SYPRIS SOLUTIONS INC [SYPR] Filings

All references to “Sypris,” the “Company,” “we” or “our” include Sypris Solutions, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. Sypris is a diversified provider of truck components, oil and gas pipeline components and aerospace and defense electronics. The Company produces a wide range of manufactured products, often under multi-year, sole-source contracts. The Company offers such products through its two business segments, Sypris Technologies, Inc. (“Sypris Technologies”) and Sypris Electronics, LLC (“Sypris Electronics”) (See Note 11).

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Sypris Solutions, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries and have been prepared by the Company in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X of the SEC. Accordingly, pursuant to such rules and regulations, certain notes and other financial information included in audited financial statements have been condensed or omitted. The December 31, 2023 consolidated balance sheet data was derived from audited statements, but does not include all disclosures required by U.S. GAAP. The Company’s operations are domiciled in the United States (U.S.) and Mexico, and we serve a wide variety of domestic and international customers. All intercompany transactions and accounts have been eliminated.

These unaudited consolidated financial statements reflect, in the opinion of management, all material adjustments (which include only normal recurring adjustments) necessary to fairly state the results of operations, financial position and cash flows for the periods presented, and the disclosures herein are adequate to make the information presented not misleading. Preparing financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses. Changes in facts and circumstances could have a significant impact on the resulting estimated amounts included in our consolidated financial statements. Actual results could differ from these estimates. Actual results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2024. These unaudited consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements, and notes thereto, for the year ended December 31, 2023 as presented in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K.

In November 2023, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2023-07, “Segment Reporting: Improvements to Reportable Segment Disclosures.” This guidance requires disclosure of incremental segment information on an annual and interim basis. This amendment is effective for our fiscal year ending December 31, 2024 and subsequent interim periods. We are currently assessing the impact of this guidance on our disclosures.

In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU No. 2023-09, “Income Taxes: Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures.” This guidance requires consistent categories and greater disaggregation of information in the rate reconciliation and disclosures of income taxes paid by jurisdiction. This amendment is effective for our fiscal year ending December 31, 2025. We are currently assessing the impact of this guidance on our disclosures.

No other new accounting pronouncement issued or effective during the fiscal year had, or is expected to have, a material impact on our Consolidated Financial Statements.

The Company determines if an arrangement is a lease at its inception. The Company has entered into operating leases for real estate. These leases have initial terms which range from 10 years to 11 years, and often include one or more options to renew. These renewal terms can extend the lease term by 5 years, and will be included in the lease term when it is reasonably certain that the Company will exercise the option. The Company’s existing leases do not contain significant restrictive provisions; however, certain leases contain provisions for payment of real estate taxes, insurance and maintenance costs by the Company. The lease agreements do not contain any residual value guarantees. Some of the real estate lease agreements include periods of rent holidays and payments that escalate over the lease term by specified amounts. All operating lease expenses are recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. For finance leases, interest expense is recognized on the lease liability and the right-of-use asset is amortized over the lease term.

Some leases may require variable lease payments based on factors specific to the individual agreements. Variable lease payments for which we are typically responsible include real estate taxes, insurance and common area maintenance expenses based on the Company’s pro-rata share, which are excluded from the measurement of the lease liability. Additionally, one of the Company’s real estate leases has lease payments that adjust based on annual changes in the Consumer Price Index (“CPI”). The leases that are dependent upon CPI are initially measured using the index or rate at the commencement date and are included in the measurement of the lease liability. Incremental payments due to changes in the index are treated as variable lease costs and expensed as incurred.

These operating leases are included in “Operating lease right-of-use assets” on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets, and represent the Company’s right to use the underlying asset for the lease term. The Company’s obligations to make lease payments are included in “Operating lease liabilities, current portion” and “Operating lease liabilities, net of current portion” on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets. Operating lease right-of-use assets and liabilities are recognized at the commencement date based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. As of June 30, 2024, total right-of-use assets and operating lease liabilities were approximately $4,300,000 and $4,706,000, respectively. As of December 31, 2023, total right-of-use assets and operating lease liabilities were approximately $3,309,000 and $3,710,000, respectively.

We primarily use our incremental borrowing rate, which is updated quarterly, based on the information available at commencement date, in determining the present value of lease payments. If readily available, we would use the implicit rate in a new lease to determine the present value of lease payments. The Company has certain contracts for real estate which may contain lease and non-lease components which it has elected to treat as a single lease component.

