Hayward Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HAYW) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 29, 2024 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Kevin Maczka - Vice President, Investor Relations

Kevin Holleran - President & Chief Executive Officer

Eifion Jones - Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Ryan Merkel - William Blair

Saree Boroditsky - Jefferies

Jeffrey Hammond - KeyBanc Capital Markets

Robert Wertheimer - Melius Research

Michael Halloran - Baird

Andrew Carter - Stifel

Nigel Coe - Wolfe Research

Rafe Jadrosich - Bank of America

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Hayward Holdings Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call.[Operator Instructions]. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Kevin Maczka, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you, sir. You may begin.

Kevin Maczka

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. We issued our Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Press Release this morning, which has been posted to the Investor Relations section of our website at investor.hayward.com. There, you can also find an earnings slide presentation that we will reference during this call.

I'm joined today by Kevin Holleran, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Eifion Jones, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that during this call, the company may make certain statements that are considered forward looking in nature, including management's outlook for 2024 and future periods. Such statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, including those discussed in our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that could cause actual results to differ materially. The company does not undertake any duty to update such forward-looking statements.

Additionally, during today's call, the company will discuss non-GAAP measures. Reconciliations of historical non-GAAP measures discussed on this call to the comparable GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release and the appendix to the slide presentation.

I would now like to turn the call over to Kevin Holleran.

Kevin Holleran

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning, everyone. It's my pleasure to welcome all of you to Hayward's Fourth Quarter Earnings Call. I'll start on Slide 4 of our earnings presentation with today's key messages.

I'm pleased to report fourth quarter results in line with expectations. We executed well during the quarter and delivered net sales and earnings growth, record gross margins and solid cash flow. Net sales increased 8% year-over-year through positive contributions from both volume and price with gross profit margins expanding 690 basis points for the quarter and 270 basis points for the full year.