STANDARD MOTOR PRODUCTS, INC.
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PART I
In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, “Standard Motor Products,” “we,” “us,” “our,” “SMP,” and the “Company” refer to Standard Motor Products, Inc. and its subsidiaries, unless the context requires otherwise. This Report, including the documents incorporated herein by reference, contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements in this Report are indicated by words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “believes,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “projects,” “strategies” and similar expressions. These statements represent our expectations based on current information and assumptions and are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those which are anticipated or projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, changes or loss in business relationships with our major customers and in the timing, size and continuation of our customers’ programs; changes in our supply chain financing arrangements, such as changes in terms, termination of contracts and/or the impact of rising interest rates; the ability of our customers to achieve their projected sales; competitive product and pricing pressures; increases in production or material costs, including procurement costs resulting from higher tariffs, and inflationary cost increases in raw materials, labor and transportation, that cannot be recouped in product pricing; the performance of the automotive aftermarket and/or other end-markets that we supply; changes in the product mix and distribution channel mix; economic and market conditions; successful integration of acquired businesses; our ability to achieve benefits from our cost savings initiatives; product liability matters (including, without limitation, those related to asbestos-related contingent liabilities); the effects of disruptions in the supply chain caused by geopolitical risks; as well as other risks and uncertainties, such as those described under Risk Factors, Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk and those detailed herein and from time to time in the filings of the Company with the SEC. Forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. In addition, historical information should not be considered as an indicator of future performance.
Overview
We are a leading manufacturer and distributor of premium replacement parts in the automotive aftermarket and a custom-engineered solutions provider to vehicle and equipment manufacturers in diverse non-aftermarket end markets. Our automotive aftermarket business is comprised of two segments, Vehicle Control and Temperature Control, while our Engineered Solutions Segment offers a broad array of conventional and future-oriented technologies in markets for commercial and light vehicles, construction, agriculture, power sports, marine, hydraulics and lawn and garden. We sell our products primarily to retailers, warehouse distributors, original equipment manufacturers and original equipment service part operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Mexico and other Latin America countries.
Beginning in the first quarter of 2023, we reorganized our business into three operating segments – Vehicle Control, Temperature Control and Engineered Solutions. This operating segment structure better aligns our operations with our strategic focus on diversifying our business, provides greater transparency into our positioning to capture opportunities for growth in the future, and provides clarity regarding the unique dynamics and margin profiles of the markets served by each segment.
Our Vehicle Control Segment services our core automotive aftermarket customers through its offering of premium replacement parts within the following major product groups:
| | (1) | Engine Management, which includes components for the ignition, emissions and fuel delivery systems of vehicles utilizing an internal combustion engine. Product categories include air injection and induction components, air management valves, regulators and solenoids, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) components, fuel injectors and related components, fuel valves, ignition coils, connectors and sockets, modules, pumps, relays and fuses, starting and charging system parts, and vapor and purge components. |
| (2) | Electrical & Safety, which includes components for the electrical and safety systems of vehicles, and are powertrain neutral vehicle technologies. Product categories include electrical switches and actuators, chassis and drivetrain sensors such as anti-lock brake and vehicle speed sensors, fluid level sensors, pressure sensors such as tire pressure monitoring, temperature sensors, and sensors for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), along with battery cables, pigtails, sockets and a wide range of electrical wire, terminals, connectors, and tools for servicing a vehicle’s electrical system. |
| (3) | Wire Sets & Other, which includes spark plug wire sets, coil on plug boots and accessories servicing vehicle’s ignition system. Certain product categories within this group are in secular decline based upon product life cycle. |
Many Vehicle Control systems use on-board computers to monitor inputs from sensing devices located throughout the vehicle. As the complexity of these systems continues to develop and proliferate, we expect to benefit from increased demand for our sensors, switches, actuators, valves, solenoids and related parts, which are designed to function with these systems.
We also expect to benefit from government regulations regarding vehicle safety and emissions. For example, we believe emissions laws and fuel economy regulations have had a positive impact on sales of our ignition, emissions control and fuel delivery parts since vehicles not meeting emissions inspection standards may require repairs utilizing parts sold by us. Similarly, as government-mandated safety devices, such as anti-lock braking systems and ADAS, proliferate with new vehicle production, we anticipate increased replacement opportunities for many of our products such as ABS sensors, TPMS sensors, traction control products and ADAS replacement parts.
Our Temperature Control Segment also services our core automotive aftermarket customers through its offering of premium replacement parts within the following major product groups:
| (1) | AC System Components, which includes compressors, air conditioning repair kits, connecting lines, heat exchangers, and expansion devices. |
| (2) | Other Thermal Components, which includes parts that provide engine, transmission, electric drive motor, and battery temperature management. |
We believe our Temperature Control Segment is poised to benefit from the broader adoption of more complex air conditioning systems that will provide passenger comfort regardless of the vehicle’s powertrain. For example, in addition to cabin comfort, powertrains such as electric vehicles will require cooling systems for the batteries, electronics, motors and other applications.
The Engineered Solutions Segment services our vehicle and equipment manufacturing customers across diverse global end markets, including on-highway and off-highway applications such as commercial and light vehicles, construction, agriculture, power sports, marine, hydraulics and lawn and garden, through an offering of custom-engineered solutions within the following product categories:
| (1) | Thermal Management Products, which are designed to control the operating temperature of HVAC, battery and heat exchange systems, such as electrical compressors, fans, motors and pumps. |
| (2) | Sensors, covering applications in speed, position, temperature, pressure, level and particulate matter, among others. |
| (3) | Switches, covering applications in electrical performance, position, temperature, pressure, tilt and fluid levels, among others. |
| (4) | Power Distribution, covering applications in power switching, industrial solenoids, and voltage regulators. |
| (5) | Electrification & Electronics, which includes controller area network (CAN) devices, CAN bus wiring and splitting devices, and electronic controls, transmitters and components. |
| (6) | Injection & Fuel Delivery, covering an extensive array of applications in transportation, such as gasoline, diesel and alternative fuels, such as compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, and hydrogen. |
| (7) | Ignition & Emissions, which includes wire, ignition coils and positive crankcase ventilation valves. |
| (8) | Clamping Devices, covering automotive and industrial applications. |
Our Business Strategy
Our Corporate Mission is to be a leading global supplier of parts and services to diverse end markets for the vehicles of yesterday, today and tomorrow, while leveraging our heritage of integrity and respect for all of our stakeholders.
We sell our products in the automotive aftermarket primarily to retailers and warehouse distributors, who buy directly from us and sell directly to jobber stores, professional technicians and to individual consumers who perform “do-it-yourself” repairs on their personal vehicles. We believe that our value proposition is a key competitive advantage in maintaining our position as a strategic partner to our customers and a leader in the automotive aftermarket.
In the automotive aftermarket, our mission is to be the best full-line, full-service supplier of premium Vehicle Control and Temperature Control products.
Our Aftermarket Value Proposition
■ Premium Quality Products | ■ Premium Brands | ■ Full-Line Coverage | ■ Supply Chain Excellence |
■ Field Sales Support | ■ Marketing Support | ■ World-Class Training | ■ Basic Manufacturing |
Premium Quality Products.
We offer professional grade products intended to fit, form and function to standards that meet or exceed the original equipment (“OE”) product it replaces. Our products undergo rigorous product qualification, testing our products against exacting specifications and performance criteria. In some cases, we have successfully identified and implemented improvements in the durability of our products through the evaluation and analysis of OE product failures in the field.
Premium Brands.
We believe that our brands are a key component of our value proposition, and serve to distinguish our premium products from those of our competitors. We market and distribute our products under our own brands, such as:
Vehicle Control |  |
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Temperature Control | |
We also distribute our products to customers for resale under private labels and the following co-labels:
In some cases, we have developed our product offering and brand strategies to support our customers’ initiatives to market a tiered product assortment designed to satisfy end-user preferences for quality and value. We believe that this alignment makes us an invaluable business partner to our customers.
Full-Line Coverage.
Our product offering is designed to ensure our automotive aftermarket customers have the parts they need to maintain, service and repair the wide range of vehicles in operation. We offer a full line of critical components for most years, makes, models and engine sizes. Our product offering is a reflection of the vehicles in operation, the adoption rates of new vehicle technologies by original equipment manufacturers, the number of miles driven, and the failure rates of parts in service. We continuously look to expand our coverage through the addition of late-model applications in existing product categories as well as new product categories in response to evolving vehicle technologies, or that otherwise complement our existing offering and have potential for high growth.
We focus on expanding our product coverage in advanced powertrain technologies, including start and stop technology, cylinder deactivation, variable valve timing, turbochargers, electronic throttle bodies, diesel exhaust emissions control, gasoline direct injection, active grill shutters; electrification, such as battery cooling fans, drive battery charging cables and adapters, and electric coolant pumps; and safety related categories, such as anti-lock brake, vehicle speed sensors, tire pressure monitoring, park assist sensors and advanced driver assistance components, including blind spot detection sensors, cruise control distance sensors, lane departure sensor cameras and park assist backup cameras.
In December 2023, we offered over 79,000 total stock keeping units (SKUs) to the automotive aftermarket. Approximately 2,600 of these SKUs were newly introduced in 2023, of which more than half were powertrain neutral vehicle technologies, such as cruise control distance sensors, park assist cameras and electronic parking brake actuators.
Our Vehicle Control offering includes more than seventy product categories for hybrid electric vehicles. We are committed to strategically expanding our product offerings for electric and hybrid vehicles to service this important segment.
Supply Chain Excellence.
Product availability, including order turn-around time and fill rates, are critical measures of performance in the automotive aftermarket, and we partner with our suppliers and customers, to implement focused initiatives designed to achieve high levels of performance against these key metrics. For example, we manage forecasting responsibilities for our major retail customers, and provide twelve month projections to our suppliers to assist in their raw material and capacity planning to ensure continuity of supply.
In 2023, we announced plans to open a new distribution center in Shawnee, Kansas. The new facility, which is expected to have a phased opening beginning in 2024 and be fully operational in early 2025, will expand our total distribution network square footage to meet our growing demands in the automotive aftermarket, and integrate state-of-the-art technologies to deliver improved logistics capabilities, operational efficiencies, as well as enhanced employee, customer and supplier experiences. The new Shawnee, Kansas distribution facility will also bring our Vehicle Control products geographically closer to our Midwest and West Coast customers, reducing transportation lead-time, and will ultimately provide disaster recovery capabilities for automotive aftermarket products across our divisions.
Field Sales Support.
We believe our technically-trained salesforce is a key competitive advantage. Our field sales support focuses on educating parts professionals (e.g., customer team members) and professional technicians in highly technical product categories. Our customers depend on our sales personnel as a reliable source for technical information and to assist with sales to their customers (e.g., jobber stores, professional technicians and individual consumers performing “do-it-yourself” repairs). We direct a significant portion of our sales efforts to our customers’ customers to generate demand for our products. The structure of our salesforce facilitates these efforts, enabling us to implement our sales and marketing programs uniformly throughout the distribution channel.
Marketing Support.
We support our customers with superior value-added services such as data-driven category management based on vehicles in operation, sophisticated parts catalogs, available online and through our mobile application, and technical support, including selection, assortment and application support for all of our products. We also grant our customers royalty-free licenses to use certain intellectual property rights to advertise, market and sell our products. The licenses primarily cover vehicle application data, which is used to identify the parts necessary to service any particular vehicle make, model, year and/or engine size, product information data, including product interchanges, part numbers, attributes, high resolution images and videos, dimensions, specifications and other technical descriptions of parts and components.
World-Class Training.
We generate demand for our products through our technical training program, which offers training seminars to professional automotive technicians. Our training program is accredited by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) Training Managers Council. Our seminars are taught by ASE certified instructors, and are available in-person and online through webinars and on-demand seminars. Our seminars cover approximately 150 different topics, offered in both English and Spanish. Through our training program, we typically teach approximately 60,000 technicians annually how to diagnose and repair vehicles equipped with complex systems related to our products, and we have approximately 16,000 technicians and 7,000 of our customers’ store employees and sales team members who are registered to participate in such sessions through our online platform.
Basic Manufacturing.
We are committed to expanding our design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities, and vertically integrating production processes to bring more manufacturing in-house. We engineer, tool and manufacture many of the products we offer for sale and the components used in their assembly. We believe this level of vertical integration, in combination with our manufacturing footprint in low cost regions, is a key competitive advantage in terms of the quality, cost and availability of our products.
| Examples of vertically integrated processes: |
| ➢ plastic molding operations | ➢ automated electronics assembly |
| ➢ stamping and machining operations | ➢ design and fabrication of processing and test equipment |
➢ wire extrusion | ➢ teardown, diagnostics and rebuilding of remanufactured air conditioning compressors, diesel injectors and diesel pumps |
As of December 31, 2023, all of our principal manufacturing facilities maintained quality management systems that were ISO 9001 and/or TS 16949 certified, and ten of our principal manufacturing and distribution facilities maintained environmental management systems that were ISO 14001 certified.
Our manufacturing footprint is geographically diverse with a greater presence in North America and Europe compared to many of our peers. We leverage our footprint to improve our cost position by locating labor-intensive processes within our low-cost plants, and by investing in automation and undertaking continuous improvement and expansion initiatives in our domestic facilities.
Our Engineered Solutions Value Proposition
We seek to leverage our extensive portfolio of adaptable products and strategically positioned global network of resources to deliver custom-engineered solutions for vehicle control and thermal management categories to the diversified end markets we supply.
Our Engineered Solutions products are sold primarily to original equipment manufacturers and their tier suppliers, system integrators, and original equipment service part operations. Our customers use our products in serial production and as service and replacement parts.
We believe our global network of resources, including our engineering capabilities, advanced quality systems, manufacturing, distribution and technical sales expertise, combined with our customizable solutions for vehicle control and thermal management categories, is a key competitive advantage. Our focus on vehicle control and thermal management categories leverages the legacy and leadership position of our automotive aftermarket business to provide a platform for future growth in diverse non-aftermarket end markets. We drive growth in this segment by developing new customer relationships, cross-selling to existing customers, introducing new products to new and existing customers, and increasing content per unit. Our growth strategy is long-term, and we do not expect growth to be linear given the lengthy nature of design engineering and validation and the period of time between the awarding of new business and the start of production, often which occurs 1-2 years after business is awarded.
We believe our automotive aftermarket business benefits from our Engineered Solutions business through accelerated future product development; systems, processes and quality enhancements; the technical insights of its original equipment customers; its global footprint; and synergistic mergers and acquisitions.
We distribute our Engineered Solutions products under the following trade names:
Strategic Acquisitions
We selectively pursue strategic acquisitions that strengthen our position in the markets we supply or that diversify our business in target markets or geographies. Among other considerations, we seek acquisitions that align with our core competencies; enhance our existing design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities; and vertically integrate key technologies, products and processes.
