Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp (AP) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation first quarter 2024 earnings results conference call.

歡迎參加 Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。

(Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.

（操作員說明）請注意此事件正在被記錄。

I'd now like to turn the conference over to Kim Knox, Corporate Secretary.

現在我想將會議交給公司秘書 Kim Knox。

Please go ahead.

請繼續。

Thank you, Nick, and good morning to everyone joining us on today's first quarter 2024 conference call.

謝謝尼克，祝參加今天 2024 年第一季電話會議的所有人早安。

Joining me today are Brett McBrayer, our Chief Executive Officer; and Mike McAuley, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer.

今天加入我的是我們的執行長 Brett McBrayer；以及資深副總裁、財務長兼財務主管 Mike McAuley。

Also joining us on the call today are Sam Lyon, President of Union Electric Steel Corporation; and Dave Anderson, President of Air and Liquid Systems Corporation.

今天加入我們電話會議的還有聯合電力鋼鐵公司 (Union Electric Steel Corporation) 總裁 Sam Lyon；戴夫‧安德森 (Dave Anderson)，空氣與液體系統公司總裁。

Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that participants on this call may make statements or comments that are forward-looking and may include financial projections or other statements of the corporation's plans, objectives, expectations, or intentions.

在開始之前，我想提醒大家，本次電話會議的參與者可能會發表前瞻性的聲明或評論，其中可能包括財務預測或有關公司計劃、目標、期望或意圖的其他聲明。

These matters involve certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside the corporation's control.

這些事項涉及某些風險和不確定性，其中許多風險和不確定性超出了公司的控制範圍。

The corporation's actual results may differ significantly from those projected or suggested in any forward-looking statements due to various risk factors, including those discussed in the corporation's most recently filed Form 10-K and its subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

由於各種風險因素，包括公司最近提交的10-K 表格及其隨後向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中討論的風險因素，公司的實際結果可能與任何前瞻性陳述中預測或建議的結果存在顯著差異。

We do not undertake any obligation to update or otherwise release publicly any revision to our forward-looking statements.

我們不承擔更新或以其他方式公開發布對我們的前瞻性陳述的任何修訂的義務。

A replay of this call will be posted on our website.

本次通話的重播將發佈在我們的網站上。

To access the earnings release or the webcast replay, please consult the Investors section of our website at ampcopgh.com.

若要存取收益發布或網路廣播重播，請查閱我們網站 ampcopgh.com 的投資者部分。

With that, I would like to now turn the call over to Brett McBrayer, Ampco-Pittsburgh's CEO.

現在，我想將電話轉給 Ampco-Pittsburgh 執行長 Brett McBrayer。

Brett?

布雷特？

Thank you, Kim.

謝謝你，金。

Good morning, and thank you for joining our call.

早安，感謝您加入我們的通話。

As reported in our press release, net sales finished the first quarter of 2024 at $110.2 million up over 5% compared to the first quarter of 2023.

正如我們的新聞稿所述，2024 年第一季的淨銷售額達到 1.102 億美元，比 2023 年第一季成長超過 5%。

Income from operations for the quarter was $0.1 million versus $2 million, when compare to the first quarter of 2023, significantly impacting our quarter's performance was plant downtime due to a fire in one of our foreign cast roll facilities and the associated repair expense as well as an unfavorable product mix in our air and liquid processing segment.

與2023 年第一季相比，本季的營運收入為10 萬美元，而2023 年第一季為200 萬美元，對本季業績產生重大影響的是我們的一家外國鑄輥設施發生火災而導致的工廠停機以及相關的維修費用以及我們的空氣和液體處理領域的產品組合不利。

These headwinds are behind us as we have moved into the second quarter.

隨著我們進入第二季度，這些不利因素已經成為過去。

For further comments on our performance, I will now turn the call over to Sam Lyon, President of our forged and cast engineered products segment.

如需對我們的業績做出進一步評論，我現在將把電話轉給我們的鍛造和鑄造工程產品部門總裁 Sam Lyon。

Thank you, Brett, and good morning.

謝謝你，布雷特，早安。

In our forged and cast engineered products segment, the market conditions have been muted.

