Commercial Metals Co (CMC) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Hello and welcome, everyone, to the fiscal 2025 third-quarter 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.

大家好，歡迎參加 CMC 2025 財年第三季財報電話會議。參加今天電話會議的還有 CMC 總裁兼執行長 Peter Matt 和資深副總裁兼財務長 Paul Lawrence。

Today's materials, including the press release and supplemental slides that accompany this call can be found on CMC's Investor Relations website. Today's call is being recorded. After the company's remarks, we will have a question-and-answer session, and we'll have a few instructions at that time.

今天的資料，包括新聞稿和本次電話會議的補充幻燈片，可以在 CMC 的投資者關係網站上找到。今天的通話正在錄音。公司發言結束後，我們將會有一個問答環節，屆時我們會有一些指示。

I would like to remind all participants that today's discussion contains forward-looking statements, including with respect to economic conditions, effects of legislation and trade actions, US steel import levels, construction activity, demand for finished steel products, the expected capabilities, benefits, cost and time line for construction of new facilities, the company's operations, the company's strategic growth plan and its anticipated benefits, legal proceedings, the company's future results of operations, financial measures, and capital spending. These statements reflect the company's beliefs based on current conditions but are subject to risks and uncertainties.

我想提醒所有參與者，今天的討論包含前瞻性陳述，包括有關經濟狀況、立法和貿易行動的影響、美國鋼鐵進口水平、建築活動、成品鋼需求、預期能力、效益、新設施建設成本和時間表、公司運營、公司戰略增長計劃及其預期效益、法律訴訟、公司未來經營業績、財務指標和資本支出等。這些聲明反映了公司基於當前情況的信念，但受風險和不確定性的影響。

The company's earnings release, most recent annual report on Form 10-K and other filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission contain additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements.

該公司的收益報告、最新的 10-K 表年度報告以及向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件包含有關可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中預測的結果存在重大差異的因素的補充資訊。

Except as required by law, CMC does not assume any obligation to update, amend, or clarify these statements. 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.

除法律要求外，CMC 不承擔更新、修改或澄清這些聲明的任何義務。一些呈現的數字將是非 GAAP 財務指標，這些數字的對帳可以在公司的收益報告、補充幻燈片演示或公司網站上找到。除非另有說明，否則所有提及的年末或季末均指本公司的財政年度或財務季度。

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

現在，我將把開場白和介紹交給彼得。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining CMC's third-quarter earnings conference call. Before jumping directly into a discussion of the quarter, I would like to take a moment to zoom out and offer some broader insights regarding where we see our company today, where we envision taking CMC in the future, and importantly, why we believe CMC offers a compelling investment thesis.

大家早安，感謝大家參加 CMC 第三季財報電話會議。在直接討論本季之前，我想花點時間放眼全局，提供一些更廣泛的見解，包括我們目前對公司的看法、我們對 CMC 未來的展望，以及重要的是，為什麼我們認為 CMC 提供了令人信服的投資論點。

Today, CMC is a leader in most of the markets in which we compete, supported by our exposure to attractive and growing geographies, strong customer relationships, and exceptional operational capabilities. Additionally, our core domestic long steel markets are benefiting from industry consolidation and favorable trade policy which we believe will underpin structurally enhanced margins through the cycle.

如今，CMC 在我們參與競爭的大多數市場中都處於領先地位，這得益於我們在有吸引力且不斷增長的地區的業務、強大的客戶關係以及卓越的營運能力。此外，我們的核心國內長鋼市場正受益於產業整合和有利的貿易政策，我們相信這將支撐整個週期中結構性增強的利潤率。

On the demand side, we expect powerful tailwinds from long-term secular trends that will drive construction investment for years to come. From this position of competitive strength and attractive end market exposure, we are now moving forward with the execution of a game-changing strategy intended to meaningfully and permanently enhance CM's financial profile and turbocharge value-accretive growth.

在需求方面，我們預期長期趨勢將帶來強勁的順風，推動未來幾年的建築投資。從這個競爭優勢和具有吸引力的終端市場曝光度出發，我們現在正在推進一項改變遊戲規則的策略的執行，旨在有意義地、永久地提升 CM 的財務狀況並推動增值成長。

We are aiming to deliver higher, more stable margins and cash flows through the cycle as well as a step change in returns on capital. I believe the strategic actions CMC is taking and the course we are traveling provides a compelling opportunity for investors. Successful execution of our strategy should result in margin and cash flow levels well above what we think are currently priced into our shares.

我們的目標是在整個週期中實現更高、更穩定的利潤率和現金流，並實現資本回報率的逐步變化。我相信 CMC 正在採取的策略行動和我們正在走的路線為投資者提供了一個極具吸引力的機會。如果我們的策略成功實施，利潤率和現金流水準將遠高於我們認為目前股價所反映的水準。

Now let's jump into our third-quarter results. CMC reported net earnings of $83.1 million or $0.73 per diluted share on net sales of $2 billion. The result included $1.3 million of after-tax charges, which Paul will take you through in more detail. Excluding these items, adjusted earnings were $84.4 million or $0.74 per diluted share.

現在讓我們來看看第三季的業績。CMC 報告稱，淨銷售額為 20 億美元，淨利潤為 8,310 萬美元，即每股收益 0.73 美元。結果包括 130 萬美元的稅後費用，保羅將向您詳細介紹。除這些項目外，調整後收益為 8,440 萬美元，即每股收益 0.74 美元。

We generated consolidated core EBITDA of $204.1 million and a core EBITDA margin of 10.1%, both of which improved meaningfully on a sequential basis. We believe that the second quarter of fiscal 2025 marked a trough and expect business conditions for each segment will continue to improve from those levels.

我們實現了 2.041 億美元的合併核心 EBITDA 和 10.1% 的核心 EBITDA 利潤率，這兩個數字均比上一季顯著提高。我們認為，2025 財年第二季標誌著一個低谷，預計各部門的經營狀況將從這一水平繼續改善。

Turning now to CMC's markets in North America, the construction and industrial activity that drive consumption of our products was resilient during the quarter, which resulted in year-over-year growth of finished steel shipments.

現在轉向 CMC 在北美的市場，推動我們產品消費的建築和工業活動在本季度表現出色，導緻成品鋼出貨量同比增長。

Despite concerns regarding tariffs and related economic uncertainty, we experienced an encouraging degree of stability across each of our key internal leading indicators, including project bids, new awards and backlog volumes.

儘管對關稅和相關的經濟不確定性存在擔憂，但我們每個關鍵內部領先指標（包括項目投標、新授予和積壓訂單量）都保持了令人鼓舞的穩定性。

Downstream bid volumes, our best gauge of the construction pipeline remained robust during the quarter and pointed to the continued accumulation of substantial amounts of pent-up demand across several nonresidential end markets which we believe should be unlocked by reduced economic uncertainty and lower interest rates. This observation is supported by on-the-ground activity and by the Dodge Momentum Index which sits near an all-time high and reflects improving planning activity in a broad range of nonresidential structures.

下游投標量是我們衡量本季建築管道狀況的最佳指標，該指標保持強勁，並表明多個非住宅終端市場持續積累大量被壓抑的需求，我們認為，經濟不確定性的降低和利率的降低將釋放這些需求。這項觀察結果得到了實地活動和道奇動量指數的支持，該指數接近歷史最高水平，反映了廣泛的非住宅建築規劃活動的改善。

We believe there are also signals indicating pent-up demand exists in the residential segment where despite uncertainty, higher rates and new household formation below expectations, single-family starts have been sustained at a rate above pre-COVID levels.

我們認為，也有訊號顯示住宅領域存在被壓抑的需求，儘管存在不確定性、利率上升和新家庭組成低於預期，但單戶住宅開工率仍維持在新冠疫情之前的水平以上。

Unlike the hesitation we are observing within certain areas of the nonresidential and residential market segments, demand from infrastructure activity is strengthening, particularly across our key Sunbelt states. Remember, not only is this segment the single largest consumer of rebar, but it is also far less sensitive to economic concerns and the level of interest rates. We expect growth in infrastructure activity to continue for at least the next couple of years.

與我們在非住宅和住宅市場某些領域觀察到的猶豫不同，基礎設施活動的需求正在增強，特別是在我們的主要陽光地帶各州。請記住，這一領域不僅是螺紋鋼的最大消費者，而且對經濟問題和利率水準的敏感度也低得多。我們預計基礎設施活動的成長至少在未來幾年內仍將持續。

In taking stock of the current situation, there is little doubt that the impact of economic uncertainty and elevated interest rates are hanging over our markets. But I would note two things. One, tariffs are just the latest flavor of uncertainty that the industry has had to manage through; and two, we have been living in a high interest rate environment for more than 2.5 years.

評估當前情勢，毫無疑問，經濟不確定性和高利率的影響正籠罩著我們的市場。但我想指出兩點。一是，關稅只是該行業必須應對的最新不確定因素；二是，我們已經在高利率環境中生活了兩年半多。

Despite these factors, rebar consumption remains at a historically strong level of within 5% to 6% of the post-GFC peak. This trend highlights the attractive resilience of our primary end markets as well as the upside potential for demand if certain impediments are removed.

儘管存在這些因素，螺紋鋼消費量仍處於歷史強勁水平，與全球金融危機後的峰值相比仍高出 5% 至 6%。這一趨勢凸顯了我們主要終端市場的吸引力以及消除某些障礙後需求的上行潛力。

Looking beyond the near-term environment, we continue to expect strong structural drivers to support construction activity over a multiyear period. These trends include investment in our nation's infrastructure, reshoring industrial capacity growth in energy generation and transmission, the build-out of AI infrastructure as well as addressing a US housing shortage of 2 million to 4 million units.

放眼短期環境之外，我們仍然預期強勁的結構性驅動因素將在多年內支撐建築活動。這些趨勢包括對我國基礎設施的投資、能源生產和輸送領域的工業產能成長回流、人工智慧基礎設施的建設以及解決美國 200 萬至 400 萬套住房短缺的問題。

As noted on slide 8 of the supplemental presentation, over $1.6 trillion of corporate investments across AI, manufacturing, shipping and logistics, and energy have been announced in calendar 2025. Commencement of even a handful of the related mega projects could provide a meaningful catalyst for rebar consumption in the months or quarters ahead.