The Company has entered into various short-term operating leases, primarily for office equipment with an initial term of twelve months or less. Lease payments associated with short-term leases are expensed as incurred and are not recorded on the Company’s balance sheet. The related lease expense for short-term leases was not material for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 and July 2, 2023.

The following table presents information related to lease expense for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 and July 2, 2023 (in thousands):

The following table presents supplemental cash flow information related to leases (in thousands):

The annual future minimum lease payments as of June 30, 2024 are as follows (in thousands):

The following table presents certain information related to lease terms and discount rates for leases as of June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023:

The Company recognizes revenue when it satisfies a performance obligation by transferring control of a promised product or rendering a service to a customer. The amount of revenue recognized reflects the consideration the Company expects to be entitled to in exchange for the product or service (the “transaction price”). The Company’s transaction price in its contracts with customers is generally fixed; no payment discounts, rebates or refunds are included within its contracts. The Company also does not provide service-type warranties nor does it allow customer returns. In connection with the sale of various parts to customers, the Company is subject to typical assurance warranty obligations covering the compliance of the electronics parts produced to agreed-upon specifications. Customer returns, when they occur, relate to quality rework issues and are not connected to any repurchase obligation of the Company.

A performance obligation is a promise in a contract to transfer a distinct product or render a service to a customer and is the unit of account to which the transaction price is allocated under ASC 606. When a contract contains multiple performance obligations, we allocate the transaction price to the individual performance obligations using the price at which the promised goods or services would be sold to customers on a standalone basis. For most sales within our Sypris Technologies segment and a portion of sales within Sypris Electronics, control transfers to the customer at a point in time. Indicators that control has transferred to the customer include the Company having a present right to payment, the customer obtaining legal title and the customer having the significant risks and rewards of ownership. The Company’s principal terms of sale are FOB Shipping Point, or equivalent, and, as such, the Company primarily transfers control and records revenue for product sales upon shipment.

For contracts where Sypris Electronics serves as a contractor for aerospace and defense companies under federally funded programs, we generally recognize revenue over time as we perform because of continuous transfer of control to the customer. This continuous transfer of control to the customer is supported by clauses in the contracts that allow the customer to unilaterally terminate the contract for convenience, pay us for costs incurred plus a reasonable profit and take control of any work in process. Because control is transferred over time, revenue and gross profit is recognized based on the extent of progress towards completion of the performance obligation. We use labor hours incurred as a measure of progress for these contracts because it best depicts the Company’s performance of the obligation to the customer, which occurs as we incur labor on our contracts. Under this measure of progress, the extent of progress towards completion is measured based on the ratio of labor hours incurred to date to the total estimated labor hours at completion of the performance obligation.

Some of Sypris Electronics’ contractual arrangements with customers are for one year or less. For the remaining population of non-cancellable contracts greater than one year we had $94,303,000 of remaining performance obligations as of June 30, 2024, all of which were long-term Sypris Electronics’ contracts. We expect to recognize approximately 46% of our remaining performance obligations as revenue in 2024, 50% in 2025 and the balance in 2026.

Disaggregation of Revenue

The following table summarizes revenue from contracts with customers for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 and July 2, 2023:

Contract Balances

Differences in the timing of revenue recognition, billings and cash collections results in billed accounts receivable, unbilled receivables (contract assets) and deferred revenue, customer deposits and billings in excess of revenue recognized (contract liabilities) on the consolidated balance sheets.

Contract assets – Contract assets include unbilled amounts typically resulting from sales under contracts where revenue is recognized over time and revenue recognized exceeds the amount billed to the customer, and the right to payment is subject to conditions other than the passage of time. Contract assets are generally classified as current assets in the consolidated balance sheet. The balance of contract assets as of June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023 were $4,149,000 and $4,638,000, respectively, and are included within other current assets in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

Contract liabilities – Some of the Company’s contracts within Sypris Electronics are billed as work progresses in accordance with the contract terms and conditions, either at periodic intervals or upon achievement of certain milestones. Often this results in billing occurring prior to revenue recognition resulting in contract liabilities. Additionally, the Company occasionally receives cash payments from customers in advance of the Company’s performance resulting in contract liabilities. These contract liabilities are classified as either current or long-term in the consolidated balance sheet based on the timing of when the Company expects to recognize revenue. As of June 30, 2024, the contract liabilities balance was $52,849,000, of which $43,360,000, was included within accrued liabilities and $9,489,000 was included within other liabilities in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. As of December 31, 2023, the contract liabilities balance was $53,537,000, of which $49,738,000 was included within accrued liabilities and $3,799,000 was included within other liabilities in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Payments received from customers in advance of revenue recognition are not considered to be significant financing components because they are used to meet working capital demands that can be higher in the early stages of a contract.

