Commercial Metals Co (CMC) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome, everyone, to the Fiscal 2025 fourth quarter and year-end 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 財年第四季及全年財報電話會議。今天與我一起參加電話會議的有 CMC 總裁兼執行長 Peter Matt，以及資深副總裁兼財務長 Paul Lawrence。

Today's materials, including the press releases 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.

今天的所有資料，包括新聞稿和本次電話會議的補充幻燈片，都可以在 CMC 的投資者關係網站上找到。今天的通話將會被錄音。公司發言結束後，我們將進行問答環節，屆時還會有一些指示。

I would like to remind all participants that today's discussion contains forward-looking statements, including with respect to economic conditions effects of legislations and trade actions, US steel import levels, construction activity, demand for finished steel products, the expected capabilities, benefits, costs, and timeline for construction of new facilities, the benefits and impact of the pending acquisitions of Foley Products Company and Concrete Pipe & Precast, 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.

我想提醒各位與會者，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、成品鋼材需求、新設施建設的預期能力、效益、成本和時間表、即將收購 Foley Products Company 和 Concrete Pipe & Precast 的效益和影響、公司運營、公司戰略增長計劃及其預期業績

These statements reflect the company's beliefs based on current conditions but are subject to risks and uncertainties. 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. 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.

這些聲明反映了公司基於當前情況的看法，但存在風險和不確定性。該公司的獲利報告、最新的 10-K 表格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聲明中預測的結果存在重大差異的因素的更多資​​訊。除法律另有規定外，CMC不承擔更新、修改或澄清這些聲明的任何義務。文中列出的一些數字為非GAAP財務指標，有關這些數字的調節表可在公司的盈利報告、補充幻燈片簡報或公司網站上找到。

In addition, today's presentation includes financial information that gives effect to the consummation of pending acquisitions. Pro forma financial information is presented for illustrative purpose only and is based on available information and certain assumptions and estimates that the company believes are reasonable. The pro forma financial information may not necessarily reflect what the company's results of operations and financial decision would have been, had the transactions occurred during the periods discussed or what the company's results of operations and financial position will be in the future. Unless stated otherwise, all references made to year or quarter end are references to the company's fiscal year or fiscal quarter.

此外，今天的報告還包括財務信息，這些信息反映了待完成收購的進展。提供的模擬財務資訊僅供參考，基於現有資訊以及公司認為合理的某些假設和估計。模擬財務資訊未必能反映公司在所討論期間進行交易後的實際經營業績和財務決策，也未必能反映公司未來的經營業績和財務狀況。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末。

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

現在，我將把電話交給彼得，由他來致開幕詞和介紹各位嘉賓。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our conference call. As you've likely already seen, we have a lot of ground to cover today. First, we are excited to share more about CMC's agreement to acquire Foley Products Company, after which we will cover our fourth-quarter performance, fiscal 2025 strategic progress, and our outlook before opening the call to questions. To supplement today's commentary, we have posted two presentations to our IR website, one for the Foley acquisition and one detailing our fourth quarter and fiscal 2025 results.

各位早安，感謝各位參加我們的電話會議。正如你可能已經看到的，我們今天有很多內容要講。首先，我們很高興與大家分享 CMC 收購 Foley Products Company 的協議詳情，之後我們將介紹我們第四季度的業績、2025 財年的戰略進展和展望，然後再開放問答環節。為了補充今天的評論，我們在投資者關係網站上發布了兩份演示文稿，一份是關於收購 Foley 的，另一份詳細介紹了我們第四季度和 2025 財年的業績。

Starting with Foley, we are thrilled to add a best-in-class business with industry-leading margins to CMC's portfolio. In combination with our recently announced acquisition of CP&P, the addition of Foley will create a high-quality, large-scale platform in the strategically attractive precast industry, greatly enhancing CMC's financial profile and growth over the long term. I am confident that the acquisition of Foley will increase our value proposition for customers and shareholders alike, extending our growth run rate and marking another major milestone as we execute our strategy.

首先，我們很高興將 Foley 這家擁有業界領先利潤率的一流企業納入 CMC 的投資組合。結合我們最近宣布收購 CP&P，Foley 的加入將在具有戰略吸引力的預製件行業中創建一個高品質、大規模的平台，從長遠來看，這將極大地提升 CMC 的財務狀況和成長。我相信，收購 Foley 將提升我們為客戶和股東創造的價值，延長我們的成長週期，並標誌著我們在執行策略過程中又邁出了重要一步。

Slide 4 of the acquisition presentation provides a brief overview of Foley. Since its founding by Frank Foley, over 40 years ago, the company has grown into the largest regional precast producer in the United States with 580 employees and 18 plants across 9 states. Foley has a strong track record of growth and best-in-class margin performance, which is a testament to their talented management team and the industry-leading practices they have developed.

收購簡報的第 4 張幻燈片簡要概述了 Foley 公司。自從弗蘭克·弗利 (Frank Foley) 40 多年前創立以來，該公司已發展成為美國最大的區域預製構件生產商，擁有 580 名員工和遍布 9 個州的 18 家工廠。Foley 擁有強勁的成長記錄和一流的利潤率表現，證明了其優秀的管理團隊和他們所開發的行業領先實踐。

We are very excited to welcome them to the CMC family and look forward to collaborating on Foley's continued success. As you can see on slide 7, the addition of Foley in combination with our recently announced acquisition of CP&P creates immediate scale for CMC's precast platform. Upon closing both transactions, CMC will be the third largest precast player in the US and a leader across the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, supported by 35 facilities across 14 states. Our strategic entry into precast will broaden our commercial portfolio to support our customers, enhance our exposure to powerful structural trends in construction, offer new capabilities to address construction industry challenges and establish a new platform with a significant future runway.

我們非常高興地歡迎他們加入 CMC 大家庭，並期待與他們合作，共同推動 Foley 繼續取得成功。如您在投影片 7 中看到的，Foley 的加入，加上我們最近宣布收購 CP&P，立即為 CMC 的預製平台創造了規模優勢。完成這兩項交易後，CMC 將成為美國第三大預製構件生產商，並成為大西洋中部和東南部地區的領導者，在 14 個州擁有 35 個生產設施。我們策略性地進入預製構件領域，將擴大我們的商業組合，從而更好地服務客戶，增強我們對建築領域強大結構趨勢的把握，提供新的能力來應對建築行業的挑戰，並建立一個具有廣闊未來發展前景的新平台。

Slide 8 helps illustrate Foley's best-in-class operations, which will support our ability to build a broader precast platform and unlock further synergies with CP&P. The left side of the page outlines Foley's industry-leading margin and cash flow profile, which has been consistent over time and is enabled by a highly efficient, low-cost operating model. The company has achieved sustained cost advantages through a combination of centralized production planning, automation, best-in-class manufacturing practices, low-cost support functions, and optimized logistics.

第 8 張投影片有助於說明 Foley 的一流運營，這將支持我們建立更廣泛的預製平台，並與 CP&P 釋放進一步的協同效應。頁面左側概述了 Foley 業界領先的利潤率和現金流狀況，這一狀況一直保持穩定，這得益於其高效、低成本的營運模式。該公司透過集中生產計劃、自動化、一流的製造實踐、低成本的支援功能和優化的物流等措施，實現了持續的成本優勢。

Foley has also developed a winning commercial formula with leading design and engineering capabilities, lead times and product quality. With the most comprehensive product portfolio of any precast supplier within its core regions, Foley is a true one-stop shop for many construction applications.

Foley 也憑藉著領先的設計和工程能力、交貨時間和產品質量，開發了一套成功的商業模式。Foley 在其核心區域內擁有預製件供應商中最全面的產品組合，是許多建築應用的真正一站式商店。

These capabilities have given the company enduring competitive advantages which CMC will seek to preserve and strengthen. As highlighted on slide 9, Foley and CP&P have highly complementary footprints, and we see many meaningful synergy opportunities between the two companies. We expect the acquisition of Foley to generate annual run rate synergies of approximately $25 million to $30 million of EBITDA by year 3. In addition to the $5 million to $10 million of EBITDA we originally identified for CP&P. The majority of this benefit will be driven by applying best practices across our platform, including optimized production planning, manufacturing efficiencies and a simplified structure for support functions.

這些能力為公司帶來了持久的競爭優勢，CMC 將努力保持和加強這些優勢。正如幻燈片 9 中所強調的那樣，Foley 和 CP&P 的業務範圍高度互補，我們看到兩家公司之間存在許多有意義的協同效應機會。我們預計收購 Foley 將在第三年產生約 2,500 萬美元至 3,000 萬美元的 EBITDA 年度綜效。除了我們最初為 CP&P 確定的 500 萬至 1000 萬美元 EBITDA 之外。這項優勢的大部分將透過在我們的平台上應用最佳實踐來實現，包括優化生產計劃、提高製造效率和簡化支援職能結構。

The expected improvement equates to roughly 35% to 40% of CP&P's forecasted 2025 EBITDA, consistent with our previous commentary that synergies would become more significant as our precast platform gained scale. It is worth pointing out that meaningful commercial synergies are likely to emerge, but have not been included in our initial synergy estimates.

預計改善幅度相當於 CP&P 預測的 2025 年 EBITDA 的 35% 至 40%，這與我們先前的評論一致，即隨著我們的預製平台規模的擴大，協同效應將變得更加顯著。值得指出的是，可能會出現有意義的商業綜效，但這些綜效並未納入我們最初的綜效估算中。

On slide 10, we illustrate Foley's highly complementary proximity to both CMC and CP&P networks, which we believe will facilitate optimal coordination to achieve operational synergies and over the longer term, substantial commercial opportunities. As you can see, every precast site in the Eastern and Western US is located near a CMC rebar mill or a fabrication plant.

在第 10 張投影片中，我們展示了 Foley 與 CMC 和 CP&P 網路的高度互補性，我們相信這將促進最佳協調，以實現營運協同效應，並在長期內帶來實質的商業機會。正如你所看到的，美國東部和西部的每個預製構件生產基地都位於 CMC 鋼筋廠或加工廠附近。

Allowing us to maximize value over time through close coordination across commercial, operational and support functions. In particular, we are excited by the increased value we can bring to customers in these regions by providing CMC's full suite of early-stage construction solutions from site preparation to structural erection. Our offering will be unique in the marketplace and will grow more compelling over time as we integrate our portfolio and offer attractive turnkey solutions. While a vast majority of the acquired precast facilities are located within one of CMC's densest, geographic regions, we will also operate one satellite location in Louisiana and three satellite locations in the Western US, which will provide beachheads in those regions and offer the opportunity for profitable bolt-on growth in the future.

透過商業、營運和支援職能部門之間的密切協調，使我們能夠隨著時間的推移最大限度地提高價值。尤其令我們感到興奮的是，透過提供 CMC 從場地準備到結構安裝的全套早期施工解決方案，我們可以為這些地區的客戶帶來更大的價值。我們的產品在市場上將獨樹一幟，隨著我們整合產品組合併提供具有吸引力的交鑰匙解決方案，其競爭力也將與日俱增。雖然收購的預製構件廠絕大多數都位於 CMC 人口最密集的地理區域之一，但我們還將在路易斯安那州運營一個衛星工廠，並在美國西部運營三個衛星工廠，這將為在這些地區建立灘頭陣地，並為未來實現盈利的附加增長提供機會。

To conclude my comments on Foley, when we began our study of the precast space nearly two years ago, we immediately identified Foley as a best-in-class operator based on its reputation, its standing among customers, and its top-tier financial profile in the construction materials sector.

