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
For certain periods of the
COVID-19
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.
Although we have learned to navigate
COVID-19
while maintaining our operations in all material respects, the pandemic continued to impact our business and operating results throughout 2020. Some of our locations experienced short-term closures for
COVID-19
employee health concerns or operated at a diminished capacity, which negatively impacted our 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 the
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, which negatively impacted our operations.
During this period, we took steps to safeguard the health of our employees and customers. This included creating additional space between work areas, providing personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies, establishing policies for mitigation in the event of cases of illness, utilizing technologies where work duties enable working from home, and instituting contactless sales and servicing capabilities at many of our locations. As of the date of this filing, all of our locations are operating, and, due to these precautions, have been functioning effectively, including our internal controls over financial reporting.
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 took 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 in 2020.
However, as economic activity has been recovering, the impact of the pandemic on our business has been more reflective of greater economic and marketplace dynamics, which include supply chain disruptions and labor shortages, rather than pandemic-related issues such as location closures, mandated restrictions and employee illness. As restrictions have eased and normal economic conditions have largely resumed, our various austerity measures to curtail discretionary spending have eased. During these uncertain times, we believe that our scale, our currently low debt level, conservative leverage ratio, and our historical ability to generate cash flow positions us well as we work through the ongoing impacts of the
COVID-19
pandemic.
Notwithstanding the recent resurgence of economic activity, in light of variant strains of the virus and 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. The full impact of the
COVID-19
pandemic on our financial condition and results of operations will continue to depend on future developments, such as the ultimate duration and scope of the pandemic, its impact on our employees, customers and suppliers, the extent to which normal economic and operating conditions are impacted, and whether the pandemic exacerbates the risks disclosed in Item 1A “Risk Factors” of our Annual Report on Form
10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2020. We intend to 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
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. The export division, Carrier InterAmerica Corporation, redomesticated from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Delaware effective December 31, 2019, following which Carrier InterAmerica Corporation became a separate operating entity in which we have an 80% controlling interest 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., an HVAC distributor operating from 19 locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.