Q1 2025 Badger Meter Inc Earnings Call
Music
Speaker Change: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Q1 2025 Badger Meter earnings conference school.
Speaker Change: If you would like to ask a question today, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. Adam Ramada, Tate's conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Karen Bauer, vice president of the Vesta Relations, corporate strategy and treasurer. Please go ahead Miss Bauer.
Karen Bauer: Thank you. Good morning. Thanks for joining us for Badger Readers first quarter, 2025 earnings conference call and the 72nd and last quarterly earnings call for me ever with my May 2nd retirement date now just too shortly to late.
Speaker Change: Joining me on the call today are Ken Bauer's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Robert Wrocklage, Chief Financial Officer, and Barbara Novoremi, Senior Director of Invest
Speaker Change: Please note that the earnings release in related slide presentation are available on our website. Quickly, I'll cover the safe harbor, reminding you that a forward-looking statement made during this call are subject to various risks and uncertainties, the most important of which are outlined in our press release and FEC viaducts.
Speaker Change: On the call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial metrics. Our earning slides provide a reconciliation of the gap to non-GAAP financial metrics huge. With that, I'll turn the call over to Ken.
Kevin: Thanks, Karen, and thank you all for joining our Valk. I'm pleased with our start to the year with another quarter of solid revenue growth record operating margins and robust earnings per share improvement, which continues to reflect the durable driver supporting water and industry technology adoption.
Kevin: Our results now include smart cover following completion of the acquisition in late January . Since then, we've been onboarding our new colleagues and setting common goals to capture the many opportunities we have to drive sales and operate any synergies.
Kevin: We've heard strong positive feedback on our combination from many customers who recognize the value of adding smart covers to herd and listation monetary capabilities to our blue edge suite of water management solutions.
Kevin: I'll be back to provide our outlet later in the call in which you might expect, but also include a discussion about tariffs, but for now I'll turn it over to Bob to go through the details of the court.
Thanks, Jenny. Good morning, everyone.
Bob Wrocklage: Turning to slide four, we delivered strong operating performance across the board, with our key financial metrics demonstrating solid improvement in the quarter.
Bob Wrocklage: Total sales through 13% year over year in the first quarter of 2025. Excluding smart cover, sales increased 10%, which as a reminder was on top of 23% growth in the first quarter of last year.
Bob Wrocklage: Total utility water product line sales increased 16% year over year, or 12% when excluding just over 6 million of smart cover revenue for the two months since acquisition.
Bob Wrocklage: Sales for the flow instrumentation product line decreased nearly 5% year-over-year, as lower demand in the de-emphasized array of market applications offset modest growth in water-related
Bob Wrocklage: However, full instrumentation sales did show sequential improvement of 7% growth from the Ford's
Bob Wrocklage: Turning the margins, we were particularly pleased with the record operating profit margins in the quarter of 0.2.2 percent, expanding 360 basis points year-over-year.
Bob Wrocklage: Gross Prophet margins came in at 42.9%, a 360 basis point improvement from 39.3% in the prior year comparable quarter, and above our normalized gross margin range of 38% to 40%.
Bob Wrocklage: As we've said in the past, customer and product mix can and does very courted the courted with this being an especially favorable example in nearly all respects of a positive sales mix
Bob Wrocklage: For example, in the first the first quarter benefited from a particularly attractive combination of customer mix overall from a product mix standpoint software was the top revenue growth contributor of 25% in the quarter.
Bob Wrocklage: Similarly to the fails unevenness we often discuss, we have variations in gross margins in the short term from various mixed elements
Bob Wrocklage: While we certainly expect structural sales mix improvements to continue over time, the 42.9% gross margin outcome in the first quarter was a perfect combination of nearly all elements contributing favorably.
Bob Wrocklage: At the same time, there remains significant uncertainty surrounding the evolving tariff, interbulent macroeconomic situation.
Bob Wrocklage: Ken will walk through our manufacturing footprint and supply chain exposures to tariffs, as well as our mitigation actions later in the call.
Bob Wrocklage: In short, we don't believe it is prudent at this time to guide to a higher range for gross margin performance yet we remain competent and our normalized gross margin range of 38 to 40% assuming no further changes in global economic and trade policy
[inaudible]
Bob Wrocklage: FBA expenses increased by $5.4 million or 13% year-over-year to $46 million in the first quarter.
Bob Wrocklage: The increase included approximately $1.1 million of intangible asset amortization from the smart cover acquisition, which on a two month basis is in line with our previously communicated expectation of $6.7 million annually.
