Hayward Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HAYW) Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call May 2, 2024 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Kevin Maczka - VP, IR
Kevin Holleran - President and CEO
Eifion Jones - SVP and CFO

Conference Call Participants

Andrew Carter - Stifel
Ryan Merkel - William Blair
Jeff Hammond - KeyBanc
Jae Hyun Ko - Jefferies
Michael Pesendorfer - Baird
Rafe Jadrosich - Bank of America

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Hayward Holdings First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. My name is Lester and I will be your operator for today. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded.

I will now turn the call over to Kevin Maczka, Vice President of Investor Relations. Mr. Maczka, you may begin.

Kevin Maczka

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. We issued our first quarter 2024 earnings press release this morning, which has been posted to the Investor Relations section of our website at investor.hayward.com. Here, 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 filing 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

Thanks Kevin, and good morning, everyone. It's my pleasure to welcome all of you to Hayward's first quarter earnings call.

I'll start on Slide 4 of our earnings presentation with today's key messages. I'm pleased to report first quarter results in line with expectations. We executed well during the quarter, delivering robust profitability and improved cash flow. Net sales increased 1% year-over-year through modest contributions from both price and volume. Gross margins expanded 260 basis points to 49.2%. This matches the record we achieved in the fourth quarter last year at lower sequential sales volumes and represents the fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year gross margin expansion. Cash flow also improved year-over-year during a seasonally soft period.