Armstrong World Industries, Inc. (NYSE:AWI) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Vic Grizzle: Yes, it’s a good question. Our product mix continues to be positive. The growth at the higher end of the market continues to be greater than at the lower end of the market. Again, renovation activity, people want to put in the newest stuff when they renovate. So there’s a natural draw at the higher end of our portfolio. And the rate of innovation and new product introduction is at its highest level. And we’re – that innovation is getting pulled and specked by the architects and then that continues to help drive a richer mix at the higher end of the portfolio. That’s been going on for a number of years. And it’s materializing also in this year. And as we’ve seen in past downturns and garden variety type recessions is that we continue to grow at the high end faster than at the low end. And therefore, this supports growing your AUV even in a down market in a down cycle. And that’s – I think that’s on full display here in 2023.

Adam Baumgarten: Got it. Okay. Thanks. And then just if we think about just the volume growth or the modest volume declines in the quarter, how do you think that stacks up versus maybe the industry? And do you think you gained share in the quarter or kind of just grew with the market for the most part.

Vic Grizzle: Well, I think the market is down low single digits as we were talking about consistent with what we’ve seen in the rest. I think the difference is our growth initiatives. And if you really carefully our growth initiatives are about growing the size of the pie by accelerating the rate of renovation, creating more renovation events that are just kind of late and sitting there. So I think we’re ahead and we’re able to capture more of that renovation here in the short term as we create it. So I would just put it in that bucket in terms of where the growth is coming from, offsetting some of the market weakness that we see.

Adam Baumgarten: Okay. Got it. Thanks. Best of luck.

Vic Grizzle: Thank you.

Operator: There are no further questions. I’ll now turn the call back over to Vic Grizzle, President and CEO, for closing remarks.

Vic Grizzle: Thank you. Just to close real quickly here, we’re very pleased obviously with our results in the third quarter. I think we’re particularly pleased that we could demonstrate the resilience and the strength of our business model in a more garden variety like downturn that we’re experiencing in 2023. It’s a testament to all of our employees that are working very hard and diligently on executing our strategy. And again, we’re very pleased with being able to demonstrate that. And to finish the year strong to have a full year to demonstrate the resilience and strength of our business. Thank you all for joining this morning and our call. Thank you for your questions.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. You may now disconnect.