Dana Incorporated Increases Guidance for Full Year 2018

MAUMEE, Ohio, March 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dana Incorporated (NYSE: DAN) announced it is raising its 2018 full-year guidance.

Strengthening end-market demand, most notably in off-highway and commercial vehicle, combined with benefits from currency translation are driving an additional 4 percent increase in expected sales growth in 2018 compared with the company's prior full-year target.  Due to the improved market conditions combined with sales from the new business backlog, 2018 sales are now expected to grow by 10 percent, or approximately $700 million, compared with 2017. 

Adjusted EBITDA for 2018 is now expected to increase by approximately $145 million, or 80 basis points of margin improvement, when compared with 2017.  The revised target is a $45 million dollar or 5 percent increase, compared with the company's prior full-year guidance, and represents 10 basis points of margin improvement.  This margin improvement is driven by conversion on higher sales and overachievement of the synergy plan.

"Our continued strong financial performance, driven by our organic and inorganic sales growth and the execution of our synergy plan related to recent acquisitions, has provided us with increased confidence in our outlook for 2018 – and further solidified our trajectory toward achieving our long-term targets," said Jonathan Collins, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Dana.

Updated 2018 Full-year Financial Targets

• Sales of $7.75 to $8.05 billion;
• Adjusted EBITDA of $950 to $1,010 million, an implied adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 12.4 percent;
• Diluted adjusted EPS¹ of $2.75 to $3.05;
• Operating cash flow of approximately 7.5 percent of sales;
• Capital spending of approximately 4.0 percent of sales; and
• Free cash flow of approximately 3.5 percent of sales.

¹Net income and diluted EPS guidance are not provided, as discussed below in Non-GAAP Financial Information.

Dana to Host Investor Forum at 7:30 a.m. EDT Today 
Dana has added audio conference capabilities for institutional investors to participate in the investor forum.  U.S. and Canadian locations should dial 1-888-311-4590 and international locations should call 1-706-758-0054.  Please enter conference I.D. 6295605 and ask for the "Dana's Investor Forum."  Phone registration will be available starting at 7:15 a.m. EDT.   Slides will be posted to Dana's investor website: www.dana.com/investors. 

An audio recording of the webcast will be available after 5:30 p.m. EDT on March 19 by dialing 1-855-859-2056 (U.S. or Canada) or 1-404-537-3406 (international) and entering conference I.D. 6295605. 

Non-GAAP Financial Information 
This release refers to adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure which we have defined as net income before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, equity grant expense, restructuring expense and other adjustments not related to our core operations (gain/loss on debt extinguishment, pension settlements, divestitures, impairment, etc.). Adjusted EBITDA is a measure of our ability to maintain and continue to invest in our operations and provide shareholder returns.  We use adjusted EBITDA in assessing the effectiveness of our business strategies, evaluating and pricing potential acquisitions and as a factor in making incentive compensation decisions. In addition to its use by management, we also believe adjusted EBITDA is a measure widely used by securities analysts, investors and others to evaluate financial performance of our company relative to other Tier 1 automotive suppliers.  Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered a substitute for income before income taxes, net income or other results reported in accordance with GAAP.  Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

Diluted adjusted EPS is a non-GAAP financial measure, which we have defined as adjusted net income divided by adjusted diluted shares.  We define adjusted net income as net income (loss) attributable to the parent company, excluding any nonrecurring income tax items, restructuring and impairment expense, amortization expense, and other adjustments not related to our core operations (as used in adjusted EBITDA), net of any associated income tax effects.  We define adjusted diluted shares as diluted shares as determined in accordance with GAAP based on adjusted net income.  This measure is considered useful for purposes of providing investors, analysts, and other interested parties with an indicator of ongoing financial performance that provides enhanced comparability to EPS reported by other companies.  Diluted adjusted EPS is neither intended to represent nor be an alternative measure to diluted EPS reported under GAAP.

