Johnson Controls International plc (NYSE:JCI) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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So it’s really across the board on all of our cost elements in line with being much more simple, much more standard, and more agile in how we now pursue growth.

Joseph O’Dea: And then could you talk about service order trends by region when we look at EMEALA, the last couple of quarters, we’re looking at low double-digit, mid-teens type of growth in service orders in each of those quarters, whereas in North America, we’ve been seeing low single digit. So what you’re seeing in terms of sort of differences in terms of those growth rates, demand trends on the service order side in field?

George R. Oliver: Yes. Let me just touch upon the fundamentals, and Marc can talk a little bit about the orders. The fundamentals here, we’re increasing our detach rates and now we’re up to mid to upper 40 percentile. We’re getting a more — a higher percentage of our installed base served. This year, we’re going to be able to expand our connected assets by well over 10,000. We’re going to be able to get PSA growth longer-term services up over 20%. And then when you look at the way that we’re connecting our services, we’re getting much lower attrition rates. That all now is playing out and positioning us for a strong high single-digit service growth again this year. On the order rates, as we look at any one of those elements, we’re consistently driving that strategy across all three regions. So Marc, maybe you want to comment?

Marc Vandiepenbeeck: Yes, commenting on the three regions. So North America is our largest service business, and was also unfortunately the most impacted by the cyber disruption. So that’s why you see a little bit of softness in Q1. It’s a very transactional business, day-to-day business that has a lot of automation and reliance on our system to be able to order — book orders and execute that revenue rapidly. The fundamentals of that business hasn’t changed, and I think the recovery is coming in the balance of the year, and we are seeing now in the second quarter a really strong pickup in that business. If you look at EMEALA and Asia, touching on EMEALA first, those are mature businesses, but at a different part of the cycle when it comes to growth.

There’s enormous amount of opportunity in getting after our installed base and continuously maturing our business model similarly to what we’ve done in North America to really drive long-term double-digit growth in those service business. And in Asia Pacific, particularly in China, part of our refocus on the market is really focusing on those sub-segments of the market, where we see a strong long-term service profile for our business in order for us to really maximize the whole life cycle of those opportunities.

Joseph O’Dea: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question today comes from Deane Dray at RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Deane Dray: Thank you, good morning everyone. Just a quick question from me please. Regarding the potential or expected divestitures, a separation of Resi, what would that do to RemainCo in terms of free cash flow potential, just maybe down to the level of working capital, does that change your ability to hit this target of 100% free cash flow conversion?

George R. Oliver: Yes. Not at all, Deane. I mean we’ve been working on our free cash flow and the fundamentals of that across both the building solutions to be able to get more billing upfront and more in line with revenue, and then in our Global Products business have significantly improved, not only the inventory, but also our ability to be able to collect. So as far as the commitment to our free cash flow target, we’re going to be well positioned to be able to deliver on that target.

Operator: Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I’d like to turn the conference back over to George Oliver for any closing remarks.

George R. Oliver: Yes, just to wrap up, as we’ve discussed here today, we’ve been on a transformation journey for a number of years and have made incredible progress and have had many successes. While we’re building strong fundamentals, we’re also better leveraging our people and portfolio and ultimately, serving our customers in a better way. We’re very confident we’ve built a very robust operating system across the portfolio and are going to be well positioned to deliver for our shareholders. And I do look forward to updating all of you as we continue to make progress. So with that, operator, that concludes our call.

Operator: Thank you, sir. This concludes today’s conference call. We thank you all for attending today’s presentation. You may now disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful day.

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