Alamo Group, Inc.

Participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Ed Rizzuti, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary. Please go ahead.

Thank you. By now, you should have all received a copy of the press release. However, if anyone is missing a copy and would like to receive one, please contact us at 212-827-3746, and we will send you a release and make sure you're on the company's distribution list. There will be a replay of the call, which will begin one hour after the call and run for one week. The replay can be accessed by dialing 844-512-2921 with the passcode 1376. Additionally, the call is being webcast on the company's website at www.alamo-group.com, and a replay will be available for 60 days. On the line with me today are Jeff Leonard, President and Chief Executive Officer, Richard Worley, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and Dan Malone, Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer. Management will make some opening remarks, and then we'll open up the line for your questions. During the call today, management may reference certain non-GAAP numbers in their remarks. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP results to applicable GAAP numbers are included in the attachments to our earnings release. Before turning the call over to Jeff, I'd like to make a few comments about forward-looking statements. We will be making forward-looking statements today that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause the company's actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results. Among those factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are the following, market demand, COVID-19 impacts, including operational supply chain disruptions, competition, weather, seasonality, currency-related issues, geopolitical issues, and other risk factors listed from time to time in the company's SEC reports. The company does not undertake any obligation to update the information contained herein, which speaks only as of this date. I would now like to introduce Jeff Leonard. Jeff, please go ahead.

Thank you, Ed. We want to thank all of you for joining us today. Richard will begin our call with a review of our financial results for the fourth quarter and year-end 2022. I will then provide additional comments on the results. Following our formal remarks, we look forward to taking your questions. So, Richard, please go ahead.

Thanks, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. Alamo Group's fourth quarter of 2022 closed with a solid performance that produced record net sales and net income, driven by a strong demand for our products despite persistent supply chain and labor shortage headwind. Fourth quarter net sales were negatively impacted just over 3% by currency translation compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 as the U.S. dollar continued to strengthen. Gross margin dollars in the quarter improved compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 by 14.1 million as did gross margin percent which was up 50 basis points due to both price initiatives taken earlier in the year as well as improved manufacturing efficiencies. Both margin dollars and percentage are negatively impacted by supply chain issues, labor shortages, and freight costs on inbound inventory as surcharges continue to be added to already significantly higher freight invoices. OUR CONTINUED EFFORTS TO CONTROL BOTH COSTS AND EXPENSES HELPED SUPPORT THE INCREASE IN PROFITABILITY. VEGETATION MANAGEMENT DELIVERED A SOLID FOURTH QUARTER FOR 2022 AS MARKETS REMAIN STRONG. FOURTH QUARTER 2022 NET SALES WERE $232.5 MILLION, AN INCREASE OF 14% COMPARED TO $204.3 MILLION FOR THE FOURTH QUARTER OF 2021. Strong demand for forestry, tree care, and agricultural and governmental mowing products in both North America and Europe led the way for this division. Despite labor shortages and supply chain disruptions, margins improved primarily due to an increase in net price realization and improved operating efficiency. Operating income for the fourth quarter truck and sweeper product lines. While truck chassis delivery showed improvement this quarter, other component part shortages continued to impact this division's operations, which in turn drove unfavorable manufacturing efficiencies, although not as significant as in previous quarters. Operating income in the fourth quarter of 2022 was $12.5 million, Consolidated net sales were a record for the full year 2022, coming in at $1.5 billion, up 13% compared to $1.3 billion for the full year of 2021. A strong demand for our products in both companies' divisions, along with positive impact to price initiatives, were the main drivers of the increase. Full year gross margin for 2022 was up over $42 million versus the full year of 2021. Margin percentage was down about 20 basis points as we experienced inflation in material costs, purchase components, and higher inbound freight costs, all of which resulted in higher absorption costs. Net income of the full year of 2022 was $101.9 million, or $8.54 per diluted share, also a record, versus net income of $80.2 million, or $6.75 per diluted share, for the full year of 2021. an increase of 27%. Full year 2022 net sales for the Vegetation Management Division were $937.1 million, compared to $812.7 million for 2021, up 15%. The division experienced robust demand in all product categories, particularly in forestry, free care, and in both North American and European agricultural and governmental mowing. Full year 2022 operating income was 108.5 million of 37% versus 78.9 million for the prior year. For the full year 2022, net sales for the industrial equipment This division's results were negatively impacted by constrained chassis deliveries, supply chain disruptions, manufacturing inefficiencies, and higher input costs in both material and inbound freight costs. The company's backlog at the end of 2022 came in just over $1 billion. This was an increase of 26% compared to backlog for the full year of 2021. This positions the company up for an excellent start for 2023. Turning to a few additional financial items for the year end 2022, our balance sheet continues to remain strong. Working capital increased $117 million to $537 million from $420 million at the end of 2021. The increase in working capital results from higher accounts receivable and inventory. Accounts receivable were up $318 million, up 33% from a year ago, with solid sales volumes. We continue to be really pleased with receivables and no major issues on collections, and incoming cash remains very steady. Inventory is up almost 32 million compared to the end of 2021. This is a reflection from higher work in process, although down from the last two quarters, is also reflected in our modestly higher debt levels. And finally, the company's trailing 12-month EBITDA is a record $196 million. That's up 21% compared to 2021. For 2023, incoming cash flow should remain strong as our focus on the balance sheet will be to reduce both inventory and debt levels. Increasing consolidated profits for 2023 will be extremely important as we will continue to be disciplined in controlling costs and expenses in order to maintain our target margins. We're also focusing on further improvements, supply chain performance to help reduce the amount of inventory we hold in work in process. Our biggest challenge will be in meeting the heightened demand for our products throughout the company given current supply chain constraints and labor shortages. We're pleased that our board recently approved a 22% increase in our regular core dividend of 22 cents per share for the first quarter of 2023. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Jeff.

