Mueller Industries, Inc.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Miller Industries third quarter 2019 results conference call. Please note this event is being recorded. And now at this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Brendan Dunlap at FTI Consulting. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. I would like to welcome you to the Miller Industries conference call. We are here to discuss the company's 2019 third 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're pleased to discuss our third quarter results with you today. This was a solid quarter. Miller Industries increased its gross profits expanded its gross margins, and continued to strengthen its balance sheet. This strong execution during the third quarter reflects our continued focus on driving operational excellence across our business. Revenue during the third quarter declined one-tenth of one percent to $195.5 million versus $195.7 million a year ago, which reflects temporary supply chain challenges with certain chassis manufacturers. These challenges have been addressed by both the suppliers and ourselves, and we do not anticipate this will impact the fourth quarter. Despite these temporary challenges, we were able to increase gross profits by 1.3% year over year to $21.7 million. and expand our gross margins 10 basis points year-over-year to 11.1%, which reflects our strong cost control discipline. As such, net income was $8.1 million, or $0.71 per share, compared to net income of $8.7 million, or $0.76 per share in 2020. the third quarter of 2018. Additionally, during the quarter, we continued to invest in our business by enhancing our software capabilities to better serve our customers, which resulted in a 50 basis point increase in SG&A as a percentage of net sales to 5.3%. The investments we are making in technology will enable us to increase our administrative efficiency improve our data analytic capabilities, and increase our service levels for our customers. We are currently in the early phases of rolling out this new technology, and I am pleased to announce that the implementation is on schedule. As we move into the fourth quarter, we remain confident in the underlying strength of our business, both domestic and international. and are committed to providing best-in-class service to our customers while investing for long-term growth. Further, our balance sheet remains healthy as we continue to pay down debt and strategically deploy our resources to drive long-term organic growth and profitability to meet the demand of our customers and create sustainable value for our shareholders. we remain confident in our competitive position and in our financial outlook. Now I'll turn the call over to Debbie, who will review the third quarter financial results. After that, I'll be back with comments about the market environment and some closing remarks. Debbie?