The Company recognized revenue from contract liabilities of $9,562,000 and $16,718,000 during the three and six months ended June 30, 2024, respectively. The Company recognized revenue from contract liabilities of $5,963,000 and $10,168,000 during the three and six months ended July 2, 2023, respectively.

Practical expedients and exemptions

Sales commissions are expensed when incurred because the amortization period would have been one year or less. These costs are recorded in selling, general and administrative expense in the consolidated statements of operations.

We do not disclose the value of unsatisfied performance obligations for contracts with original expected lengths of one year or less.

The Company computes earnings per share using the two-class method, which is an earnings allocation formula that determines earnings per share for common stock and participating securities. Restricted stock granted by the Company is considered a participating security since it contains a non-forfeitable right to dividends.

Our potentially dilutive securities include potential common shares related to our stock options and restricted stock. Diluted earnings per share considers the impact of potentially dilutive securities except in periods in which there is a loss because the inclusion of the potential common shares would have an anti-dilutive effect. Diluted earnings per share excludes the impact of common shares related to our stock options in periods in which the option exercise price is greater than the average market price of our common stock for the period. There were 1,017,000 potential common shares excluded from diluted earnings per share for the three months ended June 30, 2024. For the six months ended June 30, 2024, diluted weighted average common shares do not include the impact of any outstanding stock options and unvested compensation-related shares because the effect of these items on diluted net loss would be anti-dilutive. There were 663,000 potential common shares excluded from diluted earnings per share for the three and six months ended July 2, 2023.

A reconciliation of the weighted average shares outstanding used in the calculation of basic and diluted income (loss) per common share is as follows (in thousands):

Inventory consists of the following (in thousands):

Property, plant and equipment consists of the following (in thousands):

Debt outstanding consists of the following (in thousands):

Note Payable – Related Party

The Company has received the benefit of cash infusions from Gill Family Capital Management, Inc. (“GFCM”) in the form of secured promissory note obligations totaling $9,000,000 in principal as of June 30, 2024 and $6,500,000 as of December 31, 2023 (the “Note”). GFCM is an entity controlled by the Company’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Jeffrey T. Gill, and one of our directors, R. Scott Gill. GFCM, Jeffrey T. Gill and R. Scott Gill are significant beneficial stockholders of the Company. As of June 30, 2024, our principal commitment under the Note was $2,000,000 due on April 1, 2025, $2,000,000 on April 1, 2026 and the balance of $5,000,000 due on April 1, 2027. Interest on the Note is reset on April 1 of each year, at the greater of 8.0% or 500 basis points above the five-year Treasury note average during the preceding 90-day period, in each case, payable quarterly, which was 9.12% as of June 30, 2024. The Note allows for a deferral of payment for up to 60% of the interest due on the Note to April 1, 2025.

During the first quarter of 2024, the Company amended the Note to increase the principal amount due on April 1, 2027 by $2,500,000. The amendment increased the aggregate amount previously loaned by GFCM to the Company from $6,500,000 to $9,000,000. This additional amount loaned to the Company in the first quarter of 2024 was approved by the Audit Committee and provided the Company necessary liquidity.

Obligations under the Note are guaranteed by all of the subsidiaries and are secured by a first priority lien on substantially all assets of the Company, including those in Mexico.

Finance Lease Obligations

As of June 30, 2024, the Company had $2,949,000 outstanding under finance lease obligations for both property and machinery and equipment with maturities through 2028 and a weighted average interest rate of 8.8%.

Equipment Financing Obligations

As of June 30, 2024, the Company had $1,632,000 outstanding under equipment financing facilities, with a weighted average interest rate of 6.8% and payments due through 2028. Payments on the Company’s equipment financing obligations are due as follows (in thousands):

During the quarter ended June 30, 2024, the Company’s Sypris Technologies segment entered into Mexican Peso (“MXP”) put option contracts to manage a portion of the foreign currency exchange risk on forecasted expenses denominated in MXP. The contracts meet the definition of a derivate subject to the guidance of ASC 815, do not qualify for hedge accounting, and accordingly are recognized at fair value, with changes in fair value recognized in earnings in other income (expense). The contracts have a notional amount of $10,600,000 as of June 30, 2024 and expire at various dates through December 2024. The Company does not use hedging arrangements for speculative purposes. There can be no assurance the hedges will fully offset the financial impact resulting from movements in foreign currency exchange rates.

