キンボール・エレクトロニクス (KE) 2027年度第1四半期決算説明会：医療向け売上高が7%増を牽引

要点

• キンボール・エレクトロニクスが発表した2027年度第1四半期の売上高は、前年同期比7%増、前四半期比5%増の3億9,080万ドルとなった。オーガニック成長率は3%で、ヘルボート・ポリマー・テクノロジーズが1,240万ドル寄与した。
• 医療向け売上高は、複数の製品分野および地域にわたる9%のオーガニック成長を含め、前年同期比14%増の1億1,600万ドルとなった。経営陣は、中核となる医療事業が当初の想定を上回る業績を上げていると述べた。
• 調整後営業利益は1,700万ドル（売上高営業利益率は4.3%）となり、前年同期の1,750万ドル（同4.8%）から減少した。部材コストの上昇やインディアナポリスの医療CDMO立ち上げ費用が収益性を圧迫した。
• 調整後希薄化後EPSは0.49ドルから0.25ドルに低下した。経営陣は、前年同期比での減少のうち1株当たり約0.12ドル分について、海外資金約3,000万ドルの国内送金（リパトリエーション）に伴う税金が要因であると説明した。
• 同社は2027年度の通期業績予想を据え置いたものの、主として医療中核需要の好調を背景に、売上高は予想レンジである15億3,500万〜15億6,000万ドルの上限付近になるとの見通しを示した。
• 受注残高は前年同期比16%増の6億9,000万ドルとなった。経営陣は、医療分野の成長は広範囲に及んでおり、通期ベースで2桁成長に達する可能性があると述べた。

主要財務データ

事業および業績の動向

医療分野

医療分野が主たる成長ドライバーとなった。同分野の売上高は14%増の1億1,600万ドルとなり、全社売上高の29%を占めた。薬剤投与機器、呼吸器ケア製品、生体情報モニター、単回使用手術用器具、画像診断システムに支えられ、オーガニック売上高は9%増加した。

ヘルボートの統合は計画通りかつ予算内で推移した。経営陣によると、キンボールがヘルボートのティルブルフおよびプネー拠点の能力をインディアナポリスや広範な製造ネットワークと融合させるにつれ、顧客の関心が高まっているという。インディアナポリスの新たな医療CDMO施設での生産は12月に開始される見込みだが、新規の医療プログラムの立ち上げには時間を要すると経営陣は注意を促した。

車載分野

車載分野の売上高は4%増の1億7,100万ドルとなり、全社売上高の44%を占めた。ステアリング関連が車載向け売上高の70%以上を占め、ポーランドでの新規プログラム立ち上げや中国での生産移管に向けた初期準備が寄与した。

主にEV需要の低迷により、北米の需要は依然として低調に推移した。

産業分野

産業分野の売上高は5%増の1億500万ドルとなり、全社売上高の27%を占めた。オフハイウェイ機器、工場自動化（FA）、公共安全、スマートメーターが成長要因となった。空調制御の売上高は、主に北米におけるHVACシステムの需要軟化により再び減少した。

経営陣による通期業績見通し

キンボール・エレクトロニクスは2027年度の通期見通しを据え置いた。

• 売上高は15億3,500万ドル〜15億6,000万ドル（現在は予想レンジの上限付近を見込む）
• 売上高調整後営業利益率は4.4%〜4.7%
• 設備投資額は5,000万ドル〜6,000万ドル
• 資金の国内送金に伴う源泉徴収税を除く通期税率は30%台前半

経営陣は、医療中核需要の好調と車載分野の売上高の小幅な改善が、売上高予想の上方シフトを支えていると述べた。ただし、部材のインフレは利益率への貢献を伴わずに売上高を押し上げる可能性があるため、営業利益率の見通しは据え置いた。経営陣は、第2四半期決算発表時にガイダンスのレンジを再評価する予定である。

リスクと注視点

• 特に車載および産業分野において、メモリやその他の電子部品の需給逼迫が続いており、コスト圧力やリードタイムの長期化を招いている。
• インディアナポリスの医療CDMO施設への投資は、生産と売上高が拡大するまで、当面の利益率を引き続き圧迫すると見込まれる。
• 今後の事業成長に向けた準備に伴い、棚卸資産は前四半期比および前年同期比の双方で約4,000万ドル増加した。
• ヘルボート買収後に借入金が増加し、支払利息の増加につながった。
• 第1四半期の実効税率66.1%は、資金の国内送金に伴う源泉徴収税の影響を受けた。経営陣は、正常化ベースの30%台前半の税率でも依然として高すぎると認識しており、引き下げに取り組んでいると述べた。
• 医療CDMO案件は長期にわたる認証プロセスと生産立ち上げを要するため、新規プログラムによって利用可能な生産能力を満たすスピードには限界がある。

