The following information should be read in conjunction with the information contained in Item 1A, “Risk Factors” and the consolidated financial statements, including the notes thereto, included under Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form
10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Watsco, Inc. was incorporated in Florida in 1956, and, together with its subsidiaries (collectively, “Watsco,” or “we,” “us,” or “our”) is the largest distributor of air conditioning, heating, and refrigeration equipment, and related parts and supplies (“HVAC/R”) in the HVAC/R distribution industry in North America. At December 31, 2020, we operated from 600 locations in 38 U.S. States, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico with additional market coverage on an export basis to portions of Latin America and the Caribbean.
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 first and fourth quarters. 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. For certain periods of the pandemic thus far, some U.S. states had been 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 perform is essential, and as such we continued to operate with certain modifications during these periods. Certain of our locations experienced short-term closures for
COVID-19
employee health concerns or operated at a diminished capacity, which negatively impacted business during March and April of 2020. 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, during the second half of 2020, viral infections began to increase, resulting in the resumption of restrictions in certain markets in which we operate.
Consistent with broader social trends, we have taken steps to safeguard the health of our employees and customers. This includes creating space between work areas, providing ample personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies, having formal policies for mitigation in the event of cases of illness, utilizing technologies where work duties allow to enable work from home capabilities, and instituting contactless sales and servicing capabilities at many of our locations to create social distancing. As of the date of this filing, all our locations are operating, and due to these precautions, have continued to function effectively, including our internal controls over financial reporting. In light of the continued high rate of viral infections that exists as of the date of this filing, there remains significant uncertainty concerning the magnitude of the impact and duration of the
COVID-19
pandemic.
In response to the pandemic, we implemented plans intended to preserve adequate liquidity and ensure that our business continued to operate during this uncertain time. In addition, we have taken actions to reduce costs, including reductions in compensation, rent abatement, changes to vendor terms and other austerity measures to curtail discretionary spending in light of the circumstances. Other costs, including hourly wages, overtime, sales commissions, temporary labor, performance-based compensation, advertising, and delivery expenses are expected to vary in correlation with our overall business activity. As restrictions ease and normal economic conditions and operations resume, the various austerity measures to curtail discretionary spending have eased.
With respect to liquidity, we believe that our balance sheet remains strong with $146.1 million in cash, no outstanding borrowings drawn from our $560.0 million credit facility and $1.8 billion of shareholders’ equity as of December 31, 2020. On February 9, 2021, our Board of Directors approved an increase to the quarterly cash dividend per share of Common and Class B common stock to $1.95 per share beginning with the dividend that will be paid in April 2021. 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 debt-free position, 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.