WAUKESHA, Wis., Feb. 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GNRC) (“Generac” or the “Company”), a leading global designer and manufacturer of energy technology solutions and other power products, today reported financial results for its fourth quarter and full-year ended December 31, 2024 and initiated its outlook for the full-year 2025.

Fourth Quarter 2024 Highlights

• Net sales increased 16% to $1.23 billion during the fourth quarter of 2024 as compared to $1.06 billion in the prior-year fourth quarter. The net effect of acquisitions and foreign currency had a slight favorable impact during the quarter.
  • Residential product sales increased 28% to $743 million as compared to $580 million last year.
  • Commercial & Industrial (“C&I”) product sales were approximately flat as compared to the prior year at $363 million.
• Net income attributable to the Company during the fourth quarter was $117 million, or $2.15 per share, as compared to $97 million, or $1.57 per share, for the same period of 2023.
• Adjusted net income attributable to the Company, as defined in the accompanying reconciliation schedules, was a fourth quarter record $168 million, or $2.80 per share, as compared to $126 million, or $2.07 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2023.
• Adjusted EBITDA before deducting for noncontrolling interests, as defined in the accompanying reconciliation schedules, was a fourth quarter record $265 million, or 21.5% of net sales, as compared to $213 million, or 20.0% of net sales, in the prior year.
• Cash flow from operations was an all-time record $339 million as compared to $317 million in the prior year. Free cash flow, as defined in the accompanying reconciliation schedules, was an all-time record $286 million as compared to $266 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Full-Year 2024 Highlights

• Net sales increased 7% to $4.30 billion during 2024 as compared to $4.02 billion in 2023. Core sales, which excludes both the impact of acquisitions and foreign currency, increased approximately 6%.
  • Residential product sales increased 18% to $2.43 billion as compared to $2.06 billion last year.
  • C&I product sales decreased 7% to $1.39 billion as compared to $1.49 billion in the prior year.
• Net income attributable to the Company during 2024 was $316 million, or $5.39 per share, as compared to $215 million, or $3.27 per share for 2023.
• Adjusted net income attributable to the Company, as defined in the accompanying reconciliation schedules, was $438 million, or $7.27 per share, as compared to $335 million, or $5.40 per share, in 2023.
• Adjusted EBITDA before deducting for noncontrolling interests, as defined in the accompanying reconciliation schedules, for 2024 was $789 million, or 18.4% of net sales, as compared to $638 million, or 15.9% of net sales, in the prior year.
• Cash flow from operations was a record $741 million as compared to $522 million in the prior year. Free cash flow, as defined in the accompanying reconciliation schedules, was a record $605 million as compared to $396 million for 2023.
• The Company repurchased approximately 1.05 million shares of its common stock during 2024 for $153 million. There is approximately $347 million remaining under the current repurchase program as of December 31, 2024. In addition, the Company repaid approximately $278 million of debt on a net basis during the year.
• The Company is initiating its full-year 2025 net sales growth guidance to be approximately 3 to 7% as compared to the prior year, which includes a slight unfavorable impact from the net effect of foreign currency and completed acquisitions. Adjusted EBITDA margin, before deducting for non-controlling interests, is expected to be approximately 18.0 to 19.0%.

“Our fourth quarter results highlight our ability to rapidly increase production and execute on the strong demand for home standby and portable generators resulting from elevated outage activity in the second half of the year,” said Aaron Jagdfeld, President and Chief Executive Officer. “The mega-trends that support our long-term expectations were on full display in 2024 as power quality continued to deteriorate and power prices continued to increase. Power outage hours in the U.S. during the year were the highest since we began tracking the measure in 2010, while power demand expectations accelerated and efforts to decarbonize the power grid with intermittent generation sources continued. We believe the strategic investments we have made position Generac for sustained success as we provide innovative energy resiliency and efficiency solutions for homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure.”

Additional Fourth Quarter 2024 Consolidated Highlights

Gross profit margin was 40.6% as compared to 36.5% in the prior-year fourth quarter. The increase in gross margin was primarily driven by favorable sales mix and lower input costs.