最後總結我對 Foley 的看法。大約兩年前，當我們開始研究預製件領域時，我們立即認定 Foley 是業內最佳運營商，這得益於其聲譽、在客戶中的地位以及在建築材料行業的頂級財務狀況。

Our due diligence confirm Foley's attractiveness as a strong business and drove us to execute on this unique opportunity. I am incredibly excited about both of these announcements, and I am confident the additions of Foley and CP&P will unlock further upside as the cornerstones of our newly created precast platform. Both businesses together will position us to drive significant value for our customers and shareholders alike.

我們的盡職調查證實了 Foley 作為一家強大的企業的吸引力，並促使我們抓住了這個獨特的機會。我對這兩項公告都感到無比興奮，我相信 Foley 和 CP&P 的加入將為我們新創建的預製件平台帶來更大的發展潛力，成為其基石。兩項業務的合併將使我們能夠為客戶和股東創造巨大的價值。

With that summary of the deal rationale, I'll turn the call over to Paul to discuss the financial details. Paul?

以上是對交易理由的簡要概述，接下來我將把電話交給保羅，讓他討論財務細節。保羅？

Thank you, Peter, and good morning to everyone on the call. I will start by saying I share the excitement and optimism, both about this transaction and the strategic momentum we have achieved at CMC over the last year. The acquisition of Foley in combination with CP&P is transformative to CMC's financial profile.

謝謝你，彼得，也祝所有參加電話會議的朋友們早安。首先，我想說，我對這筆交易以及過去一年來CMC取得的策略進展都感到非常興奮和樂觀。收購 Foley 並結合 CP&P，將徹底改變 CMC 的財務狀況。

As shown on slide 11, the creation of the new precast platform meaningfully shifts the composition of CMC earnings, increases margin levels and free cash flow capabilities and importantly, should reduce earnings and cash flow volatility in our business. The sum of CP&P and Foley representing our precast platform is expected to generate approximately $250 million of adjusted EBITDA in calendar 2025, before growth in synergies with EBITDA margins in excess of 34%.

如投影片 11 所示，新預製平台的創建顯著改變了 CMC 的收益組成，提高了利潤率和自由現金流能力，更重要的是，應該降低我們業務的收益和現金流波動性。CP&P 和 Foley 代表我們的預製平台，預計在 2025 年日曆年內將產生約 2.5 億美元的調整後 EBITDA，這還不包括協同效應帶來的成長，EBITDA 利潤率將超過 34%。

This compares to CMC's core EBITDA margin of 10.7% and the North American Steel Group adjusted EBITDA margin of 12.2% in fiscal 2025. The addition of these levels of earnings by the precast operations will significantly shift the composition of CMC's earnings, increasing the combined contribution from our EBG segment and precast platform to over 32% of total operating segment adjusted EBITDA.

相較之下，CMC 2025 財年的核心 EBITDA 利潤率為 10.7%，北美鋼鐵集團 2025 財年的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 12.2%。預製業務的這些收益將顯著改變 CMC 的收益組成，使我們 EBG 部門和預製平台的綜合貢獻增加到總營運部門調整後 EBITDA 的 32% 以上。

Upon completion of the acquisitions, we expect nearly a third of our profitability will be generated by high value-added solutions with attractive market penetration potential, strong margins, and cash flow conversion. The lower capital intensity of these businesses also means they require less reinvestment to maintain operations and less capital commitment to grow organically, enhancing free cash flows.

收購完成後，我們預計近三分之一的獲利將來自具有吸引力的市場滲透潛力、強勁的利潤率和現金流轉換率的高附加價值解決方案。這些企業資本密集度較低，也意味著它們維持營運所需的再投資較少，實現有機成長所需的資本投入也較少，從而提高了自由現金流。

Margin levels and normalized free cash flow conversion are both expected to increase meaningfully. Based on Foley and CP&P's forecasted results for 2025, the addition of Foley and CP&P would have increased CMC's core EBITDA margin by more than 2 percentage points. And given the stability of these businesses, we anticipate this improvement to be sustained over time. In fiscal 2025 alone, the platform would have improved normalized free cash flow conversion by over 4 percentage points.

預計利潤率和正常化自由現金流轉換率都將顯著提高。根據 Foley 和 CP&P 對 2025 年業績的預測，Foley 和 CP&P 的加入將使 CMC 的核心 EBITDA 利潤率提高 2 個百分點以上。鑑於這些企業的穩定性，我們預計這種改善將持續下去。光是 2025 財年，該平台就能將正常化自由現金流轉換率提高 4 個百分點以上。

Now I will cover the major terms related to the transaction. Total consideration will be paid at closing and is subject to customary working capital adjustments. This valuation represents a 10.3 times multiple on Foley's expected calendar 2025 EBITDA. Importantly, the effective multiple is reduced to approximately 9.2 times when cash tax savings are considered as CMC will benefit from a tax step-up on assets. We believe this is a fair valuation for a fantastic asset, and the multiple reflects Foley's best-in-class margin profile and business characteristics previously discussed by Peter.

接下來我將介紹與交易相關的主要條款。全部對價將在交割時支付，並需根據慣例進行營運資金調整。該估值相當於 Foley 預計 2025 年 EBITDA 的 10.3 倍。重要的是，考慮到現金稅收節省，實際倍數將降低至約 9.2 倍，因為 CMC 將受益於資產稅遞增。我們認為這是對優秀資產的合理估值，該倍數反映了 Foley 一流的利潤率和 Peter 之前討論過的業務特徵。

It's worth noting Foley's EBITDA margins are 5 to 10 percentage points higher than those of many blue-chip building products and construction material companies that routinely trade at 10 to 16 times forward EBITDA. Importantly, we anticipate the transaction to be immediately accretive to earnings and cash flow per share.

值得注意的是，Foley 的 EBITDA 利潤率比許多藍籌建築產品和建築材料公司高出 5 到 10 個百分點，這些公司的預期 EBITDA 倍數通常為 10 到 16 倍。重要的是，我們預計該交易將立即增加每股收益和現金流。

The combined total consideration of approximately $2.5 billion related to the purchases of Foley and CP&P will be funded through a combination of cash on hand and committed bank financing. As soon as feasible, we will seek to raise permanent debt financing in the form of corporate bond offerings. Immediately following the completion of both transactions, which is expected by the end of calendar 2025, CMC's net debt is expected to increase to approximately 2.7 times trailing 12-month adjusted combined EBITDA.

收購 Foley 和 CP&P 的總對價約為 25 億美元，將透過自有現金和已承諾的銀行融資相結合的方式提供資金。一旦條件允許，我們將尋求透過發行公司債的方式籌集永久性債務融資。預計在 2025 年底之前完成這兩項交易後，CMC 的淨債務預計將增加到過去 12 個月調整後合併 EBITDA 的約 2.7 倍。

As we have stated in the past, we are comfortable with temporarily increasing net leverage above our long-term target of 2 times for the right strategic opportunity, as we did with the highly successful acquisition of Gerdau's US rebar business in 2019.

正如我們過去所言，對於合適的策略機遇，我們樂於暫時將淨槓桿率提高到高於我們長期目標 2 倍的水平，就像我們在 2019 年成功收購 Gerdau 的美國鋼筋業務時所做的那樣。

We will prioritize delevering in the quarters ahead with a goal of returning below 2 times net leverage within 18 months. This effort will be aided by strong free cash flow generation from the precast platform itself, the wind down of capital expenditures for the construction of Steel West Virginia, and significant cash tax savings related to the 48C program and the One Big Beautiful Bill. Based on these supportive factors and the positive outlook for our existing business, we are confident in our ability to delever quickly.

我們將在未來幾季優先考慮去槓桿化，目標是在 18 個月內將淨槓桿率降至 2 倍以下。這項努力將得益於預製平臺本身強勁的自由現金流產生、西維吉尼亞鋼鐵廠建設資本支出的逐步減少，以及與 48C 計劃和「一個美好的大法案」相關的巨額現金稅收節省。基於這些有利因素以及我們現有業務的正面前景，我們有信心迅速降低槓桿率。

That concludes my remarks, and I'll turn it back to Peter to cover the fourth quarter and fiscal year.

我的發言到此結束，接下來將把發言權交給彼得，讓他來介紹第四季和本財年的情況。

Thank you, Paul. I will now turn to our earnings presentation. The goal of our strategy is to drive meaningful and sustainable improvements to CMC's margins, earnings cash flow, and returns on capital while reducing volatility in our business. As you can see on slide 5, we are executing against this objective along three paths: first, by investing in our people and pursuing excellence in all we do; second, by investing in value-accretive organic growth; and third, by driving capability enhancing inorganic growth as we just discussed in detail. Each of these objectives represents a significant opportunity for CMC and taken together, will be game-changing for our returns, scale, and ultimately, the value we create for investors.

謝謝你，保羅。接下來我將介紹我們的獲利情況。我們的策略目標是在降低業務波動性的同時，推動 CMC 的利潤率、獲利現金流和資本回報率實現有意義且可持續的改善。正如您在投影片 5 中所看到的，我們正在透過三條途徑來實現這一目標：首先，投資於我們的員工，並在我們所做的一切事情中追求卓越；其次，投資於增值型內生增長；第三，推動能力增強型外生增長，正如我們剛才詳細討論的那樣。這些目標中的每一個都代表著 CMC 的一個重要機遇，而這些目標加在一起，將徹底改變我們的回報、規模，並最終改變我們為投資者創造的價值。

We made tremendous progress across each of these strategic paths over the last year, and slide 6 outlines some of our most notable accomplishments. I'll start with investing in our people and pursuing excellence. As I've said before, the most important investment we can make in our people is to keep them safe on the job. And I am proud to report that fiscal 2025 was the safest year in our company's history and marked the third consecutive year of record safety performance. The job of improving safety is never done, but we are in an excellent position to maintain our momentum and cement our position as truly world class.

在過去一年中，我們在每條策略路徑上都取得了巨大的進展，第 6 張投影片概述了我們一些最顯著的成就。我將首先著手投資我們的員工，追求卓越。正如我之前所說，我們對員工最重要的投資就是保障他們的工作安全。我很自豪地宣布，2025 財年是我們公司史上最安全的一年，也是連續第三年創下安全紀錄。提高安全性的工作永無止境，但我們目前處於非常有利的位置，可以保持這種勢頭，鞏固我們作為真正世界一流企業的地位。

During the year, we also invested in the leadership, talent, and resources that will support strategic execution across our organization. Within our emerging businesses group, we now have in place a group of veteran leaders who are poised to drive EBG segment performance to new heights. We are already seeing early dividends in our CMC construction services and performance reinforcing steel divisions as new sales and margin initiatives take hold.

