Waste Connections, Inc.

Greetings and welcome to the Waste Connections fourth quarter 2020 earnings conference call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct a question and answer session. At that time, if you have a question, please press the 1 followed by the 4 on your telephone. If at any time during the conference you need to reach an operator, please press star 0. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded Thursday, February 18, 2021. I would now like to turn the conference over to Worthing Jackman, President and CEO. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to welcome everyone to this conference call to discuss our fourth quarter results and outlook for both the first quarter and full year 2021. I'm joined this morning by Mary Ann Whitney, our CFO. As noted in our earnings release, Q4 capped off a remarkable year for Waste Connections. culminating in a solid beat in the period and providing a higher entry point into 2021. A more than 250 basis points higher than expected improvement in solid waste volumes and increased values for recycled commodities and renewable fuels drove adjusted EBITDA margins 50 basis points above expectations for the quarter. Moreover, we converted over 50% of adjusted EBITDA to adjusted free cash flow in the year, while positioning ourselves for double-digit percentage growth and adjusted free cash flow to at least $950 million in 2021. With expected solid waste pricing plus volume growth of 5% and increasing recycling and renewable fuels values, 2021 is already positioned for continued top-line growth and 50 basis points margin expansion, with additional upside from any further reopening activity recovery in the economy, or acquisitions completed during the year. Although our outlook for the year does not include any benefit from further reopening activity, we are pleased to note that last week was the first weekly increase in revenue we've seen from COVID-impacted customers in several weeks. Before we get into much more detail, let me turn the call over to Marianne for our forward-looking disclaimer and other housekeeping items.

Thank you, Worthing, and good morning. The discussion during today's call includes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including forward-looking information within the meeting of applicable Canadian securities laws. Actual results could differ materially from those made in such forward-looking statements due to various risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ are discussed both in the cautionary statement included in our February 17th earnings release and in greater detail in waste connections filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Securities Commissions or similar regulatory authorities in Canada. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there may be additional risks of which we are not presently aware or that we currently believe are immaterial, which could have an adverse impact on our business. We make no commitment to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may change after today's date. On the call, we will discuss non-GAAP measures such as adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income attributable to waste connections on both a dollar basis and per diluted share, and adjusted free cash flow. Please refer to our earnings releases for a reconciliation of such non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures. Management uses certain non-GAAP measures to evaluate and monitor the ongoing financial performance of our operations. Other companies may calculate these non-GAAP measures differently. I will now turn the call back over to Worthing.