Avantor, Inc. (AVTR) Q1 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

For the period ending March 31, 2022

April 29, 2022 7:30 a.m. ET

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good morning. My name is Katie, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Avantor's First Quarter 2022 Earnings Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

I'd now like to hand the call over to Tommy Thomas, Vice President of Investor Relations. Mr. Thomas, you may begin the conference.

Tommy Thomas

Good morning. Thank you for joining us today. Our speakers today are Michael Stubblefield, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Tom Szlosek, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The press release and our presentation accompanying this call are available on our Investor Relations website at ir.avantorsciences.com. A replay of this webcast will also be made available on our website after the call. Following our prepared remarks, we will open the line for questions.

During this call, we will be making some forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding events or developments that we believe or anticipate may occur in the future. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those set forth in our SEC filings. Actual results might differ materially from any forward-looking statements that we make today. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date that they are made. We do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events and developments or otherwise.

This call will include a discussion of non-GAAP measures. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures can be found in the appendix to the presentation.

With that, I will now turn the call over to Michael. Michael?

Michael Stubblefield

Thanks, Tommy, and good morning, everyone. I appreciate you joining us today.

I'm starting on Slide 3. As you have hopefully seen in the press release we issued last night with our first quarter results, we started the year with another outstanding quarter. Our strong results across all key financial metrics, including revenue growth, margin expansion, earnings growth and free cash flow generation, highlight our premium position in attractive end markets, our compelling product and service offerings, the resiliency of our business model in a dynamic macro environment and our continued track record of execution.

In the first quarter, we achieved 7.3% core organic revenue growth driven by continued momentum across our life sciences platform as well as in our applied end markets. We expanded EBITDA margins by approximately 140 basis points, including the favorable impact of our 2021 acquisitions and expansion in our core business despite intensifying inflationary pressures. We increased adjusted net income by approximately 15% and generated approximately $128 million of free cash flow.