Commercial Metals Co (CMC) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello and welcome everyone to the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2024 earnings call for CMC. Joining me on today's call are Peter Matt, CMC's President and Chief Executive Officer; and Paul Lawrence, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Today's materials including the press release and supplemental slides that accompany this call can be found on CMC's Investor Relations website.

大家好，歡迎大家參加 CMC 第四季和 2024 財年財報電話會議。參加今天電話會議的還有 CMC 總裁兼執行長 Peter Matt；保羅勞倫斯（Paul Lawrence），資深副總裁兼財務長。今天的資料，包括本次電話會議附帶的新聞稿和補充幻燈片，可以在 CMC 的投資者關係網站上找到。

Today's call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) I would like to remind all participants that during the course of this conference call, the company will make statements that provide information other than historical information and will include expectations regarding economic conditions, effects of legislation, US steel import levels, construction activity, demand for finished steel products, the expected capabilities, benefits and timeline for construction of new facilities, the company's operations, the company's strategic growth plan, the company's future results of operations, financial measures and capital spending.

今天的通話正在錄音。 （操作員說明）我想提醒所有與會者，在本次電話會議期間，公司將發表聲明，提供歷史信息以外的信息，並將包括對經濟狀況、立法影響、美國鋼鐵進口水平、建築業的預期活動、成品鋼材需求、新設施建設的預期能力、效益和時間表、公司營運、公司策略成長計畫、公司未來營運績效、財務措施和資本支出。

These and other similar statements are considered forward-looking and may involve certain assumptions and speculation and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from these expectations.

這些和其他類似的陳述被認為是前瞻性的，可能涉及某些假設和猜測，並受到可能導致實際結果與這些預期有重大差異的風險和不確定性的影響。

These statements reflect the company's beliefs based on current conditions but are subject to certain risks and uncertainties including those that are described in the risk factors and forward-looking statements sections of the company's latest filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission including the company's latest annual report and form 10-K.

這些陳述反映了公司基於當前情況的信念，但受到某些風險和不確定性的影響，包括公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的最新文件（包括公司最新年度報告）的風險因素和前瞻性陳述部分中描述的風險和不確定性。

Although these statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs CMC offers no assurance that these expectations or beliefs will prove to be correct and actual results may vary materially. All statements are made only as of the state except as required by law CMC does not assume any obligation to update, amend or clarify these statements in connection with future events, changes in assumptions, the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events, new information or circumstances or otherwise.

儘管這些陳述是基於管理層當前的期望和信念，但 CMC 不保證這些期望或信念將被證明是正確的，並且實際結果可能會存在重大差異。除法律要求外，所有陳述均僅按國家規定作出。

Some numbers presented will be non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations for such numbers can be found in the company's earnings release supplemental slide presentation or on the company's website. Unless stated otherwise, all references made to year or quarter end are references to the company's fiscal year or fiscal quarter.

提供的一些數據將是非公認會計原則財務指標，這些數據的調節可以在公司的收益發布補充幻燈片簡報或公司網站上找到。除非另有說明，否則所有提及年末或季末的內容均指本公司的會計年度或會計季度。

And now for opening remarks and introductions, I will turn the call over to Peter.

現在，我將把電話轉給彼得進行開場白和介紹。

Thank you. Good morning, everyone and welcome to CMC's fourth quarter and fiscal year 2024 earnings conference call. I am joined today by our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Paul Lawrence.

謝謝。大家早安，歡迎參加 CMC 第四季和 2024 財年財報電話會議。今天我們的高級副總裁兼財務長保羅勞倫斯 (Paul Lawrence) 也加入了我的行列。

I will start this morning's discussion with an overview of CMC's fiscal 2024 results and the accomplishments during the year. I will then cover our fourth quarter performance, provide commentary on current market conditions and share an update on CMC's strategic planning efforts.

我將首先概述 CMC 2024 財年業績和這一年的成就，開始今天上午的討論。然後，我將介紹我們第四季的業績，對當前市場狀況進行評論，並分享 CMC 策略規劃工作的最新情況。

Paul will cover the fourth quarter's financial information in more detail and I will conclude with our outlook for the first fiscal quarter of 2025 and beyond. We will then open the call to questions. As a reminder additional information regarding the quarter, provided in the supplemental slides that accompany this call, which can be found on CMC's investor relations website.

Paul 將更詳細地介紹第四季度的財務信息，最後我將對 2025 年第一財季及以後的前景進行展望。然後我們將開始提問。作為提醒，本次電話會議附帶的補充幻燈片中提供了有關本季度的其他信息，這些信息可以在 CMC 的投資者關係網站上找到。

Fiscal 2024 was another very solid year for CMC. One that included record employee safety performance, the third best financial results in our company's 109 year history and meaningful progress across a number of strategic fronts. Of our many accomplishments this year, I am most proud of our continuous improvement in safety.

2024 財年對 CMC 來說又是非常穩健的一年。其中包括創紀錄的員工安全績效、我們公司 109 年歷史上第三好的財務業績以及在多個策略領域取得的有意義的進展。在我們今年取得的眾多成就中，我最自豪的是我們在安全方面的持續改進。

Our success as a company starts with keeping our people safe and ensuring everyone leaves their shift in the same condition in which they arrived. In fiscal 2024, we came closer to that goal than ever before achieving the lowest incident rate in the history of CMC and driving a meaningful reduction in absolute number of OSHA recordable events.

作為一家公司，我們的成功始於確保員工的安全，並確保每個人在下班時保持與到達時相同的狀態。 2024 財年，我們比以往任何時候都更接近這一目標，實現了 CMC 歷史上最低的事故率，並推動 OSHA 可記錄事件的絕對數量大幅減少。

That level of performance does not happen by luck. It happens through methodical approach to identifying and addressing areas of risk and through direct engagement with every employee. I would like to call out three areas of success on the safety front in fiscal 2024 that the CMC's team should be very proud of.

這種水準的表現並不是靠運氣就能實現的。它是透過有條理的方法來識別和解決風險領域以及透過與每位員工的直接接觸來實現的。我想指出 2024 財年安全方面取得的三個成功領域，CMC 團隊應該對此感到非常自豪。

First, we drove a significant reduction in the number of incidents involving hands and fingers. And second, we saw a substantial reduction in incidents involving new hires. These types of incidents are perennial challenges for any manufacturer CMC included. We have improved in these areas through focused training, rethinking job protocols and the deployment of new technologies. Third, we saw a dramatic improvement in overall safety performance at recently acquired facilities within our emerging businesses group.

首先，我們大幅減少了涉及手和手指的事故數量。其次，我們看到涉及新員工的事件大幅減少。這些類型的事件對於任何製造商 CMC 來說都是長期的挑戰。透過集中培訓、重新思考工作協議和新技術的部署，我們在這些領域取得了進展。第三，我們看到新興業務集團最近收購的設施的整體安全性能有了顯著改善。

They have been eager adopters of CMC's industry leading safety culture and practices which has resulted in EBITDA achieving the lowest incident rate among our three operating segments in 2024. Though we can point to a strong safety trend across the organization, the work is never done and we will continue pushing toward our ultimate goal of zero incidents.

他們一直熱衷於採用CMC 行業領先的安全文化和實踐，這使得EBITDA 在2024 年實現了我們三個營運部門中事故率最低的目標。而我們將繼續努力實現零事故的最終目標。

Turning to our financial results, fiscal 2024 was among the best in CMC's history. Core EBITDA of $1 billion remained well above historical levels though down from the $1.4 billion achieved in fiscal 2023. Without proper context, it's easy to lose sight of just how impressive fiscal 2024 was, even after declining from peak levels, core EBITDA last year remained 40% above any pre-pandemic year. The fiscal 2024 core EBITDA margin of 12% was likewise historically strong.

談到我們的財務業績，2024 財年是 CMC 史上最好的財年之一。 10 億美元的核心EBITDA 仍遠高於歷史水平，儘管低於2023 財年實現的14 億美元。下降之後，去年的核心EBITDA 仍然保持不變比大流行前的任何一年都高出 40%。 2024 財年核心 EBITDA 利潤率為 12%，同樣處於歷史最高水準。

These notable financial results clearly demonstrate the impact of the thoughtful and decisive strategic actions we took over the last several years which have enabled us to significantly grow our company, remake our industry and set us on the path for continued success.

這些顯著的財務表現清楚地表明了我們在過去幾年中採取的深思熟慮和果斷的戰略行動的影響，這些行動使我們能夠顯著發展我們的公司，重塑我們的行業，並使我們走上持續成功的道路。

Our solid profitability in fiscal 2024 translated into strong cash flow from operating activities of $900 million, which supports CMC's ongoing investment in future growth initiatives as well as our commitment to providing competitive levels of cash distributions to our shareholders.

