Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: WTS) – through its subsidiaries, one of the world’s leading manufacturers and providers of plumbing, heating and water quality products and solutions – today announced results for the third quarter of 2024.

Chief Executive Officer and President Robert J. Pagano Jr. commented, “We are pleased with our third quarter results that exceeded our expectations. I want to express my gratitude to the entire Watts team for their dedication to providing exceptional customer service. Given our strong performance through the third quarter and our fourth quarter expectations, we are increasing the midpoint of our full-year 2024 operating margin outlook.”

Mr. Pagano added, “We have continued to successfully navigate near-term challenges related to softening economic conditions by delivering superior customer service and by driving productivity. Our focus remains on investing for the future and positioning ourselves to capitalize on opportunities associated with favorable, long-term secular trends including water conservation, safety and regulation, and energy efficiency. Our cash flow and balance sheet are strong, giving us ample flexibility in capital allocation decisions. We are confident in our resilient business strategy to drive sustainable, long-term growth and shareholder value creation.”

A summary of third quarter financial results is as follows:

Third Quarter Financial Highlights

Third quarter 2024 performance relative to third quarter 2023

Sales of $544 million increased 8% on a reported basis and were down 4% organically. Sales from acquisitions within the Americas totaled $59 million and contributed 12% to reported growth. Organic sales growth within APMEA was more than offset by declines in the Americas and Europe. Foreign exchange movements had an immaterial impact on sales growth.

Operating margin decreased 20 basis points on a reported basis and 90 basis points on an adjusted basis. Adjusted operating margin decreased primarily due to the dilutive impact of acquisitions, volume deleverage, inflation and incremental investments, which more than offset favorable price and productivity. Reported operating margin was favorably impacted by a non-recurring gain on the settlement of Bradley’s frozen pension plan that offset an increase in restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges.

Regional Performance

Americas

Sales of $400 million increased 14% on a reported basis and declined 3% on an organic basis. The acquisitions of Bradley and Josam contributed $59 million in sales, or 17% to reported growth. Organic sales decreased as price realization was more than offset by volume declines, primarily due to project timing and wholesale channel safety stock resets within the quarter as our lead times normalized.

Operating margin decreased 170 basis points on a reported basis and 260 basis points on an adjusted basis as benefits from price realization and productivity were more than offset by inflation, incremental investments, volume deleverage and the dilutive impact of the Bradley acquisition. Reported operating margin benefitted from the non-recurring gain on the settlement of Bradley’s frozen pension plan, which more than offset incremental restructuring and acquisition-related charges.

Europe

Sales of $107 million decreased 11% on a reported basis and 12% on an organic basis. Favorable foreign exchange movements increased reported sales by 1%. Organic sales declined as price realization and growth in our drains products were more than offset by lower volumes in fluid solutions products, particularly in the OEM channel, which was impacted by reduced government energy incentives and heat pump destocking.

Operating margin decreased 220 basis points on a reported basis and increased 20 basis points on an adjusted basis. Adjusted operating margin increased as price realization, product mix and productivity offset inflation, volume deleverage and investments. Reported operating margin was unfavorably impacted by incremental restructuring charges.

APMEA

Sales of $36 million increased 10% on a reported basis and 8% on an organic basis. Favorable foreign exchange movements increased reported sales by 2%. Sales increased due to growth in China, New Zealand and the Middle East, partly offset by a slight decline in Australia.

Operating margin increased 230 basis points on a reported basis and 130 basis points on an adjusted basis as benefits from volume leverage and productivity more than offset inflation, incremental investments and the dilutive impact of the Enware acquisition. Reported operating margin was favorably impacted by the reduction in acquisition charges.

Cash Flow and Capital Allocation

For the first nine months of 2024, operating cash flow was $222 million and net capital expenditures were $17 million, resulting in free cash flow of $204 million. In the comparable period last year, operating cash flow was $201 million and net capital expenditures were $19 million, resulting in free cash flow of $182 million. Operating and free cash flow increased primarily due to cash flow from acquisitions. We expect normal seasonality to result in solid operating and free cash flow in the fourth quarter.

The Company repurchased approximately 26,000 shares of Class A common stock at an aggregate cost of $4.9 million during the third quarter of 2024. For the first nine months of 2024, the Company repurchased approximately 66,000 shares at an aggregate cost of $13.0 million. The stock repurchase program authorized in 2019 has been exhausted. Approximately $149 million remains available under the stock repurchase program authorized in 2023. There is no expiration date for this program.