在我們的鍛造和鑄造工程產品領域，市場狀況一直不佳。

In 2024, the roll market will be lower overall with significant reductions in Europe.

2024 年，卷材市場整體將走低，歐洲的產量將大幅減少。

This reduction occurred as the anticipated recovery was slower than forecasted, resulting in a slight overstocking.

此次減少是由於預期復甦速度慢於預期，導致庫存略有過剩。

We are starting to see improvements in activity and outlook in both North America and Europe.

我們開始看到北美和歐洲的活動和前景有所改善。

We are optimistic about the second half of the year anticipating improved order intake for delivery in 2025.

我們對下半年持樂觀態度，預計 2025 年交付的訂單量將會增加。

We have seen some positive movements with most of our customers experiencing a flat or improving order book across North America in Q2.

我們看到了一些積極的變化，第二季度北美地區的大多數客戶的訂單量持平或有所改善。

Our European customers have said that the stocking of their customers is largely complete, resulting in their supply and demand matching up.

我們的歐洲客戶表示，他們客戶的備貨已經基本完成，導致供需匹配。

Despite these challenges, higher pricing is expected to mitigate much of the impact of the decline in shipment volumes for 2024.

儘管存在這些挑戰，預計更高的定價將在很大程度上減輕 2024 年出貨量下降的影響。

High inventory levels similarly challenged our FEP market at bar distributors.

高庫存水準同樣對棒材經銷商的 FEP 市場提出了挑戰。

We appear to have come off a bottom and shipments and backlogged through April have exceeded 50% of 2023 total shipments.

我們似乎已經走出谷底，截至 4 月的出貨量和積壓訂單已超過 2023 年總出貨量的 50%。

Our primary focus remains on maintaining a strong position in the rural market and enhancing operational efficiencies and reliability with the completion of our capital program.

我們的主要重點仍然是保持在農村市場的強勢地位，並透過完成我們的資本計劃來提高營運效率和可靠性。

As we look forward to 2025, I am pleased to report strong indications from several of our top customers regarding increased needs for forged and cast rolls.

展望 2025 年，我很高興地報告我們的幾家頂級客戶對鍛造和鑄造軋輥的需求增加的強烈跡象。

This is due to more robust demand in both North America and Europe.

這是由於北美和歐洲的需求更加強勁。

In addition, one of our competitors has exited the large cast backup roll market of which we expect to be a beneficiary.

此外，我們的一位競爭對手已經退出了大型鑄造支撐輥市場，我們預計該市場將成為受益者。

We're at the beginning of negotiations for 2025, and as stated, are encouraged.

我們正處於 2025 年談判的開始階段，正如我們所說，我們受到鼓舞。

Our allocation from one of our largest customers is up over 25% compared to 2024.

與 2024 年相比，我們最大客戶之一的分配增加了 25% 以上。

Many of our other large customers expect to buy more rolls in 2025 over double digit percentages.

我們的許多其他大客戶預計在 2025 年購買更多卷，百分比超過兩位數。

The steel market is improving and the aluminum flat rolled market remains strong.

鋼材市場正在改善，鋁扁材市場依然強勁。

Turning to our financials.

轉向我們的財務狀況。

In the first quarter of 2024, net sales increased slightly to $77.2 million from $76.8 million in the same period last year.

2024年第一季度，淨銷售額從去年同期的7,680萬美元小幅成長至7,720萬美元。

The income from operations for the first quarter of 2024 was $1.6 million, a decrease from $2.2 million in the first quarter of 2023.

2024年第一季的營運收入為160萬美元，較2023年第一季的220萬美元下降。

The main reason for the decline resulted from the unplanned downtime and repair costs in our Sweden plant, partially offset by improved productivity in the US and strong performance at our Slovenia forged plant and our China joint venture.

下降的主要原因是我們瑞典工廠的意外停機和維修成本，部分被美國生產力的提高以及我們斯洛維尼亞鍛造工廠和中國合資企業的強勁表現所抵消。

While we are facing lower volume in 2024, our pricing actions over the last few years have offset this headwind.

雖然 2024 年我們將面臨銷售下降的局面，但我們過去幾年的定價行動抵銷了這個不利因素。

End customer demand is improving and our potential for future orders look stronger for 2025.