For information on recent acquisitions and investments, see Note 2 “Business Acquisitions and Investments” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Report.
Industry Trends
The automotive aftermarket is a mature industry that tends to be influenced by trends such as the number of vehicles on the road, the average age of vehicles on the road, and the total number of miles driven per year. Weather extremes like unseasonably hot or cool temperatures in the summer can also have an impact on automotive aftermarket product demand.
In the diverse non-aftermarket end markets we supply, such as commercial and light vehicles, construction, agriculture, power sports and others, other economic factors such as the level of new vehicle sales and production rates, which more recently have been impacted by disruptions in the global supply chain and labor, tend to have a more direct impact.
Our Customers
In the automotive aftermarket, our customers are many of the largest national and regional retailers and distributors, such as: Advance Auto Parts; Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper (Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance); Automotive Distribution Network; AutoZone; Canadian Tire; Federated Auto Parts; Genuine Parts Company and National Automotive Parts Association; O’Reilly Auto Parts; The Automotive Parts Services Group or The Group; The National Pronto Association; and Uni-Select.
Engineered Solutions customers are many of the largest original equipment manufacturers and their tier suppliers, system integrators, and original equipment service part operations, such as: Bombardier; Carquest: Caterpillar; CNH; Daimler Truck; Eberspacher; Ford; General Motors; Harley-Davidson; IVECO; John Deere; Mobile Climate Control; Polaris; Scania; Volvo/Mack Truck; and Woodward.
Our three largest individual customers accounted for approximately 59% of our consolidated net sales in 2023. During 2023, O’Reilly Auto Parts, AutoZone and NAPA accounted for 29%, 16%, and 14% of our consolidated net sales, respectively.
Competition
Our business operates in highly competitive markets, and we face substantial competition in all of the markets that we supply.
In the automotive aftermarket, we compete primarily on the basis of product quality, availability (including order turn-around time and fill rate), coverage and price, and value-added services. Our primary competitors are full-line suppliers, short- or value-line suppliers, tier suppliers and service part operations of original equipment manufacturers, including car dealerships, and the direct import programs of certain retailers.
In our Engineered Solutions segment, we compete on the basis of product quality, price and availability (including order turn-around time and fill rate), technical expertise (including product design, development and innovation), and lean process improvements. Our primary competitors are global and regional tier suppliers of original equipment manufacturers.
We believe we differentiate ourselves from our competition through the execution of our value proposition, discussed further above. In addition, in the automotive aftermarket, we offer a variety of strategic customer discounts, allowances and incentives to increase the sale of our products. For example, we offer cash discounts for paying invoices in accordance with the specified discounted terms of the invoice. We also offer rebates and discounts to customers as advertising and sales force allowances, and allowances for warranty and overstock returns are also provided. These discounts, allowances and incentives are a common practice in the automotive aftermarket, and we intend to continue offering them in response to competitive pressures and to strategically support growth in sales of our products.
Seasonality
Historically, our operating results have fluctuated by quarter, with the greatest sales occurring in the second and third quarters of the year and revenues generally being recognized at the time of shipment. It is in these quarters that demand for our products is typically the highest, specifically in the Temperature Control Segment of our business. The demand for our Temperature Control products during the second and third quarters of the year may vary significantly with the summer weather and customer inventories.
Working Capital and Inventory Management
We maintain an inventory management system that is designed to reduce inventory requirements, and enhance our ability to compete on the basis of product availability (including order turn-around time and fill rate) and product coverage. We seek continuous improvements in this system to improve inventory deployment, enhance collaboration with customers on forecasts and inventory assortments, and further integrate our supply chain with both our customers and suppliers. We also utilize a pack‑to‑order distribution system, which permits us to retain slow moving items in a bulk storage state until a related order is received. This system reduces the volume of a given part in inventory.
We face inventory management issues in our automotive Aftermarket business as a result of overstock returns. We permit our automotive Aftermarket customers to return new, undamaged products within customer-specific limits (which are generally limited to a specified percentage of their annual purchases from us) in the event that they have overstocked their inventories. We accrue for overstock returns as a percentage of sales after giving consideration to recent returns history. In addition, as discussed further above under the heading “Seasonality”, the seasonality of our Temperature Control Segment requires that we increase our inventory during the winter season in preparation of the summer selling season.
As such, our profitability and working capital requirements are seasonal due to our sales mix of Temperature Control products. Our working capital requirements typically peak near the end of the second quarter, as the inventory build‑up of air conditioning products is converted to sales, and payments on the receivables associated with such sales have yet to be received. These increased working capital requirements are funded by borrowings from our revolving credit facility in our Credit Agreement.
Suppliers
We source materials through a global network of suppliers to ensure a consistent, high quality and low cost supply of materials and key components for our product lines. As a result of the breadth of our product offering, we are not dependent on any single raw material. Irrespective, disruptions in the global economy have impeded global supply chains, resulting in inflationary cost increases in certain raw materials, labor and transportation, in longer lead times, delays in procuring component parts and raw materials, and in prior year inventory increases, which are subsequently being worked down. In response to the global supply chain volatility and inflationary cost increases, we have taken, and continue to take, several actions to mitigate the impact by working closely with our suppliers and customers to minimize any potential adverse impacts on our business, including implementing cost savings initiatives and the pass through of higher costs to our customers in the form of price increases.
The principal raw materials purchased by us consist of brass, electronic components, fabricated copper (primarily in the form of magnet and insulated cable), steel magnets, laminations, tubes and shafts, stamped steel parts, stainless steel coils and rods, aluminum coils, fittings, rods, cast aluminum parts, lead, steel roller bearings, rubber molding compound, thermo‑set and thermo plastic molding powders, and chemicals.
Additionally, we use components and cores (used parts) in our remanufacturing processes for air conditioning compressors, diesel injectors, and diesel pumps. We obtain cores from exchanges with customers who return cores subsequent to purchasing remanufactured products, and from a network of core brokers who sell cores. In addition, we acquire certain materials by purchasing products that are resold into the market, particularly by OEM sources and other domestic and foreign suppliers.
We expect to have an adequate supply of primary raw materials and cores necessary to meet our needs; however, there always are risks and uncertainties with respect to the supply of raw materials and components that could impact their availability in sufficient quantities and at cost effective prices to meet our needs.
Sustainability
We support and seek continuous improvement in the pursuit of environmental, social and corporate governance practices that embody our culture and what we believe it means to be a good corporate citizen.
Our Culture
Our Company was founded in 1919 on the values of integrity, common decency and respect for others. These values are embodied in our Code of Ethics, which has been adopted by the Board of Directors of the Company to serve as a statement of principles to guide our decision-making and reinforce our commitment to these values in all aspects of our business. These values also serve as the foundation for our continued focus on many important sustainability issues.
Environmental Stewardship
We have made significant strides with respect to our sustainability initiatives, building awareness of the environmental impact of our operations, and challenging ourselves to reduce our impact by reducing our usage of energy and water, reducing our generation of waste, increasing our recycling efforts and reducing our Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, we believe our product offering contributes to a greener car parc through several key product categories that are critical components in automotive systems designed to improve fuel economy and reduce harmful emissions, such as fuel injectors, exhaust gas recirculation valves, sensors and tubes, and evaporative emission control system components. We also bring to market alternative energy products, which utilize cleaner burning fuels or are designed for electric or hybrid electric vehicles, and we remanufacture key categories within our product portfolio, such as air conditioning compressors, diesel injectors and diesel pumps, through processes that save energy and reduce waste.
Human Capital
As of December 31, 2023, we employed approximately 5,200 people, with 2,100 people in the United States and 3,100 people in Mexico, Canada, Poland, the U.K., Germany, Hungary, China and Hong Kong. Of the 5,200 people employed, approximately 2,600 people are production employees. We operate primarily in non‑union facilities and have binding labor agreements with employees at other unionized facilities. We have approximately 75 production employees in Edwardsville, Kansas, who will eventually migrate to our new Shawnee, KS facility, who are covered by a contract with The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America that expires in August 2026. We also have approximately 1,200 employees in Mexico who are covered under union agreements negotiated at various intervals. For clarification, the employee numbers described above exclude the employees of our joint venture operations. We believe our facilities are in labor markets with ready access to adequate numbers of skilled and unskilled workers, and our relations with our union and non‑union employees are good.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. We strive to hire, retain and advance a diverse workforce that reflects the communities that we serve. Our recent efforts have been focused in three areas: inspiring innovation through an inclusive and diverse culture; expanding our efforts to recruit and hire world-class diverse talent; and identifying strategic partners to accelerate our inclusion and diversity programs.
Health, Safety and Wellness. We are committed to the health, safety and wellness of our employees. We strive to eliminate workplace incidents, risks and hazards. Our health and wellness programs support our employees’ physical and mental health by providing tools and resources to encourage healthy behaviors and provide peace of mind in circumstances that may require time away from work.
Compensation and Benefits. We provide competitive compensation and benefits programs that meet the needs of our employees. In addition to wages and salaries, these programs include annual cash bonuses, stock awards, a 401(k) Plan, healthcare and insurance benefits, health savings and flexible spending accounts, paid time off, family leave, fertility benefits, family care resources, tuition reimbursement, LGBTQ+ inclusive benefits, mental health resources and employee assistance programs.
Talent Development. We invest significant resources to develop the talent of our high potential employees. We deliver employee workshops and mentoring programs, numerous training opportunities, provide rotational assignment opportunities, offer continuous learning and development, and implement methodologies to manage performance, provide feedback and develop talent opportunities, all designed to provide employees with the resources they need to help achieve their career goals and build management skills. Our annual review process encourages manager and employee conversations throughout the year to enhance growth and development.
Employee satisfaction and engagement are important elements in our talent retention strategy. From time to time, we conduct employee engagement surveys to identify areas where we can enhance our talent retention strategy and employee satisfaction, including fostering a more inclusive and equitable environment. We utilize the results from these engagement surveys to better provide employees with the tools, resources and support that they need to succeed and grow in their SMP careers.
Social Engagement and Community Service
We believe that building connections between our employees, their families and our communities creates a more meaningful, fulfilling and enjoyable workplace. Through our SMP Cares® initiative, we sponsor corporate giving and volunteering programs to encourage our employees to connect with our local communities and engage in the local causes that they are passionate about.
Governance
Our commitment to sustainability is spearheaded by our Board of Directors. Specifically, our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee established a sustainability steering committee among our executive officers including our Chief Executive Officer & President, Chief Legal Officer & Secretary, Chief Human Resources Officer, and Senior Vice President of North American Operations. This sustainability steering committee is tasked with developing specific strategies to ensure that our company-wide operations adhere to our corporate governance values and advance our sustainability objectives globally. The multidisciplinary approach of our steering committee allows it to leverage our expertise in operations, engineering, supply chain, human capital management, finance, legal and other fields to push our sustainability initiatives ahead from all angles.
Continued Commitment
With each year, we intend to further our commitment to sustainability initiatives, improving our environmental stewardship, finding ways to give back to our communities, and enhancing the diversity and inclusion of our workforce while offering opportunities for development. Information on our sustainability initiatives can be found in our most current sustainability report and on our corporate website at ir.smpcorp.com under “Environmental & Social Responsibility” and at smpcares.smpcorp.com. Information in our sustainability report and on our corporate websites regarding our sustainability initiatives are referenced for general information only and are not incorporated by reference in this Report.
Available Information
We are a New York corporation founded in 1919. Our principal executive offices are located at 37‑18 Northern Boulevard, Long Island City, New York 11101, and our main telephone number at that location is (718) 392‑0200. Our Internet address is www.smpcorp.com. We provide a link to reports that we have filed with the SEC. However, for those persons that make a request in writing or by e-mail (financial@smpcorp.com), we will provide free of charge our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our Current Reports on Form 8-K and any amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These reports and other information are also available, free of charge, at www.sec.gov.
You should carefully consider the risks described below. These risks and uncertainties are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or other factors not perceived by us to present significant risks to our business at this time also may impair our business and results of operations. If any of the stated risks actually occur, they could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition or operating results.
Risks Related to Our Operations
We depend on a limited number of key customers, and the loss of any such customer, or a significant reduction in purchases by such customer, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our three largest individual customers accounted for approximately 59% of our consolidated net sales in 2023. During 2023, O’Reilly Auto Parts, AutoZone and NAPA accounted for 29%, 16% and 14% of our consolidated net sales, respectively. The loss of one or more of these customers or, a significant reduction in purchases of our products from any one of them could have a materially adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, any consolidation among our key customers may further increase our customer concentration risk.
In our automotive aftermarket business, we do not typically enter into long-term agreements with any of our customers. Instead, we enter into a number of purchase order commitments with our aftermarket customers, based on their current or projected needs. We have in the past, and may in the future, lose customers or lose a particular product line of a customer due to the highly competitive conditions in the automotive aftermarket industry, including pricing pressures, consolidation of customers, customer initiatives to buy direct from foreign suppliers and/or to pursue a private brand strategy, or other business considerations. A decision by any significant customer, whether motivated by competitive conditions, financial difficulties or otherwise, to materially decrease the amount of products purchased from us, to change their manner of doing business with us, or to stop doing business with us, including a decision to source products directly from a low cost region such as Asia, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Because our sales are concentrated, and the markets in which we operate are very competitive, we are under ongoing pressure from our customers to offer lower prices, extend payment terms, increase marketing allowances and other terms more favorable to these customers. These customer demands have put continued pressure on our operating margins and profitability, resulted in periodic contract renegotiation to provide more favorable prices and terms to these customers, and significantly increased our working capital needs.
Our industry is highly competitive, and our success depends on our ability to compete with suppliers of automotive products, some of which may have substantially greater financial, marketing and other resources than we do.
The automotive industry is highly competitive, and our success depends on our ability to compete with domestic and international suppliers of automotive products. In the automotive aftermarket, we compete primarily with full-line suppliers, short- or value-line suppliers, tier suppliers and service part operations of original equipment manufacturers, including car dealerships, and the direct import programs of certain retailers. In the diverse non-aftermarket end markets we supply, we compete primarily with global and regional tier suppliers of original equipment manufacturers. Some of our competitors may have larger customer bases and significantly greater financial, technical and marketing resources than we do. These factors may allow our competitors to:
| • | respond more quickly than we can to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements by devoting greater resources than we can to the development, promotion and sale of automotive products and services; |
| • | engage in more extensive research and development; |
| • | sell products at a lower price than we do; |
| • | undertake more extensive marketing campaigns; and |
| • | make more attractive offers to existing and potential customers and strategic partners. |
We cannot assure you that our competitors will not develop products or services that are equal or superior to our products or that achieve greater market acceptance than our products or that in the future other companies involved in the automotive industry will not expand their operations into product lines produced and sold by us. We also cannot assure you that additional entrants will not enter the automotive industry or that companies in the industry will not consolidate. Any such competitive pressures could cause us to lose market share or could result in significant price decreases and could have a material adverse effect upon our business, financial condition and results of operations.
