The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX) Q4 2020 Earnings Conference Call - Final Transcript

Welcome, and thank you for standing by to the Greenbrier Companies' Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year-End 2020 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] At the request of the Greenbrier Companies, this conference call is being recorded for instant replay purposes.

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Justin Roberts, Vice President and Treasurer, Mr. Roberts, you may begin.

That sounds great.

Sir, you're live. You may go ahead.

Thank you, Jill, and good morning everyone. Sorry for the delayed start. We are having some technical difficulties with our provider but such is life in the time of COVID and everything else, it seems to be going on. Welcome to our fourth quarter and fiscal 2020 conference call. On today's call I'm joined by Greenbrier's Chairman and CEO, Bill Furman; Lorie Tekorius, President and Chief Operating Officer; and Adrian Downes, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. They will provide an update on Greenbrier's performance in the quarter and year and our near-term priorities.

Following our introductory remarks, we will open up the call for questions. In addition to the press release issued this morning, additional financial information and key metrics can be found in a slide presentation posted today on the IR section of our website. Matters discussed on today's conference call include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Throughout our discussion today, we will describe some of the important factors that could cause Greenbrier's actual results and beyond to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of Greenbrier.

And with that, I will pass it off to Bill.

Thank you, Justin and good morning, and I'd like to start out by saying the obvious that we're living in very interesting times and to point out that Greenbrier brings a 40-year track record into 2020 and this is not the first time we've confronted unusual times. We've designed flexibility into our businesses by growing liquidity to $1 billion since March and Greenbrier's time tested approach to market uncertainty, our Greenbrier management team is deploying that and has deployed that proven strategy during the past six months. Greenbrier launched a rapid response to COVID-19. We dramatically improved liquidity including controlling costs appropriate to current business conditions. These actions position the company well for the current market and we have a strong capability to meet demand as it resumes over time.

We are very grateful for our employees' dedicated -- continued dedication and also that of our customers, suppliers and other constituencies. We've all been impacted by the pandemic, which has created not just concerns about personal health and safety, but also questions about our collective future. Social isolation, climate concerns, wildfires in the west and unrest over social injustice and an election year all have been put together in this suit, which has created a malaise we have to fight every day. Greenbrier's global workforce has been working under very challenging conditions.