最終客戶需求正在改善，我們的 2025 年未來訂單潛力看起來更強。

Our new equipment continues to perform as expected, and we anticipate reliable production from this investment for many years.

我們的新設備將繼續按預期運行，並且我們預計這項投資將在多年內實現可靠的生產。

Thank you, Sam.

謝謝你，山姆。

Dave Anderson, President of Air and Liquid Systems, will now cover his segment's results.

空氣和液體系統總裁戴夫安德森 (Dave Anderson) 現在將介紹其部門的表現。

Thank you, Brett.

謝謝你，布雷特。

Good morning.

早安.

Air and liquid Q1 revenue increased 18% versus prior year, primarily due to increased shipments of custom air handling units.

空氣和液體第一季營收比去年同期成長 18%，主要是由於客製化空氣處理機組的出貨量增加。

The increase was driven by the higher backlog due to the success of the increased sales force, along with the additional capacity achieved by opening the new manufacturing facility in mid-2023.

這一增長是由於銷售團隊的成功增加而導致積壓訂單增加，以及 2023 年中期開設新製造工廠所實現的額外產能。

The backlog declined in the quarter due to capacity being sold out for 2024 in our air handling business unit.

由於我們的空氣處理業務部門 2024 年產能已售罄，本季積壓訂單有所減少。

The backlog for heat exchangers and pumps both increased in the quarter.

本季熱交換器和幫浦的積壓訂單均增加。

In April, we began to see more booking activity for air handling units, as April bookings for air handlers exceeded total Q1 air handler bookings.

4 月份，我們開始看到更多的空氣處理機組預訂活動，因為 4 月份空氣處理機組的預訂量超過了第一季空氣處理機組的預訂總量。

Operating income for air and liquid declined in the first quarter versus prior year, primarily due to unfavorable product mix in the heat exchanger product line, along with higher SG&A costs, due to the expansion of the sales force, and higher commission expense due to the increased revenue.

第一季空氣和液體業務的營業收入較上年同期下降，主要是由於熱交換器產品線的產品結構不利，銷售人員擴張導致的銷售、管理及行政費用增加，以及由於銷售人員的擴張而導致的佣金費用增加。

The product mix was a short-term issue related to the timing of shipments of higher-margin orders.

產品組合是一個與高利潤訂單的出貨時間相關的短期問題。

Higher shipments for centrifugal pumps and air handlers resulted in higher operating income for both of those product lines and partially offset the unfavorable product mix in the quarter.

離心泵和空氣處理器的出貨量增加導致這兩條產品線的營業收入增加，並部分抵消了本季不利的產品組合。

Demand for the products we design and build continues to be strong.

對我們設計和製造的產品的需求持續強勁。

We have substantially increased our manufacturing capacity in the last two years, yet we continue to sell out that capacity.

過去兩年，我們大幅提高了生產能力，但我們仍在繼續銷售這些產能。

Multiple projects are in motion to further increase capacity.

多個項目正在進行中，以進一步提高產能。

Those projects include the new equipment arriving this quarter at our facility in Buffalo.

這些項目包括本季抵達我們布法羅工廠的新設備。

This is the equipment purchased with the funding grant we received from the US Navy in 2023.

這是我們2023年從美國海軍獲得的資助購買的設備。

We also continue our work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory regarding developing additive manufactured parts for the US Navy.

我們也在橡樹嶺國家實驗室繼續為美國海軍開發增材製造零件。

Additive manufacturing will provide an alternative to the traditional foundries that continue to suffer with long lead times and quality issues.

積層製造將為傳統鑄造廠提供替代方案，傳統鑄造廠一直面臨交貨時間長和品質問題的困擾。

We expect to continue to expand our workforce at the new manufacturing location we opened last year in Lynchburg, Virginia.

我們預計將繼續擴大去年在維吉尼亞州林奇堡開設的新製造工廠的員工隊伍。

This location primarily manufactures air handling units and was the main driver in expanding our capacity, which allowed air handling sales to grow by 36% in Q1 versus last year.

該工廠主要生產空氣處理機組，是擴大我們產能的主要推動力，使得第一季空氣處理銷售額比去年增長了 36%。

Demand remains strong for all of our product lines, and we continue to pursue opportunities to increase our capacity to meet this demand.