Thank you, Richard. I'd also like to again thank everyone who's joined our conference call today. We were very pleased that the company was able to leverage positive and sustained market momentum to set new records for sales and earnings for a fourth quarter and to cap off 2022 with the best full-year financial results in company history. Sales in both of our operating divisions were up by double digits as our markets continued to display the significant strength that we experienced throughout 2022. Net sales increased by 15% compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, despite currency translation effects that reduced sales by more than 3% or $10.5 million during the period. For the full year 2022, sales more than 13%, with the currency translation having a negative impact of 2.4%, or $32 million. The vegetation management division net sales in the fourth quarter rose 14%, led by a nearly 20% increase in sales of forestry and tree care equipment, and a more than 20% increase in sales of governmental mowing equipment in North America. Sales of this division's products in South America also increased more than 20%, while sales to the agricultural segment and European sales of governmental mowers were seasonally softer but still showed nice growth. Industrial Equipment Division's fourth quarter net sales were up 16%, led by a 26% increase in sales of street sweepers and debris collection equipment, while sales of its excavators and vacuum trucks were up by nearly 15%. The cold weather experienced in many parts of North America during the quarter also drove sales of the division's snow removal equipment and related spare parts up by 12%. Supply chain performance also continued to improve in the fourth quarter. Compared to the prior year, Class 8 truck chassis receipts were approximately 40% higher in the fourth quarter of 2022, while receipts of Class 6 and 7 chassis declined modestly during the same period. Although we remained constrained by chassis capacity allocations from the major manufacturers, this improvement in Class A chassis receipts supported nicely improved sales of our larger vocational trucks within the Industrial Equipment Division. Supplies of other critical industrial components, such as hydraulics and wiring harnesses, automation equipment, remained in shortage and continued to impair our operating efficiencies and constrained further sales growth. Manpower availability remained concerning to us, and we ended the quarter with more job openings than we anticipated. As we reported throughout the year, the margin in our backlog remains excellent, and this was evident in our results for the quarter. Fourth quarter gross margin of 25.3% was the highest of the year. Our teams also did an excellent job of managing controllable costs. Fourth quarter operating expenses were almost 2% lower than the prior year, reflecting our focus on streamlining our cost structure and increasing operating flexibility. We also ceased operations at one of our U.S. snow removal manufacturing facilities and consolidated these activities into one of our larger plants during the fourth quarter. Higher top line sales and operating expenses drove our fourth quarter operating income to 11%, a level last achieved in the third quarter of 2018. Our markets continue to demonstrate strength and provided us with excellent opportunities during the final months of the year. Order bookings of nearly $474 million in the fourth quarter were down less than 2% from the record established in the fourth quarter of 2021. Despite this modest decline, year-end order backlog of more than $1 billion was nearly 26% higher than prior year and almost 11% higher than at the end of the third quarter. The rebound in our industrial equipment division was noteworthy, as order bookings were 20% higher than the fourth quarter of 2021. Orders in the vegetation management division declined 15% relative to the prior year fourth quarter. This was partly due to our decision to conduct only a limited preseason program in the North American agricultural mowing businesses, given the very high order backlog in this segment. Activity in our governmental markets at the state, county and municipal levels remained robust during the fourth quarter. According to the National Association of State Budget Officers, state agencies recorded spending growth of more than 18% during 2022, the highest increase in spending since the association began keeping records in 1979. In aggregate, state's general fund revenue grew 14.5% year over year to total $1.17 trillion in fiscal 2022, following a 16.6% increase in fiscal 2021. Most county and municipal governments also reported higher receipts and increased spending during 2022. Our industrial customers also continued to invest in upgraded equipment for facilities and right-of-way maintenance at a very healthy pace. Activity in our forestry and tree care segment remained strong, and demand from the agricultural sector was very good, especially for a fourth quarter. As we look ahead, we continue to be encouraged by the positive trends visible in our markets, and we remain optimistic about the company's outlook for the coming months. While we remain vigilant for signs of a potential recession, we've not yet witnessed any trends that are a cause for concern for at least the first half of 2023. Our large and healthy backlog provides several quarters of excellent forward visibility. Our focus for the next several quarters, therefore, remains on achieving further improvements in the performance of our supply chain, driving our internal efficiencies higher still, accelerated recruitment of skilled employees, and continuing to optimize our manufacturing capabilities and footprint. We're also excited to introduce several hybrid and fully electric versions of our core products at the upcoming ConExpo show next month in Las Vegas. This concludes our prepared remarks. We're now ready to take your questions. So operator, please go ahead.