Full Year 2024 Outlook

The Company is raising the midpoint of its full year operating margin outlook by 20 basis points and narrowing its full year sales guidance compared to our previous outlook. We expect reported sales to increase 9% to 10% and organic sales to decline between 1% and 2%. Full year operating margin is expected to be between 17.2% and 17.4% and adjusted operating margin to be between 17.5% and 17.7%, or down 10 basis points to 30 basis points. Further 2024 planning assumptions are included in the third-quarter earnings materials posted in the Investor Relations section of our website at www.watts.com.

CFO Transition

In a separate press release, the Company today announced that Chief Financial Officer Shashank Patel has communicated his intention to retire on March 15, 2025 for personal reasons, after having served in this role since July 2018. Patel will continue as CFO until a successor is named to ensure a smooth transition. The Company has initiated a comprehensive search to identify a successor, which will include both internal and external candidates.

For a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP items and a statement regarding the usefulness of these measures to investors and management in evaluating our operating performance, please see the tables attached to this press release.

Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will hold a live webcast of its conference call to discuss third quarter 2024 results on Thursday, October 31, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. EDT. This press release and the live webcast can be accessed by visiting the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at www.watts.com. Following the webcast, the call recording will be available at the same address until October 30, 2025.

Watts Water Technologies, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is a world leader in the manufacture of innovative products to control the efficiency, safety, and quality of water within residential, commercial, and institutional applications. Watts’ expertise in a wide variety of water technologies enables us to be a comprehensive supplier to the water industry.

This press release includes “forward-looking statements” as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to expected full year 2024 financial results, including organic sales growth and adjusted operating margin, our strategy, investments, the benefits from recent acquisitions, improvements in operating and free cash flow in the fourth quarter of 2024, our ability to manage challenging macro-economic and softer market conditions and return of capital to shareholders. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views about future events. You should not rely on forward-looking statements because our actual results may differ materially from those predicted as a result of a number of potential risks and uncertainties. These potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the effectiveness, timing and expected savings associated with our cost-cutting actions, restructuring and initiatives; integration of acquired businesses in a timely and cost-effective manner, retention of supplier and customer relationships and key employees, and the ability to achieve synergies and cost savings in the amounts and within the time frames currently anticipated; current economic and financial conditions, which can affect the housing and construction markets where our products are sold, manufactured and marketed; shortages in and pricing of raw materials and supplies; our ability to compete effectively; changes in variable interest rates on our borrowings; inflation; failure to expand our markets through acquisitions; failure to successfully develop and introduce new product offerings or enhancements to existing products; failure to manufacture products that meet required performance and safety standards; foreign exchange rate fluctuations; cyclicality of industries where we market our products, such as plumbing and heating wholesalers and home improvement retailers; environmental compliance costs; product liability risks and costs; changes in the status of current litigation; the war in Ukraine and other global crises; supply chain and logistical disruptions or labor shortages and workforce disruptions that could negatively affect our supply chain, manufacturing, distribution, or other business processes; and other risks and uncertainties discussed under the heading “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and in Note 16 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), as well as risk factors disclosed in our subsequent filings with the SEC. We undertake no duty to update the information contained in this press release, except as required by law.

Key Performance Indicators and Non-GAAP Measures

In this press release, we refer to non-GAAP financial measures (including adjusted operating income, adjusted operating margins, adjusted net income, adjusted earnings per share, organic sales, free cash flow, cash conversion rate of free cash flow to net income and net debt to capitalization ratio) and provide a reconciliation of those non-GAAP financial measures to the corresponding financial measures contained in our consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. We believe that these financial measures enhance the overall understanding of our historical financial performance and give insight into our future prospects. Adjusted operating income, adjusted operating margins, adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share eliminate certain expenses incurred and benefits recognized in the periods presented that relate primarily to our global restructuring programs, acquisition-related costs, gain on sale of asset, pension settlement, other investment gain and the related income tax impacts on these items. Management then utilizes these adjusted financial measures to assess the run rate of the Company’s operations against those of comparable periods. Organic sales growth is a non-GAAP measure of sales growth excluding the impacts of foreign exchange, acquisitions and divestitures from period-over-period comparisons. Management believes reporting organic sales growth provides useful information to investors, potential investors and others, and allows for a more complete understanding of underlying sales trends by providing sales growth on a consistent basis. Free cash flow, cash conversion rate of free cash flow to net income, and the net debt to capitalization ratio, which are adjusted to exclude certain cash inflows and outlays, and include only certain balance sheet accounts from the comparable GAAP measures, are an indication of our performance in cash flow generation and also provide an indication of the Company's relative balance sheet leverage to other industrial manufacturing companies. These non-GAAP financial measures are among the primary indicators management uses as a basis for evaluating our cash flow generation and our capitalization structure. In addition, free cash flow is used as a criterion to measure and pay certain compensation-based incentives. For these reasons, management believes these non-GAAP financial measures can be useful to investors, potential investors and others. The Company’s non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. The presentation of this additional information is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.

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