我們所有產品線的需求仍然強勁，我們將繼續尋求機會來提高我們的產能以滿足這一需求。

Thank you, Dave.

謝謝你，戴夫。

At this time, Mike McAuley, our Chief Financial Officer, will now share more detail regarding our financial performance for the quarter.

目前，我們的財務長 Mike McAuley 將分享更多有關我們本季財務業績的詳細資訊。

Thank you, Brett.

謝謝你，布雷特。

As indicated in our Form 10-Q filed yesterday and in our press release issued this morning, Ampco's total net sales for the first quarter of 2024 were $110.2 million, an increase of approximately 5% compared to net sales for the first quarter of 2023.

正如我們昨天提交的 10-Q 表格和今天上午發布的新聞稿所示，Ampco 2024 年第一季的淨銷售額總額為 1.102 億美元，比 2023 年第一季的淨銷售額增長約 5%。

The air and liquid Processing segment accounted for the growth, increasing their sales by 18% for Q1 over prior year.

空氣和液體加工領域貢獻了成長，第一季銷售額比去年同期成長了 18%。

Forged and cast engineered products segment sales were approximately flat versus prior year, as higher shipment volumes of forged rolls and higher base roll pricing was approximately offset by lower shipment volumes of cast rolls and lower surcharge passthroughs.

鍛造和鑄造工程產品部門的銷售與上年基本持平，因為鍛造軋輥出貨量的增加和基輥定價的提高大約被鑄軋輥出貨量的減少和附加費的降低所抵消。

Corporation reported a modest positive income from operations for the first quarter of 2024, which was heavily impacted by two temporary issues, as Brett indicated.

正如 Brett 指出的那樣，Corporation 報告 2024 年第一季的營運收入適度為正，這受到兩個臨時問題的嚴重影響。

First, damage from a fire in the foundry at one of our European cast roll facilities, which reduced operating income by approximately $0.9 million due to both repair costs and production downtime, which caused lack of cost absorption.

首先，我們歐洲鑄輥工廠的鑄造廠發生火災，導致營運收入減少約 90 萬美元，原因是維修成本和生產停工，導致成本吸收不足。

Second, an unfavorable sales mix effect in air and liquid processing segment related to the timing of higher margin orders, as Dave indicated.

其次，正如戴夫指出的那樣，空氣和液體加工領域的不利銷售組合效應與較高利潤訂單的時機有關。

In addition, the air and liquid segment had higher SG&A expense than in the prior year quarter given the expansion of the segment's sales and distribution network and higher commissions expense given its higher volume of shipments.

此外，由於該部門銷售和分銷網絡的擴張，空氣和液體部門的銷售及管理費用高於去年同期，而由於發貨量增加，佣金費用也較高。

Corporation's total selling and administrative expenses were approximately 11.8% of net sales for Q1 '24, compared to 11.6% for Q1 2023.

該公司的總銷售和管理費用約為 24 年第一季淨銷售額的 11.8%，而 2023 年第一季為 11.6%。

Interest expense of $2.8 million for the quarter increased by $0.7 million compared to prior year, primarily due to higher average revolving credit facility borrowings, a higher equipment financing debt balance, and higher interest rates.

本季利息支出為 280 萬美元，與去年同期相比增加了 70 萬美元，主要是由於平均循環信貸額度借款增加、設備融資債務餘額增加以及利率上升。

Other income net declined primarily due to foreign exchange transaction losses recorded in Q1 2024 versus gains recorded in Q1 2023.

其他淨收入下降主要是由於 2024 年第一季記錄的外匯交易損失與 2023 年第一季記錄的收益相比。

The income tax provision for Q1 2024 increased slightly year over year given higher income of the corporation's profitable entities, which have no valuation allowances recorded against their deferred tax assets.

鑑於公司獲利實體的收入較高，且沒有針對其遞延稅資產記錄估值備抵，2024 年第一季的所得稅撥備同比略有增加。

As a result, net loss attributable to Ampco-Pittsburgh for the three months ended March 31, 2024, was $2.7 million, or $0.14 per share.

