W.W. Grainger Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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April 27, 2023

There are 10 speakers on the call.

Operator

Call.

Speaker 1

As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Kyle Bland, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Kyle.

Operator

Good morning. Welcome to Grainger's Q1 2023 earnings With me are D. J. Macpherson, Chairman and CEO and Dean Merriwether, Senior Vice President and CFO. As a reminder, some of our comments today may include forward looking statements.

Operator

Actual results may differ materially as a result of various risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in our SEC filings. Reconciliations of any non GAAP financial measures with their corresponding GAAP measures are found in the tables at the end of this presentation and in our Q1 earnings release, both of which are available on our IR website. This morning's call will focus on our Q1 2023 results, which are consistent on both the reported and adjusted basis for all periods presented. We will also share results related to Monotaro. Please remember that Monotaro is a public company and follows Japanese GAAP, which differs from U.

Operator

S. GAAP and is reported in our results 1 month in arrears. As a result, the numbers disclosed will differ somewhat from Monitaro's public statements. Now, I'll turn it over to DG. Thanks, Kyle.

Operator

Good morning and thank you for joining us. Today, I'll provide an overview of our Q1 performance and then pass it to Dee to walk through the financials in detail. Grainger started 2023 focused on what matters most, providing our customers with the products and services they need through exceptional service. We remain closely embedded with our customers, finding ways to help them manage their inventory, reduce cost, achieve their ESG objectives and successfully run their operations. 2 weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit with several customers in the manufacturing space in one of my favorite Midwest cities.

Operator

I heard very clearly how well our teams have served in the last few years, giving us great opportunity to grow with these customers in the future. We win when we serve our customers exceptionally well. And my interactions with our teams and customers this quarter have been a great example of how we are winning each day. Many customers, especially those in the industrial space, continue to see solid end market demand for their products. However, We do see some customers with more consumer facing exposure heading into a softer demand cycle.

Operator

No matter what economic uncertainties our customers are facing, We remain committed to our overall focus of helping our customers keep their operations running and their people safe. This consistent approach and relentless focus on the customer Rallies our team and fuels our results. As you can see, we again delivered a strong quarter performance to start the year as demand remains resilient and as we continue to execute well. We are making progress on our strategic growth engines and our high touch model as we further our merchandising efforts, continue to make smart marketing investments, expand our inventory management capabilities for customers and build out tools to better equip our sellers. The endless assortment business continues to execute their strategy as they add SKUs at Zoro, expand with enterprise customers at Montero and add a healthy clip of new registered users Our momentum is further supported by our world class supply chain and distribution network, which benefited from an uptick in product availability as supplier lead times This resulted in a sharp improvement in our service metrics to near pre pandemic levels, faster than we had anticipated at the start of the year.

Operator

With this swift improvement, we were able to meaningfully decrease frictional costs within the network by reducing average shipping distance and minimizing handling cost, all while delivering a higher percentage of orders complete and next day. This improvement is a reminder of just how much unusual and extraordinary activity we did to get products to customers through the pandemic and subsequent availability challenges. The return to more normal supply chain performance is great news for our customers and our supply chain team. The progress made across all these fronts helped drive great financial results for the Q1, where we finished with sales growth of 12.2% or 14.5% on a daily constant currency basis. Results again were driven by solid performance in both segments, most notably within the High Touch Solutions segment, which outpaced the broader MRO market by approximately 7 50 basis points in the U.

Operator

S. Total company operating margins were 16.6%, an increase of 200 basis points over the prior year period on improved gross margin performance due primarily to the supply chain efficiencies just discussed. Combined with our strong top line growth, we delivered EPS of $9.61 per share and a strong ROIC of 45.6%. During the quarter, we produced record operating cash flow of $454,000,000 with free cash flow of $356,000,000 And we returned a combined $229,000,000 to Grainger shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. And yesterday, we were pleased to announce a $1.86 quarterly dividend, which represents an 8% increase.

Operator

This marks our 52nd year of consecutive dividend increases, a track record that we are proud of. Finally, based on the strong start to the year and continued support of trends at April, we are raising our full year 2023 guidance, which Dee will outline in just a bit. With that, I'll turn it over to Dee to take us through more detail on the quarter.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Gigi. I'd like to echo Gigi's sentiment. Execution on our growth strategy and improved service from a return to more Normal supply chain performance helped drive excellent results in the quarter. Starting on slide 7, You can see the high level results, including strong sales growth of 14.5% in daily constant currency, driven by double digit growth locally in both segments. Although year over year growth rates decelerated as we move through the quarter on tougher comps, Daily sales dollars remained strong and were reasonably in line with historical sequential growth trends.

