Global Industrial Company (NYSE:GIC) Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call October 31, 2023 5:00 PM ET

Company Participants

Mike Smargiassi - Investor Relations

Barry Litwin - Chief Executive Officer

Tex Clark - Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Anthony Lebiedzinski - Sidoti & Company

Operator

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Global Industrial's Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mike Smargiassi of The Plunkett Group. Please go ahead.

Mike Smargiassi

Thank you, and welcome to the Global Industrial third quarter 2023 earnings call. Leading today's call will be Barry Litwin, Chief Executive Officer; and Tex Clark, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The formal remarks will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

During the call, we will reference both GAAP and organic metrics. Organic reflects the performance of the Global Industrial business exclusive of the May 2023 Indoff acquisition. In addition, the third quarter of 2023 had one less selling day in Canada versus the year ago period.

Today's discussion may include certain forward-looking statements. It should be understood that actual results could differ materially from those projected due to a number of factors, including those described under the forward-looking statements caption and under Risk Factors in the company's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The press release is available on the company's website and has been filed with the SEC on a Form 8-K. This call is the property of Global Industrial Company.

I will now turn the call over to Barry Litwin.

Barry Litwin

Thanks, Mike. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Third quarter total revenue was approximately $355 million, an increase of 18.8%, which included the addition of Indoff for the full period. On an organic basis, we returned to growth as revenue improved 3.2%. This represented a nice rebound from the second quarter as we benefited from volume improvement, which more than offset continued price headwinds.

Gross margin was 32.8% and was primarily impacted by the inclusion of Indoff's lower margin profile. During the quarter, we further normalized our inventory position, generated strong cash flow from operations and fully paid off the outstanding balance on our credit facility.

Top line performance was once again led by our eCommerce channel as recent investments and proactive actions to drive digital transformation and enhance the online shopping experience are delivering returns. We continue to leverage digital marketing to deliver healthy customer acquisition and retention rates. Our web and marketing teams have been doing an outstanding job executing on our strategy, and we've been very pleased with the recent eCommerce performance.