The fair value of these derivative financial instruments are determined using level 2 inputs (inputs other than quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities that are observable either directly or indirectly for substantially the full term of the asset or liability) in the fair value hierarchy as the fair value is based on publicly available foreign exchange and interest rates at each financial reporting date. The fair value of the non-designated foreign exchange contracts as of June 30, 2024 was $195,000 and is include in other current assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheet. There were no foreign exchange contracts as of December 31, 2023.

The Company is organized into two business segments, Sypris Technologies and Sypris Electronics. The segments are each managed separately because of the distinctions between the products, markets, customers, technologies, and workforce skills of the segments. Sypris Technologies generates revenue primarily from the sale of forged, machined, welded and heat-treated steel components primarily for the heavy commercial vehicle and high-pressure energy pipeline applications. Sypris Electronics provides circuit card and box build manufacturing, high reliability manufacturing, systems assembly and integration, design for manufacturability and design to specification work to customers in the market for aerospace and defense electronics. There was no intersegment net revenue recognized for any period presented.

The Company includes the unallocated costs of its corporate office, including the employment costs of its senior management team and other corporate personnel, administrative costs and net corporate interest expense incurred at the corporate level under the caption “General, corporate and other” in the table below. Such unallocated costs include those for centralized information technology, finance, legal and human resources support teams, certain professional fees, director fees, corporate office rent, certain self-insurance costs and recoveries, software license fees and various other administrative expenses that are not allocated to our reportable segments. The unallocated assets include cash and cash equivalents maintained in its domestic treasury accounts and the net book value of corporate facilities and related information systems. The unallocated liabilities consist primarily of the related party notes payable. Domestic income taxes are calculated at an entity level and are not allocated to our reportable segments. Corporate capital expenditures and depreciation and amortization include items attributable to the unallocated fixed assets of the corporate office and related information systems.

The following table presents financial information for the reportable segments of the Company (in thousands):

The provision for estimated warranty costs is recorded at the time of sale and periodically adjusted to reflect actual experience. The Company’s warranty liability, which is included in accrued liabilities in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets as of June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023 was $849,000 and $805,000, respectively. The Company’s warranty expense for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 and July 2, 2023 was not material.

The Company bears insurance risk as a member of a group captive insurance entity for certain general liability, automobile and workers’ compensation insurance programs, a self-insured worker’s compensation program and a self-insured employee health program. The Company records estimated liabilities for its insurance programs based on information provided by the third-party plan administrators, historical claims experience, expected costs of claims incurred but not paid, and expected costs to settle unpaid claims. The Company monitors its estimated insurance-related liabilities on a quarterly basis. As facts change, it may become necessary to make adjustments that could be material to the Company’s consolidated results of operations and financial condition.

The Company is involved in certain litigation and contract issues arising in the normal course of business. While the outcome of these matters cannot, at this time, be predicted in light of the uncertainties inherent therein, management does not expect that these matters will have a material adverse effect on the consolidated financial position or results of operations of the Company. Additionally, the Company believes its product liability insurance is adequate to cover all potential liability claims.

The Company accounts for loss contingencies in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Estimated loss contingencies are accrued only if the loss is probable and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. With respect to a particular loss contingency, it may be probable that a loss has occurred but the estimate of the loss is within a wide range or undeterminable. If the Company deems an amount within the range to be a better estimate than any other amount within the range, that amount will be accrued. However, if no amount within the range is a better estimate than any other amount, the minimum amount of the range is accrued.

The Company has various current and previously-owned facilities subject to a variety of environmental regulations. The Company has received certain indemnifications from either companies previously owning these facilities or from purchasers of those facilities. Additionally, certain property previously sold by the Company has been designated as a Brownfield Site and has been approved for development by the purchaser. As of June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, no amounts were accrued for any environmental matters.

On December 27, 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) filed a lawsuit alleging that the Company had misinterpreted the language of the Company’s 401(k) Plans (collectively, the “Plan”). The DOL does not dispute that the Company reached such interpretation in good faith and after the Company consulted with independent ERISA counsel. Although the Company maintains that it had affirmative defenses against the DOL’s claims, in an effort to avoid further litigation the Company engaged in settlement discussions in the second half of 2022 with the DOL. On March 14, 2023, the parties jointly delivered to the court a proposed consent order and judgment containing the terms of a settlement agreement, which was entered into the court record on September 28, 2023. The settlement, among other terms, required the Company to pay a restoration payment of $575,000 to the Plan, which was deposited into the Plan’s unallocated asset account during the fourth quarter of 2023 and distributed among affected participants of the Plan in February 2024. The settlement agreement also assessed a 10% penalty under section 502(l) of ERISA, for which the Company requested a good faith waiver in March 2024, which was approved by the DOL in June 2024.