正如補充簡報第 8 張投影片中所述，2025 年，企業在人工智慧、製造、航運和物流以及能源領域的投資將超過 1.6 兆美元。即使只有少數相關大型專案的開工，也可能為未來幾個月或幾季的螺紋鋼消費提供有意義的催化劑。

Moving on to profitability. We experienced a good sequential recovery in North American steel product metal margins during the quarter. Long steel pricing rebounded earlier in the calendar year on the back of a rising scrap market, and we have been able to maintain these higher levels even as scrap pricing declined significantly in April and May. We exited the quarter at a much higher margin level than we entered and given good seasonal demand and favorable trade backdrop, we expect to further expand margins through the fourth quarter.

邁向盈利。本季度，北美鋼鐵產品金屬利潤率出現了良好的連續復甦。在廢鋼市場上漲的推動下，長材價格在今年稍早反彈，即使 4 月和 5 月廢鋼價格大幅下跌，我們仍能維持較高的水平。本季結束時我們的利潤率遠高於本季開始時的利潤率，鑑於良好的季節性需求和有利的貿易背景，我們預計第四季的利潤率將進一步提高。

Before I move on to our other segments, I would like to briefly address the potential impact of tariffs on our business in North America. On the supply side, we are benefiting from a reduced level of steel imports into the domestic market as a result of the elimination of previous Section 232 exemptions and subsequent to the quarter end, an increase in -- of the effective levy rate to 50%. While we do not know how long these policies will remain in effect, they should support steel pricing for their duration.

在談到我們的其他部門之前，我想先簡單談談關稅對我們北美業務的潛在影響。在供應方面，由於取消了先前「第 232 條」的豁免，並且在本季度末，有效徵稅率提高至 50%，導致國內市場鋼鐵進口量減少，這使我們受益。雖然我們不知道這些政策將持續多久，但它們應該會在有效期內支撐鋼鐵價格。

On the demand side, we would separate the effect of the tariffs into near-term observed impacts and longer-term expected impacts.

在需求方面，我們將關稅的影響分為近期觀察到的影響和長期預期的影響。

In the near term, as I already mentioned, there is increased uncertainty causing delays in some projects not under contract. From a longer-term perspective, we see tariffs as a single component of a broader program that includes changes to tax, regulatory energy, and trade policy aimed at stimulating domestic investment which could meaningfully benefit construction activity.

就短期而言，正如我已經提到的，不確定性增加導致一些未簽訂合約的專案出現延誤。從長遠來看，我們認為關稅是更廣泛計劃的一個組成部分，該計劃包括稅收、監管能源和貿易政策的變化，旨在刺激國內投資，這可能對建築活動產生重大影響。

With regards to operating costs, we anticipate the impact of tariffs to be modest as we source primarily from domestic suppliers. The impact on capital costs should also be modest. In the case of Steel West Virginia, our largest capital project, almost all of the imported equipment is already in the US. I want to publicly thank our very capable procurement team for all of their efforts over the last 2.5 months. They were able to quickly digest and analyze each tariff twist and turn providing management with a clear understanding of the implications.

就營運成本而言，我們預計關稅的影響較小，因為我們主要從國內供應商採購。對資本成本的影響也應該是適度的。就我們最大的資本項目西維吉尼亞鋼鐵廠而言，幾乎所有進口設備都已在美國。我要公開感謝我們非常有能力的採購團隊在過去 2.5 個月所做的所有努力。他們能夠快速消化和分析每個關稅的變動，讓管理階層清楚了解其影響。

While on the topic of trade, you may have already seen that an important trade case was filed with the US International Trade Commission two weeks ago by a coalition of domestic rebar producers. The petition alleges exporters located in Algeria, Bulgaria, Egypt, and Vietnam, are guilty of dumping material into the US market and should be subject to corrective duties ranging from 25% to over 160%. Preliminary rulings on the countervailing and antidumping complaints are due August 28 and November 11, respectively.

談到貿易話題，您可能已經看到，兩週前國內鋼筋生產商聯盟向美國國際貿易委員會提起了一項重要的貿易訴訟。請願書指控阿爾及利亞、保加利亞、埃及和越南的出口商犯有向美國市場傾銷材料的罪行，應繳納 25% 至 160% 以上的糾正稅。反補貼和反傾銷投訴的初步裁決將分別於8月28日和11月11日作出。

Business conditions for our emerging businesses group are similar to those of our North America Steel Group, given a high degree of market overlap. During the quarter, we continued to see good levels of pipeline activity in the US demonstrated by healthy quoting rates and reports that engineers remain busy planning and designing projects.

由於市場重疊程度較高，我們新興業務集團的經營狀況與北美鋼鐵集團類似。在本季度，我們繼續看到美國管道活動的良好水平，這體現在健康的報價率和工程師仍在忙於規劃和設計專案的報告上。

That being said, we are seeing some hesitation among project owners to award new contracts and have experienced select project start delays. Again, similar to our North America Steel Group, this is not a new dynamic.

話雖如此，我們發現專案業主在授予新合約方面有些猶豫，部分專案啟動也出現了延遲。同樣，與我們的北美鋼鐵集團類似，這並不是什麼新鮮事。

One attractive element of the EBG segment is the fact that our solutions are currently underpenetrated in the market, which provides significant opportunities for growth as we drive product adoption in addition to market expansion. In our key proprietary products, we are winning share through a strong value proposition while maintaining solid margins.

EBG 部門的一個吸引人的因素是，我們的解決方案目前在市場上的滲透率還不夠高，這為我們在推動產品採用和市場擴張的同時，提供了巨大的成長機會。在我們的主要專有產品中，我們透過強大的價值主張贏得市場份額，同時保持穩定的利潤率。

During the quarter, shipments increased on a year-over-year basis for each of our primary proprietary offerings, including our InterAx, Geogrid, GalvaBar, ChromX, and CryoSTEEL reinforcing solutions as well as CMC anchoring systems. This is a strong indication that customers see the clear benefits these products bring to the job site.

本季度，我們每種主要專有產品的出貨量都較去年同期成長，包括我們的 InterAx、Geogrid、GalvaBar、ChromX 和 CryoSTEEL 加固解決方案以及 CMC 錨定係統。這有力地表明客戶看到了這些產品為工作現場帶來的明顯好處。

For example, our latest Geogrid solution is able to reduce construction cost duration and labor usage as well as CO2 emissions while extending the life of the asset being constructed. Our performance reinforcing steels make construction in difficult environments possible and are used where standard materials will fail.

例如，我們最新的土工格柵解決方案能夠減少施工成本、工期和勞動力使用以及二氧化碳排放，同時延長正在建造的資產的使用壽命。我們的高性能鋼筋使得在困難環境下施工成為可能，並可用於標準材料無法應用的領域。

The lineup we offer reaches a broad spectrum of critical applications and generally features greater versatility and lower cost than competing products. We remain confident that the combination of further product adoption and attractive end market exposures positions our emerging businesses group to achieve a consistent organic growth rate in the mid-single digits and EBITDA margins in the high teens.

我們提供的產品系列涵蓋廣泛的關鍵應用，並且通常比競爭產品具有更高的多功能性和更低的成本。我們仍然相信，進一步的產品採用和具有吸引力的終端市場曝光相結合，將使我們的新興業務集團實現中等個位數的持續有機增長率和高十幾個百分點的 EBITDA 利潤率。

Shifting gears to our Europe Steel Group, conditions continue to improve at a moderate pace compared to recent periods, largely as a function of reduced import flows of long steel products and growing demand from construction end markets. Better balance in the steel market provided space for our team to increase shipments to the highest level in nearly two years and capitalize on expanded metal margins.

轉向我們的歐洲鋼鐵集團，與近期相比，情況繼續以適度的速度改善，這主要是由於長鋼產品進口量減少以及建築終端市場需求成長。鋼鐵市場的更好平衡為我們的團隊提供了空間，使出貨量達到近兩年來的最高水平，並利用擴大的金屬利潤率。

Compared to the December low, metal margins in May were over $40 per ton higher, a clear demonstration of improved business conditions. We believe margins should hold their recent gains in the months ahead. This view incorporates some pickup in import activity, which has begun to occur for certain products.

與12月份的低點相比，5月份的金屬利潤率高出了每噸40多美元，這明顯表明商業狀況有所改善。我們相信，未來幾個月利潤率將維持近期漲幅。這種觀點反映了進口活動的回升，某些產品的進口活動已開始回升。

Next, I would like to provide an update on the execution of CMC's strategic plan. As we have stated previously, the goal of our strategy is to drive meaningful and permanent improvements to margins, cash flows and returns while reducing the volatility of our business. We are pursuing this objective along three paths: excellence in all we do, value-accretive organic growth, and capability enhancing inorganic growth.

接下來，我想向大家介紹一下CMC策略規劃的執行。正如我們之前所說，我們策略的目標是推動利潤率、現金流和回報的有意義和持久的改善，同時降低業務的波動性。我們透過三條途徑追求這個目標：追求卓越的一切、價值增值的有機成長、以及能力增強的無機成長。

Each path represents significant opportunity for CMC and the successful execution of all three will be game-changing in terms of the returns we generate on investment, the size of our company, and ultimately, the value we create for investors.

每條道路對 CMC 來說都代表著重大機遇，而這三條道路的成功執行將改變我們的投資回報、公司規模以及最終為投資者創造的價值。

Taking each strategic effort in turn, I'll start with excellence in all we do. We have discussed this publicly as our Transform, Advance, and Grow or TAG program to drive operational and commercial excellence, but it is more than that. Being excellent also means investing in our people to ensure CMC has the world-class team needed to execute all facets of our strategy and excel on a day-to-day basis.

