NYSE:WS Worthington Steel Q4 2024 Earnings Report $24.10 +0.29 (+1.21%) Closing price 04/15/2025 03:59 PM EasternExtended Trading$25.64 +1.54 (+6.38%) As of 04/15/2025 07:06 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Earnings HistoryForecast Worthington Steel EPS ResultsActual EPS$1.06Consensus EPS $0.67Beat/MissBeat by +$0.39One Year Ago EPSN/AWorthington Steel Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$911.00 millionExpected Revenue$876.30 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$34.70 millionYoY Revenue Growth+3.10%Worthington Steel Announcement DetailsQuarterQ4 2024Date6/26/2024TimeAfter Market ClosesConference Call DateThursday, June 27, 2024Conference Call Time8:30AM ETUpcoming EarningsWorthington Steel's Q4 2025 earnings is scheduled for Wednesday, June 25, 2025, with a conference call scheduled on Thursday, June 26, 2025 at 8:30 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress Release (8-K)Annual Report (10-K)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfilePowered by Worthington Steel Q4 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrJune 27, 2024 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 7 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Thank you for standing by. My name is Christa, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Worthington Steel's 4th Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. Operator00:00:31Thank you. I will now like to turn the conference over to Melissa Dystra, Vice President of Communications and Investor Relations. Melissa, you may begin. Speaker 100:00:41Thank you, operator. Good morning, and welcome to Worthington Steel's 4th quarter fiscal year 2024 earnings call. On our call today, we have Jeff Gilmore, Worthington Steel's President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Klingler, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and Tim Adams, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before we get started, I'd like to note that certain statements made today are forward looking within the meaning of the 1995 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those suggested. Speaker 100:01:16We issued our earnings release yesterday after the market closed. Please refer to it for more detail on those factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. Unless noted, as reported, today's discussion will reference non GAAP financial measures, which adjust for certain items included in our GAAP results and which are presented on a stand alone basis. You can find definitions of each non GAAP measure and GAAP to non GAAP reconciliations within our earnings release. Today's call is being recorded and a replay will be made available later today on worthingtonsteel.com. Speaker 100:01:51Now I'd like to turn the call over to Jeff Gilmore. Speaker 200:01:54Thanks, Melissa, and thanks to everyone who is joining today's call. It is a good morning here at Worthington Steel. We saw solid results in Q4 and finished fiscal year 2024 strong. Our performance and our people continue to demonstrate that Worthington Steel is a unique steel processor poised for significant growth. Our ability to deliver value added solutions to our customers in flat rolled steel processing, electrical steel laminations and Taylor welded products is unique to our industry. Speaker 200:02:26Our goal is to continue our distinctive positioning by offering processes that are truly differentiating, positioning us to maintain and gain leadership in the areas we serve. As we enter fiscal year 2025, our first full year as a standalone company, we remain focused on executing our strategy and driving shareholder value through organic growth and strategic M and A. We believe our strategy and differentiation help ensure we are well positioned to grow and deliver strong returns for our shareholders. We have achieved a great deal in just 6 months as Worthington Steel, but we know we have much to accomplish. With the Worthington Business System embedded in everything we do, we will work to execute our strategy of focused investments in the rapidly growing electrical steel market, which is growing faster than GDP margin accretive growth through disciplined CapEx and selective acquisitions and transformation, our system of continuous improvement to increase margins, reduce working capital and add capacity. Speaker 200:03:32Our enhanced leadership focus created by the separation is to driving accountability and organizational alignment around our vision and status as one of the most trusted, most innovative and most value added metals processing partners in North America and beyond. Essential to continuing as a market leader is our strong culture. Earlier this month, we celebrated Founders Day, marking John H. McConnell's first order of steel. As we look to our 70th year in 2025, the philosophy Mr. Speaker 200:04:05Mac poised and embodied is alive and well here at Worthington Steel. We continue to treat our customers, employees, investors and suppliers as we would like to be treated. Examples of our award winning culture and our philosophy in action are evident in several milestones we achieved this quarter. We were named a top workplace in our Headquarter City of Columbus, Ohio for the 12th year in a row. This is an award based on feedback from our employees, so that makes winning even more special to me. Speaker 200:04:37Our Worthington Samuel Coil Processing joint venture was named Company of the Year for 2023 by the Cleveland Chapter of the Association of Women in the Metals Industry for supporting growth and advancement of women in the Cleveland Metals Industry. In April, we were named a John Deere Partner Level Supplier for the 12th consecutive year. That same month, we were recognized as the 2023 Supplier of the Year by General Motors. This is the 3rd time in the last 4 years we've earned this distinction. Both of these honors are from longtime customers who value Worthington Steel's proactive solution focused way of doing business. Speaker 200:05:17Our dedication to helping our customers create value every single day continues to pay off. I'd like to recognize and thank Worthington Steel's 4,600 employees who support our customers, live our philosophy and help us achieve our vision. I am excited about the progress we've made and the opportunities in front of us. We continue to deliver on our commitment to advance our industry through partnership with our customers and suppliers. We have the right team and the best culture to help us continue generating Speaker 300:05:49a return for our shareholders. Speaker 200:05:51It is a great time to be in steel processing. As customer needs grow ever more unique, the demand for the products and services we offer will continue to expand. I'll now turn things over to Jeff Klingler to comment on our operations. Speaker 300:06:06Thanks, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. As Jeff mentioned, we had a good quarter, highlighted by public accolades from multiple groups. Our ability to serve our customers has a direct correlation to our focus on safety. I'd like to start off by congratulating our employees on the improvements we saw in fiscal year 2024. While our ultimate goal is 0 incidents, we saw a 25% reduction in recordable injuries in fiscal year 2024 and I'm proud of what the team has accomplished. Speaker 300:06:38Our best in class safety record and programs that drive that record are a clear reflection of our people first philosophy. As we look at the operational overview for the quarter, let's start with a look at what we saw in our 2 largest end markets. Sales to the automotive market made up 52% of 4th quarter fiscal year 2024 sales, the same as the Q4 of fiscal year 2023. The automotive market remains solid for us and we believe North American light vehicle production could return to pre COVID levels of more than 16,000,000 units as early as next calendar year. Our OEM customers anticipate more growth in the EV and plug in hybrid market as adoption continues to grow. Speaker 300:07:24Our capital investments in our Mexico electrical steel facility will allow us to capitalize on this opportunity. The construction industry remains the 2nd largest market we serve. In the Q4 of fiscal year 2024, the construction market made up 14% of our sales, reflecting a modest increase over the Q4 of fiscal year 2023, when construction was only 12% of sales. The construction market is a large and diverse market. In the submarkets where we participate, we experienced strength in the fencing, metal building and culvert markets. Speaker 300:08:02Turning to operational highlights for the quarter. Our large capital projects related to electrical steel continue to be on track and on budget. 