年內，我們也投資於領導力、人才和資源，以支持我們整個組織的策略執行。在我們的新興業務集團中，我們現在擁有一群經驗豐富的領導者，他們準備將 EBG 部門的表現推向新的高度。隨著新的銷售和利潤率提升計劃逐步落實，我們的 CMC 建築服務和高性能鋼筋部門已經開始獲得初步收益。

Late in fiscal 2025, we also streamlined reporting structures in our North America Steel Group to facilitate decision-making and provide optimal coordination in supporting key initiatives, including our TAG program efforts. On the topic of TAG, we began execution of our operational and commercial excellence program in fiscal 2025, and I could not be prouder of the progress the CMC team achieved during the year. Not only did we generate $50 million in EBITDA benefits, well in excess of the $40 million we expected, but we also successfully identified additional opportunities to reduce cost, increase efficiencies, cut waste, and drive profitable sales in the future.

在 2025 財年後期，我們還簡化了北美鋼鐵集團的報告結構，以促進決策，並在支持關鍵舉措（包括我們的 TAG 專案工作）方面提供最佳協調。關於 TAG，我們在 2025 財年開始執行營運和商業卓越計劃，我對 CMC 團隊在這一年中取得的進展感到無比自豪。我們不僅創造了 5000 萬美元的 EBITDA 收益，遠遠超過了我們預期的 4000 萬美元，而且我們還成功地發現了未來降低成本、提高效率、減少浪費和推動盈利銷售的更多機會。

Looking ahead, I am more confident than ever in this program's ability to drive meaningful and sustained improvement to CMC's financial profile. By the end of fiscal 2026, we now expect to generate a run rate annualized EBITDA benefit of more than $150 million with virtually no related capital investment.

展望未來，我對該計劃能夠切實、持續地改善 CMC 的財務狀況的能力比以往任何時候都更有信心。到 2026 財年末，我們預計年化 EBITDA 收益將超過 1.5 億美元，而幾乎不需要任何相關的資本投資。

The next strategic path is value-accretive organic growth, which we anticipate will 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. I am pleased to report that we made significant progress on both projects during fiscal 2025.

下一個策略路徑是增值型內生成長，我們預計這將在未來幾年內成為新的收益和現金流的重要來源，尤其是在我們的 Arizona 2 和 Steel West Virginia 工廠投資全面投入營運之後。我很高興地報告，我們在 2025 財年期間，這兩個項目都取得了重大進展。

Notably, we achieved a full quarter of positive EBITDA at Arizona 2, for which I would like to congratulate our team out West. I would also like to highlight CMC's attainment of an approximately $80 million net tax credit related to Steel West Virginia under the 48C program, which we will realize in fiscal 2026 and effectively reduces our capital investment in this project.

值得一提的是，我們在亞利桑那州 2 號礦場實現了整整一個季​​度的正 EBITDA，為此我要祝賀我們西部的團隊。我還想重點介紹 CMC 公司根據 48C 計劃獲得了與西弗吉尼亞鋼鐵項目相關的約 8000 萬美元淨稅收抵免，我們將在 2026 財年實現這一目標，並有效地減少我們在該項目中的資本投資。

Finally, turning to capability-enhancing inorganic growth. As I've already discussed at length, we have created a large-scale precast platform with the announced acquisitions of Foley and CP&P. We believe this platform will greatly enhance CMC's financial profile, increase our value to customers, and provide an avenue for meaningful long-term growth.

最後，轉向增強能力的非有機成長。正如我之前詳細討論過的，透過宣布收購 Foley 和 CP&P，我們已經創建了一個大型預製件平台。我們相信，該平台將大大提升 CMC 的財務狀況，增加我們對客戶的價值，並為有意義的長期成長提供途徑。

Paul will cover the financials, but before this, I would like to briefly reflect on our markets. First, in North America, a combination of resilient construction activity and a balanced supply landscape resulted in favorable conditions for both volumes and margins during the quarter. Shipments of finished steel increased year over year and were unchanged from the prior quarter's strong level. Downstream bid volumes, our best gauge of the construction pipeline, remained healthy and were consistent with recent quarters as we continued to see strength across a number of key market segments, including Public Works, Highway and Bridge, Institutional Buildings, and Data Centers.

Paul 將介紹財務數據，但在此之前，我想先簡單回顧一下我們的市場狀況。首先，在北美，建築活動的韌性和供需平衡相結合，使得本季銷售和利潤率都處於有利狀態。成品鋼材出貨量年增，與上一季強勁的水平持平。下游投標量是我們衡量建築項目儲備的最佳指標，該指標保持健康，與最近幾季的情況一致，因為我們繼續看到包括公共工程、公路和橋樑、機構建築和數據中心在內的多個關鍵市場領域的強勁表現。

As we have indicated previously, we see substantial pent-up demand, particularly within nonresidential markets. This view is supported by historic stride in the Dodge Momentum Index, or DMI, as well as recent conversations with many of our largest customers. The DMI leads construction activity by 12 to 18 months and reached a record high in September driven by growth that was broad-based across several market segments. Additionally, our customers are increasingly bullish as they experience a large inflow of projects into the pipeline related to energy generation, reshoring, advanced manufacturing, and LNG infrastructure.

正如我們之前所指出的，我們看到了大量的潛在需求，尤其是在非住宅市場。道奇動量指數（DMI）的歷史性增長以及我們最近與許多最大客戶的對話都支持了這一觀點。DMI 指數領先建築活動 12 至 18 個月，並在 9 月創下歷史新高，這得益於多個市場領域的全面成長。此外，隨著與能源生產、製造業回流、先進製造業和液化天然氣基礎設施相關的項目大量湧入，我們的客戶也越來越樂觀。

When we look beyond the current environment, we remain confident that the emerging structural drivers will 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.

展望未來，我們仍然相信，新興的結構性驅動因素將在未來多年內支撐建築活動。這些趨勢包括對國家基礎設施的投資、工業產能回流、能源生產和輸送的成長、人工智慧基礎設施的建設，以及解決美國200萬至400萬套住房的短缺問題。

As noted on slide 10 of the earnings presentation, over $2 trillion of corporate investments across AI, manufacturing, shipping and logistics, and energy have been announced in calendar 2025. Commencement of even a handful of related mega projects could provide a meaningful demand catalyst for CMC's products in the quarters ahead.

正如收益報告第 10 頁所述，2025 年已宣佈在人工智慧、製造業、航運物流和能源領域進行超過 2 兆美元的企業投資。即使只有少數相關的巨型項目啟動，也可能在未來幾季為 CMC 的產品提供重要的需求催化劑。

Moving on to profitability in this segment. We experienced a strong sequential expansion in North American steel product margins during the quarter, achieving the highest level in two years. The improvement only partially reflects the impact of the June and July price announcements. Realized pricing increased steadily throughout the quarter, and we exited at a much higher level than the period average, positioning us to further expand margins in the first quarter. Within our downstream business, we have seen price levels on new bids rise in tandem with the mill rebar price, which should support average backlog pricing in the future as these higher-priced bids are converted into new contract awards.

接下來談談該領域的獲利能力。本季北美鋼鐵產品利潤率實現了強勁的環比增長，達到兩年來的最高水平。這項改善僅部分反映了六月和七月價格公告的影響。本季實際價格穩步上漲，最終價格遠高於同期平均水平，這為我們在第一季進一步擴大利潤率奠定了基礎。在我們的下游業務中，我們看到新投標的價格水平與軋鋼廠螺紋鋼價格同步上漲，隨著這些價格較高的投標轉化為新的合約授予，未來平均積壓訂單價格應該會得到支撐。

On the topic of backlog, I would note that average pricing stabilized in the fourth quarter, following more than two years of sequential quarterly declines from the post-COVID peak.

關於積壓訂單問題，我想指出，在經歷了兩年多的季度環比下降（自新冠疫情後達到峰值）之後，平均價格在第四季度趨於穩定。

Before I move on to our other segments, I would like to briefly update you on the status of the rebar trade case filed with the International Trade Commission, or ITC, back in June. 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 up to 160%. In mid-July, the ITC ruled that the case has merit and has passed it to the Department of Commerce for further investigation.

在進入其他環節之前，我想簡要地向大家介紹今年 6 月向國際貿易委員會 (ITC) 提交的鋼筋貿易案件的最新進展。請願書指控位於阿爾及利亞、保加利亞、埃及和越南的出口商向美國市場傾銷商品，應處以最高 160% 的糾正性關稅。7月中旬，美國國際貿易委員會裁定此案有理有據，並已將其移交給商務部進行進一步調查。

Based on the current case schedule, we expect a preliminary ruling on the antidumping claim sometime in late calendar 2025 or early 2026. It is worth noting that since filing the case, price levels have increased markedly on several rebar sizes often sourced from the subject countries.

根據目前的案件進度安排，我們預計反傾銷指控的初步裁決將在 2025 年末或 2026 年初作出。值得注意的是，自提起訴訟以來，幾種規格的鋼筋（通常來自涉案國家）的價格水平明顯上漲。

Turning to our emerging businesses group on slide 11. Current conditions are supportive, and we see encouraging signals regarding future activity, specifically solid quoting levels, busy engineering firms, and improved velocity of quote conversion into backlog. One attractive element of the EBG segment is the fact that our current solutions are underpenetrated in the market, which provides significant opportunities for growth as we drive product adoption in addition to market expansion.

接下來請看第 11 頁投影片，了解我們的新興企業集團。目前情況有利，我們看到了有關未來活動的令人鼓舞的信號，特別是穩定的報價水平、繁忙的工程公司以及報價轉化為積壓訂單速度的提高。EBG 細分市場的一大吸引力在於，我們目前的解決方案在市場上的滲透率較低，這為我們在推動產品普及和市場擴張的同時，提供了巨大的成長機會。

In our key proprietary products, we are winning share through the strong value proposition, while maintaining solid margins. This dynamic helped us achieve record segment profitability during the quarter as shipments of core solutions such as InterAx geogrid, GalvaBar, and ChromX all increased from the prior year. We have outlined the unique capabilities of these products on prior calls, and we continue to expect a bay along with EBG's other high value-added offerings position the segment to achieve a consistent organic growth rate in the mid- to high single digits and EBITDA margins in the high teens.

在我們的核心專有產品中，我們憑藉強大的價值主張贏得了市場份額，同時保持了穩健的利潤率。這一動態幫助我們在本季度實現了創紀錄的業務盈利能力，InterAx 土工格柵、GalvaBar 和 ChromX 等核心解決方案的出貨量均比去年同期有所增長。我們在先前的電話會議中概述了這些產品的獨特功能，我們繼續預計，海灣以及 EBG 的其他高附加價值產品將使該業務板塊實現中高個位數的持續有機增長率和接近兩位數的 EBITDA 利潤率。

Finally, for our Europe Steel Group, conditions improved modestly from the third quarter. Demand continued to normalize as a result of solid Polish economic growth, while on the supply side, import flows ticked up slightly from recent quarters, but remain below the disruptive levels of a year ago. During the fourth quarter, we saw metal margins recover to their highest mark in over two years, aided by an improved price environment for merchant bar and wire rod.

