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Text: Our speakers are Jim Owens, H.B. Fuller President and Chief Executive Officer; and John Corkrean, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
First, a reminder that our comments today will include references to non-GAAP financial measures and references to organic revenue, which excludes the impact of foreign currency fluctuation and the impact of acquisitions and divestitures.
We believe that discussion of these measures is useful to investors to assist the understanding of our operating performance and the comparability of results with other companies.
Many of these risks and uncertainties are and will be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and any worsening of the global business and economic environment as a result.
Last evening, we reported strong fourth quarter results with organic revenue up 5%, EBITDA up 9% and earnings per share up 21%.
These results exceeded our expectations and each of our segments delivered positive organic growth and strong margin performance in the quarter.
This performance is especially strong given its comparison against a pre-COVID environment and is a result of the work we've done to gain market share and reduce our cost structure.
During today's call, and in the months ahead, we will explain and demonstrate why you should continue to expect differentiated performance from H.B. Fuller.
Throughout the year, our portfolio of innovative adhesive solutions in hygiene, health and packaging has enabled H.B. Fuller to continuously meet high levels of demand for essential consumer products.
We outperformed the market in meeting these needs.
During this time, we also worked with customers in other markets to accelerate our product qualification processes for electronics and durable goods.
And as demand around the world strengthened and global industrial production improved, we capitalized on share gains across our diverse markets to deliver fourth quarter results ahead of our expectations.
We also realized significant operational benefits from the business realignment completed earlier in the year, which generated $30 million of annualized SG&A savings in 2020, including $10 million realized in the fourth quarter, resulting in strong profit growth and operating leverage.
Our work in 2019, in advance of the pandemic, to reorganize into three GBUs, instead of five, has enabled us to grow faster while reducing costs.
Our strong cash flow performance continued in the fourth quarter.
Cash flow from operations increased 27% year-over-year, and enabled us to pay down a total of $205 million of debt for the year, above our original $200 million target.
Our results in the fourth quarter and throughout the year reinforced the resiliency of H.B. Fuller's strategy.
Our culture of collaboration, our broad adhesive technology portfolio, our applications expertise and our global operational agility proved to be differentiators in this current environment.
H.B. Fuller seamlessly supported the dynamic needs of our customers in a world transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout the pandemic, several priorities have remained constant for us, ensuring the health and safety of our employees, leveraging our technology investments to find new ways of working and utilizing our vast global capabilities to ensure business continuity for our customers.
All companies have had to learn how to work differently in 2020.
But I can say that H.B. Fuller team has truly excelled in this environment.
I can't emphasize strongly enough how proud I am of our employees around the globe for their unwavering focus on delivering our priorities throughout 2020.
Our teams effectively collaborated with each other and with our customers to develop new products and solve supply issues, and they did it faster than ever.
We leveraged our digital technology in new ways to remotely qualify new applications and troubleshoot complex issues.
The result was an increase in the speed of our decision making, shortened sales cycles and improved customer support.
Our new organizational structure enabled greater collaboration across our global teams, faster decision making and better flexibility.
H.B. Fuller's dedicated focus on adhesive technologies and our global capabilities have positioned us to move first and fastest with a clear vision and mission, no distractions from other divisions, other priorities or regional issues.
These have proven to be critical competitive advantages resulting in increased share with existing customers and business wins with new customers.
With that as perspective, I'll move on to our segment results in the fourth quarter on slide three.
Strong performance continued in our Hygiene, Health and Consumables segment, where organic revenues increased by 5%, including solid organic growth in most geographic regions.
We continue to meet high levels of demand for essential goods in the quarter, and our portfolio of adhesive solutions that enable more sustainable consumer products, drove strong growth in packaging, tissue and towel and tapes and labels.
HHC segment EBITDA margins were strong at 15.3%, up 270 basis points year-over-year, reflecting volume leverage, favorable mix, savings from our business restructuring, and good overall cost control.
