ASV Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASV) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call - Final Transcript

Good day, and welcome to the ASV Holdings Inc. Fourth Quarter Preliminary 2018 Financial Results Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded.

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Andrew Rooke, CEO. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, John. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for your interest in ASV. Joining me on the call today is Missi How, our Chief Financial Officer. Today's call is supplemented by the press release issued earlier this afternoon, which is available on our website. Also available on the website, and in the release, are replay instructions for a recording of the call, which will be available until March 21.

As discussed in our release, we have anticipated providing full and final results on the call and in our filings today. Although we are substantially through the 2018 audit, we are not yet in a position to provide final results for the fourth quarter and full year 2018. We require the completion of our analyses of any potential impairment to the carrying value of our goodwill and intangible assets as of December 31, 2018. We are updating our analyses as a result of our assessment of conditions that may indicate that we could have an impairment, such as the Company's recent results, share price performance and market capitalization.

In the event of any impairment, the Company would be required to record a non-cash impairment charge to the fourth quarter results. Whether an impairment charge will be required, and if so, the amount of such charge have not been determined. We anticipate completing our analysis and having our final statements completed by the end of March, and in time to file our Annual Report on Form 10-K. All of the preliminary financial information in the press release and discussed today's preliminary, is subject to completion of the year-end financial reporting processes, reviews and audit.

So, let's start with the update. The fourth quarter of 2018, was a quarter in which much of our good progress was significantly impacted by the industry-wide headwinds of escalated material costs and component shortages, which in our case was mainly engines. Total revenue grew for the third consecutive quarter to $33.1 million, and this was led by our eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year quarterly machine growth, a 31% year-over-year increase in North America machine sales, and 17.2% overall growth in machine sales to $24.6 million. Quarterly sales and growth were held back by the shortage of engines that caused us to delay manufacturing and shipping approximately $3 million of in-hand orders, which therefore remained as part of our $30.2 million order backlog at the end of the year.

In North America, our largest market and where our goal is to build our brand and presence, our retail dealer, same-store sales growth was 24%. This is good evidence that our dealers are maturing and securing opportunities in that territories, where underlying demand in retail activity is strong, and as our efforts to work with them