最後，就我們的歐洲鋼鐵集團而言，情況較第三季略有改善。由於波蘭經濟穩健成長，需求持續恢復正常；而供應方面，進口流量較近幾季略有上升，但仍低於一年前的混亂水準。第四季度，在商品棒材和線材價格環境改善的推動下，金屬利潤率恢復到兩年多來的最高水準。

The green shoots that we have noted on recent earnings calls continue to mature. We are encouraged by recent developments that the EU is looking to bolster its trade legislation with the implementation of a long-term mechanism that will reduce existing quotas for foreign steel by nearly half. And imports beyond those quotas would be subject to new higher tariffs, which are currently proposed at 50%.

我們在最近的財報電話會議上註意到的一些積極跡象正在持續成熟。我們對歐盟近期採取的加強貿易立法的措施感到鼓舞，該措施將實施一項長期機制，將現有的外國鋼鐵配額減少近一半。超出這些配額的進口將面臨更高的新關稅，目前提議的關稅為 50%。

Before turning the call over to Paul, I would like to recognize the efforts of our world-class employees. We have asked a lot of the team as we execute on our ambitious vision for the future, and I am truly inspired by all that they have accomplished so far. Their efforts have been instrumental in laying the groundwork for years of success ahead, and I look forward to maintaining that momentum in the new fiscal year.

在將電話交給保羅之前，我想對我們世界一流員工的努力表示感謝。在實現我們雄心勃勃的未來願景的過程中，我們對團隊提出了很高的要求，他們迄今為止的成就真的讓我深受鼓舞。他們的努力為未來多年的成功奠定了基礎，我期待在新財年保持這一勢頭。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Paul to provide more color on the quarter. Paul?

接下來，我會把電話交給保羅，讓他為大家詳細介紹本季的情況。保羅？

Thank you, Peter. We reported fiscal fourth quarter 2025 net earnings of $151.8 million or $1.35 per diluted share compared to net earnings of $103.9 million and net earnings per diluted share of $0.90 in the prior year period. Excluding estimated net after-tax charges of approximately $3.2 million, adjusted earnings for the quarter totaled $155 million or $1.37 per diluted share compared to $97.4 million and $0.84 per diluted share, respectively, in the prior year period. These adjustments consisted of a $3.8 million pretax expense for interest on the judgment amount associated with the previously disclosed litigation, an impairment charge of $3.4 million, and a $2.9 million unrealized gain on undesignated commodity hedges.

謝謝你，彼得。我們公佈了 2025 財年第四季淨利為 1.518 億美元，即每股攤薄收益 1.35 美元，而去年同期淨利為 1.039 億美元，每股攤薄收益為 0.90 美元。扣除約 320 萬美元的稅後淨支出估計值後，本季調整後收益總計 1.55 億美元，即每股攤薄收益 1.37 美元，而上年同期分別為 9,740 萬美元和每股攤薄收益 0.84 美元。這些調整包括：與先前揭露的訴訟相關的判決金額的利息支出 380 萬美元稅前費用；340 萬美元的減損費用；以及 290 萬美元的未指定商品避險未實現收益。

During the fourth quarter of 2025, we modified our method of calculating adjusted EBITDA to exclude the impact of unrealized gains and losses from undesignated commodity derivatives. This change was primarily driven by heightened volatility in copper forward markets, which introduced significant noncash fluctuations unrelated to our core operations. The relevant financial figures, including historical numbers have been adjusted to reflect this change, impacting consolidated adjusted earnings, adjusted earnings per diluted share, adjusted EBITDA, core EBITDA, and core EBITDA margin, as well as North American Steel Group adjusted segment EBITDA.

2025 年第四季度，我們修改了調整後 EBITDA 的計算方法，以排除未指定商品衍生性商品未實現損益的影響。這項變化主要是由於銅遠期市場波動加劇所致，這引入了與我們核心業務無關的重大非現金波動。相關財務數據（包括歷史數據）已進行調整以反映這一變化，這將影響合併調整收益、調整後每股攤薄收益、調整後 EBITDA、核心 EBITDA 和核心 EBITDA 利潤率，以及北美鋼鐵集團調整後分部 EBITDA。

Given the prominence of these metrics, we have published recast quarterly figures dating back to fiscal 2019 in a Form 8-K filing accompanying our earnings release this morning. We believe this change in reporting will provide a more representative view of our operating performance and cash generating capability. Consolidated core EBITDA was $291.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2025, representing a 33% increase from $219 million generated during the prior year period.

鑑於這些指標的重要性，我們已在今天早上隨收益報告一起發布的 8-K 表格文件中公佈了自 2019 財年以來的重述季度數據。我們相信，此次報告方式的改變將更能代表我們的經營績效和現金創造能力。2025 年第四季綜合核心 EBITDA 為 2.914 億美元，比去年同期產生的 2.19 億美元成長了 33%。

Slide 14 of the supplemental presentation illustrates the year-to-year changes in CMC's quarterly financial performance. Segment level adjusted EBITDA increased by $87.4 million in total with our North American Steel Group contributing $36.6 million of improvement, EBG providing $8.1 million, and the Europe Steel Group delivering $42.7 million. The consolidated core EBITDA margin of 13.8% compared to 11% in the prior year period.

補充簡報的第 14 張投影片展示了 CMC 季度財務表現的年度變化。分部調整後的 EBITDA 總計成長了 8,740 萬美元，其中北美鋼鐵集團貢獻了 3,660 萬美元的成長，EBG 貢獻了 810 萬美元的成長，歐洲鋼鐵集團貢獻了 4,270 萬美元的成長。合併核心 EBITDA 利潤率為 13.8%，而去年同期為 11%。

CMC's North American Steel Group generated adjusted EBITDA of $239.4 million for the quarter, equal to $207 per ton of finished steel shipped. Segment adjusted EBITDA increased 18% compared to the prior year period, driven primarily by higher margin over scrap cost on steel products and contributions from our TAG operational excellence efforts, in particular, scrap optimization, alloy consumption reduction, process yield improvements and logistics optimization. North American Steel Group adjusted EBITDA margin of 14.8% compared to 13% in the fourth quarter of 2024. Segment results also improved sequentially as steel product margins continued the expansion that began early in the third quarter.

CMC北美鋼鐵集團本季調整後EBITDA為2.394億美元，相當於每噸成品鋼材出貨207美元。與去年同期相比，分部調整後的 EBITDA 成長了 18%，主要得益於鋼材產品廢鋼成本利潤率的提高以及 TAG 卓越營運工作的貢獻，特別是廢鋼優化、合金消耗量減少、製程良率提高和物流優化。北美鋼鐵集團調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 14.8%，而 2024 年第四季為 13%。由於鋼鐵產品利潤率延續了第三季初開始的擴張勢頭，各業務板塊的業績也較上季有所改善。

As Peter noted, we exited the fourth quarter with steel prices on an upward trajectory in steel product metal margins, $31 per ton above the period average, setting the stage for us to generate strong margins in the first quarter of fiscal 2026. As indicated earlier, demand for long steel products was resilient during the quarter.

正如彼得所指出的，在第四季度結束時，鋼材價格呈上升趨勢，鋼材產品金屬利潤率比同期平均高出每噸 31 美元，這為我們在 2026 財年第一季獲得強勁利潤奠定了基礎。如前所述，本季對長材產品的需求保持了韌性。

Finished steel shipments increased by 3% compared to a year ago, while rebar shipments from CMC's mills and downstream operations grew at a similar rate. Emerging Business Group fourth-quarter net sales of $221.8 million increased by 13.4% on a year-over-year basis, while adjusted EBITDA of $50.6 million increased by 19.1%. The improvement was largely driven by three factors: strong demand for geogrids and proprietary products within CMC's performance reinforcing Steel division, improved Tensar cost performance, and the impact of commercial initiatives within our CMC Construction Services division.

與去年同期相比，成品鋼材出貨量成長了 3%，而 CMC 鋼廠和下游業務的螺紋鋼出貨量也以類似的速度成長。新興業務集團第四季淨銷售額為 2.218 億美元，年增 13.4%；調整後 EBITDA 為 5,060 萬美元，較去年同期成長 19.1%。這項改進主要由三個因素驅動：CMC 高性能鋼筋部門對土工格柵和專有產品的強勁需求、Tensar 成本性能的提高以及 CMC 建築服務部門商業舉措的影響。

Turning to slide 17 of the earnings presentation. Our Europe Steel Group reported adjusted EBITDA of $39.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to a loss of $3.6 million in the prior year period. Segment adjusted EBITDA margin of 14.8% increased from negative 1.6% a year ago. The biggest driver of improved profitability was the receipt of a $31 million CO2 credit, which was the first of two payments that will be received this calendar year as part of the government energy cost reimbursement program in place through 2030. Excluding this, operational results improved by $11.7 million, driven by higher margins, a 17% increase in shipment volumes, and ongoing cost management efforts.

翻到收益報告的第17頁。我們的歐洲鋼鐵集團公佈，2025 年第四季調整後 EBITDA 為 3,910 萬美元，而去年同期虧損 360 萬美元。分部調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 14.8%，而一年前為負 1.6%。提高獲利能力的最大驅動因素是獲得了 3,100 萬美元的二氧化碳排放信用額度，這是本日曆年將收到的兩筆款項中的第一筆，這是政府能源成本補償計劃的一部分，該計劃將持續到 2030 年。除此之外，營運績效提高了 1,170 萬美元，這得益於更高的利潤率、出貨量成長 17% 以及持續的成本管理努力。

Similar to recent quarters, the team in Poland continued to drive efficiency gains with success in nearly every major cost category, including labor, consumable usage, alloys, and overhead. Most of these improvements are permanent in nature and set us up well to capitalize on market recovery.

與最近幾季類似，波蘭團隊繼續提高效率，並在幾乎所有主要成本類別中都取得了成功，包括勞動力、消耗品使用、合金和管理費用。這些改進措施大多具有永久性，使我們能夠更好地掌握市場復甦帶來的機會。

As Peter mentioned, during the quarter, we saw a continued demand growth and a somewhat moderated level of long steel imports into Poland. The combination of these factors provided CMC the opportunity to achieve improved shipping volumes.

正如彼得所提到的，本季我們看到波蘭長材進口需求持續成長，但進口量下降。這些因素的綜合作用使 CMC 有機會提高出貨量。

CMC's effective tax rate was 21.5% in the fourth quarter and 21.3% for the full year. Looking ahead, we anticipate a full-year effective tax rate between 4% and 8% for fiscal 2026. As a result of several factors, we do not anticipate paying any significant US federal cash taxes in fiscal 2026 and for much of fiscal 2027.

CMC第四季的實際稅率為21.5%，全年實際稅率為21.3%。展望未來，我們預計 2026 財年全年實際稅率將在 4% 至 8% 之間。由於多種因素，我們預計在 2026 財年和 2027 財年的大部分時間裡，不會繳納任何重大的美國聯邦現金稅。

During fiscal 2026, we will benefit from our 48C tax credit, bonus depreciation on our West Virginia mill investment, as well as accelerated depreciation from the assets acquired in CMC's acquisition of Foley and CP&P, which will significantly increase our free cash flow generation.

