DXP Enterprises Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 9, 2023

There are 4 speakers on the call.

Operator

Morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. My name is Erica, and I will be the conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the DXP Enterprises Inc. 2023 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call.

Operator

All lines have been placed on mute to prevent Any background noise after the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. Followed by the number 1 on your telephone keypad. Thank you. And now turning the call over to Kent Yee, CFO. Thank

Speaker 1

you, Erica, and thank you to everyone for joining us today. This is Kent Yee, and welcome to DXP's Q2 20 2023 conference call to discuss our results for the Q2 ending June 30, 2023. Joining me today is our Chairman and CEO, David Little. Before we get started, I want to remind you that today's call is being webcast and recorded and includes forward looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward looking statements.

Speaker 1

A description of the many factors that we believe may have a material effect on our business on an ongoing basis are contained in our SEC filings. However, DXP assumes no obligation to update that information as a result of new information or future events. During this call, we may present both GAAP and non GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of GAAP to non GAAP measures is included in our earnings press release. The press release and an accompanying investor presentation are now available on our website at ir.dxpe.com.

Speaker 1

I will now turn the call over to David Little, our Chairman and CEO, to provide his thoughts and a summary of our Q2 performance and financial results.

Speaker 2

Good morning, and thank you, Kent. Thanks to everyone for joining us today on our fiscal 2023 Q2 conference call. We are pleased to see end market demand and DXP's performance continue through Q2 and remain at record levels through the first half of twenty twenty three. This allows us to achieve another quarter of both solid sales growth and 10% EBITDA margins. Overall, we had a great second quarter and strong first half of twenty twenty three.

Speaker 2

We are establishing new highs for DXP and look forward to the second half of twenty twenty three. The first half of twenty twenty three highlights solid execution and continued positive demand trends supported by our ability to grow organically and navigate the dynamic supply chain and pricing environment. We continue to execute our acquisition strategy to continue to grow our DXP water and wastewater platform, adding Florida Valve and Roartan Materials during the quarter. We continue to execute on our goals to diversify DXP's business while maintaining our commitment to foundational end markets like energy that have been and will always be a part of DXP. This is DXP's 2nd quarter of adjusted EBITDA margins in excess of 10%, which is great to see and we look forward to maintaining this profitability momentum.

Speaker 2

This speaks to our relentless drive We have to center our strategy around our customers remain customer driven experts while creating a win win for all our stakeholders. We remain highly focused on providing the expertise our customers have come to from DXP by providing more efficient solutions, reduce cost and achieving their ESG objectives. This consistent approach has fueled our financial results. 2nd quarter adjusted EBITDA of $45,300,000 and diluted earnings per share of $1.06 was supported by year over year sales growth of 16.4%. Thanks to our efforts of all our DXP people across the company, We continue to grow and further our positive momentum, driving further operational improvements while performing for our customers.

Speaker 2

Our key end markets continue to perform for DXP and potentially have secular trends that we are just beginning to see including energy, power, chemicals and aerospace. I personally want to thank all our DXP stakeholders, in particular, All our DXP people for their determination and hard work as we continue to grow and improve the business and achieve new sales highs for our business. As we move into the second half of the year, we remain confident that our well balanced business, strong balance sheet, exceptional teams, improved capabilities and robust acquisition pipeline position us well to navigate the current environment and Achieve Continued Success. I will begin today with some perspective on our 2nd quarter and thoughts on the remainder of 2023. Kent will then take you through the key financial results after my remarks.

Speaker 2

After his prepared comments, we will open for Q and A. Again, let me thank our DXP stakeholders, in particular, our DX people for their continued efforts, adaptability as we grow and evolve DXP into a more diversified and less cyclical business. Total DXP sales for Q2 increased 16.4% year over year and 1% sequentially or were $428,000,000 or an average of $6,800,000 per business day for the Q2. Thank you to the 2,757 DX people for your hard work and dedication. In terms of Q2 financial results, Service Centers led the way, growing sales 18.85 percent year over year, followed by supply chain services growing sales 12.29 percent and then Innovative Pumping Solutions growing sales 9.78% year over year.