就每一項策略努力而言，我將先從卓越做起。我們已經公開討論過這一點，將其作為我們的轉型、進步和成長或 TAG 計劃來推動營運和商業卓越，但它的意義遠不止於此。追求卓越也意味著投資我們的員工，以確保 CMC 擁有執行我們策略各個方面並在日常工作中表現出色所需的世界級團隊。

Focusing in on TAG, I am pleased with the early success we have achieved during the first three quarters of execution. Benefits have exceeded our targets, and we are confident in the program's potential to drive notable improvement to CMC's financial metrics. As outlined on slide 6, we expect our TAG efforts to yield approximately $50 million of EBITDA benefit in fiscal year 2025 relative to a fiscal year 2024 baseline.

專注於 TAG，我對我們在執行的前三個季度取得的早期成功感到高興。收益已超出我們的目標，我們相信該計劃有潛力顯著改善 CMC 的財務指標。如投影片 6 所述，我們預計，相對於 2024 財年基準，我們的 TAG 努力將在 2025 財年產生約 5,000 萬美元的 EBITDA 收益。

Looking ahead, we believe that initiatives we are now executing against will provide annual run rate EBITDA benefits of over $100 million when fully realized. These numbers are impactful but do not capture the full scope of TAG benefits we have planned.

展望未來，我們相信，我們目前正在實施的舉措一旦全部實現，將帶來超過 1 億美元的年運行率 EBITDA 收益。這些數字很有影響力，但並未涵蓋我們計劃的 TAG 效益的全部範圍。

We are just getting started, and we'll share more information and update our financial targets as the program progresses. These TAG initiatives should help support higher EBITDA and through-the-cycle margins for our business with only modest amounts of incremental capital.

我們才剛剛開始，隨著計劃的進展，我們將分享更多資訊並更新我們的財務目標。這些 TAG 舉措應該有助於僅以少量增量資本支持我們業務的更高 EBITDA 和全週期利潤率。

Our next strategic path to discuss is value-accretive organic growth, which should represent a meaningful source of new earnings and cash flow over the next several years. particularly as our Arizona 2 and Steel West Virginia mill investments reach full operations. We remain confident in the long-term success of both micro mill projects and expect a combined incremental EBITDA contribution of over $150 million compared to current levels.

我們要討論的下一個戰略路徑是價值增值的有機增長，這應該代表未來幾年新的盈利和現金流的重要來源，特別是當我們的亞利桑那 2 號工廠和西弗吉尼亞鋼鐵廠投資全面投入運營時。我們對這兩個微型工廠項目的長期成功充滿信心，並預計與當前水準相比，EBITDA 貢獻將增加 1.5 億美元以上。

I would note that capital expenditures for both facilities are reflected in our capital base which has hindered CMC's return on invested capital over the last several quarters, achieving targeted run rate profitability for these two investments would improve our ROIC by approximately 150 basis points, all else equal.

我要指出的是，這兩項設施的資本支出都反映在我們的資本基礎中，這阻礙了 CMC 在過去幾個季度的投資資本回報，如果這兩項投資實現目標運行率盈利，則在其他條件相同的情況下，我們的 ROIC 將提高約 150 個基點。

Importantly, we anticipate the completion of our Steel West Virginia micro mill, will conclude CMC's investments in new steelmaking capacity. With West Virginia in our footprint, CMC will operate a highly flexible manufacturing network featuring excellent geographical and product coverage and have no need of additional production capabilities for the foreseeable future. This best-in-class network is highly cash generative and allows us to invest for growth in other attractive areas of the business.

重要的是，我們預計西維吉尼亞鋼鐵微型工廠的竣工將結束 CMC 對新煉鋼產能的投資。憑藉西維吉尼亞州的業務，CMC 將經營一個高度靈活的製造網絡，具有出色的地理和產品覆蓋範圍，並且在可預見的未來不需要額外的生產能力。這個一流的網路具有很強的現金創造能力，使我們能夠投資於其他有吸引力的業務領域的成長。

Beyond our mills, we are making investments to meet customer demand and strengthen our core offerings by growing our capabilities in more specialized solutions particularly within our EBG segment. These undertakings include the expansion of CMC's post-tension cable production, adding a second GalvaBar coating line, and increasing Geogrid manufacturing capacity.

除了工廠之外，我們還在進行投資以滿足客戶需求，並透過提升我們在更專業解決方案方面的能力（特別是在 EBG 領域）來加強我們的核心產品。這些措施包括擴大 CMC 的後張拉索生產、增加第二條 GalvaBar 塗層生產線以及提高土工格柵的製造能力。

These investments and others like them require significantly less capital than our traditional steel business but generate high returns on capital and strong cash flows. We are making good progress on these projects and expect each of them to be placed into service over the next 18 months.

這些投資以及其他類似投資所需的資本比我們的傳統鋼鐵業務少得多，但卻能產生高資本回報和強勁的現金流。這些項目進展順利，預計每個項目都將在未來 18 個月內投入使用。

On the inorganic front, we remain interested in entering attractive adjacencies for our business where we believe we have an opportunity to offer immediate value given CMC's current customer knowledge, market positioning, operational capabilities, and the ability to win.

在無機方面，我們仍然有興趣進入對我們業務有吸引力的鄰近領域，我們相信，鑑於 CMC 當前的客戶知識、市場定位、營運能力和獲勝能力，我們有機會提供直接價值。

We are targeting segments of the $150 billion early-stage construction market that touch the types of projects we are already servicing and feature higher, more stable margins. We anticipate these adjacent markets will also benefit from the mega trends that are expected to drive construction activity for years to come.

我們的目標是價值 1500 億美元的早期建築市場，這些市場涉及我們已經服務的項目類型，並且利潤率更高、更穩定。我們預計這些鄰近的市場也將受益於未來幾年有望推動建築活動的大趨勢。

To give you a better understanding of the types of assets we would consider I'd like to share some high-level criteria we are using to evaluate inorganic opportunities. First, we won't stress the balance sheet, and we'll maintain a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio below 2 times. The ideal target is likely within a valuation range of $500 million to $750 million, which is appropriately sized from an integration, financial, and risk perspective. We want to establish a scalable business platform that offers increasing synergies as it grows, and it should have a high degree of geographical overlap with CMC's existing operations.

為了讓您更了解我們會考慮的資產類型，我想分享一些我們用來評估無機機會的高級標準。首先，我們不會對資產負債表造成壓力，並將淨債務與EBITDA比率維持在2倍以下。理想的目標可能在 5 億美元至 7.5 億美元的估值範圍內，從整合、財務和風險的角度來看，這個規模是合適的。我們希望建立一個可擴展的業務平台，隨著其發展提供越來越強的協同效應，並且它應該與 CMC 現有的業務具有高度的地理重疊。

Financially, we are looking for businesses with EBITDA margins above 20% and free cash flow conversion above current CMC levels. Targets fitting this criteria exist in attractive markets, and we will continue to prudently evaluate each opportunity.

從財務角度來看，我們正在尋找 EBITDA 利潤率高於 20% 且自由現金流轉換率高於目前 CMC 水準的企業。符合這項標準的目標存在於有吸引力的市場中，我們將繼續謹慎評估每個機會。

With that, I will turn it over to Paul.

說完這些，我會把麥克風交給保羅。

Thank you, Peter, and good morning to everyone on the call. As noted earlier, we reported fiscal third-quarter 2025 net earnings of $83.1 million or $0.73 per diluted share compared to net earnings of $119.4 million net earnings per diluted share of $1.02 in the prior year period.

謝謝你，彼得，電話裡的各位早安。如前所述，我們報告的 2025 財年第三季淨收益為 8,310 萬美元，即每股攤薄收益 0.73 美元，而去年同期的淨收益為 1.194 億美元，每股攤薄收益 1.02 美元。

Excluding estimated net after-tax charges of approximately $1.3 million, adjusted earnings for the quarter totaled $84.4 million or $0.74 per diluted share compared to $119.6 million or $1.02 per diluted share, respectively, in the prior year period.

不計約 130 萬美元的預計稅後淨費用，本季調整後收益總計 8,440 萬美元或每股攤薄收益 0.74 美元，而去年同期調整後收益總計 1.196 億美元或每股攤薄收益 1.02 美元。

These adjustments consisted of a $3.8 million pretax expense for interest on the judgment amount associated with the previously disclosed Pacific Steel Group litigation as well as a benefit from the settlement of a new market tax credit transaction.

這些調整包括 380 萬美元的稅前費用，用於支付與先前披露的太平洋鋼鐵集團訴訟相關的判決金額的利息以及新市場稅收抵免交易結算的收益。

Consolidated core EBITDA was $204.1 million for the third quarter of 2025, representing a decline from the $256.1 million generated during the prior year period. Slide 12 of the supplemental presentation illustrates the year-to-year changes in CMC's quarterly financial performance.

2025 年第三季合併核心 EBITDA 為 2.041 億美元，較去年同期的 2.561 億美元下降。補充簡報的第 12 張投影片展示了 CMC 季度財務表現的逐年變化。

Profitability at our North American Steel Group was negatively impacted by lower margins over scrap, while adjusted EBITDA at both our Europe Steel Group and Emerging Business Group increased compared to the third quarter of 2024. Consolidated core EBITDA margin of 10.1% compared to 12.3% in the prior year period.

廢鋼利潤率較低對我們北美鋼鐵集團的獲利能力產生了負面影響，而歐洲鋼鐵集團和新興業務集團的調整後 EBITDA 與 2024 年第三季相比均有所增加。合併核心 EBITDA 利潤率為 10.1%，而去年同期為 12.3%。

CMC's North American Steel Group generated adjusted EBITDA of $186 million for the quarter, equal to $161 per ton of finished steel shipped. Segment adjusted EBITDA decreased 24% compared to the prior year period, driven primarily by lower margin over scrap cost on steel and downstream products.

CMC 北美鋼鐵集團本季的調整後 EBITDA 為 1.86 億美元，相當於每運送一噸成品鋼材 161 美元。分部調整後息稅折舊攤提前利潤與去年同期相比下降了 24%，主要原因是鋼鐵和下游產品的廢料成本利潤率較低。

North American Steel Group adjusted EBITDA margin of 11.9% compares to 14.7% in the third quarter of 2024. Segment results improved on a sequential quarter basis as steel product margins expanded from their recent lows, and we experienced normal seasonal strength in volumes.