在 2026 財年，我們將受益於 48C 稅收抵免、西維吉尼亞州工廠投資的額外折舊，以及 CMC 收購 Foley 和 CP&P 時獲得的資產的加速折舊，這將顯著增加我們的自由現金流。

Turning to CMC's fiscal '26 capital spending outlook. We expect to invest approximately $600 million in total. Of this amount, approximately $350 million is associated with completing the construction of our West Virginia micro mill, as well as a handful of high-return growth investments within our EBG segment.

接下來我們來看看CMC 2026財年的資本支出展望。我們預計總共投資約6億美元。其中約 3.5 億美元與完成我們在西維吉尼亞州的微型工廠的建設有關，以及在我們 EBG 部門的一些高回報成長投資。

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彼得，請他對CMC的財務前景發表更多評論。

Thank you, Paul. We expect consolidated financial results in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 to be generally consistent with those of the fourth quarter. Finish 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 of higher steel product margins over scrap.

謝謝你，保羅。我們預期 2026 財年第一季的合併財務表現將與第四季的業績基本一致。預計北美鋼鐵集團的成品鋼材出貨量將遵循正常的季節性趨勢，而由於鋼材產品利潤率高於廢鋼，預計我們調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率將逐週增長。

While we expect financial results in the emerging businesses group to decline on a sequential basis due to normal seasonality and we believe they will improve year over year. Our Europe Steel Group will receive the second tranche of the annual CO2 credit in an amount of approximately $15 million during the first quarter. Excluding this credit, adjusted EBITDA for our Europe Steel Group is likely to be around breakeven as seasonal factors and scheduled maintenance outages weigh on profitability. I am confident in CMC's long-term outlook and continue to believe in our ability to generate significant value for our shareholders.

雖然我們預期新興業務集團的財務表現會因正常的季節性因素而較上季下降，但我們相信它們會逐年改善。我們的歐洲鋼鐵集團將在第一季收到第二筆年度二氧化碳排放額度，金額約 1,500 萬美元。不計入這筆抵免額，由於季節性因素和計劃內的維護停機會影響盈利能力，我們歐洲鋼鐵集團的調整後 EBITDA 可能接近盈虧平衡。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。

We are executing on several strategic initiatives, which we believe will deliver meaningful and sustained enhancements to our margins, earnings, cash flow, and return on capital. 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 projects, and adding complementary early-stage construction solutions that provide attractive new growth lanes. Taken together, we believe these efforts will position our company to take full advantage of the powerful structural trends in the domestic construction market for years to come.

我們正在執行多項策略性舉措，我們相信這些舉措將對我們的利潤率、收益、現金流量和資本回報率帶來有意義且持續的提升。我們將透過利用我們的 TAG 營運和商業卓越計劃，從我們現有的企業中獲得更多收益，完成增值型有機項目，並增加互補的早期建設解決方案，從而提供有吸引力的新增長途徑，來實現這一目標。我們相信，這些努力將使我們公司能夠在未來幾年充分利用國內建築市場強勁的結構性趨勢。

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. Thank you.

最後，我要感謝我們的客戶對CMC的信任和信心，以及我們所有員工在過去一個季度裡取得的非常穩健的安全和營運表現。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) Mike Harris, Goldman Sachs.

（操作說明）麥克·哈里斯，高盛。

This is Cecilia Chen on for Mike Harris. You mentioned strong growth in the construction industry. So I was wondering, how much of that demand is coming from infrastructure, residential, industrial, and energy?

這裡是陳茜莉（Cecilia Chen）替麥克哈里斯（Mike Harris）報道。您提到了建築業的強勁成長。所以我想知道，這些需求有多少是來自基礎建設、住宅、工業和能源？

Yeah. Thank you very much for the questions, Cecilia. Infrastructure has been very strong. It has been for the past several years really on the back of the IIJA, and we expect it's going to continue to be strong. And I would say that we expect there to be a follow-on bill so that this should be a multiyear trend.

是的。塞西莉亞，非常感謝你的提問。基礎設施非常完善。過去幾年，它一直主要依靠 IIJA 的支持，我們預計它將繼續保持強勁勢頭。而且我認為，我們預計會有後續法案出台，因此這應該會成為多年趨勢。

On non-residential construction, it's been a bit mixed. There have been certain areas that are very strong. Areas like energy as you cite, that's been very strong. Data centers, obviously, very strong, institutional spending on hospitals. So that type of thing has been also very strong. But then there have been other areas that are kind of weaker, and I'm thinking about kind of commercial buildings, retail has been weaker.

非住宅建築方面，情況則是喜憂參半。有些地區實力非常強勁。正如你所提到的能源領域，表現一直非常強勁。資料中心顯然實力雄厚，醫院的機構支出也非常可觀。所以這類事情也一直很盛行。但也有其他一些領域表現較弱，我指的是商業建築，零售業就比較疲軟。

The thing that's exciting about the non-residential space is that there is a huge backlog of potential projects coming down the pike. And I'm thinking about -- and we've said this before, there are something like $2 trillion of potential projects that are out there that have been announced. And then there's still a huge pipeline of potential projects that come behind that in some of these trade deals if and when they get negotiated. So we're very bullish about a turn in nonresidential spending, and we'll see that move from kind of what's been flattish to something that's growing again.

非住宅領域令人興奮的地方在於，有大量潛在項目正在籌備中。我一直在想——我們以前也說過——目前已經公佈的潛在項目價值約 2 兆美元。此外，如果這些貿易協定最終能夠達成，那麼背後還有大量潛在項目需要落實。因此，我們非常看好非住宅支出的轉變，我們將看到它從一直處於平穩狀態轉變為再次成長。

And then lastly, residential markets. Residential markets have been lackluster, I would say. And a lot of that is tied to interest rates. Those markets tend to be more sensitive to interest rates, but as we see interest rates start to come down, we have confidence that we're going to see a turn in that market. And remember that we have a deficit of 2 million to 4 million homes in this country. So there's absolutely a demand backdrop that warrants the residential spending.

最後是住宅市場。我認為，住宅市場一直表現平淡。而這很大程度上與利率有關。這些市場往往對利率較為敏感，但隨著利率開始下降，我們有信心市場將會出現轉機。別忘了，我們國家還有200萬到400萬套房的缺口。因此，住宅支出確實存在合理的市場需求背景。

And we just have to get to a place where the economics support that. But we think we're going to see that as rates continue to drift down. So in total, we are -- we remain very bullish about the level of spending over the next several years. Each of these sectors, it's a multiyear trend.

我們只需要達到經濟條件能夠支撐這個目標的程度。但我們認為隨著利率持續下降，這種情況將會發生。總的來說，我們對未來幾年的支出水準仍然非常樂觀。這些領域中的每一個，都是持續多年的趨勢。

That's very helpful. And also wondering, given the bullish outlook, why is it that the first quarter outlook is not more positive, especially given the positive performance in the current quarter?

那很有幫助。此外，鑑於整體樂觀的前景，為什麼第一季的前景並不樂觀，尤其是在本季業績表現良好的情況下？

Cecila, there's a few moving pieces to our outlook for the first quarter. You're correct. As far as North America Steel Group is concerned, we're going to have a very strong quarter in the first quarter. We often measure the North American Steel Group as an EBITDA per ton and it was great to see in the fourth quarter that the EBITDA per ton of that segment was over $200 a ton. And as we said in our stated remarks that we exited the quarter with a metal margin over $30 a ton higher than the average for the quarter.

塞西莉亞，我們對第一季的展望有幾個不確定因素。你說得對。就北美鋼鐵集團而言，我們第一季的業績將會非常強勁。我們通常以每噸 EBITDA 來衡量北美鋼鐵集團的業績，很高興看到第四季度該部門的每噸 EBITDA 超過 200 美元。正如我們在聲明中所說，本季末，我們的金屬利潤率比本季平均高出每噸 30 美元以上。

So North America Steel Group will have a great quarter. However, if we look at our Europe Steel Group, two aspects to that, we talked about the reduction in the CO2 credits. We will get another credit in the first quarter, but it will be roughly half of what we received in the fourth quarter. So that will be a $50 million impact. And then we have our typical seasonal planned maintenance outage that will reduce the operating performance, excluding the CO2 credits to near breakeven.

因此，北美鋼鐵集團本季業績將會非常出色。但是，如果我們看看我們的歐洲鋼鐵集團，有兩個方面需要說明，我們談到了二氧化碳信用額的減少。我們將在第一季獲得另一筆款項，但大約只有第四季所得款項的一半。這將造成5000萬美元的影響。此外，我們還有典型的季節性計畫維護停機，這將降低營運績效（不包括二氧化碳排放額度），使其接近盈虧平衡。

And the other pieces within the EBG group, because Tensar means a significant portion to that business, and it's really involved in site prep, the seasonality of that business is quite a bit more significant than our other businesses. So as we guided towards improvement over last year, but a similar type of transition from fourth quarter to first quarter. Those are the major factors, which drive us towards a fairly consistent overall quarter over quarter, but many different moving pieces within the portfolio.

而 EBG 集團內的其他業務，由於 Tensar 在該業務中佔有相當大的比重，並且它確實參與了場地準備工作，因此該業務的季節性比我們的其他業務要明顯得多。因此，儘管我們預計今年的情況會比去年有所改善，但從第四季到第一季的過渡情況與去年類似。這些是主要因素，它們促使我們實現相對穩定的季度業績，但投資組合中存在許多不同的變動因素。

Sathish Kasinathan, Bank of America.

薩蒂什‧卡西納坦 (Sathish Kasinathan)，美國銀行。

Congrats on a strong quarter and the announced acquisition. With Foley and CP&P now, I think you now have a strong scale in the precast concrete market. With this kind of size, do you think the focus over the next couple of years will be to just integrate the assets and reduce debt? Or given the fragmented market, would you continue to look for additional inorganic growth opportunities?

祝賀公司本季業績強勁，宣布完成收購。有了 Foley 和 CP&P，我認為你們現在在預製混凝土市場擁有了強大的規模優勢。以這樣的規模，您認為未來幾年公司的重點會是整合資產和減少債務嗎？或者，鑑於市場分散，您是否會繼續尋找其他非內生性成長機會？

Yeah. So that's a great question. So thank you very much. As we kind of look forward with these two transactions, I'd say it's fair to say we are done for now. We have quite a bit of integration to do with these transactions, and we're very happy with the platform that we've built.

是的。這是一個很好的問題。非常感謝。展望未來，完成這兩筆交易後，我認為可以算是我們目前為止的工作告一段落了。這些交易需要進行大量的整合工作，我們對已建立的平台非常滿意。

As we look a little bit further forward, once we bring our leverage down to -- into our acceptable range, then we would start to look at other transactions. We think this is a big market, again, precast overall, as we said on the last call when we introduced CP&P this is a $30 billion market, and it's fragmented, and we think there are going to likely be opportunities for us over time.

展望未來，一旦我們將槓桿率降低到可接受的範圍內，我們就會開始考慮其他交易。我們認為這是一個很大的市場，再次強調，預製件整體而言，正如我們在上次電話會議上介紹 CP&P 時所說，這是一個價值 300 億美元的市場，而且它很分散，我們認為隨著時間的推移，我們可能會有機會。

Bolt-ons will be super attractive because they typically are cheaper. They come with synergies, and they strengthen our core, which is kind of part of the message that we are consistently trying to reinforce. And bigger transactions will likely be more episodic. But our goal for this platform is ultimately to create one of national scale that looks a little bit like our rebar business, again, and that's -- to do that, we're going to build a platform that's several hundred million dollars of EBITDA. But we're going to do it on a measured basis.