Bob Wrocklage: SEA is a percentage sales of 20.7% in the first quarter or flat year over year. Excluding smart cover, SEA is a percentage sales would have declined to perform a 90 basis
Bob Wrocklage: The income tax provision increased modestly to 24.4% in the first quarter of 2025 from 23.5% in a comparable prior year period. This remains consistent with our previously discussed 25%
Bob Wrocklage: In summary, our strong operating results in the first quarter drove the 31% increase and consolidated EPS to $1.30 from $0.99 in the prior year comparable quarter.
Bob Wrocklage: Primary working capital as a percent of sales increased from 20.8% at year end to 22% as of March 31st, 2025, Inc
Bob Wrocklage: We generated strong free cash flow in the quarter of $30 million, up 60% from 18.8 million and then last year's compare of quarter.
Bob Wrocklage: As is normal, our first quarter requested typical seasonality with incentive compensation and retirement plan contributions paid out for the respective previous year.
With that, I'll turn the call back over to Karen.
Karen Bauer: Thanks, Bob. Strange or slidespive in the top of visualer, Parris.
Speaker Change: As we seem to play out over the past several weeks, what we know for sure is that uncertainty and volatility and apparent picture remains likely
Speaker Change: The key takeaway for Badger Meter is that we will definitely manage what is in our control just as we've done through COVID, supply chain disruptions, inflation, and other challenging macro dynamics that we face over the past five plus years.
Speaker Change: What that in mind, I'll walk you through our status, given the current set of circumstances.
Speaker Change: As many of you know, we operate a world class assembly facility in Nogales, Mexico, which were proud to say celebrate its 45th birthday last week.
Speaker Change: The facility is in Matila Dora, which essentially acts as an extension of our U.S. operations on Mexican soil.
Speaker Change: It's the primary assembly site for our residential meters and radios, the vast majority of which qualified for exemption from tariffs under the USMCA.
Speaker Change: The components coming into this Mexico facility for assembly originate from a wide range of countries and we will continue to manage component sourcing into Mexico, which limits our exposures to a certain degree.
Speaker Change: For our U.S.-based manufacturing facilities, including our bi-America-filled-America-compliant assembly line, we could base import tariff exposure on electronics and related components from China, Southeast Asia and Israel among others.
Speaker Change: This means that U.S. manufactured products are likely to face higher terror-related input costs under the structures currently in place
Speaker Change: To the Institute, Targeted Pricing Offices to Manage the Potential Impact
Speaker Change: We could also base tariffs on the finished goods we import from our European manufacturing facilities, which produce certain flow instrumentation and water-tollity products for sale in the U.S.
Speaker Change: This represents a relatively small percentage of Badger Meter's overall sales, but targeted pricing actions may also be required for these products.
Speaker Change: Finally, let me share an example of the knock-on effect of the tariffs that may not be as obvious from the headlines
Speaker Change: China has implemented export control on certain chemical and rare earth elements as part of its response to U.S. Sheriff Actions.
Bismuth is an element that's included in these supply restrictions.
Speaker Change: Well, Visma happens to be a small component of our brass blanket recipe. The price has increased nearly tenfold since early this year.
Speaker Change: China produces 90 plus percent of the business in the world. A pivot away from business and the recipe is not plausible in the short term, and strategic sourcing initiatives won't help produce the cost of a supply-reserted rare element. We will therefore need to adjust pricing accordingly. Thank you very much.
Speaker Change: Obviously, Copper makes up a far greater percentage of the recipe, and while Copper prices have been volatile, current pricing is only modestly higher than it was at the beginning of the year. We will continue to watch this closely as we always do.
Speaker Change: All told, we believe there's a level playing field competitively for these targeted mitigation actions.
Speaker Change: As Bob mentioned earlier in his remarks on margins, the gross margin we delivered this quarter demonstrates that the structural misbenefit of technology adaption within our business is real.
Speaker Change: Yet the various cost pressures and leg impact for mitigation actions from the terror situation haven't formed us our decision to maintain our normalized margin.
Normalized gross margin range, at least for now
Turning now to our output [inaudible]
Speaker Change: We have a proven history of differentiated operational execution and will continue to focus on controlling what we can control in a turbulent economic environment, particularly in the management of our supply chain, manufacturing, footprint, and value-bred based pricing strategy.
Speaker Change: Our first court results demonstrate the resilience and durability of our replacement driven business.