北美鋼鐵集團調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 11.9%，而 2024 年第三季為 14.7%。由於鋼鐵產品利潤率從近期低點回升，且銷量出現正常的季節性強勁增長，各部門業績環比有所改善。

As Peter mentioned, we believe our fiscal second quarter represented the trough for our financial performance, and we see improving volume and margin conditions ahead as we move through the 2025 construction season.

正如彼得所提到的，我們認為第二財季代表了我們財務表現的低谷，隨著 2025 年施工季節的到來，我們預計未來產量和利潤率狀況將會改善。

It's important to note that we exited the third quarter at a steel product metal margin of $518 per ton, which is $19 per ton higher than the quarter average. The combination of this higher exit rate, additional scrap cost reductions flowing through, and selling price increases should result in further metal margin expansion during the fourth quarter. Segment results benefited also from a number of TAG initiatives, including scrap optimization, alloy consumption reduction, process yield improvements, and logistics optimization.

值得注意的是，第三季末我們的鋼鐵產品金屬利潤為每噸 518 美元，比季度平均高出每噸 19 美元。更高的退出率、額外的廢料成本減少以及銷售價格的上漲，將導致第四季度金屬利潤率進一步擴大。該部門的業績還受益於一系列 TAG 舉措，包括廢料優化、合金消耗減少、製程產量提高和物流優化。

In recent quarters, we have reported unrealized losses related to our hedging positions in copper derivatives. The impact of these positions on the third quarter were not material. As indicated earlier, demand for long steel products was resilient during the quarter. Average daily shipments of finished steel increased by 3.2% compared to a year ago, while combined daily rebar shipments from CMC's mill and downstream operations grew by approximately 1.3%.

最近幾個季度，我們報告了與銅衍生性商品對沖頭寸相關的未實現損失。這些職位對第三季的影響並不重大。如前所述，本季長鋼產品需求強勁。與去年同期相比，成品鋼材的日均出貨量增加了 3.2%，而 CMC 鋼廠和下游業務的螺紋鋼日均出貨量則增加了約 1.3%。

Emerging Business Group third quarter net sales of $197.5 million increased by 4.7% on a year-over-year basis, while adjusted EBITDA of $40.9 million increased by 7%. The improvement was largely driven by strong demand for proprietary products within CMC's performance reinforcing steel division. This business has had success in penetrating several major infrastructure projects requiring enhanced lifespan, strength, and corrosion-resistant characteristics.

新興業務集團第三季​​淨銷售額為 1.975 億美元，年增 4.7%，調整後 EBITDA 為 4,090 萬美元，成長 7%。這一成長主要得益於 CMC 高性能鋼筋部門對專有產品的強勁需求。該業務已成功打入多個需要延長使用壽命、提高強度和耐腐蝕性能的大型基礎設施項目。

A higher mix of sales from performance reinforcing steel within EBG's total sales as well as continued adoption of Tensar's latest Geogrid solutions led to a 40 basis point improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2024.

EBG 總銷售額中高性能鋼筋的銷售額佔比更高，加上繼續採用 Tensar 最新的土工格柵解決方案，導致調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率與 2024 財年第三季相比提高了 40 個基點。

Financial performance of CMC's Tensar division was down modestly from a year ago due to delays in certain projects. However, I would note that the pipeline of Tensar remains solid, and we expect to re-establish growth on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter.

由於某些項目的延誤，CMC 坦薩部門的財務表現較一年前略有下降。不過，我要指出的是，坦薩的管道依然穩固，我們預計第四季將恢復年成長。

Adjusted EBITDA for the Construction Services and CMC impact metal divisions were little changed from a year ago. It is also worth noting that following several challenging quarters for Impact's core truck and trailer market, conditions have stabilized and are beginning to show early signs of recovery.

建築服務和 CMC 衝擊金屬部門的調整後 EBITDA 與一年前相比變化不大。還值得注意的是，Impact 的核心卡車和拖車市場在經歷了幾個充滿挑戰的季度之後，情況已經穩定下來，並開始出現復甦的早期跡象。

Turning to slide 15 of the supplemental deck, our Europe Steel Group reported adjusted EBITDA of $3.6 million for the third quarter of 2025 compared to a loss of $4.2 million in the prior year period. The improvement was driven by ongoing cost management efforts and a robust increase in shipment volumes.

翻到補充簡報的第 15 張投影片，我們的歐洲鋼鐵集團報告稱，2025 年第三季的調整後 EBITDA 為 360 萬美元，而去年同期的虧損為 420 萬美元。這項改善得益於持續的成本管理努力和出貨量的強勁成長。

Similar to recent quarters, the team in Poland continued to drive efficiency gains throughout the operations, with success in nearly every major cost category, including the labor actions discussed last quarter, consumable usage, maintenance, and overhead. These efforts have allowed the Europe Steel Group to remain roughly cash flow breakeven within a challenging market backdrop.

與最近幾季類似，波蘭團隊繼續推動整個營運過程的效率提升，幾乎在所有主要成本類別中都取得了成功，包括上個季度討論的勞動力行動、消耗品使用、維護和管理費用。這些努力使得歐洲鋼鐵集團在充滿挑戰的市場背景下仍能維持大致的現金流收支平衡。

Most of these improvements are permanent in nature and set us up well to capitalize on a market recovery. As Peter mentioned, during the quarter, we saw continued demand growth and a pullback in the levels of long steel imports into Poland. The combination of these two factors provided CMC the opportunity to achieve stronger shipping volumes.

這些改進大多是永久性的，為我們利用市場復甦奠定了良好的基礎。正如彼得所提到的，在本季度，我們看到需求持續成長，而波蘭長鋼進口量則有所回落。這兩個因素的結合為CMC實現了更大的運輸量。

Moving to the balance sheet. As of May 31, cash and cash equivalents totaled $893 million. In addition, we had approximately $834 million of availability under our credit and accounts receivable facilities bringing total liquidity to just over $1.7 billion.

轉到資產負債表。截至 5 月 31 日，現金及現金等價物總額為 8.93 億美元。此外，我們的信貸和應收帳款安排下還有約 8.34 億美元的可用資金，使總流動資金達到 17 億美元多一點。

Our cash position was augmented by the successful issuance of $150 million of tax-exempt bonds connected to CMC's Steel West Virginia project. This financing was raised in conjunction with the West Virginia Economic Development Authority and was priced at a very attractive rate of 4.625%.

由於成功發行了與 CMC 西維吉尼亞鋼鐵項目相關的 1.5 億美元免稅債券，我們的現金狀況得到了增強。此次融資是與西維吉尼亞州經濟發展局共同籌集的，利率為 4.625%，非常有吸引力。

During the quarter, we generated $154.4 million of cash from operating activities, which included a $19.7 million usage of cash for working capital. Capital expenditures of $89.5 million were largely driven by construction activity related to our Steel West Virginia micro mill project.

本季度，我們從營運活動中產生了 1.544 億美元的現金，其中包括 1,970 萬美元的營運資金現金。8,950 萬美元的資本支出主要來自與我們的西維吉尼亞鋼鐵微型工廠計畫相關的建設活動。

At quarter end, CMC's leverage and liquidity metrics remain very attractive. We believe our robust balance sheet and overall financial strength provide us the flexibility to finance our strategic organic growth projects and pursue opportunistic M&A while continuing to return cash to shareholders.

截至季末，CMC 的槓桿率和流動性指標仍然非常有吸引力。我們相信，我們強勁的資產負債表和整體財務實力使我們能夠靈活地為策略性有機成長項目提供資金並進行機會性併購，同時繼續向股東返還現金。

Turning to CMC's fiscal 2025 capital spending outlook. We now expect to invest between $425 million and $475 million in total. This is down from our previous guidance of between $550 million and $600 million, with the reduction related to the timing of certain expenditures at CMC's West Virginia project that have been delayed due to two primary factors.

談到 CMC 2025 財年的資本支出前景。我們現在預計總投資在 4.25 億美元至 4.75 億美元之間。這低於我們先前預測的 5.5 億至 6 億美元，減少的原因與 CMC 西維吉尼亞計畫某些支出的時間安排有關，這些支出由於兩個主要因素而被推遲。

The first factor relates to the pursuit and attainment of available tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act, which is expected to yield net benefits of approximately $80 million. To obtain these credits, CMC had to meet several criteria, causing us to temporarily slow construction as we evaluated contracts and vendor arrangements.

第一個因素涉及根據《通貨膨脹削減法案》尋求和獲得可用的稅收抵免，預計將產生約 8000 萬美元的淨收益。為了獲得這些信用，CMC 必須滿足幾個標準，這導致我們在評估合約和供應商安排時暫時放慢施工速度。

The second factor is the impact of weather delays incurred at the site. We have lost around 70 days of construction. Based on updated project schedule, we expect to begin melt shop production during the spring of calendar 2026.

第二個因素是現場天氣延誤的影響。我們的施工時間已損失了大約70天。根據更新的項目計劃，我們預計將於 2026 年春季開始熔煉車間生產。

As outlined on past earnings calls, CMC targets a prudent and balanced approach to capital allocation. Our first priority is value accretive growth that furthers our strategy and strengthens our business. Coming in a close second is providing our shareholders with an attractive level of cash distributions in the form of both dividends and share repurchases.

正如過去的收益電話會議所概述的那樣，CMC 的目標是採取審慎、均衡的資本配置方式。我們的首要任務是實現價值增值成長，以進一步推進我們的策略並加強我們的業務。緊隨其後的是，以股息和股票回購的形式為我們的股東提供有吸引力的現金分配。

To this end, CMC returned approximately $71 million to our shareholders during the third quarter. CMC repurchased approximately 1.1 million shares at an average price of $45.30 per share. As of May 31, we had $254.9 million available for repurchase under the current authorization.