There is substantial price competition in our industry, and our success and profitability will depend on our ability to maintain a competitive cost and price structure.
There is substantial price competition in our industry, and our success and profitability will depend on our ability to maintain a competitive cost and price structure. This is the result of a number of industry trends, including the impact of offshore suppliers in the marketplace (particularly in China) which do not have the same infrastructure costs as we do, the consolidated purchasing power of large customers, and actions taken by some of our competitors in an effort to ‘‘win over’’ new business. We have in the past reduced prices to remain competitive and may have to do so again in the future. Price reductions have impacted our sales and profit margins and may do so in the future. Our future profitability will depend in part upon our ability to respond to changes in product and distribution channel mix, to continue to improve our manufacturing efficiencies, to generate cost reductions, including reductions in the cost of components purchased from outside suppliers, to maintain a cost structure that will enable us to offer competitive prices, and to pass through higher distribution, raw materials and labor costs to our customers. Our inability to maintain a competitive cost structure could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business is seasonal and is subject to substantial quarterly fluctuations, which impact our quarterly performance and working capital requirements.
Historically, our operating results have fluctuated by quarter, with the greatest sales occurring in the second and third quarters of the year and revenues generally being recognized at the time of shipment. It is in these quarters that demand for our temperature control products is typically the highest.
The demand for our temperature control products during the second and third quarters of the year may vary significantly with the summer weather and customer inventories. As such, our working capital requirements typically peak near the end of the second quarter, as the inventory build‑up of air conditioning products is converted to sales, and payments on the receivables associated with such sales have yet to be received. These increased working capital requirements are funded by borrowing from our revolving credit facility in our Credit Agreement.
Climate-related physical risks, such as changes to weather patterns and conditions may also impact the pattern of seasonality and variability in demand for our Temperature Control products discussed above, which may impact our quarterly performance and working capital requirements.
We may incur material losses and significant costs as a result of warranty-related returns by our customers in excess of anticipated amounts.
Our products are required to meet rigorous standards imposed by our customers and our industry. Many of our products carry a warranty ranging from a 90-day limited warranty to a lifetime limited warranty, which generally covers defects in materials or workmanship, and conformance to agreed upon specifications. In the event that our products fail to conform to these warranties, the affected products may be subject to warranty returns and/or product recalls. Although we maintain a comprehensive quality control program, we cannot give any assurance that our products will not suffer from defects or other deficiencies or that we will not experience material warranty returns or product recalls in the future.
We accrue for warranty returns as a percentage of sales, after giving consideration to recent historical returns. While we believe that we make reasonable estimates for warranty returns in accordance with our revenue recognition policies, actual returns may differ from our estimates. We have in the past incurred, and may in the future incur, material losses and significant costs as a result of our customers returning products to us for warranty-related issues in excess of anticipated amounts. Deficiencies or defects in our products in the future may result in warranty returns and product recalls in excess of anticipated amounts and may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our profitability may be materially adversely affected as a result of overstock inventory related returns by our customers in excess of anticipated amounts.
In our automotive aftermarket business, we permit overstock returns of inventory that may be either new or non-defective or non-obsolete but that we believe we can re-sell. Customers are generally limited to returning overstocked inventory according to a specified percentage of their annual purchases from us. In addition, a customer’s annual allowance cannot be carried forward to the upcoming year.
We accrue for overstock returns as a percentage of sales, after giving consideration to recent historical returns. While we believe that we make reasonable estimates for overstock returns in accordance with our revenue recognition policies, actual returns may differ from our estimates. To the extent that overstocked returns are materially in excess of our projections, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.
We may be materially adversely affected by asbestos claims arising from products sold by our former brake business, as well as by other product liability claims.
In 1986, we acquired a brake business, which we subsequently sold in March 1998. When we originally acquired this brake business, we assumed future liabilities relating to any alleged exposure to asbestos-containing products manufactured by the seller of the acquired brake business. In accordance with the related purchase agreement, we agreed to assume the liabilities for all new claims filed after September 2001. Our ultimate exposure will depend upon the number of claims filed against us on or after September 2001, and the amounts paid for settlements, awards of asbestos-related damages, and defense of such claims. We do not have insurance coverage for the indemnity and defense costs associated with the claims we face.
At December 31, 2023, 1,390 cases were outstanding for which we may be responsible for any related liabilities. Since inception in September 2001 through December 31, 2023, the amounts paid for settled claims and awards of asbestos-related damages, including interest, were approximately $74.6 million. A substantial increase in the number of new claims, or increased settlement payments, or awards of asbestos-related damages, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In accordance with our policy to perform an annual actuarial evaluation in the third quarter of each year, an actuarial study was performed as of August 31, 2023. Based upon the results of the August 31, 2023 actuarial study, and all other available information to us, we increased our asbestos liability to the low end of the range, and recorded an incremental pre-tax provision of $23.8 million in earnings (loss) from discontinued operations in the accompanying statement of operations. The results of the August 31, 2023 study included an estimate of our undiscounted liability for settlement payments and awards of asbestos-related damages, excluding legal costs, ranging from $84 million to $135.3 million for the period through 2065. Future legal costs, which are expensed as incurred and reported in earnings (loss) from discontinued operations in the accompanying statement of operations, are estimated, according to the August 31, 2023 study, to range from $53.1 million to $105.2 million for the period through 2065.
Given the uncertainties associated with projecting asbestos-related matters into the future and other factors outside our control, we cannot give any assurance that significant increases in the number of claims filed against us will not occur, that awards of asbestos-related damages or settlement awards will not exceed the amount we have in reserve, or that additional provisions will not be required. Management will continue to monitor the circumstances surrounding these potential liabilities in determining whether additional reserves and provisions may be necessary. We plan on performing an annual actuarial analysis during the third quarter of each year for the foreseeable future, and whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that additional provisions may be necessary.
In addition to asbestos-related claims, our product sales entail the risk of involvement in other product liability actions. We maintain product liability insurance coverage, but we cannot give any assurance that current or future policy limits will be sufficient to cover all possible liabilities. Further, we can give no assurance that adequate product liability insurance will continue to be available to us in the future or that such insurance may be maintained at a reasonable cost to us. In the event of a successful product liability claim against us, a lack or insufficiency of insurance coverage could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may not be able to achieve the benefits that we expect from our cost savings initiatives.
We expect to realize the continued benefit of discretionary cost reduction measures, along with the continued cost savings anticipated from several ongoing and/or recently completed restructuring and integration initiatives. Due to factors outside our control, such as the adoption or modification of domestic and foreign laws, regulations or policies, we may not be able to achieve the level of benefits that we expect to realize in these initiatives, or we may not be able to realize these benefits within the time frames we currently expect. Our ability to achieve any anticipated cost savings could be affected by a number of factors such as changes in the amount, timing and character of charges related to such initiatives, or a substantial delay in the completion of such initiatives. Failure to achieve the benefits of our cost saving initiatives could have a material adverse effect on us. Our cost savings is also predicated upon maintaining our sales levels.
Severe weather, natural disasters and other disruptions could adversely impact our operations at our manufacturing and distribution facilities.
Severe weather conditions and natural disasters, such as hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes and floods, could damage our properties and effect our operations, particularly our major manufacturing and distribution operations at foreign facilities in Canada, China, Mexico, Poland, Germany and Hungary and at our domestic facilities in Florida, Indiana, Kansas, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Moreover, global climate change may cause these natural disasters to occur more frequently and/or with more intense effects, which could prevent us from, or cause delays in our ability to, manufacture and deliver products to our customers, and/or cause us to incur additional costs.
In addition, our business and operations could be materially adversely affected in the event of other serious disruptions at these facilities due to fire, electrical blackouts, power losses, telecommunications failures, wars, terrorist attack or similar events. Any of these occurrences could impair our ability to adequately manufacture or supply our customers due to all or a significant portion of our equipment or inventory being damaged. If our existing manufacturing or distribution facilities become incapable of producing and supplying products for any reason, we may not be able to satisfy our customers’ requirements and we may lose revenue and incur significant costs and expenses that may not be recoverable through our business interruption insurance.
Disruptions in the supply of raw materials, manufactured components, or equipment could materially and adversely affect our operations and cause us to incur significant cost increases.
We source various types of raw materials, finished goods, equipment, and component parts from suppliers as part of a global supply chain, and we may be materially and adversely affected by the failure of those suppliers to perform as expected. Although we have had an adequate supply of purchased supplier raw materials, finished goods, equipment and component parts, disruptions in the global economy have impeded global supply chains, resulting in longer lead times and delays in procuring component parts and raw materials, and inflationary cost increases in certain raw materials, labor and transportation. In response to the global supply chain volatility and inflationary cost increases, we have taken, and continue to take, several actions to mitigate the impact by working closely with our suppliers and customers to minimize any potential adverse impacts on our business, including initiating cost savings initiatives and the pass through of higher costs to our customers. We cannot assure that unforeseen future events in the global supply chain affecting the availability of materials and components, and/or increasing commodity pricing, will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Additionally, supplier non-performance may consist of delivery delays or failures caused by production issues or delivery of non-conforming products. Our suppliers’ ability to supply products to us is also subject to a number of risks, including the availability and cost of raw materials, the destruction of their facilities, work stoppages, cybersecurity incidents affecting their information systems or other limitations on their business operations, which could be caused by any number of factors, such as labor disruptions, financial distress, severe weather conditions and natural disasters, social unrest, economic and political instability, and public health crises, including the occurrence of a contagious disease or illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, war, terrorism or other catastrophic events. In addition, our failure to promptly pay, or order sufficient quantities of inventory from our suppliers may increase the cost of products we purchase or may lead to suppliers refusing to sell products to us at all. Our efforts to protect against and to minimize these risks may not always be effective.
Our Operations could be adversely affected by interruptions or breaches in the security of our computer and information systems.
We rely on information systems throughout our organization to conduct day-to-day business operations, including the management of our supply chain and our purchasing, receiving and distribution functions. We also routinely use our information systems to send, receive, store, access and use sensitive data relating to our Company and its employees, customers, suppliers, and business partners, including intellectual property, proprietary business information, and other sensitive materials. Additionally, we rely on our information systems to enable many of our employees to work remotely as a result of more recent policies and practices enacted by us.
Despite security measures designed to prevent and mitigate the risk of cybersecurity incidents, our information systems, and the systems of our customers, suppliers and business partners, may be vulnerable to such incidents, including interruptions, outages, data breaches, phishing attacks, ransomware attacks, unauthorized access, attempts to hack into our network, and computer viruses. Moreover, the technologies and techniques used to carry out cyber-attacks are continuously evolving, making it difficult to detect these changes or implement adequate measures in time to prevent or mitigate the impact of an attack. Due to the foregoing, though we have not experienced a material cybersecurity incident in 2023, we cannot guarantee that there will be no future cybersecurity incident that causes a material adverse effect on our information systems, or that of our customers, suppliers and other business partners.
In the event that our information systems, or the systems of our customers, suppliers or business partners, are subject to such incidents, we could experience errors, interruptions, delays, and/or the cessation of services in key portions of our information systems. If critical information systems fail or otherwise become unavailable, our ability to process orders, maintain proper inventory levels, collect accounts receivable and disburse funds could be adversely affected. The foregoing matters could also cause significant damage to our business reputation, affect our relationships with our business partners, lead to claims against us, and/or subject us to fines or other penalties assessed by governmental authorities. Additionally, we may be required to incur substantial costs to remediate the damage caused by these disruptions or protect us against future cybersecurity incidents. Depending on the nature and magnitude of these events, they could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
The transition risks associated with global climate change may cause us to incur significant costs.
In addition to the physical risks described above, global climate change has brought about certain risks associated with the anticipated transition to a lower-carbon economy, such as regulatory changes affecting vehicle emissions and fuel efficiency requirements, technological changes in vehicle architectures, changes in consumer demand, carbon taxes, greenhouse gas emissions tracking, and regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from certain sources. Any regulatory changes aimed to reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions may require us to incur increased operating costs, such as to purchase and operate emissions control systems or other such technologies to comply with applicable regulations or reporting requirements. These regulations, as well as shifts in consumer demand due to public awareness and concern of climate change, could affect the timing and scope of their proliferation and may also adversely impact our sales of products designed for the internal combustion engines. As we monitor the rapid developments in this area, we may be required to adjust our business strategy to address the various transition risks posed by climate change.
Failure to maintain the value of our brands could have an adverse effect on our reputation, cause us to incur significant costs and negatively impact our business.
Our brands are a key component of our value proposition, and serve to distinguish our premium products from those of our competitors. In our automotive aftermarket business, we believe that our success depends, in part, on maintaining and enhancing the value of our brands and executing our brand strategies, which are designed to drive end-user demand for our products and make us a valued business partner to our aftermarket customers through the support of their marketing initiatives. A decline in the reputation of our brands as a result of events, such as deficiencies or defects in the design or manufacture of our products, or from legal proceedings, product recalls or warranty claims resulting from such deficiencies or defects, may harm our reputation as a manufacturer and distributor of premium automotive parts, reduce demand for our products and adversely affect our business.
Our revenue and results of operations may suffer upon the bankruptcy, insolvency or other credit failure of a significant customer.
Most of our customers buy products from us on credit. We extend credit to customers and offer extended payment terms based upon competitive conditions in the marketplace and our assessment and analysis of creditworthiness. General economic conditions, competition and other factors may adversely affect the solvency or creditworthiness of our customers. Higher interest rates, inflationary cost increases in raw materials, labor and transportation and a general worsening of economic conditions have put financial pressure on many of our customers and may threaten certain customers’ ability to maintain liquidity sufficient to repay their obligations to us as they become due. The bankruptcy, insolvency or other credit failure of any customer that has a substantial amount owed to us could have a material adverse effect on our operating revenue and results of operations. We recorded a $7 million pre-tax charge in 2022 to reduce our outstanding accounts receivable balance from a customer that filed for bankruptcy in the first quarter of 2023 to our estimated recovery amount.
In our Engineered Solutions business, our supply agreements with our customers are generally requirements contracts, and a decline in the production requirements of any of our significant customers could adversely impact our revenues and profitability.
In our Engineered Solutions business, our customers generally agree to purchase their requirements for specific products, and we receive volume forecasts of their requirements, but not long-term firm volume commitments. Furthermore, our customers typically reserve the right to change, delay or cancel their orders for products, and we have limited recourse in such events. Changes, delays or cancellations by a significant customer or by a number of customers could adversely impact our results of operations by reducing the volumes of products we manufacture and sell, by causing a delay in the recovery of expenditures for raw materials and component parts procured to satisfy such orders, or by reducing our asset utilization, resulting in lower profitability.
