Mueller Industries, Inc.

Welcome to the Miller Industries first quarter 2019 results conference call. Please note this event is being recorded. And now at this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Brendan Dunlap at FTI Consulting. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. I would like to welcome you to the Miller Industries conference call. We are here to discuss the company's 2019 first quarter results, which were released after the close of market yesterday. With us from the management team today are Bill Miller, Chairman of the Board, Jeff Badgley, Co-CEO, Debbie Whitmire, Executive Vice President and CFO, and Frank Madonia, Executive Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel. Today's call will begin with formal remarks from management, followed by a question and answer period. Please note in this morning's conference call, management may make forward-looking statements in accordance with the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. I'd like to call your attention to the risks related to these statements, which are more fully described in the company's annual report filed on Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. With these formalities out of the way, I'd like to turn the call over to Jeff. Please go ahead, Jeff.

Thank you, and good morning. We are pleased to discuss our first quarter results with you today. This was another strong quarter for Miller Industries. as we achieved strong revenue and profitability growth and an increase in earnings per share. Our profitability continues to improve as we realize incremental benefits associated with increased production capacity and efficiency gains. Our commitment to operational excellence continues to pay off as evidenced by our 22.6% increase in gross profit and our 29.8% increase in net income as compared to the first quarter of 2018. Results this quarter were driven by the continued strong demand in our domestic and international markets. We reported 2019 first quarter sales of $197.2 million, an increase of $23 point nine percent compared to one hundred and fifty nine point two million in the prior year period. Net income was eight point seven million dollars or seventy six cents per share compared to net income of six point seven million or fifty nine cents per share in the first quarter of 2018. Gross profit as a percentage of total sales contracted slightly to this quarter to 11.5%, down 10 basis points from 11.6% in the first quarter of 2018. However, selling, general, and administrative expenses as a percentage of total sales decreased 80 basis points to 5.2% as we continued to focus on cost cutting and realized workflow efficiencies. Our balance sheet remains healthy, and we continue to strategically deploy our resources to drive organic growth and profitability to create sustainable shareholder value. We remain confident in both our competitive position and in our financial outlook. Now I'll turn the call to Debbie, who will review the first quarter financial results. After that, I'll be back with comments on the market environment and some closing remarks. Then we'll go to Q&A. Debbie?