外掛式配件會非常受歡迎，因為它們通常更便宜。它們能夠產生協同效應，並增強我們的核心實力，這正是我們一直試圖強調的訊息的一部分。而金額較大的交易則可能較零散一些。但我們打造這個平台的最終目標是創建一個全國規模的平台，有點像我們的鋼筋業務，為此，我們將建立一個息稅折舊攤銷前利潤達數億美元的平台。但我們會循序漸進地進行。

And remember, we've always said from the beginning, we're going to be super disciplined about M&A and making sure that we deliver the returns on the M&A that we do. And integrating these assets successfully is absolutely critical to ensuring the success of that going forward. So very excited about the opportunity, and these two businesses could not fit together better. So anyway, super excited about what we have so far.

記住，我們從一開始就說過，我們會對併購活動保持高度的自律，確保我們透過併購活動獲得應有的回報。成功整合這些資產對於確保未來成功至關重要。我對這個機會感到非常興奮，這兩家公司簡直是天作之合。總之，我對目前的成果感到非常興奮。

Sathish, I would just add, as we've been talking with the investment community probably for two years, we've been looking at the early-stage construction and really honing in on this precast market. And the one thing that came up repeatedly was the -- these are the two leaders in the space. And so obviously, we don't dictate timing of when the assets become available, but when they became available, it was imperative that we took a look and tried to build the portfolio that made sense.

薩蒂什，我還要補充一點，過去兩年我們一直在與投資界進行交流，我們一直在關注早期建設階段，並真正專注於預製件市場。反覆出現的一點是——這兩位是該領域的領導者。因此，很顯然，我們無法決定資產何時可用，但當資產可用時，我們必須進行考察，並努力建立合理的投資組合。

Yeah, that's great to hear. Just on Foley, it is clear that the margin profile is one of the best today, but can you maybe share the historical growth rate portfolio like over the past two, three years? And looking ahead, do you see potential for this business to continue like to grow or gain market share and grow above the 5% to 7% market growth?

是啊，聽到這個消息真是太好了。僅就 Foley 而言，很明顯其利潤率狀況是目前最好的之一，但您能否分享一下過去兩三年的歷史成長率投資組合？展望未來，您認為這項業務是否有潛力繼續成長或獲得市場份額，並實現超過 5% 至 7% 的市場成長率？

Yeah. I think if you look at the growth over the -- of the business over the last couple of years, I think we should assume there's a base level of growth that's kind of GDP related. And then on top of that, there's growth related to kind of share expansions that the business makes. And in the case of Foley, it has a number of expansions that it's in progress on in its territory today that -- or in its territories today that will provide opportunities for future growth. So we would expect to grow at a level in excess of GDP over the next couple of years from a volume standpoint.

是的。我認為，如果你觀察過去幾年業務的成長情況，我們應該假設存在一個與GDP相關的基本成長水準。除此之外，還有與公司股份擴張相關的成長。就 Foley 而言，它目前在其業務區域內正在進行多項擴張，這些擴張將為未來的成長提供機會。因此，從數量上看，我們預計未來幾年成長速度將超過 GDP 成長速度。

And I would just add, Sathish, the margin level that we described in the material, the business has generated that consistently over the last handful of years. So very consistent performer.

我還要補充一點，Sathish，我們在材料中描述的利潤率水平，公司在過去幾年中一直保持著。表現非常穩定。

Alex Hacking, Citi.

Alex Hacking，花旗銀行。

Congrats on the deal. I guess just following up on the margin question, Foley's margins look like they're almost double CP&P. Could you maybe give a little more color on kind of what's driving that? And is there a potential opportunity to increase margins at CP&P from learning from Foley? Thanks.

恭喜達成交易。我想就利潤率問題做個後續說明，Foley 的利潤率看起來幾乎是 CP&P 的兩倍。能否再詳細解釋背後的驅動因素？CP&P 是否有可能透過向 Foley 學習來提高利潤率？謝謝。

Yeah, thanks, Alex. I appreciate the question. So a couple of things that I would point to. And again, I think as we look at these businesses, one of the things we really like about this is -- and as Paul said, we spent a lot of time looking at these businesses, is that they both bring strength to the table. There are certain things that Foley does really well, and there are certain things that CP&P does really well.

謝謝你，Alex。感謝您的提問。所以我想指出幾點。而且，我認為當我們審視這些企業時，我們真正喜歡的一點是——正如保羅所說，我們花了很多時間研究這些企業——它們都具備強大的實力。Foley 在某些方面做得非常出色，CP&P 在某些方面也做得非常出色。

And I think the combination of those two companies is going to build really a formidable company for -- in our portfolio. If we look at Foley specifically relative to CP&P and try to articulate the margin differentials. One of the things Foley has a different operating model than CP&P. And so that's a factor.

我認為這兩家公司的合併將為我們的投資組合創造一家非常強大的公司。如果我們具體考察 Foley 與 CP&P 的情況，並嘗試闡明利潤率差異。Foley 的營運模式與 CP&P 的不同之處在於，它與 CP&P 的營運模式不同。所以這也是一個因素。

And the other thing that I would say on the CP&P side is that CP&P has made a number of acquisitions recently where they are kind of works in process, and so -- or works in progress. And so as a consequence, the margins in some of those businesses are lower, and they bring down the overall margin. So if you look at precast in general, it is the case that Foley's margins stand out. But CP&P does -- if you look at the plants that are kind of the more mature plants, they have very attractive margins there as well.

關於 CP&P，我還想說的是，CP&P 最近進行了一些收購，這些收購目前都還在進行中，或者說還在進行中。因此，部分企業的利潤率較低，因此拉低了整體利潤率。因此，如果你縱觀整個預製構件產業，你會發現 Foley 的利潤率確實非常突出。但 CP&P 的確如此——如果你看看那些比較成熟的工廠，它們的利潤率也非常誘人。

Okay. Thanks for the color. And then just following up, I guess, on the cash conversion side, of the $600 million CapEx next year estimate, how much of that would be for precast? And within that, how much would be kind of sustaining versus growth? Thank you.

好的。謝謝你提供的色彩。然後，我想就現金轉換方面繼續追問，在明年預計的 6 億美元資本支出中，有多少會用於預製件？其中，維持性投入和成長性投入各佔多少比例？謝謝。

Yeah. There's -- well, for precast, the maintenance CapEx on these businesses is much lower. We talked about -- in the case of CP&P, you may remember, we talked about $8 million to $10 million of maintenance CapEx. In the case of Foley, it's probably like a kind of $10 million to $15 million type of number. In the case of CP&P for the reason that I just explained to you, they've got these businesses that they've acquired, where there's some investment that we think we can support.

是的。嗯，對於預製構件來說，這些企業的維護資本支出要低得多。我們討論過——以 CP&P 為例，您可能還記得，我們​​討論過 800 萬至 1000 萬美元的維護資本支出。就弗​​里而言，賠償金額可能在 1000 萬到 1500 萬美元之間。就 CP&P 而言，正如我剛才向你解釋的那樣，他們收購了一些企業，我們認為我們可以支持這些企業的一些投資。

Their spending is probably going to be a little bit higher over the first couple of years of our ownership as we kind of bring together the investments that they've made. And again, those are all -- all of that CapEx beyond maintenance is maintenance or spending that has very attractive returns tied to it.

在我們接手後的頭幾年，他們的支出可能會略高一些，因為我們需要整合他們之前所做的投資。再次強調，所有這些——除維護之外的資本支出都是維護或支出，而且這些支出都具有非常誘人的回報。

The only thing, Alex, I'd add is Peter is talking about annual numbers. And as we talked about really -- we expect the transaction to close in by the end of the calendar year. So the numbers in our fiscal will be a lot lower than those.

Alex，我唯一要補充的是，Peter 指的是年度數字。正如我們之前討論的那樣——我們預計這筆交易將在今年年底前完成。因此，我們財政年度的數字將遠低於這些數字。

Carlos De Alba, Morgan Stanley.

卡洛斯·德阿爾巴，摩根士丹利。

And maybe a follow-up on the prior question, how quickly do you think that the margins in CP&P and particularly in those recent acquisitions could bring up or come to the levels that Foley and maybe the core CP&P business is already experiencing? Is it (multiple speakers) a year or two years?

或許可以接著上一個問題問，您認為 CP&P 的利潤率，特別是最近收購的那些利潤率，需要多久才能達到 Foley 以及 CP&P 核心業務目前的水平？（多位發言者）是一年還是兩年？

Great question, Carlos. So the one thing I'd say is we want to be a little careful. We don't own these businesses yet. So we need to kind of close on the transactions and better understand what we have. And with that understanding will come more clarity on the time frame.

問得好，卡洛斯。所以我想說的是，我們要謹慎一點。我們目前還沒有擁有這些企業。所以我們需要完成這些交易，更了解我們擁有的資產。有了這種認識，時間框架就會更加清晰。

But I think the appropriate way to frame it for you at this juncture is that we talk about the synergies as being achievable over a three- to five-year horizon. And I think that, that's the right horizon to think about for any kind of improvement in the CP&P margins. Obviously, there are some things that will be -- that will come quick and then there's other things that will take longer. I just mentioned before in response to Alex's question that we're going to put some extra capital into -- to the tune of kind of $5 million-ish per year into CP&P and that will be to accelerate some of that. And again, that's all really high return capital that we'll be deploying.

但我認為，在這個階段，最合適的表達方式是，我們談論的協同效應是在三到五年內可以實現的。我認為，對於 CP&P 利潤率的任何改進而言，這才是正確的展望方向。顯然，有些事情會很快發生，而有些事情則需要更長時間。我剛才在回答 Alex 的問題時提到過，我們將向 CP&P 投入一些額外的資金——大約每年 500 萬美元左右，這將有助於加快一些項目的進展。再次強調，我們將投入的都是高報酬的資金。

Right. So the $5 million to $10 million incremental EBITDA in CP&P that you mentioned, that includes this recent acquisition by the company stepping off the EBITDA generation, right?

正確的。所以，您提到的CP&P新增500萬至1000萬美元的EBITDA，包括該公司最近進行的收購，從而停止了EBITDA的產生，對嗎？

No, just to be clear. So when we announced CP&P, we said that there was $5 million to $10 million in that transaction. We maintain that, right? And then in this transaction, we're bringing another $25 million to $30 million over a three- to five-year period. So it's -- that's why -- and you'll remember in the last conversation that we had when we acquired -- or when we announced the acquisition of CP&P, we said that as we have a platform, we would have more synergies with successive moves, and this is a great example of this.