為此，CMC在第三季向股東返還了約7,100萬美元。CMC 以每股 45.30 美元的平均價格回購了約 110 萬股。截至 5 月 31 日，根據目前授權，我們有 2.549 億美元可供回購。

This concludes my remarks, and I'll now turn it back to Peter for additional comments on CMC's financial outlook.

我的發言到此結束，現在我將把發言權交還給 Peter，請他進一步評論 CMC 的財務前景。

Thank you, Paul. We expect consolidated financial results in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 to improve compared to the third quarter.

謝謝你，保羅。我們預計 2025 財年第四季的綜合財務業績將較第三季有所改善。

Finished steel shipments within the North America Steel Group are anticipated to follow normal seasonal trends, while our adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to increase sequentially on higher steel product margins over scrap. Based on project backlog, we expect financial results for the emerging businesses group will improve on both a sequential and a year-over-year basis.

北美鋼鐵集團的成品鋼出貨量預計將遵循正常的季節性趨勢，而由於鋼鐵產品利潤率高於廢鋼，我們的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率預計將環比增長。根據專案積壓情況，我們預期新興業務集團的財務表現將比上一季及前一年有所改善。

Our Europe Steel Group will receive a CO2 credit of approximately $28 million during the fourth quarter as a result of a recently signed Polish legislation that divided payments related to calendar 2024 energy cost rebates into two tranches. We will receive the second tranche related to the calendar 2024 credit during the first quarter of fiscal 2026.

根據波蘭最近簽署的一項立法，將 2024 年與能源成本回扣相關的付款分為兩部分，我們的歐洲鋼鐵集團將在第四季度獲得約 2,800 萬美元的二氧化碳排放額度。我們將在 2026 財年第一季收到與 2024 年曆信貸相關的第二筆款項。

Excluding this credit, adjusted EBITDA for our Europe Steel Group should increase sequentially in the fourth quarter as we continue to benefit from improved market fundamentals and extensive cost management efforts. I am confident in CMC's long-term outlook and continue to believe in our ability to generate significant value for our shareholders. We are executing on several strategic initiatives, which we believe will deliver meaningful and sustained enhancements to our margins, cash flow, and return on capital.

除此之外，由於我們繼續受益於改善的市場基本面和廣泛的成本管理努力，我們歐洲鋼鐵集團的調整後 EBITDA 應該會在第四季度環比增加。我對 CMC 的長期前景充滿信心，並繼續相信我們有能力為股東創造巨大價值。我們正在實施多項策略性舉措，我們相信這些舉措將為我們的利潤率、現金流量和資本回報率帶來有意義且持續的提升。

We will achieve this by leveraging our tag operational and commercial excellence program to get more out of our existing enterprise completing value-accretive organic growth projects and adding complementary early-stage construction solutions that provide attractive new growth platforms. Taken together, we believe these efforts will position our company to take full advantage of powerful structural trends in the domestic construction market for years to come.

我們將透過利用我們的標籤營運和商業卓越計劃來實現這一目標，從我們現有的企業中獲得更多收益，完成增值有機增長項目，並添加互補的早期建設解決方案，提供有吸引力的新增長平台。總之，我們相信這些努力將使我們公司在未來幾年充分利用國內建築市場強大的結構趨勢。

I would like to conclude by thanking our customers for their trust and confidence in CMC and all of our employees for delivering yet another quarter of very solid safety and operational performance.

最後，我要感謝客戶對 CMC 的信任和信心，也感謝我們所有員工在本季度又取得了非常穩健的安全和營運績效。

(Operator Instructions) Sathish Kasinathan, Bank of America.

（操作員指示）Sathish Kasinathan，美國銀行。

My first question is on the steel products volumes in the North American segment. It seems the steel product volumes were only up like 7% sequentially in the third quarter versus the typical seasonal pickup of like 10% to 15%. Can you please talk about like what drove that? And is it timing of shipments? Or did you see impact related to the outages that you had in the third quarter? And as a follow-up, how should we think about the fourth-quarter volumes for the segment, both for steel products as well as downstream products?

我的第一個問題是關於北美地區的鋼鐵產品產量。看起來，第三季鋼鐵產品產量僅較上季成長 7%，而典型的季節性成長幅度為 10% 至 15%。您能談談是什麼原因導致的嗎？這是出貨時間嗎？或者您看到了與第三季停電相關的影響？接下來，我們該如何看待第四季鋼鐵產品及下游產品的銷售量？

Thanks, Sathish. Appreciate the question. It's a good one. So I just want to put out there that overall, we are pleased with our Q3 performance in North America, but it wasn't our best performance. We had some outages late in the quarter.

謝謝，薩蒂什。感謝你的提問。這是個好主意。所以我只想說，總的來說，我們對北美第三季的表現感到滿意，但這不是我們最好的表現。本季末我們遇到了一些停電事件。

And coming out of those outages, you know, there's always some challenges associated with that. We didn't come out of those outages as well as we could have. And as a consequence, we ended up not having the production that we were aiming for. We ended up with lower inventories and consequently higher costs.

你知道，在出現這些停電現象後，總是會有一些與之相關的挑戰。我們並沒有從這些停電事件中恢復過來。結果是，我們最終沒有達到預期的產量。我們的庫存最終減少，但成本卻隨之增加。

So that, together with the impact of the flow-through of scrap timing in our results, more than explains the miss in the North American Steel Group in terms of shipment volumes and in terms of profitability relative to the consensus out there.

因此，再加上廢料流通時間對我們業績的影響，這足以解釋北美鋼鐵集團在出貨量和獲利能力方面與普遍預期不符的原因。

I think the bottom line is that we're a company of great operators. We've kind of circled back in each of these situations. We understand exactly what happened, and we're set for a strong fourth quarter. So we feel very good about where we are.

我認為最重要的是我們是一家擁有優秀營運人員的公司。在每種情況下，我們都回到了原點。我們完全了解發生了什麼，並且我們已準備好迎接強勁的第四季度。因此，我們對目前的狀況感到非常滿意。

In terms of fourth-quarter volumes, I think you can expect them to be flattish to slightly up from where we are in the third quarter. And yeah, should -- the volume should follow a normal seasonal trend.

就第四季度的銷量而言，我認為可以預期它會與第三季度持平或略有上升。是的，交易量應該遵循正常的季節性趨勢。

Sathish, the only thing I would add is when we talk about finished steel tons, we combine steel products and downstream products because essentially, all those are coming off the mills, whether it's through directly to mill customers or to our own customers through the downstream sales. And those were up 10% in alignment with normal volume trends between Q2 and Q3.

薩蒂什，我唯一想補充的是，當我們談論成品鋼噸時，我們將鋼鐵產品和下游產品結合起來，因為本質上，所有這些都是從鋼廠出來的，無論是直接透過鋼廠客戶還是透過下游銷售給我們自己的客戶。這些成長了 10%，與第二季和第三季之間的正常交易量趨勢一致。

Yeah, understood. Thank you. Maybe my second question is on the US rebar pricing. We saw mills around a $60 price hike recently. Are you seeing prices gaining traction? And do you see further room for additional price hikes given where the import offers are?

是的，明白了。謝謝。我的第二個問題可能與美國螺紋鋼定價有關。我們最近看到工廠的價格上漲了約 60 美元。您是否看到價格上漲的勢頭？考慮到進口報價，您是否認為價格還有進一步上漲的空間？

Yeah. It's a great question. I want to just start by saying we don't talk directly about price, but I will make a few comments around this one. Look, as a company, we are in pursuit of commercial excellence. And what I mean by that is value over volume. We said that on prior calls, and that's -- it's a maniacal focus for our company.

是的。這是一個很好的問題。首先我想說的是，我們不直接談論價格，但我會對此發表一些評論。看，作為一家公司，我們追求商業卓越。我的意思是價值高於數量。我們在之前的電話會議上就說過，這是我們公司非常關注的重點。

In the context of the current situation, there's a balance that we have to strike. It's a balance between doing what -- are creating the best value for CMC and generating a good return on the sales that we're making. And secondly, balancing what's right for the customer; and thirdly, incentivizing Buy America.

在當前形勢下，我們必須取得平衡。這是一種平衡——為 CMC 創造最佳價值和為我們的銷售帶來良好的回報。其次，平衡顧客的利益；第三，激勵「購買美國貨」。

So we think we struck the right balance in coming up with the move that we made. This is something that we evaluate on a regular basis. We're going to continue to monitor it, and we'll make adjustments as appropriate.

因此，我們認為我們在採取這項措施時取得了正確的平衡。這是我們定期評估的事情。我們將繼續監控並做出適當的調整。

Tristan Gresser, BNP Paribas.

法國巴黎銀行的 Tristan Gresser。

First one, just on volumes as well. If you could provide us maybe an update on Arizona 2, the average utilization rate for this quarter, and maybe the target for the next fiscal year? And if I understand your comment correctly about the plus $150 million EBITDA improvement, would that mean that the facility is currently still at breakeven?

第一個，同樣只涉及音量。您能否向我們提供有關亞利桑那州 2 號的最新情況、本季的平均利用率以及下一財年的目標？如果我正確理解了您關於 1.5 億美元 EBITDA 改善的評論，這是否意味著該工廠目前仍處於盈虧平衡狀態？

Yeah, absolutely. So on Arizona 2, we made very good progress during the quarter, and I'm pleased with what the team has done that. We organized what we call internally a blitz. And the blitz was really a combination of resources internally and externally to kind of drive the business to generate -- or to prove that it can operate where we think it can operate and that it can do so in a reliable way.

是的，絕對是如此。因此，在亞利桑那 2 號專案上，我們在本季取得了非常好的進展，我對團隊所取得的成績感到滿意。我們組織了所謂的內部閃電戰。這次閃電戰實際上是內部和外部資源的結合，目的是推動業務發展——或者證明它可以在我們認為可以運營的地方運營，並且可以以可靠的方式運作。

I would say that the equipment is -- we're most of the way through kind of our confidence in the equipment. And we have a good line of sight to be able to say that we are fully through the equipment issues that we've had. And I'm also really pleased with the fact that we got our MBQ up to a run rate where we're producing 75% of the SKUs by volume at the plant.

