Compass Minerals International Inc (CMP) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. My name is Abby, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Compass Minerals first-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings call. Today's call is being recorded, and all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. (Operator Instructions)

女士們、先生們，早安。我叫艾比，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。此時此刻，我謹歡迎大家參加 Compass Minerals 2024 財年第一季財報電話會議。今天的通話正在錄音，所有線路均已靜音，以防止任何背景噪音。（操作員說明）

And I will now turn the conference over to Brent Collins, Vice President of Investor Relations. You may begin.

我現在將會議交給投資者關係副總裁布倫特柯林斯 (Brent Collins)。你可以開始了。

Thank you, operator. Good morning. And welcome to the Compass Minerals fiscal 2024 first-quarter earnings conference call. Today, we will discuss our recent results and update our outlook for 2024. We'll begin with prepared remarks from our President and CEO, Edward Dowling; and our CFO, Lorin Crenshaw. Joining in for the question-and-answer portion of the call will be George Schuller, our Chief Operating Officer; Ben Nichols, our Chief Sales Officer; and Jenny Hood, our Chief Supply Chain Officer.

謝謝你，接線生。早安.歡迎參加 Compass Minerals 2024 財年第一季財報電話會議。今天，我們將討論我們最近的業績並更新我們對 2024 年的展望。我們將首先由我們的總裁兼執行長愛德華·道林 (Edward Dowling) 準備好講話；以及我們的財務長洛林·克倫肖 (Lorin Crenshaw)。我們的營運長 George Schuller 將參加電話會議的問答部分； Ben Nichols，我們的首席銷售長；以及我們的首席供應鏈官 Jenny Hood。

Before we get started, I'll remind everyone that the remarks we make today reflect financial and operational outlooks as of today's date, February 8, 2024. These outlooks entail assumptions and expectations that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially. A discussion of these risks can be found in our SEC filings located online at investors.compassminerals.com. Our remarks today also include certain non-GAAP financial measures. You can find reconciliations of these items in our earnings release or in our presentation, both of which are available online.

在開始之前，我要提醒大家，我們今天發表的言論反映了截至今天（2024 年 2 月 8 日）的財務和營運前景。這些前景包含假設和預期，其中涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致公司的實際結果出現重大差異。有關這些風險的討論可以在我們的 SEC 文件中找到，該文件位於 Investors.compassminerals.com 上。我們今天的言論也包括某些非公認會計準則財務指標。您可以在我們的收益發布或簡報中找到這些項目的調節表，兩者均可在線上取得。

I will now turn the call over to Ed.

我現在將把電話轉給艾德。

Thank you, Brent. Good morning, everyone. And thank you for joining us on our call today. I look forward to engaging with you as Compass Minerals new President and CEO. I'll begin my remarks today by discussing some of the announcements we've made over the past several weeks.

謝謝你，布倫特。大家，早安。感謝您今天參加我們的電話會議。我期待與您作為 Compass Minerals 新任總裁兼執行長進行交流。我今天的演講將首先討論我們過去幾週發布的一些公告。

Yesterday, we shared within our quarterly earnings that we decided to terminate our lithium project in Utah. As I expect most of you know, this was a brownfields project that would have enabled the extraction of one additional mineral salt, in this case lithium fluoride, to carbonate as a co-product within our existing SOP salt, magnesium chloride production streams at the Ogden operations. Unfortunately, the environment surrounding this project has evolved drastically from when we began advancing this project several years ago.

昨天，我們在季度收益中表示，我們決定終止猶他州的鋰計畫。正如我預計你們大多數人都知道的那樣，這是一個棕地項目，該項目將能夠提取另一種礦物鹽（在本例中為氟化鋰），以碳酸鹽作為我們現有的SOP鹽、氯化鎂生產流中的副產品。奧格登行動。不幸的是，與我們幾年前開始推進該項目時相比，該項目周圍的環境已經發生了巨大的變化。

The proposed regulatory changes have led to significantly increased uncertainty. When you combine an uncertain regulatory environment with other changes that have occurred within the commercial landscape for lithium with all the project, it has a higher than acceptable degree of risk and uncertainty. This requires a higher return in order to justify such investment. So I understood that projects like this carry risk and willing to take and manage measured risk. However, we will not invest into uncertainty. We ultimately concluded there’s just too much uncertainty in this project.

擬議的監管變化導致不確定性顯著增加。當您將不確定的監管環境與鋰商業環境中發生的其他變化與所有項目結合時，它的風險和不確定性程度高於可接受的程度。這需要更高的回報才能證明這種投資的合理性。所以我明白像這樣的專案是有風險的，並且願意承擔和管理可衡量的風險。然而，我們不會投資於不確定性。我們最終得出的結論是，該專案存在太多不確定性。

I will note that the lithium content in the Great Salt Lake is a significant resource that's not going anywhere. We have the ability to revisit the potential to develop the resource in the future. Clearly, that's not today. We'll continue to monitor and engage the appropriate legislator and regulatory processes in Utah as well as watch emerging commercial developments to preserve the long-term optionality of that resource. As a result of the decision not to move forward with the lithium project, we have disbanded the lithium development team.

我要指出的是，大鹽湖中的鋰含量是重要的資源，不會消失。我們有能力重新審視未來開發資源的潛力。顯然，那不是今天。我們將繼續監督和參與猶他州適當的立法者和監管程序，並觀察新興的商業發展，以保持該資源的長期選擇性。由於決定不再推進鋰項目，我們解散了鋰開發團隊。

Chris Yandell, Head of our Lithium, has left the company, as have another of talented individuals who've worked to advance the program. I want to thank Chris and the Lithium team for their efforts for the last couple of years were some of the best in their future endeavors. In concert with these actions, we're taking charge in this quarter that reflects our decision to exit the lithium program, which includes severance costs for the employees that are leaving the company as well as impairment of certain lithium-related assets and future commitments, which Lorin will discuss in more detail.