我們在 2024 財年的穩健獲利能力轉化為來自經營活動的強勁現金流 9 億美元，這支持了 CMC 對未來成長計畫的持續投資，以及我們向股東提供具有競爭力的現金分配水準的承諾。

During the year, we returned $261.8 million to our equity investors in the form of share repurchases and dividends making an increase of 48% from fiscal 2023. Buybacks in fiscal 2024 were equal to 3% of the shares outstanding at the beginning of the fiscal year. Also representing a meaningful acceleration compared to fiscal 2023.

年內，我們以股票回購和股利的形式向股權投資者返還 2.618 億美元，較 2023 財年增加了 48%。與 2023 財年相比，這也代表著顯著的加速。

CMC made solid advancement along several strategic fronts in fiscal 2024 including meaningful progress on our mill growth projects. We continue to move towards break even at Arizona 2, the first micro mill in the world capable of producing both rebar and merchant bar products.

CMC 在 2024 財年在多個策略領域取得了紮實進展，包括我們的工廠成長專案取得了有意義的進展。我們繼續在 Arizona 2 實現收支平衡，這是世界上第一家能夠生產螺紋鋼和商用棒材產品的微型鋼廠。

As with any breakthrough technology, our team has pushed through the unique challenges that come with bringing a first of its kind technology online and they ended fiscal 2024 with a string of solid and growing production month.

與任何突破性技術一樣，我們的團隊克服了將同類技術首次上線所帶來的獨特挑戰，並以一系列穩定且不斷增長的生產月結束了 2024 財年。

Based on our learnings over the last year and given where we are positioned today, we expect to achieve operational break even on a monthly basis during the first quarter. We continue to feel good about our progress in increasing operating levels and believe we will exit 2025 at or near target annualized run rate of production of 500,000 tons.

根據我們去年的經驗教訓以及我們今天的定位，我們預計第一季將實現每月營運收支平衡。我們繼續對提高營運水準的進展感到滿意，並相信 2025 年我們將達到或接近 50 萬噸年產量目標。

Meanwhile, we reached several key construction milestones at our steel West Virginia site in fiscal 2024. We have completed civil work installed large portions of supporting infrastructure and poured foundations for process equipment and buildings. Equipment is now being installed and we remain on track for the commissioning process to begin in late calendar 2025.

同時，我們在 2024 財年在西維吉尼亞鋼鐵工廠實現了幾個關鍵的建設里程碑。設備現已安裝完畢，我們仍有望在 2025 年下半年開始調試程序。

In fiscal 2024 we also made significant progress developing the strategic plan that will deliver CMC's next phase of growth. As you may recall to support these efforts, we began the year with an organizational realignment that is intended to facilitate execution and elevate transparency. This action included creating two segments, capturing our traditional steel vertical value chains, the North American Steel and Europe Steel Groups and a third standalone operating segment for CMC's under penetrated growth businesses.

2024 財年，我們在製定策略計畫方面也取得了重大進展，該計畫將實現 CMC 下一階段的成長。您可能還記得，為了支持這些努力，我們在今年伊始進行了組織重組，旨在促進執行並提高透明度。這項行動包括創建兩個部門，抓住我們傳統的鋼鐵垂直價值鏈、北美鋼鐵集團和歐洲鋼鐵集團，以及針對 CMC 滲透成長業務的第三個獨立營運部門。

The emerging businesses group. Nearly a year on the realignment is achieving its aim of supporting value focused decision making and resource allocation through enhanced visibility into our key value drivers by line of business.

新興企業集團。經過近一年的調整，我們實現了透過增強對業務線關鍵價值驅動因素的可見性來支援以價值為中心的決策和資源分配的目標。

Looking ahead, we have developed an ambitious plan that seeks to enhance our growth trajectory and drive permanent improvement in CMC's margin profile by leveraging both accretive organic projects and inorganic growth in attractive adjacent markets. We are very excited about these strategic efforts and we expect will drive significant value for shareholders.

展望未來，我們制定了一項雄心勃勃的計劃，旨在透過利用增值性有機項目和有吸引力的鄰近市場的無機成長，改善我們的成長軌跡並推動 CMC 利潤狀況的永久改善。我們對這些策略努力感到非常興奮，我們預計將為股東帶來巨大的價值。

Little later on this call, I will provide some high level insights into our plan to enhance margins across CMC, an operational and commercial excellence program, we have named transform, advance and grow or TAG for short and we look forward to providing a more substantive update on our strategic plan in the quarters ahead.

稍後，在這次電話會議上，我將就我們提高CMC 利潤率的計劃提供一些高層次的見解，CMC 是一項營運和商業卓越計劃，我們將其命名為「轉型、推進和成長」或簡稱TAG，我們期待提供更實質的見解。

In summary, fiscal 2024 was a year that every member of the CMC team can be proud of. We kept our people safer than ever before. We continued to generate strong financial results and we rewarded our shareholders with increased cash returns. We also continued to build for the future through organic investments and strategic planning that is expected to lay the foundation for significant long term value creation.

總而言之，2024財年是CMC團隊每位成員都值得自豪的一年。我們讓我們的人民比以往任何時候都更安全。我們持續創造強勁的財務業績，並以增加的現金回報回報股東。我們也繼續透過有機投資和策略規劃來建立未來，預計將為顯著的長期價值創造奠定基礎。

Turning now to the fourth quarter results, we reported in our press release this morning. It was another period of good financial performance. CMC continued to generate core EBITDA, core EBITDA margin and earnings per diluted share well above historic averages. As we have noted on previous calls, we believe margins and earnings are normalizing at sustainably higher levels compared to before the pandemic.

現在轉向第四季度的業績，我們在今天早上的新聞稿中報導了這一點。這是另一個財務表現良好的時期。 CMC 的核心 EBITDA、核心 EBITDA 利潤率和稀釋每股盈餘繼續遠高於歷史平均值。正如我們在先前的電話會議中指出的那樣，我們認為與疫情大流行之前相比，利潤率和收益正在正常化，持續處於較高水平。

CMC reported net earnings for the fourth quarter of $103.9 million or $0.90 per diluted share on sales of $2 billion. We generated consolidated EBITDA for the quarter of $227.1 million producing a core EBITDA margin of 11.4% and a trailing 12 month return on invested capital of 10%.

CMC 公佈第四季度淨利潤為 1.039 億美元，即每股攤薄收益 0.90 美元，銷售額為 20 億美元。我們本季的綜合 EBITDA 為 2.271 億美元，核心 EBITDA 利潤率為 11.4%，過去 12 個月的投資資本回報率為 10%。

While results in our North America Steel Group were hampered by weaker market sentiment that negatively influenced long steel pricing and margins. Overall shipping volumes were resilient on solid levels of ongoing construction activity.

雖然我們北美鋼鐵集團的業績受到市場情緒疲軟的影響，這對長材定價和利潤率產生了負面影響。整體運輸量在持續建設活動的穩定水準下保持彈性。

Our Europe Steel Group continued trend of near breakeven on an adjusted EBITDA basis. Excellent cost management is allowing us to maintain our financial performance at this level despite challenging margin environment and increased incursions into the polish market by imports from neighboring countries. CMC's emerging businesses group generated strong results during the quarter and its adjusted margin improved on both a year over year and a sequential basis.

我們的歐洲鋼鐵集團在調整後的 EBITDA 基礎上持續保持接近損益平衡的趨勢。儘管利潤環境充滿挑戰，並且來自鄰國的進口產品越來越多地侵入波蘭市場，但出色的成本管理使我們能夠將財務表現維持在這一水平。 CMC 的新興業務集團在本季度取得了強勁業績，調整後利潤率同比和環比均有所改善。

Turning now to CMC's markets in North America, demand for our steel products remained healthy during the quarter. When adjusted for available shipping days, CMC's volumes of finished products were essentially unchanged both on a year over year and a sequential quarter basis. Activity levels were generally good across our geographical footprint. With some areas appearing to benefit modestly from a catch up in shipments in the wake of challenging weather earlier in the year.

現在轉向 CMC 的北美市場，本季對我們鋼鐵產品的需求保持健康。根據可用運輸天數進行調整後，CMC 的成品數量比去年同期和環比基本保持不變。在我們的地理足跡中，活動水準總體上良好。由於今年早些時候的惡劣天氣，一些地區似乎因發貨量的增加而略有受益。

Stable shipment volumes have been supported by solid backlogs of ongoing construction projects that continue to consume steel. However, given elevated uncertainty regarding the path and the pace of interest rate reductions as well as the outcome of the US Presidential election, project owners and key decision makers are hesitant to act. This hesitancy is widespread across most segments of the construction markets with the notable exception of publicly funded work such as infrastructure and institutions.

持續消耗鋼材的持續建設項目積壓了大量訂單，支撐了穩定的出貨量。然而，鑑於降息路徑和步伐以及美國總統選舉結果的不確定性增加，該計畫業主和關鍵決策者對採取行動猶豫不決。這種猶豫在建築市場的大多數領域都普遍存在，但基礎設施和機構等公共資助的工程除外。

Uncertainty has also weighed on steel pricing and margins as the overall market sentiment and near term confidence have softened. Following six months of impressive stability, we saw metal margins shift lower during mid quarter, which was the primary driver of reduced consolidated profitability in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2024.

