Global Industrial Company (NYSE:GIC) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call February 21, 2023 5:00 PM ET

Company Participants

Mike Smargiassi - Investor Relations

Barry Litwin - CEO

Tex Clark - SVP & CFO

Conference Call Participants

Anthony Lebiedzinski - Sidoti & Company

Ryan Merkel - William Blair

Operator

Good day and welcome to Global Industrial Company Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] I would like to turn the call over to Mike Smargiassi of The Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Mike Smargiassi

Thank you, and welcome to the Global Industrial Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. Leading today's call will be Barry Litwin, Chief Executive Officer; and Tex Clark, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Formal remarks will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

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. Overall, 2022 was an outstanding year for Global Industrial as we executed on our strategy and delivered a record financial performance for total revenue, as well as gross and operating margin. For the full year, organic growth contributed over $100 million in additional revenue, resulting in 9.7% growth and bringing total revenue to $1.17 billion. Gross margin improved 90 basis points to 36.1%.

We generated over $105 million of operating income, an increase of 19.5% and delivered a 9% operating margin a 70 point basis improvement from 2021. With the strong financial performance in 2022 today we announced an increase in the quarterly recurring dividend for the seventh consecutive year.

2022 started off with strong double digit revenue gains while the second half of the year reflected the impact of increased economic headwinds and a diminishing price benefit as we left price increases taken in mid to late 2021. As a result, fourth quarter revenue was off modestly with flat price to volume comparisons from the year ago period. Demand was muted across categories and sales channels. And we have seen this trend continue into 2023.