我們的鋰業務負責人 Chris Yandell 已離開公司，另一位致力於推進該計劃的人才也已離開公司。我要感謝 Chris 和 Lithium 團隊，他們過去幾年的努力是他們未來努力中最好的。與這些行動一致，我們在本季度採取的行動反映了我們退出鋰計劃的決定，其中包括離開公司的員工的遣散費以及某些鋰相關資產和未來承諾的減值，洛林將對此進行更詳細的討論。

Next, I'll discuss our recent CEO transition. When Kevin Crutchfield joined Compass Minerals in 2019, his mandate from the Board was to address the following; one, fix what has been a challenging production period at the Goderich Mine and repair significantly strained relationships -- labor relationships at the mine; two, exiting South America; and three, determine if there was any areas of growth adjacency through the company's core business of salt and plant nutrition. I've known Kevin for three decades. He's a talented executive of the highest integrity and personal character. Over his time here, he successfully addressed all three of these challenges.

接下來，我將討論我們最近的執行長換屆。當 Kevin Crutchfield 於 2019 年加入 Compass Minerals 時，董事會的任務是解決以下問題；第一，解決戈德里奇礦場充滿挑戰的生產時期，修復嚴重緊張的關係－礦場的勞資關係；二、退出南美洲；第三，確定公司的鹽和植物營養核心業務是否有任何成長的鄰接領域。我認識凱文已有三十年了。他是一位才華橫溢的主管，具有最高的正直和個人品格。在此期間，他成功解決了所有這三個挑戰。

As we know, the last year has been a challenging one for Compass Minerals. Ultimately, the Board and Kevin agreed that a change in leadership was in the best interest of the company. This change allows employees and the investment community to refocus on our advantage assets that underpin our core salt and plant nutrition businesses, as well as the emerging and exciting fire retardant business. On behalf of the Board and personally, I want to thank Kevin for his leadership over the past several years and his continued support during this transition.

眾所周知，去年對 Compass Minerals 來說是充滿挑戰的一年。最終，董事會和凱文一致認為領導階層的變動符合公司的最佳利益。這項變革使員工和投資界能夠重新專注於我們的優勢資產，這些資產支撐著我們的核心鹽和植物營養業務，以及新興的、令人興奮的阻燃劑業務。我謹代表董事會和我個人感謝 Kevin 在過去幾年中的領導以及他在過渡期間的持續支持。

Looking forward, I'm excited about the opportunities ahead of us at Compass Minerals. I've been on the Board here for just under two years. More broadly, I spent the totality of my career in mining industry, both in executive and operating roles around the world. I've been fortunate to work in almost every mining environment you can imagine. And I think I bring an acute understanding of what it takes to achieve operational excellence and drive improved profitability in mining.

展望未來，我對 Compass Minerals 面臨的機會感到興奮。我在董事會任職不到兩年。更廣泛地說，我的整個職業生涯都在採礦業度過，在世界各地擔任執行和營運職務。我很幸運能夠在幾乎所有你能想像的採礦環境中工作。我認為我對如何實現卓越營運和提高採礦業獲利能力有著敏銳的理解。

I successfully led numerous cost reduction and capital efficient efforts for several companies in the past. Given these experiences and my familiarity with the company's advantaged assets, the Board determined that I was the right person to lead the Compass Minerals at this point in its journey. In addition to maintaining a safe and responsible operations that Compass Minerals is known for, the mandate I have is pretty simple, it's to improve free cash flow generation and returns on capital we provide to our shareholders. I'm confident that we can get there by improving production effectiveness and asset efficiencies in our salt and plant nutrition businesses.

過去，我成功地為多家公司領導了許多降低成本和提高資本效率的工作。鑑於這些經驗以及我對公司優勢資產的熟悉，董事會確定我是領導 Compass Minerals 發展歷程中現階段的合適人選。除了維持 Compass Minerals 聞名的安全和負責任的營運之外，我的任務非常簡單，就是改善自由現金流的產生和我們為股東提供的資本回報。我相信，我們可以透過提高鹽和植物營養業務的生產效率和資產效率來實現這一目標。

We'll adopt a more stringent approach through evaluating capital requirements and will execute strategies aimed at reducing working capital. We'll also thoughtfully build out our emergency fire retardant business. Our company has a tremendous set of unique and proven assets that would be almost impossible to replicate today. But we must and we will take actions to maximize the performance of these assets.

我們將透過評估資本要求採取更嚴格的方法，並將執行旨在減少營運資本的策略。我們也將深思熟慮地發展我們的緊急阻燃劑業務。我們公司擁有大量獨特且經過驗證的資產，這些資產在今天幾乎不可能複製。但我們必須而且將會採取行動，最大限度地發揮這些資產的表現。

During our most recent earnings call, we laid out six strategic focus areas for fiscal 2024. Those were, build on our strong safety performance and our continuous drive for zero harm across each of our facilities. Two, maintain a disciplined pricing strategy in our North American highway deicing business and focus on geographically advantageous markets. Three, execute on strategies to deliver more reliable sustainable Ogden production. Four, achieve clarity regarding Utah's regulatory regime as it relates to lithium production.

在我們最近的財報電話會議上，我們列出了 2024 財年的六個策略重點領域。這些是建立在我們強大的安全績效和我們在每個設施中不斷努力實現零傷害的基礎上的。第二，在北美高速公路除冰業務中保持嚴格的定價策略，並專注於地理優勢市場。第三，執行策略以提供更可靠的可持續奧格登生產。第四，明確猶他州與鋰生產相關的監管制度。

Again, as we've gained increased clarity on this matter, we're now pens down on lithium. Five, continue to scale the manufacturing and supply chain capabilities of our fire retardants business on its path of full commercialization and increased market share. And sixth, maintain a strong balance sheet and prudent fiscal policy.

再次，隨著我們對這個問題的了解越來越清楚，我們現在開始關注鋰。第五，繼續擴大阻燃劑業務的製造和供應鏈能力，以實現全面商業化並提高市場份額。第六，維持強勁的資產負債表和審慎的財政政策。

Those areas remain the same today, and we'll approach them using prudent cost improvement and capital discipline and tool sets and a renewed emphasis on improving the management of our operating expenditures, capital expenditures, and working capital. In the coming quarters, you should expect to hear more from us about the progress we're making in these areas. Again, I'm extremely excited about the opportunity to lead Compass Minerals through this next chapter in its history.