On February 17, 2017, several employees (“Lucas Plaintiffs”) of KapStone Charleston Kraft, LLC filed a lawsuit in South Carolina alleging that they had been seriously burned when they opened a hinged closure and a hot tar-like material spilled out. Among other claims, the Lucas Plaintiffs allege that Sypris Technologies designed and manufactured the closure, that the closure was defective and that those defects had caused or contributed to their injuries. Sypris Technologies’ motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction was denied on February 28, 2020. On November 21, 2022, the Company received a demand for settlement presented by the Lucas Plaintiffs, which was rejected. On January 12, 2024, a hearing took place for oral arguments in support of Sypris Technologies’ motion for summary judgement previously filed in September 2023. The trial had been set for May 20, 2024, and a mediation of the parties was required to take place prior to the trial under South Carolina law. The Company entered into a settlement agreement on April 18, 2024 with the Lucas Plaintiffs at the pre-trial mediation. The settlement payment is being funded entirely by insurance, and the Company does not expect to pay any amount under the terms of the settlement agreement. Additionally, the Company’s general liability insurer has accepted the defense costs.

In order to reduce manufacturing lead times, the Company enters into agreements with certain suppliers to produce inventory based on the Company’s requirements. A significant portion of the Company’s purchase commitments arising from these agreements consists of firm and non-cancelable commitments. These purchase commitments totaled $38,072,000 as of June 30, 2024, of which $25,326,000 is due in 2024, $12,175,000 is due in 2025 and the balance in 2026.

The provision for income taxes includes federal, state, local and foreign taxes. The Company’s effective tax rate varies from period to period due to the proportion of foreign and domestic pre-tax income expected to be generated by the Company. The Company provides for income taxes for its domestic operations at a statutory rate of 21% in 2024 and 2023 and for its foreign operations at a statutory rate of 30% in 2024 and 2023. Reconciling items between the federal statutory rate and the effective tax rate also include state income taxes, valuation allowances and certain other permanent differences. Additionally, a deferred tax adjustment was recorded in 2024 related to the fixed asset valuation utilized by the Company’s foreign operation which increased the effective tax rate. Furthermore, as noted below, the Company’s income tax expense for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 includes an expense of $124,000 to settle with Mexico’s Federal Tax Administration Service, Servicio de Administracion Tributaria’s (the “SAT”) for the 2016 tax audit.

The Company recognizes liabilities or assets for the deferred tax consequences of temporary differences between the tax bases of assets or liabilities and their reported amounts in the financial statements in accordance with ASC 740, Income Taxes (ASC 740). These temporary differences will result in taxable or deductible amounts in future years when the reported amounts of assets or liabilities are recovered or settled. ASC 740 requires that a valuation allowance be established when it is more likely than not that all or a portion of a deferred tax asset will not be realized. The Company evaluates its deferred tax position on a quarterly basis and valuation allowances are provided as necessary. During this evaluation, the Company reviews its forecast of income in conjunction with other positive and negative evidence surrounding the realizability of its deferred tax assets to determine if a valuation allowance is needed.

Based on the Company’s consideration of all positive and negative evidence, including future reversals of existing taxable temporary differences, projected future taxable income, tax-planning strategies, and results of recent operations, the Company has established a valuation allowance against all U.S. deferred tax assets. Until an appropriate level and characterization of profitability is attained, the Company expects to continue to maintain a valuation allowance on its net deferred tax assets related to future U.S. tax benefits.

The Company files income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction, and various state and foreign jurisdictions. During July 2024, the Company was notified by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) that it is examining the Company’s 2021 federal income tax return.

During the first quarter of 2023, the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Mexico received a formal tax assessment notice from Mexico’s Federal Tax Administration Service, Servicio de Administracion Tributaria’s (the “SAT”) pertaining to revenue variances and disallowed deductions related to an audit by the SAT of the 2016 tax year. The initial proposed tax liability for the variances approximated $1,150,000, which included annual adjustments for inflation, interest and penalties. The Company made a payment in June 2024 of $191,000 to settle the matter, of which $124,000 was recorded in income tax expense, net, and the remainder was recorded in other (income) expense, net in the consolidated statements of operations. In addition, open tax years related to state and foreign jurisdictions remain subject to examination.

Pension expense (benefit) consisted of the following (in thousands):