由於整體市場情緒和近期信心減弱，不確定性也影響了鋼鐵定價和利潤率。經過六個月令人印象深刻的穩定之後，我們看到金屬利潤率在季度中期下降，這是第四季度綜合盈利能力較 2024 財年第三季度下降的主要原因。

We believe these market conditions are transient in nature and will subside once greater clarity emerges, allowing strong underlying fundamentals to return CMC's downstream bidding activity has remained resilient which points to a solid pipeline of potential future projects.

我們認為，這些市場狀況本質上是暫時的，一旦出現更清晰的情況，就會消退，從而使強大的基本面得以恢復，CMC 的下游招標活動仍然保持彈性，這表明未來潛在項目的管道穩固。

Our internal data is supported by external data points such as the dodge momentum index and insights from customer conversations. The dodge momentum index or DMI measures the monthly value of construction projects entering the planning phase, having recently hit an all-time high the index appears to indicate that project owners have confidence that a rebound in construction activity will occur and are building a sizable pipeline in preparation to act once construction conditions improve.

我們的內部數據得到外部數據點的支持，例如閃避動量指數和客戶對話的見解。閃避動量指數（DMI）衡量進入規劃階段的建築項目的月度價值，該指數最近創下歷史新高，似乎表明項目業主有信心建築活動將會出現反彈，並且正在建設規模較大的管道準備在施工條件改善後採取行動。

As mentioned previously, we anticipate a catalyst of improvement will be a clear path to lower interest rates and visibility into future government policy.

如前所述，我們預期改善的催化劑將是降低利率和了解未來政府政策的明確途徑。

As we have discussed at lengthen past, powerful structural trends will also benefit the US construction market, including infrastructure investment, reshoring of manufacturing, energy transition and transmission buildout, as well as measures to address chronic housing shortages. We believe these trends are in their early stages and will propel construction activity for years to come.

正如我們過去長期討論的那樣，強大的結構性趨勢也將有利於美國建築市場，包括基礎設施投資、製造業回流、能源轉型和輸電建設，以及解決長期住房短缺的措施。我們相信這些趨勢還處於早期階段，並將推動未來幾年的建築活動。

Conditions for our Europe steel group were similar to the prior quarter. Benefits from an improving polish macroeconomic environment and supply discipline among domestic long steel producers have been offset by the influx of excess material from neighboring countries namely Germany. Total imports of rebar are up 85% on a calendar year-to-date basis. While flows from Germany have increased by 141%.

我們歐洲鋼鐵集團的狀況與上一季相似。波蘭宏觀經濟環境改善和國內長材生產商供應紀律的改善所帶來的好處已被德國等鄰國過剩材料的湧入所抵消。年初至今，螺紋鋼進口總量年增 85%。而來自德國的流量則增加了 141%。

This foreign supply has more than matched the incremental demand from a growing residential construction market and supply reduction from domestic players. As a result, margins remain under pressure against this challenging backdrop, our team in Poland has been able to achieve near breakeven results through aggressive cost management.

國外供應量遠遠超過了不斷增長的住宅建築市場的增量需求和國內供應商的供應量減少。因此，在這種充滿挑戰的背景下，利潤率仍然面臨壓力，我們在波蘭的團隊透過積極的成本管理實現了接近收支平衡的結果。

The impact of these cost management measures has been significant, as evidenced by the $26.5 million year-over-year improvement in adjusted EBITDA during the fourth quarter despite an 18% reduction in volumes and no help for metal margins. Based on our current view of the landscape, we would not anticipate meaningful positive change in either the overall market environment or CMC's Europe Steel Group earnings until an economic recovery develops in Germany.

這些成本管理措施的影響是巨大的，第四季度調整後 EBITDA 年成長 2,650 萬美元就證明了這一點，儘管產量減少了 18%，而且對金屬利潤沒有任何幫助。根據我們目前對情勢的看法，在德國經濟復甦之前，我們預期整體市場環境或 CMC 歐洲鋼鐵集團的獲利不會出現有意義的正面變化。

Before I turn things over to Paul, I would like to discuss the strategic path that CMC is embarking on which is intended to drive the next phase of meaningful value accretive growth. As outlined on slide 10 of the supplemental presentation, our aim with this strategy is threefold.

在我把事情交給 Paul 之前，我想討論一下 CMC 正在走的戰略道路，該道路旨在推動下一階段有意義的價值增值成長。正如補充簡報第 10 張投影片中所述，我們實施此策略的目標有三。

First to achieve sustainably higher, less volatile through the cycle margins that are fortified by our operational and commercial excellence initiatives. Second, to execute on attractive growth -- organic growth opportunities and third in a disciplined manner to pursue inorganic growth opportunities that broaden CMC's commercial portfolio of early stage construction products, improve our customer value proposition and meaningfully extend our growth runway.

首先透過我們的卓越營運和商業計劃強化的周期利潤，實現可持續的更高、更小的波動。其次，執行有吸引力的成長－有機成長機會；第三，以嚴格的方式尋求無機成長機會，以擴大CMC 早期建築產品的商業組合，提高我們的客戶價值主張並有意義地延長我們的成長跑道。

CMC's goal of permanent and meaningful improvement and its margin profile is being pursued through transform, advance and grow or TAG, our enterprise wide operational and commercial excellence initiative. This program is unlike any other ever launched at CMC due to the breadth and the depth of its reach as well as its visibility and the accountability structures built to support it. Every line of business and every support function has been involved in identifying and quantifying opportunities that now include over 150 different initiatives.

CMC 的目標是透過轉型、推廣和成長或 TAG（我們的企業範圍內的營運和商業卓越計劃）實現永久且有意義的改進及其利潤狀況。該計劃與 CMC 推出的任何其他計劃不同，因為其影響範圍廣度和深度，以及其可見性和為支持該計劃而建立的問責結構。每個業務部門和每個支援職能部門都參與了識別和量化機會的工作，目前這些機會包括 150 多個不同的措施。

This has meant finding value within a business, between businesses, between businesses and central support or even across the entire enterprise. The involvement in the TAG program has reached deep into our organization as well, those best equipped to identify the greatest opportunities are the team members who work where the action happens on a daily basis. CMC's department plant and Regional Managers, their participation has been critical as we search for value generating opportunities and just as importantly, it is created buy in at a local business level.

這意味著在企業內部、企業之間、企業和中央支援之間甚至整個企業中尋找價值。 TAG 計劃的參與也深入到我們的組織中，最有能力發現最大機會的人是每天在行動發生的地方工作的團隊成員。 CMC 的部門工廠和區域經理，當我們尋找創造價值的機會時，他們的參與至關重要，同樣重要的是，他們的參與是在當地業務層面上創造的。

To drive the execution of CMC's TAG program, we have formed a dedicated team to manage the identification, tracking and reporting of all opportunities. This group will also help prioritize across identified initiatives and stage their rollout in waves in partnership with the initiative owners at the businesses or support level.

為了推動 CMC TAG 計劃的執行，我們組建了專門的團隊來管理所有機會的識別、追蹤和報告。該小組還將協助確定已確定計劃的優先順序，並與業務或支援等級的計劃所有者合作，分階段推出這些計劃。

TAG is driving a more elevated level of rigor and visibility to strategic execution, that is intended to ensure the success and maximize the amount of value generated. From an investor perspective, we anticipate that value will come as sustained margin enhancement, earnings growth, reduced working capital needs and greater investment capital efficiency.

TAG 正在推動策略執行的嚴謹性和可見性達到更高水平，旨在確保成功並最大限度地提高所產生的價值。從投資者的角度來看，我們預期價值將隨著利潤率的持續提高、獲利成長、營運資金需求的減少和投資資本效率的提高而到來。

However, just as beneficial as meeting TAG financial goals is the creation of a value generating engine at CMC in the form of habits that will become ingrained in our culture as we execute on the program.

然而，與實現 TAG 財務目標一樣有益的是，在 CMC 以習慣的形式創建價值生成引擎，當我們執行該計劃時，這些習慣將在我們的文化中根深蒂固。

A drive for continuous improvement, increased collaboration to achieve the targets and a methodical approach to tracking are all traits that we believe will continue to pay dividends long after TAG runs its course.

我們相信，持續改進的動力、為實現目標而加強的協作以及有條不紊的跟踪方法將在 TAG 運行很久之後繼續帶來紅利。

Looking more near term, we expect TAG efforts to start yielding meaningful financial benefits in fiscal 2025, we plan to begin quantifying those benefits for you as we achieve results against the first wave of active initiatives now underway.

