Ryerson Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
October 31, 2023

There are 10 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Ryerson Holding Corporation's 3rd Quarter 2023 Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. There will be a question and answer session later. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Pratham Dear. Please go ahead, sir.

Speaker 1

Good morning.

Speaker 2

Thank you for joining Ryerson Holding Corporation's Q3 2023 earnings call. On our call, we have Eddie Lehner, Ryerson's President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Burbach, our Chief Operating Officer Jim Clausen, our Chief Financial Officer and Molly Cannon, our Chief Accounting Officer and Corporate Controller. John Orth, our Executive Vice President of Operations Mike Hamilton, our Vice President of Corporate Supply Chain and Jorge Bairstein, our Vice President of Finance Certain comments on this call contain forward looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, those set forth under Risk Factors in our annual report on Form 10 ks for the year December 31, 2022, our quarterly report on Form 10 Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2023 and in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Speaker 2

You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made and are not guarantees of future performance. In addition, Our remarks today refer to several non GAAP financial measures that are intended to supplement, but not substitute for, the most directly comparable GAAP measures. A reconciliation of non GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is provided in our earnings release filed on Form 8 ks yesterday, also available on the Investor Relations section of our website. I'll now turn the call over to Eddie.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Pratham, and thank you all for joining us this morning. I want to start by Expressing my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to our 4,300 plus strong Ryerson team for their continued emphasis On creating and sustaining a safe and productive operating environment, which is paramount to our mission of delivering Great customer experiences throughout our network of intelligently connected industrial metal service centers. I would also like to welcome Norlin Incorporated located in Central Wisconsin to the Ryerson family of companies. Founded in 1964, Norlin is an excellent fit within Ryerson's strategy of acquiring high Value Added Industrial Metals Processors. The Q3 of 2023 saw a continuation of countercyclical headwinds from the 2nd quarter characterized by falling average selling prices and compressed margins, Particularly within our stainless steel franchise, slowing customer demand for industrial metals As reflected in decelerating transactional customer quoting activity and reduced OEM order sizes through the quarter We're consistent with broader macro manufacturing indicators such as metals price indexes And the Purchasing Managers' Index PMI.

Speaker 3

I would note, however, that we are encouraged by recent inflections in HRC Index pricing, Manufacturing PMI and stimulative policy announcements in China indicating that price and demand conditions may be stabilizing as we move through the balance of the year. Inside Ryerson, while navigating through ongoing countercyclical conditions, we continued making important investments on new and enhanced service centers, machinery and equipment, acquisitions, homegrown software development and ongoing ERP conversions to build out our next generation operating model. These investments woven together Forward us the opportunity to create the best industry customer experiences within our value added scalable network of Intelligent Service Centers as we work toward our next stage financial targets and desired shareholder returns. We're doing the hard stuff, but the smart stuff that creates and sustains next level capabilities and returns. As we look ahead to the Q4 of 2023 and longer term, we will continue balancing the necessary management of countercyclical business conditions While bringing our growth and improvement initiatives to Harvest.

Speaker 3

With that, I'll now turn the call over to our Chief Operating Officer, Mike Burbach, To further discuss the pricing and demand environment.

Speaker 4

Thank you, Eddie, and good morning, everyone. In the Q3, price trends for the commodities that underlie our product mix continue to ease. Domestic hot rolled Coil prices declined on average $70 per ton per month over the quarter as lead time shrank And steel mill capacity utilization remained low. Similarly, prices for our Bright Metals were affected by decline in LME nickel and LME aluminum prices during the Q3 contributing to margin compression. Due to pricing turbulence and sales mix, our average sales price came in slightly below our guidance range for the 3rd quarter at $2,608 per ton or down 4% sequentially.

