(Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., April 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AutoNation, Inc. , America's largest automotive retailer, today reported 2009 first quarter net income from continuing operations of $49 million or $0.27 per share, compared to year-ago net income from continuing operations of $56 million or $0.31 per share. In the quarter, the Company had a net benefit from certain items of $9 million after-tax or $0.04 per share, including a gain on the purchase of the Company's senior notes and a net gain on asset sales and dispositions, partially offset by property impairments. After adjusting for these items as disclosed in the attached financial tables, net income from continuing operations for the 2009 first quarter was $40 million or $0.23 per share.
First quarter 2009 revenue totaled $2.5 billion, compared to $3.8 billion in the year-ago period, driven primarily by lower vehicle sales. In the first quarter, industry new vehicle U.S. retail sales declined approximately 46%, according to CNW Research. AutoNation new vehicle unit sales declined 43%.
Commenting on the first quarter, Mike Jackson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are very pleased with the performance of AutoNation as we remained solidly profitable during the first quarter even with a U.S. SAAR near 9 million new vehicle units, the lowest in nearly 30 years. Our operating discipline, the hard work of our associates and savings generated from our $200 million cost reduction program led to sequential improvement from the fourth quarter 2008."
AutoNation has three operating segments: Domestic, Import, and Premium Luxury. The Domestic segment is comprised of stores that sell vehicles manufactured by General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler; the Import segment is comprised of stores that sell vehicles manufactured primarily by Toyota, Honda, and Nissan; and the Premium Luxury segment is comprised of stores that sell vehicles manufactured primarily by Mercedes, BMW, and Lexus.
-- Domestic - Domestic segment income for the first quarter of 2009 was $15 million compared to year-ago segment income of $38 million. First quarter Domestic retail new vehicle unit sales declined 47%. -- Import - Import segment income for the first quarter of 2009 was $30 million compared to year-ago segment income of $56 million. First quarter Import retail new vehicle unit sales declined 45%. -- Premium Luxury - Premium Luxury segment income for the first quarter of 2009 was $41 million compared to year-ago segment income of $51 million. First quarter Premium Luxury retail new vehicle unit sales declined 31%.
Jackson added, "During the first quarter AutoNation reduced debt by approximately $500 million, for a cumulative debt reduction of approximately $1.25 billion, including $635 million of non-vehicle debt, since January 1, 2008. As a result of these actions and our financial performance we remained in compliance with all of the financial covenants in our debt agreements and improved our leverage ratio to 2.35 as of March 31, 2009. Our liquidity remains strong as we ended the quarter with approximately $400 million of cash and revolver availability." Looking forward, Jackson also stated, "Although first quarter industry sales were lower than expectations, we agree with industry projections that sales rates will improve in the second half of this year."
The first quarter conference call may be accessed at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time by phone at 888-769-8515 (pass code: AutoNation). The webcast may be accessed by the Internet (audio webcast) at http://www.autonation.com/ "Investors Relations" and then "Webcasts." On the "Webcasts" page, there will be a link for the first quarter webcast. A playback of the event will be available after 1:00 pm Eastern Time April 23, 2009 through April 30, 2009 by calling 866-375-1051 (pass code: 75300).
About AutoNation, Inc.
AutoNation, Inc., headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is America's largest automotive retailer. AutoNation owns approximately 300 new vehicle franchises in 15 states. For additional information, please visit http://corp.autonation.com/ or http://www.autonation.com/, where more than 70,000 vehicles are available for sale along with AutoNation's E-Vehicle program.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain statements and information included in this release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Federal Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Additional discussion of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's projections, estimates and expectations is contained in the Company's SEC filings. The Company undertakes no duty to update its forward-looking statements.
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
The attached financial tables contain certain non-GAAP financial measures as defined under SEC rules, such as net income and diluted earnings per share from continuing operations, adjusted to exclude certain items disclosed in the attached financial tables. As required by SEC rules, the Company has provided reconciliations of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, which are set forth in the attachments to this release. The Company believes that each of the foregoing non-GAAP financial measures improves the transparency of the Company's disclosure, provides a meaningful presentation of the Company's results from its core business operations excluding the impact of items not related to the Company's ongoing core business operations, and improves the period-to-period comparability of the Company's results from its core business operations.
AUTONATION, INC. UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENTS ($ in millions, except per share data) Three Months Ended March 31, 2009 2008 ---- ---- Revenue: New vehicle $1,213.9 $2,125.5 Used vehicle 612.7 934.4 Parts and service 554.4 622.4 Finance and insurance, net 78.7 140.2 Other 13.4 16.8 ---- ---- Total revenue 2,473.1 3,839.3 ------- ------- Cost of sales: New vehicle 1,138.3 1,983.9 Used vehicle 547.1 853.8 Parts and service 311.0 351.2 Other 6.1 7.2 --- --- Total cost of sales 2,002.5 3,196.1 ------- ------- Gross profit 470.6 643.2 Selling, general and administrative expenses 364.6 474.6 Depreciation and amortization 20.7 22.7 Other expenses (income), net (3.5) 0.3 ---- --- Operating income 88.8 145.6 Floorplan interest expense (10.1) (23.9) Other interest expense (11.8) (26.8) Gain on senior note repurchases 11.9 - Interest income 0.3 0.5 Other losses, net (1.6) (1.7) ---- ---- Income from continuing operations before income taxes 77.5 93.7 Income tax provision 28.9 38.0 ---- ---- Net income from continuing operations 48.6 55.7 Loss from discontinued operations, net of income taxes (14.0) (5.0) ----- ---- Net income $34.6 $50.7 ===== ===== Diluted earnings (loss) per share: Continuing operations $0.27 $0.31 Discontinued operations $(0.08) $(0.03) Net income $0.20 $0.28 Weighted average common shares outstanding 177.0 180.6 Common shares outstanding, net of treasury stock, at March 31 177.1 178.5 AUTONATION, INC.