3 of the 5 new presses arrived at our electrical steel facility during Q4. We are finalizing the installation of the first press and will turn our attention to the second and third presses in the near future. We are also making good progress with respect to our commercial efforts to win new business for electrical vehicle programs. Speaker 300:08:30We have secured enough orders to fill 3 of the initial 5 presses when the OEM programs are running at full production. Once the presses are installed, we will move to the next phase where we will produce trial orders for our customers and prepare for production level volumes expected in the fall of 2025. Our Canada electrical steel expansion project is also progressing well from a commercial standpoint. We've been awarded enough new business to fill 50% of the new capacity as customers look to close the backlog in their transformer order book. Our Canada expansion remains on track and we expect the facility to be operational by the end of calendar year 2025. Speaker 300:09:11Last quarter, I talked about our newly licensed ablation technology for our Taylor Welded Blanks business. This will allow us to process many more automotive applications, including pillars, rails, cross car beams and door rings. In fact, we believe it opens up new products and opportunities for us in the existing welded blank market by about 30%. I'm pleased to share we are already receiving customer interest and orders. We continue to be pleased with the reception from our customers as it relates to our large projects as well as our newest electrical steel facility in Nagel, Germany. Speaker 300:09:48Our customers are enthusiastic about all three projects and our list of potential commercial opportunities continues to grow. Alongside this, we continue to use transformation, our system of continuous improvement. We apply the transformation systematically in our plants as we look to improve safety, reduce inventory and scrap and enhance our overall productivity and performance. Our facilities are working on multiple transformation projects each year to optimize our processes and improve efficiencies. In a recent example, our teams found a way to streamline material flow from the supplier to the customer. Speaker 300:10:26In one of our largest facilities, this transformation work has reduced work in process, improved process cycle times by 4 days and improved finished good cycle times by 2 days. This creates a more organized workflow and a safer environment for our employees. We expect it will also reduce working capital, allow us to respond more quickly to customers and make us even easier to do business with. We are using those same tools and principles to apply the transformation to our corporate functions. We believe we will find efficiencies in these areas that will make us better partners and improve our bottom line. Speaker 300:11:03It's been an exceptional quarter and our teams continue to perform and innovate, always with an eye towards safety. I'll close my comments with a sincere thank you to everyone at Worthington Steel and turn the call over to Tim Adams. Speaker 400:11:17Thank you, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. Before I provide some color on the quarter, I would like to remind everyone that the current year 4th quarter consolidated results on a standalone basis are compared with a prior year quarter, which was prepared on a carve out basis. We finished our fiscal year with a strong quarter, reporting 4th quarter earnings of $53,200,000 or 1 point $67,300,000 or $1.37 per share. The prior year quarter included several unique items, including pre tax separation expense of $5,500,000 or $0.07 per share and a pre tax impairment charge of $1,800,000 or $0.03 per share related to idled equipment. Excluding these items, we generated earnings of $1.06 per the Q4, we had estimated pre tax inventory holding losses of $3,400,000 or $0.05 per share compared to estimated pre tax inventory holding gains of $32,600,000 or $0.50 per share in the prior year quarter and unfavorable pre tax swing of $36,000,000 or $0.55 per share. Speaker 400:12:37In the 4th quarter, we reported adjusted EBIT of $70,400,000 which was down $28,000,000 from the adjusted EBIT of $98,400,000 in the prior year quarter. This decrease is primarily due to lower gross margin, which was impacted by lower direct material spreads, including the impact of the estimated pre tax inventory holding losses. Lower direct spreads were partially offset by higher toll spreads due to an improved mix within toll processing. Additionally, SG and A was up $10,600,000 from the prior year, primarily due to incremental costs associated with being a standalone company, higher incentive compensation and benefits costs and a $3,700,000 swing in bad debt expense. In the prior year quarter, we recognized income of $2,000,000 associated with bad debt compared with $1,700,000 of expense in the current year quarter. Speaker 400:13:33We believe the bad debt expense variance is an isolated matter that is not expected to reoccur. 4th quarter results also included recognition of the final unfavorable tax court ruling related to a pre acquisition Temple matter for which we were indemnified by the former owners of Temple. The net impact on earnings is 0. However, we recognized $2,800,000 of miscellaneous income related to the indemnity receivable and an additional $2,800,000 of tax expense. Next, I will provide some commentary on the market and our shipments. Speaker 400:14:10Similar to what we experienced over the past year, steel market pricing was volatile over the quarter. Since hot rolled prices peaked in mid January at $1100 per ton, the market price for steel has been unsettled. Hot roll prices fell to $7.50 per ton in March, increased in April, then fell back to $7.50 per ton in May. The hot roll market recently decreased further with pricing in the range of $6.75 per ton. With the decreases in market pricing, we expect estimated inventory holding losses in the Q1 of fiscal 2025 will be higher than the 3,400,000 dollars of estimated inventory holding losses in the Q4. Speaker 400:14:52We estimate those losses could be approximately $15,000,000 to $20,000,000 on a pre tax basis. Net sales in the 4th quarter was $911,000,000 up 3% from the prior year quarter, primarily due to slightly higher direct pricing and a favorable mix within toll processing, which included more high value added processing. We shipped just over 1,000,000 tons during the Q4, which was down 2% compared with the prior year quarter. Direct sales volume made up 58% of our mix in the 4th quarter compared with 57% in the prior year quarter. Direct sale volumes were down 1% over the prior year quarter with an increase in construction related volume that was more than offset by softness in most other markets. Speaker 400:15:39Specifically as it relates to construction, we utilized some open capacity to take on some spot and shorter term construction business. Direct sale volume to the automotive market was down 1% compared to the prior year quarter. The decrease was primarily due to several programs reaching their end of life, while the replacement platforms experienced launch delays. Our automotive book of business continues to be healthy, making up 52% of our sales in the Q4. Our technical and commercial teams worked closely with our customers to provide solutions that help customers meet their challenges. Speaker 400:16:14The recent Supplier of the Year award from General Motors that Jeff Gilmore mentioned is a result of our dedication to helping customers succeed. Toll tons were down 3% year over year, primarily due to decreased toll pickling with the mills. However, the mix of toll volume was more heavily weighted towards higher value added products, including galvanizing and table woven blanket. We're cautiously optimistic about