We also make key decisions based on our estimates of our customers’ requirements, including in planning our production schedules, raw material and component part purchases, personnel needs and other resource requirements. Changes in demand for our customers’ products would likely reduce our customers’ requirements and adversely impact our ability to accurately estimate their requirements in the future. Any significant decrease or delay in customer orders could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our inability to attract or retain key employees may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our success is dependent upon our ability to attract, retain and motivate certain key employees, including our management and our skilled workforce of engineers, technically-trained salesforce employees and other qualified personnel. Many of our key employees have many years of experience with our Company and would be difficult to replace without allotment of a significant amount of time for knowledge transfer. Furthermore, although we believe our facilities are in labor markets with ready access to adequate numbers of skilled and unskilled workers, we compete with other businesses to fill many of our hourly positions in our distribution facilities, which historically have had high turnover rates, which can lead to increased training and retention costs, particularly in a competitive and shrinking labor market. We cannot be certain that we will be able to continue to attract or retain our key employees, which could cause us to fail to execute our value proposition, fail to achieve operational efficiencies, and incur increased labor costs, which could have an adverse effect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to Liquidity
We are exposed to risks related to our receivables supply chain financing arrangements.
We are party to several supply chain financing arrangements, in which we may sell certain of our customers’ trade accounts receivable without recourse to such customers’ financial institutions. To the extent that these arrangements are terminated, our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity could be adversely affected by extended payment terms, delays or failures in collecting trade accounts receivables.
The utility of the supply chain financing arrangements also depends upon a benchmark reference rate for the purpose of determining the discount rate on the sale of the underlying trade accounts receivable. If the benchmark reference rate increases significantly, we may be negatively impacted as we may not be able to pass these added costs on to our customers, which could have a material and adverse effect upon our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Depending upon the level of sales of receivables pursuant these agreements, a hypothetical, instantaneous and unfavorable change of 100 basis points in the reference rate may have an approximate $8.3 million negative impact on our earnings or cash flows.
A significant increase in our indebtedness, or in interest rates, could negatively affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
We have a Credit Agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent, and a syndicate of lenders. The Credit Agreement provides for a $500 million credit facility comprised of a $100 million term loan facility and a $400 million multi-currency revolving credit facility available in U.S. Dollars, Euros, Sterling, Swiss Francs, Canadian Dollars and other currencies as agreed to by the administrative agent and the lenders. As of December 31, 2023, our total outstanding indebtedness was $156.2 million, including outstanding borrowings under the Credit Agreement of $156 million, consisting of current borrowings of $5 million and long-term borrowings of $151 million.
Borrowings under our Credit Agreement bear interest, at the Company’s election, at a rate per annum equal to Term SOFR plus 0.10% plus an applicable margin, or an alternate base rate plus an applicable margin, where the alternate base rate is the greater of the prime rate, the federal funds effective rate plus 0.50%, and one-month Term SOFR plus 0.10% plus 1.00%. The applicable margin for the term benchmark borrowings ranges from 1.0% to 2.0%, and the applicable margin for alternate base rate borrowings ranges from 0% to 1.0%, in each case, based on the total net leverage ratio of the Company and its restricted subsidiaries.
The significant increase in our indebtedness could:
| • | increase our borrowing costs; |
| • | limit our ability to obtain additional financing or borrow additional funds; |
| • | require that a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations be used to pay principal and interest in our indebtedness, instead of funding working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, dividends, stock repurchases, or other general corporate purposes; |
| • | limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we operate; and |
| • | increase our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions. |
In addition, the Company’s obligations under the Credit Agreement are guaranteed by its material domestic subsidiaries (each, a “Guarantor”), and secured by a first priority perfected security interest in substantially all of the existing and future personal property of the Company and each Guarantor, subject to certain exceptions. The collateral security described above also secures certain banking services obligations and interest rate swaps and currency or other hedging obligations of the Company owing to any of the then existing lenders or any affiliates thereof. Concurrently with the Company’s entry into the Credit Agreement, the Company also entered into a seven year interest rate swap agreement with Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Co-Syndication Agent and lender under the Credit Agreement, on $100 million of borrowings under the Credit Agreement. The interest rate swap agreement matures in May 2029.
The Credit Agreement contains customary covenants limiting, among other things, the incurrence of additional indebtedness, the creation of liens, mergers, consolidations, liquidations and dissolutions, sales of assets, dividends and other payments in respect of equity interests, acquisitions, investments, loans and guarantees, subject, in each case, to customary exceptions, thresholds and baskets. The Credit Agreement also contains customary events of default. If we were default on any of these covenants, or on any of our indebtedness, if interest rates were to significantly increase, or the financial institution that is a party to our interest rate swap agreement were to default, or if we are unable to obtain necessary liquidity, our business could be adversely affected.
We may not be able to generate the significant amount of cash needed to satisfy our obligations or maintain sufficient liquidity through borrowing capacities.
Our ability either to make payments on or to refinance our indebtedness, or to fund planned capital expenditures and research and development efforts, will depend on our ability to generate cash in the future. Our ability to generate cash is in part subject to:
| • | general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors that are beyond our control; |
| • | the ability of our customers to pay timely the amounts we have billed; and |
| • | our ability to sell receivables under supply chain financing arrangements. |
The foregoing factors could result in reduced cash flow, which could have a material adverse effect on us. When cash generated by earnings is not sufficient for the Company’s liquidity needs, the Company seeks external financing. Our access to funding sources in amounts adequate to finance our activities on terms that are beneficial to us could be impaired by factors that affect us specifically or the economy generally. During periods of disruptions in the credit and capital markets, potential sources of external financing could be reduced, and borrowing costs could increase. A significant downgrade in the company’s credit ratings could increase its borrowing costs and limit access to capital.
Based on our current level of operations, we believe our cash flow from operations, available cash and available borrowings under our Credit Agreement will be adequate to meet our future liquidity needs for at least the next twelve months. Significant assumptions underlie this belief, including, among other things, that we will be able to mitigate the future impact, if any, of disruptions in global supply chains, which have resulted in longer lead times and delays in procuring component parts and raw materials, and significant inflationary cost increases in certain raw materials, labor and transportation, and that there will be no material adverse developments in our business, liquidity or capital requirements. If we are unable to fund our operations through earnings or external financing, we will be forced to adopt an alternative strategy that may include actions such as:
| • | deferring, reducing or eliminating future cash dividends; |
| • | reducing or delaying capital expenditures or restructuring activities; |
| • | reducing or delaying research and development efforts; |
| • | deferring or refraining from pursuing certain strategic initiatives and acquisitions; |
| • | refinancing our indebtedness; and |
| • | seeking additional funding. |
We cannot assure you that, if material adverse developments in our business, liquidity or capital requirements should occur, our business will generate sufficient cash flow from operations, or that future borrowings will be available to us under our Credit Agreement in amounts sufficient to enable us to pay the principal and interest on our indebtedness, or to fund our other liquidity needs. In addition, if we default on any of our indebtedness, or breach any financial covenant in our Credit Agreement, our business could be adversely affected.
We have significant goodwill and other intangible assets, and future impairment of these assets could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.
A significant portion of our long-term assets consists of goodwill and other intangible assets recorded as a result of past acquisitions. We do not amortize goodwill and certain other intangible assets having indefinite lives, but rather test them for impairment on an annual basis or in interim periods if an event occurs or circumstances change that may indicate the fair value is below its carrying amount. The process of evaluating the potential impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets requires significant judgement, specifically with respect to applying assumptions and estimates to the analysis of identifiable intangibles and long‑lived asset impairment including projecting revenues, interest rates, tax rates and the cost of capital. Many of the factors used in assessing fair value are outside our control and it is reasonably likely that assumptions and estimates will change in future periods. These changes could result in impairment charges against our goodwill and other intangible assets. In the event that we determine that our goodwill or other intangible assets are impaired, we may be required to record a significant charge to earnings that could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to External Factors
We conduct our manufacturing and distribution operations on a worldwide basis and are subject to risks associated with doing business outside the United States.
We have manufacturing and distribution facilities in many countries, including Canada, Mexico, Poland, Germany and Hungary, as well as joint-ventures in China. There are a number of risks associated with doing business internationally, including: (a) exposure to local economic and political conditions; (b) social unrest such as risks of terrorism or other hostilities; (c) currency exchange rate fluctuations and currency controls; (d) the effect of potential changes in U.S. trade policy and international trade agreements; and (e) the potential for shortages of trained labor.
In particular, historically there has been social unrest in Hong Kong and Mexico and any recurrence, or increased violence in or around our facilities in such countries could be disruptive to our business operations at such facilities, or present risks to our employees who may be directly affected by the violence and may result in a decision by them to relocate from the area, or make it difficult for us to recruit or retain talented employees at such facilities.
Furthermore, changes in U.S. trade policy, particularly as it relates to China, have resulted in the assessment of increased tariffs on goods that we import into the United States, and have caused uncertainty about the future of free trade generally. We benefit from free trade agreements, such as the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The repeal or modification of the USMCA or further increases to tariffs on goods imported into the United States could increase our costs to source materials, component parts and finished goods from other countries. The likelihood of such occurrences and their potential effect on us is unpredictable and may vary from country to country. Any such occurrences could be harmful to our business and our financial results.
We may incur liabilities under government regulations and environmental laws, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Domestic and foreign political developments and government laws and regulations directly affect automotive consumer products in the United States and abroad. In the United States, these laws and regulations include standards relating to vehicle safety, fuel economy and emissions, among others. Furthermore, increased public awareness and concern regarding climate change may result in new laws and regulations designed to reduce or mitigate the effects of greenhouse gas emissions or otherwise effect the transition to a lower-carbon economy. The modification of existing laws, regulations or policies, or the adoption of new laws, regulations or policies could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our operations and properties are subject to a wide variety of increasingly complex and stringent federal, state, local and international laws and regulations, including those governing the use, storage, handling, generation, treatment, emission, release, discharge and disposal of materials, substances and wastes, the remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater and the health and safety of employees. Such environmental laws, including but not limited to those under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation & Liability Act, may impose joint and several liability and may apply to conditions at properties presently or formerly owned or operated by an entity or its predecessors, as well as to conditions at properties at which wastes or other contamination attributable to an entity or its predecessors have been sent or otherwise come to be located.
The nature of our operations exposes us to the risk of claims with respect to such matters, and we can give no assurance that violations of such laws have not occurred or will not occur or that material costs or liabilities will not be incurred in connection with such claims. We are currently monitoring our environmental remediation efforts at one of our facilities and our reserve balance related to the environmental clean-up at this facility is $1.4 million at December 31, 2023. The environmental testing and any remediation costs at such facility may be covered by several insurance policies, although we can give no assurance that our insurance will cover any environmental remediation claims. We also maintain insurance to cover our existing U.S. and Canadian facilities. We can give no assurance that the future cost of compliance with existing environmental laws and the liability for known environmental claims pursuant to such environmental laws will not give rise to additional significant expenditures or liabilities that would be material to us. In addition, future events, such as new information, changes in existing environmental laws or their interpretation, and more vigorous enforcement policies of federal, state or local regulatory agencies, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our future performance may be materially adversely affected by changes in technologies and improvements in the quality of new vehicle parts.
If we do not respond appropriately to changes in automotive technologies, such as the adoption of new technologies and systems to make traditional, internal-combustion-engine vehicles more efficient, or the adoption of electric or hybrid electric vehicle architectures, we could experience less demand for our products thereby causing a decline in our results of operations or deterioration in our business and financial condition, and we may have a material adverse effect on our long-term performance.
In addition, the size of the automotive aftermarket depends, in part, upon the growth in number of vehicles on the road, increase in average vehicle age, change in total miles driven per year, new or modified environmental and vehicle safety regulations, including fuel economy and emissions reduction standards, increase in pricing of new cars and new car quality and related warranties. The automotive aftermarket has been negatively impacted by the fact that the quality of more recent automotive vehicles and their component parts (and related warranties) has improved, thereby lengthening the repair cycle. Generally, if parts last longer, there will be less demand for our aftermarket products and the average useful life of automotive parts has been steadily increasing in recent years due to innovations in products and technology. In addition, the introduction by original equipment manufacturers of increased warranty and maintenance initiatives has the potential to decrease the demand for our aftermarket products. When proper maintenance and repair procedures are followed, newer air conditioning (A/C) systems in particular are less prone to leak resulting in fewer A/C system repairs. These factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
| ITEM 1B. | UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS |
None.
Cybersecurity Risk Management and Strategy
We maintain an enterprise-wide approach to risk management through which we identify, manage and mitigate significant risks, including those related to our information systems. Our cybersecurity risk management program, which applies to our global operations, focuses on our people, processes and technology, and is designed to secure our information systems by preventing, detecting and responding to current and emerging cybersecurity threats.
Our employees are a key element of our cybersecurity risk management program. All of our employees are required to adhere to our cybersecurity practices, and undertake routine training to raise awareness and reinforce safe practices. Our training program includes bi-annual online training courses, group tabletop exercises, phishing and malicious email simulations, and information security bulletins. We also maintain policies that govern, and provide specific guidance to employees regarding how they may use our information systems.
Another key element of our cybersecurity risk management program is our use of processes and technologies to create information security safeguards and controls, and target specific users or business needs. Our processes and technologies include firewalls, email security software and encryption, endpoint detection and response, access controls, backup and recovery procedures, system patches and updates, vulnerability scanning, penetration testing by third party vendors, incident response procedures, and internal and external audits of our information systems.
Through these internal and external assessments, we continuously identify areas for remediation and opportunities to improve the security of our information systems, including by evaluating our program against industry standards and best practices, such as the Cybersecurity Framework established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the CIS Critical Security Controls established by the Center for Internet Security. We also track key performance indicators that we believe are indicative of the effectiveness of our cybersecurity risk management program.
For additional information related to cybersecurity risks that could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations, see “Our operations could be adversely affected by interruptions or breaches in the security of our computer and information systems” in Item 1A of this Report.
Cybersecurity Governance
The Audit Committee of our Board of Directors oversees the adequacy and effectiveness of our internal controls, policies and procedures regarding cybersecurity, information security and data protection, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations concerning privacy. Our Chief Information Officer (“CIO”), in turn, is responsible for managing the Company’s cybersecurity risk management program and incident response procedures. On a quarterly basis, and more frequently as circumstances warrant, our CIO briefs the Audit Committee on our cybersecurity risks, our strategies for preventing, detecting, responding to and mitigating such risks, including the effectiveness of our incident response procedures, and our information security controls. Our CIO has extensive knowledge and expertise regarding our information systems and security, having served in a variety of senior information technology positions across our organization for more than thirty years, and as an executive officer of the Company since 2006.