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. Your first question comes from Chris Moore with CJS Securities. Please go ahead.

Good morning, guys. Congrats on a terrific quarter. All right. So revenue growth for the year was 13%. Consensus for 23, you know, before Q4 was a little bit north of 5%. And understanding you guys don't guide, but what would be the puts and takes for Alamo to come in significantly above or below the 5% level in 2023?

Okay, Chris, great question. You know, for the last couple of quarters on these calls, I've made a fairly consistent remark that just a little bit of supply chain improvement will quickly lever itself in terms of our sales and profitability. And I think we saw that start to happen now in Q4. I mentioned the big increase in receipts of Class A trucks We still need more. The bookings are growing faster than the increase in the receipts of the chassis, but that's a very, very nice position to be in. So the only thing it would really take, to answer your question, is for that trend to continue, for the supply chain to continue to improve its performance, for supplies to be a little bit more readily available, and for us to continue doing what we're doing, which is get more people and drive our capacities higher as well. I wish I could tell you there was some magic in the formula, but there really isn't. It's just doing the basics and doing them well.

And that visibility from where you sit now in late February versus, you know, late or mid-November, is it changed much? I mean, were you surprised at the level of chassis availability in Q4 or, you know, you could see that in November?

Chris, you've got to go back actually to Q3. If you recall, we had a fairly poor Q3 because some of the chassis we expected that order were pushed back into Q4. So we got a boost. That's part of it. But also the long haul over the road truckers that operate large fleets are slowing their spend on trucks now. So there's a few more chassis coming available from our traditional suppliers, which is starting to improve our position. I think that's going to continue for a bit from what we're hearing. We're fresh off meetings with all the major truck OEMs, and the picture is sounding much better than it was a few months back.