因此，截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的三個月，Ampco-Pittsburgh 的淨虧損為 270 萬美元，即每股 0.14 美元。

This compares to net income of $0.7 million, or $0.03 per share, for the quarter ended March 31, 2023.

相比之下，截至 2023 年 3 月 31 日的季度淨利潤為 70 萬美元，即每股 0.03 美元。

Total backlog at March 31, 2024, of $348.8 million, declined approximately 8% from December 31, 2023.

截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日，積壓訂單總額為 3.488 億美元，較 2023 年 12 月 31 日下降約 8%。

The forged and cast engineered products segment backlog decreased from December 31, 2023, by approximately $19 million due to timing of 2025 orders and most of the segment's major forged roll customers are expected in the second and third quarters of 2024.

由於2025 年訂單的時間安排，鍛造和鑄造工程產品部門的積壓訂單較2023 年12 月31 日減少了約1,900 萬美元，預計該部門的大多數主要鍛造軋輥客戶預計將在2024 年第二和第三季交貨。

In addition, lower foreign exchange rate reduced the translated value of foreign backlog by about $4 million.

此外，較低的外匯匯率使國外積壓訂單的折算價值減少了約 400 萬美元。

The air and liquid segment backlog declined by $6.6 million, and this is primarily due to the strong sales quarter of air handlers in Q1 coupled with lower order activity in that product line due to being at capacity for the balance of 2024, as Dave had indicated.

空氣和液體部門的積壓訂單減少了660 萬美元，這主要是由於第一季空氣處理機的銷售季度強勁，加上該產品線的訂單活動減少，因為2024 年剩餘時間的產能已達到，戴夫表示。

Net cash flows provided by operating activities was a positive $4.5 million for Q1 2024.

2024 年第一季經營活動提供的淨現金流量為正 450 萬美元。

Investment in net trade working capital was stable with prior quarter.

淨貿易營運資本投資與上一季持平。

Capital expenditures for the first quarter of 2024 were $2.8 million, primarily in the forged and cast engineered products segment.

2024 年第一季的資本支出為 280 萬美元，主要用於鍛造和鑄造工程產品領域。

At March 31, 2024, the corporation's liquidity position included cash on hand of $10.8 million and undrawn availability on our revolving credit facility of $23.2 million.

截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日，該公司的流動性部位包括手頭現金 1,080 萬美元，以及循環信貸額度中未提取的 2,320 萬美元。

Operator, at this time, we would now like to open the line for questions.

接線員，現在我們要開通提問線路。

Thank you.

謝謝。

We will now begin the question-and-answer session.

我們現在開始問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) Justin Bergner, Gabelli Funds.

（操作員指示）Justin Bergner，Gabelli Funds。

I think I missed, Mike, the comments about the cost of the fire.

麥克，我想我錯過了有關火災損失的評論。

I think you threw out some cost number, but I didn't catch it.

我想你拋出了一些成本數字，但我沒有明白。

Could you reiterate it?

能重申一下嗎？

Yeah, it's $900,000 in the quarter, Justin.

是的，賈斯汀，這個季度的收入是 90 萬美元。

Okay.

好的。

And is that the actual cost of repairing, exclusive of the lost production?

這是實際的維修成本嗎？

Is any of that recoverable from insurance?

這些可以從保險中得到補償嗎？

Yeah.

是的。

About $500,000 is the cost is repair costs.

大約50萬美元是維修費用。

And that's right about the deductible level of our property insurance policy.

這就是我們財產保險保單的免賠額水準。

So, we won't see any more than the $500,000 in repair costs.

因此，我們不會看到超過 50 萬美元的維修費用。

And then $400,000 is the impact for the plant downtime, which meant that we had manufacturing overhead we couldn't absorb into inventory because of lack of production.

然後 40 萬美元是工廠停機的影響，這意味著我們有製造費用，但由於產量不足而無法吸收到庫存中。

Collectively, those two pieces are $900,000 in the operating income impact for the quarter.

這兩部分合計對本季營業收入的影響為 90 萬美元。

Right.

正確的。

Thank you for that detail.

謝謝你的詳細資料。

I assume that the operating impact is zero or negligible in the second quarter.