這些領域在今天保持不變，我們將使用審慎的成本改進和資本紀律和工具集來解決這些問題，並重新強調改善我們的營運支出、資本支出和營運資本的管理。在接下來的幾個季度中，您應該會從我們這裡聽到更多有關我們在這些領域取得的進展的資訊。我再次對有機會帶領 Compass Minerals 翻開歷史新篇章感到非常興奮。

In addition to a great set of assets, the company is blessed with a talented and committed group of employees. My wife and I are looking forward to relocating to the Kansas City metro area and now becoming more involved in the local community here.

除了大量的資產外，公司還擁有一群才華橫溢、忠誠的員工。我和我的妻子期待著搬到堪薩斯城都會區，現在更多地參與這裡的當地社區。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Lorin to review the quarter.

這樣，我會將電話轉給洛林，以審查該季度。

Thank you, Ed. On a consolidated basis, revenue was $342 million for the first quarter, down 3% year-over-year. Our profitability this quarter was impacted by the $75 million impairment we took related to our decision to terminate our lithium project in Utah, which Ed referenced earlier. The consolidated operating loss was $55 million versus operating income of $28 million last year. We reported a net loss of $75 million for the quarter, which compares to a net loss of $300,000 last year. Adjusted EBITDA was approximately $59 million, slightly lower than the $62 million in the prior-year period.

謝謝你，艾德。綜合來看，第一季營收為 3.42 億美元，年減 3%。我們本季的獲利能力受到與我們決定終止猶他州鋰專案相關的 7,500 萬美元減損的影響，艾德之前曾提到這一點。綜合營運虧損為 5,500 萬美元，而去年的營運收入為 2,800 萬美元。我們報告本季淨虧損 7,500 萬美元，而去年淨虧損為 30 萬美元。調整後 EBITDA 約 5,900 萬美元，略低於去年同期的 6,200 萬美元。

I'll begin with the salt segment, where revenue totaled $274 million for the quarter, down 11% year-over-year. The main theme here is that we experienced extremely light volume on account of exceptionally mild weather we saw across our core markets during the first quarter. Specifically, highway deicing volumes were down 22% year-over-year to 2.3 million tons at C&I volumes, which include retail deicing products, were down 5% over the same period to 589,000 tons.

我將從鹽部門開始，該部門本季的收入總計 2.74 億美元，年減 11%。這裡的主題是，由於第一季我們的核心市場天氣異常溫和，我們的成交量極少。具體而言，公路除冰量較去年同期下降 22%，至 230 萬噸；工商業（包括零售除冰產品）量年減 5%，至 589,000 噸。

Total salt segment volumes were down 19% year over year and reflect the fact that the first quarter was the fourth worst quarter with regard to snow event activity within our served markets that we've seen over the better part of three decades. In fact, December '23 three was the worst December over that span. So despite the fact that our commercial group did a fantastic job on pricing, highway deicing price increased 7% and C&I price increased 3%, the weather didn't cooperate the way we'd like to begin the year.

食鹽部門的總銷量年減了19%，這反映了這樣一個事實：第一季是我們服務的市場中降雪事件活動第四最差的季度，這是我們在三十年的大部分時間裡看到的。事實上，23 年 12 月 3 日是該時期最糟糕的 12 月。因此，儘管我們的商業集團在定價方面做得非常出色，高速公路除冰價格上漲了 7%，工商業價格上漲了 3%，但天氣並沒有像我們希望的年初那樣配合。

While the snow data is disappointing, it is important to remember a couple of things about the weather. First, over the long term, about 70% of the snow days in our served markets occur in the second fiscal quarter, so there is a lot of winter left in this season. Second, statistically, looking at historical data, a weak first quarter, one that is below the historical average, has not historically foreshadowed a below-average second quarter. Specifically, when we look back over the past couple of decades, we see that in the 10 first quarters with recorded snow days below 90% of the long-term average, 70% of the time, the second quarter of that year was at 90% or greater of the long-term second quarter average. So again, it is simply too early to state with any confidence how the rest of the winter season will play out.

雖然降雪數據令人失望，但記住一些有關天氣的事情很重要。首先，從長遠來看，我們所服務的市場中大約 70% 的雪天發生在第二財季，因此這個季節還剩下很多冬天。其次，從統計上看，從歷史數據來看，第一季的疲軟、低於歷史平均水平，並不預示第二季會低於平均水平。具體來說，當我們回顧過去幾十年時，我們發現，在記錄的降雪日數低於長期平均水平90%的前10個季度中，70%的時間裡，當年第二季度的降雪日數為90 %佔第二季長期平均的%或更高。因此，現在就確定冬季剩餘時間將如何進行還為時過早。

Distribution costs on a per ton basis were basically flat year over year. All-in product costs on a per ton basis rose 9% year over year and reflect C&I salt sales, representing a higher percentage of the sales mix this quarter and fewer sales tons to absorb cost in the period. Despite these challenges, we earned more this quarter year over year as measured by operating earnings for the segment, which were $51 million, up nearly 7% year over year, and as measured by adjusted EBITDA, which came in at $66 million, up 8% year over year.

每噸分銷成本與去年同期相比基本持平。每噸的總產品成本年增 9%，反映了工商業鹽的銷售情況，佔本季銷售組合的比例較高，而同期用於吸收成本的銷售噸數較少。儘管面臨這些挑戰，我們本季的盈利仍同比增長，以該部門的營業利潤衡量，為 5100 萬美元，同比增長近 7%；以調整後 EBITDA 衡量，為 6600 萬美元，同比增長 8% ％ 一年又一年。

Our adjusted EBITDA margin improved by over 400 basis points and adjusted EBITDA per ton was $23. We worked diligently over the past couple of years to control the things we can control and improve and maintain the profitability of the salt business. These effects were reflected in this quarter's results and reflect a positive takeaway during a quarter in which we didn't get any help from the weather.