the next few quarters. Our Q4 tends to be our strongest quarter from a volume standpoint, so we would expect the normal seasonal drop off in volume during the summer months related to the automotive market. Speaker 400:16:49In addition, our 4th quarter benefited from a higher mix of galvanized in both our direct and toll order books. Turning to cash flows and the balance sheet. Cash flow from operations was $35,600,000 and free cash flow was an outflow of $9,200,000 During the Q4, we spent $44,800,000 on capital expenditures related to a variety of projects, including the previously announced electrical steel expansions in Mexico and Canada. On a trailing 12 month basis, we generated $96,000,000 of free cash flow. Yesterday, we announced a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share payable on September 27, 2024. Speaker 400:17:31In regard to our balance sheet, operating working capital increased $25,100,000 during the Q4, primarily due to a reduction in payables. We ended the quarter with $40,200,000 of cash, which is down $20,600,000 from the 3rd quarter due to spending on various strategic capital projects. Our ABL debt on May 31 was $148,000,000 resulting in net debt of 107,800,000 dollars In summary, Worthington Steel had an excellent 4th quarter and all of our teams performed very well. Everyone at Worthington Steel continues to be focused on driving value for our stakeholders on both a near term and long term basis. I'm proud of our teams for their dedication and for their continued commitment to safety. Speaker 400:18:17At this point, we would be happy to take your questions. Operator00:18:22Thank Your first question comes from Martin Englert with Seaport Research Partners. Please go ahead. Speaker 500:18:43Hello. Good morning, everyone. Speaker 400:18:46Hey, Martin. Hey, Martin. Speaker 500:18:48Hey, wanted to circle back and discuss just the overall profitability within steel EBITDA per ton. And some of this you alluded to in the discussion, but excluding the holding losses for the quarter, which were fairly minimal, I mean, the underlying EBITDA seems like it might have been a high watermark history. I understand it's not exact apples to apples, given the separation. And So if you called out higher mix of galv and a favorable mix in tolling as maybe some of the drivers. But what I'm getting at is the sustainability of that type of underlying EBITDA or is this more of, hey, it was a good quarter, we had a favorable mix, higher Gal, good margins on toll processing and this is maybe a little bit of an anomaly relative to history? Speaker 400:19:48Yes, Martin, I think this is Tim. I think you answered your own question. I think it was overall we had a very good mix this quarter. Within Toll, we had some galvanizing additional galvanizing tons as well as Taylor Water Blank tons. And then within direct, it was a lot more Galb as well. Speaker 400:20:05We also picked up some spot business in there. You didn't mention that, but we picked up some spot business there in the construction market and that was at higher margins as well. So those were the big drivers for the quarter. Speaker 500:20:18Okay. That's helpful. I appreciate that. Can you discuss what you're seeing and again you alluded to this when you talked about seasonality, but maybe a little bit more specific July and overall automotive plan downtime. How is that looking maintenance schedules versus last year and versus history? Speaker 500:20:42And any comment as far as inventories in the auto supply chain that you're seeing? Speaker 400:20:50This is Tim again. Let me start just to talk about seasonality in general for us and then I'll hand it over to Jeff Klingler to talk a little bit about what he's seen in automotive. So we went back and we looked at our seasonality quarter by quarter. So if you take our direct tons and divide by 4 quarters, what you typically see for us is Q1 is what I would call the average quarter. When you look at Q2 and Q3, those tend to be down from a direct volume standpoint 3% or 4%. Speaker 400:21:18And then when you look at Q4, that tends to be up 6% or 8%. So Q1 perspective, it's an average quarter for us. So overall, what I'm trying to say is Q4 is our strongest and Q1 tends to be the 2nd strongest. Jeff, do you want to comment on automotive? Speaker 500:21:37I apologize for interrupting, but just to clarify, you're discussing negative 3% to 4% and up 6 percent to 8% versus the quarterly average for any given year as the seasonality Right. Speaker 400:21:49Yes, versus the simple average versus the simple average. Speaker 300:21:54Sure. Got it. And then with regard good morning, Martin. This is Jeff Glenmayer. With regards to the automotive market, we remain very optimistic about the automotive sector here for the remainder of 2024. Speaker 300:22:08We will see the normal summer slowdown. I don't think anything right now has us believing it's going to be unusual or something out of the ordinary. But we do expect to see the year end modest increase of 1% to 2% in over 2023 builds. We're keeping a very close eye on things such as inflation and interest rates, which could cause slow down there, but generally we remain very optimistic. Speaker 500:22:44The planned downtime, just looking at schedules this year for the summer versus last year, you're not seeing any deviations or an extension on what's planned on being down versus last year? Speaker 300:23:02No. We are anticipating roughly 2 weeks for most automobiles. Speaker 500:23:13Okay, thanks. That's helpful. If I could, can you just provide an update on the Electrical Sealed Lamination business? I understand it's embedded in the overall business, but any kind of comment on how margins performed in the quarter, some goalposts on share of overall sales And if there's anything else to add as far as the growth initiatives, I know you did touch on a lot of things in the prepared remarks, however, on that aspect. Speaker 400:23:49Jeff, why don't you want to take that and I can jump in? Speaker 300:23:51Sure. Yes. Overall, in general, we're very pleased with the electric field business. We're most excited about the investments that we have, that we've been talking quite a bit about in Mexico for our focused factory expansion for electric vehicles. That project is on time and on budget. Speaker 300:24:15We've spent about $25,000,000 to date. The building is nearly complete. We've installed the 1st press and are working on the next 3. Commercially, we're very happy with the level of commercial activity and the new orders that we have received. Those orders will not start production. Speaker 300:24:35Very early production will be at the end of calendar 2025. So we still have a little time, but we're very pleased with the progress on that project. And then in Canada, that project is also on time and on budget. We've spent also about $25,000,000 to date and production in that new facility will also begin at an initial scale towards the end of 2025. Same story there. Speaker 300:25:07We're very pleased with the level of commercial interest and activity. And in fact, we've received orders already for roughly 50% of that future capacity. Speaker 200:25:19And Martin, this is Jeff Gilmore. Just to add, you had mentioned margins and the embedded in the business, which are exactly right, it's embedded in the rest of the business. But certainly we've mentioned this several times that the margins for the Electrical Steel Lamination business will be our highest margin business. So that's certainly exciting to us. And more importantly, we're making these investments because the growth in those markets will be much greater than GDP we think over the next 7 to 10 years. Speaker 200:25:49So we remain highly optimistic longer term. Speaker 500:25:54Any goalposts on what the overall sales might have contributed for the quarter there or even the last year? Speaker 400:26:04No, we're not going to disclose that, Martin. It's embedded in the business and that's how we're going to continue to report it. Speaker 500:26:11Would you have any interest in going farther downstream potentially partnering with somebody to produce transformers? Speaker 200:26:23Martin, right now, no. I think we have a very specific strategy that we're confident in. It's our and staying close to our core