Willdan Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:WLDN) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call March 9, 2023 5:30 PM ET

Company Participants

Al Kaschalk - VP of IR

Thomas Brisbin - Chairman & CEO

Creighton Early - CFO & VP

Michael Bieber - President

Conference Call Participants

Chip Moore - EF Hutton

Marc Riddick - Sidoti & Company

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Willdan Group Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions].

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Al Kaschalk of Investor Relations. Please proceed.

Al Kaschalk

Thank you, Latania. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Willdan Group's Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2022 Earnings Call. Joining our call today are Tom Brisbin, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer; Kim Early, Chief Financial Officer; and Mike Bieber, President. The call today is built on our earnings release we issued after the market closed today. You may find the earnings release and the Willdan investor report that accompanies today's call in the press release and Stock Information section of our Investor Relations website found at ir.willdan.com.

Management will review prepared remarks, and we will then open the call up to your questions. Statements made in the course of today's conference call, including answers to your questions, which are not purely historical, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties, and it is important to note that the company's future results could materially differ from those in any such forward-looking statements.

Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially and other risk factors are listed from time to time in the company's SEC reports, including, but not limited to the annual report on Form 10-K filed for the year ended December 31, 2021. The company cautions investors not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements made during the course of this conference call. Willdan disclaims any obligation and does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements made today. In addition to GAAP results, we'll then also provide non-GAAP financial measures that we believe enhance investors' ability to analyze the business trends and performance. Our non-GAAP measures include net revenue, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS.

I'll now turn the call over to Tom Brisbin, Willdan's Chairman and CEO.

Thomas Brisbin

Thanks, Al, and good afternoon, everyone. We believe 2022 was the end of the negative headwinds associated with COVID and the start-up of the California IOU programs. As stated previously, we expected the second half of 2022 to show an upward trend and it did. The results reported for the fourth quarter were net revenue up 25%, profit up 52%, organic growth up 25%. We have begun our trend back to a growth company that we were before COVID. Let's first talk about why we are optimistic about 2023.