Got it. That's very helpful. 12% operating margins, medium-term goal. We've talked about that a few times. Now that Q4 is done, you had a record 11%. Q1 is almost two months in. Any updated thoughts in terms of that 12% visibility? Is that just a a pure supply chain conversation also or anything else we should be thinking about?

No, I think it's just more of us doing what we do, Chris. You know, supply chain for sure. I've said that several quarters in a row. Now, that's the biggest driver. But continuing to consolidate our operations and really doing a good job executing this make and market strategy that we've talked about a few times, producing products closer to the point of consumption so that we don't have inventory and time lags associated with shipping with products across the Atlantic Ocean primarily, is a fact, and continuing the consolidation of our footprint. At the same time, we're accelerating our investments in our manufacturing capability, buying new machine tools, getting more automation and more robotics, because we recognize we're going to be in this labor constraint for some time to come. In fact, none of us can really yet see an answer to that, to be candid.

Got it. Helpful. And just last one from me and some of Richard's comments on cash flow. So, obviously had a good Q4 after, you know, you had a lot of working capital build in the first nine months. You still, you know, AR is still up quite a bit. So just in terms of 23 thoughts, it should be pretty strong, certainly the beginning of the year. Is that kind of what I heard or?

Yeah, Chris, I don't think that's going to change at all. I think our accounts receivable is going to be very strong. If we continue to do the sales levels that we're expecting to do here, it's going to stay up. Our DSOs are in excellent shape, so I'm not worried about a collection issue here. So I think incoming cash is going to remain strong for second and third quarter if we keep the pace we're doing right now.

Perfect. I'll leave it there. Thanks, guys.

Thanks, Chris. Thanks, Chris.

Next question, Greg Burns with Sidoti and Company. Please go ahead.

Morning.

What is the outlook here for the ag business? Have you seen any change in the demand trends there? I know in the past you've talked about dealer inventories as maybe something you look at, but has there been any change in that market at all?

Dealer inventories are rising slightly, but I think most of us that serve the industry think that's a pretty good thing, not a bad thing at the moment. I mean, where it sits right now, it's a good thing. The trend in ag has been surprisingly strong, to be candid with you. I think that we were seeing some signs of weakness back in the first quarter of last year, but it's been a good pace, and the bookings have remained good, and honestly, the activity level seems just fine right now. It's surprising. I'm surprised the cycle has lasted as long as it has to be candid with you, but it still shows excellent legs for a foreseeable future.

Okay, great. And then on the industrial side, the strong order growth that you saw this quarter, was that any product line in particular or is it more across the board? Any color there?

I think it's been pretty much across the board. We had changed our strategy in snow removal a couple of quarters ago. We had traditionally been a supplier of attachments for snowplow trucks and the like, so we made the plows, we made the salt spreaders, but we didn't build the trucks themselves. And we shifted our strategy to produce the complete product and deliver a complete product onto the state, county, and municipal operators, large contractors, and the like. That increased our demand for chassis. That's part of what you saw and what we're referring to, this persistent constraint. on the chassis supply. So that part of the business has picked up very nicely. That strategy has been very appreciated by the large operators of snow plow equipment. On the balance of the industrial division, street sweepers have been rebounding very nicely, have been strong. And our vacuum truck business has remained strong all the way through. It's been robust. Our rental fleet utilization is sky high. I don't want to cite a number for obvious reasons, but it's at a very, very high level. In fact, I'd like to get some more trucks into that rental fleet pretty soon. So, no, it's pretty much across the board. Everything was good and industrial. They've just been waiting for chassis, and those chassis are beginning to finally flow through now.

Okay. And then, Leslie, where are you in terms of price costs? Have you been able to completely offset inflation at this point? Do you feel like the pricing you have in the market now is, I guess, sufficient to accomplish that?

