John Bean Technologies Corporation (NYSE:JBT) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript October 25, 2023
Operator: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to JBT Corporation’s Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Bo, and I will be your conference operator today. As a reminder, today’s call is being recorded. At this time, all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] I will now turn the call over to JBT’s Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations, Kedric Meredith. Please go ahead, sir.
Kedric Meredith: Thank you, Bo. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our third quarter 2023 conference call. With me on the call is our Chief Executive Officer, Brian Deck, and Chief Financial Officer, Matt Meister. In today’s call, we will use forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbor language in yesterday’s press release and 8-K filing. JBT’s periodic SEC filings also contain information regarding risk factors that may have an impact on our results. These documents are available in the Investor Relations section of our website. Also, our discussion today includes references to certain non-GAAP measures. A reconciliation of these measures to the most comparable GAAP measure can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website. Now, I’ll turn the call over to Brian.
Brian Deck: Thanks, Kedric, and good morning, everyone. JBT reported another good quarter and our first as a pure-play food and beverage technology business. Third quarter orders were solid. While we maintain a cautious posture due to macroeconomic uncertainty, interest rate pressure and geopolitical risk, we’re encouraged by some strengthening of activity in Europe and Asia, and we believe that improving price/cost dynamics in the poultry industry will create a more attractive environment for investment and higher order activity in the fourth quarter and in 2024. While third quarter revenue came in a little soft, we are very pleased with margins that exceeded our forecast and resulting EBITDA growth. Overall, JBT’s performance continues to reflect the benefit of our resilient business model, a diverse product and end market mix and our value-added acquisitions.
With that, I’ll turn the call over to Matt, who will walk you through our third quarter performance and fine-tuned full year guidance.
Matt Meister: Thanks, Brian. In the third quarter, revenue increased 1.2% year-over-year, slightly below our guidance as book and ship orders were below expectations. However, as Brian stated, margins were stronger than we forecasted, with gross profit margins increasing over the prior year by 170 basis points, the result of our actions on pricing, restructuring and supply chain. With that, adjusted EBITDA grew 9.4% year-over-year to $66 million, with adjusted EBITDA margin of 16.4%, an increase of 120 basis points. Excluding corporate-related costs, the adjusted EBITDA margin from our operations was 20.9%, reflecting strong execution as we continue to make progress toward our Elevate 2.0 margin target. Income from continuing operations exceeded the midpoint of our guidance, driven by higher interest income from the investment of the proceeds on the sale of AeroTech.
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