Speaker 2

In terms of service centers, the diversity of end markets and MRO nature within service centers allowed us to continue to remain resilient and continue to experience consistent top line growth. Additionally, our Cisco acquisition continues to perform as we close out fiscal year of Cisco being with DXP. From a regional perspective, a majority of our regions continue to experience year over year growth, including the Rocky Mountains, Southeast and Texas Gulf Coast. We continue to expect that our end markets will remain constructive over the foreseeable future. As it pertains to energy, we believe we could be in the early stages of an up cycle supported by energy transition, which has been consistent with our recent commentary over the last three quarters.

Speaker 2

Supply Chain Services continues to experience year over year due to the addition of a new diversified chemical customer during Q2 and Q3 of last year. As we move into Q3, we will look for new customer additions as we well as continue to manage curing products and managing inflation, but both year over year and sequential growth will flatten out until we start ramping new customers. That said, demand for SCS services is increasing because of the proven technology and efficiencies they perform for all their industrial customers. But the sales cycle can be protracted and we will look to our SCS leaders to add new customers as we move into 2024. In terms of IPS or Innovative Pumping Solutions, Our Q2 average IPS backlog continues to stay ahead of the fiscal 2022 average.

Speaker 2

Additionally, our year to date average for the first time started to exceed our long term average or IPS backlog going back to 2015. What this indicates is that we are continuing to get bookings as we mentioned earlier and we are likely in the front end of a good cycle on the energy related project work that we look forward to as we move through 2023. As we maintain growth, our main focus within IPS will be managing the command levels we have, Finding opportunities in all markets such as energy, biofuels, food and beverage and Water and Wastewater and pricing appropriately given the supply chain dynamics and ebbs and flows of inflation. DXP's overall gross profit margins for the quarter were 30.8% and sequentially 133 basis point improvement over Q1 and 245 basis point improvement over Q2 of last year. A special thanks to our DXP people who have stayed on top of supplier product increases, labor costs and overall efficiencies.

Speaker 2

Overall DXP produced adjusted EBITDA of $45,300,000 and adjusted EBITDA as a percent of sales of 10.6%, which reflects the operating leverage we expect to get with significant sales growth. This also marks our 2nd sequential quarter of 10% plus EBITDA margins and we will look for this to continue as we move through the second half of twenty twenty three. Regarding capital allocations, we continue to make investments to fuel growth and diversify DXP DXP through acquisitions, while opportunistically repurchasing shares. By balancing these two approaches or Pursuing both, we are driving long term value for our customers excuse me, shareholders. We are continuing to return value to our shareholders through our 85,000,000 share repurchase program.

Speaker 2

And during the quarter, we purchased 749,000 shares amounting to 23.957 $1,000,000 Let me conclude my remarks by saying that I am encouraged by our continued sequential improvement in sales and profitability. We continue to make progress on growth strategies and our commitment to customers is stronger than ever. We're driving growth and improvements at DXP, and we look forward to navigating and working through the remainder of fiscal 2023. Finally, I would like to thank our DXP people for achieving our goal of 10, 10, and 10 again, and we aim to keep the streak alive. Q2 was another great quarter as we continue to have a successful year in 2023.

Speaker 2

With that, I will now turn this back over to Kent, and he will review the financials in more detail.

Speaker 1

Thank you, David, and thank you to everyone for joining us for our review of our Q2 2023 financial results. The first half of twenty twenty three continues to highlight our strong year over year sales performance and 2 quarters of 10% plus adjusted EBITDA margins. We are excited to report these results and we look forward the second half of twenty twenty three. Specifically, Q2 financial performance reflects our 11th quarter of sequential sales increases and another record high sales watermark for DXP. DXP continues to successfully navigate through the market and has been able to execute and create value for all our stakeholders.

