Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Kim Ryan: Yes. We have seen some softness in quarter four and a bit coming in, and that’s primarily on the capital side of the business. We’ve continued to see good activity in the parts side of our business on MTS, specifically for our extrusion and injection molding systems, we continue to see continuing good order trends there. Obviously, we do have a strong backlog in that injection molding and extrusion side of the business. And so we will continue to work through that with our partners. We also continue to monitor the situation in China. And while we have not been shutdown in our facility and our local suppliers that supply that plant, it does limit some of our capability to travel very broadly in China with some of the sporadic shutdowns that happen in that area.

And I think that has caused a bit of a slowdown in decisions. We continue to have good robust pipelines of orders and good communications with our customers, but some of those projects, frankly, just require an opportunity to work together face-to-face. And as we continue to see those areas open up, it makes it a lot easier to get those orders €“ order decisions finalized. And so that’s what we continue to see right now. That short cycle, the shorter cycle business, we do expect to see some softness in the first half. But we €“ as we look out to what we’re hearing from customers and what we’re seeing in our own pipeline, we do expect that to elevate in the second half of the year and move some of those decisions from projects ahead at that time.

Daniel Moore: Perfect. Maybe one more and I’ll jump back. But just in terms of price cost, remind us kind of where we are now when you expect to be fully caught up. It sounds like for the full year, you do, but we still have a little bit of catch up to go in certain parts of the business for Q1, Q2. Is that the right way to think about it, Bob?

Bob VanHimbergen: Yes. I mean so I think we’ve demonstrated with our Global Supply Chain management team that we’ve got some good fundamentals put in place. And as expected, we saw continued improvement as we worked throughout the year. And so Q3 was the first quarter that we were 100% price/cost covered. And then in Q4, we were actually above 100% as a total company. With that being said, full year, we’re just shy of being 100% price cost covered and I would say Batesville is the most behind of the group. But with that being said, we feel great exiting the year where we did, we’ll be 100% price cost covered going forward. Obviously, that’s dilutive to margins. But on a dollar-for-dollar basis, we will be protected going forward.

Daniel Moore: Perfect. I’ll jump back with any follow ups. Thank you.

Kim Ryan: Thanks, Dan.

Operator: The next question comes from the line of Matt Summerville with D.A. Davidson. Please proceed with your question.

Matt Summerville: Thanks. A couple of questions. First, can you talk about €“ I apologize for my voice €“ what cost and revenue synergies you may be expecting from the four deals, either closed or soon to be closed, and over what period?

Bob VanHimbergen: Yes. So Linxis is our biggest acquisition. And so we’re expecting about $10 million of synergies to come through over the next several years, with some of those obviously being in the near-term, primarily in the global supply chain management execution of procurement, save and operational savings. And just as a reminder, what we did not put into our business case was the opportunity on the commercial side. But with that being said, I think our teams have already gotten to work on what we’re going to do with cross-selling. And so we’ve already begun to offer a broader portfolio to our customers. The other thing I’d highlight, too, right, is the Linxis business was underrepresented as far as aftermarket parts.