Speaker 4

Turning to the demand environment, 3rd quarter sales volumes met guidance expectations during a period of destocking where easing conditions in our end markets We're compounded by orders slowing in reaction to a period of falling prices, tighter credit conditions And a dampened economic outlook for the industrial manufacturing sector over the near term. These macroeconomic impacts were felt across our industry during the quarter where North American industry shipments as measured by the Metal Service Center Institute or MSCI Declined 5% quarter over quarter. Reflecting these conditions sequentially, Ryerson's volumes were lower by 3.6 percent led by shipment decreases in construction equipment, food processing and agriculture And commercial ground transportation, which were partially offset by shipment increases in oil and gas and metal fabrication and machine shops. Although countercyclical conditions, as previously noted, continued into the Q3 and have persisted early into the Q4, Industry inventories are normalizing to better match demand. Finally, I would like to say that while the current cycle's characteristics Have resulted in ebbing demand from our customers.

Speaker 4

We expect that our customers plan for increasing needs from emerging trends, Our modernized facilities and increased capabilities are well positioned to serve them at greater speed, scale and efficiency throughout our integrated network of service centers. As we've noted, Ryerson continues to partner with our customers for their long term needs, We continuously look for growth opportunities to better serve our customers. In that regard, the addition of Norland to our family of companies is a great fit, where their expertise in automation and robotic manufacturing is a capability expansion to our network. As we noted last quarter, our value add percent of sales has increased to 18%, Growing from approximately 14% a year ago. And we reiterate that our target of at least 20%, which is expected to translate to higher and more durable margins through the cycle.

Speaker 4

And with that, I will turn the call over to Jim 3rd quarter financial highlights as well as our 4th quarter outlook.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Mike, and good morning, everyone. Before discussing guidance for the Q4, I would like to highlight the drivers for our Q3 performance compared to our guidance expectations. During the period, we met our guidance range for adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO, exceeding our guidance on earnings per share, Generated positive cash flow, decreased net debt while also maintaining our net leverage ratio within range And return cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, while continuing to execute our organic and acquisition growth investments. Facing an environment of easing prices and softer demand, we reported adjusted EBITDA excluding LIFO of $45,000,000 which came in within our guidance range of $43,000,000 to $47,000,000 While our earnings per share of $1 was notably higher than our guidance range $0.31 to $0.43 per share. The beat on earnings per share was driven largely by the LIFO income recognized over the quarter, which also benefited gross margins.

Speaker 1

Looking to the Q4 of 2023, we expect volumes to be down sequentially compared to the Q3 in line with normal seasonality. As such, we expect 4th quarter revenues to be in the range of $1,000,000,000 to $1,150,000,000 with average selling prices down 3% to 5%. Based on these expectations, we forecast adjusted EBITDA for the Q4 of 2023, Excluding LIFO, in the range of $28,000,000 to $32,000,000 and earnings in the range of $0.18 to $0.22 per diluted share. We expect LIFO income of approximately $8,000,000 to $12,000,000 In the Q3, we generated $79,000,000 of cash flow from our operations, which included a $15,000,000 release from lower working capital requirements. We ended the period with 3 $66,000,000 of total debt and $329,000,000 of net debt.

Speaker 1

Ryerson's net leverage ratio remained stable quarter over quarter at 1.4 times and remains within our leverage target range, while the company's available global liquidity remains robust at $807,000,000 Benefiting from a healthy balance sheet, we remain focused on investing back in our business through the cycle. Capital expenditures were $22,000,000 in the 3rd quarter. This amount comprises both maintenance and growth projects, including Service Center Modernizations. We're very excited about the modernization effort taking place across our network, which will continue to drive better customer experiences, enhance long term potential of our equipment and improve asset utilization. Turning to shareholder returns, Ryerson returned approximately $10,000,000 in the quarter, which was comprised of $6,000,000 in dividends and $4,000,000 in share repurchases.