我們調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率提高了 400 多個基點，調整後的 EBITDA 每噸為 23 美元。過去幾年我們努力工作，控制我們能控制的事情，提高和維持鹽業務的獲利能力。這些影響反映在本季度的業績中，並反映出我們在沒有從天氣中得到任何幫助的季度中取得的積極成果。

Moving on to our plant and nutrition segment. You'll recall that calendar '23 saw incredibly dry conditions early in the year in California quickly shift to historically unprecedented flooding conditions, the combination of which severely impacted sales throughout last year. From a commercial standpoint, the good news is that demand has returned as we expected in our core West Coast markets, and we had sales of 75,000 tons this quarter, which is an increase of 67% from the prior-year quarter. The pricing dynamic for SOP continues to reflect the excess supply of potassium-based fertilizer in the market, which led to a 29% decrease in price per ton year over year to $660 per ton.

繼續我們的植物和營養部分。您可能還記得，23 年初，加州的乾旱狀況很快就轉變為歷史上前所未有的洪水狀況，這兩種情況的結合嚴重影響了去年全年的銷售。從商業角度來看，好消息是我們核心西海岸市場的需求已經恢復，正如我們預期的那樣，本季度我們的銷量為 75,000 噸，比去年同期增長了 67%。SOP 的定價動態持續反映出市場上鉀肥供應過剩，導致每噸價格年減 29%，至每噸 660 美元。

The net effect of higher volumes and lower pricing was an increase in plant nutrition revenue of 19% year over year. A significant portion of the plant nutrition business' distribution costs are fixed, so the increase in sales volumes benefited distribution cost per ton in the quarter by 11%. All-in product cost on a per ton basis were up 4% year over year. The net impact of these drivers is that first quarter adjusted EBITDA declined from $19 million to approximately $6 million year over year as the favorable impact of higher volumes was more than offset by significantly lower pricing and higher cash costs.

產量增加和價格下降的淨效應是植物營養收入年增 19%。植物營養業務的大部分分銷成本是固定的，因此銷售量的增加使本季每噸分銷成本提高了 11%。每噸產品總成本較去年同期上漲 4%。這些驅動因素的淨影響是，第一季調整後 EBITDA 年比從 1,900 萬美元下降至約 600 萬美元，因為銷量增加的有利影響被大幅降低的定價和更高的現金成本所抵消。

At Fortress, our results related to the calendar 2023 contract were a little better than we expected. We recognized approximately $13 million in adjusted EBITDA during the quarter associated with the take or pay provisions of that contract. Also regarding Fortress, we recognized a roughly $3 million noncash charge related to an increase in the valuation of the liability associated with the Fortress acquisition and the contingent consideration related to that transaction. As a reminder, when we purchased Fortress, approximately 50% of the purchase price was contingent with roughly half of that linked to the achievement of certain business development milestones and the other half based on volumes sold and paid over a 10-year period.

在 Fortress，我們與 2023 年曆合約相關的結果比我們預期的要好一些。我們在本季度確認了與該合約的照付不議條款相關的約 1300 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA。同樣關於 Fortress，我們確認了約 300 萬美元的非現金費用，這些費用與 Fortress 收購相關負債估值的增加以及與該交易相關的或有對價有關。提醒一下，當我們購買 Fortress 時，大約 50% 的購買價格是視情況而定的，其中大約一半與實現某些業務發展里程碑相關，另一半則基於 10 年內的銷售量和付款量。

As of December 31, the net present value of this liability was approximately $47 million. Each quarter, there will be gains and losses as the liability is mark-to-market to reflect changes in the discount rate used in the valuation and changes in our outlook for the business. Because this liability was established as part of an acquisition, the accounting guidance does not allow for the noncash mark to market to be added back to reported adjusted EBITDA. However, our adjusted EBITDA would have been $3 million higher if we added back that noncash charge. That $3 million expense is captured in other operating expenses on the income statement.

截至 12 月 31 日，該負債的淨現值約為 4,700 萬美元。每個季度都會有收益和損失，因為負債是按市值計算的，以反映估值中使用的折現率的變化以及我們對業務前景的變化。由於該負債是作為收購的一部分而設立的，因此會計指南不允許將非現金市價計入已報告的調整後 EBITDA 中。然而，如果我們加上非現金費用，調整後的 EBITDA 將會增加 300 萬美元。這 300 萬美元的費用計入損益表的其他營運費用。

Lastly, with respect to our lithium program, as Ed mentioned, we have made the decision to not move forward with that project. As a result of that decision, in our view, that the risk adjusted returns on capital of moving forward with the project are inadequate, we have disbanded the lithium function and are recognizing a charge of approximately $77 million related to the impairment of associated assets and future commitments, as well as the severance costs of those team members that will be leaving the company.

最後，關於我們的鋰項目，正如艾德所提到的，我們已決定不再推進該項目。我們認為，由於這項決定，推進該專案的風險調整後資本回報不足，我們解散了鋰業務，並確認與相關資產減損相關的約 7,700 萬美元費用，以及未來的承諾，以及將離開公司的團隊成員的遣散費。

Before leaving the income statement, I'll make a couple of quick comments on income taxes. First, the effective tax rate for the quarter is not meaningful due to the impact of the impairment that we took in the quarter. Second, in periods like this year when our US businesses are underearning, it creates income mix issues where our worldwide income consists of foreign income driven by our salt business that is significantly offset by US losses, driven by our plant nutrition business. These dynamics are driving the estimated tax guidance for the year, which excludes the impact of valuation allowances and the lithium impairment.

在結束損益表之前，我將對所得稅做一些簡短的評論。首先，由於我們在本季提列的減損的影響，本季的有效稅率沒有意義。其次，在今年這樣的時期，當我們的美國業務收入不足時，它會產生收入組合問題，我們的全球收入包括由我們的鹽業務驅動的外國收入，而這被我們的植物營養業務驅動的美國損失大大抵消。這些動態正在推動今年的估計稅收指引，其中不包括估價備抵和鋰減損的影響。

Moving on to the balance sheet. At quarter end, we had liquidity of $246 million, comprised of roughly $38 million of cash and revolver capacity of around $208 million. Net leverage stood at 4.3 times at the end of the quarter.