Speaker 2

Total company operating margin was up 200 basis points as expanded gross margins in both segments dropped to the bottom line. SG and A margin was flat year over year as investments in headcount, marketing and technology were offset by revenue growth. In total, we delivered diluted EPS in the quarter of $9.61 up 36% versus the first quarter of 2022. Diving into segment level details. For the Q1, we continued to see strong results within our Hi Tec segment, with daily sales up 14.5%, fueled by revenue growth in all geographies.

Speaker 2

Customer demand was generally in line with expectations for the quarter and continues to remain resilient as a whole despite certain areas of softness. In the U. S, we are seeing broad based strength across most of manufacturing with contractors and government customers to name a few. Retail and warehousing are slowing the most, but still up high single digits. In Canada, the economy remains stable and we are seeing good results across most end markets with Canadian daily sales up 11% and local days and local currency.

Speaker 2

For this segment, GP Margins finished the quarter at 42.4%, up 195 basis points versus the prior year. This expansion was largely driven by freight and supply chain efficiencies, as well as product mix favorability. As Didi mentioned, improved product availability and shorter supplier lead times drove improved stocking positions in our DCs. This availability improvement resulted in more efficient shipping routes, which helped reduce freight expense and lower our handling costs. Rate expense was further aided by a one time adjustment, which drove 20 basis points of improvement in the period.

Speaker 2

Product mix was also a tailwind, partially due to improved product availability and partially from lapping the pandemic fuel spike in safety sales from last year's For the quarter, price cost spread was neutral and trended largely as anticipated As price cost favorability we captured in 2022 began to unwind and offset the structural timing benefit we typically see as we pass price early in the Q1 each year. At the operating margin line, we saw improvement of 215 basis points year over year. The strong gross margin in the quarter was fully aided by 20 basis points of SG and A leverage as marketing and headcount investments were more than offset by revenue growth. Overall, it was a very strong quarter for the Hi Tec Solutions North American segment. Looking at market outgrowth on Slide 9, we estimate that the U.

Speaker 2

S. MRO market grew between 7% 8%, indicating that we achieved roughly 7 50 basis points of outgrowth in the quarter. As we continue to build strong partnerships and make progress with our growth engines. Our customers continue to turn to Grainger to help them solve their MRO challenges. Couple this with our supply chain service advantage, we continue to have a high degree of confidence in delivering against our goal to consistently outgrow the U.

Speaker 2

S. MRO market by 400 basis points to 500 basis points in any economic cycle. Moving to the Endless Assortment segment, Sales increased 3.8% or 14% on a daily constant currency basis, which adjusts for the impact of the depreciated Japanese yen. Zuora U. S.

Speaker 2

Was up 13.5%, while Manitaro achieved 12% growth in local stays and local currency. While Zoro generated solid growth, they are off to a slower start than anticipated, predominantly due to non core B2C business, which was down in the mid teens year over year. For small B2B customers, which make up the majority of Zurow's business were up nicely in the Q1, but are softening a bit in April given Zurow's more diversified end market customer mix outside of the industrial economy. And we expect results to be more in line with our expectations for the balance of the year. From a profitability perspective, Gross margin for this segment expanded 140 basis points versus the prior year due to strong price realization and continued freight efficiencies across both businesses, as well as favorable business unit mix for the segment.

Speaker 2

Operating margins expanded by 15 basis points year over year 8.1%, primarily due to gross margin favorability offsetting investments in marketing and headcount to drive customer acquisition and And assortment expansion. On slide 11, we continue to see positive results with our key endless assortment operating metrics. Total registered users are tracking nicely with Zoro and Monitaro combined up 16% over the prior year. On the right, we show the continued growth of Zoro's SKU portfolio, which grew by 900,000 SKUs in Q1 and stands at around 12,000,000 in total. We are well on our way to achieving an annual goal of 2,000,000 SKU additions in 2023.

Speaker 2

Now looking forward to the rest of the year, given the unexpected sharp improvement in profitability And continued resilient demand environment, we are updating our total company guidance for 2023. In our revised outlook, we are holding top line expectations with daily sales expected to be up 7% to 11% for the total company. This reflects solid Q1 performance in HiTouch, offsetting a slightly slower start across Inland's assortment, with expected on a similar 1% to 5% total U. S. MRO market outlook, which continued strong share gain.