Speaker 1

We paid a quarterly dividend of $0.18125 per share And have announced a 4th quarter cash dividend of $0.185 per share, an increase of 1.4%, Our 9th consecutive raise. As for share repurchases, after repurchasing $4,000,000 in shares in the open market, We currently have approximately $46,000,000 remaining on our $100,000,000 authorization, which has a term until April of 2025. As part of the capital allocation policy highlighted in our NxVase targets, we will continue to prudently evaluate our shareholder return opportunities as well as our overall capital allocation strategy to maximize long term shareholder value. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mollie to provide further detail on our Q3 financial results.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Jim, and good morning, everyone. In the Q3 of 2023, Ryerson reported net Sales of $1,200,000,000 which was 7% lower sequentially driven by roughly an equal split of lower volumes And lower average selling prices. In the same period, gross margin of 20% was an expansion of 60 basis points versus the previous quarter. Excluding LIFO, gross margin fell 140 basis points from the 2nd quarter to 17.3% as average selling prices for our Bright Metals sales mix decreased faster than cost of goods sold. On the expense side, warehousing, delivery, selling, general and administrative expenses decreased 5% sequentially to $193,000,000 driven by lower variable expenses, lower accruals for personnel and lower professional fees, partially offset by higher reorganization expenses related to systems implementation and start up costs Associated with the University Park Service Center.

Speaker 5

For the Q3 of 2023, net income attributable to Ryerson was $35,000,000 or $1 per diluted share compared to a net income of $37,600,000 And diluted earnings per share of $1.06 in the prior quarter. Finally, Ryerson achieved adjusted EBITDA Free cash flow generation was $57,000,000 this quarter and compares to $69,000,000 in the prior quarter period, driven by operating earnings as well as working capital release. In the 1st 9 months of 2023, Ryerson has generated $205,000,000,000 in adjusted EBITDA excluding LIFO and $179,000,000 in free cash flow. And with this, I'll turn the call back to Eddie.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Molly. During the Q3, we navigated Counter cyclical conditions well and expect a flattening of these conditions as we move through the balance of the year, reflecting familiar holiday seasonality. As we firmly believe, metals are the perennial materials enabling both The remedial and transformative manufacturing and building required to meet the formidable challenges of these times while improving the human experience and quality of life for the greatest number of people. The investments Ryerson is making through the cycle in our network of intelligently connected industrial metal service centers That deliver customer solutions with joy, speed, scale, value add and consistency Position Ryerson and its stakeholders well for an enduring and valuable future as these Secular trends play out in the years ahead. With that, we look forward to your questions.

Speaker 3

Operator?

Operator

We'll now take our first question from Katja Jantik with BMO Capital Markets.

Speaker 6

Hi. Thank you for taking my questions. First on the Norland acquisition, can you provide a little more information on what the

Speaker 3

Hi, Katya. Good morning. Happy Halloween. We don't usually disclose and break out on acquisition margins Our top line is suffice to say that the fabrication margins in a business like for EBITDA margin are more than at mid cycle and the revenue at New Orleans is comparable to the Average service center size in the industry, which is between $25,000,000 $35,000,000

Speaker 6

Okay. And then given that the environment currently is a bit more challenging, How does the acquisition pipeline look like? Is there a potential for increase in M and A activity over the next few months?

Speaker 3

The bolt on M and A pipeline is really good. It's stocked. We have a lot of really good opportunities that we're evaluating. And so we're bullish on our business development pipeline.

Speaker 6

And maybe just one more, if I may, on the CapEx heading into next year. I understand it's still early, but How should we think about it?

Speaker 3

Yes. I'll go ahead and turn it over to Jim for a little more detail. But We look at it in terms of 3 buckets. What's our current maintenance CapEx? What are the big projects that we're doing that We need to finish such as University Park and Shelbyville, for example.

Speaker 3

And then how much growth CapEx Around the rest of the network. So Jim, do you want to provide some additional detail?

Speaker 1

Yes. Thanks Eddie and good morning. Gotcha. What I would say is for the balance of this year, our expectation is still in that $125,000,000 range for CapEx spend. And then in this quarter, we're currently working through our CapEx plans for 2024 and the next Couple of years, so we'll be able to talk more to a direct number in February.

Speaker 6

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

We'll now take our next question from I apologize. We'll take our next question from Bill Gibbs with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Speaker 7

Hey, good morning.

Speaker 3

Hey, good morning, Phil.

Speaker 7

Jim, can you talk a bit about the end markets, Specifically, what you're seeing in Class 8, Energy, HVAC and General Durables?

Speaker 3

Mike, do you want to take that one? When we keep dressing up for Halloween, Phil, that's what I want to know.

