Belden Reports Strong Results for First Quarter 2023 and Completes Acquisition of Berthold Sichert GmbH

Belden Inc. (NYSE: BDC) (the “Company”), a leading global supplier of network infrastructure solutions, today reported fiscal first-quarter results for the period ended April 2, 2023.

First Quarter 2023 Highlights

• Total Revenues of $642 million, +5% y/y
• Organic Growth of +7% y/y
• GAAP EPS of $1.45, +49% y/y
• Adjusted EPS of $1.68, +28% y/y
• Updated full year guidance and raised 2023 Revenues and Adjusted EPS
• Completed acquisition of Berthold Sichert GmbH (“Sichert”) for $98 million
• Executed $50 million of share repurchases during the quarter
• New $300 million share repurchase authorization

“Once again, Belden delivered another strong quarter of continued revenue growth with expanding margins. By focusing on customer success and business outcomes, our team continues to transform Belden into a leading network and data solutions provider,” said Ashish Chand, President and CEO of Belden Inc. “We remain focused on growing our solutions offerings – both through organic growth opportunities and our disciplined acquisition strategy. Therefore, we are pleased to report the acquisition of Sichert, which further expands our fiber portfolio in key growth markets. Additionally, consistent with our capital allocation priorities, we invested $50 million in share repurchases during the quarter, and the board of directors approved an additional $300 million authorization for future share repurchases.”

First Quarter 2023

Revenues for the quarter totaled $642 million, increasing $32 million, or 5%, compared to $610 million in the year-ago period. Organic year-over-year growth for the quarter was 7%, with Industrial Automation Solutions at 9% and Enterprise Solutions at 3%. Net income was $63 million, compared to $44 million in the year-ago period. Net income as a percentage of revenue was 9.8%, compared to 7.2% in the year-ago period. EPS totaled $1.45 for the quarter, compared to $0.97 in the year-ago period.

Adjusted EBITDA was $111 million, increasing $12 million, or 12%, compared to $99 million in the year-ago period. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 17.4%, up 110 bps, compared to 16.3% in the year-ago period. Adjusted EPS was $1.68, increasing 28% compared to $1.31 in the year-ago period. Adjusted results are non-GAAP measures, and a non-GAAP reconciliation table is provided as an appendix to this release.

Acquisition of Berthold Sichert GmbH

In April of 2023, Belden acquired Berthold Sichert GmbH for approximately $98 million. Based in Berlin Germany, Sichert designs and manufactures a portfolio of polycarbonate street cabinets utilized in outside plant passive optical networks (“PON”) and 5G networks.

“Sichert is a great addition to the Belden team. It operates in well-established markets, with proven technologies and deep customer relationships. As we look to improve our solution capabilities, Sichert further strengthens our fiber portfolio and expands our offerings in key growth markets,” said Dr. Chand.

$300 Million Share Repurchase Authorization

On April 24, 2023, the Board of Directors authorized an additional $300 million share repurchase program incremental to the remaining authorization of $15 million. The repurchases may occur in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions at times and prices considered appropriate, in accordance with applicable securities laws and other restrictions. This share repurchase authorization does not have an expiration date.

Outlook

“The first quarter of 2023 was solid for Belden in the midst of uncertain macro conditions. Our business is benefiting from long-term secular trends that have lengthy investment cycles. Investments in automation, reshoring, increased connectivity, increasing bandwidth usage, and network upgrades all bode well for Belden to produce sustainable earnings growth,” said Dr. Chand. “We are confident in our ability to execute our strategy and generate sustainable, long-term shareholder value. Given our solid first-quarter performance and recent capital deployments and acquisition, I am pleased to share that we are increasing our full-year revenue and Adjusted EPS outlook and reaffirming our organic revenue growth targets. Belden continues to execute and is making excellent progress towards achieving at least $8.00 of Adjusted EPS by 2025.”

The table below provides updated guidance for the full year 2023, as well as newly issued guidance for the second quarter of 2023.

Earnings Conference Call

Management will host a conference call today at 8:30 am ET to discuss results. The listen-only audio of the conference call will be broadcast live via the Internet at https://investor.belden.com. The dial-in number for participants is 888-224-1121 with confirmation code 6100414. A replay of this conference call will remain accessible in the investor relations section of the Company’s website for a limited time.

Net Income, Earnings per Share (EPS), Net Leverage, and Organic Growth

All references to net income and EPS within this earnings release refer to income from continuing operations and income from continuing operations per diluted share attributable to Belden stockholders, respectively. Net leverage is calculated as (A) total debt less cash and cash equivalents divided by (B) the sum of trailing twelve months Adjusted EBITDA plus trailing twelve months stock-based compensation expense. Organic growth is calculated as the change in revenues excluding the impacts of changes in currency exchange rates and copper prices, as well as acquisitions and divestitures.

The Condensed Consolidated Cash Flow Statement for the three months ended April 3, 2022 includes the results of discontinued operations up to the February 22, 2022 disposal date.

BELDEN INC.

RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES

(Unaudited)

In addition to reporting financial results in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, we provide non-GAAP operating results adjusted for certain items, including: asset impairments; accelerated depreciation expense due to plant consolidation activities; purchase accounting effects related to acquisitions, such as the adjustment of acquired inventory to fair value, and transaction costs; severance, restructuring, and acquisition integration costs; gains (losses) recognized on the disposal of businesses and assets; amortization of intangible assets; gains (losses) on debt extinguishment; certain gains (losses) from patent settlements; discontinued operations; and other costs. We adjust for the items listed above in all periods presented, unless the impact is clearly immaterial to our financial statements. When we calculate the tax effect of the adjustments, we include all current and deferred income tax expense commensurate with the adjusted measure of pre-tax profitability.