我想說的是，設備是——我們對設備基本上充滿信心。我們有充分的認識可以說我們已經完全解決了所遇到的設備問題。我也很高興看到我們的 MBQ 達到了一定的運作率，工廠的 SKU 產量達到了 75%。

So remember, this is the first plant ever to produce merchant bar quality products. As we exit the year from where we sit today, we think we're going to be exiting at around 70% to 75% utilization. And -- but I know that's a little bit below what we've said before.

所以請記住，這是第一家生產商用酒吧品質產品的工廠。從目前的情況來看，我們認為今年的利用率將達到 70% 至 75% 左右。而且——但我知道這比我們之前所說的要低一點。

But I think given some of the challenges we've had and the focus that we put on merchant bar it makes sense to come out where we are. And we are confident that we can get the rest of the way there in early 2026. And I would also say that we do expect to have a profit in the fourth quarter at Arizona 2.

但我認為，考慮到我們面臨的一些挑戰以及我們對商家酒吧的關注，我們現在的做法是合理的。我們有信心在 2026 年初完成剩餘目標。我還要說的是，我們確實預計亞利桑那 2 號工廠第四季將實現盈利。

So all in all, good progress. We're working extremely hard, and I'm really proud of the job that the team has done to get to where we are.

總而言之，進展良好。我們工作非常努力，我為團隊取得今天的成就感到非常自豪。

All right. That's very clear. And maybe the targeted mix for next year? Do you expect to should still be very MBQ-driven mix? Or what would be the right way to think about it versus rebar?

好的。這非常清楚。或許這是明年的目標組合？您是否預計該組合仍將以 MBQ 為主導？或與鋼筋相比，如何正確思考它？

Yeah. I think that's going to emerge with the market conditions. As you know, the capacity of the plant is 500,000 tons, and our original plan was to make $350,000 of rebar and $150,000 of merchant bar. So I'd say kind of ordinary market conditions permitting, that's still our plan.

是的。我認為這會隨著市場狀況而出現。如您所知，該工廠的產能為 50 萬噸，我們最初的計劃是生產價值 35 萬美元的螺紋鋼和價值 15 萬美元的商用鋼筋。所以我想說，只要普通的市場條件允許，這仍然是我們的計畫。

But again, what's nice about this mill is that we have the flexibility to adjust to market conditions. So if the rebar market is a little bit softer or the MBQ market is a little bit softer, we can adjust one way or the other to accommodate that.

但同樣，這家工廠的優點在於我們可以靈活地適應市場狀況。因此，如果螺紋鋼市場或 MBQ 市場稍微疲軟，我們可以採取某種方式進行調整以適應這種情況。

All right. That's very clear. And maybe one last question just on West Virginia. I just wanted to confirm that the ramp up -- I'm not sure I understood correctly, it's been delayed by six months, it's planned for the summer next year. I understand you explained it with the tax rebate and some weather issues, but has some part of that decision also been driven by maybe a less robust near-term outlook?

好的。這非常清楚。也許最後一個問題是關於西維吉尼亞州的。我只是想確認一下——我不確定我是否理解正確，它已經被推遲了六個月，並計劃在明年夏天進行。我知道您用退稅和一些天氣問題來解釋這一點，但這項決定是否也受到近期前景不太樂觀的影響？

I mean when you look at domestic supply, you have two new mail ramping up in Q3, Q4 calendar and demand is not particularly great. So has that had any impact in your decision there? And also given the push how should we think about maybe CapEx for next year, that would be helpful -- next fiscal year.

我的意思是，當你查看國內供應時，你會發現第三季、第四季有兩封新郵件在增加，而需求並不是特別大。那麼這對您的決定有影響嗎？而且考慮到壓力，我們應該如何考慮明年的資本支出，這將對下一個財政年度有所幫助。

Yeah. And I'll let Paul take the CapEx question. But let me first start out on West Virginia. So timing, we said first half. We're going to start -- there's a cold commissioning phase.

是的。我讓保羅來回答資本支出問題。但我首先要從西維吉尼亞州說起。那麼時間上，我們說的是上半場。我們將開始－進入冷調試階段。

There's a hot commissioning phase. We're going to be doing the hot commissioning phase kind of in the first half of the year. So -- and the timing on this is really -- these are -- it's a good thing that we came across this 48 seating, and the team did a phenomenal job in getting this grant from the Department of Energy, and it was worth waiting for this.

有一個熱調試階段。我們將在今年上半年進入熱調試階段。所以 — — 這件事的時機真的 — — 這些是 — — 我們遇到這 48 個座位是一件好事，而且團隊在從能源部獲得這筆撥款方面做得非常出色，值得等待。

And what we needed to do in what caused the delay was we needed to work through some of our processes internally to make sure that we could comply with the Department of Energy requirements. But as a consequence, we're getting $80 million towards this project.

針對延誤的原因，我們需要做的是，我們需要在內部改進一些流程，以確保我們能夠符合能源部的要求。但結果是，我們為這個計畫獲得了 8000 萬美元的資金。

And what's the benefit of that? Well, it reduces the net capital that we put into the project and therefore, helps us drive higher returns. And hopefully, you're seeing a consistent pattern here of our focus is on changing the return profile of the company. And in getting a grant like this, it absolutely helps us do this.

那有什麼好處呢？嗯，它減少了我們投入專案的淨資本，因此幫助我們獲得更高的回報。希望您看到我們關注的一致模式是改變公司的回報狀況。獲得這樣的資助絕對有助於我們做到這一點。

The timing has nothing to do with the conditions in the market. We are actually quite optimistic about market conditions. There's a lot of uncertainty out there today, but we believe that kind of things are going to stabilize.

時機與市場狀況無關。我們實際上對市場狀況相當樂觀。如今，存在著許多不確定性，但我們相信，情況將會穩定下來。

And in the stabilization of things, you're going to see emerge the demand for our rebar products, our merchant bar products that's consistent with what we've been saying for the last several quarters. You've got some megatrends in whether it's infrastructure, reshoring energy transition, all of which we talked about that I think are going to drive demand, and we're going to be ready to receive it.

隨著情況穩定，您將看到對我們的鋼筋產品、商用鋼筋產品的需求出現，這與我們過去幾季所說的一致。我們已經看到了一些大趨勢，無論是基礎設施建設還是能源轉型回流，這些我們都談到了，我認為這些趨勢都將推動需求，我們也將做好準備去迎接這些需求。

Let me just add to Peter's comment around the around the investment tax credit. The project qualified for the tax credit under the IRA and there's been no concern around this type of credit being clawed back. The credit could be either a 6% credit or a 30% credit.

讓我補充一下彼得關於投資稅收抵免的評論。該項目符合 IRA 規定的稅收抵免條件，因此無需擔心此類抵免會被收回。信用額度可以是 6% 信用額度，也可以是 30% 信用額度。

And so the magnitude of the difference is significant. And that's why we paused the contracting of work to ensure that we contracted in such a way to comply with the requirements of the attaining the higher rate, and we're now confident that we will, in fact, get that higher rate credit.

因此差異的程度是顯著的。這就是為什麼我們暫停了工程承包，以確保我們簽訂的合約符合獲得更高利率的要求，現在我們有信心，我們實際上將獲得更高利率的信貸。

And so that will provide, as we said in the prepared remarks, a net $80 million benefit to us next year. So with the delays, we've spoken many times around our expectation of normal ongoing CapEx, and that's going to be sort of maintenance plus core, smaller organic growth in the $250 million range and then we would expect around $300 million associated to West Virginia next year. So as it looks right now, our CapEx for West Virginia -- or for total for CMC will be in the $550 million range for next year.

正如我們在準備好的演講中所說，這將為我們明年帶來 8000 萬美元的淨收益。因此，對於延遲，我們已經多次談到對正常持續資本支出的預期，這將是某種維護加上核心，較小的有機增長在 2.5 億美元左右，然後我們預計明年與西弗吉尼亞州相關的支出約為 3 億美元。因此，就目前情況來看，我們明年在西維吉尼亞州的資本支出——或者說 CMC 的總資本支出——將在 5.5 億美元左右。

Katja Jancic, BMO Capital Markets.

Katja Jancic，BMO 資本市場。

Maybe starting on the inorganic growth. Peter, you mentioned that the ideal transaction value would be somewhere between $500 million to $750 million. Can you talk a little bit about what type of multiples would be attached to that?

也許從無機成長開始。彼得，您提到理想的交易價值應該在 5 億美元到 7.5 億美元之間。能否稍微談談與之相關的倍數類型？

Yeah. Great question, Katja. Thank you very much. It depends based on the asset that we're looking at. But what I would say is that the multiples generally for these businesses are higher than what CMC trades at.

是的。很好的問題，卡佳。非常感謝。這取決於我們正在關注的資產。但我想說的是，這些企業的本益比通常高於 CMC 的本益比。

And I want to make a couple of points about that because I think this is really important. One is the multiples for those businesses are higher because they're worth it. And what I mean by that is these are companies that have higher margins, better cash flow characteristics because they're lower capital intensity, and in most cases, some growth to them given some of the market trends that they're responding to. So I do think that the businesses are worse, the higher multiples that we may have to pay in this situation.

我想就此提出幾點意見，因為我認為這非常重要。一是這些企業的本益比較高，因為它們值得。我的意思是，這些公司利潤率更高，現金流特徵更好，因為它們的資本密集度較低，而且在大多數情況下，由於它們對某些市場趨勢做出反應，它們會實現一定的增長。因此我確實認為，在這種情況下，我們可能需要支付更高的倍數，因此業務會變得更糟。

The other thing that I think is really important when we talk about inorganic, and I know it wasn't directly your question, but I'm going to throw it out there, is that we're going to be very disciplined about our inorganic growth and particularly recognizing that we're paying higher multiples for some of these businesses.