アナリスト質疑応答のハイライト

経営陣は、ヘルボートに対する自信の深まりは、買収したチームのケイパビリティ、顧客の関心の高まり、および拡大する潜在的な売上シナジーのパイプラインを反映していると述べた。ヘルボートは通期売上高約6,000万ドルを含め、同社の想定通り順調に推移している。

棚卸資産の増加は、部材インフレではなく、主に事業成長の再加速によるものと説明された。経営陣は、特定の顧客やプログラムへの偏りはなく、北米、欧州、アジア全域で新たな医療関連製品の立ち上げが進んでいることを強調した。

インディアナポリスの施設について、経営陣は既存の生産拠点を同拠点へ移管する一方、事業開発では新規および既存顧客からの追加プログラムの獲得に注力すると述べた。同施設は12月に生産を開始する予定だが、稼働率は段階的に高まる見通しである。

受注残高は16%増の6億9,000万ドルに拡大した。経営陣は、第1四半期に報告された医療分野のオーガニック成長率9%は、2027年度における同セグメントの四半期ベースで最低の伸びとなる可能性があり、年度の進行とともに2桁成長も達成可能であると述べた。

決算説明会 文字起こし全文

決算説明会の完全なトランスクリプト

経営陣による説明

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Kimball Electronics First Quarter Fiscal 2027 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Ina, and I will be the facilitator for today's call. [Operator Instructions] Today's call, November 5, 2026, is being recorded. A replay of the call will be available on the Investor Relations page of the Kimball Electronics website.

At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Andrew Regrut, Vice President, Investor Relations, Strategic Development and Treasurer. Mr. Regrut, you may begin.

Andrew Regrut

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our first quarter conference call. With me here today is Ric Phillips, our Chief Executive Officer; and Jana Croom, Chief Financial Officer.

We issued a press release yesterday afternoon with our results for the first quarter of fiscal 2027 ended September 30, 2026. To accompany today's call, presentation has been posted to the Investor Relations page on our company website.

Before we get started, I'd like to remind you that we will be making forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainty and are subject to our safe harbor provisions as stated in our press release and SEC filings, and that actual results can differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Our commentary today will be focused on adjusted non-GAAP results. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP amounts are available in our press release.

This morning, Ric will start the call with a few opening comments. Jana will review the financial results for the quarter and guidance for fiscal 2027, and Ric will complete our prepared remarks before taking your questions. I'll now turn the call over to Ric.

Richard Phillips

Thank you, Andy, and good morning, everyone. I'm encouraged by our first quarter results and solid start to fiscal 2027. Sales increased both sequentially and year-over-year. Margins were healthy and cash conversion days were once again at a multiyear low. The top line benefited from organic sales growth and the contribution from Helvoet Polymer Technologies, our recent tuck-in acquisition in the medical CDMO.

The organic growth was in line with expectations and driven by a high single-digit increase in medical sales. This growth aligns with our strategic focus to balance the portfolio across the verticals. Our excitement for the overall fit and growth opportunities of Helvoet are higher now than ever. With the backdrop of a strong balance sheet, we're investing in medical growth by integrating Helvoet, ramping operations in Indianapolis, leveraging our capabilities as a full-service provider and unlocking synergies across the global footprint.

Fiscal 2027 marks an important milestone in our journey, and we are reiterating our guidance for the year with sales expected at the high end of the range, driven by continued strength in medical.

Turning now to first quarter results. Net sales for the total company were $391 million, a 5% increase on a sequential basis and up 7% when compared to Q1 of fiscal 2026. The year-over-year increase occurred in all verticals with approximately 40% of total sales in North America and the remainder roughly split between Asia and Europe.

Starting with Medical. Sales in Q1 totaled $116 million, a 14% increase compared to the same period a year ago and 29% of the total company. Broad-based organic growth drove a 9% increase in the quarter with the strength across multiple product categories, including drug delivery devices, respiratory care products, patient monitoring systems, single-use surgical instruments and imaging systems.