Additionally, our CIO leads an incident response team (“IRT”), charged with the on-going management of our cybersecurity program. This team is responsible for the prevention, mitigation, detection and remediation of cybersecurity risks and incidents affecting our operations pursuant to our incident response procedures. The IRT is composed of information security professionals, who collectively bring decades of relevant information security and cybersecurity experience to their roles. In the event that a cybersecurity incident is detected, the IRT performs a multi-factor, risk-based assessment to determine the appropriate level of response. Depending upon the results of the assessment, including the nature and magnitude of the event, our incident response procedures provide for oversight and management of an incident by the IRT, under the direction of the CIO, or, in the event of escalation, under the direction of the executive officers of the Company, with reporting to and oversight by the Audit Committee.
We maintain our executive offices in Long Island City, New York. The table below describes our principal facilities as of December 31, 2023.
| Location |
| State or Country |
| Principal Business Activity |
| Approx. Square Feet |
| Owned or Expiration |
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | Vehicle Control | | | | |
| Bialystok | | Poland | | Manufacturing | | 154,800 | | 2027 |
| Disputanta | | VA | | Distribution | | 411,000 | | Owned |
| Edwardsville | | KS | | Distribution | | 363,500 | | Owned |
| Ft. Lauderdale | | FL | | Distribution | | 23,300 | | Owned |
| Ft. Lauderdale | | FL | | Distribution | | 30,000 | | Owned |
Greenville2 | | SC | | Manufacturing | | 184,500 | | Owned |
Independence2 | | KS | | Manufacturing | | 337,400 | | Owned |
| Long Island City | | NY | | Administration | | 75,800 | | 2033 |
| McAllen | | TX | | Distribution | | 120,300 | | 2027 |
Mishawaka2 | | IN | | Manufacturing | | 153,100 | | Owned |
Reynosa2 | | Mexico | | Manufacturing | | 175,000 | | 2025 |
Reynosa2 | | Mexico | | Manufacturing | | 153,000 | | 2031 |
Shawnee3 | | KS | | Distribution | | 574,700 | | 2033 |
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | Temperature Control | | | | |
| Foshan City | | China | | Manufacturing | | 361,500 | | 2028 |
| Lewisville | | TX | | Administration and Distribution | | 415,000 | | 2034 |
Reynosa2 | | Mexico | | Manufacturing | | 82,000 | | 2026 |
Reynosa2 | | Mexico | | Manufacturing | | 117,500 | | 2026 |
| Reynosa | | Mexico | | Manufacturing | | 111,800 | | 2024 |
| St. Thomas | | Canada | | Manufacturing | | 42,500 | | Owned |
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | Engineered Solutions | | | | |
| Kirchheim-Teck | | Germany | | Distribution | | 27,500 | | 2031 |
| Pécel | | Hungary | | Manufacturing | | 59,500 | | Owned |
| Milwaukee | | WI | | Manufacturing | | 84,000 | | 2028 |
| Sheboygan Falls | | WI | | Manufacturing | | 22,500 | | 2025 |
| Tijuana | | Mexico | | Distribution | | 13,800 | | 2026 |
| Tijuana | | Mexico | | Manufacturing | | 30,400 | | 2026 |
| Wuxi | | China | | Manufacturing | | 27,600 | | 2029 |
| | | | | Other
| | | | |
| Mississauga | | Canada | | Administration and Distribution | | 82,400 | | 2028 |
| Irving | | TX | | Training Center | | 13,400 | | 2027 |
1 It is our intention to extend the leases that are set to expire in 2024.
2 These facilities are also utilized by the Engineered Solutions operating segment.
3 This facility is expected to have a phased opening beginning in 2024 and be fully operational in early 2025, and once operational, it will also be utilized by the Temperature Control and Engineered Solutions operating segments.
The information required by this Item is incorporated herein by reference to the information set forth in Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Report under the caption “Asbestos” appearing in Note 23, “Commitments and Contingencies” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Report.
| ITEM 4. | MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES |
Not applicable.
PART II
| ITEM 5. | MARKET FOR THE REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES |
Our common stock trades publicly on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the trading symbol “SMP.” The last reported sale price of our common stock on the NYSE on February 20, 2024 was $40.23 per share. As of February 20, 2024, there were 497 holders of record of our common stock.
Dividends are declared and paid on the common stock at the discretion of our Board of Directors (the “Board”) and depend on our profitability, financial condition, capital needs, future prospects, and other factors deemed relevant by our Board. Our Credit Agreement permits dividends and distributions by us provided specific conditions are met. For information related to our Credit Agreement, see Note 11, “Credit Facilities and Long-Term Debt,” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Report.
There have been no unregistered offerings of our common stock during the fourth quarter of 2023.
Stock Performance Graph
The following graph compares the five year cumulative total return on the Company’s Common Stock to the total returns on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index and the S&P 1500 Auto Parts & Equipment Index, which is a combination of automotive parts and equipment companies within the S&P 400, the S&P 500 and the S&P 600. The graph shows the change in value of a $100 investment in the Company’s Common Stock and each of the above indices on December 31, 2018 and the reinvestment of all dividends. The comparisons in this table are required by the Securities and Exchange Commission and are not intended to forecast or be indicative of possible future performance of the Company’s Common Stock or the referenced indices.
| | SMP | | S&P 500 | | S&P 1500 Auto Parts & Equipment Index |
2018 | 100 | | 100 | | 100 |
2019 | 112 | | 131 | | 133 |
2020 | 86 | | 156 | | 164 |
2021 | 114 | | 200 | | 201 |
2022 | 78 | | 164 | | 136 |
2023 | 92 | | 207 | | 145 |
* Source: S&P Capital IQ
| ITEM 7. | MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS |
Overview of Financial Performance
The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto. This discussion summarizes the significant factors affecting our results of operations and the financial condition of our business during each of the fiscal years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2023.
| | | December 31, | |
| (In thousands, except per share data) | | 2023 | | | 2022 | | | 2021 | |
| | | | | | | | | | |
| Net sales | | $ | 1,358,272 | | | $ | 1,371,815 | | | $ | 1,298,816 | |
| Gross profit | | | 388,826 | | | | 382,539 | | | | 376,931 | |
| Gross profit % | | | 28.6 | % | | | 27.9 | % | | | 29 | % |
| Operating income | | | 92,677 | | | | 104,135 | | | | 128,999 | |
| Operating income % | | | 6.8 | % | | | 7.6 | % | | | 9.9 | % |
| Earnings from continuing operations before income taxes | | | 81,716 | | | | 98,332 | | | | 130,465 | |
| Provision for income taxes | | | 18,368 | | | | 25,206 | | | | 31,044 | |
| Earnings from continuing operations | | | 63,348 | | | | 73,126 | | | | 99,421 | |
| Loss from discontinued operations, net of income taxes | | | (28,996 | ) | | | (17,691 | ) | | | (8,467 | ) |
| Net earnings | | | 34,352 | | | | 55,435 | | | | 90,954 | |
| Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interest | | | 204 | | | | 84 | | | | 68 | |
| Net earnings attributable to SMP | | | 34,148 | | | | 55,351 | | | | 90,886 | |
| Per share data attributable to SMP – Diluted: | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Earnings from continuing operations | | $ | 2.85 | | | $ | 3.30 | | | $ | 4.39 | |
| Discontinued operations | | | (1.31 | ) | | | (0.80 | ) | | | (0.37 | ) |
| Net earnings per common share | | $ | 1.54 | | | $ | 2.50 | | | $ | 4.02 | |
Consolidated net sales for 2023 were $1,358.3 million, a decrease of $13.5 million, or 1% compared to net sales of $1,371.8 million in 2022; while consolidated net sales for 2022 increased $73 million, or 5.6%, compared to net sales of $1,298.8 million in 2021. Consolidated net sales decreased in our Vehicle Control and Temperature Control operating segments, while net sales in our Engineered Solutions operating segment increased when compared to the comparable period in the prior year.
Our net sales performance in 2023 reflects the impact of multiple factors including:
| • | lower sales in our Vehicle Control operating segment reflecting the impact of lower sales to a customer that filed for bankruptcy in the first quarter, as well as the negative impact of lower customer pipeline orders and softer fourth quarter sales, |
| • | lower sales in our Temperature Control operating segment reflecting the impact of a slow start to the season caused by a rainy spring and cool early summer temperatures across key markets. Although customer demand and net sales increased significantly in the third quarter of 2023 as summer temperatures increased, the strong third quarter 2023 net sales were not enough to offset the slow start to the season, and |
| • | strong demand and new business wins in our Engineered Solutions operating segment with continued optimism about the long-term growth potential of the complementary markets served in this newly created segment. |
Gross margins as a percentage of net sales in 2023 was 28.6% as compared to 27.9% in 2022. The gross margin percentages in 2023 increased year-over-year in each of our Vehicle Control, Temperature Control and Engineered Solutions operating segments. Overall, the gross margin increase as a percentage of sales in 2023 reflects the positive impact of increased pricing, improved operating performance, and the favorable customer sales mix in Engineered Solutions, which more than offset ongoing inflationary increases in certain raw materials, labor and transportation costs, as well as the lower fixed cost absorption due to lower production levels than those achieved in 2022 as we worked down inventory levels, and the weakening of the U.S. dollar on our international operations. While we anticipate continued margin pressure resulting from inflationary headwinds, we believe that our annual cost savings initiatives coupled with our ability to pass through higher prices to our customers should help to offset much of this impact to our gross margins.
Operating margin as a percentage of net sales in 2023 was 6.8% as compared to 7.6% in 2022. Included in our operating margin were selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A”) of $293.6 million, or 21.6% of net sales in 2023, $276.6 million, or 20.2% of net sales in 2022, and $247.5 million, or 19.1% of net sales in 2021. The higher SG&A expenses in 2023 is principally due to the impact of (1) higher interest rate related costs of $14 million incurred in our supply chain financing arrangements and (2) higher distribution costs, all of which more than offset the positive 2023 comparative impact of the $7 million charge recorded in 2022 to reduce our outstanding accounts receivable balance from a customer that filed for bankruptcy in the first quarter of 2023 to our estimated recoverable amount. Excluding the impact of the incremental interest rate costs incurred in our supply chain financing arrangements, SG&A expenses in the year ended December 31, 2023 were 20.6% of consolidated net sales, just slightly higher than the percentage in the comparable prior year period.
Overall, our core automotive aftermarket business remains strong, and we continue to be optimistic about the long-term growth potential of the complementary markets served in our Engineered Solutions operating segment.
New Distribution Facility in Shawnee, Kansas
In May 2023, we signed a lease for a new distribution facility in Shawnee, Kansas with a lease commencement date of July 1, 2023. The new facility will expand our total distribution network square footage to meet our growing demands in the automotive aftermarket industry. The new 575,000 square foot facility will replace our current 363,000 square foot facility in Edwardsville, Kansas, and integrate state-of-the-art technologies to deliver improved logistics capabilities, operational efficiencies, as well as enhanced employee, customer and supplier experiences. The new facility is located just five miles away from our Edwardsville facility, enabling us to retain our existing workforce avoiding the additional costs of hiring and training. The facility will have a phased opening beginning in 2024 and be fully operational in early 2025. We will incur additional costs in 2023 and 2024 during the phase-in period while we operate the two facilities.
Impact of Russia’s Invasion of the Ukraine
Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, and the resultant sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other governments, have created risks, uncertainties and disruptions impacting business continuity, liquidity and asset values not only in the Ukraine and Russia, but in markets worldwide. Significant price increases have occurred in gas and energy markets, as well as in other commodities. Although we have no facilities or business operations in either the Ukraine or Russia, have historically had only minor sales to customers in Russia, which we have subsequently discontinued, and have not experienced additional significant disruptions in the supply chain, the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding the invasion are being closely monitored. We have manufacturing and distribution facilities in Bialystok, Poland and Pecel, Hungary. Our facility in Bialystok, Poland does not use natural gas in its production process, or for heating, and, as such, is not impacted by Russia’s decision to halt the export of all natural gas to Poland and Bulgaria. While we have not been impacted by the war to date, there can be no assurances that any escalation of the invasion will not have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Impact of Global Supply Chain Disruption and Inflation
Disruptions in the global economy have impeded global supply chains, resulted in longer lead times and delays in procuring component parts and raw materials, and resulted in inflationary cost increases in certain raw materials, labor and transportation. In response to the global supply chain volatility and inflationary cost increases, we have taken, and continue to take, several actions to mitigate the impact by working closely with our suppliers and customers to minimize any potential adverse impacts on our business, including implementing cost savings initiatives and the pass through of higher costs to our customers in the form of price increases, and maintaining inventory at levels to minimize potential disruptions from out-of-stock raw materials and components to ensure higher fill rates with our customers. We believe that we have also benefited from our geographically diversified manufacturing footprint and our strategy to bring more product manufacturing in-house, especially with respect to product availability and fill rates. We expect these inflationary trends to continue for some time, and while we believe that we will be able to somewhat offset the impact, there can be no assurances that unforeseen future events in the global supply chain affecting the availability of materials and components, and/or increasing commodity pricing, will not have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Comparison of Results of Operations For Fiscal Years 2023 and 2022
Sales. Consolidated net sales for 2023 were $1,358.3 million, a decrease of $13.5 million, or 1%, compared to $1,371.8 million in the same period of 2022, with the majority of our net sales to customers located in the United States. Consolidated net sales decreased in our Vehicle Control and Temperature Control operating segments, while net sales in our Engineered Solutions operating segment increased when compared to the comparable period in the prior year.
The following table summarizes consolidated net sales by segment and by major product group within each segment for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 (in thousands):
| | | Year Ended December 31, | |
| | | 2023 | | | 2022 | |
| Vehicle Control | | | | | | |
| Engine Management (Ignition, Emissions and Fuel Delivery) | | $ | 450,180 | | | $ | 454,571 | |
| Electrical and Safety | | | 221,782 | | | | 230,487 | |
| Wire Sets and Other | | | 65,970 | | | | 65,513 | |
| Total Vehicle Control | | | 737,932 | | | | 750,571 | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Temperature Control | | | | | | | | |
| AC System Components | | | 237,756 | | | | 245,484 | |
| Other Thermal Components | | | 99,998 | | | | 105,753 | |
| Total Temperature Control | | | 337,754 | | | | 351,237 | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Engineered Solutions | | | | | | | | |
| Commercial Vehicle | | | 83,025 | | | | 80,275 | |
| Construction/Agriculture | | | 43,402 | | | | 42,385 | |
| Light Vehicle | | | 92,759 | | | | 91,533 | |
| All Other | | | 63,400 | | | | 55,814 | |
| Total Engineered Solutions | | | 282,586 | | | | 270,007 | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Other | | | — | | | | — | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Total | | $ | 1,358,272 | | | $ | 1,371,815 | |
Vehicle Control’s net sales for the year ended December 31, 2023 decreased $12.7 million, or 1.7%, to $737.9 million compared to $750.6 million in the same period of 2022. The decrease in net sales in our Vehicle Control operating segment reflects the impact of lower sales to a customer that filed for bankruptcy in the first quarter of 2023, as well as the negative impact of lower customer pipeline orders in 2023 and softer fourth quarter sales.