當我們談論無機業務時，我認為另一件非常重要的事情，我知道這不是你直接問的問題，但我還是要提出來，那就是我們將對我們的無機業務增長非常嚴格，特別是認識到我們為其中一些業務支付了更高的倍數。

And the discipline that we are going to hold ourselves to is that over a reasonable amount of time, say, three, four years, we are going to bring the effective multiple that we pay down to our multiple, down to CMC's multiple, that's going to happen through a combination of synergies that we might bring to the table and growth.

我們要堅持的原則是，在一段合理的時間內，比如說三四年，我們要把我們支付的有效倍數降低到我們的倍數，降低到 CMC 的倍數，這將透過我們可能帶來的協同效應和增長來實現。

And if we can do that, we will create significant value in those acquisitions. And that's -- again, that assumes zero multiple expansion for CMC, which as we grow the portfolio of these value-added businesses, theoretically, we should enjoy some multiple expansion.

如果我們能夠做到這一點，我們將在這些收購中創造巨大的價值。再次強調，這假設 CMC 的倍數擴張為零，隨著我們擴大這些加值業務的投資組合，理論上我們應該享受一些倍數擴張。

So I know that's beyond what you asked, but I wanted to get it out on the table because I think it's important that everyone understands that.

我知道這超出了你的要求，但我想把它提出來，因為我認為讓每個人都理解這一點很重要。

That's excellent. And thank youfor that. And maybe just as a follow-up. Is there -- when you look at the current pipeline, how does it look? And do you have any -- I know this is hard to answer or impossible, but is there any timeline on when you could complete a deal of this size?

太棒了。對此我深表感謝。或許只是作為後續行動。當您查看當前管道時，它看起來怎麼樣？您有什麼——我知道這個問題很難回答或不可能回答，但是您有沒有完成如此規模的交易的時間表？

Yeah. Good question. Thank you. The pipeline is good. I would say there are a number of different businesses that we've been looking at, and there are kind of processes that we are engaged in right now. Some of them are quite mature. Some of them are really just starting I would say, in general, these processes are moving slower given some of the uncertainty in the market, but they are moving forward.

是的。好問題。謝謝。管道很好。我想說的是，我們一直在關注許多不同的業務，我們目前正在參與一些流程。其中一些已經相當成熟。我想說，其中一些才剛開始，總的來說，由於市場存在一些不確定性，這些進展較慢，但它們正在向前發展。

And we are -- we've done a lot of work. I think we -- as a company, we know what we want to do. So this is really a matter of kind of matching terms with a seller on terms that are acceptable to us, and then we'll be ready to proceed. But we're ready. And as you say, it is hard to call the exact timing, but I would say we're ready.

我們已經做了很多工作。我認為，作為一家公司，我們知道我們想要做什麼。因此，這實際上是與賣家匹配我們可以接受的條款的問題，然後我們就可以繼續了。但我們已經準備好了。正如你所說，很難確定確切的時間，但我想說我們已經準備好了。

Phil Gibbs, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

KeyBanc 資本市場公司的 Phil Gibbs。

You outlined a $28 million credit for Europe in the fourth quarter and essentially said there was likely to be more in the first quarter. Can we have an idea of what that may be?

您概述了第四季度向歐洲提供的 2800 萬美元信貸，並表示第一季可能會有更多信貸。我們能知道那可能是什麼嗎？

Yeah. Well, so what this is, is that our team in Poland, again, this is just another example of a great job that they do. They get the CO2 credit annually. And the CO2 credit typically pays out with an 11-month lag. So that's what we get it in November, which is our -- obviously, in our Q1.

是的。好吧，這就是我們在波蘭的團隊，這又是他們所做的出色工作的另一個例子。他們每年都會獲得二氧化碳排放額度。而二氧化碳排放額度的支付通常需要 11 個月的時間。這就是我們在 11 月得到的結果，顯然這是我們的第一季。

Through the good efforts of the team in Poland, what we've been able to do is to get this changed so that the payments will now be split in two. The first payment in an ordinary year this year, it will be in July. But in an ordinary year, it will be paid in May, will be 60% of the CO2 credit and the balance will continue to be paid in November. That will be the remaining 40%.

透過波蘭團隊的努力，我們能夠改變這種狀況，將付款分成兩部分。今年是平常年份的第一次付款，將在7月份。但在正常年份，它將在五月支付，為二氧化碳排放額的 60%，餘額將繼續在十一月支付。這就是剩下的40%。

So what we're seeing in the first early installment, which will, again, as I said, be paid in July, is the $28 million, which is 60% and it's roughly -- we're assuming it's kind of staying consistent with last year's CO2 credit, which, as you know, that CO2 credit will vary depending on the cost of CO2 embedded in the energy cost.

因此，我們看到的第一筆早期付款，正如我所說的，將在 7 月份支付，金額為 2800 萬美元，佔 60%，大致如此 - 我們假設它與去年的二氧化碳信用額保持一致，正如你所知，二氧化碳信用額將根據能源成本中二氧化碳的成本而有所不同。

So I guess the key is we anticipate that each fiscal year will receive one year's worth of CO2 credits into the future split into two installments with the difference being essentially a catch-up that we'll get this year, which will get the extra payment in fiscal '25.

所以我想關鍵是我們預計每個財政年度將收到相當於未來一年的二氧化碳排放額度，分成兩期，差額基本上是我們今年將獲得的補足款，這將在 25 財年獲得額外的付款。

Okay. So we're likely to get $15 million to $20 million in Q1, and there's likely to be some then paid in the fourth quarter of '26.

好的。因此，我們很可能在第一季獲得 1500 萬至 2000 萬美元，並且很可能在 26 年第四季支付部分款項。

Third or fourth quarter, yeah.

是的，第三季或第四季。

That's right. May is the technical timeline for payment.

這是正確的。五月是付款的技術時間表。

Okay. And with regards to the CapEx number you gave for next year, Paul, the $550 million. Was that a gross number, meaning before the $80 million you outlined? Or was that after the $80 million?

好的。保羅，關於您給出的明年的資本支出數字，是 5.5 億美元。這是一個總數嗎？是指您列出的 8000 萬美元之前的金額嗎？還是那是花了 8000 萬美元之後？

That is growth. And then -- so we would expect gross CapEx in the $550 million range, the benefit of the tax credit to be $80 million to CMC and then other incentives will probably be in the $20 million, $25 million range that we will receive as well.

這就是成長。然後 - 因此我們預計總資本支出將在 5.5 億美元左右，稅收抵免的收益將為 CMC 8000 萬美元，然後其他激勵措施可能也會在我們將獲得的 2000 萬至 2500 萬美元左右。

Okay. So roughly $450 million in that are you getting anything in the fourth quarter of this year?

好的。那麼，今年第四季度，你們從這筆約 4.5 億美元的收入中獲得了什麼嗎？

We will probably get -- it's all timing. We'll likely get a $25 million credit in the fourth quarter as well.

我們可能會得到——這全是時機問題。我們很可能還會在第四季獲得 2500 萬美元的信貸。

Okay. In addition to the $100 million to $105 million that you outlined?

好的。除了您概述的 1 億至 1.05 億美元之外？

That's right.

這是正確的。

Okay. And the last one here is the timing of the start-up of the West Virginia mill, sounds like it's mid-calendar '26. So the start-up costs associated with that mill will be largely back-end loaded, pretty like very back-end loaded, I guess, for next year, fiscal year?

好的。最後一個是西維吉尼亞工廠的啟動時間，聽起來像是 26 年中期。那麼，我猜，對於明年的財政年度來說，與該工廠相關的啟動成本將主要由後端承擔，非常像後端承擔？

I think that's a fair assumption.

我認為這是一個合理的假設。

Yeah. We'll carry some team as we start to employ people throughout the year, but similar to other mill start-ups that we've had.

是的。我們將在全年開始僱用員工時保留一些團隊，但與我們之前的其他工廠新創公司類似。

And is there any CapEx from West Virginia then because of the slight delay that get moved into '27?

那麼，由於輕微的延遲，西維吉尼亞州是否有任何資本支出被轉移到 27 年？

Relatively small amounts.

相對較少的量。

Bill Peterson, JPMorgan.

摩根大通的比爾彼得森。

On Europe, the fiscal third quarter saw diversion between rebar and MBQ sequentially. Should we think of this reversing in the fourth fiscal quarter? And I guess, how should we think about overall shipments directionally?

在歐洲，第三財季螺紋鋼和 MBQ 價格較上季出現分化。我們是否應該考慮在第四財季扭轉這一局面？我想，我們應該如何從方向上考慮整體出貨量？

You're saying in Europe?

你是說在歐洲嗎？

Yes.

是的。

In Europe, yeah. So we expect shipments in Europe to continue at a strong pace in the fourth quarter. And I think you were also asking about the mix of MBQ and rebar, and we expect MBQ shipments to be strong in the fourth quarter. We've done a lot of work on mix there based on where the profitability is back to the kind of commercial excellence story that I was telling before, and we're really focused on optimizing our mix to the products where the best margin is. And this year, that's been MBQ.

在歐洲，是的。因此，我們預計第四季度歐洲的出貨量將持續保持強勁成長。我想您也詢問了 MBQ 和鋼筋的組合情況，我們預計第四季度 MBQ 的出貨量將會強勁。我們在產品組合方面做了很多工作，基於盈利能力回到了我之前講過的那種商業卓越故事，我們真正專注於優化產品組合，以獲得最佳利潤率的產品。今年，我們迎來了 MBQ。

We're seeing a lot of projects come to market, certainly starting to see initial benefits of some of the EU money that is coming into the marketplace. So we are expecting some increase in volume in the fourth quarter, which really is similar to a seasonal uptick in fourth quarter volumes that the EU marketplace sees.

我們看到許多項目進入市場，當然也開始看到一些歐盟資金進入市場所帶來的初步好處。因此，我們預計第四季度的銷售量會有所增加，這與歐盟市場第四季銷售的季節性上升類似。

And just to put a little bit more color on what Paul is saying. The picture in Europe does appear to be getting better. And let me talk about a couple of different fronts. One is you've got in Poland. The economy obviously continues to chug along very nicely there.