從更近期的角度來看，我們預計TAG 的努力將在2025 財年開始產生有意義的財務收益，隨著我們在目前正在進行的第一波積極舉措中取得成果，我們計劃開始為您量化這些收益。

We will have more to share with you in the future regarding our plan to propel growth through both organic and inorganic avenues. But for now, I would like to share a few comments. Organic growth extends beyond our major steel investments. CMC is pursuing a number of smaller projects aimed at bolstering our portfolio of proprietary solutions and enabling us to drive further penetration into growing markets.

未來我們將與您分享更多關於我們透過有機和無機途徑推動成長的計劃。但現在，我想分享一些評論。有機成長超出了我們主要的鋼鐵投資範圍。 CMC 正在進行一些小型項目，旨在增強我們的專有解決方案組合，並使我們能夠進一步滲透到不斷增長的市場。

One such investment is an additional geogrid production line in our Blackwell Oklahoma facility. The new line will allow CMC to better supply the growing demand for our latest, higher margin geogrid offering as well as reduce the logistics cost to several key North American geographies.

其中一項投資是在我們俄克拉荷馬州布萊克韋爾工廠增加一條土工格柵生產線。新生產線將使 CMC 能夠更好地滿足對我們最新的、利潤率更高的土工格柵產品日益增長的需求，並降低北美幾個主要地區的物流成本。

On the inorganic front, we have developed a game plan for meaningful growth into attractive adjacencies in which we believe we have a clear right to play given CMC's current commercial participation, customer knowledge, market positioning and operational capabilities.

在無機方面，我們制定了一項遊戲計劃，旨在實現有意義的成長，成為有吸引力的鄰接地區，鑑於CMC 目前的商業參與、客戶知識、市場定位和營運能力，我們相信我們有明確的參與權。

We are targeting segments of the $150 billion early stage construction market that touch the types of projects we are already serving and feature higher, more stable margins. These adjacencies should also benefit from the mega trends that are expected to drive construction activity for years to come, which include infrastructure investment, reshoring, and the general scarcity of labor.

我們的目標是價值 1500 億美元的早期建設市場中的細分市場，這些市場涉及我們已經服務的項目類型，並且具有更高、更穩定的利潤率。這些鄰近地區也應受益於預計將推動未來幾年建築活動的大趨勢，其中包括基礎設施投資、回流和勞動力普遍稀缺。

As you can tell, I am very pleased with our strong performance in 2024 and even more excited about our strategic path forward.

如您所知，我對我們 2024 年的強勁表現感到非常滿意，對我們未來的策略道路更加興奮。

With that, I will now turn the discussion over to Paul to provide more detail on our financial results. Paul?

現在，我將把討論轉交給保羅，以提供有關我們財務表現的更多詳細資訊。保羅？

Thank you, Peter and good morning to everyone on the call. As noted earlier, we reported fiscal fourth quarter 2024 net earnings of $103.9 million or $0.90 per diluted share, compared to prior year levels of $184.2 million and $1.56 respectively.

謝謝你，彼得，祝所有參加電話會議的人早安。如前所述，我們公佈的 2024 財年第四季淨利為 1.039 億美元，稀釋後每股收益 0.90 美元，而去年同期分別為 1.842 億美元和 1.56 美元。

Consolidated core EBITDA was $227.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2024. Representing a 31% decline from the $327.7 million generated during the prior year period. But still an historically strong result. Slide 14 has a supplemental presentation illustrates the year to year changes in CMC's quarterly financial performance.

2024 年第四季的合併核心 EBITDA 為 2.271 億美元。但仍然是歷史性的強勁結果。投影片 14 的補充簡報說明了 CMC 季度財務表現的逐年變化。

Profitability at the North American Steel Group was negatively impacted by lower margins over scrap, while results at the Europe Steel Group benefited from significant cost reductions. Adjusted EBITDA was unchanged in CMC's emerging business group and consolidated core EBITDA margin of 11.4% remained above average historical levels and compares to 14.8% a year ago.

北美鋼鐵集團的獲利能力受到廢鋼利潤率下降的負面影響，而歐洲鋼鐵集團的業績則受益於成本的大幅降低。 CMC 新興業務集團的調整後 EBITDA 保持不變，綜合核心 EBITDA 利潤率為 11.4%，仍高於平均歷史水平，而去年同期為 14.8%。

CMC's North American Steel Group generated adjusted EBITDA of $210.9 million for the quarter equal to $188 per ton of finished steel shipped. Segment adjusted EBITDA decreased 14% on a sequential quarter basis, driven primarily by lower margin over scrap costs on steel products.

CMC 的北美鋼鐵集團本季調整後 EBITDA 為 2.109 億美元，相當於每噸成品鋼材運輸 188 美元。部門調整後 EBITDA 環比下降 14%，主要是因為鋼鐵產品廢鋼成本利潤率下降。

Results were also impacted by the P&L effect of selling higher cost inventory into a falling price environment. The adjusted margin for the North American Steel Group of 13.5% compares to 14.7% in the third quarter. During the quarter CMC incurred mill operational commissioning costs related to Arizona 2 of $15.1 million excluding depreciation, including depreciation costs amounted to $25.3 million.

結果也受到在價格下降的環境中銷售成本較高的庫存的損益效應的影響。北美鋼鐵集團調整後利潤率為 13.5%，而第三季為 14.7%。本季度，CMC 發生與 Arizona 2 相關的工廠營運調試成本為 1,510 萬美元，不包括折舊，其中折舊成本為 2,530 萬美元。

Both figures are on a pretax basis and were up from the levels incurred in recent quarters due to the high cost of power during peak summer months and time taken for some corrective outages that impacted our volumes.

這兩個數字都是稅前數據，高於最近幾季的水平，原因是夏季用電高峰期的電力成本較高，以及一些影響我們銷售的糾正停電所需的時間。

As Peter indicated earlier, demand for long steel products was stable during the quarter. Finished steel shipments decreased by 1% on a sequential basis but were virtually unchanged when adjusted for the one fewer shipping day compared to the third quarter.

正如彼得早些時候指出的那樣，本季長材產品的需求穩定。成品鋼材出貨量較上月下降 1%，但與第三季相比減少了 1 個出貨日進行調整後，幾乎沒有變化。

Turning to slide 16 of the supplemental deck, our Europe Steel Group reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $3.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2024. This compares to a loss of $4.2 million incurred in the third quarter. The sequential improvement was driven by lower controllable costs per ton of steel ship as well as a 7.4% increase in volumes.

轉向補充幻燈片的第 16 張幻燈片，我們的歐洲鋼鐵集團報告稱，2024 年第四季度調整後 EBITDA 虧損為 360 萬美元。環比改善的推動因素是每噸鋼船的可控成本降低以及產量增加 7.4%。

Financial performance during the fourth quarter continued a trend of improvement from the depressed levels of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023 and the first quarter of fiscal 2024. During which time, quarterly losses averaged $30 million excluded the impact of energy rebates.

第四季的財務表現延續了2023財年第四季和2024財年第一季低迷水準的改善趨勢。

As mentioned earlier, this improvement has resulted primarily from self-help cost management measures taken by our team in Poland. Margin levels have been range bound between roughly $270 per ton and $290 per ton for the last five quarters despite an improving polish economic environment and positive developments within the polish construction sector. We would expect margins to remain however, under pressure until the level of rebar imports begin to recede a scenario that likely requires an economic recovery in Germany.

如前所述，這種改善主要歸功於我們波蘭團隊採取的自助成本管理措施。儘管波蘭經濟環境不斷改善且波蘭建築業取得積極進展，但過去五個季度的利潤水準一直在每噸約 270 美元至 290 美元之間波動。然而，我們預計利潤率仍將面臨壓力，直到螺紋鋼進口水準開始回落（這種情況可能需要德國經濟復甦）。

The emerging business group fourth quarter, net sales of $195.6 million decreased by 3.7% on a quarter-over-quarter basis while adjusted EBITDA $42.5 million grew by 11.2%. The sequential improvement in profitability was driven by strong activity levels within our tensor unit and good shipment levels of performance reinforcing steel.

新興業務集團第四季淨銷售額為 1.956 億美元，季減 3.7%，而調整後 EBITDA 為 4,250 萬美元，成長 11.2%。獲利能力的連續改善是由我們張量部門的強勁活動水平和高性能鋼筋的良好出貨水準所推動的。

A richer sales mix during the fourth quarter led to a 140 basis points increase in adjusted EBITDA margin compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2024. Notably, tensor achieved its most profitable quarter as a division of CMC driven by continued adoption of its latest geogrid solution and improved production performance.

與2024 財年第三季相比，第四季度銷售組合更加豐富，調整後EBITDA 利潤率增長了140 個基點。 CMC 部門實現了利潤最高的季度並提高了生產績效。

As of August 31, cash and cash equivalents totaled $857.9 million in addition, we had approximately $826 million of availability under our credit and accounts receivable facilities, bringing total liquidity to just under $1.7 billion.

