Our stated target was to reach at least 400 basis points of growth above the IP index by the end of our fiscal 2023.
Our first base camp would be this past quarter, our fiscal '21 fourth quarter, where we expect it to be at least 200 basis points above IP.
And we would achieve this by leveraging growth, by executing on gross margin initiatives, and by delivering structural cost takeout of 90 to $100 million, helping to reduce opex as a percentage of sales by at least 200 basis points over that time period.
Our Q4 performance was strong, with ADS growth of roughly 500 basis points above IP.
After adjusting out nonrecurring costs, adjusted ROIC was 15.4% at the end of Q4, an improvement of approximately 60 basis points over the past year.
We achieved $40 million of cost savings in fiscal '21, exceeding our original target of 25 million.
We're approaching pre-COVID levels on our vending machine signings and our implant program is gaining traction, finishing fiscal '21 at just over 7% of company sales, as compared to 5% a year ago.
With respect to revenue growth, we're aiming for at least 300 basis points of growth above IP, on our way to 400 basis points or more for fiscal 2023.
On the structural cost front, we expect to deliver roughly $25 million in incremental savings on top of the 40 million in fiscal 2021.
As Kristen will describe in just a bit, we expect this to yield incremental margins of 20% in the likely scenarios for the year.
We are well positioned to navigate this environment, particularly when compared to the local and regional distributors who make up 70% of our market.
Sales were up 11.1%, or 12.9% on an average daily sales basis.
Our non-safety and non-janitorial product lines grew 20%, while sales of safety and janitorial products declined roughly 14%.
Government sales declined nearly 30% due to difficult janitorial and safety comps.
September continued the trend of a low double-digit growth rate with ADS growth of 11.1%.
Our non-safety and non-janitorial growth was roughly 15% [Inaudible] 11%.
Supplier pricing moves led us to take another increase in August, and solid realization of our June increase allowed us to post the gross margin of 42% for the quarter, down just 30 basis points from our fiscal third quarter, which is less than our typical seasonal drop.
Our fourth-quarter sales were 831 million, up 11.1% versus the same quarter last year.
So on an average daily sales basis, net sales increased 12.9%.
Erik gave some details on our sales growth, but I'll just reiterate that the non-safety and non-janitorial ADS sales grew 20% in the quarter, while our safety and janitorial sales declined 14%.
Our gross margin for fiscal Q4 was 42%.
And as Erik mentioned, was down 30 basis points from our third quarter and up 40 basis points from last year.
Operating expenses in the fourth quarter were 253.3 million or 30.5% of sales, versus 227 million or 30.4% of sales in the prior year.
It's worth noting that our fourth quarter operating expenses include nearly 8 million of expense add-back from prior year COVID cost containment measures.
Excluding approximately $1 million of acquisition-related costs, adjusted opex was 252.1 million or 30.3 as a percent of sales.
We also incurred approximately 4.4 million of restructuring and other related charges in the quarter.
Our operating margin was 11%, compared to 9.8% in the same period last year.
Excluding the acquisition-related costs, as well as the restructuring and other related costs, our adjusted operating margin was 11.7%, versus an adjusted 11.2% in the prior year.
Adjusted incremental margin for our fiscal fourth quarter was 15.3%.
GAAP earnings per share were $1.18, as compared to $0.94 in the same prior-year period.
Adjusted for the acquisition-related costs, as well as restructuring and other charges, adjusted earnings per share were $1.26 as compared to adjusted earnings per share of $1.09 in the prior-year period, an increase of 15.6%.
Our free cash flow was 69 million in the fourth quarter, as compared to 171 million in the prior year.
I would also note that we repurchased 20 million of stock during the quarter or about 231,000 shares at an average price of 89.08 per share.
As of the end of the fiscal fourth quarter, we were carrying 624 million of inventory, up 26 million from last quarter.
Our capital expenditures were 16 million in the fourth quarter and for the full year, were 54 million, within our expected range of 50 to 60 million.
In addition, our fiscal year 2021 annual cash flow conversion or operating cash flow divided by net income was strong at 103%.
Our total debt at the end of the fiscal fourth quarter was 786 million, reflecting a 27 million increase from our third quarter.
As for the composition of our debt, 234 million was on our revolving credit facility, about 200 million was under our uncommitted facilities, and approximately 350 million was long-term fixed rate borrowings.
Cash and cash equivalents were 40 million, resulting in net debt of 746 million at the end of the quarter.
As of the end of September, our net debt was down to 728 million.
Our original program goal was to deliver 90 to 100 million of cost takeout through fiscal 2023, and that is versus fiscal 2019.
As you can see on Slide 10, our cumulative savings for fiscal year 2021 were 40 million against our original goal of 25 million and our revised goal of 40 million.
We also invested roughly 23 million in fiscal 2021, which compares to our revised full-year target of 25 million.
We expect additional gross savings in fiscal '22 of 25 million and additional investments of 15 million.
That will result in additional net savings for Mission Critical initiatives of roughly 10 million.
As a result of our strong progress on Mission Critical savings, we are increasing our total savings target to a minimum of 100 million through the end of fiscal '23, as compared to our fiscal '19 baseline.
We would expect adjusted operating margin to be in the range of 12.3%, plus or minus 30 basis points.
And if sales are up mid-single digits, we would expect adjusted operating margin to be in the range of 12%, also plus or minus 30 basis points.
This means we expect to achieve 20% adjusted incremental margins at our likely revenue growth range of mid to high single-digit growth.
With regard to sales levels, we are assuming an IP index somewhere between low to mid-single-digit growth, and we are targeting market outgrowth of roughly 300 basis points.
It's worth noting that in addition to volume-related expenses, we will face several challenging headwinds, such as labor and freight inflation of nearly 25 million, as well as COVID cost add-backs and additional COVID-related costs of more than 13 million.
I would point out that 3 million of those costs are for an incentive and marketing campaign to help us achieve compliance with the federal contractor vaccination mandate.
Looking to fiscal '22, we're set up for a strong year, including 20% incremental margins in our likely growth range.

Summary:
Our fourth-quarter sales were 831 million, up 11.1% versus the same quarter last year.
GAAP earnings per share were $1.18, as compared to $0.94 in the same prior-year period.
Adjusted for the acquisition-related costs, as well as restructuring and other charges, adjusted earnings per share were $1.26 as compared to adjusted earnings per share of $1.09 in the prior-year period, an increase of 15.6%.