Organization

6 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Organization and Basis of Presentation

Mueller Water Products, Inc., a Delaware corporation, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates in two business segments: Water Flow Solutions and Water Management Solutions. These segments are based on a management reorganization that became effective October 1, 2021; prior period information has been recast to conform to the current presentation. Water Flow Solutions’ product portfolio includes iron gate valves, specialty valves and service brass products. Water Management Solutions’ product and service portfolio includes fire hydrants, repair and installation, natural gas, metering, leak detection, pressure control and software products. The “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our” refer to Mueller Water Products, Inc. and its subsidiaries, and may also refer to the segment being discussed.

On December 3, 2018, we completed our acquisition of Krausz Industries Development Ltd. and subsidiaries (“Krausz”). During the quarter ended March 31, 2021, we aligned the consolidation of the financial statements of Krausz in the Company’s consolidated financial statements, eliminating the previous inclusion of Krausz financial statements with a one-month reporting lag. In accordance with applicable accounting literature, the elimination of the one-month reporting lag is considered to be a change in accounting principle. We believe this change in accounting principle is preferable as the financial statements of all of our subsidiaries are now reported on the same basis, providing the most current information available. The effect of the elimination of the reporting lag during the year ended September 30, 2021 resulted in an increase of $6.0 million to net sales and an increase of $1.4 million to operating income. We concluded that the effect of this change is not material to the balance sheets, statements of operations, statements of cash flows, net income and earnings per share and therefore have not retrospectively applied this change.

On June 14, 2021, we acquired all the outstanding capital stock of i2O Water Ltd (“i2O”), a provider of pressure management solutions to more than 100 water companies in 45 countries. The consolidated balance sheet at September 30, 2021 included the preliminary estimated fair values of the net assets of i2O. The accounting for this business combination became final during the three months ended March 31, 2022. The results of i2O’s operations and cash flows subsequent to the acquisition are included in the Company’s consolidated statement of operations and consolidated statement of cash flows, respectively. Refer to Note 2. for additional disclosures related to the acquisition.

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 in recording assets, liabilities, sales and expenses as well as in the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. 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, 2021. In our opinion, all normal and recurring adjustments that we consider necessary for a fair financial statement presentation have been made. The condensed consolidated balance sheet at September 30, 2021 was derived from audited financial statements, but it does not include all disclosures required by GAAP.

Our business is seasonal as a result of cold weather conditions. Net sales and operating income historically have been lowest in the three month periods ending December 31 and March 31 when the northern United States and all of Canada generally face weather conditions that restrict significant construction activity.

In preparing these financial statements in conformity with GAAP, we have considered and, where appropriate, included the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations. The pandemic continues to provide significant challenges to the U.S. and global economies.

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.

Recently Adopted Accounting Guidance

During 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 326 - Current Expected Credit Losses to replace the “incurred loss” impairment approach with an “expected loss” approach, which requires consideration of a broader range of reasonable and supportable information to inform credit loss estimates. We completed historical and forward-looking analyses for receivables and adopted this guidance effective October 1, 2020. Upon adoption, there was no material impact to our financial statements.

In December 2019, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2019-12, "Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes” (“ASU 2019-12”). ASU 2019-12 simplifies the accounting for income taxes by clarifying and amending existing guidance related to the recognition of franchise tax, the evaluation of a step up in the tax basis of goodwill, and the effects of enacted changes in tax laws or rates in the effective tax rate computation, among other clarifications. ASU 2019-12 is effective for public business entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, including interim periods within that fiscal year, with early adoption permitted. We adopted this standard on October 1, 2021 and there was no material impact to our financial statements.

In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-04, "Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting" (“ASU 2020-04”). This guidance provides optional expedients and exceptions for applying GAAP to contracts, hedging relationships and other transactions affected by reference rate reform if certain criteria are met. The amendments apply only to contracts and hedging relationships that reference the London Inter Bank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) or another reference rate expected to be discontinued due to reference rate reform. ASU 2020-04 is effective from March 12, 2020, but can be adopted prospectively from a date within an interim period subsequent to March 12, 2020. We evaluated our contracts and the optional expedients provided by ASU 2020-04. We adopted this standard on October 1, 2021 and there was no material impact to our financial statements.

Restructuring

Since November 2019, we have announced the purchase and closure of several facilities. We purchased a new facility in Kimball, Tennessee to support and enhance our investment in our Chattanooga, Tennessee large casting foundry and closed our facilities in Hammond, Indiana, Woodland, Washington and Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. We also announced the closure of our facility in Aurora, Illinois which we expect to complete substantially by the third quarter of fiscal year 2022. The majority of the activities from these facilities have been, or will be, transferred to our Kimball, Tennessee facility. Activity in accrued restructuring, reported as part of Other current liabilities, is presented below.


	Six months ended
	March 31,
	2022		2021

	(in millions)
Beginning balance	$	3.1	$	2.8
Amounts accrued	1.6		1.0
Amounts paid	(2.6)		(1.6)
Ending balance	$	2.1	$	2.2