right now, think about the growth over the next 10 years. Let us get our arms around this and enjoy the opportunity we have in front of us and be best in class before we start getting too far ahead of ourselves. So we're going to stay close to our core. Speaker 500:26:50Okay, excellent. Appreciate that and nice job on the quarter. Speaker 200:26:54Thank you. Appreciate it, Martin. Operator00:26:57Your next question comes from Phil Gibbs with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:27:05Hey, good Speaker 600:27:05morning. Hey, Phil. Speaker 400:27:08Hey, Phil. Speaker 600:27:11Question on some of the color you provided for the new business wins. I think you said 3 out of the 5 presses and 50% of the capacity related to Mexico and Canada respectively that you already gone out and secured business for. Would it be your goal in the months ahead to try to secure more business on that capacity or are you purposely leaving some open for spots? So I'm just trying to think about how you view the value of that capacity and leaving some open or wanting firm commitments. Speaker 400:27:51Yes, Speaker 300:27:52sure. Good morning, Bill. Jeff Klingler here. Good question. So 2 different scenarios in Mexico. Speaker 300:28:00You're right, we've installed 2 of the first five presses. We have intentions to buy 10 presses for that building. And yes, we would anticipate in that type of business, partially because of the sales cycle time from for the program to start up. We are actively pursuing business ahead of the equipment being installed and commitments in advance. So we are actively pursuing and continue to win new programs that will launch 18 to 24 months out from the time we're awarded. Speaker 300:28:39In Canada, for the transformer business, we're very happy with the position right now that we have, having 50% of that capacity pre sold, so to speak, with a long term commitment. And we will, from this point on, take that more of a case by case basis. We do need to leave a certain percentage of that capacity open for flexibility and for surge demand and things like that. But we certainly like the comfort of having commitments in advance of installing equipment. So we're going to balance that. Speaker 300:29:17It's going to be very situational. There are a handful of places that we would like to go secure some longer term commitments. Speaker 200:29:27But we're happy with the pace that we're on right now. And Bill, this is Jeff Gilmore. This will make sense to you, I believe is Mexico, that's highly automotive. So that will be contractual business. So if we're able to fill up as those presses are on order, that's an ideal situation. Speaker 200:29:45So we're pleased with where we're at. As you know, you're aware of those programs and it's generally life of program. So they're longer term contracts. And Jeff hit the nail on the head. Canada is a bit of a different situation. Speaker 200:29:58Jeff and his team obviously were excited to go out and you fill up 50% of that business out of the gate. So you got a great base load business, you're covering your fixed costs and now Jeff and team have a great opportunity to continue to sell out that capacity, which we're highly optimistic he'll do. Speaker 600:30:23Thanks very much. And then I also had a question. Yes, can you hear me? Speaker 400:30:29Yes. Speaker 600:30:30Okay. I also had a question on net working capital and just how we should think about the evolution over the next couple of quarters that did come in a bit above our expectations this quarter. And so trying to think about what that could look like the next couple of quarters with particularly with some of the substrate costs coming down. Speaker 400:30:52Yes. I don't have specific numbers to give you, but your intuition is absolutely correct. As the price of steel has come down, we will release working capital over time. So you should see an improvement in capital quarter over quarter. Speaker 600:31:09And then lastly for me, you all mentioned that our conference a few weeks ago that you're I think you're in the early innings of some structural things you're doing into the business in terms of either cost or efficiency relief. And I think that was also outlined in your Investor Day a few quarters ago in terms of embedding that 10% EBITDA margin goal. And so long winded question, but way of asking where should we see some of those initiatives flow through? What are some of those initiatives? And can you just basically talk about that process and if we're on the right track here with the way that we're thinking about it in terms of what you're communicating? Speaker 600:31:59Thanks. Speaker 300:32:01Yes, Phil, this is Jeff Klingler again. I'll kick it off and let Tim or Jeff add in if you'd like. I'll talk to you about where we're at and what we're targeting. So we spend a lot of time talking about our transformation process, which is our continuous improvement program. It's really just a systematic way of identifying and eliminating waste across all our organization. Speaker 300:32:28What's new in the new structure you mentioned is we are taking that expertise and we are focusing on some of the corporate functions, IT, resources, finance and indirect purchasing. So we're taking the same process. We're mapping out all the processes and value stream And then we are identifying areas that we want to, I say attack, but we want to take our improvement various ways of improvement, the techniques we've developed over the years to problem solve. And yes, we think we're going to be able to streamline, make things more efficient, reduce costs and generally make it much easier to serve the businesses from the corporate functions. So Tim, I don't know. Speaker 300:33:18Where we're at right now is we just kicked it off last month and the program and we're in the stage of mapping all those processes out. Speaker 200:33:29And then Phil, this is Jeff Gilmore. Just to add, as you think about timing of this, really about a 12 month process. I mean, it's a methodical approach. We'll do a deep dive diagnostic into each one of those departments. And so you're truly trying to identify what's working, maybe what's not working, what do you need to add, what do you need to eliminate. Speaker 200:33:53And once you go through that diagnostic process, then you're putting in plans to implement. And really a good way to look at this is, worst case scenario, for the corporate functions, our biggest customer is the business. And so we become a better supplier to the business and then the business becomes a better supplier to our customers. Best case is we find those efficiencies and there's cost savings and improvement to the bottom line. And we're confident that we'll see both and we're excited about the initiatives and I know Jeff Klingler is very excited about the opportunities. Speaker 600:34:34Thanks gentlemen. Speaker 200:34:36You got it. Operator00:34:39Your next question comes from John Tumazos with John Tumazos Very Independent Research. Please go ahead. Speaker 300:34:49Thank you for the $1.06 of earnings. Steel business is a tough place. Should we expect Worthington to generate cash in the August quarter from working capital given that steel prices fell? Speaker 400:35:10Yes, absolutely. As prices fall, this came up a little bit earlier, but we expect to release some working capital. I haven't quantified it yet, but that typically that's what we see. Operator00:35:27And ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our question and answer session. I will now turn the conference back over to Jeff Gilmore for closing remarks. Speaker 200:35:38Thank you everybody for listening in and showing interest in Worthington Steel. I appreciate all the great questions. Again, we're very pleased and want to thank all of our employees, the 4,600 again and we will look forward to getting back with you at the end of this quarter for another update. Thank you. Have a great day. Operator00:36:00This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation and you may now disconnect.Read moreRemove AdsPowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallWorthington Steel Q4 202400:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xRemove Ads Earnings DocumentsPress Release(8-K)Annual report(10-K) Worthington Steel Earnings HeadlinesWorthington Steel Named a 2024 Supplier of the Year by General MotorsApril 14 at 10:24 AM | gurufocus.comWorthington Steel Earns John Deere’s Highest Supplier Rating for 13th Consecutive YearApril 10, 2025 | finance.yahoo.com[Action Required] Claim Your FREE IRS Loophole GuideThis shouldn't surprise anyone who's been paying attention, but... Pres. Trump may be about to unleash the biggest "dollar reset" since 1971.April 16, 2025 | Colonial Metals (Ad)Worthington Steel Ranked No. 1 in Large Organization Category of Columbus Top WorkplacesApril 1, 2025 | businesswire.comWorthington Steel's (NYSE:WS) Dividend Will Be $0.16March 30, 2025 | finance.yahoo.comWorthington Steel: Tariff Woes Are A Concern, But The Firm Is A Buy NonethelessMarch 27, 2025 | seekingalpha.comSee More Worthington Steel Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Worthington Steel? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Worthington Steel and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Worthington SteelWorthington Steel (NYSE:WS) operates as a steel processor in North America. It offers carbon flat-rolled steel and tailor welded blanks, as well as electrical steel laminations; and aluminum tailor welded blanks. The company serves various end-markets, including automotive, heavy truck, agriculture, construction, and energy. 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There are 7 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Thank you for standing by. My name is Christa, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Worthington Steel's 4th Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. Operator00:00:31Thank you. I will now like to turn the conference over to Melissa Dystra, Vice President of Communications and Investor Relations. Melissa, you may begin. Speaker 100:00:41Thank you, operator. Good morning, and welcome to Worthington Steel's 4th quarter fiscal year 2024 earnings call. On our call today, we have Jeff Gilmore, Worthington Steel's President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Klingler, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and Tim Adams, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before we get started, I'd like to note that certain statements made today are forward looking within the meaning of the 1995 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those suggested. Speaker 100:01:16We issued our earnings release yesterday after the market closed. Please refer to it for more detail on those factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. Unless noted, as reported, today's discussion will reference non GAAP financial measures, which adjust for certain items included in our GAAP results and which are presented on a stand alone basis. You can find definitions of each non GAAP measure and GAAP to non GAAP reconciliations within our earnings release. Today's call is being recorded and a replay will be made available later today on worthingtonsteel.com. Speaker 100:01:51Now I'd like to turn the call over to Jeff Gilmore. Speaker 200:01:54Thanks, Melissa, and thanks to everyone who is joining today's call. It is a good morning here at Worthington Steel. We saw solid results in Q4 and finished fiscal year 2024 strong. Our performance and our people continue to demonstrate that Worthington Steel is a unique steel processor poised for significant growth. Our ability to deliver value added solutions to our customers in flat rolled steel processing, electrical steel laminations and Taylor welded products is unique to our industry. Speaker 200:02:26Our goal is to continue our distinctive positioning by offering processes that are truly differentiating, positioning us to maintain and gain leadership in the areas we serve. As we enter fiscal year 2025, our first full year as a standalone company, we remain focused on executing our strategy and driving shareholder value through organic growth and strategic M and A. We believe our strategy and differentiation help ensure we are well positioned to grow and deliver strong returns for our shareholders. We have achieved a great deal in just 6 months as Worthington Steel, but we know we have much to accomplish. With the Worthington Business System embedded in everything we do, we will work to execute our strategy of focused investments in the rapidly growing electrical steel market, which is growing faster than GDP margin accretive growth through disciplined CapEx and selective acquisitions and transformation, our system of continuous improvement to increase margins, reduce working capital and add capacity. Speaker 200:03:32Our enhanced leadership focus created by the separation is to driving accountability and organizational alignment around our vision and status as one of the most trusted, most innovative and most value added metals processing partners in North America and beyond. Essential to continuing as a market leader is our strong culture. Earlier this month, we celebrated Founders Day, marking John H. McConnell's first order of steel. As we look to our 70th year in 2025, the philosophy Mr. Speaker 200:04:05Mac poised and embodied is alive and well here at Worthington Steel. We continue to treat our customers, employees, investors and suppliers as we would like to be treated. Examples of our award winning culture and our philosophy in action are evident in several milestones we achieved this quarter. We were named a top workplace in our Headquarter City of Columbus, Ohio for the 12th year in a row. This is an award based on feedback from our employees, so that makes winning even more special to me. Speaker 200:04:37Our Worthington Samuel Coil Processing joint venture was named Company of the Year for 2023 by the Cleveland Chapter of the Association of Women in the Metals Industry for supporting growth and advancement of women in the Cleveland Metals Industry. In April, we were named a John Deere Partner Level Supplier for the 12th consecutive year. That same month, we were recognized as the 2023 Supplier of the Year by General Motors. This is the 3rd time in the last 4 years we've earned this distinction. Both of these honors are from longtime customers who value Worthington Steel's proactive solution focused way of doing business. Speaker 200:05:17Our dedication to helping our customers create value every single day continues to pay off. I'd like to recognize and thank Worthington Steel's 4,600 employees who support our customers, live our philosophy and help us achieve our vision. I am excited about the progress we've made and the opportunities in front of us. We continue to deliver on our commitment to advance our industry through partnership with our customers and suppliers. We have the right team and the best culture to help us continue generating Speaker 300:05:49a return for our shareholders. Speaker 200:05:51It is a great time to be in steel processing. As customer needs grow ever more unique, the demand for the products and services we offer will continue to expand. I'll now turn things over to Jeff Klingler to comment on our operations. Speaker 300:06:06Thanks, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. As Jeff mentioned, we had a good quarter, highlighted by public accolades from multiple groups. Our ability to serve our customers has a direct correlation to our focus on safety. I'd like to start off by congratulating our employees on the improvements we saw in fiscal year 2024. While our ultimate goal is 0 incidents, we saw a 25% reduction in recordable injuries in fiscal year 2024 and I'm proud of what the team has accomplished. Speaker 300:06:38Our best in class safety record and programs that drive that record are a clear reflection of our people first philosophy. As we look at the operational overview for the quarter, let's start with a look at what we saw in our 2 largest end markets. Sales to the automotive market made up 52% of 4th quarter fiscal year 2024 sales, the same as the Q4 of fiscal year 2023. The automotive market remains solid for us and we believe North American light vehicle production could return to pre COVID levels of more than 16,000,000 units as early as next calendar year. Our OEM customers anticipate more growth in the EV and plug in hybrid market as adoption continues to grow. Speaker 300:07:24Our capital investments in our Mexico electrical steel facility will allow us to capitalize on this opportunity. The construction industry remains the 2nd largest market we serve. In the Q4 of fiscal year 2024, the construction market made up 14% of our sales, reflecting a modest increase over the Q4 of fiscal year 2023, when construction was only 12% of sales. The construction market is a large and diverse market. In the submarkets where we participate, we experienced strength in the fencing, metal building and culvert markets. Speaker 300:08:02Turning to operational highlights for the quarter. Our large capital projects related to electrical steel continue to be on track and on budget. 