Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call May 2, 2023 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Sandy Statzer - Vice President, Finance & Investor Relations

Gregg Sengstack - Chairperson & Chief Executive Officer

Jeff Taylor - Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Bryan Blair - Oppenheimer

Matt Summerville - D.A. Davidson

Mike Halloran - Baird

Ryan Connors - Northcoast Research

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Franklin Electric Reports First Quarter 2023 Sales and Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

It is now my pleasure to introduce, Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations, Sandy Statzer.

Sandy Statzer

Thank you, Andrew, and welcome everyone to Franklin Electric's first quarter 2023 earnings conference call. With me today is Gregg Sengstack, our Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer; and Jeff Taylor, our Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. On today's call Gregg will review our first quarter business highlights, then Jeff will provide additional details on our financial performance. We will then take questions.

Before we begin, let me remind you that as we conduct this call, we will be making forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which could be caused -- could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. A discussion of these factors may be found in the company's annual report on Form 10-K and today's earnings release. All forward-looking statements made during this call are based on information currently available and except as required by law, the company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

With that I will now turn the call over to Gregg Sengstack.

Gregg Sengstack

Thank you, Sandy, and thank you all for joining us. The Franklin team delivered a strong start to the year and solid results by achieving first quarter records for sales, operating income and earnings per share. Global demand for our manufactured products and distribution offerings remains healthy. All three of our segments delivered higher top line sales driven by elevated demand across many of our end markets, increased volume in our water and distribution businesses, and pricing all more than offsetting foreign exchange headwinds. We do, however, expect the year-over-year impact of pricing will moderate as we progress throughout the year.