Speaker Change: has previously communicated the second quarter represents our most difficult prior year comparison and we've already walked through some of the puts and takes we have on the margin side, especially in the near term as we navigate the evolving terrorist situation.
Never laugh, never the less.
Speaker Change: The attractive fundamentals of the water industry and the growing extensibility of our blue-edged suite of solutions.
Speaker Change: But Howard Prude Suer and Lestation Monitoring with the exact acquisition of Smart Cover continued to support a long-term and average revenue growth outlook from high single digits and modest margin improvement over time
Speaker Change: Even after the smart cover acquisition, we have available cash, continue to generate strong free cash flow and remain dead free.
Speaker Change: Our balance sheet has ample capacity to invest in both organic and inorganic growth while we continue to work our way through any further memory economic volatility.
Speaker Change: We were proud to be named the Baron's list of 100 most sustainable companies for the third year in a row. We take very seriously our role in protecting the world's most precious resource and believe in this responsibility, the alliance of the creation of shareholder value over the long term.
Speaker Change: Finally, as you heard from Karen earlier in the call, this is the last earnings call for illustrious career and investor relations spanning 72 courts.
Speaker Change: I know I speak for Bob as well, when I say that we have been proud to have her with us here at Badger Meter for the last 26 of those courtes.
Speaker Change: Moody into our first roles as public company CDO and CFOs. The deal is important to have an accomplished professional with us.
Speaker Change: If it helped create and drive a successful strategy, deliver clear messaging that employees and investors alike can rally around and it also happens to be a great person to work with. The only choice for us was care.
Speaker Change: Well, she'll be missed by all who have worked with her. They're all happy for her to begin the next chapter of her life after leaving her grave like a seed behind here.
Speaker Change: Equally, we're excited for part of this step into the role officially and put our own mark on things moving forward.
Just with that operator, please open the line for questions.
That was not enough as a microphone. Thank you and stop.
Speaker Change: As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question on today's cool, please press the star followed by one on your telephone keypad now.
Speaker Change: And the first question today comes from Andrew Krill from Deutsche Bank. Andrew, you're lighted up and please go ahead.
Andrew Creel: Hi, thanks. Good morning, everyone, and thanks to Karen on your retirement. I also want to ask for any more color you can provide on the, you know, especially favorable product.
Andrew Creel: Cuts from mixed benefits, and then you call it out sad, growth, but just anything else to be helpful because the margins are just so outsized and oppressive.
Andrew Creel: And then secondly, you know, if we were to send the tariff backdrop with somewhat stable from here, you know, should we be expecting gross margins to moderate all the way back to the 38 to 40% range in 2Q or this more of like a worst case scenario, thanks.
Speaker Change: Yeah, so obviously quite a bit the unpack there in this pretty uncertain environment. The one thing that I think everyone should be excited about is that even in this really crazy environment.
Andrew Creel: We feel really strong about the floor of our margins, which we've talked about for years now about the durability and in realness of the positive structural mix.
Bob Wrocklage: Currently, consider manageable. We feel like we're in pretty good shape going forward. I'll let Bob give any more detail on some of the mix and some of the particularly favorable things, but overall, feel great about the ability to manage and the state of the business.
Bob Wrocklage: Yeah, hopefully you can tell from the prepared remarks that, you know, essentially a lot of things went in our favor in the first quarter. And so while we're absolutely proud of the result, we're in this.
Bob Wrocklage: Tenuous, or uncomfortable position of almost apologizing for that great margin against the backdrop of potentially increasing input costs.
particularly which in the short term, the mitigation actions that we talked about can't be implemented.
Bob Wrocklage: Immediately, right? They have to be implemented immediately, but the effect will lag essentially the input cost increase, which is near immediate. So that's a long way of saying there are certainly aspects of what drove the outcome and. So that's a long way of saying there are certainly aspects of what drove the outcome and.
Bob Wrocklage: Q1, the 42.9% gross margin that are durable and will sustain, and there are elements that are more episodic and or mixed specific or customers that said that we can't.
Bob Wrocklage: Expect to happen in each and every quarter. So make another way of saying that we're not for essentially this backdrop of tariff input cost pressures.
Bob Wrocklage: I think given our last four quarters of margin performance, we'd likely be redeclaring a new line. It's just very difficult to do that against this backdrop of uncertainty, particularly in the short current.
Speaker Change: Very helpful. And then could you just touch on the
Speaker Change: You know, the front log of activity you have and you know, is your core customer showing any signs of potentially pulling back on spending or delay spending with all the uncertainty or is again just the replacement driven nature of your business and ROI, you know, still compelling enough that kind of business is usual as much as a candy.