Construction Adhesives' organic revenue increased 1% versus the prior year with improvements in year-on-year performance for all markets when compared with the second and third quarters of the year.
Both the commercial flooring and roofing end markets improved in the quarter, albeit at a slower pace than residential construction markets.
Construction Adhesives' EBITDA margin was solid at 12.4%, down 80 basis points versus last year, reflecting unfavorable mix and an increase in variable compensation accruals as a result of the stronger top line results in the fourth quarter.
For the full year, EBITDA margin was roughly flat to 2019.
New product introductions and improved product mix related to last year's portfolio repositioning, as well as operational improvements from the GBU restructuring offset the impact of lower volume.
These operational improvements position this business for strong margins as construction activity increases in 2021.
Engineering Adhesives continued to show strong improvement, with organic revenue up 5.6% year-on-year in the quarter, led by double-digit growth in electronics, recreational vehicles, woodworking and panels and solid results in insulating glass and automotive.
Engineering Adhesives' EBITDA margin remained strong at nearly 17%, down 80 basis points versus last year, reflecting an increase in variable compensation as a result of the stronger top line results in the fourth quarter.
Looking ahead to 2021, we will pursue growth opportunities and share gains in a business environment that is expected to continue to improve, but remain below normal levels.
Our planning assumptions at this time are that COVID-related shutdown impacts will continue to lessen as vaccines are rolled out around the world.
Although recessionary forces will continue to weigh on global economies throughout the year, we anticipate continued improvement in underlying demand, especially for electronics, storable goods and consumer goods, driving volume growth in 2021 versus 2020.
Growth in some end markets, such as commercial construction and aerospace will improve at a slower pace and may not yet return to 2019 levels of activity.
Elevated demand for hygiene and health products, packaging, paper tissues and towels will likely continue into 2021 as consumers continue to spend more time in their homes.
The spikes in demand that we saw in the second quarter, however, are unlikely to repeat.
We anticipate Construction Adhesives' end markets to continue to show steady improvement throughout 2021 with commercial activity improving throughout the year and residential activity remaining solid.
Engineering Adhesives' end market demand will likely remain at elevated levels in early 2021, reflecting increased production activity to meet some pent-up demand, returning to more typical activity levels in the second half of the year.
In total, our base planning assumptions are for low to mid-single-digit organic revenue growth in 2021 with stronger growth from Engineering and Construction Adhesives versus 2020.
We expect volume leverage and savings from our restructuring and our operational improvement programs to drive solid year-on-year EBITDA margin improvement in 2021.
Sales growth, improving margins and continued working capital efficiency will enable us to continue to drive strong cash flow and deliver another year of strong debt paydown with a target of paying down another $200 million of debt in 2021.
Against a challenging economic backdrop, our performance in 2020 demonstrates that our business is diverse and resilient, our operations are nimble, and we are executing our strategy well.
And we expect to continue to outperform our markets again in 2021.
I'll begin on slide four with some additional financial details on the fourth quarter.
For the quarter, revenue was up 5.2% versus the same period last year.
Currency had a positive impact of 0.5%.
Adjusting for currency, organic revenue was up 4.7% with volume up 5% and pricing having a negative 0.3% impact year-on-year in the quarter.
Year-on-year adjusted gross profit margin was 27.5%, down 10 basis points versus last year as higher volume was offset by higher variable compensation and unfavorable absorption due to a reduction in inventory.
Adjusted selling, general and administrative expense as a percentage of revenue was down a full percentage point versus last year, reflecting savings associated with the business realignment and lower travel, which was partially offset primarily by higher variable compensation associated with strong fourth quarter results.
Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter of $123 million was up 9.4% versus last year and above the high end of our planning assumptions, reflecting strong top line performance, particularly in Engineering Adhesives.
Adjusted earnings per share were $1.06, up 21% versus the same period last year as strong volume growth, lower SG&A and lower interest expense associated with our debt reduction actions drove higher earnings per share than last year.