我認為第二季的營運影響為零或可以忽略不計。

Is that fair?

這樣公平嗎？

Correct, yeah.

正確，是的。

Okay.

好的。

Bigger picture question.

更大的問題。

So you mentioned, I guess Sam mentioned that competitor on the cast backup roll market in Europe has exited.

所以你提到，我猜薩姆提到歐洲鑄造支撐輥市場的競爭對手已經退出。

Could you provide a little bit more detail on that?

能否提供更多細節？

How large a share of the market they roughly are?

他們大約佔有多大的市場佔有率？

How you think that will impact the degree of volume growth and pricing power prospectively?

您認為這將如何影響未來的銷售成長程度和定價能力？

Is this a minor deal or a major deal?

這是小事還是大事？

Just I would say it's not major, but it's probably 100 basis points to maybe 150 basis points of revenue, potentially.

只是我想說這不重要，但收入可能會增加 100 個基點到 150 個基點。

So it's a smaller portion of the market.

所以它所佔的市佔率較小。

But generally, we make about 100 rolls and we could see upside of 20 of these larger rolls or so, but that'll be yet to be seen.

但一般來說，我們會生產大約 100 卷，我們可能會看到 20 卷左右的較大卷的好處，但這還有待觀察。

But it didn't actually, the competitor, it was a US company that decided to exit that.

但實際上並非如此，競爭對手，而是一家美國公司決定退出。

Okay.

好的。

So, when you say 100 to 150 basis points of revenue, that's in the context of forged and cast engineered products or the whole Ampco-Pittsburgh?

那麼，當您說 100 到 150 個基點的收入時，這是在鍛造和鑄造工程產品還是整個 Ampco-Pittsburgh 的背景下？

FCEP, forged and cast engineered products.

FCEP，鍛造和鑄造工程產品。

Again, that's -- I don't want to say that's assuming we pick up our share of it.

再說一次，我不想說這是假設我們得到了我們的份額。

That's not -- It's not guaranteed, but we should get our share though.

這不是——不能保證，但我們應該得到我們的份額。

And then just the components of the flattish revenue in forged and cast engineered products, I guess cast rolls down, forged up, and then passed through up, is that the

然後，鍛造和鑄造工程產品收入持平的組成部分，我猜鑄件會向下滾動，向上鍛造，然後向上傳遞，這就是

--

--

It forged and cast are both down.

它的鍛造和鑄造均已下降。

Cast is down more, but the pricing increase is mitigating the volume decrease.

演員陣容下降幅度更大，但定價的上漲緩解了銷售量的下降。

Okay.

好的。

And I mean, your comments were positive sequentially about orders in forged and cast rolls and I think North America in Europe.

我的意思是，您對鍛造和鑄軋卷訂單的評論依次是積極的，我認為是北美和歐洲。

I mean, do you expect us to see volumes up in the second half of '24, or is that hopefully more likely to be a '25 event?

我的意思是，您是否預計我們會在 24 年下半年看到銷售增加，還是希望這更有可能成為 25 年的活動？

More likely it's '25 is when we'll see the increase.

更有可能的是，到 25 年我們就會看到這種成長。

As Mike was talking, we're negotiating now one of our largest customers.

正如麥克所說，我們現在正在與我們最大的客戶之一進行談判。

We have the allocation.

我們有分配。

We're negotiating with everybody else, but many of our customers have indicated that the roll buys will be larger next year.

我們正在與其他所有人進行談判，但我們的許多客戶都表示明年的捲採購量將會更大。

So, that's what we're seeing in the market.

這就是我們在市場上看到的情況。

But would you expect the second half to sort of look better than the first half out outside of seasonal factors on the volume front for

但是，除了銷售量的季節性因素之外，您是否認為下半年看起來會比上半年更好？

--

--

No, it'll probably be similar.

不，可能會很相似。

We're seeing increase on the FEP side of the business.

我們看到 FEP 方面的業務有所成長。

So, the non-roll side, the roll side is more, I'd say, flattish, taking into account, of course, the downtime in Europe and seasonal factors that you just mentioned.

因此，我想說，非滾動面、滾動面更加平坦，當然，考慮到歐洲的停機時間和您剛才提到的季節性因素。

(Operator Instructions) John Bair, Assante Wealth Advisors.