繼續看資產負債表。截至季末，我們的流動資金為 2.46 億美元，其中包括約 3,800 萬美元的現金和約 2.08 億美元的左輪手槍容量。本季末淨槓桿率為 4.3 倍。

Moving on to our outlook for the rest of the year. The 2024 adjusted EBITDA guidance for the salt business that we rolled out on our last call depicts the bell curve showing earnings outcomes ranging from a mild winter on the low end, a normal winter in the middle, and a strong winter on the high end. Our goal in taking this approach was to provide a reasonable distribution of results that could be anticipated across different weather outcomes.

繼續我們對今年剩餘時間的展望。我們在上次電話會議上推出的 2024 年食鹽業務調整後 EBITDA 指引描繪了鐘形曲線，顯示了盈利結果，從低端的溫和冬天，到中間的正常冬天，再到高端的強勁冬天。我們採用這種方法的目標是提供可以在不同天氣結果中預測的合理結果分佈。

With 70% of the winter still ahead of us, we continue to feel comfortable that we will fall within our guidance range. And that it would be premature to make any adjustments at this point in time, other than to acknowledge that the odds of a strong winter are now remote. As a quarter-to-date update, January snow events in our service markets came in around 94% of the long-term average, and there was quite a bit of cold weather in January that generated good demand across our platform. Overall, at this point, we think the range we provided is still a fair estimation of the potential outcomes as we continue closely monitoring how weather during the second quarter plays out.

由於冬季還有 70% 的時間即將到來，我們仍然對我們的預測範圍內的情況感到放心。除了承認現在出現強勁冬季的可能性很小之外，現在做出任何調整還為時過早。作為本季迄今為止的更新，我們服務市場中的 1 月份降雪事件約為長期平均水平的 94%，而且 1 月份有相當多的寒冷天氣，這在我們的平台上產生了良好的需求。總體而言，在這一點上，我們認為我們提供的範圍仍然是對潛在結果的公平估計，因為我們將繼續密切關注第二季的天氣狀況。

Shifting to plant nutrition. Unfortunately, the macroenvironment for fertilizers remains challenging from a price perspective. Recent data points within the broader MOP market indicate what is at least short-term downward pressure on potassium-based fertilizers. Our team has done a great job maintaining what we see as a fair premium value for SOP relative to MOP. However, we see more downside than upside risk over the balance of the year. Against that backdrop, we are adjusting our plant nutrition guidance down to reflect several risk factors over the balance of the year.

轉向植物營養。不幸的是，從價格角度來看，化肥的宏觀環境仍然充滿挑戰。更廣泛的 MOP 市場的最新數據表明鉀肥至少有短期下行壓力。我們的團隊在維持我們所認為的 SOP 相對於 MOP 的公平溢價方面做得非常出色。然而，我們認為今年剩餘時間的下行風險大於上行風險。在此背景下，我們正在下調植物營養指導，以反映今年剩餘時間的幾個風險因素。

First, MOP prices continue to face pressure as I indicated, and we must manage and attempt to balance available market value versus targeted demand. Second, the continuing weakness in fertilizer pricing is resulting in a large number of buyers remaining inventory conscious. In deflationary environments, buyers move to just in time purchasing behavior, further adding to the competitiveness of every time we compete to sell in the market. And third, first quarter pond-based production at Ogden tracked at the lower end of our initial projections. As a result of those factors, we now expect the adjusted EBITDA for the year to be in the range of $15 million to $35 million.

首先，正如我所指出的，MOP 價格繼續面臨壓力，我們必須管理並嘗試平衡可用市場價值與目標需求。其次，化肥價格持續疲軟導致大量買家仍保持庫存意識。在通貨緊縮環境中，買家轉向準時購買行為，進一步增加了我們每次在市場上競爭銷售時的競爭力。第三，奧格登第一季池塘產量處於我們最初預測的下限。由於這些因素，我們現在預計今年調整後的 EBITDA 將在 1500 萬美元至 3500 萬美元之間。

Moving on to corporate. Our corporate expense includes everything not related to salt and plant nutrition, so it includes our corporate overhead, the cost of our now terminated lithium program, and the positive contribution of Fortress. Overall, our total corporate guidance is not changing at this time. Lithium-related expenses for the year will be at the lower end of the guidance we provided given the elimination of the lithium function. However, this reduction is being largely offset, at this time, by the noncash expense related to mark into market of the Fortress contingent liability that I discussed earlier. These two items offset one another and therefore our guidance for corporate is unchanged.

轉向企業。我們的公司開支包括與鹽和植物營養無關的所有費用，因此它包括我們的公司管理費用、現已終止的鋰項目的成本以及 Fortress 的積極貢獻。總體而言，我們目前的整體企業指導方針沒有改變。鑑於鋰功能的取消，今年與鋰相關的費用將處於我們提供的指導的下限。然而，目前這種減少在很大程度上被我之前討論過的與 Fortress 或有負債計價相關的非現金費用所抵消。這兩項相互抵消，因此我們對企業的指導不變。

Digging in a bit more on each of these. Regarding lithium, as a result of our lithium program termination, we will see the amount of lithium expense decline to approximately $5 million. This reflects cost up through late January when we move forward with our headcount reductions. The one-time costs associated with exiting that program like severances won't be captured in this guidance since they are an add back for adjusted EBITDA purposes.

對每一個都進行更多的挖掘。關於鋰，由於我們的鋰計畫終止，我們將看到鋰費用金額下降至約 500 萬美元。這反映了截至 1 月底我們繼續裁員時的成本上漲。與退出該計劃相關的一次性成本（如遣散費）不會包含在本指南中，因為它們是調整後 EBITDA 目的的加回。

Regarding Fortress, subsequent to our last earnings call, which occurred in November, the US Forest Service changed the solicitation contract requirements for the calendar '24 contract, and this has resulted in delays in the negotiation and finalization of a contract for the '24 fire season which starts in the April, May timeframe. We continue to expect to have a finalized contract prior to deployment for the upcoming fire season. As a reminder, we do not have anything currently baked in to our '24 guidance for the calendar '24 US Forest Service contract. Accordingly, we are leaving guidance unchanged with respect to what we've included in for Fortress at this time. Once our contract is finalized, we will adjust our guidance appropriately.

