a below market interest rate and waiving of interest and principal.

As of March 31, 2024 and 2023, CNH's TDRs were immaterial.

The Company's leases are primarily operating lease contracts for buildings, plant and machinery, vehicles, information technology ("IT") equipment and machinery.

Leases with a term of 12 months or less are not recorded in the balance sheet. For these leases the Company recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term, lease expense of $1 million and $1 million in the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

For the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, the Company incurred operating lease expenses of $26 million and $19 million, respectively.

At March 31, 2024, the Company has recorded approximately $314 million of right-of-use assets and $318 million of related lease liability included in Other assets and Other liabilities, respectively. At March 31, 2024, the weighted average remaining lease term (calculated on the basis of the remaining lease term and the lease liability balance for each lease) and the weighted average discount rate for operating leases were 5.5 years and 4.6%, respectively.

During the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, leased assets obtained in exchange for operating lease obligations were $38 million and $11 million, respectively. The operating cash outflow for amounts included in the measurement of operating lease obligations was $25 million and $18 million as of March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

The Company, primarily through its Financial Services segment, leases equipment to retail customers under operating leases. Our leases typically have terms of 3 to 5 years with options available for the lessee to purchase the equipment at the lease term date. Revenue for non-lease components is accounted for separately.

A summary of investments in unconsolidated subsidiaries and affiliates as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023 is as follows (in millions of dollars):

As of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Company’s other intangible assets and related accumulated amortization consisted of the following (in millions of dollars):

During the first quarter of 2023, the Company recorded $81 million in intangible assets based on the preliminary valuation for the Augmenta and Bennamann acquisitions. Measurement period adjustments were recorded in the second and third quarters increasing intangible assets by $12 million and $5 million for Augmenta and Bennamann, respectively. The valuation of assets acquired and liabilities assumed was finalized as of March 31, 2024.

CNH recorded amortization expense of $45 million and $38 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Under the supply chain finance ("SCF") programs, administered by a third party, our suppliers are given the opportunity to sell receivables from us to participating financial institutions at their sole discretion. Our responsibility is limited to making payment on the terms originally negotiated with our supplier, regardless of whether the supplier sells its receivable to a financial institution. The range of payment terms we negotiate with our suppliers is consistent, irrespective of whether a supplier participates in the program. No guarantees are provided by the Company under the SCF program.

As of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, $161 million and $148 million of obligations remain outstanding that we have confirmed as valid to the administrators of the SCF programs. We have no economic interest in a supplier’s decision to participate in the SCF program, and we have no direct financial relationship with the financial institutions, as it relates to the SCF program. These balances are included within “Accounts payable” in our consolidated balance sheets and are reflected as cash flow from operating activities in our consolidated statements of cash flows when settled.

The Company incurred restructuring expenses of $31 million and $1 million during the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, primarily due to employee separation costs.

As a global company with a diverse business portfolio, CNH in the ordinary course of business is exposed to numerous legal risks, including, without limitation, dealer and supplier litigation, intellectual property right disputes, product warranty and defective product claims, product performance, asbestos, personal injury, emissions and/or fuel economy regulatory and contractual issues, competition law and other investigations and environmental claims. The most significant of these matters are described below.

The outcome of any current or future proceedings, claims, or investigations cannot be predicted with certainty. Adverse decisions in one or more of these proceedings, claims or investigations could require CNH to pay substantial damages or fines or undertake service actions, recall campaigns or other costly actions. It is therefore possible that legal judgments could give rise to expenses that are not covered, or not fully covered, by insurers’ compensation payments and could affect CNH’s financial position and results. When it is probable that such a loss has been incurred and the amount can be reasonably estimated, such amounts are provided for in Company's income statement and the related accrual is recorded in “Other liabilities” on the consolidated balance sheets.

Although the ultimate outcome of legal matters pending against CNH and its subsidiaries cannot be predicted, CNH believes the reasonable possible range of losses for these unresolved legal matters in addition to the amounts accrued would not have a material effect on its consolidated financial statements.

The Company is conducting environmental investigatory or remedial activities at certain properties that are currently or were formerly owned and/or operated or that are being decommissioned. The Company believes that the outcome of these activities will not have a material adverse effect on its business, financial position, or results of operations.

The actual costs for environmental matters could differ materially from those costs currently anticipated due to the nature of historical handling and disposal of hazardous substances typical of manufacturing and related operations, the discovery of currently unknown conditions and as a result of more aggressive enforcement by regulatory authorities and changes in existing laws and regulations. As in the past, CNH plans to continue funding its costs of environmental compliance from operating cash flows.