Temperature Control’s net sales for the year ended December 31, 2023 decreased $13.4 million, or 3.8%, to $337.8 million compared to $351.2 million in the same period of 2022. The lower year-over-year Temperature Control net sales reflects the impact of a slow start to the season caused by a rainy spring and cool early summer temperatures across key markets which negatively impacted first and second quarter 2023 net sales. After the slow start to the season, demand increased significantly in the third quarter of 2023 as summer temperatures increased. The result was strong third quarter 2023 net sales, which was not enough to offset the slow start to the season. Demand for our Temperature Control products may vary significantly with summer weather conditions and customer inventory levels.
Engineered Solutions’ net sales for the year ended December 31, 2023 increased $12.6 million, or 4.7%, to $282.6 million compared to $270 million in the same period of 2022. Overall, net sales in our Engineered Solutions operating segment showed year-over-year improvement driven by strong demand and new business wins, and we continue to be optimistic about the long-term growth potential of the complementary markets served in our newly created Engineered Solutions operating segment.
Gross Margins. Gross margins, as a percentage of consolidated net sales, increased to 28.6% for 2023, compared to 27.9% for 2022. The following table summarizes gross margins by segment for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively (in thousands):
Year Ended December 31, | | Vehicle Control | | | Temperature Control | | | Engineered Solutions | | | Other | | | Total | |
| 2023 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Net sales | | $ | 737,932 | | | $ | 337,754 | | | $ | 282,586 | | | $ | — | | | $ | 1,358,272 | |
| Gross margins | | | 238,215 | | | | 95,827 | | | | 54,784 | | | | — | | | | 388,826 | |
| Gross margin percentage | | | 32.3 | % | | | 28.4 | % | | | 19.4 | % | | | — | | | | 28.6 | % |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2022 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Net sales | | $ | 750,571 | | | $ | 351,237 | | | $ | 270,007 | | | $ | — | | | $ | 1,371,815 | |
| Gross margins | | | 232,267 | | | | 98,913 | | | | 51,359 | | | | — | | | | 382,539 | |
| Gross margin percentage | | | 30.9 | % | | | 28.2 | % | | | 19 | % | | | — | | | | 27.9 | % |
Compared to 2022, gross margins at Vehicle Control increased 1.4 percentage points from 30.9% to 32.3%. Gross margins at Temperature Control increased 0.2 percentage points from 28.2% to 28.4%, and gross margins at Engineered Solutions increased 0.4 percentage points from 19% to 19.4%.
The gross margin percentage increase in our Vehicle Control operating segment reflects the positive impact of increased pricing and operating performance, which more than offset increases in material and labor costs, as well as the lower fixed cost absorption due to lower production levels than those achieved in the same period in 2022. The gross margin percentage increase in our Temperature Control operating segment reflects the impact increased pricing and operating performance; while the gross margin percentage increase at our Engineered Solutions operating segment is driven primarily by favorable customer sales mix and increased pricing. All of our operating segments were negatively impacted by the ongoing inflationary cost increases in certain raw materials, labor and transportation expenses. While we anticipate continued margin pressure resulting from inflationary headwinds, we believe that our annual cost savings initiatives coupled with our ability to pass through higher prices to our customers should help to offset much of this impact to our gross margins.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. Selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A”) increased to $293.6 million, or 21.6% of consolidated net sales in 2023, as compared to $276.6 million, or 20.2% of consolidated net sales in 2022. The $17 million increase in SG&A expenses as compared to 2022 is principally due to the impact of (1) higher interest related costs of $14 million incurred in our supply chain financing arrangements and (2) higher distribution cost, all of which more than offset the positive 2023 comparative impact of the $7 million charge recorded in 2022 to reduce our outstanding accounts receivable balance from one of our customers that filed a petition for bankruptcy in January 2023 to our estimated recovery amount. Excluding the impact of the incremental interest rate costs incurred in our supply chain financing arrangements, SG&A expenses in 2023 were 20.6% of consolidated net sales, slightly higher than the percentage in the comparable prior year period.
Restructuring and Integration Expenses. Restructuring and integration expenses were $2.6 million in 2023 compared to restructuring and integration expenses of $1.9 million in 2022. Restructuring and integration expenses in 2023 consists of (1) the $2.5 million of costs incurred in our 2022 cost reduction initiative, and (2) the $0.1 million increase in environmental cleanup costs for ongoing remediation in connection with the prior closure of our manufacturing operations at our Long Island City, New York location; while 2022 expenses consists of (1) costs of $1.5 million incurred in our 2022 cost reduction initiative, (2) relocation expenses of $0.2 million of certain inventory, machinery, and equipment acquired in our 2021 soot sensor acquisition to our facilities in Independence, Kansas and Bialystok, Poland, and (3) the $0.2 million increase in environmental cleanup costs for ongoing remediation in connection with the prior closure of our manufacturing operations at our Long Island City, New York location.
During the fourth quarter of 2022, to further our ongoing efforts to improve operating efficiencies and reduce costs, we announced plans for a reduction in our sales force, and initiated plans to relocate certain product lines from our Independence, Kansas manufacturing facility and from our St. Thomas, Canada manufacturing facility to our manufacturing facilities in Reynosa, Mexico. Total restructuring and integration expenses related to the initiative were $2.5 million and $1.5 million 2023 and 2022, respectively. Expenses related to the initiative for the year ended December 31, 2023 consist of (1) expenses of approximately $0.7 million related to a further sales force reduction, (2) expenses of $1.3 million of employee severance and bonuses related to our product line relocations, and (3) expenses of $0.5 million related to the relocation of machinery and equipment to our manufacturing facilities in Reynosa, Mexico. Expenses related to the initiative for the year ended December 31, 2022 consist of (1) expenses of $0.9 million related to our sales force reduction, and (2) expenses of $0.6 million consisting of employee severance related to our product line relocations. Additional restructuring costs related to the initiative, and expected to be incurred, are approximately $0.5 million. We anticipate that the Cost Reduction Initiative will be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2024.
Operating Income. Operating income was $92.7 million, or 6.8%, of consolidated net sales in 2023, compared to $104.1 million, or 7.6%, of consolidated net sales in 2022. The year-over-year decrease in operating income of $11.4 million is the result of lower net sales, higher SG&A expenses, consisting primarily of higher interest rate related costs of $14 million incurred in our supply chain financing arrangements, and higher restructuring and integration expenses offset, in part, by higher gross margins as a percentage of sales.
Other Non-Operating Income (Expense), Net. Other non-operating income, net was $2.3 million in 2023, compared to $4.8 million in 2022. The year-over-year decrease in other non-operating income, net results from the decrease in year-over-year equity income from our joint ventures, and the unfavorable impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates. The decline in equity income from our joint ventures is due, in part, to lower production levels related to inventory reduction plans, and the impact of our acquisition of an additional 15% equity interest in Gwo Yng. Commencing in July 2023, on the date of our 15% increase in equity interest, the financial results of Gwo Yng were no longer accounted for under the equity method of accounting. Instead, Gwo Yng’s financial results were reported on a consolidated basis, resulting in lower joint venture equity income.
Interest Expense. Interest expense increased to $13.3 million in 2023, compared to $10.6 million in 2022. The year-over-year increase in interest expense reflects the impact of higher year-over-year average interest rates on our credit facilities when compared to 2022, which more than offset the impact of lower average outstanding balances.
Income Tax Provision. The income tax provision for 2023 was $18.4 million at an effective tax rate of 22.5%, compared to $25.2 million at an effective tax rate of 25.6% in 2022. The lower effective tax rate in 2023 compared to 2022 reflects the impact of lower state and local income taxes due to changes in state laws, rates and filing methodologies, changes in foreign and domestic mix, and the effective rate impact of lower year-over-year pre-tax income.
Loss From Discontinued Operations. Loss from discontinued operations, net of income tax, reflects information contained in the actuarial studies performed as of August 31, 2023 and 2022, as well as other information available and considered by us, and legal expenses and other costs associated with our asbestos-related liability. During the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, we recorded a net loss of $29 million and $17.7 million from discontinued operations, respectively. The loss from discontinued operations for the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 includes (1) a $23.8 million and $18.5 million pre-tax provision, respectively, to increase our indemnity liability in line with the 2023 and 2022 actuarial studies; (2) legal and other miscellaneous expenses, before taxes, of $4.9 million and $5.4 million for 2023 and 2022, respectively, and (3) a $10.5 million pre-tax provision in 2023 related to a breach of contract legal proceeding. As discussed more fully in Note 23 “Commitments and Contingencies” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Report, we are responsible for certain future liabilities relating to alleged exposure to asbestos containing products.
Net Earnings Attributable to Noncontrolling Interest. Net earnings attributable to noncontrolling interest relates to the minority shareholders’ interest in our 70% owned joint venture in Hong Kong, with operations in Shanghai and Wuxi, China (“Trombetta Asia, Ltd.”) and, in our 80% ownership in Gwo Yng, commencing in July 2023 upon the completion of our step acquisition. Net earnings attributable to the noncontrolling interest were $204,000 and $84,000 during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. For additional information on the Gwo Yng step acquisition, see Note 2, “Business Acquisitions and Investments,” in the notes to our consolidated financial statements (unaudited).
Comparison of Results of Operations For Fiscal Years 2022 and 2021
Sales. Consolidated net sales for 2022 were $1,371.8 million, an increase of $73 million, or 5.6%, compared to $1,298.8 million in the same period of 2022, with the majority of our net sales to customers located in the United States. Consolidated net sales increased across all of our operating segments, when compared to the comparable period in the prior year.
The following table summarizes consolidated net sales by segment and by major product group within each segment for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 (in thousands):
| | | Year Ended December 31, | |
| | | 2022 | | | 2021 | |
| Vehicle Control | | | | | | |
| Engine Management (Ignition, Emissions and Fuel Delivery) | | $ | 454,571 | | | $ | 444,196 | |
| Electrical and Safety | | | 230,487 | | | | 224,520 | |
| Wire Sets and Other | | | 65,513 | | | | 68,715 | |
Total Vehicle Control | | | 750,571 | | | | 737,431 | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Temperature Control | | | | | | | | |
| AC System Components | | | 245,484 | | | | 231,466 | |
| Other Thermal Components | | | 105,753 | | | | 92,614 | |
Total Temperature Control | | | 351,237 | | | | 324,080 | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Engineered Solutions | | | | | | | | |
| Commercial Vehicle | | | 80,275 | | | | 76,066 | |
| Construction/Agriculture | | | 42,385 | | | | 33,220 | |
| Light Vehicle | | | 91,533 | | | | 86,440 | |
| All Other | | | 55,814 | | | | 41,579 | |
Total Engineered Solutions | | | 270,007 | | | | 237,305 | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Other | | | — | | | | — | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Total | | $ | 1,371,815 | | | $ | 1,298,816 | |
Vehicle Control’s net sales for the year ended December 31, 2022 increased $13.2 million, or 1.8%, to $750.6 million compared to $737.4 million in the same period of 2021. The increase in net sales in our Vehicle Control operating segment reflects the impact of strong customer demand and price increases implemented in 2022, which were implemented to pass through inflationary increases in raw materials, distribution and labor costs.
Temperature Control’s net sales for the year ended December 31, 2022 increased $27.1 million, or 8.4%, to $351.2 million compared to $324.1 million in the same period of 2021. The increase in net sales in our Temperature Control segment reflects the impact of continued strong customer demand, with the elevated demand we saw in 2021 holding firm, fueled by record heat across the country in 2022 and the replenishment of customer inventory levels after very warm summer conditions in 2021, and the impact of price increases, which were implemented to pass through inflationary increases in raw materials, distribution and labor costs. Demand for our Temperature Control products may vary significantly with summer weather conditions and customer inventory levels.
Engineered Solutions’ net sales for the year ended December 31, 2022 increased $32.7 million, or 13.8%, to $270 million compared to $237.3 million in the same period of 2021. The increase in net sales in our Engineered Solutions operating segment reflects the impact of the positive contribution of incremental sales from our soot sensor, Trombetta and Stabil acquisitions of $44.6 million. Compared to the year ended December 31, 2021, excluding the incremental net sales from the acquisitions, Engineered Solutions net sales decreased $11.9 million, or 5%.
Gross Margins. Gross margins, as a percentage of consolidated net sales, decreased to 27.9% for 2022, compared to 29% for 2021. The following table summarizes gross margins by segment for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively (in thousands):
Year Ended December 31, | | Vehicle Control | | | Temperature Control | | | Engineered
Solutions | | | Other | | | Total | |
| 2022 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Net sales | | $ | 750,571 | | | $ | 351,237 | | | $ | 270,007 | | | $ | — | | | $ | 1,371,815 | |
| Gross margins | | | 232,267 | | | | 98,913 | | | | 51,359 | | | | — | | | | 382,539 | |
| Gross margin percentage | | | 30.9 | % | | | 28.2 | % | | | 19 | % | | | — | | | | 27.9 | % |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2021 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Net sales | | $ | 737,431 | | | $ | 324,080 | | | $ | 237,305 | | | $ | — | | | $ | 1,298,816 | |
| Gross margins | | | 238,790 | | | | 91,738 | | | | 46,403 | | | | — | | | | 376,931 | |
| Gross margin percentage | | | 32.4 | % | | | 28.3 | % | | | 19.6 | % | | | — | | | | 29 | % |
Compared to 2021, gross margins at Vehicle Control decreased 1.5 percentage points from 32.4% to 30.9%, gross margins at Temperature Control decreased 0.1 percentage points from 28.3% to 28.2%, and gross margins at Engineered Solutions decreased 1.6 percentage points from 19.6% to 19%.
The gross margin percentage decrease in Vehicle Control compared to the prior year reflects the impact of lower fixed cost absorption due to lower and more normalized production, inflationary cost increases in raw materials, labor and transportation, which were somewhat offset by increased pricing, and higher freight and related expenses resulting from higher inventory levels. The slight gross margin percentage decrease in Temperature Control compared to the prior year reflects the impact of inflationary cost increases in raw materials, labor and transportation, and higher freight and related expenses resulting from higher inventory levels, which were offset by seasonal volume, customer mix and increased pricing. The gross margin percentage decrease in Engineered Solutions compared to the prior year reflects the impact of inflationary cost increases in raw materials, labor and transportation. While we anticipate continued margin pressures across all of our segments resulting from inflationary cost increases, we believe that our annual cost initiatives, and our ability to pass through higher prices to our customers, will help to offset the impact of the inflationary increases on our margins.