Speaker 4

Yes. We'll have that chat afterwards, Eddie. Good morning, Phil. Thanks for the question. Different activities going on in the various Marcus, as you probably well know, specifically, ESPA Class 8, I would say 2023 has been An up year for Class 8 in general compared to 2022.

Speaker 4

And it looks like that activity level that we're experiencing Short term here might lead into 1st part of next year, but forecasts From the industry, it would indicate there's going to be a downturn sometime, maybe second, third quarter for the balance of 2024. We're watching that very carefully listening to customers. There's a variety of opinions besides what the industry is Publishing, so we stay close to it. But so far this year, it's been fairly strong and in the near term, it appears to remain that way. As far as Oil and Gas, we saw an uptick in Q3 compared to Q2.

Speaker 4

We also saw a year over year uptick. When I look at oil and gas and really our involvement in it, it's not our largest end market in the sense Compared to say Class 8 and some of the others, but it's the business we've been enjoying largely driven by Well completions and it's all about speed and service. We've got some great inventories, well positioned And really it's a game of speed to get back to customers quickly and effectively and make sure that we got the right products at the right place at the Great price. So we enjoy the business and the outlook right now is pretty much more of the same on a go forward basis. And then you mentioned HVAC, sort of a mixed bag there.

Speaker 4

The customers that Probably supply more of the housing related activities, maybe are having some tougher times than the ones that Might be going on some non res construction. So that all adds up to something that's maybe down year over year compared to what we had last year. And the outlook is a little fuzzy there with interest rates high and the housing starts Still at a slow level. So near term, more of the same, but Long term, I think it's a function of non res construction trends as well as housing starts.

Speaker 3

Phil, I would add this to Mike's answer. I would say that with the exception of, State Aerospace and Automotive, which even though it looks like the strike is in the process getting settled, But with certain end markets being relatively stronger, the general demand environment has been a buyer's market. So you see smaller quoting opportunities, you see less quoting opportunities. Certainly been encouraged. You have to take the data points as These days certainly been encouraged by industry inventories, the level of those inventories, recent price increases, Stabilization even around, I'd say, stainless pricing components, aluminum is, I'd say, neutral to trending better.

Speaker 3

Carbon, of course, Has really trended higher over

Speaker 8

the last 6

Speaker 3

weeks. PMIs look like they're trending up a little bit. Could be a restocking Environment as we move into Q1 and next year or could be better than that, but current indicators have been encouraging, but certainly still experiencing Lagging countercyclical effects and now seasonal slowness as we move through the balance of the year.

Speaker 7

Hey, Eddie, do you have an update on the project in Chicago? And timing wise, When does it start? Where are you through the process?

Speaker 3

Yes. So equipment is being installed, Racks are up. Some limited production is taking place in the value add arena in long products processing. We should be fully operational in University Park by early April of 2024. It's a big undertaking.

Speaker 3

As I referenced in the script, I mean, hard stuff but smart stuff. I mean, these things will ultimately make a big positive difference As we look to see our earnings stream become more consistent and higher through the cycle, but I'll ask John Orth

Speaker 9

Thank you, Eddie. Hi, Phil. With regards To the investment at University Park, the work on the value add side is actually ahead of schedule. And as Eddie mentioned, Productivity fully up to speed and we absolutely see a clear runway to be fully operational in April of next year.

Speaker 7

Thank you. And then a couple of questions, just one on net Capital and 1 on pension. What are you anticipating for net working capital in the 4th quarter? Because I know you did take some of the inventories down This quarter, which was a nice tailwind, but as you said, incomings are starting to stabilize. And then on the pension, I know rates have been climbing, which helps the liability, but the outcome of the remeasurement will depend The mix of bonds and equities in the portfolio.

Speaker 7

So how does that potentially Shape up if we just looked at it as is today, meaning if we mark to market the pension and OPEC today? Thanks.

Speaker 3

Yes, sure. So I'll kick it to Jim in just a second. I'll give you some broader based color on the question. Net working capital is going to come down. I think with some of the better news that's occurred recently, it also means lead times are going to get We know the mills are still struggling with on time delivery issues on a mill by mill basis.