Speaker 1

We have been successful in transforming and diversifying DXP, but we still have progress to make. As it pertains to our Q2, Q2 takeaways are as follows: strong organic sales growth and contribution from acquisitions continued impacts from inflation or price increases compared to a year ago, albeit at a slower pace. Continued record service center performance marked by gross margin strength and stability, notable year over year and sequential growth in IPS with a positive outlook in terms of our backlog and energy activity, strong sales increases within SCS driven by the addition of a large diversified chemical customer compared to a year ago, Although plateauing during Q2, consistent operating leverage leading to sustained adjusted EBITDA margins and significant capital return to shareholders through our share repurchase program. Total sales for the 2nd quarter increased 16.4% year over year and 0.9% sequentially to a record $428,000,000 Acquisitions that have been with DXP for less than a year contributed $7,300,000 in sales during the quarter. Average daily sales for the 2nd quarter were $6,800,000 per day versus $6,600,000 per day in Q1 2023 and $5,800,000 per day in Q2 2022.

Speaker 1

Adjusting for acquisitions, average daily sales were $6,700,000 per day for the 2nd quarter. That said, the average daily sales trends during the quarter went from $6,650,000 per day in April to $6,900,000 per day in June, reflecting a typical quarter end push as we closed out the Q2. In terms of our business segments, Service Centers grew 18.9% year over year. This was followed by supply chain services growing 12.3% year over year and innovative pumping solutions growing sales 9.8% year over year. Excluding acquisitions, service centers grew 18.85 percent or sales increased 47,300,000 7 8 percent or sales increased $5,650,000 In terms of our service centers, regions within the service center business segment, which notable sales growth year over year include the Liar River Valley, North Rockies, Texas Gulf Coast and the Southeast.

Speaker 1

Key products and end markets driving the sales performance include air compressors, rotating equipment and general industrial, chemical, Food and Beverage, Transportation and Energy. Supply Chain Services performance continues to reflect the impact of the addition of a large diversified chemical customer that we added in Q2 of last year and has fully ramped as of Q2 this year. This customer contributed $15,900,000 in sales during the quarter. Other notable gains from an end market In terms of innovative pumping solutions, we continue to experience increases in the energy related backlog. Our Q2 energy related Average backlog grew 6.5 percent over our Q1 average backlog, which is a notable uptick compared to Q1 of this year and continues to be ahead of our 2016 2017 average backlog and now is only down 1.5% when comparing to the 2015 average backlog.

Speaker 1

The conclusion continues to remain that we are trending meaningfully above 2016 2017 sales levels, and we are moving towards 2015 levels based upon where our backlog stands today. We have been experiencing strong organic sales growth within IPS as we mentioned in Q1. We expect that to continue throughout 2023. Additionally, we are also continuing to find opportunities in other markets, as David mentioned, including biofuels, hydrogen, carbon capture and sequestration versus our traditional oil and gas, but we expect energy to contribute meaningfully going forward. Turning to our gross margins.

Speaker 1

DXP's total gross margins were 30.8%, a 2 45 basis point improvement over Q2 2022, excuse me. This improvement was across all of our business segments with IPS showing the greatest improvement with margins improving 4 81 basis points on a year over year comparative basis. That said, from a segment mix sales contribution, Service Centers contributed 69.7%, Supply Chain Services 15.5 percent and Innovate Pumping Solution was 14.8%. Compared to last year, Tessa's sales mix contribution was higher at 16%, which impacted DXP's margins in Q2 of 2022. In terms of operating income, combined all three business segments increased 143 basis points or This was primarily driven by improvements in operating income margins within Service Centers and IPS.

Speaker 1

Service Center operating income margins improved 190 basis points and IPS operating income margins improved 95 94 basis points, excuse me, on a Q2 comparative basis year over year. The improvement in service centers reflects the impact of acquisitions at a higher relative operating income margin. Total DXP operating income increased 17 basis points versus Q222 to $37,500,000 Our SG and A for the quarter increased as well as DXP investing in its people through merit and pay raises as well as increased headcount. SG and A as a percentage of sales increased 75 basis year over year to 22.1 percent of sales. The increase primarily reflects the impact of acquisitions plus a 70 basis point uptick from Q1 on total SG and A.

Speaker 1

We still anticipate that DXP will benefit from the leverage inherent in the business despite increasing operating dollars supporting our growth, cost inflation and the impacts of acquisitions. Turning to EBITDA. Q2 2023 adjusted EBITDA was a record 45,300,000 Adjusted EBITDA margins were 10.6%. This is our 2nd quarter of sequential adjusted EBITDA margins in excess of 10% and we would look for this to continue. Year over year adjusted EBITDA margins increased 264 basis points or $12,700,000 This reflects the fixed cost SG and A leverage we experienced as we grow sales.