截至 8 月 31 日，現金和現金等價物總計 8.579 億美元，此外，我們的信貸和應收帳款設施下還有大約 8.26 億美元的可用資金，使流動性總額接近 17 億美元。

During the quarter, we generated $351.8 million of cash from operating activities which included an impressive $176.9 million release of cash from working capital as we navigate through this period of uncertainty that Peter commented on.

在本季度，我們從經營活動中產生了 3.518 億美元的現金，其中包括在我們度過彼得所評論的這段不確定時期時從營運資本中釋放的令人印象深刻的 1.769 億美元現金。

Capital expenditures of $81.5 million were driven by construction activity related to steel West Virginia micro mill project. CMC leverage metrics remain attractive and have improved significantly over the last fiscal years. As can be seen by slide 21 our net debt to EBITDA ratio now sits at just 0.3 times while net debt to capitalization is only 6%. We believe our robust balance sheet and overall financial strength provide us flexibility to finance our strategic organic growth projects and pursue opportunistic M&A while continuing to return cash to shareholders.

8,150 萬美元的資本支出是由與西維吉尼亞州微型鋼鐵廠計畫相關的建設活動所推動的。 CMC 槓桿指標仍然具有吸引力，並且在過去的財政年度中已有顯著改善。從投影片 21 可以看出，我們的淨債務與 EBITDA 比率目前僅為 0.3 倍，而淨債務與資本總額比僅為 6%。我們相信，我們穩健的資產負債表和整體財務實力使我們能夠靈活地為我們的策略性有機成長項目提供資金並尋求機會性併購，同時繼續向股東返還現金。

CMC's effective tax rate was 22.3% in the fourth quarter and 23.6% for the full year. Looking ahead, we anticipate an effective full year tax rate of between 24% and 25% for the fiscal 2025 year. Turning to CMC's fiscal 2025 capital spending outlook, we expect to invest between $630 million and $680 million in total. Outside of normal sustaining investments of approximately $250 million expenditures in 2025 will include substantial capital dollars for the construction of steel, West Virginia.

CMC第四季有效稅率為22.3%，全年有效稅率為23.6%。展望未來，我們預計 2025 財年的有效全年稅率將在 24% 至 25% 之間。談到 CMC 2025 財年資本支出前景，我們預期投資總額在 6.3 億美元至 6.8 億美元之間。除了正常的持續投資（約 2.5 億美元）外，到 2025 年的支出還將包括用於西維吉尼亞州鋼鐵建設的大量資本資金。

Approximately $200 million of spending related to steel West Virginia was deferred from fiscal 2024 into 2025 related to payment timing. As Peter mentioned, we are on track to begin commissioning in late calendar 2025.

由於付款時間問題，與西維吉尼亞州鋼鐵相關的約 2 億美元支出從 2024 財年推遲到 2025 年。正如 Peter 所提到的，我們預計在 2025 年底開始調試。

As outlined on past earnings call CMC targets a prudent and balanced approach to capital allocation. Our first priority is value of creative growth that furthers our strategy and strengthens our business.

如同過去的財報電話會議所述，CMC 的目標是採取審慎、平衡的資本配置方法。我們的首要任務是創造性成長的價值，以推進我們的策略並加強我們的業務。

Second is providing our shareholders with an attractive level of cash distributions in the form of both dividends and share repurchases. To this end, CMC returned approximately $261.8 million to our shareholders in fiscal 2024 equal to 54% of net earnings.

其次是以股利和股票回購的形式為我們的股東提供具有吸引力的現金分配水準。為此，CMC 在 2024 財年向股東返還約 2.618 億美元，相當於淨利的 54%。

Looking at the fourth quarter, CMC repurchased approximately $1 million shares an average price of $54.71 per share. As of August 31, we had $403.8 million available for repurchase under our current authorization.

從第四季來看，CMC 回購了約 100 萬美元的股票，平均價格為每股 54.71 美元。截至 8 月 31 日，根據我們目前的授權，我們有 4.038 億美元可用於回購。

I'll now turn it back to Peter for additional comments on CMC's financial outlook.

現在，我將把它轉回給 Peter，請其對 CMC 的財務前景發表更多評論。

Thank you, Paul. We expect consolidated financial results in our first fiscal quarter of 2025 to decline from the fourth quarter level as a consequence of temporary softness within certain areas of the construction industry amid continued macroeconomic uncertainty.

謝謝你，保羅。我們預計 2025 年第一財季的綜合財務業績將較第四季度的水平有所下降，原因是在宏觀經濟持續不確定的情況下，建築業某些領域暫時疲軟。

Finished steel shipments within the North America Steel Group are anticipated to follow normal seasonal trends, while the adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to decrease on lower steel product margins over scrap costs.

北美鋼鐵集團的成品鋼材出貨量預計將遵循正常的季節性趨勢，而調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率預計將因鋼鐵產品利潤率低於廢鋼成本而下降。

We would note that the recent encouraging direction of scrap pricing gives us confidence that rebar pricing has come near the bottom and should begin to move upward if a scrap rebound is maintained. Adjusted EBITDA for our Europe Steel Group should experience a meaningful sequential increase driven by the receipt of an annual CO2 credit that is expected to be within the range of $35 million to $40 million.

我們注意到，最近廢鋼定價的令人鼓舞的方向讓我們相信，螺紋鋼價格已接近底部，如果廢鋼反彈得以維持，則應開始向上移動。我們的歐洲鋼鐵集團調整後的 EBITDA 應該會在收到預計在 3500 萬至 4000 萬美元範圍內的年度二氧化碳信用額的推動下出現有意義的環比增長。

Underlying financial performance for the Europe Steel Group is likely to remain similar to the fourth quarter levels. Financial results for the emerging businesses group are anticipated to decline due to normal seasonality and the impact of economic uncertainty both in the United States and in Europe.

歐洲鋼鐵集團的基本財務業績可能仍與第四季度的水平相似。由於正常的季節性以及美國和歐洲經濟不確定性的影響，新興企業集團的財務表現預計將下降。

We believe the current market conditions represent a transient period of softness created by uncertainty regarding important factors that influence any major capital investment, the cost of funding and future government policy. As clarity emerges in the coming months, we believe renewed strength in our core markets will follow.

我們認為，當前的市場狀況代表著暫時的疲軟時期，這是由影響任何重大資本投資、融資成本和未來政府政策的重要因素的不確定性所造成的。隨著未來幾個月的明朗化，我們相信我們的核心市場將會重新煥發活力。

We anticipate the first half of the year will be impacted by challenges related to the current uncertainty as well as typical seasonal slowness. However, we expect financial results to rebound in the second half as solid construction fundamentals return.

我們預計今年上半年將受到當前不確定性以及典型季節性放緩相關挑戰的影響。然而，隨著建築業基本面的恢復，我們預計下半年財務表現將會反彈。

Before we open the call up to questions, I want to reiterate how proud we are of CMC's financial results and the strong industry that we help create. We are excited about our potential to reach new heights in the future as we execute on our key strategic priorities and deliver significant value for our shareholders.

在我們開始提問之前，我想重申我們對 CMC 的財務表現以及我們幫助創建的強大行業感到多麼自豪。我們對未來達到新高度的潛力感到興奮，因為我們執行我們的關鍵策略重點並為股東創造巨大價值。

As we move past near term uncertainty, CMC is well positioned to benefit from powerful, structural trends in North America that should drive construction activity for years to come. I would like to thank our customers for their trust and confidence in CMC and all of our employees for delivering yet another quarter of solid operating performance. Operator?

隨著我們克服近期的不確定性，CMC 處於有利地位，可以從北美強大的結構性趨勢中受益，這將推動未來幾年的建築活動。我要感謝我們的客戶對 CMC 的信任和信心，感謝我們所有員工再次實現了季度穩健的經營業績。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Sathish Kasinathan, Bank of America.

（操作員指示）Sathish Kasinathan，美國銀行。

Yeah. Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. So my first question is on the guidance for the emerging business group. So you indicated that the segment results could be lower on a sequential basis. But how should we look at it from a year on year basis, given that you are going to see an increase in higher margin makes especially at tensor.

是的。你好。早安.感謝您回答我的問題。所以我的第一個問題是關於新興業務集團的指導。因此，您表示分部業績可能會季減。但是，考慮到您將看到更高的利潤率增加，尤其是在張量方面，我們應該如何逐年看待它。

Yeah, I think we should expect it to be roughly similar. Again, it's really seasonal trends that we're calling out here. And if you remember that business tends to have a very strong Q3 and Q4 even more seasonality than in the rest of our business.

是的，我認為我們應該期望它大致相似。再說一次，我們在這裡呼籲的是真正的季節性趨勢。如果您還記得，第三季和第四季的業務往往比我們其他業務的季節性更強。

Okay, thank you. And then my next question is on the long term strategic plan. You talked about some of the examples of the initiatives that the company is working on. When do you think you'll be in a position to quantify those benefits? Are there any low hanging fruits that you could highlight and we should see some immediate benefit in 2025?