We utilize the adjusted results to review our ongoing operations without the effect of these adjustments and for comparison to budgeted operating results. We believe the adjusted results are useful to investors because they help them compare our results to previous periods and provide important insights into underlying trends in the business and how management oversees our business operations on a day-to-day basis. As an example, we adjust for acquisition-related expenses, such as amortization of intangibles and impacts of fair value adjustments because they generally are not related to the acquired business' core business performance. As an additional example, we exclude the costs of restructuring programs, which can occur from time to time for our current businesses and/or recently acquired businesses. We exclude the costs in calculating adjusted results to allow us and investors to evaluate the performance of the business based upon its expected ongoing operating structure. We believe the adjusted measures, accompanied by the disclosure of the costs of these programs, provides valuable insight.

Adjusted results should be considered only in conjunction with results reported according to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.

BELDEN INC.

RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES

(Unaudited)

We define free cash flow, which is a non-GAAP financial measure, as net cash from operating activities adjusted for capital expenditures net of the proceeds from the disposal of assets. We believe free cash flow provides useful information to investors regarding our ability to generate cash from business operations that is available for acquisitions and other investments, service of debt principal, dividends and share repurchases. We use free cash flow, as defined, as one financial measure to monitor and evaluate performance and liquidity. Non-GAAP financial measures should be considered only in conjunction with financial measures reported according to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. Our definition of free cash flow may differ from definitions used by other companies.

Our guidance is based upon information currently available regarding events and conditions that will impact our future operating results. In particular, our results are subject to the factors listed under "Forward-Looking Statements" in this release. In addition, our actual results are likely to be impacted by other additional events for which information is not available, such as asset impairments, adjustments related to acquisitions and divestitures, severance, restructuring, and acquisition integration costs, gains (losses) recognized on the disposal of assets, gains (losses) on debt extinguishment, discontinued operations, and other gains (losses) related to events or conditions that are not yet known. Such information is not available for our 2025 fiscal year, and therefore we are unable to estimate 2025 GAAP income from continuing operations per diluted share attributable to Belden common stockholders.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains, and any statements made by us concerning the subject matter of this release may contain, forward-looking statements, including our outlook for the second quarter and full year 2023 and Adjusted EPS for 2025. Forward-looking statements also include any statements regarding future financial performance (including revenues, growth, expenses, earnings, margins, cash flows, dividends, capital expenditures and financial condition), plans and objectives, and related assumptions. In some cases these statements are identifiable through the use of words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “guide,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “target,” “can,” “could,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements reflect management’s current beliefs and expectations and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those suggested by any forward-looking statements for a number of reasons, including, without limitation: the impact of a challenging global economy or a downturn in served markets; the competitiveness of the global markets in which we operate; the inability of the Company to develop and introduce new products and competitive responses to our products; the inability to execute and realize the expected benefits from strategic initiatives (including revenue growth, cost control, and productivity improvement programs); foreign and domestic political, economic and other uncertainties, including changes in currency exchange rates; the impact of disruptions in the global supply chain, including the inability to timely obtain raw materials and components in sufficient quantities on commercially reasonable terms; the inability to achieve our strategic priorities in emerging markets; the impact of changes in global tariffs and trade agreements; volatility in credit and foreign exchange markets; the presence of substitute products in the marketplace; disruptions in the Company’s information systems including due to cyber-attacks leading to exposures of personally identifiable information; inflation and changes in the price and availability of raw materials leading to higher input and labor costs; the lack of certainty as to the duration and magnitude of the impact of COVID-19 and the economic recovery from that impact; difficulty in forecasting revenue due to the unpredictable timing of orders related to customer projects as well as the impacts of channel inventory; changes in tax laws and variability in the Company’s quarterly and annual effective tax rates; the increased prevalence of cloud computing; the inability to successfully complete and integrate acquisitions in furtherance of the Company’s strategic plan; the inability to retain key employees; the increased influence of chief information officers on purchasing decisions; disruption of, or changes in, the Company’s key distribution channels; the presence of activists proposing certain actions by the Company; perceived or actual product failures; the impact of regulatory requirements and other legal compliance issues; inability to satisfy the increasing expectations with respect to environmental, social and governance matters; assertions that the Company violates the intellectual property of others and the ownership of intellectual property by competitors and others that prevents the use of that intellectual property by the Company; risks related to the use of open source software; the impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets and the resulting impact on financial performance; disruptions and increased costs attendant to collective bargaining groups and other labor matters; and other factors.

For a more complete discussion of risk factors, please see our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on February 24, 2023. Although the content of this release represents our best judgment as of the date of this report based on information currently available and reasonable assumptions, we give no assurances that the expectations will prove to be accurate. Deviations from the expectations may be material. For these reasons, Belden cautions readers to not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Belden disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise, except as required by law.

About Belden

Belden Inc. delivers the infrastructure that makes the digital journey simpler, smarter and secure. We’re moving beyond connectivity, from what we make to what we make possible through a performance-driven portfolio, forward-thinking expertise and purpose-built solutions. With a legacy of quality and reliability spanning 120-plus years, we have a strong foundation to continue building the future. We are headquartered in St. Louis and have manufacturing capabilities in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. For more information, visit us at www.belden.com; follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

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