NXP Semiconductors reports first quarter 2018 results

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ:NXPI) today reported financial results for the first quarter 2018 ended April 1, 2018.

NXP delivered first quarter revenue of $2.27 billion, an increase of approximately 3 percent year on year, and a decrease of 8 percent as compared to the prior quarter, with the annual period comparison impacted by the divestment of the Standard Products business during the first quarter of 2017. HPMS segment revenue was $2.17 billion, an increase of 8 percent year on year, and a decrease of 8 percent on a sequential basis.

Within the Automotive group, first quarter revenue was $995 million, up 10 percent year on year, with auto MCU, advanced analog and infotainment all contributing to the year on year growth. Within the Secure Connected Devices group, first quarter revenue was $633 million, up 17 percent year on year driven by demand for general purpose, multi-market MCU and high performance application processor products, and continued year on year growth of mobile transaction products. In the Secure Interface and Infrastructure group, first quarter revenue was $396 million, down 12 percent year on year due to declines within the Digital Networking and RF-based product groups, with annual growth in Interface and Power products offsetting declines. Lastly, in Secure Identification Solutions group, first quarter revenue was $142 million, up 25 percent year on year due to growth in the mobility and retail, and government identification markets, and continued stabilization in the global bank-card market.

“We continue to believe that our transaction with Qualcomm is important to supporting our customers’ long term requirements in both autonomous driving and secure IoT given our complimentary product portfolios, Qualcomm’s strength in connectivity and high end processing. On April 19th, NXP agreed with Qualcomm to an extension of the purchase agreement to facilitate the final needed regulatory approval by the Ministry of Commerce(“MOFCOM”) of the Government of China, the last remaining regulatory requirement as all other regulatory authorities have cleared more than three and a half months ago. Once all required regulatory approvals are obtained, the companies can execute the final tender offer process to complete the transaction. Finally, I would like to personally thank all our employees for their focus and significant effort they have invested to assure NXP’s success and to thank all our customers for their commitment to NXP,” said Richard Clemmer, NXP Chief Executive Officer.

“In the first quarter, our GAAP operating margin was 6.1 percent, a decline from the 75.9 percent reported in the first quarter of 2017 due to the $1.6 billion realized gain related to the divestment of the Standard Products business during the first quarter of 2017.  Our first quarter non-GAAP operating margin was 27.2 percent, essentially flat as compared to the first quarter of 2017. On a sequential basis, our first quarter GAAP operating margin declined 250-basis points from the 8.6 percent reported in the fourth quarter of 2017, and our non-GAAP operating margin declined 390-basis points due to the sequential revenue decline, associated gross profit fall-through, and increased product development costs. And finally, due to an improved net debt position and positive cash flow generation, our overall financial leverage was reduced to 0.82x,” said Peter Kelly, NXP Chief Financial Officer.

Summary of Reported First Quarter 2018 ($ millions, unaudited)

(1) For an explanation of GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments, please see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” on page 3 of this release.

Additional Information for the First Quarter 2018:

• On October 27, 2016 Qualcomm, Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM), (“Qualcomm”) and NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ:NXPI), announced a definitive agreement, unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies, under which Qualcomm will acquire NXP. Under the terms of the revised definitive agreement, a subsidiary of Qualcomm will commence a tender offer to acquire all the issued and outstanding shares of NXP for $127.50 per share in cash. The tender offer commenced on November 18, 2016.
• On April 19, 2018 Qualcomm and NXP entered into an amendment to their purchase agreement, extending the end date of the purchase agreement until July 25, 2018. The amendment also provides that if the parties have not received all required regulatory approvals, including from the Ministry of Commerce in China (MOFCOM), by 11:59 p.m. New York City time on July 25, 2018, Qualcomm will pay the previously agreed termination fee to NXP no later than 9:00 a.m. New York City time on July 26, 2018.
• Total gross debt was $6.58 billion, up from the $6.57 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017, and up from the $6.51 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2017. Cash was $3.98 billion, an increase from the $3.55 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017, and an increase from the $2.24 at the end of the first quarter of 2017.  Net debt at the end of the first quarter was $2.60 billion, a decline from the $3.02 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017, and decline from $4.27 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2017. Trailing twelve months, adjusted EBITDA was $3.18 billion, an increase from $3.16 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017, and an increase from $3.06 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2017. Financial leverage, defined as net debt divided by trailing twelve months adjusted EBITDA was 0.82x, an improvement from 0.96x at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017, and an improvement from 1.40x reported at the end of the first quarter of 2017.
• Cash flow from operations was $620 million, a decrease from the $738 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017. Net capital expenditures on property, plant and equipment was $156 million, an increase from the $132 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017. Non-GAAP free cash flow, defined as cash flow from operations, less net capital expenditures on property, plant and equipment was $464 million, a decrease from the $606 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017.
• During the first quarter NXP repurchased 0.3 million shares for a total cost of $30 million. Weighted average number of diluted shares (after deduction of treasury shares) for the three-month period ended April 1, 2018 was 347 million. Due to the pending acquisition by Qualcomm, NXP has suspended its open market share repurchases. Shares are currently only repurchased in relation to employee equity award transactions.
• Net cash paid for interest was $21 million in the first quarter.
• Net cash paid for income taxes related to on-going operations was $16 million, with an additional $28 million paid related to the divestment of the Standard Products business, for a total of $44 million.
• SSMC, NXP’s consolidated joint-venture wafer fab with TSMC, reported first quarter 2018 operating income of $31 million, EBITDA of $43 millionand a closing cash balance of $241 million.
• NXP combined wafer-fab utilization averaged 93 percent, as compared to 91 percent in the prior quarter, and 95% in the first quarter of 2017.
• Working capital metrics and channel inventory was:
  • Days of inventory held by NXP was 106 days, up 7 days sequentially versus the fourth quarter;
  • Days payable was 83 days, down 9 days sequentially from the fourth quarter;
  • Days sales was 32 days a decline of 1 day sequentially from the fourth quarter;
  • The cash conversion cycle was 55 days, an increase of 15 days versus the fourth quarter;
  • Channel inventory held by NXP’s distribution partners was 2.4 months, essentially flat on a sequential basis, and in line with NXPs long-term channel target of 2.5 months, plus or minus a half month;
  • Sales into the distribution channel were down 14 percent sequentially;
  • Sales out of the distribution channel were down 8 percent sequentially.

Supplemental Information ($ millions, unaudited)

Guidance and Conference Call

As previously announced, NXP will not hold an earnings call nor provide forward guidance for the second quarter of 2018 due to the pending acquisition of NXP by Qualcomm.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In managing NXP’s business on a consolidated basis, management develops an annual operating plan, which is approved by our Board of Directors, using non-GAAP financial measures. In measuring performance against this plan, management considers the actual or potential impacts on these non-GAAP financial measures from actions taken to reduce costs with the goal of increasing our gross margin and operating margin and when assessing appropriate levels of research and development efforts. In addition, management relies upon these non-GAAP financial measures when making decisions about product spending, administrative budgets, and other operating expenses. We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures, when coupled with the GAAP results and the reconciliations to corresponding GAAP financial measures, provide a more complete understanding of the Company’s results of operations and the factors and trends affecting NXP’s business. We believe that they enable investors to perform additional comparisons of our operating results, to assess our liquidity and capital position and to analyze financial performance excluding the effect of expenses unrelated to operations, certain non-cash expenses and share-based compensation expense, which may obscure trends in NXP’s underlying performance.  This information also enables investors to compare financial results between periods where certain items may vary independent of business performance, and allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management.

These non-GAAP financial measures are provided in addition to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. The presentation of these and other similar items in NXP’s non-GAAP financial results should not be interpreted as implying that these items are non-recurring, infrequent, or unusual.  Reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to the most comparable measures calculated in accordance with GAAP are provided in the financial statements portion of this release in a schedule entitled “Financial Reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP Results (unaudited).” Please refer to the NXP Historic Financial Model file found on the Financial Information page of the Investor Relations section of our website at www.nxp.com/investor for additional information related to our rationale for using these non-GAAP financial measures, as well as the impact of these measures on the presentation of NXP’s operations.

In addition to providing financial information on a basis consistent with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), NXP also provides the following selected financial measures on a non-GAAP basis: (i) Gross profit, (ii) Gross margin, (iii) Research and development, (iv) Selling, general and administrative, (v) Amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, (vi) Other income, (vii) Operating income (loss), (viii) Operating margin, (ix) Financial Income (expense), (x) EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA and trailing 12 month adjusted EBITDA, and (xi) free cash flow and free cash flow as a percent of Revenue. The non-GAAP information excludes the amortization of acquisition related intangible assets, the purchase accounting effect on inventory and property, plant and equipment, merger related costs (including integration costs), certain items related to divestitures, share-based compensation expense, restructuring and asset impairment charges, non-cash interest expense on convertible notes, extinguishment of debt, changes in the fair value of the warrant liability prior to January 1, 2016 and foreign exchange gains and losses.