3 of the 5 new presses arrived at our electrical steel facility during Q4. We are finalizing the installation of the first press and will turn our attention to the second and third presses in the near future. We are also making good progress with respect to our commercial efforts to win new business for electrical vehicle programs. Speaker 300:08:30We have secured enough orders to fill 3 of the initial 5 presses when the OEM programs are running at full production. Once the presses are installed, we will move to the next phase where we will produce trial orders for our customers and prepare for production level volumes expected in the fall of 2025. Our Canada electrical steel expansion project is also progressing well from a commercial standpoint. We've been awarded enough new business to fill 50% of the new capacity as customers look to close the backlog in their transformer order book. Our Canada expansion remains on track and we expect the facility to be operational by the end of calendar year 2025. Speaker 300:09:11Last quarter, I talked about our newly licensed ablation technology for our Taylor Welded Blanks business. This will allow us to process many more automotive applications, including pillars, rails, cross car beams and door rings. In fact, we believe it opens up new products and opportunities for us in the existing welded blank market by about 30%. I'm pleased to share we are already receiving customer interest and orders. We continue to be pleased with the reception from our customers as it relates to our large projects as well as our newest electrical steel facility in Nagel, Germany. Speaker 300:09:48Our customers are enthusiastic about all three projects and our list of potential commercial opportunities continues to grow. Alongside this, we continue to use transformation, our system of continuous improvement. We apply the transformation systematically in our plants as we look to improve safety, reduce inventory and scrap and enhance our overall productivity and performance. Our facilities are working on multiple transformation projects each year to optimize our processes and improve efficiencies. In a recent example, our teams found a way to streamline material flow from the supplier to the customer. Speaker 300:10:26In one of our largest facilities, this transformation work has reduced work in process, improved process cycle times by 4 days and improved finished good cycle times by 2 days. This creates a more organized workflow and a safer environment for our employees. We expect it will also reduce working capital, allow us to respond more quickly to customers and make us even easier to do business with. We are using those same tools and principles to apply the transformation to our corporate functions. We believe we will find efficiencies in these areas that will make us better partners and improve our bottom line. Speaker 300:11:03It's been an exceptional quarter and our teams continue to perform and innovate, always with an eye towards safety. I'll close my comments with a sincere thank you to everyone at Worthington Steel and turn the call over to Tim Adams. Speaker 400:11:17Thank you, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. Before I provide some color on the quarter, I would like to remind everyone that the current year 4th quarter consolidated results on a standalone basis are compared with a prior year quarter, which was prepared on a carve out basis. We finished our fiscal year with a strong quarter, reporting 4th quarter earnings of $53,200,000 or 1 point $67,300,000 or $1.37 per share. The prior year quarter included several unique items, including pre tax separation expense of $5,500,000 or $0.07 per share and a pre tax impairment charge of $1,800,000 or $0.03 per share related to idled equipment. Excluding these items, we generated earnings of $1.06 per the Q4, we had estimated pre tax inventory holding losses of $3,400,000 or $0.05 per share compared to estimated pre tax inventory holding gains of $32,600,000 or $0.50 per share in the prior year quarter and unfavorable pre tax swing of $36,000,000 or $0.55 per share. Speaker 400:12:37In the 4th quarter, we reported adjusted EBIT of $70,400,000 which was down $28,000,000 from the adjusted EBIT of $98,400,000 in the prior year quarter. This decrease is primarily due to lower gross margin, which was impacted by lower direct material spreads, including the impact of the estimated pre tax inventory holding losses. Lower direct spreads were partially offset by higher toll spreads due to an improved mix within toll processing. Additionally, SG and A was up $10,600,000 from the prior year, primarily due to incremental costs associated with being a standalone company, higher incentive compensation and benefits costs and a $3,700,000 swing in bad debt expense. In the prior year quarter, we recognized income of $2,000,000 associated with bad debt compared with $1,700,000 of expense in the current year quarter. Speaker 400:13:33We believe the bad debt expense variance is an isolated matter that is not expected to reoccur. 4th quarter results also included recognition of the final unfavorable tax court ruling related to a pre acquisition Temple matter for which we were indemnified by the former owners of Temple. The net impact on earnings is 0. However, we recognized $2,800,000 of miscellaneous income related to the indemnity receivable and an additional $2,800,000 of tax expense. Next, I will provide some commentary on the market and our shipments. Speaker 400:14:10Similar to what we experienced over the past year, steel market pricing was volatile over the quarter. Since hot rolled prices peaked in mid January at $1100 per ton, the market price for steel has been unsettled. Hot roll prices fell to $7.50 per ton in March, increased in April, then fell back to $7.50 per ton in May. The hot roll market recently decreased further with pricing in the range of $6.75 per ton. With the decreases in market pricing, we expect estimated inventory holding losses in the Q1 of fiscal 2025 will be higher than the 3,400,000 dollars of estimated inventory holding losses in the Q4. Speaker 400:14:52We estimate those losses could be approximately $15,000,000 to $20,000,000 on a pre tax basis. Net sales in the 4th quarter was $911,000,000 up 3% from the prior year quarter, primarily due to slightly higher direct pricing and a favorable mix within toll processing, which included more high value added processing. We shipped just over 1,000,000 tons during the Q4, which was down 2% compared with the prior year quarter. Direct sales volume made up 58% of our mix in the 4th quarter compared with 57% in the prior year quarter. Direct sale volumes were down 1% over the prior year quarter with an increase in construction related volume that was more than offset by softness in most other markets. Speaker 400:15:39Specifically as it relates to construction, we utilized some open capacity to take on some spot and shorter term construction business. Direct sale volume to the automotive market was down 1% compared to the prior year quarter. The decrease was primarily due to several programs reaching their end of life, while the replacement platforms experienced launch delays. Our automotive book of business continues to be healthy, making up 52% of our sales in the Q4. Our technical and commercial teams worked closely with our customers to provide solutions that help customers meet their challenges. Speaker 400:16:14The recent Supplier of the Year award from General Motors that Jeff Gilmore mentioned is a result of our dedication to helping customers succeed. Toll tons were down 3% year over year, primarily