Operating expenses increased $65.6 million, or 27.6%, as compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. The increase in operating expenses was primarily driven by increased employee costs to support future growth across the business, additional marketing spend to drive incremental awareness for our products, and increased incentive compensation and variable expenses given higher shipment volumes and profitability.

Provision for income taxes for the current year quarter was $27.3 million, or an effective tax rate of 18.9%, as compared to $30.0 million, or a 23.7% effective tax rate, for the prior year. The decrease in effective tax rate was primarily driven by the positive impact from earnings mix with higher earnings in lower tax jurisdictions, as well as certain unfavorable discrete tax items in the prior year that did not repeat.

Cash flow from operations was very strong at $339.5 million during the fourth quarter, as compared to $316.9 million in the prior year. Free cash flow, as defined in the accompanying reconciliation schedules, was $286.1 million as compared to $266.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. This significant free cash flow generation was primarily driven by record fourth quarter operating earnings as well as a meaningful reduction in working capital during the quarter.

Fourth Quarter Business Segment Results

Domestic Segment

Domestic segment total sales (including inter-segment sales) increased 20% to $1.07 billion as compared to $891.0 million in the prior year, including approximately 1% sales growth contribution from acquisitions. The strong increase in core domestic sales was driven primarily by significant growth in shipments of home standby and portable generators as we executed on the demand resulting from the elevated power outage activity in the second half of the year. In addition, higher shipments of residential energy storage systems and ecobee products also contributed to the domestic sales increase.

Adjusted EBITDA for the segment was an all-time record $242.8 million, or 22.7% of domestic segment total sales, as compared to $192.2 million in the prior year, or 21.6% of total sales. This margin improvement was primarily driven by favorable sales mix and lower input costs, partially offset by higher operating expense investments to support future growth initiatives.

International Segment

International segment total sales (including inter-segment sales) decreased 1% to $187.5 million as compared to $190.1 million in the prior year quarter, including an approximate 2% unfavorable impact from foreign currency. Core total sales growth for the segment was primarily driven by strength in Latin America, mostly offset by softness in certain European markets.

Adjusted EBITDA for the segment, before deducting for noncontrolling interests, was $22.5 million, or 12.0% of international segment total sales, as compared to $20.4 million, or 10.7% of total sales, in the prior year. This margin improvement was primarily driven by favorable sales mix and lower input costs.

2025 Outlook

The Company is initiating guidance for full-year 2025 that anticipates continued net sales growth as compared to the prior year. This is expected to be driven primarily by residential product sales growth in the mid-to-high single digit range, primarily led by shipments of home standby generators and residential energy technology solutions. C&I product sales are expected to be approximately flat as compared to the prior year. As a result of these factors, full-year net sales are expected to increase between 3 to 7% as compared to the prior year, which includes a slight unfavorable impact from the net effect of foreign currency and completed acquisitions.

Additionally, the Company expects net income margin, before deducting for non-controlling interests, to be approximately 8.0 to 9.0% for the full-year 2025. The corresponding adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to be approximately 18.0 to 19.0%.

The Company expects to generate strong levels of operating and free cash flow for the full year, with free cash flow conversion from adjusted net income between 80 to 90%.

Conference Call and Webcast

Generac management will hold a conference call at 10:00 a.m. EST on Wednesday, February 12, 2025 to discuss fourth quarter and full-year 2024 operating results. A webcast of the conference call can be accessed at the following link: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/axz3e8r5.

The webcast of the conference call is also available on Generac's website (http://www.generac.com), accessed under the Investor Relations link. The webcast link will be made available on the Company’s website prior to the start of the call within the Events section of the Investor Relations website.

Following the live webcast, a replay will be available on the Company’s website for 12 months.

