Waste Connections, Inc.

good morning everyone and welcome to the waste connections inc q4 2023 earnings conference call all participants will be in a listen-only mode should you need assistance please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero after today's presentation there will be an opportunity to ask questions to ask a question you may press star and then one on your touchstone telephones to withdraw your questions you may press star and two Please also note today's event is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the floor over to Ron Mittelstadt, President and CEO. Sir, please go ahead.

Okay, thank you, Operator, and good morning. I would like to welcome everyone to this conference call to discuss fourth quarter results and our outlook for both the first quarter and full year 2024. I'm joined this morning by Mary Ann Whitney, our CFO, and several other members of senior management. As noted in our earnings release, adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of 200 basis points in Q4 capped off a remarkable year for waste connections, driven by solid execution and continued improvement in operating trends. Solid waste organic growth, led by 8.7% core pricing, was bolstered by improvements in commodity-driven revenues during the quarter, providing momentum for 2024. Acquisition activity also accelerated into year-end, as we announce the acquisition of the U.S. 225 million revenue E&P waste disposal-oriented assets of Secure Energy in Western Canada, which has closed as of February 1st, bringing expected 2024 revenue contribution from acquisitions to approximately 325 million, with incremental dialogue ongoing. Looking at our differentiated results during the full year 2023, We delivered 70 basis points adjusted EBITDA margin expansion after overcoming 60 basis points in headwinds from recovered commodity values to report an industry-leading margin of 31.5%. Double-digit growth in both revenue and adjusted EBITDA from price-led organic solid waste growth and outside acquisition contribution, along with disciplined execution and focus on the quality of revenue, drove adjusted free cash flow of $1.224 billion. or 15.3% of revenue, in line with our outlook. Both employee turnover and safety incident rates exited 2023 at multi-year lows, setting up 2024 for continued improvement in trends, along with the opportunity for outsized margin expansion. 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, Ron, 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 are discussed both in the cautionary statement included in our February 13th 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 the 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 Ron.