MUELLER WATER PRODUCTS

Welcome and thank you for standing by. Your lines have been placed on the listen-only mode until the question and answer session. At that time, if you would like to ask a question, you may press star 1. Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. And now I'll turn the call over to Whit Kincaid. You may begin.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on Mueller Water Products' fourth quarter and fiscal year-end 2022 conference calls. We issued our press release reporting results of operations for the quarter ended September 30, 2022, yesterday afternoon. A copy of the press release is available on our website, MuellerWaterProducts.com. Scott Hall, our President and CEO, and Marty Zakis, our CFO, will be discussing our fourth quarter and full year results and our outlook for 2023. This morning's call is being recorded and webcast live on the Internet. We have also posted slides on our website to accompany today's discussion, which address our forward-looking statements and our non-GAAP disclosure requirements. At this time, please refer to slide two. This slide identifies non-GAAP financial measures referenced in our press release, on our slides, and on this call. It discloses the reasons why we believe that these measures provide useful information to investors. Reconciliations between non-GAAP and GAAP financial measures are included in the supplemental information within our press release and on our website. Slide three addresses forward-looking statements made on this call. This slide includes cautionary information identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in forward-looking statements. Please review slides two and three in their entirety. During this call, all references to a specific year or quarter unless specified otherwise, refer to our fiscal year, which ends on the 30th of September. A replay of this morning's call will be available for 30 days at 1-800-834-5839. The archived webcast and corresponding slides will be available for at least 90 days on the investor relations section of our website. I'll now turn the call over to Scott.

Thanks, Whit. Good morning. Thanks for joining us for our fourth quarter earnings call. we were pleased to deliver our second consecutive year of double-digit net sales growth. Our fourth quarter net sales growth exceeded our expectations, driven by continued higher price realization. We saw healthy order activity during the quarter and ended the year with record backlog. The sequential increase in orders is a testament to the resiliency of end market demand in the face of an evolving macro environment. Our fourth quarter results were disappointing, as lower than expected shipment volumes of service brass products and manufacturing inefficiencies at our brass foundry more than offset the higher net sales. While improved price realization has helped offset the current level of inflationary pressures, it has not been enough to offset all of the headwinds. Although we continue to experience headwinds from the ongoing supply chain disruptions and inflationary pressures, Our teams maintain their focus on executing our large capital projects. We have a lot more work to do, but are confident we will deliver the benefits of our key initiatives, including our large domestic capital investments. Last month, we announced several corporate governance changes, including the appointment of two new board members. Our board also announced a process to accelerate the refreshment of our board of directors. Our board believes in the importance of having best-in-class, corporate governance, including a proactive board refreshment process and ongoing shareholder engagement. Both new members bring valuable operating and supply chain management experience to our board. We believe Mueller and its stockholders will benefit from the perspectives and insights of our new board members and their support of the company's commitment to enhance shareholder value. Before turning it over to Marty, I want to thank Bill Cofield, our Senior Vice President of Operations, who recently announced his retirement. Bill has worked tirelessly to drive process improvement in our operations during the past five years. Most notably, he led the development and execution of our safety, excellence, and leadership program, which is used to evaluate safety and environmental performance across all areas of our facilities. Bill has kindly agreed to stay on to support the transition to new leadership. Paul McAndrew just started as Mueller's new operations leader. Paul brings more than 20 years of manufacturing experience and served most recently as Vice President of Global Operations and Supply Chain for Emerson Commercial and Residential Services. Now I'll turn the call over to Marty to discuss our financial results.