Speaker Change: Yeah, so we're not seeing or hearing from customers anything on fullbacks.
Speaker Change: I think it's important to forget the 100 years of history that's not about just being a very durable replacement driven market.
Speaker Change: If you just look at the last five years, even in the COVID year, where essentially we lost an entire quarter, we still grew 4% even in the COVID year. And then it's if you want to consider tariffs may be against the highly inflationary year that followed two years later.
Speaker Change: We were up 14% back year, so I think given some of the really difficult environments you see in the last few years, the customer is particularly around the benefits that come from ROI and the technology adoption of our other products.
Speaker Change: as well as the replacement trip in when the meter is due to be replaced or replaced it.
Speaker Change: just because it's also a difficult time to assert this is the cash register so that's the last thing they cost if they do have budget problems. So we see still feel as positive on the outlook as we did through those other difficult times.
Great. Thanks so much.
Speaker Change: The next question comes with Nathan Jones from Stephen. Nathan, your line is open, please come ahead.
Nathan Jones: Good morning everyone and congratulations to Karen from me. I guess the first question I'd like to ask you so Bob are we on the stairway to heaven yet?
Nathan Jones: I would say, again, if you track their gross margin over time, so Nathan's question is referring to a comment that I often make, which is...
Speaker Change: You know, the margin profile is not necessarily having because there's obviously some of the dynamics that this quarter particularly are favorable.
Sometimes are unfavorable. [inaudible]
Speaker Change: And so, and again, that we largely play in a competitive environment that, well, rational. We're all trying to steal each other's lunch from the best of our ability, which is proven difficult over time.
Speaker Change: That being said, I think, again, we have a great input here of the results. I think, hopefully, the way I answered the previous question rings true here as well, that a lot of things went right in this quarter. There are certainly some of those that are adorable and other of those that will be episodic and could go the other way next quarter.
But yes, there's definitely a problem with the trim. I like how you get on there.
Speaker Change: I guess a more serious question around the tariffs. Are you guys able to quantify what you think the aggregate impact to your cogs input here is and just confirm that?
Speaker Change: You believe whatever that number is, you'll be able to complete price.
Speaker Change: Well, so that's a difficult question. If you could just tell us how this is going to play out, we can tell you exactly what it would be. So, so like everybody else we watched. It's going to stay, it's going to stay exactly.
I'm going to say exactly where it is now [inaudible]
Speaker Change: Okay, if you're going to say it's going to say exactly the way it is now, I would tell you that our current situation is...
Not competitively disadvantaged, you're innovative and it's matters.
Speaker Change: The synapses for that answer is the title on slide five.
Speaker Change: Vengeable, some leg effects, contained within our normal range and competitively level find it.
Speaker Change: But I mean, it sounds like the kind of message, I don't know, maybe I'm making numbers up here but it's kind of a less than mid-single digit kind of impact overall to your cost.
Speaker Change: I remember that through a myriad of difficult operating environments, we've been, I think, extremely, you know, our employees around the world have done an extremely great job managing the ups and downs of difficult times and I think we're prepared to do it again.
Speaker Change: Fair enough, is there any perception that customers might have pulled forward some orders into the quarter in front of potential price increases or in front of potential supply chain disruptions or anything like that or did it kind of progress through the quarter as you would expect it to normally?
Speaker Change: So, the two things to remember is that 75% of our revenue is direct to end users to end users.
Speaker Change: and users really cannot pull forward because they can't.
Speaker Change: Really put them into meter pits or homes faster and they don't have the warehouse space and typically hold it so a large portion of the revenue really doesn't even have that lever to pull.
Speaker Change: And then the 25% that goes through distribution, we've not seen large global forward order so it was a pretty normal order environment.
Speaker Change: Normally it's good in this environment. Thanks very much for taking my questions.
Yeah, thanks [inaudible]
Speaker Change: The next question comes from Geoffrey Re from RBC. Geoffrey, please go ahead. Your line is open.
Geoffrey Reeve: Thanks. First I just want to say thanks to Karen for all your help and insights and wishing you the best in your retirement.
Thank you.
Speaker Change: Could you guys provide some comments around the health of municipal budgets today?
Speaker Change: How are you seeing utilities prioritized AMI investments in the current backdrop? And maybe more broadly, what's the risk that broader price inflation and other areas of utilities these budget could crank meter demand?