About Generac

Generac is a total energy solutions company that empowers people to use energy on their own terms. Founded in 1959, Generac is a leading global designer, manufacturer, and provider of a wide range of energy technology solutions. The Company provides power generation equipment, energy storage systems, energy management devices & solutions, and other power products serving the residential, light commercial, and industrial markets. Generac introduced the first affordable backup generator and later created the automatic home standby generator category. The Company continues to expand its energy technology offerings for homes and businesses in its mission to Power a Smarter World and lead the evolution to more resilient, efficient, and sustainable energy solutions.

Forward-looking Information

Certain statements contained in this news release, as well as other information provided from time to time by Generac Holdings Inc. or its employees, may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements give Generac's current expectations and projections relating to the Company's financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance and business. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements may include words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend," "believe," "confident," "may," "should," "can have," "likely," "future," "optimistic" and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of the timing or nature of future operating or financial performance or other events.

Any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance or results, and involve risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond the Company's control) and assumptions. Although Generac believes any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, you should be aware that many factors could affect Generac's actual financial results and cause them to differ materially from those anticipated in any forward-looking statements, including:

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, Generac's actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in any forward-looking statements. A detailed discussion of these and other factors that may affect future results is contained in Generac's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), particularly in the Risk Factors section of the Annual Report on Form 10-K and in its periodic reports on Form 10-Q. Stockholders, potential investors and other readers should consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements.

Any forward-looking statement made by Generac in this press release speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Generac undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

Non-GAAP Financial Metrics

Core Sales

The Company references core sales to further supplement Generac's consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Core sales excludes the impact of acquisitions and fluctuations in foreign currency translation. Management believes that core sales facilitates easier and more meaningful comparison of net sales performance with prior and future periods.

Adjusted EBITDA

To supplement Generac’s consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP, the Company provides the computation of Adjusted EBITDA attributable to the Company, which is defined as net income before noncontrolling interests adjusted for the following items: interest expense, depreciation expense, amortization of intangible assets, income tax expense, certain non-cash gains and losses including certain purchase accounting adjustments and contingent consideration adjustments, share-based compensation expense, certain transaction costs and credit facility fees, business optimization expenses, provision for certain legal and regulatory charges, certain specific provisions, mark-to-market gains and losses on a minority investment, and Adjusted EBITDA attributable to noncontrolling interests. The provision for legal and regulatory charges adjusts for matters that are not part of the ordinary routine litigation or regulatory matters incidental to the Company’s business, such as class action lawsuits, government inquiries, and certain intellectual property litigation. The adjustments to net income in computing Adjusted EBITDA are set forth in the reconciliation table below. The computation of Adjusted EBITDA is based primarily on the definition included in our Credit Agreement.

Adjusted Net Income

To further supplement Generac's consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP, the Company provides a summary to show the computation of adjusted net income attributable to the Company. Adjusted net income attributable to the Company is defined as net income before noncontrolling interests adjusted for the following items: amortization of intangible assets, amortization of deferred financing costs and original issue discount related to the Company's debt, intangible impairment charges, certain transaction costs and other purchase accounting adjustments, business optimization expenses, provision for certain legal and regulatory charges, certain specific provisions, mark-to-market gains and losses on a minority investment, other non-cash gains and losses, and adjusted net income attributable to non-controlling interests.

Free Cash Flow

In addition, the Company references free cash flow to further supplement Generac's consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Free cash flow is defined as net cash provided by operating activities, plus proceeds from beneficial interests in securitization transactions, less expenditures for property and equipment, and is intended to be a measure of operational cash flow taking into account additional capital expenditure investment into the business.

The presentation of this additional information is not meant to be considered in isolation of, or as a substitute for, results prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.  Please see the accompanying Reconciliation Schedules and our SEC filings for additional discussion of the basis for Generac's reporting of Non-GAAP financial measures, which includes why the Company believes these measures provide useful information to investors and the additional purposes for which management uses the non-GAAP financial information.

SOURCE: Generac Holdings Inc.

CONTACT:
Kris Rosemann
Director – Corporate Development & Investor Relations
(262) 506-6064
InvestorRelations@generac.com

Source: Generac Holdings Inc