Speaker 1

This translated into 2.5 times operating leverage. In terms of our EPS, our net income for Q2 was $19,000,000 Our earnings per diluted share for Q2 2023 was $1.06 per share versus $0.74 per share last year. Of note, we returned $25,100,000 to shareholders through the share repurchase during Q2. Turning to the balance sheet and cash flow. In terms of working capital, our working capital increased $22,400,000 from December and $15,800,000 from March to $299,400,000 As a percent of last 12 months sales, this amounted to 18.2%.

Speaker 1

We are still at a point where we are in line with our historical average ranges in terms of investing in working capital. But as discussed in Q3 of last year, this has begun to move off our Q3 2022 high of 19.9 percent of last 12 months sales as we have onboarded some of our recent acquisitions for a full 12 months. We do anticipate further acquisitions. So as we move into the second half of twenty twenty three, this could move upwards. In terms of cash, we had $15,500,000 in cash on the balance sheet as of June 30.

Speaker 1

This is a decrease of $30,600,000 compared to the end of Q4 and $42,700,000 since March. This reflects the purchases of 2 acquisitions, Florida Valve and Ritter Materials and share repurchases, which we will touch in a little more detail later on in my comments. In terms of CapEx, CapEx in the second quarter was $1,800,000 or a decrease of $2,000,000 compared to Q1 20 20 3. We are still ahead of our fiscal year 2022 levels as we reinvest in some of our facilities and equipment on behalf of our employees. As we move forward, we will continue to invest in the business as we focus on growth.

Speaker 1

Turning to free cash flow. Free cash flow Through Q2, our year to date was a positive $18,400,000 which reflects a minus $4,200,000 during the 2nd quarter. This reflects significant investments in project work along with a reduction in payable days. That said, while we continue to make improvements in our free cash flow when we are growing, DXP makes Return on invested capital, ROIC, at the end of the second quarter was 32% and continues to be above our cost of capital and is reflecting our improved profitability levels. As of June 30, our fixed charge coverage ratio was 2.73:one And our secured leverage ratio was 2.53:one with a covenant EBITDA for the last 12 months of 161,900,000 Total debt outstanding on June 30 was $425,900,000 In terms of liquidity, As of the quarter, we were undrawn on our ABL with $2,700,000 in letters of credit outstanding with $132,300,000 of availability and liquidity of $147,800,000 including DXP's $15,500,000 in cash on the balance sheet.

Speaker 1

In terms of acquisitions, we closed on 2 acquisitions during the quarter Reardon Materials and Florida Valve. We are excited to have them reporting with us for the Q2 2023. Welcome to DXP Florida Valve and Reardon. Both provide leading platforms within the municipal and industrial water and wastewater industries. DXP's acquisition pipeline continues to grow and the market continues to present compelling opportunities.

Speaker 1

Our acquisition strategy has created significant value for DXP, enhancing our end markets, margins and DXP's cash flow profile. Looking forward, we expect this to continue through 2023 and we look forward to closing a minimum of 2 to 4 acquisitions during the second half of twenty twenty three. Updating our thoughts on capital allocation, our primary goal still remains to invest business, including the execution of our acquisition strategy. We are also committed to maintaining the conservative balance sheet as demonstrated by a target leverage ratio of 3.5x or less. To the extent we have excess capital after achieving these objectives, the share repurchase program will provide us the mechanism to return capital to our shareholders.

Speaker 1

During the quarter, as previously mentioned, we repurchased $25,100,000 and year to date $34,200,000 in DXP stock or a total of 749,000 shares in Q2 and 1,100,000 shares year to date. As we move into the second half of the year, we remain Confident that our well balanced business, strong balance sheet, exceptional DXP people, growing capabilities and strong acquisition pipeline grow and create value for our customers and suppliers while providing important resiliency in unpredictable markets. In summary, We are pleased with our progress at the halfway mark, and we look forward to finishing 2023 strong as we approach Q3 and Q4. I will now turn the call over for questions.