Speaker Change: Okay, I'll start and I think that was about three questions. I'll ask not to fill in what I guess, but the first part on municipal budgets to remember is with 50,000 utilities in the United States and the areas of different ways that utilities can fund investments.
There's no one size that's all answered to that [inaudible]
Speaker Change: But in general, one of the things we feel great about with our sales model is selling 75% of our revenue directives. We talked to customers on a very constant basis, and we're continually asking them about...
Speaker Change: Yeah, they're they're budgeting cycles, whether that's in the short term this year or these three to five year outlooks and you know what we're hearing in general specific back to me hearing is
Speaker Change: If a utility is facing budget issues, oftentimes they will reprioritize their budget to do their metering replacement.
Speaker Change: because clearly with it serving as the cash register, if you're due for your meter replacement.
Speaker Change: You're going to do it for a myriad of reasons. Either it's an older system, then you're looking for more efficiencies in the reads to catch a non-revenue water or eliminate waste in conservation.
and then, secondly, if you're into a longer term...
Speaker Change: Drive by or AMI offering, you know, those are battery powered devices and when they go dark they need to be replaced, so...
Speaker Change: That's where, when I talked earlier about the inflationary period in COVID, I think it's been proven just within the last five years twice that, one times the top, this would not be the area that you've always come.
Thank you.
Speaker Change: I was giving you the sign, so I think he thinks I got it.
Speaker Change: Yeah, thanks. Curious if there's an opportunity or maybe greater customer reception to alternative pricing models like a meter as a service in this backdrop?
Speaker Change: So generally, again, if I compare it to the other difficult times over the last five years, you know, sure, you might have some, that would look at that, but I would say in general the buying habits have not changed.
Thank you.
Thanks, Everett.
Speaker Change: The next question comes from Scott Graham, from Seaport Research Partners, Scott Schroliners Open, please go ahead.
Speaker Change: Yes, I hate. Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. And I'm already congratulations to you, Karen. You've done great jobs in both of your positions that I've known you. I wish you the best of luck.
Speaker Change: I wanted to ask a couple of questions around some of the statements that you make in the press release and then reiterated here on Ken.
Specifically, you talk about the company's ability to manage.
Speaker Change: Certain paraphernalated cost challenges and you've amplified on that in the presentation here. I'm just wondering if you can provide some color on what the triggers are.
We're-
Robert Wrocklage: certainly becomes, no, or manage certainly becomes, well, this is more than what we expected. Like, would a trigger be a rollback in the USMCA? Is it steel tariffs? Is it the electronic
Speaker Change: What would be the one or two or whatever many triggers that would have you concerned about your ability to manage?
Speaker Change: Yeah, so for us, we've called out the Mexico facility by name. So clearly we're very proud of the operation we have there. We wouldn't be leaving there.
Speaker Change: So, if there were some change in the USMCA that would have an impact that we would have to consider pretty seriously and
Speaker Change: The other areas that we look at, I think it's really well known about our linkage to copper and I called out dismoved, so anything that's particularly
Speaker Change: Damaging in that area that would happen in the future would be something that has to be considered. Those are the two primary ones.
Speaker Change: And you said that we are not looking that you haven't heard anything about, you know, pauses or delays and deployments and what have you.
Speaker Change: I'm wondering though if on the mix within the orders that you're seeing right now.
Speaker Change: You know, whether it's price, the mixed trade-up with AMI, with radio, AMI with communications and software, leak detection, all of these trade-up factors that can go into your sales per unit.
Speaker Change: Has any of these elements changed? In other words, has something become...
Speaker Change: In this quarter in particular, what was sort of the standout on mix and then a more important on the orders, has that changed, that the mix components?
Speaker Change: Yeah, as we've talked about for many years, from quarter to quarter, it can be generally sometimes a whole different set of utilities that can be the mix of small versus medium versus the barge, there'll be.
Speaker Change: Turnkey elements, there's so many factors that you really can't point to one. One of the things I'm particularly proud of, though, is that
You know our software
Speaker Change: Business is becoming a pretty meaningful part of the portfolio and you saw that grow again 25% in the quarter and that's a very positive structural change that provides tremendous benefits for customers and does a lot of good work for us on our continued continuous improvement move forward on margin and answer.
I think I hear you now. That will do.
Yeah, follow me, I always get no real attention. Yeah, well, I think I know.
Speaker Change: Yeah, I'm hearing that, and I get the second quarter guidance from just, you know, the mixed components are so important for your sales and earnings, but I just had to ask if there was any, you know, specific change that you're seeing in present order rates, and it sounds like your answer to that is...