Yeah, we have. I mean, we raise prices every year at the start of the year, and we have in 2023 as well. That's just part of our discipline as a company. I do think we're in front of it, Greg. Our margins have been expanding. only offset by our operating efficiencies as we commented the last couple of quarters. But, you know, operating efficiency did improve in Q4 as the supply chain began to stabilize. So, yes, I'll give you a clear answer. I think we are out in front of it, and I think we're in a very nice position. We actually moved out some of the weaker backlog we had in Q4. So we're in a very nice position now as we head into the early months of this year.

Great. Thank you. Thanks, Greg. Appreciate it, Greg.

Next question, Tim Moore with EF Hutton. Please go ahead.

Thanks, and congratulations on the strong sales growth and impressive new orders increase. Looking at your backlog, which is a record number, I'm just trying to get a sense of how much higher maybe that gross margin could be compared to a year ago. I think one difference might be you have full net price realization this time around compared to orders more than a year ago. I'm just trying to think, you know, if you don't do another preseason program and you don't have to back out maybe some of the freight surcharges by the summer, could the gross margin on your backlog be about 100 basis points better than a year ago?

It's hard to say. I would say it would be better. I mean, our backlog right now has got all And if we do that, we're going to actually have the margins exactly where we want them to be. And, Tim, this is Jeff.

One other thing I would say to you about that is that, you know, on the governmental side of our business, it's more difficult to reprice backlog. We had some success, but not nearly as much as we'd had with our vegetation management division. So some of those older contracts that were taken at the start of the supply chain crunch moved out in Q4, and those were the lower margin ones. So we actually have a better pricing profile and backlog now than than we've had the last couple of quarters.

That's great. That's good to hear that that's rolled off recently. No, that makes sense. And just related to some comments you made earlier and something that's been going on for mostly the last year, you've had the own absorption headwind when you go back to the unfinished final assembly stage after incurring an extra expense to reset that for a couple of parts that arrive a few months later. How much better is that improving the last few months, or is it about the same as it might have been last summer and fall?

Last couple of quarters, Tim, we were probably 30 million or so, maybe even a little bit more in our working process, and we ended the year at 22. So I think some of that supply chain move-through has really pushed the area where we need to go and get that number down. We still have more room. the supply chain moving through the system the way it is, I think that number is going to keep coming down, which is what we want.

And Tim, as Jeff, I'll add a little bit more color to that for you in the way the facilities are operating right now. While the supply chain is improving and more material is flowing through, it tends to flow through in the last month of the quarter. That's just the behavior of manufacturing, I guess. And so we get a surge of equipment coming in the final week, so we're still having to burn a pretty good bit of overtime to push products out in the final weeks of the month. We don't like that. That's not our tradition. But that's kind of where we are, frankly. So there's nice room to move to get the efficiency rising higher. We've only improved them about one-third of where I think they ought to go. There's still a lot of room for improvement.

I think the other key here, too, Tim, is just consistency from the suppliers. We can get that a little bit more, flowing a little bit more equally each individual month inside the quarter. I think it would be great.

Thanks for the color and quantifying that. It's nice to hear that it's going in the right direction. You know, was there any uptick or do you think there'll be uptick in demand for forestry and tree care from the recent Texas ice storms? And, you know, on the flip side, is there probably maybe any demand loss if it's not a great snowy winter in parts of the U.S.?

I'll give you my first comment. On the Texas winter and forestry, probably not much because that's a It affects the low end of the product range more than the high end. And if you don't have that chipper on the shelf, you don't sell it. So mostly it's contractors operating their current fleets. The market doesn't react that quickly, I guess is what I'm trying to say. It does help our parts business for sure in the short run. Now, I would tell you this winter has already been excellent for snow removal. The early snowfall is what really helps us. When it starts to snow in October and November, as it did this year, People start putting new blades, wear tips on the plows and really working them so our parts business picks up. We already have an all-time record backlog in snow. I mean, snow is just selling really, really nicely right now, particularly since this change in our strategy. And I think we've got a reputation to be a good builder of snowplow trucks. We produce a quality product, and we feel we've been gaining market share in that space. So I think that we've already seen that uptick. The backlog is high enough now. It'll be hard for you to measure it from here, to be candid with you, because, you know, it's going to kind of take out the cyclicality of the business.

