Revenues primarily consist of sales of air conditioning, heating, and refrigeration equipment, and related parts and supplies. Selling, general and administrative expenses primarily consist of selling expenses, the largest components of which are salaries, commissions, and marketing expenses that are variable and correlate to changes in sales. Other significant selling, general and administrative expenses relate to the operation of warehouse facilities, including a fleet of trucks and forklifts, and facility rent, a majority of which we operate under
non-cancelable
operating leases.
Sales of residential central air conditioners, heating equipment, and parts and supplies are seasonal. Furthermore, profitability can be impacted favorably or unfavorably based on weather patterns, particularly during the Summer and Winter selling seasons. Demand related to the residential central air conditioning replacement market is typically highest in the second and third quarters, and demand for heating equipment is usually highest in the fourth quarter. Demand related to the new construction sectors throughout most of the markets we serve tends to be fairly evenly distributed throughout the year and depends largely on housing completions and related weather and economic conditions.
Impact of the
COVID-19
Pandemic
A novel strain of coronavirus,
COVID-19,
surfaced in December 2019 and has spread around the world, including to the United States. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared
COVID-19
a pandemic. The
COVID-19
pandemic significantly impacted business during the second quarter of 2020. Certain U.S. states were under executive orders requiring that all workers remain at home unless their work was critical, essential, or life-sustaining. We believe that, based on the various standards published to date, the work our employees are performing is essential, and as such we continued to operate with certain modifications. A few of our locations experienced short-term closures for
COVID-19
employee health concerns or operated at a diminished capacity, which negatively impacted sales during the quarter and may continue to negatively impact sales until the
COVID-19
pandemic moderates. As of the date of this filing, while all of our locations currently continue to operate, we have restricted public access to our branches and have instituted contactless sales and servicing capabilities designed to safeguard our employees and customers.
At the end of the second quarter of 2020, many of the markets in which we operate had begun to ease
COVID-19
restrictions that had been in place earlier in the period. However, as of the date of this filing, viral infections have begun to increase, resulting in the resumption of restrictions in certain markets in which we operate. As a result, significant uncertainty exists concerning the magnitude of the impact and duration of the
COVID-19
pandemic.
In response to the pandemic, we have implemented plans intended to preserve adequate liquidity and ensure that our business can continue to operate during this uncertain time. In addition, we have taken actions to reduce costs, including reductions in fixed-cost compensation, rent abatement, changes to vendor terms and various austerity measures to curtail discretionary spending in light of the circumstances. Other variable costs, including hourly wages, overtime, sales commissions, temporary labor, performance-based compensation, advertising, and delivery expenses are expected to moderate consistent with our overall business activity. If and to the extent restrictions ease and normal economic conditions and operations resume, the various austerity measures to curtail discretionary spending may cease.
With respect to liquidity, we believe that our balance sheet remains strong with $79.6 million in cash, $33.4 million in borrowings drawn from our $560.0 million credit facility and $1.7 billion of shareholders’ equity as of June 30, 2020. Our quarterly dividend plans remain currently unchanged, most recently at $1.775 per share. Future dividends and/or changes in dividend rates are at the sole discretion of the Board of Directors and depend upon factors including, but not limited to, cash flow generated by operations, profitability, financial condition, cash requirements, and future prospects. During these uncertain times, we believe that our scale, our current low debt-level, conservative leverage ratio, and our historical ability to generate cash flow positions us well as we work through the impacts of the
COVID-19
pandemic.
The full impact of the
COVID-19
pandemic on our financial condition and results of operations will depend on future developments, such as the ultimate duration and scope of the pandemic, its impact on our employees, customers, and suppliers, how quickly normal economic conditions and operations resume and whether the pandemic exacerbates other risks disclosed in Item 1A “Risk Factors” of our Annual Report on Form
10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2019. We will continue to actively monitor the situation and may take further actions that alter our business operations as may be required by federal, state or local authorities or that we determine are in the best interests of our employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders.
Joint Ventures with Carrier Global Corporation
On April 3, 2020, United Technologies Corporation completed the
spin-off
of Carrier Corporation into an independent, publicly traded company, named Carrier Global Corporation (“Carrier”).
In 2009, we formed a joint venture with Carrier, which we refer to as Carrier Enterprise I, in which Carrier contributed 95 of its company-owned locations in 13 Sun Belt states and Puerto Rico, and its export division in Miami, Florida, and we contributed 15 locations that distributed Carrier products. We have an 80% controlling interest in Carrier Enterprise I, and Carrier has a 20%
non-controlling
interest. On August 1, 2019, Carrier Enterprise I acquired substantially all of the HVAC assets and assumed certain of the liabilities of Peirce-Phelps, Inc. (“PPI”), an HVAC distributor operating from 19 locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.