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Text: I'm William Prate, Senior Director of Global Financial Planning and Analysis and Investor Relations.
Dave will brief you on our operations and enterprise strategy and Fay will cover the financials.
After their remarks, we will open the call to questions.
Such statements are subject to risk and uncertainties and our actual results may differ materially from those contained in the statements.
These risk and uncertainties are described in today's news release and the documents we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
We encourage you to review those documents, particularly our Safe Harbor statement, for a description of the risk and uncertainties that may affect our results.
Additionally, on this conference call, we will discuss non-GAAP measures that include or exclude certain items.
We hope that you and your loved ones are continuing to stay safe.
Today, we are pleased to report a strong first quarter.
One that exceeded our expectations due to increased customer demand and highlighted by the organic revenue growth we achieved in all regions.
Specifically, we've remained committed to resourcing and investing in our enterprise strategy, while staying focused on serving our customers.
This approach preserved our ability to ramp up quickly as global markets began showing signs of recovery.
I am especially proud of the way our team worked to overcome the unprecedented operational challenges of the past year.
Also, our prudent expense management and ongoing commitment to our long-term strategy continues to yield solid bottom line results.
While the pandemic will continue to pose market uncertainty, the Q1 growth and strong order demand are certainly encouraging and give us optimism that the positive overall sales trends we saw in the second half of last year represents the beginning of a market recovery, which we have taken into account in raising our full-year guidance.
Our strong Q1 was not a simple or inevitable result.
It required significant effort from everyone at Tennant.
For example, in the past year, our operations and supply chain teams have faced significant challenges from commodity inflation, transportation-related issues, parts shortages, and supply base disruption.
But they have worked tirelessly to mitigate the impact of these challenges, while also driving aggressive cost reduction programs and delivering productivity leverage that allowed us to offset what could have been a much larger financial impact.
2020 was not the year any of us planned for, but it did not stop us from influencing the long-term strategy we unveiled at the end of 2019.
Key improvements to our operating model include value engineering, plant optimization, improved discounting, and adjusting our go-to-market approach in specific regions.
At the same time, we strive to win where we have competitive advantage and the recent sale of our Coatings business is an example of redirecting resources toward more strategic and profitable activities.
All of these actions have combined to yield an expansion in gross margins that is now beginning to readout.
In 2020, we also maintained investments and resourcing across a broad number of initiatives, including product development, operations and simplifying our product offering, all of which were designed to better meet the needs of our customers.
As a result, we're now well positioned with a full portfolio of new products, including our autonomous cleaning solutions to launch into a recovering market.
Initial customer feedback regarding the launches of our T16AMR industrial robotic floor scrubber, new standard product offerings, and new commercial mid-tier offerings have been positive.
While we have not yet reached pre-pandemic sales levels across all regions, we remain optimistic for the year ahead.
Going forward, we will continue to execute against our enterprise strategy and will serve our customers with an aim of maintaining our industry leadership in quality, service, and innovation.
Regarding the future of industrial and commercial cleaning, one of the questions we hear most often is, how the pandemic has impacted our customers?
Certainly, the importance of cleaning has been elevated with the new desires turned cleaning from something invisible to a visible and tangible benefit for their customers and employees.
At the same time, labor challenges have grown all the more acute, which places greater emphasis on the importance of technology in the products and services we offer.
The pandemic has accelerated market trends and taught us new ways of working, which we believe will ultimately be beneficial for Tennant and the cleaning industry.
We think the long-term benefits are less about COVID and more about how we continue to be a trusted partner for our customers in meeting their needs.
Lastly, I'd like to say a word about our leadership transition.
The first quarter saw a number of senior level changes, including Rusty Zay's promotion to Chief Commercial Officer, Kristin Stokes promotion to General Counsel, and Barb Balinski's promotion to Senior Vice President of Innovation and Technology.
Fay is an accomplished Finance Executive.
She is the former Senior Vice President and CFO of SunCoke Energy and has held numerous positions, including leadership positions at United Airlines, PepsiAmericas and GATX Corporation.
As CEO, I am thrilled to be working with such a talented group of executives.
Collectively, their managerial expertise, industry knowledge, and appreciation of Tennant's legacy and corporate culture will ensure a seamless transition as we continue to execute on the enterprise strategy that everyone at the Company has worked so hard to put in place.
I'm excited to be here, particularly at this point in Tennant's journey and I look forward to the opportunities we have ahead.
For the first quarter of 2021, Tennant reported net sales of $263.3 million, up 4.4% year-over-year, which included a favorable foreign currency effect of 3% and a divestiture impact of negative 1.7%.
