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| For us, premiumization is a major contributor to our revenue growth, as well as gross margin expansion and also delights our end users |
| We're always looking at kind of what's the next, you know, longer-term change for us, but in the near term, we feel very good about where we're at with our -- with our overall network on the supply chain side |
| So we're feeling very good about where we're at from a supply chain standpoint |
| And so, as we do more business in Europe and Asia-Pacific that country mix on gross margin is positive and then also just simply, you know, from a gross margin point of view, selling more products, more of our highest gross margin product |
| And then on the gross margin as Europe becomes a bigger part of our business, there is -- there are mixed benefits, right, our -- our gross margin in many of our continental European businesses in particular, which suffered last year is very, very strong |
| And so it's really about accelerating revenue growth to gain scale, you know, having a higher sales base to leverage the cost base over |
| So we take a great deal of encouragement from the US market, which went first with the price increases and a strong volume recovery, we've now got into double digits |
| In the second half of the year, we saw volumes recover and we're also pleased with the recovery we experienced in EMEA, where we delivered double-digit constant currency growth for the last two quarters |
| You heard that we saw improvements in volumes and sales in the second half of fiscal year 2023 and are encouraged by these trends as we enter fiscal year 2024 |
| I'm proud of what we've accomplished over the last year |
| That will generate continued strong and stable free cash flow, which we will continue to optimize for our best return on investments and to our stockholders |
| We see significant opportunities for sustainable growth which over time will align with our 55-30-25 business model objectives |
| Translation of our subsidiary's results into the US dollar had a favorable impact on our consolidated net sales in the fourth quarter on a non-GAAP constant currency basis, fourth quarter sales would have been $139.2 million, up 7% compared to the fourth quarter of last year |
| This year we saw liquidity from operations improve, as we made considerable progress in lowering our inventory levels, which we had invested in to stabilize our US supply chain in prior years |
| Our resilient and asset-light business model, coupled with actions we have taken to grow our topline while improving gross margin are all contributors to maintaining a strong balance sheet and liquidity position |
| We're seeing solid improvements in volume now that we've lapped the impact of the price increases that we put into place last fiscal year |
| In the fourth quarter, we experienced double-digit volume and sales increases in the US |
| On a constant currency basis, net income would have improved 10% compared to the fourth quarter last year |
| Net income improved to $16.6 million in the fourth quarter, which was an increase of 12% over the previous year's fourth quarter |
| We continue to experience positive momentum in our direct market in Mexico from the shift we made in 2020 from a distributor model |
| Getting EBITDA above 20% remains a priority as we are laser-focused on improving sales volumes, rebuilding gross margins, and disciplined cost management |
| This is the result of the improvement in net sales as volumes recovered in the back half of the fiscal year and stronger gross margin performance, partially offset by an increase in our cost of doing business as I previously noted |
| We saw strong sales in the UK, Italy, and Benelux, which have all turned in their best quarters performance for the year |
| Currency fluctuations positively impacted our sales in EMEA on a constant currency basis, sales would have increased 13% compared to the fourth quarter of last year, marking the second consecutive quarter of double-digit sales growth in constant currency |
| We are incredibly pleased with the improvements we have made to gross margin over our fiscal year 2023 |
| Finally, Asia-Pac's gross margin was 55.7%, an improvement of 460 basis points |
| Each trading block is at a different stage in recovery in our gross margins and I'm happy to see improvements in all three trading blocks this quarter over the prior year fourth quarter |
| A 400 basis point improvement from prior year fourth quarter was driven by continued actions we've taken throughout the course of the year, including price increases across all our markets and geographies, which positively impacted gross margin by 460 basis points |
| This margin performance reflects a 400 basis point improvement compared to the prior year fourth quarter and a sequential improvement of 80 basis points compared to the third quarter of this fiscal year |
| Once again, we experienced strong gross margin growth over the prior year fourth quarter |
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| In our Asia-Pacific distributor markets, sales were down 38% in the fourth quarter against a tough prior-year comparison |
| Higher costs associated with specialty chemical costs and aerosol cans when combined negatively impacted our margin by 90 basis points |
| Sales of our homecare and cleaning products in the Americas were down 4% in the fourth quarter compared to the fourth quarter of last year |
| And on to Asia-Pacific, sales in Asia-Pacific, which includes Australia, China, and other countries in the Asia region were down 20% in the fourth quarter to $50 million |
| Maintenance product sales in Latin America were down 12% against a strong comparative period in the prior year |
| Our first half saw disruption resulting from general economic uncertainty, higher costs, the loss of our Russian business, and price increases that were implemented |
| In China, sales were down 4% in the fourth quarter primarily due to the impact of foreign currency exchange rates |
| In Australia, sales were down 1% in the fourth quarter primarily due to the impact of foreign currency exchange rates |
| However, EBITDA margins continue to be under pressure due to the current inflationary environment and the intentional investments we have made to support our new Four-by-Four Strategic Framework |
| Then you are working on supply chains -- supply chain changes, what do you think you need to improve there? I mean, everyone was hit with an increasing, you know, inventory level after the pandemic and difficulties in getting raw materials |
| When you look at -- between the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific, the place that we've had the biggest headwinds from our inventory levels has been in the Americas and we are still just -- just shy of about six months of inventory there |
| Maintenance product sales in our direct market in Mexico decreased 19% in the fourth quarter as we continue to add new points of distribution, making our maintenance products available in more places for more people who find more uses more frequently |
| Sales in maintenance products in Canada decreased slightly down 3% period over period as the favorable impact of sales price increases was completely offset by lower sales volumes due to weaker economic conditions in the region |
| And I guess this is more of a longer-term question, a big picture question, it seems like for all the years, I've been following you that the cost of doing business ratio has always been the struggle for you guys |
| So from a fourth-quarter perspective, the impact of price had an 8% impact globally and the volume was slightly down just about 1% |
| So but we are looking at the low end and potentially lower EPS year-over-year |
| This past year has been a year of transition, not just for me but for the Company, and as Steve noted fiscal year 2023 has been somewhat a tale of two halves where the first half was met with volatility and uncertainty especially as we've worked through implementing price changes across markets, currency fluctuations and the cycle the exit of our Russia business |
| Steve Brass And if I can just add in terms of the kind of the drivers of the business in terms of revenue, so this volume recovery, particularly in Europe, right? So, for the fiscal year, $37 million of volume loss this year |
| So, you know, we're still facing as we recover our volumes |
| Now, let me discuss some items that fall below the EBITDA line |
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