ESAB Corporation (NYSE:ESAB) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Shyam Kambeyanda: Yes. And I think the way to think about that one, Mig, is that what we have done today is created an optimal inventory state for each of the regions and more importantly, for each of our facilities. And through our EBX process and what I talked about is strong visual board, strong daily management, just to manage our plans to achieve or create a glide back to achieve that optimal inventory level. And so Kevin and I, something that Kevin has done incredibly well since he took over as our CFO has managed our cash and I’m very confident between our EBX process and the processes that Kevin has put in place in terms of his weekly and daily management on cash that we are in a strong position to continue to deliver on our commitments on that front.

Operator: And your next question comes from the line of Chris Dankert from Loop Capital.

Chris Dankert: I guess looking at the 2023 organic sales guidance here, can you give us any detail Americas versus international? And maybe just kind of how you’re looking about Europe specifically in terms of growth in ’23 here?

Kevin Johnson: Yes. We haven’t broken that out yet, Chris. Let me sort of give that a little bit more consideration and get out. But in general, it’s still early in the year and best to probably think about both regions performing at similar levels as we at least get — get out of the gate very soon, it will be the second quarter and we’ll be able to give you a little more color on that particular front. But as of right now, probably best to assume that both businesses performing at similar levels as we exit. And as I’ve mentioned earlier, we’re off to a good start to Q1. And so here in just about 8 weeks, we’ll be out talking to you about the first quarter, so we’ll be able to give you more color.

Chris Dankert: Understood. Sounds good there. And then forgive me if I missed it but kind of circling back to Swift and Therapy Gas here. Is the sales contribution similar for each of those businesses? And then on an EBITDA margin basis, how do those kind of look versus company average here?

Kevin Johnson: Yes. I think we sort of mentioned already, we haven’t given individual sales numbers but I know it’s in the back and you could sort of pull those numbers out. But $20 million is the total impact of those 2 businesses for the full year, with Therapy Equipment being accretive immediately. And I’m very confident that Swift-Cut has a really strong game plan where the gross margins are accretive today and we expect EBITDA to get accretive as we finish out the year.

Chris Dankert: Got it. And if I could sneak in one more. Maybe this is more for Kevin as well. Again, given some of the more uneven macro headlines and you highlighted the 2x to 3x debt leverage being a comfortable range. I guess, heading into a little bit of a cloudier your macro, does that change where you feel comfortable in that range? Or just any thoughts as we think about leveraging cash deployment going forward?

Shyam Kambeyanda: Yes. So the one thing, Chris, that ESAB’s proven its strong ability to generate strong free cash flow. As we step back to during COVID, we actually generated over 130% and cash conversion over that period, given we’re short cycle. We generally cycle down our inventory pretty quick when things turn. So that gives us a lot of confidence in terms of our abilities, strength of our balance sheet to go through any type of debt that at this point, we don’t see happening.

Chris Dankert: Got you. Understood.