Operator

Our first question comes from the line of Tommy Moll from Stephens Inc. Tommy, go ahead.

Speaker 3

Good morning and thank you for taking my questions.

Speaker 1

Good morning, Tommy. Good morning.

Speaker 3

I wanted to start on some of the average daily sales insight you provided. 1st, just want to make sure I heard correctly. So it's $6,800,000 reported that would be 6 0.7 excluding the M and A impact. Did I hear that correctly?

Speaker 1

Yes, that's correct, Tommy.

Speaker 3

Okay. And then Kent, you provided Some of the monthly insight. Can you just run through the months again? And were those on an as reported basis or were those excluding the M and A as well?

Speaker 1

Okay. Yes. Just to answer that latter question, Tommy, that includes acquisitions. But what I'll do is I'll walk you through the trend on the quarter and give you a flash, a draft flash for July. So April was 6.65, May 6.5%, June 6.91% and then July 6.57%.

Speaker 3

Thank you. That's helpful.

Speaker 1

Yes. And so our year to date average I'll just add a little further insight there, Tommy. Our year to date average is averaging about 6.6. And so hopefully that gives you a little bit of insight to kind of the trends in DXP.

Speaker 3

Yes. And then the 428 1,000,000 you reported for the quarter. I think it was the 11th consecutive of sequential sales increase. Based on that July trend and everything today, would your best guess be that Q3 could be up again sequentially from that 4.28? Or Is there another factor you'd point us to where a flat or even a down sequential might be more realistic at this point?

Speaker 2

I'll take that one, Tommy. The yes, we want to keep our streak of life. And we're working hard. We have a lot of growth strategies to do so even though I think there's no question that the Fed is using interest rates to slow the economy down And we see that in certain markets. And then we see growth in certain So it kind of depends on the mix of all that, but aerospace and energy And certainly water and wastewater and food and beverage, those are markets that are growing for us.

Speaker 2

And so We're working really, really hard to, I guess overcome some of the other markets that are slowing down a little bit. And so But I think when you put it all together, our goal and optimism is that we'll keep the streak alive even though I don't consider a small percentage of growth to be a negative. I consider If we do as an example, I think if we do 1% growth in the Q3, well then that will be a 12% growth year over year. So We'd certainly be happy with that.

Speaker 3

Fair enough. Yes.

Speaker 1

And Tommy, the only thing I would add To it is and you asked it at the front end of just the sales per business day is our pipeline acquisition pipeline still remains in place. And so if we get 1 or 2 done in the quarter just dependent upon the timing, we could That would fit with David's comments and those are always additive, but if that gives you some more insight.

Speaker 3

Yes, that's helpful. Thank you. On margins, 2nd quarter in a row above 10% for EBITDA. Peeling back the layers, you got a pretty big tailwind on the gross margin side, just under 31% for the quarter, which is the highest in a long time. So I wondered if we could talk to the gross margin performance.

Speaker 3

What can you tell us about the price cost dynamic and the inflationary cycle? And then at the same time, is there any M and A or mix impact worth calling out as well on that gross margin performance.

Speaker 2

Yes, sure. There's certainly our goal Is to do 30, so to exceed that slightly is a real plus for us and We're certainly happy to get that. And then when we look at what makes that happen, we do go to mix and Certain of our businesses are higher gross profit oriented than others. As an example, Supply Chain Services has a very low growth. I mean, it's like it's 20%, but their SG SG and A is 10%, so they still make a 10% or greater well, slightly below that operating income margin, but an EBITDA margin of 10%.

Speaker 2

So they contribute and then of course Their investment on working capital is they don't have a lot of inventory and stuff like that. The customer keeps all that. So So we're happy with the returns we get with supply chain services. I don't want to mislead anybody about that because we're certainly very happy about it. But it does, if that's a bigger portion of what we're doing going forward, well then gross margins will come down Because they operate on very low gross margins, but very low expenses also.