關於 Fortress，在我們上次 11 月的財報電話會議之後，美國林務局更改了 '24 日曆合約的招標合約要求，這導致了 '24 火災合約的談判和最終確定的延遲季節從四月、五月開始。我們仍然期望在即將到來的火災季節部署之前簽訂最終合約。提醒一下，我們目前沒有任何內容納入我們的 24 日曆「24 美國林業服務合約」指南中。因此，我們目前對 Fortress 所包含的內容保持不變。一旦我們的合約最終確定，我們將適當調整我們的指導。

Finally, our corporate adjusted EBITDA guidance does not include the costs associated with certain senior executive management changes that we have announced in recent weeks. Such costs are expected to be in the range of $6 million to $9 million, and these costs will be recognized in the second quarter and treated as an add back to adjusted EBITDA at that time. Finally, moving on to CapEx. We have lowered CapEx slightly by $7 million at the midpoint to a range of $120 million to $130 million, consistent with Ed's prior remarks regarding our focus on reducing the capital intensity of the business.

最後，我們的企業調整後 EBITDA 指引不包括與我們最近幾週宣布的某些高階主管變動相關的成本。此類成本預計在 600 萬至 900 萬美元之間，這些成本將在第二季確認，並作為當時調整後 EBITDA 的加回。最後，轉向資本支出。我們已將資本支出中位數小幅降低了 700 萬美元，達到 1.2 億至 1.3 億美元的範圍，這與 Ed 先前關於我們專注於降低業務資本密集度的言論一致。

Specifically, we are reducing our estimate of sustaining CapEx by $10 million at the midpoint to a range of $80 million to $90 million. Lithium expenditures for the year are expected to be around $30 million, reflecting in-flight spending prior to suspending the projects. I would note that not all of that $30 million will ultimately be reported in the cash flow statement as capital expenditures due to the timing of the impairment and when we ultimately pay for some of those in-flight items. Finally, we continue to expect to invest approximately $10 million to support the continued growth of Fortress, and that guidance is unchanged. That summarizes our first quarter results and our outlook for the remainder of the year.

具體來說，我們將維持資本支出的預估中位數減少了 1,000 萬美元，降至 8,000 萬至 9,000 萬美元的範圍。今年的鋰支出預計約為 3000 萬美元，反映了項目暫停前的飛行支出。我要指出的是，由於減損的時間以及我們最終支付其中一些飛行項目的時間，這 3000 萬美元最終不會全部作為資本支出在現金流量表中報告。最後，我們繼續預計投資約 1000 萬美元來支持 Fortress 的持續成長，這項指導意見並沒有改變。這總結了我們第一季的業績以及我們對今年剩餘時間的展望。

With that, I'll turn the call over for questions. Operator?

這樣，我將轉接電話詢問問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Joel Jackson, BMO Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）Joel Jackson，BMO 資本市場。

I have a couple. I'm going to ask them one by one. So can you talk a little bit about the balance sheet and liquidity and free cash flow? The fiscal Q1 cash flow burn was quite a lot. Should we expect a really good return to good inflow of cash in Q2, if you can talk about it, it's going to look -- it looked like prior years? And then it looks like you're really pushing up against the covenants here. Do you need to issue equity right now to stabilize the company?

我有一對。我要一一詢問他們。那麼您能談談資產負債表、流動性和自由現金流嗎？第一財季現金流消耗相當大。我們是否應該期望第二季現金流入能獲得真正良好的回報，如果你可以談論它，它看起來會像前幾年一樣？然後看起來你真的在反對這裡的契約。現在是否需要發行股權來穩定公司？

This quarter, we did see a meaningful cash burn, and there are several factors related to it that are unique and will not repeat. One, from a lithium CapEx perspective, cash out the door and actual accrued was $20 million. We will not spend $20 million on lithium going forward, and so that was a one-time factor. Inventory was roughly flat sequentially. AR was up as you would expect. The big factor was accounts payables where DPOs, as we ended the year, were abnormally high. You saw them normalize this quarter.

本季度，我們確實看到了有意義的現金消耗，並且有幾個與之相關的因素是獨特的並且不會重複。第一，從鋰資本支出的角度來看，現金支出和實際應計金額為 2,000 萬美元。未來我們不會在鋰上花費 2000 萬美元，所以這是一個一次性因素。庫存環比基本持平。AR 正如你所期望的那樣出現了。一個重要因素是應付帳款，截至年底，DPO 異常高。你看到他們本季恢復正常。

The bottom line is this coming quarter, the 3/31 quarter, you should expect a significant positive from change in working capital, and I expect that this will be the largest -- this will be the only quarter where we have this sort of a cash burn. So you should see a major positive in terms of cash flow in this quarter, and there were some unique factors that drove the burn in the first quarter. I'd also add the SEC settlement payment was made, and so several unique factors in that regard.

最重要的是，在即將到來的季度，即3/31 季度，您應該預期營運資金的變化會帶來顯著的積極影響，我預計這將是最大的——這將是我們有這種變化的唯一一個季度。燒錢。因此，您應該會看到本季現金流量出現重大積極變化，並且有一些獨特因素推動了第一季的資金消耗。我還要補充一點的是，美國證券交易委員會已經支付了和解金，因此在這方面有幾個獨特的因素。

I'd just like to complement what Lorin just said is that our focus, which has historically been around earnings, has changed in the company, and primary focus is cash production. And it's our intention going forward to reduce our debt and improve the ratios that Lorin previously mentioned at the 4.3 net debt to EBITDA. We want to get this back into historical and where our peer groups are.

我想補充一下洛林剛才所說的，我們的重點歷來都是圍繞盈利，但現在公司已經發生了變化，主要關注點是現金生產。我們的目的是減少債務並提高 Lorin 之前提到的 4.3 淨債務與 EBITDA 的比率。我們希望讓這一點回到歷史和我們同行群體的位置。

And Joel, the 4.3 was well within the 5 times covenant for this quarter. And so, no, we were well within that covenant. We'll see substantial cash flow going forward. And equity, I think, is not anything at all to even contemplate as it relates to our covenants. We are comfortably within those covenants.

