ATLANTA — August 7, 2018 — Interface Inc., a global commercial flooring company and worldwide leader in sustainability, today closed its previously announced acquisition of nora systems via a stock purchase transaction valued at approximately $400 million. Nora is a global leader in performance flooring and worldwide share leader in the rubber flooring category, and was previously majority owned by investment firm Intermediate Capital Group (ICG).
This acquisition expands Interface’s fast growing resilient flooring portfolio and advances its strategy to serve customers in high-growth segments such as healthcare, life sciences, education and transportation. Rubber flooring is ideal for applications that require hygienic, safe flooring with strong chemical resistance. Additionally, it is extremely durable compared to other flooring alternatives.
Nora is considered the leading premium brand in its category, and its rubber flooring products complement Interface’s existing portfolio of modular carpet tile and LVT products. Moving forward, Interface will continue to offer rubber flooring under the nora® brand name.
“We expect the nora acquisition to accelerate our value creation strategy and drive positive results for all of our key stakeholders,” said Jay Gould, Interface CEO. “We are eager to start working with our new nora colleagues to better serve our customers. Together we can deliver a wider range of options that meet our customers’ requirements in different commercial applications, helping Interface and our customers to win in the marketplace.”
The nora acquisition is expected to be accretive to Interface’s adjusted earnings per share, beginning in the third quarter. Nora is anticipated to increase the company’s Adjusted EPS, a non-GAAP measure, $0.03 to $0.06 in 2018, and $0.15 to $0.20 in 2019.
“We are pleased to deliver an accretive acquisition while maintaining a very manageable net debt leverage ratio,” said Bruce Hausmann, Interface CFO. “At the same time, as we announced previously, we are financing the nora transaction with debt by amending and extending our existing credit facility which effectively refinances all of Interface’s debt at lower rates while extending maturity dates out for five years. This is a fantastic outcome.”
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Interface provides adjusted earnings per share as additional information regarding its projected operating results in this press release. These measures are not in accordance with – or alternatives to – GAAP, and may be different from non-GAAP EPS and other non-GAAP measures used by other companies. Adjusted EPS excludes certain transaction costs and purchase accounting related amortization related to the nora acquisition. This news release should be read in conjunction with the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K furnished today to the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, which explains why Interface believes presentation of these non-GAAP measures provides useful information to investors, as well as any additional material purposes for which Interface uses these non-GAAP measures.
Interface at this time cannot reasonably quantify the GAAP basis impact of the nora transaction to earnings per share without unreasonable efforts, as such calculations are highly dependent upon the the nature of the purchase price accounting adjustments and their impacts going forward. While the ultimate effect of the transaction on Interface’s future GAAP EPS cannot be predicted at this time for the reasons stated, we expect that for 2018 and 2019 the effect of the transaction will be negative to our GAAP EPS.
Posted August 7, 2018
Source: Interface Inc.