Industrial reported sales of $105 million, 5% higher than a year ago and 27% of total company. Similar to Medical, the organic growth accounted for a meaningful portion of the increase, over 1/3 of it, with strength in most of the product categories, including off-highway equipment, factory automation, public safety and smart metering. Climate control was down again this quarter, driven by lower demand for HVAC systems, primarily in North America. We're seeing new and interesting opportunities in this vertical, which could leverage our expertise in electronics manufacturing and higher level of assemblies and drive future growth.

Finally, sales in Automotive were $171 million, a 4% increase year-over-year and 44% of the company. Steering drove the organic growth for us in this business, accounting for over 70% of Automotive in Q1, with the ramp-up of a new program in Poland and early preparations for a transfer of production in China, boosting the results. North America was sluggish once again this quarter, largely due to lower EV demand.

Overall, I'm very pleased to see a return to growth and full year sales trending to the top end of our guidance range.

I'll now turn the call over to Jana for more details on the financials. Jana?

Jana Croom

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. As Ric highlighted, net sales in Q1 were $390.8 million, up 7% compared to last year, with 3% organic growth and $12.4 million of revenue from Helvoet, which was very close to our expectations. We expect the top line of Helvoet to ramp over the course of the fiscal year. Foreign exchange had a 1% favorable impact on consolidated sales.

The gross margin rate was 7.9%, flat to last year, with favorable mix offset by higher material component costs and the ramp of our medical CDMO facility in Indianapolis. As we have called out in previous quarters, we expect this investment to continue to weigh on margins in the near term, but will improve as production increases and revenue builds.

Adjusted selling and administrative expenses were $13.9 million, a $2.6 million increase year-over-year. We continue to make investments in future growth initiatives, which include personnel costs, IT infrastructure and the addition of Helvoet. As a reminder, in Q1 last year, we had a onetime $2 million cost recovery from a customer associated with the termination of a program. When measured as a percentage of sales, this year's rate was 3.6% versus 3.1% in Q1 fiscal '26.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization totaled $27.6 million in Q1 versus $26.7 million a year ago, and adjusted operating income was $17 million or 4.3% of net sales, which compares to last year's adjusted operating income of $17.5 million or 4.8% of net sales. Other income and expense was expense of $4.6 million compared to $3.5 million last year. The increase this quarter was driven by higher interest as borrowing levels were elevated due to the Helvoet acquisition, which closed on the first day of the fiscal year.

The effective tax rate in Q1 was 66.1% compared to 8.3% in the first quarter of last year. This year's rate was elevated by withholding taxes on cash repatriation to partially fund the acquisition of Helvoet. Last year, the Q1 rate was unusually low due to tax benefits associated with OBBBA. For the full fiscal year, we're expecting the rate to be in the low 30s when excluding the impact of the withholding taxes.

Adjusted net income in the first quarter was $6.1 million or $0.25 per diluted share compared to $12.3 million or $0.49 a year ago. The difference in the effective tax rate between the 2 periods accounted for 50% of the variance, approximately $0.12 per share.

Turning now to the balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents at September 30, 2026, were $72.8 million. Cash used for operating activities in the quarter was $19.3 million, with the usage driven by an inventory build needed to support future production. This was expected as we return to growth after several quarters of declining revenue.

Cash conversion days were 82 days, equaling our multiyear best from last quarter and a 1-day improvement from the first quarter of fiscal '26.

Inventory ended the quarter at $312.1 million compared to $271.9 million last quarter and $272.7 million a year ago. So this quarter was approximately $40 million higher than both periods. Inventory, which is classified as long term, is not included in these totals, but it's part of the PDSOH calculation. It decreased $13.6 million in Q1. Combined, they represented a net increase of $26.7 million, but PDSOH remained at a respectable 88 days in the quarter.

Capital expenditures in Q1 were $9 million, spread fairly evenly across our footprint to support future growth.

Borrowings at September 30, 2026, were $235.7 million, an increase versus Q4 driven by the acquisition. Short-term liquidity available represented as cash and cash equivalents plus the unused portion of our credit facilities totaled $270.8 million.

We invested $3.1 million in Q1 to repurchase 127,000 shares. Since October 2015, under our Board-authorized share repurchase program, a total of $118.6 million has been returned to our shareowners by purchasing 7.2 million shares of common stock.

