Mohawk Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MHK) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Jeff Lorberbaum: Let’s see. We just — we’re in the midst of concluding two ceramic acquisitions. We talked about in Brazil and Mexico. We think those are really good ones for us because we have positions in both marketplaces, and it will put us in either the first or second position in each marketplace. They are huge ceramic markets and the combination of the two businesses will enable us to have a complete offering from top to bottom in both marketplaces and the companies tend to be in different — focus on different areas of the business. In both markets, we tend to be a little higher in the product offerings. And so they fill in the lower parts of the market for us to help us get the biggest opportunities out of them. So we see both of them really helping us once we get the two businesses put together.

Other than that, usually, in this environment, you don’t do a lot of acquisitions when people’s margins are low. Unless they’re in real trouble, they tend not to want to sell given both their margins and the market multiple. So I wouldn’t assume that we’re going to do much until you get to the other side where you’re coming out and the multiples go up and the margin starts expanding.

Unidentfied Participant: Okay. Thank you for that.

Operator: The next question comes from John Lovallo from UBS. Please go ahead.

John Lovallo: Hey, guys. Thank you for putting me in here. The first question is on cash flow conversion this year, given similar CapEx levels and entering the year at sort of higher working capital levels. How are you guys thinking about free cash flow conversion?

James Brunk: So a couple of things to note there. In the second half of the year, we generated a little over $165 million coming into 2022, obviously, we’re behind on inventory, so we had to kind of build up inventory. So for 2023, our visibility is limited. We do expect cash flow to improve, but it’s worthy to note that we’re investing in growth categories and acquisitions to try to improve the long -term results.

John Lovallo: Got you. Okay. And then the second question is, it sounds like the Commercial business has held up really well. Are you seeing any signs of slowing in that business?

Jeff Lorberbaum: You start with the ABI Index, which I’m sure we’re all watching, it’s been under 50 for several months. So it looks like there’s less projects going to be — most of those projects tend to have at least a time before we get to them, a minimum of a year and some up to three years. So it takes a while for the projects that come through to know what’s going on. Some categories in Commercial are performing better than others, like hotels didn’t invest during the whole time. There’s still investments in hotels going on to update them and keep them and it’s performing the best. So — and it all depends on the economy. But again, it’s got a long tail to it.

John Lovallo: Got it. Thank you, guys.

Operator: Next question comes from Rafe Jadrosich from Bank of America. Please go ahead.

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