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. Selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A”) increased to $276.6 million, or 20.2% of consolidated net sales in 2022, as compared to $247.5 million, or 19.1% of consolidated net sales in 2021. The $29.1 million increase in SG&A expenses as compared to 2021 is principally due to the impact of (1) higher interest related costs of $20.6 million incurred in our supply chain financing arrangements, (2) the impact of the $7 million charge recorded in 2022 to reduce our outstanding accounts receivable balance from one of our customers that filed a petition for bankruptcy in January 2023 to our estimated recovery amount, (3) incremental expenses of $7.2 million from our soot sensor, Trombetta and Stabil acquisitions, including amortization of intangible assets acquired, and (4) inflationary cost increases resulting in higher distribution and freight costs. SG&A expenses in 2022 were favorably impacted by the higher mix of non-aftermarket parts sales from recent acquisitions, which have a different profile than our aftermarket business with lower SG&A expenses as a percentage of sales.
Restructuring and Integration Expenses. Restructuring and integration expenses were $1.9 million in 2022 compared to restructuring and integration expenses of $0.4 million in 2021. Restructuring and integration expenses incurred in 2022 of $1.9 million related to (1) severance costs of $0.9 million in connection with a reduction in our sales force, (2) expenses of $0.6 million consisting of employee severance costs related to our product line relocations from our Independence, Kansas manufacturing facility and from our St. Thomas, Canada manufacturing facility to our manufacturing facilities in Reynosa, Mexico, (3) relocation expenses of $0.2 million of certain inventory, machinery, and equipment acquired in our 2021 soot sensor acquisition to our facilities in Independence, Kansas and Bialystok, Poland, and (4) the $0.2 million increase in environmental cleanup costs for ongoing monitoring and remediation in connection with the prior closure of our manufacturing operations at our Long Island City, New York location.
Restructuring and integration expenses incurred in 2021 of $0.4 million related to the relocation of certain inventory, machinery, and equipment acquired in our 2021 soot sensor acquisition to our facilities in Independence, Kansas and Bialystok, Poland. The soot sensor product line relocation has been completed.
Operating Income. Operating income was $104.1 million, or 7.6%, of consolidated net sales in 2022, compared to $129 million, or 9.9%, of consolidated net sales in 2021. The year-over-year decrease in operating income of $24.9 million is the result of higher SG&A expenses driven primarily by the increased interest rate costs incurred in our supply chain financing arrangements, and to a lesser extent by the impact of lower gross margins as a percentage of consolidated net sales and higher restructuring and integration costs offset, in part, by higher consolidated net sales.
Other Non-Operating Income (Expense), Net. Other non-operating income, net was $4.8 million in 2022, compared to $3.5 million in 2021. The year-over-year increase in other non-operating income, net results primarily from the favorable impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates, and to a lesser extent the increase in year-over-year equity income from our joint ventures.
Interest Expense. Interest expense increased to $10.6 million in 2022, compared to $2 million in 2021. The year-over-year increase in interest expense reflects the impact of higher average outstanding borrowings in 2022 when compared to 2021, and the impact of higher year-over-year average interest rates on our credit facilities.
Income Tax Provision. The income tax provision for 2022 was $25.2 million at an effective tax rate of 25.6%, compared to $31 million at an effective tax rate of 23.8% in 2021. The higher effective tax rate in 2022 compared to 2021 results primarily from the income tax provision impact related to the exercise of restricted stock.
Loss From Discontinued Operations. Loss from discontinued operations, net of income tax, reflects information contained in the actuarial studies performed as of August 31, 2022 and 2021, as well as other information available and considered by us, and legal expenses and other costs associated with our asbestos-related liability. During the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, we recorded a net loss of $17.7 million and $8.5 million from discontinued operations, respectively. The loss from discontinued operations for the year ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 includes an $18.5 million and $5.3 million pre-tax provision, respectively, to increase our indemnity liability in line with the 2022 and 2021 actuarial studies; and legal expenses and other miscellaneous expenses, before taxes, of $5.4 million and $6.1 million for 2022 and 2021, respectively. As discussed more fully in Note 23 “Commitments and Contingencies” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Report, we are responsible for certain future liabilities relating to alleged exposure to asbestos containing products.
Net Earnings Attributable to Noncontrolling Interest. In May 2021, we acquired the Trombetta business for $111.7 million. As part of the acquisition, we acquired a 70% ownership in a joint venture in Hong Kong, with operations in Shanghai and Wuxi, China (“Trombetta Asia, Ltd.”). Net earnings attributable to the noncontrolling interest of $84,000 and $68,000 during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, represents 30% of the net earnings of Trombetta Asia, Ltd.
Restructuring and Integration Programs
For a detailed discussion on the restructuring and integration costs, see Note 3, “Restructuring and Integration Expense,” of the Notes Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Report.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our primary cash requirements include working capital, capital expenditures, regular quarterly dividends, stock repurchases, principal and interest payments on indebtedness and acquisitions. The following table summarizes our primary sources of funds including ongoing net cash flows from operating activities and availability under our Credit Agreement.
| | | December 31, | |
| (In thousands) | | 2023 | | | 2022 | |
| | | | | | | |
| Operating cash flows | | $ | 144,260 | | | $ | (27,533 | ) |
| Total debt | | $ | 156,211 | | | $ | 239,620 | |
| Cash and cash equivalents | | | 32,526 | | | | 21,150 | |
| Net debt | | $ | 123,685 | | | $ | 218,470 | |
| Remaining borrowing capacity | | $ | 334,180 | | | $ | 255,631 | |
| Total liquidity | | | 366,706 | | | | 276,781 | |
Operating Activities. During 2023, cash provided by operating activities was $144.3 million compared to cash used in operating activities of $27.5 million in 2022. The increase in cash provided by operating activities resulted primarily from the larger year-over-year decrease in accounts receivable, the decrease in inventories compared to an increase in inventories in the prior year, the increase in accounts payable compared to a decrease in accounts payable in the prior year, no change in prepaid expenses and other current assets compared to an increase in prepaid expenses and other current assets in the prior year, and the smaller year-over-year decrease in sundry payables and accrued expenses offset, in part, by the decrease in net earnings.
Net earnings during 2023 were $34.4 million compared to $55.4 million in 2022. During 2023, (1) the decrease in accounts receivable was $8 million compared to the year-over-year decrease in accounts receivable of $6.9 million in 2022; (2) the decrease in inventories was $29.5 million compared to the year-over-year increase in inventories of $67.5 million in 2022; (3) the increase in accounts payable was $19.6 million compared to the year-over-year decrease in accounts payable of $48.6 million in 2022; (4) there was no change in prepaid expenses and other current assets compared to the year-over-year increase in prepaid expenses and other current assets of $5.5 million in 2022; and (5) the decrease in sundry payables and accrued expenses was $4.3 million compared to the year-over-year decrease in sundry payables and accrued expenses of $29.1 million in 2022. During 2023, we generated operating cash flow of $144.3 million by reducing our inventory to more normalized levels while actively managing our accounts receivable and accounts payable. We will continue to manage our working capital to maximize our operating cash flow. Now that global supply chains have stabilized, allowing us to lower working capital in 2023, we expect cash flows from operations will return to historical levels in 2024.
Investing Activities. Cash used in investing activities was $25.7 million in 2023 compared to $27.8 million in 2022. Investing activities during 2023 consisted of (1) the payment of $4 million for our acquisition of an additional 15% equity interest in Foshan GWO YNG SMP Vehicle Climate Control & Cooling Products Co., Ltd. (“Gwo Yng”) and (2) capital expenditures of $28.6 million offset, in part, by cash acquired of $6.8 million in the Gwo Yng step acquisition.
Investing activities during 2022 consisted of (1) the cash payment of $1.7 million for our acquisition of 100% of the capital stock of Kade Trading GmbH, a German company, (“Kade”) , net of $1 million of cash acquired and the $0.5 million earn-out; (2) the payment of $0.2 million for our 3.55% increase in equity ownership in Foshan Che Yijia New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., (“CYJ”), a China-based joint venture that manufactures automotive electric air conditioning compressors; and (3) capital expenditures of $26 million.
Financing Activities. Cash used in financing activities was $109.6 million in 2023 compared to cash provided by financing activities of $55.5 million in 2022. During 2023, we (1) reduced our borrowings under our Credit Agreement by $83.5 million; and (2) paid dividends of $25.2 million and $0.7 million to shareholders of our noncontrolling interests, respectively. Cash provided by our operating activities was used to reduce our borrowings under our Credit Agreement, fund our investing activities and pay dividends.
In June 2022, we entered into a new credit agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as agent. The new credit agreement provides for a $500 million credit facility comprised of a $100 million term loan facility and a $400 million revolving credit facility. Borrowings under the new credit facility were used to repay all outstanding borrowings under the then existing revolving credit facility, and certain fees and expenses incurred in connection with the refinancing.
Cash provided by financing activities was $55.5 million in 2022. During 2022, we (1) increased our borrowings under our revolving credit facilities by $114.2 million; (2) reduced our borrowings under lease obligations and our Polish overdraft facility by $2.9 million; (3) made cash payments of $2.1 million for debt issuance costs in connection with our refinancing; (4) made cash payments for the repurchase of shares of our common stock of $29.7 million; and (5) paid dividends of $23.4 million. Cash provided by borrowings under our credit facilities were used to fund our operating activities, investing activities, reduce our borrowings under lease obligations and our Polish overdraft facility, pay debt issuance costs in connection with the refinancing, purchase shares of our common stock and pay dividends.
Dividends of $25.2 million and $23.4 million were paid in 2023 and 2022, respectively. Quarterly dividends were paid at a rate of $0.29 in 2023 and $0.27 in 2022.
Comparison of Liquidity and Capital Resources For Fiscal Years 2022 and 2021
For a detailed discussion of our Liquidity and Capital Resources comparison of fiscal year 2022 to fiscal year 2021, see Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022.
Liquidity
Our primary sources of funds are ongoing net cash flows from operating activities and availability under our Credit Agreement (as detailed below).
In June 2022, we entered into a new Credit Agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent, and a syndicate of lenders (the “Credit Agreement”). The Credit Agreement provides for a $500 million credit facility comprised of a $100 million term loan facility (the “term loan”) and a $400 million multi-currency revolving credit facility available in U.S. Dollars, Euros, Sterling, Swiss Francs, Canadian Dollars and other currencies as agreed to by the administrative agent and the lenders (the “revolving facility”). The Credit Agreement replaces and refinances the existing Credit Agreement, dated as of October 28, 2015, among the Company, SMP Motor Products Ltd. and Trumpet Holdings, Inc., as borrowers, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent and lender, and the other lenders named therein (the “2015 Credit Agreement”).
Borrowings under the Credit Agreement were used to repay all outstanding borrowings under the 2015 Credit Agreement, and pay certain fees and expenses incurred in connection with the Credit Agreement, with future borrowings used for other general corporate purposes of the Company and its subsidiaries. The term loan amortizes in quarterly installments of 1.25% in each of the first four years, and quarterly installments of 2.5% in the fifth year of the Credit Agreement. The revolving facility has a $25 million sub-limit for the issuance of letters of credit and a $25 million sub-limit for the borrowing of swingline loans. The maturity date is June 1, 2027. The Company may request up to two one-year extensions of the maturity date.
The Company may, upon the agreement of one or more of then existing lenders or of additional financial institutions not currently party to the Credit Agreement, increase the revolving facility commitments or obtain incremental term loans by an aggregate amount not to exceed (x) the greater of (i) $168 million or (ii) 100% of consolidated EBITDA (as defined in the Credit Agreement) for the four fiscal quarters ended most recently before such date, plus (y) the amount of any voluntary prepayment of term loans, plus (z) an unlimited amount so long as, immediately after giving effect thereto, the pro forma First Lien Net Leverage Ratio (as defined in the Credit Agreement) does not exceed 2.5 to 1.0.
Term loan and revolver facility borrowings in U.S. Dollars bear interest, at the Company’s election, at a rate per annum equal to Term SOFR plus 0.10% plus an applicable margin, or an alternate base rate plus an applicable margin, where the alternate base rate is the greater of the prime rate, the federal funds effective rate plus 0.50%, and one-month Term SOFR plus 0.10% plus 1.00%. Term loan borrowings are being made at one-month Term SOFR. The applicable margin for the term benchmark borrowings ranges from 1.0% to 2.0%, and the applicable margin for alternate base rate borrowings ranges from 0% to 1.0%, in each case, based on the total net leverage ratio of the Company and its restricted subsidiaries. The Company may select interest periods of one, three or six months for Term SOFR borrowings. Interest is payable at the end of the selected interest period, but no less frequently than quarterly.
The Company’s obligations under the Credit Agreement are guaranteed by its material domestic subsidiaries (each, a “Guarantor”), and secured by a first priority perfected security interest in substantially all of the existing and future personal property of the Company and each Guarantor, subject to certain exceptions. The collateral security described above also secures certain banking services obligations and interest rate swaps and currency or other hedging obligations of the Company owing to any of the then existing lenders or any affiliates thereof. Concurrently with the Company’s entry into the Credit Agreement, the Company also entered into a seven year interest rate swap agreement with Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Co-Syndication Agent and lender under the Credit Agreement, on $100 million of borrowings under the Credit Agreement. The interest rate swap agreement matures in May 2029.
Outstanding borrowings at December 31, 2023 under the Credit Agreement were $156 million, consisting of current borrowings of $5 million and long-term debt of $151 million; while outstanding borrowings at December 31, 2022 were $239.5 million, consisting of current borrowings of $55 million and long-term debt of $184.5 million. Letters of credit outstanding under the Credit Agreement were $2.3 million and $2.4 million at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
At December 31, 2023, the weighted average interest rate under our Credit Agreement was 5%, which consisted of $156 million in borrowings at 5% under Term SOFR, adjusted for the impact of the interest rate swap agreement on $100 million of borrowings. At December 31, 2022, the weighted average interest rate under our Credit Agreement was 5.2%, which consisted of $237 million in borrowings at 5.2% under Term SOFR, adjusted for the impact of the interest rate swap agreement on $100 million of borrowings, and an alternative base rate borrowing of $2.5 million at 8%. During the year ended December 31, 2023, our average daily alternative base rate loan balance was $0.1 million, compared to a balance of $5.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2022.
The Credit Agreement contains customary covenants limiting, among other things, the incurrence of additional indebtedness, the creation of liens, mergers, consolidations, liquidations and dissolutions, sales of assets, dividends and other payments in respect of equity interests, acquisitions, investments, loans and guarantees, subject, in each case, to customary exceptions, thresholds and baskets. The Credit Agreement also contains customary events of default.