As Ric highlighted, we are reiterating our guidance for fiscal 2027 with sales expected at the high end of the range of $1.535 billion to $1.560 billion. Adjusted operating income is expected to be 4.4% to 4.7% of net sales and capital expenditures should be in the range of $50 million to $60 million.

I'll now turn the call back over to Ric.

Richard Phillips

Thanks, Jana. Before we open the lines for questions, I'd like to share a few thoughts in closing. Q1 was our first quarter with Helvoet included in consolidated results. And as I mentioned in my opening remarks, our excitement for the overall strategic fit and growth opportunities of this new partnership are higher now than ever. Integration is progressing on plan and on budget as we focus on top line synergies as a first priority. The interest levels from customers, both new and existing, are rising, particularly as the complementary capabilities of Tilburg, Pune, Indianapolis and the broader Kimball footprint are better understood.

Our enhanced medical CDMO platform is elevating our prominence in the industry as a medical device manufacturer with available capacity to support the fast-paced growth in a variety of end market applications. We've recently taken steps to sharpen our business development efforts in this area by expanding the responsibilities of Eveline Hogenkamp, the CEO of Helvoet, and her team and arming them with new AI-driven data mining tools that identify real-time opportunities in the medical market where our capabilities can provide immediate assistance with a near-term solution. I continue to be impressed with the talent, industry knowledge and passion of this team, and I'm excited for their contributions to our CDMO strategy.

The transfer of operations in Indianapolis also remains on schedule and on budget with the movement, installation and qualification of equipment and manufacturing lines occurring in a manner to ensure uninterrupted customer support. We expect production will start in December. It is all exciting progress, but we know that growing the medical CDMO takes time.

Finally, next week, we will be holding our Annual Meeting of Shareowners, which once again this year will be in Indianapolis. A very important element is shareholder support for rebranding the entire company to Kimball Solutions. If approved, it will occur at the end of the fiscal year and complete the phased rollout that started at individual locations across our footprint this past July. The rebrand demonstrates our commitment to innovation and the vision to deliver comprehensive solutions beyond traditional electronics manufacturing services with an expanded portfolio of capabilities that includes design and engineering support, supply chain management, precision molded plastics and high-level product assemblies.

Our recent investments in Indianapolis and Helvoet have positioned the medical CDMO for growth, and we are now seeing new opportunities to leverage our unique set of capabilities in the marketplace. I thank you for your support.

Operator, we would now like to open the lines for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And your first question comes from the line of Mike Crawford from B. Riley.

質疑応答

Michael Crawford

Maybe, Ric, could we just start with what makes you more excited now than ever with Helvoet versus what you knew previously?

Richard Phillips

Well, I think -- and Mike, thanks for joining the call. There's a number of, I think, aspects to that. And obviously, you get to know your partner better after you close the transaction. The talent is very impressive. So as we're getting to know the leaders of Helvoet, that's why on the call, I mentioned we've made a change in business development to even better leverage their capabilities and activity and just the set of daily opportunities that we're talking about for synergies across the companies are at a high level. And of course, they take time to execute. But as we're communicating our now combined capabilities in the medical CDMO, I think the talent, the level of customer interest and the momentum that I think is starting in those customer conversations are what really shapes that thinking for us.

Michael Crawford

Okay. And then as you grow the CDMO business, I know margins are going to increase, but are there any particular supply chain components that are tight, that are constraining growth or impacting margin more than others?

Jana Croom

Yes, Mike, this is Jana. It's a great question. So memory is affecting all of us and electronic components are also tight. And so we're seeing much more on autos and industrial where we don't have as much higher level of full assembly, right, where it's just PCBA, that tightness in terms of components for sure and cost pressures. But in Medical, where we do more full and final assembly, and we have more injected plastic molding, there is inflation, but it's not like what you're seeing with the memory market where you're competing with the data centers and AI providers.

Michael Crawford

And Jana, would you attribute much of your inventory build to those factors? Or is that just more a factor of your business is now once again on a growth trajectory?

Jana Croom

No, the business is on a growth trajectory. So you'll see some inventory and inflation pricing, but it's more longer lead times, higher costs, but it's the growth. I mean we -- the 9% in Medical, we were very excited about. It's driven by some new launches that we have, and it was across the geographies. So not specific to any customer or any program and not driven by inflationary pressures on electronics components.

Michael Crawford

And then just the last one for me. Could you, Jana, go into the tax rate for GAAP and pro forma and [Technical Difficulty] with the repatriation, all of that, and what do you -- I think is it like 25% like for the rest of the year or anyway...