due to decreased toll pickling with the mills. However, the mix of toll volume was more heavily weighted towards higher value added products, including galvanizing and table woven blanket. We're cautiously optimistic about the next few quarters. Our Q4 tends to be our strongest quarter from a volume standpoint, so we would expect the normal seasonal drop off in volume during the summer months related to the automotive market. Speaker 400:16:49In addition, our 4th quarter benefited from a higher mix of galvanized in both our direct and toll order books. Turning to cash flows and the balance sheet. Cash flow from operations was $35,600,000 and free cash flow was an outflow of $9,200,000 During the Q4, we spent $44,800,000 on capital expenditures related to a variety of projects, including the previously announced electrical steel expansions in Mexico and Canada. On a trailing 12 month basis, we generated $96,000,000 of free cash flow. Yesterday, we announced a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share payable on September 27, 2024. Speaker 400:17:31In regard to our balance sheet, operating working capital increased $25,100,000 during the Q4, primarily due to a reduction in payables. We ended the quarter with $40,200,000 of cash, which is down $20,600,000 from the 3rd quarter due to spending on various strategic capital projects. Our ABL debt on May 31 was $148,000,000 resulting in net debt of 107,800,000 dollars In summary, Worthington Steel had an excellent 4th quarter and all of our teams performed very well. Everyone at Worthington Steel continues to be focused on driving value for our stakeholders on both a near term and long term basis. I'm proud of our teams for their dedication and for their continued commitment to safety. Speaker 400:18:17At this point, we would be happy to take your questions. Operator00:18:22Thank Your first question comes from Martin Englert with Seaport Research Partners. Please go ahead. Speaker 500:18:43Hello. Good morning, everyone. Speaker 400:18:46Hey, Martin. Hey, Martin. Speaker 500:18:48Hey, wanted to circle back and discuss just the overall profitability within steel EBITDA per ton. And some of this you alluded to in the discussion, but excluding the holding losses for the quarter, which were fairly minimal, I mean, the underlying EBITDA seems like it might have been a high watermark history. I understand it's not exact apples to apples, given the separation. And So if you called out higher mix of galv and a favorable mix in tolling as maybe some of the drivers. But what I'm getting at is the sustainability of that type of underlying EBITDA or is this more of, hey, it was a good quarter, we had a favorable mix, higher Gal, good margins on toll processing and this is maybe a little bit of an anomaly relative to history? Speaker 400:19:48Yes, Martin, I think this is Tim. I think you answered your own question. I think it was overall we had a very good mix this quarter. Within Toll, we had some galvanizing additional galvanizing tons as well as Taylor Water Blank tons. And then within direct, it was a lot more Galb as well. Speaker 400:20:05We also picked up some spot business in there. You didn't mention that, but we picked up some spot business there in the construction market and that was at higher margins as well. So those were the big drivers for the quarter. Speaker 500:20:18Okay. That's helpful. I appreciate that. Can you discuss what you're seeing and again you alluded to this when you talked about seasonality, but maybe a little bit more specific July and overall automotive plan downtime. How is that looking maintenance schedules versus last year and versus history? Speaker 500:20:42And any comment as far as inventories in the auto supply chain that you're seeing? Speaker 400:20:50This is Tim again. Let me start just to talk about seasonality in general for us and then I'll hand it over to Jeff Klingler to talk a little bit about what he's seen in automotive. So we went back and we looked at our seasonality quarter by quarter. So if you take our direct tons and divide by 4 quarters, what you typically see for us is Q1 is what I would call the average quarter. When you look at Q2 and Q3, those tend to be down from a direct volume standpoint 3% or 4%. Speaker 400:21:18And then when you look at Q4, that tends to be up 6% or 8%. So Q1 perspective, it's an average quarter for us. So overall, what I'm trying to say is Q4 is our strongest and Q1 tends to be the 2nd strongest. Jeff, do you want to comment on automotive? Speaker 500:21:37I apologize for interrupting, but just to clarify, you're discussing negative 3% to 4% and up 6 percent to 8% versus the quarterly average for any given year as the seasonality Right. Speaker 400:21:49Yes, versus the simple average versus the simple average. Speaker 300:21:54Sure. Got it. And then with regard good morning, Martin. This is Jeff Glenmayer. With regards to the automotive market, we remain very optimistic about the automotive sector here for the remainder of 2024. Speaker 300:22:08We will see the normal summer slowdown. I don't think anything right now has us believing it's going to be unusual or something out of the ordinary. But we do expect to see the year end modest increase of 1% to 2% in over 2023 builds. We're keeping a very close eye on things such as inflation and interest rates, which could cause slow down there, but generally we remain very optimistic. Speaker 500:22:44The planned downtime, just looking at schedules this year for the summer versus last year, you're not seeing any deviations or an extension on what's planned on being down versus last year? Speaker 300:23:02No. We are anticipating roughly 2 weeks for most automobiles. Speaker 500:23:13Okay, thanks. That's helpful. If I could, can you just provide an update on the Electrical Sealed Lamination business? I understand it's embedded in the overall business, but any kind of comment on how margins performed in the quarter, some goalposts on share of overall sales And if there's anything else to add as far as the growth initiatives, I know you did touch on a lot of things in the prepared remarks, however, on that aspect. Speaker 400:23:49Jeff, why don't you want to take that and I can jump in? Speaker 300:23:51Sure. Yes. Overall, in general, we're very pleased with the electric field business. We're most excited about the investments that we have, that we've been talking quite a bit about in Mexico for our focused factory expansion for electric vehicles. That project is on time and on budget. Speaker 300:24:15We've spent about $25,000,000 to date. The building is nearly complete. We've installed the 1st press and are working on the next 3. Commercially, we're very happy with the level of commercial activity and the new orders that we have received. Those orders will not start production. Speaker 300:24:35Very early production will be at the end of calendar 2025. So we still have a little time, but we're very pleased with the progress on that project. And then in Canada, that project is also on time and on budget. We've spent also about $25,000,000 to date and production in that new facility will also begin at an initial scale towards the end of 2025. Same story there. Speaker 300:25:07We're very pleased with the level of commercial interest and activity. And in fact, we've received orders already for roughly 50% of that future capacity. Speaker 200:25:19And Martin, this is Jeff Gilmore. Just to add, you had mentioned margins and the embedded in the business, which are exactly right, it's embedded in the rest of the business. But certainly we've mentioned this several times that the margins for the Electrical Steel Lamination business will be our highest margin business. So that's certainly exciting to us. And more importantly, we're making these investments because the growth in those markets will be much greater than GDP we think over the next 7 to 10 years. Speaker 200:25:49So we remain highly optimistic longer term. Speaker 500:25:54Any goalposts on what the overall sales might have contributed for the quarter there or even the last year? Speaker 400:26:04No, we're not going to disclose that, Martin. It's embedded in the business and that's how we're going to continue to report it. Speaker 500:26:11Would you have any interest in going