Speaker 2

In This assortment is trending slightly lower, however, we expect daily sales for this segment to be up low double digits, which is a couple of 100 basis points higher when translated to constant currency. Note that April sales growth of the total company is holding firm with month to date sales up 10% year over year or nearly 11% in daily constant currency. The larger changes to our guide come on the profitability side. More improved product availability and the resulting step change in service levels is driving better freight dynamics, lower handling costs and improved product mix. With this, we are raising our gross margin range to 39.1% to 39.4%, up 70 basis points to 100 basis points year over year.

Speaker 2

While we still expect to be pricecost negative over the next few quarters as we unwind prior year favorability, The supply chain improvement is flowing through our P and L much faster than anticipated and is fueling the predominance of our revised outlook. The increase in gross margin largely falls through the op margin improvement and resulting EPS, which we now to be between $34.25 $36.75 a nearly 20% increase year over year at the midpoint. We have updated our supplemental guidance, which can be found in the appendix and includes revised segment margins and improved operating cash flow outlook and increased expectations for share repurchases for

Speaker 3

the year.

Speaker 2

Our execution has put us on a great path. We are serving customers well. We're remaining focused on the things that matter and are positioned to continue to take share. I exited the quarter very confident in our ability to continue to deliver on our commitment to shareholders. With that, I'll turn it back to D.

Speaker 2

G. For some closing remarks.

Operator

Thank you, D. Before I open it up for questions, I would make just a few comments. Grainger was recently named to the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list for the 2nd year in a row. As you know, this is an exclusive recognition, one that honors companies The best cultures, workplaces and people. Along with this list, we have also been named the best places to work for women and the world's most admired companies, among others.

Operator

We view this recognition as an output of the work we do to create a welcoming culture and a highly motivated team. I remain confident in Grainger's ability to create tangible value,

Speaker 1

Our first question today is coming from Chris Snyder from UBS. Your line is now live.

Speaker 4

Thank you. I wanted to ask on outgrowth in the high North America business. It just continues to hold firm between 700 and 800 basis points despite improving Product availability, I would imagine, among some of your smaller competitors. Can you just maybe talk about why you think That isn't compressing despite pretty broad indications that supply chains are recovering.

Operator

Sure. Thanks, Chris. We are certainly seeing supply chains improve. I do think that a lot of the work we've done Through the pandemic in the last three years has helped build some stickiness with our customers. Every customer I go into, we've expanded our KeepStock operation if they're of any size.

Operator

We're filling bins. We're doing more and supporting customers make sure that they have the right inventory in the right place. And I think that's been a big part of it. We continue to see really good results from merchandising, from marketing, from Keith's stock and from our supply chain performance. All those things continue to be an advantage for us and helping us gain share.

Speaker 4

Thank you. I appreciate that. And then on price cost, I think Dean mentioned that the guidance assumes price cost negative the next few quarters on some of The give back after running a bit ahead. Can you just maybe talk about the level of producer price increases that were kind of pushed through on you guys in February. And then just in general, any response from customers or any pushback on pricing?

Speaker 4

Thank you.

Speaker 2

So, yes, Chris, how are you doing? I would talk about the last part of your question, I believe, first, which was you asked about A producer price push, that has of course become less and less over a period of time. So it It's basically modest as what we have seen, of late. However, as you know, in the Q1 is when We implemented some of those costs or pulled them through to our system. And so for Q1, it's Traditionally a high watermark for us for price cost.

Speaker 2

And as you noted, we expect to unwind some of our price cost positivity from 2022 as a result through the next couple of quarters.

Operator

And in terms of customer response, what I would say, Chris, is that all of our effectively all of our share gain in the last 3 years has been on volume and So we are priced competitively and so we are not seeing unusual reactions from customers because we maintain that competitiveness in our prices.

Speaker 1

Your next question is coming from Tommy Moll from Stephens. Your line is now live.

Speaker 5

Good morning and thanks for taking my questions.

Operator

Good morning.