Jana Croom

Yes. So we anticipate low 30s for the rest of the year. And even that, we acknowledge is too high, and we are working aggressively on bringing our consolidated tax rate down. So I just want to start by saying that. We acknowledge that. What we did in Q1 of '27 is we repatriated global cash of about $30 million, and we paid the tax withholding dividend associated with bringing that cash back to relieve some pressure off of our balance sheet in terms of the cost of making the acquisition.

And so that was always the game plan, and we could sit here and debate whether or not we should have done that or just placed it completely on our revolver. But strategically, it made sense to us given some of the other support that we need in terms of CapEx and dry powder for future activities to grow this business. And so that impact made our tax rate basically twice what it would have been under normal circumstances. And so the year-over-year impact -- and remember, Q1 of FY '26 was artificially low because of the Big Beautiful Bill and the way we were able to take advantage of that. So it's about a $0.12 impact to EPS when you compare the 2, just due to the cash repatriation.

Operator

And your next question comes from the line of Brett Fishbin from Key Capital Markets.

Brett Fishbin

I wanted to just ask again about the new U.S. medical facility. It sounds like production may start pretty soon. But I was just curious if you could discuss how the efforts towards filling some of the capacity with existing and new programs is going? And if there's any just general metrics or data points that could help us think about like the pacing to fill that capacity?

Richard Phillips

Yes. Thanks, Brett, and I appreciate you joining the call today and a good question. Obviously, a big focus for us. We're excited, as I mentioned on the call, to expect production to start here before the end of the calendar year. I can tell you the level of activity in terms of taking customers through the facility, new and existing. The efforts with Helvoet in terms of revenue synergies that will leverage that facility are really exciting. And we know it takes time. When you win a program in that space, it takes a while to ramp. But we're obviously going to have some immediate production in there because we'll be moving over what's in our current Indianapolis facility. But the focus is really on driving incremental growth from new and existing customers and leveraging that space. And we feel good about that. We'll be continuing to report on it and feel like we have some good momentum, but we do recognize, as I said on the call, that it will take time to ramp.

Brett Fishbin

All right. Great. And then maybe just more broadly for FY '27, you maintained most of the key guidance metrics, but are pointing to the higher end of the sales range from last quarter. So maybe if you could just touch on what modestly improved incrementally relative to the initial guidance that gives more confidence in the high end this year?

Jana Croom

Brett, that was a great question. So what is improving for us is clearly core medical is coming in really strong. So in terms of the acquisition, Helvoet is tracking pretty much as we expect it to, right? So in terms of that $60 million of revenue and contribution range. Core medical is coming in stronger. Automotive is coming in a little bit stronger, but some of that is inflationary pressure as we look at the forecast. And so the challenge, higher revenue, we're still working through margin because, as you know, we'll get revenue that won't have margin associated with it on the autos and industrial side if inflation progresses and continues to be aggressive.

Right now, we're still monitoring that. And so we're not ready to give an update on adjusted OI margin. Right now, we're just saying we expect it to hold. And when we give Q2 update, that's typically when we update all of our guidance ranges, and we'll do that at that time because we'll have a better understanding of the impact it's going to have on the full fiscal year.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And your next question comes from the line of Luke Fingerson from Lake Street Capital.

Luke Fingerson

Luke Fingerson on for Max Michaelis. Just one question from me. Open orders grew 16% year-over-year to $690 million. Can you give any color on the growth from Medical?

Jana Croom

So what I will say and reiterate, and thanks for the question, Luke, is the growth is across all geographies and all programs. And so it is North America, Europe and Asia focused, and not specific to any program or any single customer. And so that 9% in growth may actually be the lowest in terms of core medical growth that we see over the course of the fiscal year. We're looking at double-digit growth just really driving it. You're starting to see it in terms of the open orders numbers.

Again, we're monitoring Automotive and Industrial. But what we have been saying for the last 1.5 years, 2 years is that we were focusing on balancing the portfolio thoughtfully over time with a focus on growing medical, and you're really seeing that come to fruition now represented in the growth numbers and in the -- as you indicated, the open order numbers for future.

Operator

There are no further questions at this time. This concludes today's conference call. A replay will be available. You can also dial in at (877) 660-6853 or (201) 612-7415. Again, you can dial (877) 660-6853 or (201) 612-7415. The access ID is 13763075. Thank you for participating. You may all disconnect.