好的，謝謝。我的下一個問題是關於長期戰略計劃。您談到了公司正在進行的一些舉措的範例。您認為什麼時候能夠量化這些收益？您是否可以強調一些容易實現的目標，並且我們應該在 2025 年看到一些直接的好處？

Yeah. Thank you very much for the question. And we are really excited about our TAG initiative as a source of meaningful kind of earnings benefit. This is a program that we have structured to be over three to four years and we do expect there to be contribution in 2025.

是的。非常感謝你的提問。我們對 TAG 計劃感到非常興奮，因為它是一種有意義的收益收益的來源。這是一個為期三到四年的計劃，我們預計將在 2025 年做出貢獻。

We have very clear goals internally for what this program is going to deliver, we are going to stop short on this call of sharing detail on specific numbers for 2025 and the period beyond because we are really at the starting point of the program.

對於該計劃將要實現的目標，我們內部有非常明確的目標，我們將停止分享 2025 年及以後時期具體數字細節的呼籲，因為我們確實處於該計劃的起點。

And let me just say a few words about that. What we have done is, we have kind of created as we said in the prepared remarks, over 150 different initiatives. We've taken a small subset of that and moved them into a detailed planning phase and then in the case of some of them into an execution phase.

讓我對此簡單說幾句話。正如我們在準備好的演講中所說，我們所做的是創造了 150 多項不同的措施。我們已經採取了其中的一小部分，並將它們轉移到詳細的規劃階段，然後將其中一些轉移到執行階段。

So we have a number of these initiatives that are now being executed across the company and the early returns are very positive. But again, we want to get a little bit more traction before we share more detail on that, but we do fully expect to periodically update you on the progress of that, including some of the targets that we've set and what we've achieved.

因此，我們現在正在整個公司執行許多此類舉措，並且早期回報非常積極。但同樣，我們希望在分享更多細節之前獲得更多關注，但我們完全希望定期向您通報進度情況，包括我們設定的一些目標和我們已經完成的工作實現了。

Okay. Thanks Peter for the color and congrats on a solid year.

好的。感謝彼得的顏色，並祝賀這一年的充實。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Katja Jancic, BMO Capital Markets.

Katja Jancic，BMO 資本市場。

Hi. Thank you for taking my question. Staying a bit on the TAG initiative and I can appreciate Peter that you said you don't want to provide specifics right now, but let's say when we look at the current margins, they are above historical levels. When you say that you are targeting higher through the cycle margins, how did those stack up relative to the current margin environment? Are we talking about higher than where we are right now or kind of maintaining the current levels?

你好。感謝您回答我的問題。稍微談談 TAG 倡議，我可以欣賞彼得，你說你現在不想提供具體細節，但讓我們說，當我們查看當前的利潤率時，它們高於歷史水平。當您說您的目標是在整個週期利潤率更高時，相對於當前的利潤率環境而言，這些目標是如何疊加的？我們談論的是高於現在的水平還是維持當前的水平？

Well, so it's a great question and what I would say is it -- and I'm going to go back a few calls to some comments that I made where our goal, as you say is higher through the cycle margins. And we believe that as a consequence of the consolidation that's occurred and the current trade environment that we are in an environment where we can and will and actually are delivering higher through the cycle margin.

嗯，這是一個很好的問題，我想說的是——我將回過幾次電話，對我所做的一些評論進行回复，正如你所說，我們的目標是在周期利潤中更高。我們相信，由於所發生的整合和當前的貿易環境，我們能夠並且願意並且實際上正在透過週期利潤實現更高的目標。

So based on what's happened so far, we would challenge the kind of current thesis and the valuation of our shares. Having said that TAG is only an incremental contributor to that. And what we believe is that over time as we ramp up these initiatives, we will be able to deliver incremental margins to our company.

因此，根據迄今為止發生的情況，我們將對當前的論點和我們股票的估值提出挑戰。話雖如此，TAG 只是其中的增量貢獻者。我們相信，隨著時間的推移，隨著我們加強這些舉措的力度，我們將能夠為公司帶來增量利潤。

And what does that mean? What it means is, if we are in an environment where we are today, where we feel like we're, kind of -- we're not going to -- we're not calling the bottom, but we're kind of in the, let's call it the weaker part of what we think our business environment is going to experience, then TAG will supplement and take us to higher margin levels than we've been at in the past.

這意味著什麼？這意味著，如果我們處於今天所處的環境中，我們感覺我們不會觸底，我們不會觸底，但我們會認為觸底。那麼TAG 將補充並帶領我們達到比過去更高的利潤水平。

If we are in a market where things deteriorate, further TAG will help us defend margins like what we have today. In both cases, we think there's tremendous upside in the story and that's what we're really excited about. So hopefully that gives you some additional clarity Katja.

如果我們處於一個情況惡化的市場，進一步的 TAG 將幫助我們像今天一樣捍衛利潤。在這兩種情況下，我們認為故事都有巨大的好處，這也是我們真正感到興奮的地方。希望這能讓您更加清楚 Katja。

Thank you for that. And maybe if I may pone more on the backlogs right now, I think you mentioned they're still solid. Can you provide a little more clarity on the value of the backlog currently versus let's say last quarter?

謝謝你。也許我現在可以更多地關注積壓的問題，我想你提到它們仍然很穩固。您能否更清楚說明目前與上季相比積壓的價值？

Yeah. Good morning Katja. Backlog from a volume perspective, really, we continue to maintain a comparable level from either the end of the third quarter or 12 months ago. I think as Peter alluded to construction activity is becoming more competitive as projects are delayed coming to market. And as a result that is squeezing the margin and squeezing the price attributable to new work that is actually being contracted.

是的。早上好，卡佳。事實上，從數量角度來看，積壓訂單數量繼續保持與第三季末或 12 個月前相當的水平。我認為，正如彼得所提到的，隨著專案延遲上市，建築活動變得更具競爭力。結果就是擠壓了實際承包的新工作的利潤和價格。

And so we are seeing a lower level of value associated to the backlog and it's really tied to the underlying price of the rebar material that's in the backlog. So volumes continue to be good and that's what's fueled the business that really during the fourth quarter, we saw very sequentially and year over year level volumes, but the value is lower than where it was 12 months ago.

因此，我們看到與積壓訂單相關的價值水平較低，而且它實際上與積壓訂單中螺紋鋼材料的基本價格相關。因此，銷售量繼續保持良好狀態，這才是推動業務發展的真正原因，在第四季度，我們看到了連續和同比水平的銷量，但價值低於 12 個月前的水平。

Okay. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

Thank you, Katja.

謝謝你，卡佳。

Timna Tanners, Wolf Research.

蒂姆納·坦納斯，沃爾夫研究中心。

Yeah. Hey, good morning. I wanted to ask two kind of higher level questions. If we take a step back first, I want to ask about Arizona 2 and I look at my notes over the years of what you talked about with regard to the volume contribution. I think it was supposed to be 400,000 and then 250,000. But if you look at volumes in North America 2024 fiscal year, even over two years, we're talking about [150,000] call it. So what's happening that you able to run full out? Are you running less other places? And how do you think about volumes going forward in a software construction market?

是的。嘿，早安。我想問兩個更高層次的問題。如果我們先退後一步，我想問一下《亞利桑那 2》，我會看一下我多年來的筆記，其中有您談到的有關銷售貢獻的內容。我想應該是40萬，然後是25萬。但如果你看看北美 2024 財年的銷量，即使是兩年多的時間，我們談論的是 [150,000] 。那麼發生了什麼事讓你能夠全力以赴呢？你還少跑其他地方嗎？您如何看待軟體建立市場的未來銷售量？

Yeah. Well, let me comment. There's a couple of different questions in your question. So let me comment first on Arizona 2 and then we'll talk about kind of the run rate levels.

是的。好吧，讓我評論一下。您的問題中有幾個不同的問題。因此，讓我先評論一下《亞利桑那 2》，然後我們將討論運行率水準。

So it's clear in Arizona 2 that we've had some challenges. You can see that in the fact that we continue to have additional startup costs running through the system. Having said that I just want to remind everybody that we're doing a lot of very innovative things in this mill. And as in any case where you're innovating things don't happen linearly and that's what our experience has been.

很明顯，在《亞利桑那 2》中我們遇到了一些挑戰。您可以看到，事實上我們的系統仍然存在額外的啟動成本。話雖如此，我只是想提醒大家，我們在這家工廠做了很多非常創新的事情。在任何情況下，當你進行創新時，事情都不會線性發生，這就是我們的經驗。

However, what I would say is we are absolutely making progress and we feel very comfortable that we are going to be able to get this up to a full run rate, which is the expectation of our full run rate is 500,000 tons per annum and 150,000 tons of that being in the form of merchants so that we can serve our customers across the country on a merchant basis.