farther downstream potentially partnering with somebody to produce transformers? Speaker 200:26:23Martin, right now, no. I think we have a very specific strategy that we're confident in. It's our and staying close to our core right now, think about the growth over the next 10 years. Let us get our arms around this and enjoy the opportunity we have in front of us and be best in class before we start getting too far ahead of ourselves. So we're going to stay close to our core. Speaker 500:26:50Okay, excellent. Appreciate that and nice job on the quarter. Speaker 200:26:54Thank you. Appreciate it, Martin. Operator00:26:57Your next question comes from Phil Gibbs with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:27:05Hey, good Speaker 600:27:05morning. Hey, Phil. Speaker 400:27:08Hey, Phil. Speaker 600:27:11Question on some of the color you provided for the new business wins. I think you said 3 out of the 5 presses and 50% of the capacity related to Mexico and Canada respectively that you already gone out and secured business for. Would it be your goal in the months ahead to try to secure more business on that capacity or are you purposely leaving some open for spots? So I'm just trying to think about how you view the value of that capacity and leaving some open or wanting firm commitments. Speaker 400:27:51Yes, Speaker 300:27:52sure. Good morning, Bill. Jeff Klingler here. Good question. So 2 different scenarios in Mexico. Speaker 300:28:00You're right, we've installed 2 of the first five presses. We have intentions to buy 10 presses for that building. And yes, we would anticipate in that type of business, partially because of the sales cycle time from for the program to start up. We are actively pursuing business ahead of the equipment being installed and commitments in advance. So we are actively pursuing and continue to win new programs that will launch 18 to 24 months out from the time we're awarded. Speaker 300:28:39In Canada, for the transformer business, we're very happy with the position right now that we have, having 50% of that capacity pre sold, so to speak, with a long term commitment. And we will, from this point on, take that more of a case by case basis. We do need to leave a certain percentage of that capacity open for flexibility and for surge demand and things like that. But we certainly like the comfort of having commitments in advance of installing equipment. So we're going to balance that. Speaker 300:29:17It's going to be very situational. There are a handful of places that we would like to go secure some longer term commitments. Speaker 200:29:27But we're happy with the pace that we're on right now. And Bill, this is Jeff Gilmore. This will make sense to you, I believe is Mexico, that's highly automotive. So that will be contractual business. So if we're able to fill up as those presses are on order, that's an ideal situation. Speaker 200:29:45So we're pleased with where we're at. As you know, you're aware of those programs and it's generally life of program. So they're longer term contracts. And Jeff hit the nail on the head. Canada is a bit of a different situation. Speaker 200:29:58Jeff and his team obviously were excited to go out and you fill up 50% of that business out of the gate. So you got a great base load business, you're covering your fixed costs and now Jeff and team have a great opportunity to continue to sell out that capacity, which we're highly optimistic he'll do. Speaker 600:30:23Thanks very much. And then I also had a question. Yes, can you hear me? Speaker 400:30:29Yes. Speaker 600:30:30Okay. I also had a question on net working capital and just how we should think about the evolution over the next couple of quarters that did come in a bit above our expectations this quarter. And so trying to think about what that could look like the next couple of quarters with particularly with some of the substrate costs coming down. Speaker 400:30:52Yes. I don't have specific numbers to give you, but your intuition is absolutely correct. As the price of steel has come down, we will release working capital over time. So you should see an improvement in capital quarter over quarter. Speaker 600:31:09And then lastly for me, you all mentioned that our conference a few weeks ago that you're I think you're in the early innings of some structural things you're doing into the business in terms of either cost or efficiency relief. And I think that was also outlined in your Investor Day a few quarters ago in terms of embedding that 10% EBITDA margin goal. And so long winded question, but way of asking where should we see some of those initiatives flow through? What are some of those initiatives? And can you just basically talk about that process and if we're on the right track here with the way that we're thinking about it in terms of what you're communicating? Speaker 600:31:59Thanks. Speaker 300:32:01Yes, Phil, this is Jeff Klingler again. I'll kick it off and let Tim or Jeff add in if you'd like. I'll talk to you about where we're at and what we're targeting. So we spend a lot of time talking about our transformation process, which is our continuous improvement program. It's really just a systematic way of identifying and eliminating waste across all our organization. Speaker 300:32:28What's new in the new structure you mentioned is we are taking that expertise and we are focusing on some of the corporate functions, IT, resources, finance and indirect purchasing. So we're taking the same process. We're mapping out all the processes and value stream And then we are identifying areas that we want to, I say attack, but we want to take our improvement various ways of improvement, the techniques we've developed over the years to problem solve. And yes, we think we're going to be able to streamline, make things more efficient, reduce costs and generally make it much easier to serve the businesses from the corporate functions. So Tim, I don't know. Speaker 300:33:18Where we're at right now is we just kicked it off last month and the program and we're in the stage of mapping all those processes out. Speaker 200:33:29And then Phil, this is Jeff Gilmore. Just to add, as you think about timing of this, really about a 12 month process. I mean, it's a methodical approach. We'll do a deep dive diagnostic into each one of those departments. And so you're truly trying to identify what's working, maybe what's not working, what do you need to add, what do you need to eliminate. Speaker 200:33:53And once you go through that diagnostic process, then you're putting in plans to implement. And really a good way to look at this is, worst case scenario, for the corporate functions, our biggest customer is the business. And so we become a better supplier to the business and then the business becomes a better supplier to our customers. Best case is we find those efficiencies and there's cost savings and improvement to the bottom line. And we're confident that we'll see both and we're excited about the initiatives and I know Jeff Klingler is very excited about the opportunities. Speaker 600:34:34Thanks gentlemen. Speaker 200:34:36You got it. Operator00:34:39Your next question comes from John Tumazos with John Tumazos Very Independent Research. Please go ahead. Speaker 300:34:49Thank you for the $1.06 of earnings. Steel business is a tough place. Should we expect Worthington to generate cash in the August quarter from working capital given that steel prices fell? Speaker 400:35:10Yes, absolutely. As prices fall, this came up a little bit earlier, but we expect to release some working capital. I haven't quantified it yet, but that typically that's what we see. Operator00:35:27And ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our question and answer session. I will now turn the conference back over to Jeff Gilmore for closing remarks. Speaker 200:35:38Thank you everybody for listening in and showing interest in Worthington Steel. I appreciate all the great questions. Again, we're very pleased and want to thank all of our employees, the 4,600 again and we will look forward to getting back with you at the end of this quarter for another update. Thank you. Have a great day. Operator00:36:00This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation and you may now disconnect.Read moreRemove AdsPowered by