Speaker 5

I wanted to stick on the theme of price cost to start here. You articulated several of the drivers for the gross margin performance, high touch specifically is what I'm talking about here in the Q1 and have clarified the price cost dynamic as we go through the year. Is it still safe to assume that for the full year you could land above that 40% long term target even if we trend

Speaker 2

So thanks for the question. Obviously, we've had a really strong start to the year. And as I noted, we really feel like from a GP specifically in high touch, we're at a high watermark based upon some of the unwind that we're going to experience With price cost, a lot of the favorability that we experienced this quarter relates to our availability improving and some of the friction costs coming out faster and probably a little bit more pronounced than we would expect that is driving our results up. We did have a, I would say, a non comparable Freight impact of about 20 bps as you look at the outlook for the rest of the year. But other than that, we feel pretty confident And staying at this level based upon what we see right now.

Speaker 5

Thank you. And as a follow-up, I wanted to ask about some of the weakness you identified for Zoro. It sounds like there were some non core areas where you saw weakness, but potentially also just As you rolled everything up to the full year outlook, there may have been other unfavorable factors there at least versus Your original outlook, but anything you could do to unpack what you're seeing there would be helpful. Thank you.

Operator

Yes. So roughly 80% of Absorb's business is business to business customers that are small businesses and midsize businesses. Those while they continue to perform pretty well in the Q1, we are seeing sort of across Everything smaller businesses and consumer facing businesses slow down relative to certainly large and industrial type So there's a mix here thing that's going on. And then the 20% that is not business to business, some of that came through As you might imagine, that has been down fairly substantially in the Q1. So that's been a drag.

Operator

Net net, we still expect the endless To be below what we expected to be in here.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Our next question today is coming from Ryan Merkel from William Blair. Your line is now live.

Speaker 3

Hey, everyone. Nice quarter.

Operator

Thanks, Frank.

Speaker 3

I wanted to start on the freight and supply chain dynamic. Can you just talk about maybe take us from November, December to today and just talk about how you got surprised by supply chain sort of normalizing and what sort of happened? Did everyone start to have the lead times improve at one time in the quarter?

Operator

Yes, I think there's several things that happened, Brian. I mean, if you went back to the Q4 of last year, we were really solid in terms of our own distributions and our performance and our own and outbound freight at that point. Inbound freight was getting better And supply lead times are starting to get better, but still fairly elongated. We've seen both supplier lead times Domestically and ocean freight come in faster than we expected and recover faster than we expected. So therefore we have received a whole bunch of product into the system.

Operator

And I mean it's probably obvious when you think about it, but if you went back a year ago, There were a lot of back ordered items. And so if a trailer, let's say, came into our Greenville DC at once of compressors or something, Everywhere in the network we point to that trailer when it was received and we'd ship it all over the country to get product to customers. Now we have that same product coming into every DC and so we're shipping shorter distances and that's a big benefit in terms of for us at this point. And The other benefit is we're not having to work overtime in our distribution centers where we were a year ago and that part of that goes into gross margin too because that's part of handling So, those are the benefits we're seeing. And a lot of it's supplier lead times are still slightly extended from before the pandemic, but they are getting much, much closer and there are fewer outliers than we expected at this time.

Speaker 3

Got it. Okay, that's clear. And then, D. G, I wanted to ask your opinion on AI. How do you think that might help Grainger and what could the impact be the industry?

Operator

Yes. I mean, I won't go into too much detail. Obviously, AI has been a raging topic. If you think about artificial intelligence, Artificial intelligence, there's machine learning, which is a subset of artificial intelligence, so there's deep learning. A lot of what's been talked about lately is deep learning generative AI, which You can write your favorite song.

Operator

We have been using machine learning for a long time and things like helping us get search right. And Effectively, I think the challenge here is to figure out where you can drive improvements through AI from customer interactions from operations And we have efforts going in all of those areas. And it's like any other technology pointed at the right problem. And I think that's probably going to be The most important thing for us to think about as we learn more.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Next question is coming from Jacob Levington from Melius Research.

Speaker 6

Good morning, everyone.

Speaker 1

Good morning.

Speaker 2

Good morning. Good morning.

Speaker 6

D. D, maybe you can just give us a sense of How things are going north of the border in Canada and I know that business has been on a long journey to get back on track, but maybe if you put it in innings, what inning are we in, if you bring it that way?

Operator

There's a lot of good signs, I would say, in Canada right now. I think we're seeing nice growth in the business and we continue to see profitability improvements. We're probably in It was exciting, I think, of getting to where we want to go. We are on exactly on the path we expected to be on in terms of growth and profitability at this point. So the team there has done a really nice job of improving that business and working with The entire North American team to make sure that we are supporting the business and driving profitable growth.

