Johnson Controls International plc (NYSE:JCI) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Stephen Tusa: Okay. And then just, George, for you, I guess. It’s kind of hard to reconcile the commentary on momentum in your strategy with basically negative organic growth this quarter, do you consider that positive momentum? And then secondly, what was the — what drove the timing on this announcement of evaluating strategic alternatives, I mean it’s not like you have anything really lined up here, official to announce so why are we kind of just throwing this out there today versus maybe over the last couple of years where you’ve been kind of pursuing the same strategy? Just curious on kind of a straightforward answer on both of those. We don’t need a lot of verbiage. Thank you.

George R. Oliver: So let me just comment on the quarter as far as momentum. We did have a significant disruption, as Marc said, for about six weeks of the first quarter, and part of that did have an impact on our momentum and our ability to be able to convert and the like. And so that’s — that was more of a short-term impact in Q1, in addition to the year-on-year adjustment that we’ve had in Global Products. As far as the timing, I’m sure you can appreciate, Steve, that the Board and the management team, we’ve had a very thoughtful approach to the strategy. We assess all avenues that will deliver value to our shareholders. Our strategy — our transformation has been focused on really leveraging all of our combined strengths and our differentiated product, our digital platform.

And then from a go-to-market standpoint, the depth and expertise that we have from an engineering standpoint to ultimately be a comprehensive solutions provider and our ability to be able to take the value proposition and be able to convert that to recurring revenue through services. We’re seeing that momentum, which is beginning to convert and as we look at the difference in the business models within the businesses when we talk about the noncommercial businesses, there is a different business model relative to how we serve the market. And I think this allows us to be able to position those businesses for continued growth, while we’re creating value, while we’re focused on really now accelerating the progress we’ve made within our Building Solutions business.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question today comes from Jeff Sprague with Vertical Research. Please go ahead.

Jeffrey Sprague: Hey, thanks, good morning everyone. I wonder if we could just drill a little bit more, George, into kind of the portfolio review. And specifically, as you know, the business is complex day-to-day for you running it. It’s even more complex for us on the outside looking in. So can you just size for us what we’re talking in noncommercial assets, I think I put an estimate out there, I don’t know if I’m in the ballpark or not, but just give us some sense of the total revenues that we’re talking about that are under review in consideration and maybe kind of the average profitability across that basket?

George R. Oliver: Yes, when you look at the overall revenues of these businesses, it would be less than 25% of the portfolio.

Jeffrey Sprague: And how did the margins stack up versus the average of JCI?

George R. Oliver: Overall, when you look at the mix of the margins, it would be in line with the overall JCI.

Jeffrey Sprague: Okay. And then just kind of coming back to maybe a more granular point on this then. Even preceding you, I think, as you well know, there was always this debate about, can you extract Resi from kind of legacy, York, the Resi and then Light Commercial applied are tied together, and maybe it undermines your larger commercial effort if you exit that business. So maybe you found a way to separate Resi and Light Commercial or you think you can, but can you provide any additional context on that and how the Light Commercial business in particular might factor into your strategic thoughts on where the business goes from here?

George R. Oliver: Sure. So if you look at Resi, Light Commercial and the businesses now are really back on track. I mean we’ve had a really nice quarter here picking up share, both in Resi as well as Light Commercial where all our productive business in North America was up double digit, which was supported with 40% growth in commercial, and with Resi being down about 7%. So the businesses now are performing — positioning to perform going forward. On the [indiscernible] side, when you look at JCH, it’s where we had strength in Japan, offsetting some of the weakness we saw in Europe and India. So when you look at the go-to-market, I think it’s important to understand that these noncommercial product lines are excellent businesses.

But when you look at the go-to-market, they’re not consistent with what we’re doing as we build out our building solutions over the long-term, and so we believe that when you look at the value proposition that we bring with our customers, that — although there’s an overlap with some of the applied rooftops, that can be managed with the structure that we put into place going forward. And so I think when you look at the — it does not erode any value proposition in our comprehensive commercial solutions, but also positions the business to be able to take an incredible asset and create more value through growth.

Jeffrey Sprague: Alright, I will leave it there. Thanks.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question today comes from Nigel Coe with Wolfe Research. Please go ahead.

Nigel Coe: Thanks, good morning. So another question on the portfolio review. So the press release on Friday highlighted Hitachi, but also talked about Residential, Light Commercial for York. And I just wanted to make it very, very clear that we’re talking here about just the U.S. residential assets. But there’s also a mention of the ATT business as well. So any more color in terms of the noncommercial assets because it does feel like there are some commercial businesses here? And then on the Hitachi side, obviously, Hitachi still has 40% of that business. How much flexibility do you have to seek options for your majority control of the asset?

George R. Oliver: I think you’d appreciate, Nigel, at this stage, with the ongoing transformation, I would caution against making any assumptions at this stage and how we will affect it. I think the communication here today is that we’re in — we are pursuing strategic alternatives. So we’re going to continue to simplify and standardize across the portfolio. But we’re in the early stages. And at this stage, I’m not going to comment relative to any one of the potential assets that we would look to create value with.

Nigel Coe: Okay. Worth a try though, isn’t it. But if we do assume that you execute on some form of strategic realignment for the portfolio, if you had, let’s say, $5 billion of cash coming in the door today, how would you look to deploy that, George?

George R. Oliver: Yes. As we look at — I mean, we’re, again, speculating on what would happen. I think as we look at what we do within our Comprehensive Commercial Solutions business, we have been doing bolt-ons. We’ll continue to be able to do bolt-ons and supporting the technology and our go-to-market as we strengthen that across the globe. And our intent would be to make it accretive as far as whether it’d be through bolt-ons and/or deployment back to our shareholders to offset the dilution that any divestiture might have.

Nigel Coe: Okay, I will leave it there, thanks.

Operator: And our next question today comes from Noah Kaye with Oppenheimer. Please go ahead.

Noah Kaye: Great. First, a shorter-term one. You did mention signs of bottoming out in Fire and Security on the short cycle. Can you just give us some more indicators and confidence there?