Speaker Change: No, and it's because there are so many factors at play.
Speaker Change: That's right, that's right. So, you know, the thing that I wouldn't.
Speaker Change: Hope to have people take away from this is that as we've talked about the structural mix for years
and we kind of stubbornly stayed in our range.
Speaker Change: This at least gives you a view of what's possible here as all of these levers continue to be strong and we continue to take our one step forward at a time approach to how we manage and how we communicate that.
Speaker Change: These drivers are real, and this is a corridor where you just saw more of them come together than it does in many groups.
Appreciate it. Thank you both
Speaker Change: As a reminder, that star is followed by one on your telephone keypad to ask questions today. The next question comes from Rob Mason at Bad. Rob, your line is open, please go there.
Rob Mason: Oh, yes, good morning. And my congratulations to you, Karen, as well. Certainly appreciate all the help over the years. I just wanted to maybe clarify, have you already notified customers of pricing increases that you plan to take, or is that forthcoming?
So that's so forthcoming, so we're being very...
Heard prudent in making sure we understand the situation.
Rob Mason: Making sure that we're being very fair with our customers. I mean, I want to be clear, this isn't something that we're happy about. They're trying to do price grabs. They're trying to be the first in the market. Your question, yes, some, some competitors have notified customers that we've heard of. Many of our distributors are hearing from. They're trying to be the first in the market. They're trying to be the first in the market.
Rob Mason: That's right. We're confident that our ability to recover prices is manageable because it's already happening It's just we haven't been on the lead of raising people's prices [inaudible]
Rob Mason: Well, maybe as a follow-on to that, I know, frankly, inflation risk and the ability to handle that's always a consideration for you, but when you think about some of these AMI projects or multi-year deployments and contracts...
Speaker Change: Does it require you to do something different or the customers asking for anything different in terms of allowing those to go forward? I guess I'm thinking of the upfront decisions around those to make sure that both sides are protected in that sense, does that?
Is that changed?
Speaker Change: I would say there was an evolution with the inflationary pressures of 2021 and 2022 where multi-year price-hold requests were very common from utilities in the past and I think that we learned from past past past.
Speaker Change: As well as navigating that inflationary environment to push back on that more aggressively, and I would say competitors have done that as well [inaudible]
Speaker Change: So I would say that the benefit of the current situation is some of that historic practice or request or common understanding.
Speaker Change: changed two, three years ago. But, absolutely, we've got the lesson learned from past cycles as well as the ongoing desire to keep as much flexibility as we can, realizing that not all customers are created, equal to the difference among customers.
Bernstead.
Speaker Change: I could sneak in one more real quick, just, you know, on the, I know you said that you didn't really notice a change in customer order patterns, cadence, beyond the normal, but your your receivable line was up a fair amount. It sequentially, I was just, you know, what would have...
Just curious [inaudible]
Speaker Change: Yeah, so small piece of that is the addition of smart cover as you just alluded to and I would say the remaining amount is simply I would say time and difference between the half of the sales in Q4 versus Q1.
Speaker Change: Nothing there in terms of kind of a risk element or anything like that, simply timing as the sales battle in the quarters, respectively, Q4 versus Q1.
Ashley, okay, thank you.
Yeah, thanks, Rob.
Speaker Change: Let's go on a reminder that Starfall of Boe wants to ask a question today.
Speaker Change: We have no further questions, so I'll hand on the call back to Karen for some closing comments.
Karen Bauer: Thank you for everyone. Tevra, I'm for joining the call for your planning purposes. So, second quarter, 2025 calls scheduled for July 22nd. I will obviously not be on that call, so let me take a minute to first thank Ken and Bob for giving me the opportunity to lead IRDR Badger Meter, along with our unwavering support to drive ESG and strategic planning initiative during weekly years.
Karen Bauer: I also want to thank all of my Badger Meter colleagues. You've given me the easiest drive on Wall Street with here at World Class Execution, supporting our customers and delivering phenomenal results.
Karen Bauer: Day after day, quarter after quarter and year after year. And finally, a thank you to our analysts and investors, past and present for the many interesting and informative discussions over the years.
Karen Bauer: The diversity of your styles, you points and questions, I was never bored. So with that, I'll wrap up the first quarter call, Bob and I'll be around to take your follow-up. Thank you.
Karen Bauer: This concludes today's call. Thank you very much for your attendance. You may now disconnect your lines.
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