P&F Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFIN) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Joseph Molino : We have a significant market share in the installation tools segment of the aerospace market worldwide. And we absolutely are going to get our piece of that. And as we’ve said maybe in a prior call, I can’t remember, ramping up production line does provide in addition to just the monthly rate going up, supplying that line at startup gives you also a little bit of a line fill as well. We don’t know when that is. ’24 is what they’re talking about. But right now, they’re at the same level of production, they were six months ago, nine months ago.

Andrew Shapiro : Yeah. Okay. And as for the commercial and defence aerospace business has been nicely filling up in this ongoing Boeing hole. Can you name a few platforms and programs and types in each of the commercial and/or defense area that are contributing to your aerospace rebound so far, so that investors and prospective investors can kind of look over the horizon and get a feel for other factors that might influence the company’s revenue demands?

Richard Horowitz : Are you asking us to list our customers, is that what you’re asking us?

Andrew Shapiro : I’m asking if they’re — if you can name a few platforms or program types? For example, Boeing’s Apache line which they just got a big new contract on, things like that?

Richard Horowitz : Joe, can you answer that?

Joseph Molino : Our tools are used to assemble Apache helicopters if that’s your question. But to get a little more granular, all military, aerospace production, we are involved in. We’ve got installation tools, drilling tools, we’re selling four control tools. I mean, those are kind of the big three areas in production of planes, helicopters, all that stuff. We’re in the middle of all that, especially in North America. But with respect to Europe, we’re now starting to really make some inroads there with Airbus, and their Tier 1 suppliers, and other military folks over there throughout the European continent. So if you want to take a look at aerospace production in Europe that might be a hint. Just military production in general, in North America, we’re involved in all that stuff. We’re everywhere.

Andrew Shapiro : And so you’re now into Airbus?

Joseph Molino : Yes, we are into Airbus.

Richard Horowitz : Yeah, we’re in there, but not in a way that you would really mean? But yes.

Andrew Shapiro : Well, you weren’t before the pandemic, and it was — it’s a great opportunity that we all want. And everyone’s talking about this company.

Joseph Molino : We’re excited about what our Head of European operations has been able to do. He covers a lot of ground. And yeah, we’re very excited about what’s going on there right now.

Andrew Shapiro : Are your tools used in drone manufacturing as well?

Joseph Molino : I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t cover it.

Richard Horowitz : Nor do I.

Andrew Shapiro : Excellent. On the Hy-Tech side, okay. Can you — you made a mention that part of the margin hit, which also was low margins, a big drop off in gross margins in this quarter, which makes me feel like this quarter was where there’s some kind of charge or reserve hit or something that occurred? Can you help quantify about how many dollars and margin — and/or margin points resulted from what is arguably a non-recurring write-off of obsolete products or slow moving inventory?

Richard Horowitz : Joe, I’ll let you — I’ll let you answer that.

Joseph Molino : What happened towards the end of the years, we had several substantial customers get out of a couple of lines of business just sort of coincidentally. And some of the usual wind down a very things is we’re trying to move from one market to another market, as we’re spending a lot of time reallocating resources and looking at emphasizing different markets. There was several hundred thousand dollar charge related to inventory that was slow moving. And we felt that that was necessary to get that in line with its true value.

Andrew Shapiro : Can you be a little more granular when you say several hundred thousand?