On this page of StockholderLetter.com we present the latest annual shareholder letter from APOGEE ENTERPRISES, INC. — ticker symbol APOG. Reading current and past APOG letters to shareholders can bring important insights into the investment thesis.

 •  5/9/2024 Letter Continued (Full PDF)
 •  5/12/2023 APOG Stockholder Letter
 •  More "Construction Materials & Machinery" Category Stockholder Letters
 •  APOG Benford's Law Stock Score = 88

APOG Shareholder/Stockholder Letter Transcript:

Apogee Enterprises, Inc.
Fiscal 2024 Annual Report


   As we move into fiscal 2025, we intend to build upon
the gains we   ve achieved, while positioning the
Company for long-term growth.   
Ty R. Silberhorn, Chief Executive Officer
Fellow shareholders,
Fiscal 2024 was another great year for Apogee, as our team
achieved tremendous success through executing our
strategy. We further strengthened our operating foundation,
leading to strong financial performance. I want to recognize
the entire Apogee team for their contributions to our
continued success.
Celebrating 75 Years
This year, we are celebrating Apogee   s 75th anniversary. This
is a momentous milestone that few companies achieve,
which speaks to the strength of our people and the value we
provide to our customers. Our Company was started by a
hard-working entrepreneur named Harold Burrows, who
opened an auto glass replacement business in Minneapolis
in 1949. From this humble beginning, Apogee has built an
amazing record of growth and innovation, adapting to
shifting markets and transforming our business. I have
confidence we will continue to build on this legacy.
Advancing Our Strategy
Three years ago, we arrived at another inflection point in the
Company   s history. We embarked on a new strategic
direction, with the goal of building a stronger foundation for
long-term profitable growth. In fiscal 2024, our team made
further progress to advance our strategy.
We delivered significant productivity gains through the
continued deployment of the Apogee Management System,
our operating framework that is based on the foundation of
Lean and Continuous Improvement. We grew our mix of
differentiated products and service offerings, providing
more value for our customers. Finally, we continued to
strengthen our core capabilities, building center-led
functional expertise to support the needs of our business
and customers.
During the year, we announced strategic actions to further
improve our business operations and better position the
Company for profitable growth. These actions, referred to as
Project Fortify, build on the success we   ve achieved by
improving our cost structure, enabling productivity gains,
and allowing our team to focus on higher-growth, higherreturn opportunities.
Fiscal 2024 Results
The progress we   ve made executing our strategy was evident
in our financial results. Operating income increased to a
record $134 million. Diluted earnings per share (   EPS   ) were
$4.51 and adjusted diluted EPS i grew to $4.77. We are proud
to have delivered this result given some of the market
headwinds we faced during the year, which resulted in net
sales declining by 2 percent to $1.42 billion.
Throughout the year, our Architectural Glass 6egment
delivered exceptional performance. Glass delivered 20%
sales growth, and segment operating margin doubled
compared to a year ago. These terrific results reflect the
segment   s strategic transformation. We   ve improved our
cost structure, delivered meaningful productivity gains, and
drove our sales mix toward higher value-added, premium
products. This segment, operating under the Viracon brand,
has clearly established itself as the economic leader in our
target market.
Three years ago, we also set enterprise financial targets for
adjusted return on invested capital (ROIC), adjusted
operating margin, and revenue growth, to measure the
progress of our strategy.

enterprise-wide health and safety program, to build
centralized oversight of workplace safety and to drive best
practices across our business. This commitment to building
a culture of safety is one of the best investments we can
make in our business.
We have made strong progress toward achieving these
targets. In fiscal 2024, adjusted ROIC improved to 16.5%, well
above our 12% target. Adjusted operating margin also
exceeded our target, coming in at 10.3%, a 160 basis point
improvement compared to last year, and 320 basis points
better than fiscal 2021.
On revenue growth, we fell short of our goal of outgrowing
the industry. In part, this was a function of our strategy to
improve ROIC and operating margins, while growing overall
profit dollars. We   ve moved away from some lower-return
offerings, creating a headwind for revenue. Sales growth was
also impacted by shifting dynamics in our end markets. We
remain committed to outgrowing the market, and this will
be the primary focus for our team as we move forward, with
strong guardrails for margin and ROIC expectations in place.
Cash flow was another highlight for the year, with cash from
operations increasing to a record $204 million. We put this
cash to work to drive value for our shareholders. We invested
$43 million in capital expenditures to expand capacity and
enhance productivity through automation. We paid down
$108 million of debt, further strengthening the Company   s
financial position, and we returned $33 million of capital to
shareholders. This included increasing our dividend for the
eleventh consecutive year.
Strengthening our Team
Throughout our history, people have always been the key to
Apogee   s success. This year, we continued to prioritize our
people, working to hire, train, and develop a talented team
of employees and leaders. We welcomed two new leaders to
our executive team, Matt Osberg, our Chief Financial Officer,
and Michelle Roemer, our Chief Information Officer. Across
our organization, we improved our approach to talent
management, including leadership development programs,
functional and professional training, and the launch of the
Women @ Apogee program. We also adopted an
Looking Ahead
As we move into fiscal 2025, we intend to build upon the
gains we   ve achieved, while positioning the Company for
long-term growth. Over the next year, we see a mixed
picture for our end markets, with some headwinds in the
market, especially in commercial construction. We expect
this will be offset by continued growth in institutional and
infrastructure projects, which are a growing part of our
overall business mix. Regardless of the market environment,
we have driven sustainable improvements across our
business, which put us on a solid foundation for continued
success.
Our top priority in the coming year is to better position the
Company for long-term growth. We are adopting a growth
mindset in everything we do, focused on seizing
opportunities to outperform the overall market. Our
combination of leading brands, deep industry relationships,
and differentiated offerings positions us well to gain share
in our industry. We will also continue to focus on diversifying
our sales mix, concentrating on higher growth sectors of the
market and expanding into attractive adjacencies.
Additionally, we will continue to evaluate investment
opportunities that could accelerate our growth, including
both organic investments and acquisitions.
I am exceptionally proud of what our team accomplished in
fiscal 2024. We are focused on building on this success to
deliver another successful year in fiscal 2025, while
positioning us for fiscal 2026 and beyond. Thank you for
your continued support and interest in Apogee Enterprises.
I look forward to the future with confidence, and a continued
focus on Creating Peak Value.
Ty Silberhorn
Chief Executive Officer and President
This letter includes measures of financial performance that are not defined by GAAP, including adjusted diluted EPS, adjusted
operating margin, and adjusted return on invested capital (ROIC). We provide a reconciliation of the differences between these historical
non-GAAP measures and the most directly comparable GAAP measures in Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year
ended March 2, 2024.
i



 5/9/2024 Letter Continued (Full PDF)