Operator

We feel pretty good about it.

Speaker 6

Okay, great. And just shifting gears on the balance sheet for a second. Look, we've heard positive commentary from quite a few other companies about M and A valuations coming in and maybe being one of the better markets for buyers in a long time. You've obviously got maybe even an under levered balance sheet. And I recall you talking about M and A for the first time quite a while back at the Investor Day in the fall.

Speaker 6

I mean, is that is M and A something that you see factoring in over the next 12 months or so?

Speaker 2

So, good question. I would say, with strong cash generation and M and A is always something that can be on the table. We have a small group here that looks for opportunities, Mostly in the capability space for us potentially, but nothing on the horizon as of yet. If you know our history, our view is not looking for a roll up of Smaller distributors that don't have a go to market focus that matches ours, which is selling on value and service to customers. So those are a little harder to find out, I would say.

Speaker 2

We do have a team stand up that stood up to look at opportunities, but we don't see anything significant in the horizon.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Our next question today is coming from David Manthey from Baird. Your line is now live.

Speaker 7

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. In the past, Granger's estimated market growth by triangulating Things like GDP, industrial production, real business investment and non farm payrolls. And looking at those factors today, pretty much All of them low single digits and moderating and ISM is continuing to signal sort of further moderation. Could you remind us as you look at 2023 how you're thinking about real MRO volume trends for the industry?

Speaker 7

I know you talked about pricing and Share game, could you talk about how you're thinking about the underlying market?

Speaker 2

Sure. We just to roll up what you said a little bit, we really focus on PPI and IP as a predictor or outlook of the MRO market. And our estimate About where it stood as we put together our guide, which is showing volume down 3 to flat in the U. S. And price between 4% 5%.

Speaker 2

So that's where we were at the end of the year. As we look at the latest updates of IP and PPI there about there. And so underlying a lot of our assumptions Is the MRO market growth, including price and volume of about 1% to 5%.

Speaker 7

Great. So no change. Thank you for that.

Speaker 2

No change.

Speaker 7

2nd, a soft side question here. Congratulations on the Great places to work accolades. And D. J, you've been with or working with Grainger for, I don't know, 20 years. And it seems there's been something of a cultural shift since you've been CEO.

Speaker 7

Could you assess the Culture at Granger today and how that's translating to the results you're seeing lately?

Operator

Yes. I mean, it's a really interesting question. We Grainger has always had a wonderful culture, one where people really wanted to do the right thing for customers and very highly ethical company. About 6 years ago, we went through a process Say what needed to change and we outlined a set of principles that we talk about at every meeting, at every day basically and say are we I think the things that have probably moved the most have been making sure we're starting with the customer, making sure we're competing with urgency and making sure we're acting with intent, meaning working on the things that really matter. I think our culture historically might have not always been as focused a few things that matter and stayed on them as long as needed to make them really great.

Operator

And I think that's been a big focus for us as a leadership team. And I think that's probably But a shift, I mean, a shift is slow, to be fair. Cultures don't change overnight. And so we're constantly working on it. But those I think we've been most focused on that have been a little bit different from the past.

Speaker 1

Your next question is coming from Steve Volkmann from Jefferies. Your line is now live.

Speaker 4

Hi. Yes, thanks for taking the question. This one's a little bit as well. But, it feels like on the logistics and freight costs that there's sort of 2 things going on. Obviously, the cost of those things come down, but then you're also managing it much better.

Speaker 4

And I guess that I'm curious if there's more opportunity as we go forward just in terms of how you manage it To continue to see some gains in that area.

Operator

Yes. I mean, I think we're I wouldn't so managing it better is probably I think we did quite an amazing job of managing through the pandemic through what was a really difficult time in the supply And I think it was actually extraordinary looking back, I think. But I think now it's easier to manage because we actually have the product in the right place. And so we're able to let our system work the way it's intended to work. In terms of are there further opportunities, there are always further opportunities.

Operator

We have an expectation We will get better every single year from a productivity service basis. The teams are always identifying things to work on that can improve our service to our

Speaker 4

It seems like you're already pretty much there or getting close anyway. How do you think about revisiting those targets over time?