然而，我想說的是，我們絕對正在取得進展，我們感到非常放心，我們將能夠達到滿載運行率，即我們滿載運行率的預期是每年 50 萬噸和 15 萬噸。的形式存在，這樣我們就可以在商家的基礎上為全國各地的客戶提供服務。

We feel very comfortable in that. And based on what we can see, we believe and we're very confident that this mill is going to be a workhorse in our organization for years to come. So bear with us. It's not exactly where we wanted it to be. But I think we're confident we can get to a good place.

我們對此感到非常舒服。根據我們所看到的情況，我們相信並且非常有信心這家工廠將成為我們組織未來幾年的主力。所以請耐心等待。這並不完全是我們想要的地方。但我認為我們有信心能夠取得好成績。

In terms of the demand in the market, clearly, we are seeing some softness today and the softness that we're seeing today is really and again, when we talk about the first quarter, we're talking about really seasonal weakness. But it's clear to say Timna, that there's some -- that there is uncertainty out there.

就市場需求而言，顯然，我們今天看到了一些疲軟，而且今天看到的疲軟確實是一次又一次，當我們談論第一季時，我們談論的是真正的季節性疲軟。但蒂姆納可以明確地說，存在一些不確定性。

We are going to be a disciplined supplier to the market. And you've heard many talk about kind of value over volume will be disciplined in that regard. But we do expect and we are optimistic that the construction demand is going to be strong.

我們將成為市場上遵守紀律的供應商。你聽說過很多關於價值超過數量的討論將在這方面受到約束。但我們確實預期並且樂觀地認為建築需求將會強勁。

And certainly if you kind of talk about timing, we're -- we think we are in for a period of uncertainty over the next several months. But the back half of the year could be quite strong. And that's strength across all of our major segments, infrastructure, non-res and residential. So hopefully that answers your question.

當然，如果你談論時機，我們認為未來幾個月我們將處於不確定的時期。但今年下半年可能相當強勁。這就是我們所有主要領域、基礎設施、非資源和住宅領域的優勢。希望這能回答你的問題。

Yeah, thanks a lot of parts and I appreciate it. So we'll see more of easy to potentially second half. And then the other question or question is just around Europe. So I get that Germany is particularly weak and you're not getting too much improvement there. And I get that you also talked about on self-help, which is great, but what if, Germany isn't on a quick path to recover and this continues, like what options do you consider that you have? What would you model if you were in our seat? I mean, how should we think about the sustainability of this kind of business it's been tough. I get it. But what are your options that you think higher level?

是的，謝謝很多零件，我很感激。所以我們會在下半場看到更多容易的事情。然後另一個問題就在歐洲。所以我知道德國特別弱而且你在那裡沒有得到太多的進步。我知道你也談到了自助，這很好，但是如果德國沒有走上快速復甦的道路並且這種情況持續下去怎麼辦，比如你認為你有什麼選擇？如果你坐在我們的座位上，你會建模什麼？我的意思是，我們應該如何考慮這種業務的可持續性，這很困難。我得到它。但你認為更高層次的選擇是什麼？

Yeah. Well, look, I mean, I just want to remind everybody that this business has been a fantastic contributor to CMC over time. And if we look at it over the long term, it's generated returns well in excess of its cost of capital. If you look at it in the '23 time frame it generated over $300 million of EBITDA.

是的。好吧，我的意思是，我只是想提醒大家，隨著時間的推移，這項業務一直為 CMC 做出了巨大的貢獻。如果我們從長遠來看，它產生的回報遠遠超過其資本成本。如果你看一下 23 年的時間範圍，它產生了超過 3 億美元的 EBITDA。

So it's been a meaningful contributor and it brings a lot to our company in terms of both construction trends and also steel making skills. I mean, if you ask the people in our North American business where some of the best steelmakers in the company are, they'll say in Poland.

因此，它是一個有意義的貢獻者，在建築趨勢和鋼鐵製造技能方面為我們公司帶來了很多。我的意思是，如果你問我們北美業務的人員，公司裡一些最好的鋼鐵製造商在哪裡，他們會說在波蘭。

So we're learning -- we learn a lot from what they've been doing in part because of the environment that they're in. We -- our current pace or our current belief is that Germany should start to see some signs of recovery, either late 2025 or coming into 2026. That's what seems to be the consensus based on the number of conversations that we've had.

所以我們正在學習——我們從他們所做的事情中學到了很多東西，部分原因是他們所處的環境。 ，要不是2025 年末，就是2026 年。

On that basis, we are we are committed, we're absolutely committed to this group and it's a core part of our business. And again, one of the things that we really love about this team is that they're not settling for kind of the results that they currently have. We are continuing to work on the convergence to break even. And based on what we've seen out of this team, we have every confidence that they're going to achieve that.

在此基礎上，我們致力於，我們絕對致力於這個團隊，它是我們業務的核心部分。再說一遍，我們真正喜歡這支球隊的事情之一是他們並不滿足於目前的成績。我們正在繼續努力實現收支平衡。根據我們從這個團隊中看到的情況，我們完全有信心他們將實現這一目標。

And the last thing I would say, Timna is that given the cost improvement that these guys have been able to demonstrate in the operation when there is a recovery, the profitability should come back a lot quicker. I mean, if you look at the utilization rates that they're running at and the conversion costs that they've been able to maintain, this is a low cost operation and we're confident in that. So thank you.

我要說的最後一件事是，Timna，考慮到這些人在經濟復甦時能夠在營運中展示出的成本改善，獲利能力應該會更快恢復。我的意思是，如果你看看他們正在運行的利用率以及他們能夠維持的轉換成本，這是一項低成本運營，我們對此充滿信心。所以謝謝你。

Okay. Thank you for the color.

好的。謝謝你的顏色。

Tristan Gresser, BNP Paribas Exane.

特里斯坦·格雷瑟，法國巴黎銀行 Exane。

Yes. Hi, good morning and thank you for taking my questions. The first one is on the demand environment. So, I understand that the pocket of weakness, you mentioned that we are in the middle of because of the election. But in your presentation, you downgraded the estimated potential impact on rebar demand from infrastructure, I believe before you were thinking it could increase rebar demand by 15%, 17% roughly 1.5 million ton, 1.4 million ton and now you have it down to 8%, 12%. So 0.6 million tons or 0.9 million ton.

是的。你好，早安，謝謝你回答我的問題。第一個是關於需求環境。所以，我理解你提到的弱點，我們因為選舉而陷入困境。但在您的演講中，您降低了基礎設施對螺紋鋼需求的潛在影響，我相信在您認為這可能會使螺紋鋼需求增加15%、17% 大約150 萬噸、140 萬噸之前，現在您已將其降至 8 %、12%。所以60萬噸或90萬噸。

So quite a bit downgrade. My understanding that the issue with the infrastructure was more timing than anything, but apparently the scale of it is also, being revised now. So I was curious to see why you're looking at this a bit more cautiously, more than timing.

所以降級了不少。我的理解是，基礎設施的問題比任何事情都更重要，但顯然它的規模現在也在修改。所以我很好奇為什麼你會更謹慎地看待這個問題，而不是時間安排。

Yeah, it's a great question and I'll start and then Paul can add if I miss anything. But so we have been looking and trying to calibrate the question of what is the inflationary impact we've been through a period of high inflation on the actual infrastructure dollars that are spent. And our work and it was interesting, there's a recent article out by PCA that suggests that the inflationary impact on the infrastructure spend could be somewhere in the range of 25% to 30%.

是的，這是一個很好的問題，我會開始，如果我錯過了什麼，保羅可以補充。但我們一直在尋找並試圖校準這樣一個問題：我們經歷了一段高通膨時期，對實際基礎設施支出有何影響。我們的工作很有趣，PCA 最近發表的一篇文章表明，通貨膨脹對基礎設施支出的影響可能在 25% 到 30% 之間。

And depending on the time, I think you can, in some cases, you can look at it as a 20% to 30% range. But call it as you will 25% to 30% impact on that. That seems to corroborate what we have seen or what we are seeing in the market and the analysis that we've done and so as a consequence, we have adjusted our expectation.

根據時間的不同，我認為在某些情況下，你可以將其視為 20% 到 30% 的範圍。但稱它為你將對此產生 25% 到 30% 的影響。這似乎證實了我們所看到的或我們在市場上看到的以及我們所做的分析，因此我們調整了我們的期望。

Now, part of this it's a, this is not an easy estimate to come up with because as you know, not all highway spending is federal, some of it is coming from the states and the states have been increasing their spend budgets.

現在，其中一部分是，這不是一個容易做出的估計，因為如您所知，並非所有高速公路支出都是聯邦政府的，其中一些來自各州，而各州一直在增加支出預算。

And the other thing too is inflation is now falling. So this is a moving target. So we have been kind of working to try to figure out what is the actual impact on the actual rebar tons that will be impacted. And this is the conclusion that we've come to and that's why we are adjusting that number.