Speaker 3

So that's sort of a built in, I would say that's a built in regulator of how fast you can build inventories, even if you want to get a little bit long and you want to improve the quality of your inventory. So I mean just given where our guidance is networking capital should come down, and we're doing some good work around the pension and our legacy liabilities At present, so I'll take it over to Jim and he can give you a little bit more detail on with respect to those questions.

Speaker 1

Yes. Thanks, Eddie. I think Phil, I think Eddie pretty much covered the working capital Question, the only thing I would append onto that is as with less shipping days Q4, we'd also expect our nominal AR balance to fall a little bit as our feather day sales outstanding are fairly consistent. On the pension front, certainly, obviously, the remeasurement will occur at the end of the year with Discount rates and asset returns taken into account. What I would say is We have gone through very thoughtful exercises in the past several years with either annuitizations to de risk the plan Or some lump sum payouts in order to take that liability down far lower than it was historically And we'll continue to do that work.

Speaker 7

Thank you.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Phil.

Operator

We'll now take a question from Alan Weber with Robotti Advisors.

Speaker 8

Good morning. How are you?

Speaker 3

Hi, Alan. Good morning. How are you?

Speaker 8

Good. So can you talk about the ERP kind of two things? Well, it's maybe 3. What's your hope when it will be complete? What you hope it accomplishes?

Speaker 8

And then Where it fits in as you've often talked about customer service?

Speaker 3

Yes, absolutely. So some are Brown's fan, so I'm Perpetually hopeful. ERP is difficult, Alan. It's just as difficult. When you finally make the decision, we made the decision at the right time.

Speaker 3

Finally had to make that call. I mean, before COVID, we had done ERP conversions maybe 1 at a time, Slowly getting to a common ERP environment on SAP. And there's always puts and takes when you do that. You definitely take hits in the short term. There's No question about it.

Speaker 3

But if you really want to if you want to engineer your way So if you want to engineer your way towards your strategic objectives, especially around the customer experience and you want to digitalize your network, You really need to have that uniform platform, so you're not constantly developing in 2 to 3 to 4 different environments. And there's a lot of other costs you have to carry when you do that. So You really want to have a congruent and uniform master data environment, which really allows you to offer next level services to your customers very quickly, very efficiently, in a way that you should be able to garner repeat business when it's done. So it's a big undertaking. It's a big investment.

Speaker 3

But ultimately, it's an investment you have to do if you want to elevate yourself to the next level when it comes to things that we've talked about before, such as Our e commerce capabilities, our ability to quote really fast, our ability to develop AI use cases, Which we have a couple in development, for example. So there's no way you can get around it. You just have to do it, and it's not easy. But the rewards are there on the other side as you begin to assimilate that, digest that and then you can develop

Speaker 8

So I guess it's still unclear though, I realize it's one of these things where you never fully done I guess in Some ways, but when do you really start to see kind of the benefits of the investment?

Speaker 3

You see the benefits of the investment. Usually, I would say, From the time that the conversion is finished, it usually takes 6 to 9 months before the business unit that's converting Really learns the rules and the controls of the system and how to use it, especially when they've been using when they've been transacting in a legacy environment for a long time. So it's usually 6 to 9 months. We have one of our biggest multi markets is in the process of converting now. We've got a couple smaller divisions that are going to convert in the Q1 of next year.

Speaker 3

Then we're going to take a nice long pause and we're going to settle in. And I believe at that point in time, once we get past Q1 of 2024, we're going to start to see good returns from our investment As we move through the balance of the year, depending on the macro, of course, but I think that really helps our self help initiatives going forward.

Speaker 8

Okay, great. Thank you.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Alan.

Operator

And it appears there are no further telephone questions. I'd like to turn the conference back to our presenters for any additional or closing comments.

Speaker 3

Wishing everyone a safe, healthy and enjoyable holiday We look forward to being with all of you in the New Year to discuss Q4 and full year 2023 results. Take care. Thank you.

Operator

And once again, that does conclude today's conference. We thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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Earnings Conference Call
Ryerson Q3 2023
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