（操作員說明）John Bair，Assante Wealth Advisors。

Question on the exit of the competitor in Europe.

關於歐洲競爭對手退出的問題。

Are you able to pick up any of their facilities, or are you looking at doing anything along those lines?

您是否能夠使用他們的任何設施，或者您是否正在考慮做一些類似的事情？

No.

不。

It's not exit.

這不是退出。

One of our competitors exited a portion, a small, a particular portion of the market.

我們的一個競爭對手退出了市場的一部分、一小部分、特定部分。

So they didn't go away.

所以他們沒有走開。

And again, it was a US company.

再說一遍，這是一家美國公司。

But no, there will not be any asset pickup or anything like that.

但不會，不會有任何資產拾取或類似的事情。

It'll just be a transfer of production product.

這只是生產產品的轉移。

Okay.

好的。

And then as far as it sounds like the majority of your capital expenditures for upgrading plant and so forth is pretty much behind you.

然後，聽起來您用於升級工廠等的大部分資本支出幾乎已經過去了。

So how does that look going forward relative to the past couple of years?

那麼，與過去幾年相比，未來的情況如何呢？

Well, number one, the equipment reliability is the biggest factor.

嗯，第一，設備可靠性是最重要的因素。

And it's greatly improved.

而且已經大大改善了。

So we were had assets that were decades old and this has modernized that.

因此，我們擁有幾十年前的資產，而這已經使其現代化。

And then, we're also seeing higher productivity, better performance out of the equipment.

然後，我們還看到設備具有更高的生產率和更好的性能。

So it is operating as expected, I would say, which we had high expectations, but it's running well.

所以我想說，它正在按預期運行，我們對此抱有很高的期望，但它運行良好。

And what about on the domestic order side?

那麼國內訂單方面呢？

Are you seeing a pickup there?

你在那裡看到皮卡嗎？

For 2025, everybody's indicating higher roll buys.

對於 2025 年，每個人都表示會增加購買量。

And then these things lag a little bit.

然後這些事情就有點滯後了。

What listening, just quoting earnings calls from our major customers, Steel Dynamics, Nucor, US Steel, Cleveland-Cliffs, they're all either citing slightly improved demand in Q2 or flat demand.

聽著，只是引用我們的主要客戶鋼鐵動力公司、紐柯鋼鐵公司、美國鋼鐵公司、克利夫蘭克里夫斯公司的財報電話會議，他們都說第二季度的需求略有改善，或者需求持平。

So everyone's expecting to stay where they're at or go up, and then that ends up translating into higher need for our products.

因此，每個人都期望保持現有水準或上升，最終轉化為對我們產品的更高需求。

This concludes our question-and-answer session.

我們的問答環節到此結束。

I would like to turn the conference back over to Brett McBrayer for any closing remarks.

我想將會議轉回給布雷特·麥克布瑞爾（Brett McBrayer）發表閉幕詞。

Thank you, Nick.

謝謝你，尼克。

As we progress through the remainder of the year, we'll continue to explore options to improve profitability in our cast roll division.

隨著今年剩餘時間的進展，我們將繼續探索提高鑄輥部門獲利能力的方案。

The continuing investments in steel in aluminum in North America as well as the continuing trends in nearshoring present a favorable outlook for our forged roll division.

北美對鋼鐵和鋁材的持續投資以及近岸外包的持續趨勢為我們的鍛造輥部門帶來了良好的前景。

As David Anderson mentioned, expanding our output in the air and liquids segment is a priority.

正如大衛·安德森（David Anderson）所提到的，擴大我們在空氣和液體領域的產量是當務之急。

In the near term, we believe we have good momentum heading into the second quarter.

短期內，我們相信進入第二季的勢頭良好。

I want to thank our employees for their great work and our shareholders for your continued support.

我要感謝我們的員工所做的出色工作以及股東的持續支持。

Thank you for joining our call this morning.

感謝您今天早上加入我們的電話會議。

The conference is now concluded.

會議現已結束。

Thank you for attending today's presentation.

感謝您參加今天的演講。

You may now disconnect.

您現在可以斷開連線。