Speaker 2

Then other Water and Wastewater has high gross profit margins because they have this is a long explanation, but I'm going to Give it to you, I think it would be helpful. They have a lot of jobs that they do on commissions. And so actually in that Since their gross profit margin on those types of jobs is 100%. So that is helpful. Now they do an awful Lot of resale too and those margins are healthy also.

Speaker 2

Innovative Pumping Solutions is kind of a 3 bid and a buy. You do a big project, dollars 1,000,000 projects and so they get into competitive situation. So they're not their margins aren't as low as supply chain services, but they're lower than the service center margins. And so again, the more that grows as a percentage of our MRO service center business will then that can pull back on margins also. But that's What I'm talking about is there is a blend of margins and of course the blend works out to 30 plus or our goals 30% overall.

Speaker 2

That seems to be achievable and We don't see anything. There's no one time anything out there or anything of any significance that would drive That down besides mix and some products sometimes. So I'm very, very pleased With our people's ability to pass on inflation and supplier costs and labor cost and etcetera.

Speaker 1

So

Speaker 2

we're pleased with those results and We tend to think that they're going to hang around there, whether it's 29.5 or 30.5 makes no difference to me really. I mean, it makes a difference in the sense that it's better, But I'd be happy with either one of those numbers.

Speaker 3

Yes. I want to talk about M and A in-depth, but before we hit that Topic, let's address the oil and gas end market dynamics. I mean, you're looking at crude back into the mid-80s. At the same time, the rig count has drifted down this year. So what observations would you have for us about the underlying trends there.

Speaker 2

So I study that pretty hard. And so Here's what I know and of course there's a lot I don't know, but here's what I know. I know that The drilling we do nowadays is with lateral lines going from a mile to 2 miles That the efficiencies of each well drilled is much greater. So we can have less rigs and still be producing more oil, so or gas. So this is on the drilling side.

Speaker 2

Of course, we're not tied to drilling, We are tied to production. So that is kind of one factor. The other factor is that We started off with 9,000 DUCs drilled uncompleted wells and that's down to 4,000 something. I'm not giving you exact numbers, so don't hold me to that. But in that range and so That's also not needing new drilling to produce more production.

Speaker 2

So that's helpful too. That said, and the last part of the equation is that oil and gas is a depleting resource. So they have to produce more to just keep even. And so we are kind of At the rate we're at right now today, we're kind of staying even. It's been 11.9 to 12.3.

Speaker 2

So it's kind of been in that range, probably 12,200,000 barrels a day as we speak. So that's kind of how that works. It's good for us. In terms of kind of midstream, the equipment that's on the well site, The gathering system and etcetera. So we see activity in that where we play As being very, very strong.

Speaker 2

And then when we mentioned energy, we have to talk about other sources of energy. And so we're playing in those markets likewise. And so We're doing hydrogen projects. We're doing corn to ethanol. We're playing in a lot of the other markets that are designed around energy, even the service and repair of windmills and things like that.

Speaker 2

But We're not in solar panels and we certainly don't manufacture wind turbines, but we do work on them. So I think when we think of energy, we think of this balance between that We're going to renewable fuels and we're playing in that and then we'll never Quite get it right. So there may not be enough oil and gas that renewable can take over. So when that happens, then oil and gas prices They're going to go up and then everybody will get dynamic around that. So, it's a moving ball.

Speaker 2

So what I'm not Here thinking I know everything. If I did, I'd really make a lot of money. But I don't have a perfect answer, but those are some of the factors that we're looking at and they are all pointing to the fact that we think That renewables and oil and gas are both needed to do more to serve the world with energy. And so we think that the coming year or years is going to be a strong market.

Speaker 3

Moving on to M and A, I think I heard you guys mention something In the realm of 2 to 4 deals, you hope to close by the end of the year. Any insight you can give us On what that pipeline looks like, are we talking tuck ins or maybe something larger or whatever insight you And provide though I recognize it's delicate given these are still in the pipeline, but anything you can provide is helpful.

Speaker 1

Yes. Just some high level comments there, Tommy. 1, I like to always say, you know that, hey, the M and A markets Seemed to be strong and there's plenty of opportunities there for DXP. Secondly, and more specifically to our pipeline, The 2 to 4, they continue to play on our major themes of water, wastewater, Rotating equipment broadly speaking as well just as a product category. And then more importantly, Valuations are in line with our expectations.