Investigation, analysis and remediation of environmental sites is a time-consuming activity. The Company expects such costs to be incurred and claims to be resolved over an extended period of time that could exceed 30 years for some sites. As of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, environmental reserves of approximately $19 million and $20 million, respectively, were established to address these specific estimated potential liabilities. Such reserves are undiscounted and do not include anticipated recoveries, if any, from insurance companies. After considering these reserves, management is of the opinion that the outcome of these matters will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position or results of operations.

received various requests for compensation by German and Austrian customers on various contractual and tort grounds, including requests for damages resulting from the termination of the purchase contracts, or in the form of requests for an alleged lower residual value of their vehicles as a consequence of the alleged non-compliance with other approval regulations regarding emissions. In certain instances, other customers have brought judicial claims on the same legal and factual bases. While the Company had no role in the design and sale of such engine models and vehicles, the Company cannot predict at this time the extent and outcome of these requests and directly or indirectly related legal proceedings, including customer claims or potential class actions alleging emissions non-compliance. The Company believes that the risk of either FPT Industrial or Iveco Group N.V. defaulting on potential payment obligations arising from such proceedings is remote.

CNH may elect to measure financial instruments and certain other items at fair value. This fair value option would be applied on an instrument-by-instrument basis with changes in fair value reported in earnings. The election can be made at the acquisition of an eligible financial asset, financial liability or firm commitment or, when certain specified reconsideration events occur. The fair value election may not be revoked once made. CNH has not elected the fair value measurement option for eligible items.

The hierarchy of valuation techniques for financial instruments is based on whether the inputs to those valuation techniques are observable or unobservable. Observable inputs reflect market data obtained from independent sources while unobservable inputs reflect the Company’s market assumptions. These two types of inputs have created the following fair value hierarchy:

This hierarchy requires the use of observable market data when available.

When available, the Company uses quoted market prices to determine fair value and classifies such items in Level 1. In some cases where a market price is not available, the Company will use observable market-based inputs to calculate fair value, in which case the items are classified in Level 2.

If quoted or observable market prices are not available, fair value is based upon internally developed valuation techniques that use, where possible, current market-based or independently sourced market parameters such as interest rates, currency rates, or yield curves. Items valued using such internally generated valuation techniques are classified according to the lowest level input or value driver that is significant to the valuation. Thus, an item may be classified in Level 3 even though there may be some significant inputs that are readily observable.

The following section describes the valuation methodologies used by the Company to measure various financial instruments at fair value, including an indication of the level in the fair value hierarchy in which each instrument is generally classified. Where appropriate, the description includes details of the valuation models, and the key inputs to those models as well as any significant assumptions.

CNH has entered into foreign exchange forward contracts and swaps in order to manage and preserve the economic value of cash flows in a currency different from the functional currency of the relevant legal entity. CNH conducts its business on a global basis in a wide variety of foreign currencies and hedges foreign currency exposures arising from various receivables, liabilities, and expected inventory purchases and sales. Derivative instruments utilized to hedge the foreign currency risk associated with anticipated inventory purchases and sales in foreign currencies are designated as cash flow hedges. Gains and losses on these instruments are deferred in accumulated other comprehensive income/(loss) and recognized in earnings when the related transaction occurs. If a derivative instrument is terminated because the hedge relationship is no longer effective or because the hedged item is a forecasted transaction that is no longer determined to be probable, the cumulative amount recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) is recognized immediately in earnings. Such amounts were insignificant in all periods presented.

CNH also uses forwards and swaps to hedge certain assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies. Such derivatives are considered economic hedges and not designated as hedging instruments. The changes in the fair values of these instruments are recognized directly in income in “Other, net” and are expected to offset the foreign exchange gains or losses on the exposures being managed.

CNH has entered into interest rate derivatives (swaps and caps) in order to manage interest rate exposures arising in the normal course of business. Interest rate derivatives that have been designated as cash flow hedges are being used by the Company to mitigate the risk of rising interest rates related to existing debt and anticipated issuance of fixed-rate debt in future periods. Gains and losses on these instruments are deferred in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and recognized in interest expense over the period in which CNH recognizes interest expense on the related debt.

Interest rate derivatives that have been designated as fair value hedge relationships have been used by CNH to mitigate the volatility in the fair value of existing fixed rate bonds and medium-term notes due to changes in floating interest rate benchmarks. Gains and losses on these instruments are recorded in “Interest expense” in the period in which they occur and an offsetting gain or loss is also reflected in “Interest expense” based on changes in the fair value of the debt instrument being hedged due to changes in floating interest rate benchmarks.

CNH also enters into offsetting interest rate derivatives with substantially similar terms that are not designated as hedging instruments to mitigate interest rate risk related to CNH’s committed asset-backed facilities. Unrealized and realized gains and losses resulting from fair value changes in these instruments are recognized directly in income. Net gains and losses on these instruments were insignificant for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023.

As a result of the reform and replacement of specific benchmark interest rates, the Company elected to make the replacement using the optional expedient under ASC 848, which allows the change in critical terms without de-designation and the Company also elected the optional expedient to apply a spread adjustment to hedged items cash flows that resulted in no change to the cumulative basis adjustment reflected in earnings.

The following table summarizes the gross impact of changes in the fair value of derivatives designated as cash flow hedges recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and net income (loss) during the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 (in millions of dollars):