For the quarter, cash flow from operations of $139 million is up by 27% versus the same period last year, reflecting continued improvement in working capital performance.
This allowed us to continue to reduce debt, paying off $205 million for the full year ahead of our $200 million debt paydown plan.
With that, let me now turn to our guidance for the 2021 fiscal year.
Based on what we know today, and the planning assumptions that Jim laid out earlier, we anticipate full year organic revenue growth to be in the low to mid-single-digits, and EBITDA to increase by approximately 10% as volume leverage, pricing, manufacturing and supply chain savings and carryover of the restructuring-related savings and SG&A offset higher raw material costs, variable compensation rebuild and higher travel expense.
We expect our 2021 core tax rate to be between 26% and 28% compared to our 2020 core tax rate of about 25%.
A higher tax rate as a result of forecasted income by region and the tax impact related to global cash management.
Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $95 million in the 2021 fiscal year, and we expect to devote approximately $200 million of our cash flow after capex investments and dividends to the repayment of debt.
In 2020, we proved our ability to consistently and effectively execute our strategy in the toughest of times.
And we reinforce the business resiliency that comes from our broad portfolio of adhesive applications and diverse end market exposure.
Most importantly, we have created momentum as we head into 2021.
Revenues increased and margins improved sequentially throughout the year, and in the fourth quarter, we delivered 5% organic revenue growth with positive organic growth in each of our segments.
The momentum we have created is enabling us to outperform our markets, and is a direct result of actions we've taken over the past few years to realign our organizational structure and strengthen our ability to grow.
Our business realignment accelerated our market-focused innovation and enhanced our collaborative capabilities, enabling us to consistently meet customers' needs and capture growth opportunities.
And the business realignment also enabled us to do this through a simpler, lower cost structure.
Looking ahead, we are only just beginning to see the benefits from these actions.
Our customer wins continue to grow, and we are still in the process of implementing changes and optimizing the business with a focus now on driving $20 million to $30 million of efficiencies across our manufacturing network by the end of 2022.
We are encouraged by share gains and new customer business we have won in 2020 that helped drive revenue growth as we exited the year.
Our focus on innovation to drive new business continues in 2021, and our new product pipeline is stronger than it has ever been.
We continue to expand our portfolio of adhesive applications that enable more economical and environmentally sustainable buildings and products.
Some examples include our single ply membrane sprayable roofing adhesive, our Fast 2K pole and post setting material, advanced adhesives for solar panels and insulating glass formaldehyde-free low monomer emission adhesives to support low VOC structural wood products and panels.
And a growing portfolio of adhesives for electronics, including applications used in smartphones and wearables, touch panels and keyboards, and interiors and exteriors in both traditional and electronic vehicles.
In December, we announced our Advantra hot melt adhesive technology for extreme cold storage of vaccines and medical packaging, which provides a secure bond at minus 70 degrees Celsius.
Demand also remains strong for sustainable packaging solutions, such as H.B. Fuller's closed sesame tapes that support easily returnable packaging systems, composable adhesives for paper and hygiene products, and our microsphere adhesive technology for removable signs and labels.
This high level of demand reinforces the importance of our HHC solution in today's world.
These are just a few examples of the innovation we are bringing to market.
With our strong product pipeline and the continued optimization of our operations, we are confident in our ability to build on our success, driving further share gains and continued margin improvement.
We exit an unprecedented year in 2020 as a much stronger company.
And as the world's largest dedicated provider of adhesives, we are uniquely positioned to capture future growth opportunities and deliver for our shareholders strong sustainable results in the months and years ahead.
Operator, please open up the call so we can take some questions.

user
full year debt paydown of $205 million surpassed $200 million target.
base case outlook for low to mid-single digit organic revenue growth and approximately 10% adjusted ebitda growth for fiscal 2021.
sees to pay down an additional $200 million of debt in 2021.
qtrly adjusted earnings per share of $1.06.

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