而喬爾，4.3 完全在本季 5 倍的範圍內。所以，不，我們完全遵守這個契約。未來我們將看到大量現金流。我認為，公平根本不值得考慮，因為它關係到我們的契約。我們在這些契約中感到舒適。

And I would say, the nature of our business is that we do scenario planning every year. We look at mild, we look at normal, we look at strong winters. And we are blessed to have an exceptional bank group, many of which have been with us for over 20 years, and we'll be prepared for any scenario. But, no, equity, I think that's not anything that anyone should imagine.

我想說，我們業務的本質是我們每年都會進行情境規劃。我們關注溫和的冬季，我們關注正常的冬季，我們關注寒冷的冬季。我們很幸運擁有一支出色的銀行集團，其中許多人已經在我們身邊工作了 20 多年，我們將為任何情況做好準備。但是，不，公平，我認為這不是任何人應該想像的。

Okay. My follow-up question on salt is most of your official commentary, although Lorin or Ed or, I think, it was Lorin did comment about what -- it was Lorin, what January looked like. But a lot of your official commentary is acting like it's January 1 when it's actually February 8. So I did appreciate Lorin updating on this call what happened in snow for the last five, six weeks. But the question I have for you is, such a mild winter anything can happen.

好的。我關於鹽的後續問題大部分是你們的官方評論，儘管洛林或艾德，或者我認為是洛林評論了什麼——洛林，一月是什麼樣子。但你們的許多官方評論都表現得好像是 1 月 1 日，但實際上是 2 月 8 日。因此，我非常感謝洛林在這次電話會議上更新了過去五到六週的雪地發生的情況。但我要問你的問題是，如此溫暖的冬天，任何事情都有可能發生。

We're getting to -- we're deep into the key winter months now, and it's getting into March. You have to start making decisions, like customers are probably now quite below, trending quite below their 80% minimum or their minimum spend, minimum volume equipment. You have to make mine plans at Goderich and elsewhere to make sure you don't overproduce. So can you talk about what discussions are happening internally or externally, start making mine plan decisions, customer, minimum decisions, whether you're going It's been into rollovers next year, those must be discussions you have to start planning for in such a mild winter?

我們現在已經進入關鍵的冬季月份，並且即將進入三月。你必須開始做出決定，就像客戶現在可能遠低於他們的 80% 最低或最低支出、最低數量設備一樣。你必須在戈德里奇和其他地方制定我的計劃，以確保你不會過度生產。那麼你能談談內部或外部正在發生什麼討論嗎？開始製定我的計劃決策、客戶、最低限度的決策，無論你是否打算明年進行延期，這些一定是你必須在如此溫和的情況下開始計劃的討論冬天？

Yeah. Joel, historically, we plan for certain winners and produce to that. And when you end up with a weak winner, we end up with too much inventory stored, which -- versus a cost to the balance sheet. We're running the different -- the business differently. At this point, we're building flexibility into the operations. We'll be reviewing where we stand going forward and adjust production side accordingly to better manage capital in the company going forward. So there's a lot of detail behind that. Happy to chat to you about that separately. But philosophically that's where we are, and we're going -- things are already being done.

是的。喬爾，從歷史上看，我們會計劃某些獲勝者並為此進行製作。當你最終成為一個弱贏家時，我們最終會儲存過多的庫存，這與資產負債表的成本相比。我們以不同的方式經營業務。目前，我們正在為營運建立靈活性。我們將審查我們未來的立場，並相應地調整生產方面，以更好地管理公司未來的資本。所以這背後有很多細節。很高興能單獨和你討論這個問題。但從哲學上來說，這就是我們所處的位置，而且我們正在前進——事情已經在完成。

Do you want to add anything more?

您還想添加什麼嗎？

I think it is worth adding, Joel, that it's funny, a lot of questions several years ago were around Goderich and its production levels. And now in times like this, these are times where you actually would consider tapping the brakes. And as we look to protect our balance sheet and George can elaborate, we are thrilled on the one hand that we have restored Goderich to the levels that we have. But at the same time, we're also pleased that we're in a position where we can take actions to tap the brakes as necessary. George, maybe you can talk about --

我認為值得補充的是，喬爾，這很有趣，幾年前很多問題都圍繞著戈德里奇及其製作水平。現在在這樣的時期，你實際上會考慮踩剎車。當我們希望保護我們的資產負債表並且喬治可以詳細闡述時，我們一方面很高興我們已經將戈德里奇恢復到我們現有的水平。但同時，我們也很高興我們能夠在必要時採取行動踩剎車。喬治，也許你可以談談--

Yeah, sure. Joel, this is George Schuller. I just wanted to add on a little bit to what Ed said and also Lorin. We've already taken an action over the last several weeks to better align our mine production to match its inventory levels. So just a little bit more than what Ed said, we've already taken action to adjust that, and I feel confident that that will improve both our inventory levels and where they need to be, but also make sure that we're maintaining our mine cost at the right level.

好，當然。喬爾，這是喬治舒勒。我只是想對艾德和洛林所說的內容補充一點。過去幾週我們已經採取了行動，以更好地調整我們的礦山生產以匹配其庫存水平。因此，比艾德所說的多一點點，我們已經採取行動進行調整，我相信這將改善我們的庫存水平及其需要的水平，同時也確保我們維持我們的庫存水平。礦山成本處於適當水平。

David Begleiter, Deutsche Bank.

大衛‧貝格萊特，德意志銀行。

Ed, besides lithium, are there other assets in the portfolio that you and the Board are looking at or considering other options for?

Ed，除了鋰之外，您和董事會正在考慮或考慮其他選擇的投資組合中還有其他資產嗎？

Look, the lithium, of course, was predominant in our mind. We want all of our assets to perform in terms of returning ROIC, return on invested capital, in excess of our weighted average cost of capital. I've been here three weeks now. I haven't been able to review all my thoughts with the Board yet, but that will become clear in time. We're working really hard to see what this business can be, and we'll make the decisions accordingly, okay?

聽著，鋰當然在我們心目中佔據主導地位。我們希望我們所有的資產在投資資本報酬率（ROIC）方面的表現都超過我們的加權平均資本成本。我來這裡已經三個星期了。我還無法與董事會審查我的所有想法，但隨著時間的推移，這一點將會變得清晰。我們正在非常努力地了解這項業務的前景，我們將做出相應的決定，好嗎？

Got it. And just on plant and nutrition, given the earnings pressures this year, are you considering taking additional cost actions here for either temporary or permanent on the cost side?

