Waste Connections, Inc.

Please stand by. The conference will begin momentarily. We thank you for your patience and ask that you please remain on the line. Greetings and welcome to the Waste Connections 4th Quarter 2021 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 17th, 2022. I would now like to turn the conference over to Worthing Jackman, President and CEO. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning. I'd like to welcome everyone to this conference call to discuss fourth quarter results and our outlook for both the first quarter and full year 2022. I'm joined this morning by Marian Whitney, our CFO. As noted in our earnings release, 2021 ended on a high note, as strong solid waste organic growth and acquisition activity, along with continuing underlying margin expansion, drove Q4 financial results once again above expectations. Acquisition activity accelerated in the fourth quarter, resulting in approximately $400 million in acquired annualized revenues in 2021, and setting up acquisition contribution approaching 6% in 2022, including transactions completed year-to-date. Along with solid waste price and growth of about 6.5%, this already positions us for double-digit percentage growth in revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted free cash flow in 2022. Put simply, 2021 is a reflection of how an intentional culture of commitment and accountability to all stakeholders enabled us to excel in a challenging operating environment, overcome inflationary pressures and supply chain issues, execute our growth strategy, expand margins, support employee health and welfare, and position the company well for 2022 and beyond. Before we get into much more detail, let me turn the call over to Mary Ann 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 meaning 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 16th 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 gap measures. Management uses certain non-gap measures to evaluate and monitor the ongoing financial performance of our operation. Other companies may calculate these non-gap measures differently. I will now turn the call back over to Worthinger.