Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corporation (NYSE:ZWS) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Todd Adams: I don’t know that it’s a big tailwind into ’24, I just think that our working capital will continue to be very efficient. I think that some of the costs save that I highlight in ’25 comes with incremental benefits of working capital, by collapsing the length of the overall supply chain. So, I think we’ll continue to be efficient users there. But again, I think that from where lead times are, where service levels are, where cost is, where freight and transportation costs are, I think we’re really well positioned to turn in another really, really strong cash flow year in ’24. And, frankly, sort of like we always do. I mean, I think when you look over time, the cash flow year in year out sort of always shows up, just primarily because of the business model we have. So, there’s one number we’re not particularly concerned about is our ability to generate really, really good free cash flow in whatever the environment.

Jeffrey Hammond: Great, appreciate the color. Thanks, Todd.

Operator: And the next question comes from the line of Andrew Krill, with Deutsche Bank, your line is open.

Andrew Krill : Hey, thanks. Good morning, everyone. Wonder, I circle back to like all the new products. I just like, can you quantify it all maybe like how much of a tailwind you think that might be for 2024? Or just in kind of a medium term and how that compares to the prior run rate? And then if you’re measuring it with things like your new product vitality index?

Todd Adams: Yes, I mean, I think the way to think about it, Andrew, is we’re — we’ve gone out over the course of the last year and done a ton of work on understanding what are the unmet needs of our customers, and done an enormous amount of voice of the customer. And that’s, at a lot of levels, what our elementary schools looking forward, or what’s higher Ed looking for. And in all those cases, it’s leading us to a lot of ideas that will only enhance the penetration rate and increase the points of use, we hope. And so I don’t know that we can quantify it exactly other than to say, these new product launches are going to be really spot on from what the market is wanting. It’s a category that’s really developed over the past 10 years.

But I think the next evolution of this is going to be very much targeted at, what people have learned, how the adoption of point of views, and bottle fillers is really going to be evolving based on the needs of what customers want. So I don’t know that we’re going to quantify for you, I think it’s embedded in this notion of having a very high share, and a category that’s growing and we’re going to continue to create opportunities for ourselves to grow that installed base. And when you do that, obviously, the filtration comes right behind it. And it’s also things like, improving the access, and the ability to change filters and change filters more frequently. So those are all things that are part of the overall trajectory and growth that we see going forward.

Andrew Krill: Okay, great. And then my follow up just on the investments called out for the fourth quarter. Just, can you give a little more detail on what those were, just can you like confirm are they confined to the fourth quarter? And then like any benefits you’d expect from them? Thanks.

Todd Adams: Yes, I think when you looked at what we were going to invest in, whether that’s personnel channel, some of the marketing work, some of the Intel over the next year, we just took a look at it and said, well, let’s pull some of it forward. We really are growing at the rate we are and believe we can continue to expand upon that, let’s pull some of that into the fourth quarter, so that we get the benefit sooner. The order of magnitude is, plus or minus 3 million bucks. So not crazy, but it’s really more of a pull forward than it is anything else. So, we would expect to perhaps spend 3 million less next year, but over the 15 months, roughly the same amount of money.