In November 2023, our Polish subsidiary, SMP Poland sp. z.o.o., further amended its overdraft facility with HSBC Continental Europe (Spolka Akcyjna) Oddzial w Polsce. The overdraft facility, as amended, provides for borrowings under the facility in Euros and U.S. Dollars. Under the amended terms, the overdraft facility provides for borrowings of up to Zloty 30 million (approximately $7.6 million) if borrowings are solely in Zloty, or up to 85% of the Zloty 30 million limit (approximately $6.5 million) if borrowings are in Euros and/or U.S. Dollars. The overdraft facility has a maturity date in March 2024, with automatic three-month renewals until June 2027, subject to cancellation by either party, at its sole discretion, at least 30 days prior to the commencement of the three-month renewal period. Borrowings under the amended overdraft facility will bear interest at a rate equal to (1) the one month Warsaw Interbank Offered Rate (“WIBOR”) + 1.0% for borrowings in Polish Zloty, (2) the one month Euro Interbank Offered Rate (“EURIBOR”) + 1.0% for borrowings in Euros, and (3) the Mid-Point of the Fed Target Range + 1.25% for borrowings in U.S Dollars. Borrowings under the overdraft facility are guaranteed by Standard Motor Products, Inc., the ultimate parent company. There were no borrowings outstanding under the overdraft facility at both December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022.
In order to reduce our accounts receivable balances and improve our cash flow, we are party to several supply chain financing arrangements, in which we may sell certain of our customers’ trade accounts receivable to such customers’ financial institutions. We sell our undivided interests in certain of these receivables at our discretion when we determine that the cost of these arrangements is less than the cost of servicing our receivables with existing debt. Under the terms of the agreements, we retain no rights or interest, have no obligations with respect to the sold receivables, and do not service the receivables after the sale. As such, these transactions are being accounted for as a sale.
Pursuant to these agreements, we sold $830.8 million and $813.7 million of receivables for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Receivables presented at financial institutions and not yet collected as of December 31, 2023 were $4.5 million and remained in our receivable balance as of that date. There were no receivables presented at financial institutions and not yet collected as of December 31, 2022. All receivables sold were reflected as a reduction of accounts receivable in the consolidated balance sheet at the time of sale. A charge in the amount of $46 million, $32 million and $11.5 million related to the sale of receivables is included in selling, general and administrative expenses in our consolidated statements of operations for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
To the extent that these arrangements are terminated, our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and liquidity could be adversely affected by extended payment terms, delays or failures in collecting trade accounts receivables. The utility of the supply chain financing arrangements also depends upon a benchmark reference rate for the purpose of determining the discount rate applicable to each arrangement. If the benchmark reference rate increases significantly, we may be negatively impacted as we may not be able to pass these added costs on to our customers, which could have a material and adverse effect upon our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
In January 2023, one of our customers filed a petition for bankruptcy. In connection with the bankruptcy filing, we evaluated our potential risk and exposure as related to our outstanding accounts receivable balance from the customer as of December 31, 2022, and estimated our anticipated recovery. As a result of our evaluation, we recorded a $7 million pre-tax charge during the year ended December 31, 2022 to reduce our accounts receivable balance to our estimated recovery. The $7 million pre-tax charge was included in selling, general and administrative expenses in our consolidated statement of operations. The bankruptcy court proceedings have continued into 2023. Although the courts have named us a “critical supplier,” the funds allocated to us have not yet been determined and, as such, we have not recorded an adjustment to the $7 million pre-tax charge previously recorded.
In March 2020, our Board of Directors authorized the purchase of up to $20 million of our common stock under a stock repurchase program. Stock repurchases under this program during the year ended December 31, 2021 were 150,273 shares of our common stock at a total cost of $6.5 million thereby completing the 2020 Board of Directors authorization.
In February 2021, our Board of Directors authorized the purchase of up to an additional $20 million of our common stock under a stock repurchase program. Stock repurchases under this program during the year ended December 31, 2021 were 464,992 shares of our common stock at a total cost of $20 million, thereby completing the February 2021 Board of Directors authorization.
In October 2021, our Board of Directors authorized the purchase of up to an additional $30 million of our common stock under a stock repurchase program. Stock repurchases under this program, during the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2022 were 7,000 and 692,067 shares of our common stock, respectively, at a total cost of $0.3 million and $29.7 million, respectively, thereby completing the October 2021 Board of Directors authorization.
In July 2022, our Board of Directors authorized the purchase of up to an additional $30 million of our common stock under a new stock repurchase program. Stock will be purchased under the program from time to time, in the open market or through private transactions, as market conditions warrant. To date, there have been no repurchases of our common stock under the program.
Material Cash Commitments
Material cash commitments as of December 31, 2023 consist of required cash payments to service our outstanding borrowings of $156 million under our Credit Agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as agent and the future minimum cash requirements of $131.7 million through 2034 under operating leases. All of our other cash commitments as of December 31, 2023 are not material. For additional information related to our material cash commitments, see Note 7, “Leases,” and Note 11, “Credit Facilities and Long-Term Debt,” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Report.
We anticipate that our cash flow from operations, available cash, and available borrowings under our Credit Agreement will be adequate to meet our future liquidity needs for at least the next twelve months. Significant assumptions underlie this belief, including, among other things, that we will be able to mitigate the future impact, if any, of disruptions in the supply chain caused by geo-political risks, future increases in interest rates, and significant inflationary cost increases in raw materials, labor and transportation that we are unable to pass through our customers, macroeconomic uncertainty, and that there will be no material adverse developments in our business, liquidity or capital requirements. If material adverse developments were to occur in any of these areas, there can be no assurance that our business will generate sufficient cash flow from operations, or that future borrowings will be available to us under our Credit Agreement in amounts sufficient to enable us to pay the principal and interest on our indebtedness, or to fund our other liquidity needs. In addition, if we default on any of our indebtedness, or breach any financial covenant in our Credit Agreement, our business could be adversely affected.
For further information regarding the risks in our business, refer to Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” of this Report.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
We have identified the two accounting policies and estimates below as critical to our business operations and the understanding of our results of operations. The impact and any associated risks related to these policies and estimates on our business operations is discussed throughout “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” where such policies and estimates affect our reported and expected financial results. For a detailed discussion on the application of these and other accounting policies, see Note 1, “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies,” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Report.
You should be aware that preparation of our consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amount of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of our consolidated financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting periods. We can give no assurances that actual results will not differ from those estimates. Although we do not believe that there is a reasonable likelihood that there will be a material change in the future estimates, or in the assumptions that we use in calculating the estimates, the uncertain future effects, if any, of the disruptions in the supply chain caused by geo-political risks, future increases in interest rates, inflation, macroeconomic uncertainty, and other unforeseen changes in the industry, or business, could materially impact the estimates, and may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Valuation of Long‑Lived and Intangible Assets and Goodwill
At acquisition, we estimate and record the fair value of purchased intangible assets, which primarily consist of customer relationships, trademarks and trade names, patents, developed technology and intellectual property, and non-compete agreements. Intangible assets acquired through business combinations are subject to potential adjustments within the measurement period, which is up to one year from the acquisition date. Valuing intangible assets requires the use of significant estimates and assumptions. As related to valuing customer relationships, significant estimates and assumptions used include but are not limited to: (1) forecasted revenues attributable to existing customers; (2) forecasted earnings before interest and taxes (“EBIT”) margins; (3) customer attrition rates; and (4) the discount rate. Goodwill is the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of identifiable net assets acquired in business combinations. Goodwill and certain other intangible assets having indefinite lives are not amortized to earnings, but instead are subject to periodic testing for impairment. Intangible assets determined to have definite lives are amortized over their remaining useful lives. We believe that the fair value of acquired identifiable net assets, including intangible assets, are based upon reasonable estimates and assumptions.
We assess the impairment of long‑lived assets, identifiable intangibles assets and goodwill whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. With respect to goodwill and identifiable intangible assets having indefinite lives, we test for impairment on an annual basis or in interim periods if an event occurs or circumstances change that may indicate the fair value is below its carrying amount. Factors we consider important, which could trigger an impairment review, include the following: (a) significant underperformance relative to expected historical or projected future operating results; (b) significant changes in the manner of our use of the acquired assets or the strategy for our overall business; and (c) significant negative industry or economic trends. We review the fair values using the discounted cash flows method and market multiples.
When performing our evaluation of goodwill for impairment, if we conclude qualitatively that it is not more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, then a quantitative impairment test would not be required. If we are unable to reach this conclusion, then we would perform a goodwill quantitative impairment test. In performing the quantitative test, the fair value of the reporting unit is compared to its carrying amount. A charge for impairment is recognized by the amount by which the reporting unit’s carrying amount exceeds its fair value, not to exceed the total amount of goodwill allocated to the reporting unit.
Identifiable intangible assets having indefinite lives are reviewed for impairment on an annual basis using a methodology similar with that used to evaluate goodwill. Intangible assets having definite lives and other long-lived assets are reviewed for impairment whenever events such as product discontinuance, plant closures, product dispositions or other changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. In reviewing for impairment, we compare the carrying value of such assets to the estimated undiscounted future cash flows expected from the use of the assets and their eventual disposition. When the estimated undiscounted future cash flows are less than their carrying amount, an impairment loss is recognized equal to the difference between the assets fair value and their carrying value.
There are inherent assumptions and estimates used in developing future cash flows requiring our judgment in applying these assumptions and estimates to the analysis of identifiable intangibles and long‑lived asset impairment including projecting revenues, interest rates, tax rates and the cost of capital. Many of the factors used in assessing fair value are outside our control and it is reasonably likely that assumptions and estimates will change in future periods. These changes can result in future impairments. In the event our planning assumptions were modified resulting in impairment to our assets, we would be required to include an expense in our statement of operations, which could materially impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Asbestos Litigation
In evaluating our potential asbestos-related liability, we have considered various factors including, among other things, an actuarial study of the asbestos related liabilities performed by an independent actuarial firm, our settlement amounts and whether there are any co-defendants, the jurisdiction in which lawsuits are filed, and the status and results of such claims. As is our accounting policy, we consider the advice of actuarial consultants with experience in assessing asbestos-related liabilities to estimate our potential claim liability; and perform an actuarial evaluation in the third quarter of each year and whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that additional provisions may be necessary. The methodology used to project asbestos-related liabilities and costs in our actuarial study considered: (1) historical data available from publicly available studies; (2) an analysis of our recent claims history to estimate likely filing rates into the future; (3) an analysis of our currently pending claims; (4) an analysis of our settlements and awards of asbestos-related damages to date; and (5) an analysis of closed claims with pay ratios and lag patterns in order to develop average future settlement values. Based on the information contained in the actuarial study and all other available information considered by us, we have concluded that no amount within the range of settlement payments and awards of asbestos-related damages was more likely than any other and, therefore, in assessing our asbestos liability we compare the low end of the range to our recorded liability to determine if an adjustment is required. Future legal costs are expensed as incurred and reported in earnings (loss) from discontinued operations in the accompanying statement of operations.
We plan to perform an annual actuarial evaluation during the third quarter of each year for the foreseeable future and whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that additional provisions may be necessary. Given the uncertainties associated with projecting such matters into the future and other factors outside our control, we can give no assurance that additional provisions will not be required. We will continue to monitor events and changes in circumstances surrounding these potential liabilities in determining whether to perform additional actuarial evaluations and whether additional provisions may be necessary, which will reported in earnings (loss) from discontinued operations in the accompanying statement of operations. At the present time, however, we do not believe that any additional provisions would be reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on our liquidity or consolidated financial position. See Note 23, “Commitments and Contingencies,” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Report for additional information.
Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements
For a detailed discussion on recently issued accounting pronouncements and their impact on our consolidated financial statements, see Note 1, “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Report.
| ITEM 7A. | QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK |
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
We are exposed to market risk, primarily related to foreign currency exchange and interest rates. These exposures are actively monitored by management. Our exposure to foreign exchange rate risk is due to certain costs, revenues and borrowings being denominated in currencies other than one of our subsidiary’s functional currency. Similarly, we are exposed to market risk as the result of changes in interest rates, which may affect the cost of our financing. It is our policy and practice to use derivative financial instruments only to the extent necessary to manage exposures. We do not hold or issue derivative financial instruments for trading or speculative purposes.
Exchange Rate Risk
We have exchange rate exposure, primarily, with respect to the Canadian Dollar, the Euro, the British Pound, the Polish Zloty, the Hungarian Forint, the Mexican Peso, the Taiwan Dollar, the Chinese Yuan Renminbi and the Hong Kong Dollar. As of December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, our monetary assets and liabilities which are subject to this exposure are immaterial, therefore, the potential immediate loss to us that would result from a hypothetical 10% change in foreign currency exchange rates would not be expected to have a material impact on our earnings or cash flows. This sensitivity analysis assumes an unfavorable 10% fluctuation in the exchange rates affecting the foreign currencies in which monetary assets and liabilities are denominated and does not take into account the incremental effect of such a change on our foreign currency denominated revenues.
Interest Rate Risk
We manage our exposure to interest rate risk through the proportion of fixed rate debt and variable rate debt in our debt portfolio. To reduce our market risk for changes in interest rates on our variable rate borrowings, and to manage a portion of our exposure to changes in interest rates, we occasionally enter into interest rate swap agreements.
In June 2022, we entered into a seven year interest rate swap agreement with a notional amount of $100 million that is to mature in May 2029. The interest rate swap agreement has been designated as a cash flow hedge of interest payments on $100 million of borrowings under our Credit Agreement. Under the terms of the swap agreement, we will receive monthly variable interest payments based on one month Term SOFR and will pay interest based upon a fixed rate of 2.683% per annum, adjusted upward for the credit spread adjustment in the Credit Agreement of 0.10% and the loan margin in the Credit Agreement of 1.25% at December 31, 2023.
As of December 31, 2023, we had approximately $156 million of outstanding borrowings under our Credit Agreement, of which approximately $56 million bears interest at variable rates of interest and $100 million bears interest at fixed rates, after consideration of the interest rate swap agreement entered into in June 2022. Additionally, we invest our excess cash in highly liquid short-term investments. Based upon our current level of borrowings under our Credit Agreement and our excess cash, the effect of a hypothetical, instantaneous and unfavorable change of 100 basis points in the interest rate may have an approximate $0.2 million annualized negative impact on our earnings or cash flows.
In addition, we are party to several supply chain financing arrangements, in which we may sell certain of our customers’ trade accounts receivable to such customers’ financial institutions. We sell our undivided interests in certain of these receivables at our discretion when we determine that the cost of these arrangements is less than the cost of servicing our receivables with existing debt. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we sold $830.8 million of receivables. Depending upon the level of sales of receivables pursuant these agreements, the effect of a hypothetical, instantaneous and unfavorable change of 100 basis points in the margin rate may have an approximate $8.3 million negative impact on our earnings or cash flows. The charge related to the sale of receivables is included in selling, general and administrative expenses in our consolidated statements of operations.
