Marietta Zakas: So good question. Let me sort of hit some of the things, I think, to think about as we look at that. I will say with respect to Water Flow Solutions, I think we would say that the strong net sales growth that we saw through the first half of the year, I think we can continue to expect due to the year-over-year comparisons and certainly continued growth from iron gate valves and service brass products. As I said, we’re continuing to work down that elevated backlog. We also, I think from an operational perspective, we are continuing to get the improved labor material and supply chain efficiencies out of WFS as well. And I think that and the volume growth that we see with our iron gate valves will certainly all be drivers as we look at Water Flow Solutions for the year.
On Water Management Solutions, I think we have seen on a year-over-year lower net sales. Certainly, net sales for our hydrants were down double digits compared with the prior year quarter. Although importantly, and now I’m going to shift you to sequential, we did see, on a sequential basis, an increase there both from orders and shipments perspective. But on the year-over-year we had such strong hydrant shipments in ’23 due to that elevated backlog, that’s a difference year-over-year. I will also call out within the Water Management Solutions segment that is where we have our repair products, and we have referenced that we — just as we experienced in our second quarter, we do expect that we will have higher labor and freight and material costs and anticipate that in the second half of the year.
That said, we’re looking for continued favorable price cost, I would say, across both of the segments as well as underlying manufacturing performance.
Michael Halloran: That’s super helpful color. Maybe shifting gears a little bit to the capital deployment side. It’s starting to feel like the team is getting their feet under them a little bit. Can you maybe talk about how you’re thinking about the cultivation and the funnel on the M&A side and broadening and deepening the product portfolio as you mentioned during your prepared remarks?
Marietta Zakas: Yes. So I’d say, look, in and around the M&A front, I think we can — it’s easier for us, I would say, to identify what we think would be the right additions to our portfolio, not only to broaden our portfolio, but to deepen our portfolio. I think a lot of the — probably our — some of the challenges are really just in and around the availability of where we think could be some nice add-ons. That said, I think as we talked about, I think from a capital structure perspective, we are in the right — we are well positioned with respect to our capital structure availability under the ABL and certainly, the flexibility that the capital structure affords us. And I would say, certainly, with the improvements that we’re seeing from an operational performance perspective, I know that we are all excited about where acquisition opportunities could be.
And as I said, we’ve got, I think, the team focused in and around that. It’s just finding the right opportunities and importantly, at the valuation that we think will be additive for our investors over the long term.
Michael Halloran: Appreciate the time this morning. I’ll pass it on.
Operator: [Operator Instructions]. Then one, one moment to see if we have any questions.
Marietta Zakas: Great. Well, operator, I will go ahead and close out the call today. I’ll say thank you for everyone joining us. I wanted you to know that I’m really honored and excited to continue in the role of CEO, continuing to work with an exceptional team that we have at Mueller, including Paul with his recent promotion to President and Chief Operating Officer. We play a critical role in the business that we’re in, helping our customers deliver safe, clean drinking water. We do believe that we are uniquely positioned to address the challenges that we are all seeing across the country with aging water infrastructure with the breadth of our products and solutions. With that, I’m confident that Mueller will continue to deliver profitable growth in the months and years ahead, and I thank you all for your continued interest and support of Mueller. With that, operator, we’ll conclude the call.
Operator: Thank you. That concludes today’s conference. You may all disconnect at this time.