另一件事是通貨膨脹現在正在下降。所以這是一個移動的目標。因此，我們一直在努力弄清楚對受影響的實際螺紋鋼噸數有何實際影響。這是我們得出的結論，也是我們調整該數字的原因。

Now, having said that Tristan, I want to just highlight the fact that it's still a huge number. And we think that is something that's going to underpin our company results over years to come. And if you look at some of the recent data points out there about the amount of infrastructure spending that there has been, we've got something like 80% of the spending to go.

現在，說到特里斯坦，我想強調一個事實：它仍然是一個巨大的數字。我們認為這將支撐我們公司未來幾年的表現。如果你看一下最近的一些關於基礎設施支出金額的數據，你會發現我們大約有 80% 的支出尚未完成。

So yes, I know it took longer to come. It took longer than we expected for it to come. But the reality is it's here now, we're seeing it, we're seeing it across all of our geographies and we think it's going to remain strong. So anyway, I hope that gives some clarity to you and Paul?

所以是的，我知道需要更長的時間才能到來。它到來的時間比我們預期的要長。但現實是它現在就在這裡，我們正在看到它，我們在我們所有的地區都看到它，我們認為它將保持強勁。不管怎樣，我希望這能讓你和保羅明白一些？

I think that hits.

我認為這很有效。

Yeah. Thank you for that. That's really helpful and clear and I understand it's not an easy estimate to come up with. And my second question on the merchant bar market, it seems de-corelated a bit with rebar I mean, we've seen better pricing performance. It looks like in Europe volumes are better maybe in the US as well. So trying to get a bit, we talk a lot about rebar, but I was interested to get your perspective on the supply and demand dynamics in the US for merchant bar, if it's possible. Thank you.

是的。謝謝你。這確實很有幫助且清晰，我知道這不是一個容易做出的估計。我關於商業棒材市場的第二個問題，它似乎與螺紋鋼有點脫鉤，我的意思是，我們已經看到了更好的定價表現。看起來歐洲的銷售量比較好，也許美國也是如此。因此，我們想了解一下，我們談論了很多關於螺紋鋼的問題，但如果可能的話，我有興趣了解您對美國商業棒材供需動態的看法。謝謝。

Yeah, there's so -- the demand -- I would characterize the demand really kind of with what I say about rebar. It's good, it's not great. There are, kind of again, you know that business goes mostly through service centers, service center inventories are low and given some of the uncertainty that's affecting kind of our broader business. I think that's also affecting the merchant market.

是的，確實有這樣的需求，我會用我所說的螺紋鋼來描述這種需求。這很好，但也不是很好。再說一遍，您知道業務主要透過服務中心進行，服務中心庫存很低，並且考慮到影響我們更廣泛業務的一些不確定性。我認為這也影響了商業市場。

And you've seen there's been some recent kind of price adjustments in the merchant market. And in fact, we would say that the merchant market has been, kind of a bigger cause of the recent decline in margins than the rebar market have.

您已經看到商業市場最近出現了一些價格調整。事實上，我們可以說，與螺紋鋼市場相比，商業市場是近期利潤率下降的更大原因。

So put another way, rebar has actually been a little bit more stable in the current market than merchant is. In general, we think it's a great product. We think it's obviously a core part of our portfolio and we think we have high confidence in the ability to generate good returns from those products.

換句話說，螺紋鋼在當前市場上實際上比商人更穩定一些。總的來說，我們認為這是一個很棒的產品。我們認為這顯然是我們投資組合的核心部分，並且我們對從這些產品中產生良好回報的能力充滿信心。

All right, perfect. Thank you very much.

好吧，完美。非常感謝。

Phil Gibbs, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Phil Gibbs，KeyBanc 資本市場。

Hey, good morning,

嘿，早安，

Hey, Phil.

嘿，菲爾。

Morning Phil.

早上好，菲爾。

Can you just -- I know you may have made comments on it already? But can you just remind us where you're setting your fiscal '25 CapEx budget? And how much of that is dedicated to some of these newer growth projects that you have on the horizon.

你能——我知道你可能已經對此發表了評論嗎？但您能否提醒我們您在哪裡設定 25 財年資本支出預算？其中有多少專門用於即將到來的一些新的增長項目。

Yeah, Phil, thanks for the question. Yes, we guided towards, in the range of $630 million to $680 million with the preponderance of that clearly being related to steel, West Virginia. There's really three buckets of spend that we have. We have what I classify as our normal maintenance CapEx and that's got more than just maintenance, but it also includes some smaller improvement type projects, but that runs at an annual level of around $250 million.

是的，菲爾，謝謝你的提問。是的，我們的指導金額在 6.3 億至 6.8 億美元之間，其中大部分顯然與西維吉尼亞州的鋼鐵相關。我們實際上有三桶支出。我將其歸類為正常維護資本支出，這不僅僅是維護，還包括一些較小的改進類型項目，但每年的運作水準約為 2.5 億美元。

And then you've got a bucket of growth outside the large projects. And for next year, that's going to be in that sort of $80 million to $100 million range and then the balance of it is going to be steel West Virginia. So we got some exciting organic growth projects that have very attractive returns. And so that's what's driving the CapEx in 2025 to be higher than where we've historically been.

然後你就會在大型專案之外獲得一桶成長。明年，這筆金額將在 8,000 萬至 1 億美元之間，其餘部分將用於西維吉尼亞州的鋼鐵生產。因此，我們獲得了一些令人興奮的有機成長項目，這些項目具有非常有吸引力的回報。這就是推動 2025 年資本支出高於歷史水準的原因。

And then when you look at in inorganic opportunities, it certainly seems like a pillar or a focus of your team to continue to consummate in the years ahead. Do you have a view of whether or not this is going to be something you necessarily need to do annually? I know that there always has to be a meeting of the minds on the target and timing and valuation. But do you want to do, one a year, two a year, I mean how big of a commitment should we think you're making inorganic opportunities as you grow that profile?

然後，當您審視無機機會時，它肯定看起來像是您的團隊在未來幾年繼續完善的支柱或焦點。您是否認為這是否是您每年都需要做的事情？我知道，始終必須就目標、時機和估值達成共識。但你想做嗎，一年一次，一年兩次，我的意思是，隨著你的形像不斷提升，我們認為你正在創造無機機會，你應該做出多大的承諾？

Well, Phil, I would say we're committed for sure, but I would say we're going to be -- we're going to value discipline over pace. So, we're not going to rush into doing things that we don't think, make economic sense just to get something done. And again, in our situation, I think it's really important that we prioritize discipline.

好吧，菲爾，我會說我們肯定會承諾，但我會說我們將 - 我們將重視紀律而不是速度。因此，我們不會急於去做那些我們認為沒有經濟意義的事情，只是為了完成某件事。再說一次，在我們的情況下，我認為我們優先考慮紀律非常重要。

So that's going to be our goal. But we see a lot of -- on the positive side in terms of momentum there, we see a lot of areas that are potentially interesting areas that are kind of product categories that are coming into a construction site at the same time that we are, so at the same time as our geogrid, at the same time as our rebars coming into the construction site, high margins take advantage of some of these mega trends in the industry, like shortage of labor and so forth.

這將是我們的目標。但我們看到了很多——就勢頭而言，積極的一面，我們看到很多潛在有趣的領域，這些領域是與我們同時進入建築工地的產品類別，因此，在我們的土工格柵、我們的鋼筋進入建築工地的同時，高利潤利用了行業中的一些大趨勢，例如勞動力短缺等。

And we think that those businesses can be really nice complements to what we're doing. And again, pull our overall margins higher, give us a broader portfolio of products and that we can over the longer term develop real synergies between.

我們認為這些業務可以很好地補充我們正在做的事情。再次，提高我們的整體利潤率，為我們提供更廣泛的產品組合，從長遠來看，我們可以在兩者之間發展真正的協同效應。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you, Phil.

謝謝你，菲爾。

And due to time constraints, I'd like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Matt. Please go ahead with your closing remarks.

由於時間有限，我想將會議重新交給馬特先生。請繼續您的結束語。

Okay. Thank you everyone for joining. At CMC, we remain confident that our best days are ahead. The combination of the structural demand trends we have noted, operational and commercial excellence initiatives to strengthen our through the cycle performance and value accretive growth opportunities, create an exciting future for our company. We are committed to a balanced capital allocation strategy that includes investments in our company's future and a return of capital to our shareholders.

好的。感謝大家的加入。在 CMC，我們仍然充滿信心，我們最好的日子就在前方。我們注意到的結構性需求趨勢、營運和商業卓越計劃相結合，增強了我們整個週期的績效和價值增值成長機會，為我們公司創造了令人興奮的未來。我們致力於平衡的資本配置策略，包括對公司未來的投資和對股東的資本回報。

Thank you for joining us on today's call.

感謝您參加今天的電話會議。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。