Organic sales, which exclude the impact of currency and divestitures increased 3.1%.
Tennant group sales into three geographies: the Americas, which includes all of North America and Latin America; EMEA, which covers Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and Asia Pacific, which includes China, Japan, Australia and other Asian market.
In the first quarter, sales in the Americas declined 3%, reflecting the divestiture of the Coatings business earlier this year, which impacted results by negative 2.6%, along with a foreign currency effect of negative 0.8%.
Organically, the region grew 0.4%, reflecting the limited impact that the pandemic had on the prior year period, as well as solid growth in the direct and distribution channels in North America, along with growth in Brazil.
Sales for strategic accounts were down from the prior year period due to the lapping of some large orders in Q1 of last year.
Sales in the EMEA region increased 12.4% or 2.3% organically, driven by performance in France, Italy and Germany and also benefited from a foreign currency effect of 10.1%.
However, pandemic-related restrictions did continue to have an impact in some markets, particularly in the United Kingdom, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Sales in the Asia Pacific region rose 40.6% with a foreign currency effect of positive 8.8%.
On an organic basis, sales in the region rose 31.8%.
Tennant reported organic growth across all APAC countries, product categories and channels as the region rebounded strongly from the pandemic-related slowdown of last year.
Gross margin in the first quarter of 2021 was 43%, compared to 40.8% in the prior year period.
Adjusted gross margin was 43%, compared to 41.5% in Q1 of last year.
This increase was attributed to increased productivity, product mix and actions related to the Company's enterprise strategy, including pricing and cost reduction initiatives.
This more than offset commodity and freight cost pressures we experienced in the quarter.
As far as expenses, during the first quarter, our adjusted S&A expenses were 30.2% of net sales, compared to 31.8% in the year-ago period.
In addition to careful expense management, this improvement included some temporary savings related to the suspension of most business travel and in-person trade shows and customer events.
Net income increased to $25.7 million, or $1.37 per diluted share, compared to $5.2 million, or $0.28 per diluted share in the year-ago period.
Adjusted EPS, which excluded non-operational items and amortization expense was a $1.17 per share, compared to $0.57 per share in the year-ago period.
Adjusted results in the quarter excluded the gain on sale from the divestiture of the Coatings business.
Adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter of 2021 increased to $40.7 million, or 15.5% of sales, compared to $26.1 million, or 10.4% of sales in the first quarter of 2020.
As for our tax rate, in the first quarter, Tennant had an adjusted effective tax rate, excluding the amortization expense adjustment of 21.4%, compared to 20.5% in the year-ago period, which increased primarily due to the mix in full-year taxable earnings by country, and a decrease in certain discrete tax benefit items.
Turning to cash flow and balance sheet items, Tennant generated $18.4 million in cash flow from operations in the first quarter of 2021, mainly due to strong business performance.
As of March 31, 2021, the Company had $175.2 million in cash and cash equivalents.
In April, after the close of the first quarter, the Company restructured its credit agreement to optimize its debt structure.
This restructure allowed for enhanced flexibility with minimal covenants and no prepayment penalties, while also reducing future interest expense by approximately $1 million per month.
Lastly, turning to guidance.
As Dave mentioned, our raised guidance reflects our optimism regarding the pace of a continued and broad economic recovery and in Tennant's ability to implement its long-term growth strategy.
As included in today's earning announcement, our guidance for full-year 2021 is as follows: net sales of $1.09 billion to $1.11 billion with organic sales rising 9% to 11%; GAAP earnings per share of $3.45 to $3.85 per share; adjusted earnings per share of $4.10 to $4.50 per share, which excludes certain non-operational items and amortization expense; adjusted EBITDA in the range of $140million to $150 million; capital expenditures of $20 million to $25 million; and an adjusted effective tax rate of approximately 20%, which excludes the amortization expense adjustment.
With that, we will open the call to questions.

user
compname reports q1 earnings per share of $1.37.
q1 adjusted earnings per share $1.17.
q1 earnings per share $1.37.
q1 sales rose 3.1 percent to $263.3 million.
sees net sales of $1.090 billion to $1.110 billion, reflecting organic sales growth of 9 to 11 percent for 2021.
sees full-year reported gaap earnings in range of $3.45 to $3.85 per diluted share.
sees adjusted earnings per share of $4.10 to $4.50 per diluted share for 2021, which excludes certain non-operational items and amortization expense.
qtrly consolidated net sales up 4.4% on non-organic basis.

assistant