不，我只是想說清楚。所以，當我們宣布 CP&P 時，我們說這筆交易的金額在 500 萬到 1000 萬美元之間。我們堅持這一點，對吧？然後，透過這筆交易，我們將在三到五年內再投入 2,500 萬至 3,000 萬美元。所以——這就是原因——你可能還記得，在我們上次收購——或者說宣布收購 CP&P 時，我們說過，由於我們擁有一個平台，我們將在後續舉措中獲得更多協同效應，而這正是一個很好的例子。

And honestly, you might ask a question about the timing of these two transactions. And obviously, we couldn't call the timing, but I think when you see that magnitude of synergies, it makes it clear why this was a transaction we had to look at seriously. So yeah, it's an extra $25 million to $30 million in this transaction.

說實話，你可能會對這兩筆交易的時間表提出疑問。顯然，我們無法預測時機，但我認為，當你看到如此巨大的協同效應時，就很容易理解為什麼我們必須認真考慮這筆交易。是的，這筆交易額外涉及 2,500 萬至 3,000 萬美元。

Right. Fair enough. And my second question is regarding the outlook for dividends and buybacks vis-a-vis the cash flow generation of the company. You did mention that the acquisitions of both of them are going to be accretive to free cash flow. You're not going to really pay a lot of cash taxes in the next two years.

正確的。很公平。我的第二個問題是關於公司現金流產生與股利和股票回購前景之間的關係。您確實提到過，收購這兩家公司都將有助於增加自由現金流。未來兩年你基本上不用繳很多現金稅。

How do you see dividends and buybacks in the coming quarters?

您如何看待未來幾季的股利和股票回購？

Yes. So let me just say -- to answer your question directly, on dividends, we will -- we have no plan to change our dividend, zero plan to change our dividend. And I'd say also our long-term capital allocation strategy is not changing at all, not at all. What I would say is that we are done with acquisitions for now, and we're going to focus on -- the big acquisitions for now, and we're going to focus on integration and making sure that we make these transactions highly successful and great return investments for our business. We will continue the organic growth projects that we've started across the company.

是的。所以讓我直接回答你的問題——關於股息，我們——我們沒有改變股息的計劃，絕對沒有改變股息的計劃。而我認為，我們的長期資本配置策略絲毫沒有改變，一點也沒有。我想說的是，我們目前已經完成了收購，我們將專注於——目前是大型收購，我們將專注於整合，並確保這些交易非常成功，為我們的業務帶來豐厚的回報。我們將繼續推進公司內部已啟動的有機成長項目。

You know as we move past Steel West Virginia, these will be much more capital-light investments, but we will continue those and we will slow down our share repurchase program and probably bring it to a level where we're offsetting employee share grants in the short term as we get our leverage back down below the 2 times target. And once we get to the 2 times target or below, we'll then ramp up share repurchases. Share repurchases are a critical part of our capital allocation strategy and we intend to resume those as our balance sheet comes into line.

你知道，隨著我們完成西維吉尼亞鋼鐵公司的收購，這些投資將更加輕資本投入，但我們會繼續這些投資，並放緩股票回購計劃，可能會將其降低到短期內抵消員工股票授予的水平，同時將槓桿率降至 2 倍目標以下。一旦股價達到或低於 2 倍的目標水平，我們將加大股票回購力道。股票回購是我們資本配置策略的關鍵組成部分，我們計劃在資產負債表狀況改善後恢復股票回購。

And Carlos, we're very confident in both the numerator and the denominator in terms of being able to bring that leverage down in terms of the -- you mentioned the cash flow and the lack of US cash taxes, the reduction in CapEx going forward and the optimism in the current environment in our business is that cash flow generation is expected to be very strong and then that also is helping the EBITDA that we expect the business to generate over the coming periods is also expected to be strong. And therefore, we should -- both aspects should help us achieve that 2 times net leverage over the coming quarters.

卡洛斯，我們對分子和分母都非常有信心，能夠降低槓桿率——你提到了現金流和美國現金稅的缺失，以及未來資本支出的減少，我們對當前業務環境的樂觀態度是，預計現金流將非常強勁，這也有助於我們預計業務在未來一段時間內產生的 EBITDA 也將保持強勁。因此，我們應該——這兩個方面都應該有助於我們在未來幾季實現 2 倍的淨槓桿率。

Bill Peterson, JPMorgan.

比爾彼得森，摩根大通。

Congrats on the second transaction here in a few months. Along those lines, I have a longer-term question, maybe more suited for a capital market statement. Given these transactions, how would you envision the company looking like in sort of a five-plus year time frame in terms of product mix, rebar versus long products, ground stabilization, precast ,or other materials? Given the margin structure in these newer businesses and acquired companies, would you consider selling core assets in order to accelerate the transition? I'm just trying to get a sense on how we should envision this company over the long term.

恭喜您在短短幾個月內完成了第二筆交易。基於此，我還有一個更長遠的問題，或許更適合在資本市場報告中提出。鑑於這些交易，您認為在五年以上的時間裡，公司在產品組合、鋼筋與長材、地基穩定、預製件或其他材料方面會是什麼樣子？考慮到這些新興企業和收購公司的利潤結構，您是否會考慮出售核心資產以加速轉型？我只是想了解我們應該如何展望這家公司的長遠發展。

Yeah, it's a great question. If you think about the strategy that we've outlined, it's one of becoming an early-stage construction supplier. And if you think about our rebar business, our fabrication business, these fit perfectly, and these are early-stage construction suppliers. You think about our Tensar business, it's early-stage construction. Think about our recently acquired precast platforms, early-stage construction; PRS, performance reinforcing steel, early-stage construction; and construction services, same thing.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。如果你仔細想想我們所製定的策略，那就是成為早期建築供應商。想想我們的鋼筋業務、我們的加工業務，這些都非常契合，而且這些都是早期建築供應商。你想想我們的Tensar業務，它還處於早期建設階段。想想我們最近收購的預製平台，早期施工階段；PRS，高性能鋼筋，早期施工階段；以及施工服務，都是同樣的道理。

So if you look at the portfolio that we have today, we've got a number of interesting assets that we can build on, and that's one of the things we find so compelling about the portfolio to become a leader in early-stage construction. So when we talk about our precast business, again, as I said in response to an earlier question, our goal is to build that into something where we have a national footprint, and that's going to mean kind of several hundred million dollars of EBITDA with these two transactions, we're well on the way to doing that. And with the footprint that Foley brings, I think we have a beachhead to examine some of those markets that -- by the way, we know well because we're already in those markets with our rebar fabrication and our mills business, right? So there's a very natural path that we're following.

所以，如果你看看我們今天的投資組合，我們會發現我們有很多有趣的資產可以以此為基礎進行發展，這也是我們認為該投資組合如此吸引人的原因之一，使我們能夠成為早期建設領域的領導者。所以，當我們談到預製件業務時，正如我之前回答問題時所說，我們的目標是將其發展成為一家全國性企業，這意味著透過這兩項交易，我們將獲得數億美元的 EBITDA，我們正朝著這個目標穩步前進。憑藉 Foley 帶來的影響力，我認為我們已經站穩了腳跟，可以去考察一些市場——順便說一句，我們很了解這些市場，因為我們已經在這些市場開展鋼筋加工和軋鋼業務了，對吧？所以，我們走的是一條非常自然的路。

As we look at our other EBG businesses, we would love to grow Tensar. We think that has great potential, and it's still a very underpenetrated market. It could be -- it will be an important piece of our portfolio. Performance reinforcing steel, the plant that we have today is sold out. So we're building another one.

當我們審視我們其他的 EBG 業務時，我們非常希望發展 Tensar。我們認為這很有潛力，而且目前市場滲透率仍然很低。它有可能成為——它將是我們投資組合的重要組成部分。高性能鋼筋，我們目前使用的工廠已經售罄。所以我們正在建造另一個。

And we believe that the demand for corrosion-resistant steel in this country given some of the changes in weather and so forth is only going to increase. And construction services is a tremendous asset. We talk to customers, and the customers tell us the construction services business where we are, and it's really a small segment of our footprint, which is really Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. It's a great asset to the customers we have.

我們認為，鑑於氣候變遷等因素，我國對耐腐蝕鋼的需求只會增加。建築服務是一項巨大的資產。我們與客戶交談，客戶告訴我們建築服務業務的現狀，而這實際上只占我們業務範圍的一小部分，主要集中在德克薩斯州、路易斯安那州和俄克拉荷馬州。這對我們的客戶來說是一項巨大的資產。

So that's something that we're looking at as a potential way to kind of complement the early-stage construction portfolio that we're building. So as we look at the portfolio, again, what we want is we want businesses that can be of scale and that can be of significance to our customers. We want businesses that bring value to our customers so it's difficult to define the portfolio precisely, but the direction that we're going is we want value-added products that have high margins and kind of good returns on invested capital.

所以，我們正在考慮將其作為一種潛在方式，來補充我們正在建造的早期建築項目組合。因此，當我們審視投資組合時，我們想要的是能夠成長並對我們的客戶具有重要意義的企業。我們希望企業能為客戶帶來價值，因此很難精確定義投資組合，但我們的發展方向是，我們希望擁有高利潤率和良好投資回報率的增值產品。

And I want to just come back -- sorry, this is a long answer, but I think this is important. I want to come back to our steel business and TAG. And the whole mission of TAG is to improve the great platform that we already have in steel. And it is so critical when we talk to the customers, and I'm talking about big contractors, they tell us, you guys are -- your franchise in the steel market is tremendously valuable to us because you do what you say you're going to do and you do it when you say you're going to do it.

我想回來——抱歉，回答有點長，但我認為這很重要。我想回到我們的鋼鐵業務和TAG公司。TAG 的全部使命就是改進我們現有的鋼鐵領域的巨大平台。當我們與客戶交談時，這一點至關重要。我指的是大型承包商，他們告訴我們，你們在鋼鐵市場的特許經營權對我們來說非常有價值，因為你們說到做到，而且按時完成。

And TAG is helping us make that business even better. And our goal with that business is to raise the margins through the cycle so that they start to look like the margins in some of our -- kind of ultimately some of our EBG businesses. So again, this is a -- it's a multiyear journey, but we think we have a lot of opportunity. And the team that's executing the TAG program within our company is doing a phenomenal job. So anyway, Bill, I know that's a long answer to your question, but hopefully, it gives you some color.

TAG 正在幫助我們把這項業務做得更好。我們對這項業務的目標是在整個週期中提高利潤率，使其最終達到我們一些 EBG 業務的利潤率水平。所以，這又是一個——這是一段多年的旅程，但我們認為我們有很多機會。我們公司內部負責執行 TAG 專案的團隊做得非常出色。總之，比爾，我知道你的問題的答案很長，但希望這能給你一些啟發。

No, certainly. Thanks for all that details there. My next question is more, I guess, near-term focused. And you talked about typical seasonality across several of these sectors. But I guess, on North America, if you look back, this would imply something like a down 3% to 7% quarter on quarter. But we've seen a lot of variability over the last five years or so.

不，當然。謝謝你提供的所有細節。我的下一個問題，我想，更側重於近期的事情。您還談到了其中幾個行業的典型季節性。但我想，如果回顧北美的情況，這可能意味著季減 3% 到 7%。但在過去五年左右的時間裡，我們看到了許多波動。

And I would assume you're really talking more driven by the downstream versus products. But can you unpack what typical seasonality is really meant here and what that may look like for the various subsegments of your business?