Great. So two more quick questions. The first one's around SG&A. You know, it was nice to see that as a percentage of sales, it declined to 14%, you know, compared to 15% to 16% the prior two years. Richard, do you think that's sustainable for 2023, or do you think it'll tick back up a bit if there's any travel costs or one-time costs that come back?

Jim, you could have some movement a little bit in there, but I think overall for a full year, there's no reason why that number can't stay in that same range. Our job is to make sure that we continue to keep those individuals. of our products. So, I mean, if we're going to do that and we were having that heavy cost, we had to do something and controlling expenses was where we needed to

I would emphasize on the percentage side because we've made our first round of significant investments in electrification of our equipment. We have a second round now to move from prototypes to production machines that'll flow through largely in the back half of 2023. So I think it'll edge up throughout the year in dollars, not necessarily in percentages.

No, that makes sense. Good. I always think about it in terms of percentages. And then my last question's related to one that I asked last quarter. If I recall, you were doing a study or a policy that was underway for maybe accelerating your in-country made production, you know, Brazil, Australia, maybe UK and France, to really save on transportation costs and improve the lead time for delivery to customers. How big of an action plan is that this year? And when do you think you might start seeing, you know, gross margin improvement? Is that more of a fourth quarter story for Timing?

Yeah, it is. It takes a while. We have to do some groundwork within the legal structure of our company. We have to move intellectual property around, you know, to facilitate that. Then we have to change tooling in some of our facilities, but we're actively into that. We've already seen some benefit from it, but, you know, we're still in the very early stages of that, and I think you'll start to see meaningful progress on it in Q4, and then much more so as we head into next year. To add to that, you know, two division heads, Rick Rayburn and Mike Hoffman,

having that opportunity where these guys are working with their groups is huge. It makes a big difference and allows us to be able to build this product worldwide, which is exactly what our intent is.

Great. No, that's helpful. I think that's a big catalyst that you'll get benefit for starting, you know, later this year. So thanks a lot. That's it for my question.

Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Tim.

Once again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from Mike Schliske with DA Davidson. Please go ahead.

Good morning. This is David Johnson on for Mike. Good morning. Hey there. Morning, morning. I was wondering with operating margins and potentially free cash flow taking a step up in 2023, what's your appetite for M&A from here? Given the growth of the company and the low leverage on the balance sheet at the current time, are you looking at larger deals that we've seen in the past?

Yes. Okay, great.

I don't want to give you examples for obvious reasons, but yes, we are looking at larger deals, and we've said that for some time. Particularly in Europe, the market in Europe looks good to us right now. We've always wanted to balance our portfolio a little bit more between North America and Europe. and to grow our forestry and tree care business in Europe. We've stated those things several times. So, yes, we are very actively looking for larger deals at the moment. And I think that the timing is good for companies like us right now.

All right. That's great to hear. And lastly, you mentioned waiver availability, especially in manufacturing. Can you take us through any initiatives you're working on to get those positions filled?

Yeah, we've been increasing our apprenticeship programs, looking at certain operations that we can fully automate, not just partially automate, but fully automate, and just increasing outreach in the communities where we operate. And then lastly, through this manufacturing footprint reengineering, we're able to liberate labor. So we may have people tied up in low-volume production in one country where we're shipping the product to another destination, we can get better utilization of our bigger factories if we consolidate that closer to the point of sale. So that also helps us from a manpower point of view. But, you know, it's going to take a lot of work through those things. You know, we're still down several hundred employees from where we would like to be. And, you know, that's a tough fight right now.

Understood. Thank you for taking my questions.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. I will now turn the floor over to management for closing remarks.

Okay, thank you. That concludes our remarks for this conference call. We look forward to speaking with you again at our May call for the second quarter of 2023.

I apologize.

This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and thank you for your participation.