Speaker 1

And so, for us, Getting the 2% to 4% seems more than reasonable. If they're in the water wastewater space, obviously, they're Accretive to our margins, both gross margins as well as EBITDA margins. And if they're in the rotating equipment space, by the way. They're typically accretive to our gross margins and our EBITDA margins. And so, we're excited point being about our pipeline and what we see there, Spending a lot of time being more selective, to be candid, because of the fullness of the pipeline.

Speaker 1

And so We feel good. Some of them are more tuck in in terms of size and then others in the aggregate Could be closer to around our average acquisition size. So our average acquisition size being anywhere between $25,000,000 to $35,000,000 in sales from acquisition standpoint. So We'll see which ones get across the finish line before year end, but we also feel good about going into 2024 to Buchanan.

Speaker 3

You mentioned water wastewater a couple of times there, Kent. And this is the last I wanted to make sure we hit on today, but it's clearly been an emphasis in terms of inorganic capital allocation And the deals you've done in the last couple of years. You mentioned that it tends to be margin accretive. Yes, which I presume is one of the reasons you're attracted to it. But maybe even at a higher level, refresh us on the strategy for building out That platform, what you like about the structure of that market?

Speaker 3

And then if you look back at the progress you've made and the platform you have today, How would you characterize it in terms of scale? And how much more scale do you hope to add going forward? Thank you.

Speaker 1

Yes. And maybe I'll just hit that and then I'll let David chime in on the big picture strategy around water wastewater. But We've always viewed it as a platform that we could scale up between a $350,000,000 to a $500,000,000 at least platform. So just to give you a sense of scale today, we're a little bit north of $100,000,000 And then what I would also say and then I'll Let this be a segue to David as we've always played in the water wastewater platform. It's just something we didn't necessarily Historically, make the intentful decision as we are in today's market, decide to grow the acquisition.

Speaker 1

And so And I'll use that just as a segue to David to explain to you why. But we really like it. And And as you picked up on, it's accretive to our margins on a variety

Speaker 2

of fronts. David? So specifically, It's not really a cyclical business. People Eat and go to the bathroom and do all the stuff that they do. And so we need water, we need clean water, we need to dispose of waste, we need to We need to do all these things.

Speaker 2

And then and so the market and the infrastructure that's Gotten kind of old and there's a lot of repair and replacement activity that's going on. And so That's really driving this particular part of the industry upward. So the Other parts to explain it correctly too is, can't mention it, but No, we're a pump company. We represent pumps that go into industrial and utility type businesses. So being pump people, we understand the technical side of pumps.

Speaker 2

We understand the repair and service of pumps. So water, We've played in that via pumps. And so we're trying to so we understand that aspect of the product. When we look at adding things to that product, we look at not only more repair, But we also look at some valves that are specific to that industry. We look at automation and that's specific to that industry.

Speaker 2

And so there's kind of we're building this platform that Takes these 5 legs to the stool, so to speak, and that's the pump, the valve, The repair, the automation and then the last one is a little new for us, but it's process equipment. And so it's equipment. So we're certainly used to that, but it also has some chemical aspects to it and stuff like that. So all those other 3 legs, valves and process equipment and Automation are a little newer to us and so that's a great growth opportunity to the people that were in municipal, but they were just doing pumps. And so it's this has been a really exciting time and growth strategy that not only Are we acquiring people across the United States that are in this business, but we're actually Bringing things to them to help them grow their business where they might not have been a great growth company in the past.

Speaker 2

So the market's better. What we bring to them is better. And then the customer, finally, he likes somebody that can Bring more than just one offering to him. So the fact that you can bring pumps, you can bring the process equipment and then you can service it and you Install it, etcetera, is very exciting.

Speaker 3

We'll look forward to Continuing to follow the progress there and for today's purposes, that's all I have. So I'll turn it back. Thank you, Tommy.

Operator

I'd like to remind everyone, if you'd like to ask an additional question to press the star and the number 1 on your telephone keypad.

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DXP Enterprises Q2 2023
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