我猜你真正想說的更多是下游環節而不是產品環節。但是，您能否解釋一下這裡所說的典型季節性究竟是什麼意思，以及它對您業務的各個細分領域可能意味著什麼？

Yeah. Bill, the season, September through November, really, it is a good construction season similar to our fourth quarter with the exception of the week that we lose for Thanksgiving. So really, we see -- it's usually that 2%, 3% reduction in volumes that we see in the first quarter on the North American Steel Group. As I said in an earlier answer, we do see impacts to the other segments, a little bit stronger, given the more cyclical nature of site preparation, which drives a lot of the EBG business. So that one is a little bit more seasonal. And as you saw last year, and then Europe with the outage is less seasonal, but the outage season.

是的。比爾，從九月到十一月，這段時間確實是很好的施工旺季，類似我們的第四季度，只是感恩節那一週會耽誤一些工期。所以實際上，我們看到——北美鋼鐵集團第一季的銷量通常會下降 2% 到 3%。正如我在先前的回答中所說，我們確實看到其他部分受到了影響，而且影響可能更大一些，因為場地準備工作具有更強的周期性，而場地準備工作是 EBG 業務的主要驅動力。所以那款產品更具季節性。正如你去年所看到的，歐洲的停電情況雖然沒有那麼明顯的季節性，但仍有停電季。

Andrew Jones, UBS.

瑞銀集團的安德魯瓊斯。

I just want to better understand the barriers to entry in this business. I mean, to me, it looks like it's a pretty fragmented business, you obviously called out a few things on the slide including relatively high capital costs. I mean, could you give us some idea in terms of how to sort of quantify those? And when you talk about the steep learning curve, can you kind of give us some sort of sense as to how complex this is? Because I mean, just high level, our fragmented business usually means a much lower margin than we're seeing in these numbers.

我只是想更了解進入這個行業的門檻。我的意思是，在我看來，這似乎是一個相當分散的業務，你顯然在幻燈片中指出了一些問題，包括相對較高的資本成本。我的意思是，您能否給我們一些關於如何量化這些指標的想法？說到學習曲線陡峭，您能否大致描述一下它的複雜程度？因為我的意思是，從宏觀層面來看，我們分散的業務通常意味著利潤率比我們從這些數字中看到的要低得多。

Yeah. So again, if we look at what drives this business, it starts with customer relationships, right? And if you look across the portfolio of CP&P or Foley, they've got great relationships in the region that connect them and obviously a reputation and the capability to service these -- the jobs that they're getting. And I think obviously, reputation, just like in our rebar fabrication, it's critical that you deliver the products on time and that you deliver good quality products and that you help the contractor accelerate their jobs. So those are really important.

是的。所以，如果我們再來看看是什麼驅動這項業務，那一切都始於客戶關係，對吧？如果你看看 CP&P 或 Foley 的業務組合，你會發現他們在該地區擁有良好的人脈關係，而且顯然他們也具備服務這些項目（他們正在承接的項目）的聲譽和能力。我認為，很顯然，聲譽就像我們在鋼筋加工領域一樣，至關重要的是按時交付產品，交付高品質的產品，並幫助承包商加快他們的工作進度。所以這些真的很重要。

And the third leg of this is capability. And when you look at the capabilities of both CP&P and of Foley, they bring a broad-based precast capability. So you can be in the precast business pretty easily if you kind of have a concrete mixer and a mold. But the point is that most of these complicated job sites, they need a lot of different forms to be -- to serve the precast need. And so as a consequence, the capability that both of these companies have across the concrete pipe and precast fronts gives them a differentiating capability to perform in the market on these complicated jobs.

第三個支柱是能力。當你審視 CP&P 和 Foley 的能力時，你會發現它們都具備廣泛的預製能力。所以，如果你有混凝土攪拌機和模具，你可以很輕鬆地進入預製件行業。但關鍵是，大多數這類複雜的施工現場都需要很多不同的形式──來滿足預製件的需求。因此，這兩家公司在混凝土管道和預製構件方面的能力使它們在市場上具備了在這些複雜項目中脫穎而出的優勢。

And the last thing I would say is, and this goes to the speed point is that having some scale helps a lot on these larger jobs because, again, what the contractors will tell you is when they start a project, they want to go fast. And so they don't want to wait for material. And the party that can have the material available has a real advantage in supplying the product.

最後我想說的是，這與速度有關，規模對於這些大型專案來說非常有幫助，因為承包商會告訴你，當他們開始一個專案時，他們希望盡快完成。所以他們不想等待材料。能夠提供原料的一方在產品供應上具有真正的優勢。

Katja Jancic, BMO Capital Markets.

Katja Jancic，BMO資本市場。

Maybe just quickly, Peter, did you say earlier on in the call that you would like to grow the precast business to $700 million in EBITDA? Did I hear that correctly?

彼得，我可以快速問一下嗎？你之前在電話會議中提到過，你想把預製件業務的 EBITDA 提高到 7 億美元嗎？我沒聽錯吧？

No, no. Several hundred million dollars. Several hundred million dollars. And -- sorry, go ahead.

不，不。數億美元。數億美元。抱歉，請繼續。

No, no, you go. Sorry.

不，不，你去。對不起。

No, I was just going to say several hundred million. And again, between these two acquisitions, we're already at $250 million. So we've got a good start.

不，我正要說幾億。再說一遍，這兩項收購加起來，我們已經達到 2.5 億美元了。我們開局不錯。

And I think before -- with the announcement of the first acquisition, the commentary was that most of the growth there is more likely through M&A. Is that correct?

而且我認為，在宣布首次收購之前，評論是，那裡的大部分成長更有可能透過併購來實現。是這樣嗎？

It is. It is. I mean, again, there are organic projects, and I noted two of them earlier in this call on the Foley platform, and there's a number of organic growth projects in the CP&P platform. But again, to build scale and the scale that we're talking about doing, as I said in the last call, it's likely going to involve M&A. The good news is that now, as I said, we have a real platform that we can build around.

這是。這是。我的意思是，再說一遍，有一些有機成長項目，我在之前的電話會議中提到了 Foley 平台上的兩個項目，CP&P 平台上也有許多有機成長項目。但是，正如我在上次電話會議中所說，要建立規模，實現我們正在談論的規模，很可能需要併購。好消息是，正如我所說，我們現在有了一個可以圍繞其開發的真正平台。

So bolt-on acquisitions that come with lots of synergies will be very appealing. And then when they come around, some of these -- the larger acquisitions, which are not going to be every single day. But when they come around, we'll be in a position to look at those as well.

因此，能夠帶來大量協同效應的補充性收購將非常有吸引力。然後，當收購時機成熟時，其中一些——規模較大的收購——不會每天都發生。但等到它們出現的時候，我們也能好好檢視一下。

Just to supplement that, Katja, I would say the step change comes from inorganic growth. I think as we look at the trends in these businesses, we see above-average growth for the adoption and penetration of precast product. They really solve a labor shortage issue. They solve storm water management issues and that has been what really has driven some good size growth. And if we look at the regions in which these businesses operate the growth expectation of construction activity in their geographies is expected to be very attractive over the coming years.

卡佳，我還要補充一點，我認為這種改變來自無機成長。我認為，從這些產業的趨勢來看，預製產品的採用和滲透率都呈現高於平均的成長。他們確實解決了勞動力短缺問題。它們解決了雨水管理問題，而這正是推動其規模快速成長的真正原因。如果我們觀察這些企業所在的地區，就會發現未來幾年這些地區的建築活動成長預期將非常可觀。

Phil Gibbs, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Phil Gibbs，KeyBanc Capital Markets。

A question about the CapEx guidance for this year, around $600 million. Does that include CapEx related to the businesses that you're poised to close on? And if not, what's the typical maintenance level of CapEx associated with those businesses?

關於今年資本支出指引值的問題，約為 6 億美元。這是否包括與您即將完成收購的業務相關的資本支出？如果不是，那麼這些企業通常需要多少維護性資本支出？

Yes, it does not. That's a CMC CapEx number, but Phil, you may have heard us say in response to an earlier question, the maintenance CapEx for these businesses, it's probably $8 million to $10 million for CP&P and probably $10 million to $15 million for Foley. So they're not big CapEx numbers.

是的，並非如此。這是 CMC 的資本支出數字，但菲爾，你可能已經聽我們說過，在回答之前的問題時，這些業務的維護資本支出，CP&P 可能為 800 萬至 1000 萬美元，Foley 可能為 1000 萬至 1500 萬美元。所以這些都不是很大的資本支出數字。

That's a percentage of their revenues.

這是他們收入的一部分。

No. That's million dollars.

不。那是一百萬美元。

Yeah. So it's generally 3% to 4% revenue in this precast space is the maintenance CapEx, a very generic number, but that's -- it's very capital light.

是的。因此，預製件領域的維護資本支出通常佔收入的 3% 到 4%，這是一個非常籠統的數字，但這確實意味著——資本投入非常少。

Okay. And as you've really pivoted and accelerated the strategy to acquire some of these more upstream-oriented construction-facing businesses in the United States, particularly in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. Do you think that that means that there should be a more natural buyer perhaps for your European assets?

好的。而且，你們確實已經調整並加快了策略，收購美國一些更偏向上游的建築業企業，尤其是在東南部和大西洋中部地區。你認為這是否意味著你的歐洲資產可能會有更合適的買家？

Well, so again, from a -- when we look at our European assets, I think I've said this in the past, we really, really appreciate those assets for what they bring to the CMC family. And I would just point to the TAG kind of initiative that I mentioned earlier on the call, the team in Europe has done just a phenomenal job on being low cost, and there's a lot that we can extrapolate from what they've done to help us in North America.

嗯，所以再說一遍，當我們審視我們在歐洲的資產時，我想我以前也說過，我們非常非常重視這些資產，因為它們為 CMC 大家庭帶來了價值。我只想指出我之前在電話會議上提到的 TAG 這類倡議，歐洲團隊在降低成本方面做得非常出色，我們可以從他們所做的工作中推斷出很多東西來幫助我們在北美。

And one of the things that our team in North America is absolutely dead set on is that we will be a low-cost producer in our steel business in North America. So we -- the Polish business brings a lot to the table, and it's absolutely a core part of our portfolio.

我們北美團隊堅定不移的一件事就是，我們要成為北美鋼鐵業務的低成本生產商。因此，波蘭業務為我們帶來了許多價值，它絕對是我們投資組合的核心部分。

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

目前看來，似乎沒有其他問題了。馬特先生，我把電話轉回給您。

Thank you very much. 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, including our recently announced precast acquisitions create an exciting future for our company.

非常感謝。在CMC，我們始終堅信，我們最好的日子還在後頭。我們注意到，結構性需求趨勢、營運和商業卓越舉措，以及旨在加強我們貫穿整個週期的業績和增值增長機會（包括我們最近宣布的預製件收購），共同為我們公司創造了令人興奮的未來。

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

感謝您參加今天的電話會議。我們期待在接下來的幾天和幾週內，在投資者電話會議上與各位交流。非常感謝大家。

This concludes today's CMC conference call. You may now disconnect.

今天的CMC電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線了。