讓我更詳細地解釋保羅所說的話。歐洲的情況確實看起來正在好轉。讓我談談幾個不同的面向。一是你在波蘭。那裡的經濟顯然繼續順利發展。

But the government's now put in place a new infrastructure spending program. And when you kind of look at that by the projects that they're going to be investing in, we're talking about kind of hundreds of thousands of tons over the next couple of years. So that's going to be a nice shot in the arm.

但政府現在已經實施了一項新的基礎設施支出計畫。如果你從他們即將投資的項目來看，我們談論的是未來幾年內將要投資的數十萬噸。所以這會是一劑強心針。

You may have also read articles about there's -- Poland's first nuclear power plant is going to be built. This is maybe a little bit lagged in terms of timing. It's probably going to start construction. My guess would be in '27. But again, that's going to be a big consumer of rebar. And to Paul's point, you've got recovery and resilience funding going on.

您可能還讀過有關波蘭即將建造第一座核電廠的文章。從時間上來說，這可能有點滯後。它可能就要開始動工了。我猜是 27 年。但話說回來，這仍將是鋼筋的一大消耗國。正如保羅所說，你們正在進行恢復和恢復資金籌措。

The other thing that I think is really important to note is it appears that things are moving nicely in Germany. And we talked about -- last time, we talked about the fact that there's the infrastructure build a $500 billion of -- or EUR 500 billion -- excuse me, infrastructure bill and the lifting of the cap on spending on defense. And Chancellor Mertz has been very strong in his statements about in the case of defense spending, we need to do whatever it takes.

我認為另一件真正值得注意的事情是，德國的情況似乎進展順利。我們上次談到了基礎設施建設，有一項耗資 5000 億美元（或 5000 億歐元）的基礎設施法案，以及取消國防開支上限。默茨總理就國防開支問題發表了非常強硬的聲明，表示我們需要盡一切努力。

And in the case of the economy getting the economy back on track, our understanding is that he's making a really strong push on infrastructure spending and stimulus to some of the segments of nonresidential spending.

在經濟重回正軌的情況下，我們的理解是，他正在大力推動基礎設施支出，並刺激一些非住宅支出領域。

So as a consequence, what we were seeing. I think on the last call was we expected we'd see that in the kind of mid to back part of '26. We've heard discussions recently that suggest that we could start seeing some of that as early as the fourth calendar quarter of '25 and into the early part of '26. So again, we need to see it on the ground, but I just pointed out because there are reasons for optimism in Europe.

因此，我們看到了這樣的結果。我認為上次我們預計我們會在 26 年中後期看到這一點。我們最近聽到一些討論，顯示我們最早可以在 2025 年第四季到 2026 年初開始看到其中的一些情況。所以，我們需要實地觀察，但我只是指出，因為歐洲有理由感到樂觀。

Yeah. Great. Thanks for that. And I realize you don't want to be precise around pricing. But in terms of the backlog, I think last quarter, you mentioned that project awards were benefiting from higher prices. How should we think about when that shows up and or pricing for, I guess, what's entering the backlog now higher than existing prices that are in the backlog?

是的。偉大的。謝謝。我知道您不想精確定價。但就積壓訂單而言，我想上個季度您提到專案獎勵受益於更高的價格。我們該如何考慮這種情況何時出現以及定價，我想，現在進入積壓狀態的價格高於積壓狀態的現有價格？

Yeah, you're talking about on the fabrication side?

是的，您說的是製造方面嗎？

Correct.

正確的。

Yeah. So what I'd say -- thanks for the question. It's a great question. So Q3 was competitive. And we saw the booking prices continued to slide during the quarter.

是的。所以我想說的是—感謝您的提問。這是一個很好的問題。因此 Q3 競爭非常激烈。我們發現本季預訂價格持續下滑。

But as we go into Q4, we expect that we're going to see that turn and the booking prices are going to start to increase in sympathy with the move in rebar prices. That's typically the way it flows. And I want to just take a minute here to really highlight the great job that our fabrication team across the company has done in this market environment. And it's really important because they are taking this business and they are helping us make it even better than it is today.

但隨著進入第四季度，我們預計我們將看到這種轉變，預訂價格將開始上漲，以配合螺紋鋼價格的走勢。這就是典型的流動方式。我想在這裡花一點時間來真正強調我們公司製造團隊在這種市場環境下所做的出色工作。這真的很重要，因為他們正在接手這項業務，並幫助我們使其比現在更好。

And there are three things that I want to point out here that I'm really optimistic about. One is through tag and operational excellence, a lot of new initiatives are coming in the fabrication business and we see opportunity for that business to be stronger.

我想指出三件讓我非常樂觀的事情。一是透過標籤和卓越運營，製造業務出現了許多新舉措，我們看到了該業務變得更加強大的機會。

Secondly, they are absolutely paying attention to our mantra of value over volume. And what we're seeing is we are seeing our rebar fab guys walk away from jobs where it does not make sense because we cannot generate a return on the investment that we have and that is super proud of the discipline, the market discipline that the team is showing.

其次，他們絕對重視我們「價值重於數量」的口號。我們看到的是，我們的鋼筋製造工人放棄了那些沒有意義的作業，因為我們無法從投資中獲得回報，而我們對團隊表現出的紀律和市場紀律感到非常自豪。

And the third thing that I want to really compliment them on is addressing some of the duration risk in this business. Those of you that have been following us for a long time know that we do take duration risk in this business, and it can lead to periods where the fabrication business is less or not profitable.

我真正想稱讚的第三件事是他們解決了這個行業中的一些持續時間風險。長期關注我們的人都知道，我們在這個行業中確實承擔著長期風險，這可能會導致製造業務盈利較少或無利潤的時期。

I'm pleased to say that by focusing on this duration risk and by that, I mean insisting that we have proper escalators to compensate us for the duration risk we're taking, we are making this business a better business.

我很高興地說，透過專注於這種持續時間風險，我的意思是堅持我們有適當的自動扶梯來補償我們所承擔的持續時間風險，我們正在使這項業務變得更好。

And I think a great source of evidence of that is the fact that we will go through the trough of this cycle and fabrication and be a profitable business. And our goal is that we're going to increase that bar. We're going to raise that bar over time and make this a better business.

我認為，一個很好的證據就是，我們將度過這個週期的低谷，並成為一家獲利的企業。我們的目標是提高這個標準。我們將逐步提高這項標準，使這項業務變得更好。

So look, this is something -- and again, I'm sorry, I know you didn't ask for all this, but I think it's really important, and I'm super proud of our team, and this is not something that's going to happen overnight. But I think it's going to help this business be better over time. So thanks for the question.

所以看，這是一件——再說一次，我很抱歉，我知道你沒有要求這一切，但我認為這真的很重要，我為我們的團隊感到非常自豪，這不是一朝一夕就能發生的事情。但我認為隨著時間的推移，它將幫助這項業務變得更好。感謝您的提問。

Mike Harris, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的麥克·哈里斯。

I guess just given your strong financial position, why didn't you buy back more shares during the third quarter? And maybe speak to how we should think about the cadence of repurchases going forward, considering that it looks like you've averaged roughly $50 million per quarter in repurchases since maybe the second fiscal quarter of '24?

我想，鑑於你們強大的財務狀況，為什麼你們在第三季沒有回購更多股票？也許您可以談談我們應該如何考慮未來的回購節奏，考慮到自 2024 年第二財季以來，您平均每季的回購金額約為 5000 萬美元？

Yeah. Good question. I'll start, and then I'll let Paul can jump in on this.

是的。好問題。我先開始，然後讓保羅加入。

But -- so look, we do have a strong financial position. We're also kind of working on some strategic initiatives around growth. And one of the things that's absolutely critical to us is that we maintain a strong financial position while we grow. So as we kind of understand where we're going from a growth perspective, I think that will help reorient us in terms of what we have the capacity to do on the share repurchase side.

但是——所以看，我們的財務狀況確實很強勁。我們也致力於一些有關成長的策略舉措。對我們來說絕對關鍵的一點是，我們在發展的同時保持強勁的財務狀況。因此，當我們從成長角度了解我們的發展方向時，我認為這將有助於我們重新定位我們在股票回購方面的能力。

Maybe Paul can pick up to there.

也許保羅可以去那裡。

Yeah. I think we've stated our capital allocation priorities clearly. Number one is growth. And most recently, that's been through the organic growth side. But as Peter outlined, we have aspirations in the inorganic. But Beyond that, we also have stated repeatedly a balanced approach to capital allocation, citing a commitment to return attractive levels of cash to shareholders.

是的。我認為我們已經明確闡述了我們的資本配置優先事項。第一是成長。最近，這已經透過有機成長實現。但正如彼得所概述的，我們對無機領域抱持著渴望。但除此之外，我們也一再強調了平衡的資本配置方法，並承諾向股東返還有吸引力的現金水準。

And so we announced the buyback program in January of '24 and said, our plans was to execute that over a period of two to three years, and that's the course that we're on, and we don't see any change in the execution of our commitment on that.

因此，我們在 2024 年 1 月宣布了回購計劃，並表示我們的計劃是在兩到三年內執行，這就是我們正在採取的方針，而且我們認為我們在執行這一承諾方面不會發生任何變化。

And at this time, there appears to be no further questions. Mr. Matt, I'll now turn the call back over to you.

目前，似乎沒有其他問題。馬特先生，現在我將把電話轉回給您。

Thank you. And just a few concluding remarks from me.

謝謝。最後，我再說幾點總結性的話。

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.

在 CMC，我們堅信最好的日子就在前方。我們注意到的結構性需求趨勢、營運和商業卓越舉措相結合，將增強我們的整個週期績效和價值增值成長機會，為我們公司創造令人興奮的未來。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向股東的資本回報。

Thank you for joining us on today's conference call. We look forward to speaking with many of you during our investor calls and meetings in the coming days and weeks. Thank you.

感謝您參加今天的電話會議。我們期待在未來幾天和幾週的投資者電話會議和會議上與你們中的許多人交談。謝謝。

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。