Xerox Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:XRX) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Steve Bandrowczak: Yes. I think there’s a couple of things, Erik. First of all, you’re right, companies are getting settled into this new hybrid environment, but it’s driving significant challenges in and around security of documents and data security around how workflows happen in the company, how do you drive productivity. And so what we’re seeing is a great opportunity for a couple of things. One, to actually play in that space, right, we have been incredibly innovative through the years around how we drive workplace productivity. This is just a new area for us in terms of workplaces wherever an individual is. And so we see an opportunity to do a couple of things. One, with our products and solutions, workflow with our cloud solutions, AI solutions, what we think we can do with augmented reality, we can actually help customers drive productivity, but more importantly, drive insights to the data that they have inside of those workflows.

So we believe there’s a great opportunity for us to play in that space and really be the provider of choice to help customers in this new world wherever their employees are and drive productivity and drive insights to data. So that’s the first thing. Second, as you think about the macro headwinds that customers are facing, as I talked a little bit earlier to Ananda, we have an opportunity to drive some very specific workflow solutions. You heard me talk about what we’re doing in accounts payable. We can do things like drive productivity and help our end customers in their workflow, but very specific around verticals and very specifically around customer success. And so we think we can play in this area, and we have a great opportunity to expand our wallet share inside of customer accounts there.

Erik Woodring: Okay. Super. That’s super helpful, Steve. And then, Xavier, maybe a question for you is, really nice to see some margin expansion into 2023. Can you help us — two-part question, can you help us maybe better understand the trade-off between gross margins and OpEx in 2023, how to think about each of those? And then what would be some of the more influential factors that you would have to see in 2023 to help you maybe get operating margins closer to, for example, 2020 or 2021 levels?

Xavier Heiss: Yes. Thanks, Erik. So as you have noticed it on that, we commented it in quarter 3, Q4 was an important quarter for us. And you have noticed that we have been able to drive margin up and Q4 was a strong quarter, driving the overall margin for the company and for the year up there. So the ingredients that make it work and the ingredients that will be required to achieve the plan that we have in quarter — in 2023 are quite simple. #1 is things that we have already put in place. We have put in place price increase. Price increases in order to phase some of the cost inflation, but also to rebuild the margin here. These price increases have been enacted in 2022, towards the year, and we’ll have a flow-through of price increases that will still be valid and be measured during 2023.

This price increase, as you know it, are contractual. 2/3 of our revenue is annuity-based, is contractual, which means that when we enact a price increase and it lasts, it lasts for the year and for the year after and the year after. So second point is the improvement on supply chain. You know that 2021 and 2022 have been, I would say, literally crazy from a supply chain point of view. And I say mainly the cost of supply chain and the uncertainty around this year. We are expecting — and we’re already seeing it, the supply chain condition to normalize. And even if the cost of container is not yet at what it was pre-supply chain crisis or pre-Ukraine and the COVID situation, I mean we have seen great improvement in the cost of container shipment, which will help to improve the gross margin up.