Organization

3 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Mueller Water Products, Inc., a Delaware corporation, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates in two business segments: Infrastructure and Technologies. Infrastructure manufactures valves for water and gas systems, including butterfly, iron gate, tapping, check, knife, plug and ball valves, as well as dry-barrel and wet-barrel fire hydrants and a broad line of pipe repair products, such as clamps and couplings used to repair leaks. Technologies offers metering systems, leak detection, pipe condition assessment and other related products and services. The “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our” refer to Mueller Water Products, Inc. and its subsidiaries. With regard to the Company’s segments, “we,” “us” or “our” may also refer to the segment being discussed.

Infrastructure owns a 49% ownership interest in an industrial valve joint venture. Due to substantive control features in the operating agreement, all of the joint venture’s assets, liabilities and results of operations are included in our consolidated financial statements. The net income or loss attributable to noncontrolling interest is included in selling, general and administrative expenses. Noncontrolling interest is recorded at its carrying value, which approximates fair value.

Unless the context indicates otherwise, whenever we refer to a particular year, we mean our fiscal year ended or ending September 30 in that particular calendar year.

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”), which require us to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, sales and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities for the reporting periods. Actual results could differ from those estimates. All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated. These condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2018. In our opinion, all normal and recurring adjustments that we consider necessary for a fair financial statement presentation have been made. Certain reclassifications have been made to previously reported amounts to conform to the current presentation. The condensed consolidated balance sheet data at September 30, 2018 was derived from audited financial statements, but it does not include all disclosures required by GAAP.

On December 3, 2018, we completed our acquisition of Krausz Industries Ltd. (“Krausz”). The operating results of Krausz are reported on a one-month lag beginning in the quarter ended December 31, 2018. For the quarter ended December 31, 2018, the consolidated balance sheet includes an estimated opening balance sheet for Krausz, but the consolidated statements of operations and of cash flows exclude the results of Krausz’s operations. Refer to Note 2 for additional disclosures related to the acquisition.

HR-1, commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, was enacted on December 22, 2017 and made significant revisions to federal income tax laws, including lowering the corporate income tax rate to 21% from 35%, effective January 1, 2018. The effects of these revisions are discussed in Note 4.

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued new guidance for the recognition of revenue and requiring additional financial statement disclosures. On October 1, 2018, we adopted the new guidance related to revenue recognition from contracts with customers. The new guidance was adopted using the modified retrospective approach and no transition adjustment was required. See Note 3 for more information regarding our adoption of ASC 606 - Revenue from Contracts with Customers.

During 2016, FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2016-02 Leases, which will require us to recognize lease assets and lease liabilities for those leases currently referred to as operating leases. We will adopt this guidance using the modified retrospective transition method beginning in the first quarter of fiscal 2020. We are currently assessing our specific implementation approach and finalizing our estimate of the impact of this Update, which we do not believe will be material to our consolidated financial statements as a whole.

In 2017, we announced a strategic reorganization plan designed to accelerate our product innovation and revenue growth, through the adoption of a matrix management structure, where business teams have line and cross-functional responsibility for managing distinct product portfolios, and engineering, operations, sales and marketing and other functions are centralized to better align with business needs and generate greater efficiencies, which was essentially completed in 2018. In October 2018, we announced the move of our Middleborough, Massachusetts facility to Atlanta to consolidate our resources and accelerate product innovation through creation of a research and development center of excellence for software and electronics. Costs and expenses in the quarters ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 for these plans, included in strategic reorganization and other charges, were primarily personnel-related.

Activity in accrued restructuring, reported as part of other current liabilities, is presented below.



	Three months ended
	December 31,
	2018			2017
	(in millions)
Beginning balance	$	0.9		$	3.3
Expense	2.4			2.3
Payments	(1.1		)	(1.4		)
Ending balance	$	2.2		$	4.2