Advantage Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:ADV) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Dave Peacock: Well, I think one, we have, some of that’s going to start rolling through, as Brian said, as you move in through the year. And I think there is opportunity to reinforce the ROI and have discussions with some of our clients and customers relative to the price that we’re charging. So I do think that is an opportunity going forward. But we have taken steps in that regard over the last call it, 12 months, you do see contractual timing also impacting our contract timing impacting sort of a lag as it relates to when you can capture price with certain of our businesses.

Jason English: Okay. And last question, I’ll pass it on. I know I’m very probably overstayed my welcome. You’ve made a number of acquisitions in the last three years, telling into roughly $250 million of outlays. Is it reasonable to assume that you acquired them for around 6x, so that you’ve got $40 million of EBITDA growth over the last three years from M&A? Just trying to get a sense of like underlying business, how much erosion we’ve seen?

Brian Stevens: Yes, Jason. So I think when you look at it, it’s not easy to say it from like an apples-to-apples basis because a lot of the businesses we’re acquiring. We’re acquiring — we’re not acquiring revenue streams. We’re requiring a servicing capability that we can leverage our relationships with the clients, our relationships with the retailers, the depth and breadth of our personnel, our technology. And so it’s blended together with our growth for our overall business. So, we run them together with the businesses, not separately. So, it’s not easy to separate those apart.

Jason English: So you’re paying higher multiples than 6% on average in aggregate?

Brian Stevens: I’m saying historically, we’ve talked about paying on average mid-single digits multiples.

Jason English: Right. But now you’re buying businesses with no EBITDA just capabilities?

Brian Stevens: No. The businesses have EBITDA.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, since there are no further questions, I would like to turn the conference over to Dave Peacock, CEO, for closing comments.

A – Dave Peacock: Thank you, Ryan. I firmly believe Advantage has a bright future and a strong foundation from which to build an even better company. Along with my entire management team, one of our core goals in is to rebuild credibility with you, our investors. Our associates are providing essential services that provide a high yield for our clients and customers and helping our CPG companies and retailers navigate the current environment efficiently and with more conviction. Our scaled talented team is a true source of competitive advantage for our company, and we intend to unlock this value as we work to better enable the organization to drive growth. Thank you again for your time today. I look forward to meeting some of you at the upcoming UBS conference later this month as well speaking on our first quarter call in May.

End of Q&A:

Operator: Thank you. The conference of Advantage Solutions has now concluded. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.

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