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| Statement |
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| Given our first-mover advantage and strong asset position in Canada, including our state-of-the-art MRF network, we have already won a significant number of accretive EPR related contracts |
| Some of the highlights of the year included executing on our pricing strategy across our Solid Waste platform, achieving industry-leading core price of 9.8%, the highest in company history and leading to outsized margin expansion |
| Throughout 2023, we continue to implement our strategy by building on the strength of our best-in-class platform |
| We are optimistic that we'll be able to capitalize on additional contracts that we have yet to be awarded |
| Growing environmental services revenue by over 17% and achieving best-in-class adjusted EBITDA margins of 26% |
| So it's a market where we're currently operating in and around great family business, fully vertically integrated, wonderful hauling business, great landfill asset, again, in a market where we've done exceptionally well in |
| But we're feeling really good about where we're sitting today and the position that we have in a bunch of those contracts |
| The impact of the steps we took are reflected in our exceptional performance for 2023, once again demonstrating the ability of our team to create long-term equity value for our shareholders |
| Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA margin grew 200 basis points from the prior year with 245 basis points of underlying Solid Waste margin expansion and 180 basis points of margin expansion from our Environmental Services business |
| Adjusted EBITDA grew over 21% from the prior year, excluding the impact of the divestitures |
| The record high voluntary labor turnover rates that we saw in 2021 and 2022 as well as supply chain constraints continue to sequentially improve and we expect to continue to see the positive impact of these trends into 2024 |
| We continue to believe that these opportunities represent some of the best risk-adjusted returns that we have seen and we will provide significant upside to our long-term free cash flow trajectory in the coming years |
| Our market selection, stronger balance sheet and continued execution on the self-help levers in the portfolio position us for a very attractive 2024 and beyond |
| Luke will walk us through in more detail but high level, we're guiding to another year of strong revenue growth across the board with Solid Waste pricing of 6% to 6.5% and mid-single-digit organic top line revenue growth in Environmental Services |
| We expect that adjusted EBITDA margins will organically expand another 100 basis points in each of our segments which we expect to be industry-leading and support our adjusted EBITDA guide of $2.215 billion |
| So we're feeling pretty good with the guide that we put forward |
| We also expect that the cost impact of productivity, cost of risk in repairs and maintenance from labor and turnover trends and supply chain constraints will moderate and potentially provide upside to our guidance |
| So there's a lion's share of a multitude of contracts that are going to be let over the next, call it, 12 months and we think we're positioned very favorably |
| And these opportunities don't come along sort of every day and I think we were very well positioned, both from a relationship perspective with the seller as well as being able to get through the DOJ regulatory process in relatively short order |
| So again, we're almost there, a little bit of work to do but we feel really good about where that's going |
| And so you've seen that at play in solid waste and we expect to see and realize similar benefits in environmental services as we undertake this sort of quality of revenue focus |
| And so we feel good knowing it's there but I think the free cash flow generation and what it does to the margin profile and the free cash flow conversion for our overall business is going to be better to keep that |
| In Solid Waste outsized price cost spread is expected to be the primary driver of this margin improvement |
| So if you put that against our expected solid waste price, you can see an opportunity for 150 basis points of spread between the 2 which we think is a fantastic outcome and it was one that we sort of had anticipated to come |
| As always, I am very grateful for the efforts of our more than 20,000 employees who are truly the key to our success |
| Fourth quarter revenue was $1.88 billion, representing year-over-year growth, 200 basis points better than we had guided |
| Solid waste price of 7.9% was realized through ongoing support from both our geographies with better than mid-single-digit pricing, continuing to be realized in the typically lower priced residential collection and post-collection lines of business |
| Page 4 highlights the 245 basis point expansion of underlying solid waste adjusted EBITDA margins we realized during the fourth quarter, a 120 basis point acceleration over Q4 '22 |
| They are highly successful in solid and we expect for continued success in Environmental Services |
| The contribution from all these initiatives will significantly improve our free cash flow profile over the time and continue the long-term shareholder value |
| Statement |
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| Solid waste volume of negative 3.6% represented a 100 basis point deceleration from the third quarter due to intentional shedding, a tougher comp in the prior year and softness in special waste |
| The guide assumes 100 to 125 basis points of negative solid waste volumes, all of which is attributable to our intentional shedding |
| The volume is sort of, I think, in the guide, we alluded to negative 4.5% which is really negative 3.5% from the intentional shedding |
| In terms of margin, the first quarter is expected to be the toughest comp |
| Incremental growth capital in the quarter was $145 million, $25 million less than planned due to timing |
| Organic growth of EBITDA will drive you down to like 3.7 |
| The negative impact of which was approximately 165 basis points in the quarter |
| What I would say with ES, unlike solid waste is there is some more event-driven components to it and so you could have an event or an emergency response type action that does give rise to sort of more difficult to forecast volumes over the year |
| Our capital commitments and the JV contributions this year will be significantly lower than the prior year as those projects are now sort of standing on their own |
| This includes the intentional shedding of low-margin business and noncore revenue that do not satisfy our return requirements |
| So it's possible that that slips into Q1 of next year |
| Our guidance assumes commodity price consistent with Q4 prices which are lower than current levels |
| Jerry Revich And can I ask Environmental Solutions, can you expand more on the outlook, Luke, you mentioned margin compression in the first quarter |
| So you're anniversarying that in Q1 and that yields about negative 3.5% |
| But going against that, I mean, our cost of risk, when I look this year, is about 70, 75 basis point headwind that we're facing this year |
| As we've said, we've given up 200 basis points of volume at lower margin |
| Last year was a bit of an outlier just given all the different pieces that came together, coupled together with, we really didn't get any snow in Canada where sort of 80% of that revenue base is tied to |
| We also have the impact of our intentional shedding |
| Again, for Solid Waste, the expectation for the outsized headwind in terms of volumes in Q1 given the comp and then you get a moderation for the balance of the year and then just turning to ES, I'm assuming organic growth there is going to be price led but just curious what your thoughts are on volume assumptions |
| We ended the year with net leverage of about 4.1x, almost a full turn lower than where we ended 2022 |
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