Speaker 2

So we had incredible progress towards those targets as you can see in this quarter and then in the full year last But as we all are looking at the environment, the macro environment is still very fluid. And it's been incredibly difficult to forecast, at least more difficult than usual. With that being said, We are doing of course better than our performing better than our target if you would extrapolate our performance out. However, I would like to have a couple more data points Underneath my belt and have the macro unfold a little bit more, especially with continued recession looming and predictions of a slowdown. And we will revisit those estimates at the right time.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Next question is coming from Pat Baumann from JPMorgan, your line is now live.

Speaker 8

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Quickly on the April growth rate, the 11% At constant currency, is that has that been consistent across segments? And then from a seasonality perspective, how do you feel about The progression you're seeing from March to April, is it stable with how things normally have been? Or have you seen any slowing relative to kind of the Q1 trends?

Operator

Yes. So as we built the plan for this year, we knew that our compares would get harder as The year went along because we came out of the pandemic and every month last year we effectively got better. So I'd say we're right where we expect to be right now. 11% is seasonality wise is normal and the relative growth rate is only down slightly Because we continue to improve through the year last year. So we're basically on what we expected to see at this point.

Speaker 8

Got it. And in terms of Zoro, there was a leadership change there during the quarter. Curious if there's a status quo as you look forward or is there going to be any kind of shifts and kind of the way the business is run with the new leader in place.

Speaker 2

Yes. So,

Operator

the Masaya Suzuki, who is The CEO of Monotaro also leads that business and the person reporting to him, Kevin Wadek, he's been with us for 15 years, Love to take a CEO job, which is great for him. And Sandy Mattinson, who was the Chief Financial Officer, has moved in. I don't expect to see big shifts. Sandy knows the business well and we're continuing to push on the core initiatives and the size is still supporting her and we're Supporting her to make sure we can continue to improve that business and grow.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Next question is coming from Deane Dray from RBC Capital Markets, your line is now live.

Operator

Hi, this is Tyler Voigt on for Deane Dray. Just looking at Slide 21, it looks like the van was fairly broad based across end markets. Maybe you noted a little bit of slowing In consumer retail end markets, is there anything else that you call out where demand is waning particularly strong? No, I think you're hitting on it. I think that's right.

Operator

I think consumer facing businesses are slowing much more than industrial. Generally, I would say that the pattern is more industrial is doing better, less industrial is selling more and then bigger Companies are generally doing better, I'd say, than smaller companies are. Great. That's it for me. Thank you.

Speaker 1

Your next question is coming from Katie Fleisher from KeyBanc Capital Markets. Your line is now live.

Speaker 9

Hi. Kind of going off of the prior question, can you just talk about if you've seen any divergence between your small and medium sized customers versus the national accounts?

Operator

We've seen with the high touch model, we've seen pretty good growth with midsize customers and With national accounts, for sure. I would say the midsized customers aren't growing significantly faster than national accounts I had seen a couple of years ago. So we do feel like and we see that through the Zuora model too where we're seeing smaller businesses maybe not grow as fast As larger businesses, but in general we're still seeing good growth with the high touch across both national accounts and the test customers.

Speaker 9

Okay. And then just for my follow-up. So one of your competitors recently talked about a slowing cadence of manufacturing activity through the month of March. I was just wondering if you've seen any sort of similar dynamic Or any demand issues that you're concerned about?

Operator

I mean, well, certainly, we in the Q4, we saw low 20s growth in manufacturing. In the Q1, we saw mid teens growth with manufacturing. So still growing, A lot of this is sort of looking back at what happened to the pandemic and we saw huge growth rates coming as we recovered and now we're sort of moderating. But we still see I'd say I was with some customers I talked about in the opening and all of one of them was probably going to shrink a little bit this year, but that was on a little bit this year, but that was on huge compares to the 2 years before. So it's not like it's activity is not strong, it's just less not growing as much and the other 2 were So I think we're still seeing pretty strong manufacturing activity in general at this point.

Speaker 1

Thank you. We've reached the end of our question and answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over to DG for any further closing comments.

Operator

All right. Thanks for joining us. I appreciate you hopping on Clino. It's a busy earnings day in the world today. So thanks for taking the time.

Operator

I would just finish by wanting to thank our team for all the great work they're doing to make sure that we continue to gain share, continue to serve our customers well and do it the right way. And with that, I'll say goodbye. Thanks for joining us.

Speaker 1

Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day. We

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W.W. Grainger Q1 2023
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