Quaker Chemical Corporation (NYSE:KWR) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call February 24, 2023 8:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Jeffrey Schnell - VP, IR

Andy Tometich - President & CEO

Shane Hostetter - SVP & CFO

Robert Traub - General Counsel

Conference Call Participants

Mike Harrison - Seaport Research Partners

David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank

Arun Viswanathan - RBC

Laurence Alexander - Jefferies

Jon Tanwanteng - CJS Securities

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Quaker Houghton Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions]. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the call over to Jeffrey Schnell, Vice President of Investor Relations. Mr. Schnell, you may begin.

Jeffrey Schnell

Thank you, Paul. Good morning, and welcome to our fourth quarter and full-year 2022 earnings conference call. Joining us today are Andy Tometich, our President and Chief Executive Officer; Shane Hostetter, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Robert Traub, our General Counsel.

Our comments relate to the financial information released after the close of U.S. markets yesterday, February 23, 2023. Our press release and accompanying slides can be found on our investor website.

Both the prepared commentary and discussion during this call may contain forward-looking statements reflecting the company's current view of future events and their potential effect on Quaker Houghton's operating and financial performance. These statements involve uncertainties and risks, which may cause actual results to differ. The company is under no obligation to provide subsequent updates to these forward-looking statements.

This presentation also contains certain non-GAAP financial measures, and the company has provided reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in the Appendix of the presentation materials, which are available on our website. For additional information, please refer to our filings with the SEC.

Now, it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Andy.

Andy Tometich

Thank you, Jeff, and good morning, everyone.

In the fourth quarter, we demonstrated progress on our key priorities. We delivered double-digit sales and EBITDA growth, compared to the prior year, driven by continued execution on our value-based pricing initiatives and disciplined cost management, which in turn drove an improvement in gross margins. We generated $68 million of operating cash flow and strengthened our balance sheet. Overall, we displayed our ability to work together to deliver results in an uneven and difficult operating environment.