Free cash flow is a non-GAAP financial measure, which we have defined as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities, less purchases of property, plant, and equipment.  We believe this measure is useful to investors in evaluating the operational cash flow of the company inclusive of the spending required to maintain the operations.  Free cash flow is neither intended to represent nor be an alternative to the measure of net cash provided by (used in) operating activities reported under GAAP.  Free cash flow may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

Please reference the "Non-GAAP financial information" accompanying our quarterly earnings conference call presentations on our website at www.dana.com/investors for reconciliations of adjusted EBITDA, diluted adjusted EPS and free cash flow to the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.  We have not provided a reconciliation of our adjusted EBITDA and diluted adjusted EPS outlook to the most comparable GAAP measures of net income and diluted EPS.  Providing net income and diluted EPS guidance is potentially misleading and not practical given the difficulty of projecting event-driven transactional and other non-core operating items that are included in net income and diluted EPS, including restructuring actions, asset impairments and income tax valuation adjustments.  The reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures with the most comparable GAAP measures for the historical periods presented on our website are indicative of the reconciliations that will be prepared upon completion of the periods covered by the non-GAAP guidance.

Important Information for Investors and Stockholders 
This release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval. In connection with the proposed transactions between Dana and GKN plc, an entity to be formed for the proposed transactions ("SpinCo") will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") a registration statement containing a proxy statement/prospectus, which will constitute a preliminary prospectus of SpinCo and a preliminary proxy statement of Dana, and Dana will file with the SEC a definitive proxy statement on Schedule 14A. The materials to be filed by Dana and SpinCo will be made available to Dana's investors and stockholders at no expense to them and, once available, copies may be obtained free of charge on Dana's website at www.dana.com. In addition, all of those materials will be available at no charge on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Investors and stockholders of Dana are urged to read the registration statement, the proxy statement and other relevant materials when they become available before making any voting or investment decision with respect to the proposed transactions because they contain important information about the proposed transactions and the parties to the proposed transactions.

Dana and its directors, executive officers and other members of its management and employees may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies of Dana stockholders in connection with the proposed transactions. Investors and stockholders may obtain more detailed information regarding the names, affiliations and interests of certain of Dana's executive officers and directors in the solicitation by reading Dana's preliminary proxy statement for its 2018 annual meeting of stockholders, Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, and proxy statement and other relevant materials which will be filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed transactions when they become available. Information concerning the interests of Dana's participants in the solicitation, which may, in some cases, be different than those of Dana's stockholders generally, will be set forth in the proxy statement relating to the proposed transactions when it becomes available.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements 
Certain statements and projections contained in this release are, by their nature, forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry and business, management's beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us, all of which are subject to change. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will," "should," "would," "could," "potential," "continue," "ongoing," similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements about the potential benefits of the proposed transactions; the prospective performance and outlook of the combined company's business, performance and opportunities, including the ability of the parties to complete the proposed transactions and the expected timing of completion of the proposed transactions; our ability to successfully complete a secondary listing of our shares; as well as any assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Such risks and uncertainties, include, without limitation, risks related to Dana's ability to complete the proposed transactions on the proposed terms and schedule, including obtaining shareholder and regulatory approvals; unforeseen liabilities; future capital expenditures; risks associated with business combination transactions, such as the risk that the businesses will not be integrated successfully, that such integration may be more difficult, time-consuming or costly than expected or that the expected benefits of the proposed transactions will not occur; risks related to future opportunities and plans for the combined company, including uncertainty of the expected financial performance and results of the combined company following completion of the proposed transactions; disruption from the proposed transactions, making it more difficult to conduct business as usual or maintain relationships with customers, employers or suppliers; and the possibility that if the combined company does not achieve the perceived benefits of the proposed transactions as rapidly or to the extent anticipated by financial analysts or investors, the market price of the combined company's shares could decline, as well as other risks related to Dana's business. Dana's Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss important risk factors that could affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of this date. Dana does not undertake any obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement for any reason. 

About Dana Incorporated  
Dana is a world leader in highly engineered solutions for improving the efficiency, performance, and sustainability of powered vehicles and machinery.  Dana supports the passenger vehicle, commercial truck, and off-highway markets, as well as industrial and stationary equipment applications.  Founded in 1904, Dana employs more than 30,000 people in 33 countries on six continents who are committed to delivering long-term value to customers.  Based in Maumee, Ohio, USA, the company reported sales of $7.2 billion in 2017. Dana is ranked among the Drucker Institute's listing of the 250 most effectively managed companies.   For more information, please visit dana.com.

SOURCE Dana Incorporated

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