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TENNANT COMPANY
2011
ANNUAL REPORT
Form 10–K
(Pursuant to Securities Exchange Act of 1934)
EM 1 – Business
General Development of Business
Tennant Company, a Minnesota corporation that was incorporated in 1909, is a world leader in designing, manufacturing and marketing solutions that help create a cleaner, safer, healthier world. The Company’s floor maintenance and outdoor cleaning equipment, chemical-free and other sustainable cleaning technologies, coatings and related products are used to clean and coat surfaces in factories, office buildings, parking lots and streets, airports, hospitals, schools, warehouses, shopping centers and other retail environments, and more. Customers include building service contract cleaners to whom organizations outsource facilities maintenance, as well as end-user businesses, healthcare facilities, schools and local, state and federal governments who handle facilities maintenance themselves. The Company reaches these customers through the industry’s largest direct sales and service organization and through a strong and well-supported network of authorized distributors worldwide.
Segment and Geographic Area Financial Information
The Company has one reportable business segment. Sales to customers geographically located in the United States were $392.5 million, $354.5 million and $313.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively. Additional financial information on the Company’s segment and geographic areas is provided in Note 18 of the Consolidated Financial Statements.
Principal Products, Markets and Distribution
The Company offers products and solutions mainly consisting of mechanized cleaning equipment targeted at commercial and industrial markets; parts, consumables and service maintenance and repair; business solutions such as pay-for-use offerings, rental and leasing programs; and water-based cleaning technologies that reduce the need for chemicals in the cleaning process. Adjacent products include coatings and floor preservation products. Tennant Company’s suite of offerings are marketed and sold under a variety of brands, including Tennant®, Nobles®, Green Machines®, Alfa and Orbio®. The Orbio brand of products and solutions is developed and managed by Orbio Technologies, a group created by Tennant to focus on expanding the opportunities for water-based sustainable technologies such as ec-H2O™ technology and Orbio 5000-Sc. Tennant Company’s products are sold through direct and distribution channels in various regions around the world. In North America, Brazil, Australia, China, Japan and most of Western Europe products are sold through a direct sales organization and independent distributors. In more than 80 other countries, Tennant relies on a broad network of independent distributors.
Raw Materials
The Company has not experienced any significant or unusual problems in the availability of raw materials or other product components. The Company has sole-source vendors for certain components. A disruption in supply from such vendors may disrupt the Company’s operations. However, the Company believes that it can find alternate sources in the event there is a disruption in supply from such vendors.
Intellectual Property
Although the Company considers that its patents, proprietary technologies, customer relationships, licenses, trademarks, trade names and brand names in the aggregate constitute a valuable asset, it does not regard its business as being materially dependent upon any single intellectual property.
Seasonality
Although the Company’s business is not seasonal in the traditional sense, historically revenues and earnings have been more concentrated in the fourth quarter of each year reflecting the tendency of customers to increase capital spending during such quarter and the Company’s efforts to close those orders which then reduces order backlogs. In addition, the Company offers annual distributor rebates and sales commissions which tend to drive sales in the fourth quarter. In 2011, the highest sales quarter was the second quarter due primarily to very strong sales of scrubbers, most equipped with ec-H2O technology.
Working Capital
The Company funds operations through a combination of cash and cash equivalents and cash flows from operations. Wherever possible, cash management is centralized and intercompany financing is used to provide working capital to subsidiaries as needed. In addition, credit facilities are available for additional working capital needs or investment opportunities.
Major Customers
The Company sells its products to a wide variety of customers, none of which is of material importance in relation to the business as a whole. The customer base includes several governmental entities which generally have terms similar to other customers.
Competition
While there is no publicly available industry data concerning market share, the Company believes, through its own market research, that it is a world-leading manufacturer of floor maintenance and cleaning equipment. Significant competitors exist in all key geographic regions. However, the key competitors vary by region. The Company competes primarily on the basis of offering a broad line of high-quality, innovative products supported by an extensive sales and service network in major markets.
The Company’s competition has initiated legal and/or regulatory challenges in multiple jurisdictions challenging Tennant’s advertising claims pertaining to its ec-H2O water-based technology. The Company does not currently view these proceedings as material and does not expect the outcome to have a material adverse effect on operating results or financial condition.
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Research and Development
The Company strives to be an industry leader in innovation and is committed to investing in research and development. The Company’s Global Innovation Center in Minnesota and engineers throughout the global locations are dedicated to various activities including researching new technologies to create meaningful product differentiation, development of new products, improvements of existing product design or manufacturing processes and exploring new product applications with customers. In 2011, 2010 and 2009, the Company spent $27.9 million, $26.0 million and $23.0 million on research and development, respectively.
Environmental Compliance
Compliance with Federal, State and local provisions which have been enacted or adopted regulating the discharge of materials into the environment, or otherwise relating to the protection of the environment, has not had, and the Company does not expect it to have, a material effect upon the Company’s capital expenditures, earnings or competitive position.
Employees
The Company employed 2,865 people in worldwide operations as of December 31, 2011.
Available Information
The Company makes available free of charge, through the Company’s website at www.tennantco.com, its annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable when such material is filed electronically with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).