WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call February 14, 2023 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Scott Gaffner - Senior Vice President, Investor Relations

John Engel - Chairman, President and CEO

Dave Schulz - Executive Vice President and CFO

Conference Call Participants

Deane Dray - RBC Capital Markets

Sam Darkatsh - Raymond James

Nigel Coe - Wolfe Research

David Manthey - Baird

Ken Newman - KeyBanc Capital Markets

Christopher Glynn - Oppenheimer

Chris Dankert - Loop Capital

Operator

Hello. And welcome to WESCO’s Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Earnings Call. I would like to remind you that all lines are in listen-only mode throughout the presentation. [Operator Instructions]

Please note that this event is being recorded. I will now hand the call over to Scott Gaffner, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Please begin.

Scott Gaffner

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Before we get started, I wanted to remind you that certain statements made on this call contain forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance, and by their nature, are subject to inherent uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially.

Please see our webcast slides as the company’s SEC filings for additional risk factors and disclosures. Any forward-looking information related on this call speaks only as of this date and the company undertakes no obligation to update the information to reflect the changed circumstances.

Additionally, today, we will use certain non-GAAP financial measures. Required information about these non-GAAP measures is available on our webcast slides and in our press release, both of which are posted on our website at wesco.com.

On the call this morning, we have got John Engel, WESCO’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Dave Schulz, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

And now, I will turn the call over to John.

John Engel

Thank you, Scott, and good morning, everyone. It’s a pleasure to be with you today. WESCO delivered a stellar encore performance in 2022, clearly demonstrating the power of our ongoing transformation and our ability to drive sustained growth and market outperformance.

We again set new company records for sales, margin and profitability, and reduced leverage to below 3 times for the first time since 2019. With this trajectory, we have taken a significant step forward in the achievement of our long-term 10% plus EBITDA margin target.

We also delivered record quarterly free cash flow and reduced net working capital in the fourth quarter, notably on the strength of double-digit organic sales growth that exceeded our expectations.