Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Q3 2023 Results Conference Call October 31, 2023 1:00 PM ET
Company Participants
Andy Hedberg - VP, IR
Christophe Beck - Chairman and CEO
Scott Kirkland - CFO
Conference Call Participants
Tim Mulrooney - William Blair
Seth Weber - Wells Fargo
Josh Spector - UBS
Mike Harrison - Seaport Research Partners
David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank
Jeff Zekauskas - JPMorgan
John McNulty - BMO Capital Markets
Manav Patnaik - Barclays
Shlomo Rosenbaum - Stifel
Andy Wittmann - Robert W. Baird
Steve Byrne - Bank of America
Patrick Cunningham - Citi
Kevin McCarthy - Vertical Research Partners
Vincent Andrews - Morgan Stanley
Rosemarie Morbelli - Gabelli Funds
Scott Schneeberger - Oppenheimer
Operator
Greetings. Welcome to Ecolab’s Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Release Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.
It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Andy Hedberg, Vice President, Investor Relations for Ecolab. Thank you, Mr. Hedberg. You may begin.
Andy Hedberg
Thank you, and hello, everyone, and welcome to Ecolab’s third quarter conference call. With me today are Christophe Beck, Ecolab’s Chairman and CEO; and Scott Kirkland, our CFO.
A discussion of our results, along with our earnings release and the slides referencing the quarter results are available on Ecolab’s website at ecolab.com/investor. Please take a moment to read the cautionary statements in these materials which state that this teleconference and the associated supplemental materials estimates of future performance. These are forward-looking statements, and the actual results could differ materially from those projected. Factors that could cause actual results to differ are described under the Risk Factors section in our most recent Form 10-K and our posted materials. We also refer you to the supplemental diluted earnings per share information in the release.
With that, I’d like to turn the call over to Christophe Beck for his comments.
Christophe Beck
Thank you so much, Andy, and welcome to everyone on the call.
“Building on our momentum with strong and reliable growth.” That’s the headline for Ecolab third quarter. Thanks to exceptional execution by our team, Ecolab delivered a very strong quarter as our momentum continued with 7% organic sales growth, which was actually exactly as expected and 18% growth in adjusted earnings per share, reaching the high end of our expected range.
Against unpredictable macro conditions, we drove continued strong pricing, new business, accelerated volume trends and continued robust margin expansion. Our focus remains on offense, which we are best at, continuing to fuel strong and consistent double-digit earnings per share growth. We maintained strong organic sales growth with pricing increasing by 7%. This increase reflects both, the value-based pricing we put in place last year and the new pricing we’ve implemented this year, reflecting the enhanced value we offer to our customers.