知道了。僅在植物和營養方面，考慮到今年的獲利壓力，您是否考慮在成本方面採取臨時或永久的額外成本行動？

I'm sorry, I missed the --

抱歉，我錯過了--

Yeah. It's regarding plant nutrition. And David, this business is $100 a ton above where it should be from a cash cost perspective. Half of that relates to our use of KCl. We are absolutely focused on getting those costs back in line with historical averages through a combination of fixed cost reductions, as well as restoration of the ponds so that we don't have to use as much KCl, which is burdening our results.

是的。這是關於植物營養的。大衛，從現金成本的角度來看，這項業務比應有的價格高出每噸 100 美元。其中一半與我們對氯化鉀的使用有關。我們絕對專注於透過固定成本削減和池塘恢復相結合，使這些成本恢復到歷史平均水平，這樣我們就不必使用太多的氯化鉀，這會給我們的結果帶來負擔。

Perfect.

完美的。

Jeff Zekauskas, JPMorgan.

傑夫‧澤考斯卡斯，摩根大通。

In your agricultural business, your volumes were up, I don't know, 50% more than the fourth quarter, but the EBITDA wasn't really very different. And I get it that prices were down a little bit. But what was the magnitude of the cost overruns or the problems with pond production? How much did that burden you in the quarter, and what exactly happened?

在你們的農業業務中，你們的產量成長了，我不知道，比第四季成長了 50%，但 EBITDA 並沒有太大不同。我知道價格略有下降。但成本超支或池塘生產問題的嚴重程度如何？這在本季給您帶來了多少負擔？到底發生了什麼事？

I'll approach that two ways and then ask Ben to comment. As I look at the year-over-year impact to profitability, it is predominantly for the first quarter related to price. There's a $2.60 difference between the price a year ago and the price today, which is quite substantial. I would say about two-thirds of the decline is attributable to price and about a third is attributable to cash costs. I mentioned earlier the KCl dynamic, and I would characterize it that way, but it's predominantly related to price.

我將透過兩種方式解決這個問題，然後請本發表評論。當我審視對獲利能力的年比影響時，第一季的影響主要與價格有關。一年前的價格與現在的價格相差 2.60 美元，這是相當大的。我想說，大約三分之二的下降歸因於價格，大約三分之一歸因於現金成本。我之前提到過 KCl 動態，我會這樣描述它，但它主要與價格相關。

But sequentially, your prices are down just a little bit though, right? Can you analyze how you're (multiple speakers) sequentially?

但接下來，你們的價格只是下降了一點點，對吧？您能按順序分析一下您（多位發言者）的情況嗎？

So my answer was in regard to the year-over-year impact. From a sequential point of view, you're right, we only saw about a sequential decline of about 5% or so in the average selling price. And so the impact sequentially would have been principally related to cost. And I've said before that that is principally related to the KCl.

所以我的答案是關於同比影響。從環比來看，你是對的，我們只看到平均售價環比下降了約 5% 左右。因此，後續影響主要與成本有關。我之前說過，這主要與氯化鉀有關。

All right. And then in your inventories, your inventories are close to $400 million. And historically, maybe a peak inventory level for Compass is $300 million. Do you have to really cut production rates in your salt business for the remainder of the year in order to get your inventories down?

好的。然後在你的庫存中，你的庫存接近 4 億美元。從歷史上看，Compass 的最高庫存水準可能是 3 億美元。為了減少庫存，您是否必須在今年剩餘時間內真正降低鹽業務的生產力？

I would focus on days for two reasons. Due to inflationary dynamics, we have higher valued inventories, if you just look back over the past three or four years, and the team has successfully passed through a lot of those costs. But with that said, inventory days coming into this year were at about $200 million, and our focus is on reducing those days. Every 10 days is approximately $25 million, and you should expect starting this quarter and as we focus on the balance of the year that we're going to drive those days down.

我會關注幾天有兩個原因。由於通貨膨脹的動態，如果你回顧過去三、四年，我們的庫存價值更高，而團隊已經成功地承擔了許多這些成本。但話雖如此，今年的庫存天數約為 2 億美元，我們的重點是減少這些天數。每 10 天大約花費 2500 萬美元，您應該預計從本季度開始，隨著我們專注於今年的剩餘時間，我們將減少這些天數。

They are not at acceptable levels, but they are inflation adjusted at higher levels. And so we're going to focus on getting those days down, and they are at historical highs and that's something that we're going to get our arms around. It goes to George's point earlier about running these assets flexibly to reduce production to meet where demand is.

它們沒有處於可接受的水平，但它們是在更高水平上進行通膨調整的。因此，我們將集中精力減少這些天數，它們正處於歷史高位，這是我們要努力解決的問題。這涉及到喬治早些時候關於靈活運行這些資產以減少產量以滿足需求的觀點。

And then lastly, you talked about some changes in requirements from the US Forest Service affecting your Fortress business. But I couldn't tell whether you thought that it actually delayed anything. What you said is you expected to have your paperwork in order before the 2024 fire season. So if that's true, does the delay really make no difference?

最後，您談到了美國林務局要求的一些變化影響了您的 Fortress 業務。但我不知道你是否認為這實際上延誤了任何事情。您所說的是，您希望在 2024 年火災季節之前整理好文件。那麼，如果這是真的，那麼延遲真的沒有什麼區別嗎？

Yeah. Hey, Jeff. It's Jenny Hood. Happy to take that question. So the delay, just to give a little bit more color on that, the original solicitation from the US Forest Service was issued in late September. It took them until mid December to issue a final revised solicitation, and the solicitation deadline was then January 10. So it absolutely pushed back the contracting process in total. However, we are pleased since January 10 when we were able to start the negotiations, we're pleased with the progress and the engagement that we're seeing from US Forest Service.

是的。嘿，傑夫。這是珍妮·胡德。很高興回答這個問題。所以推遲，只是為了讓這一點更加生動，美國林業局最初的招標是在九月下旬發出的。他們直到12月中旬才發布最終修改後的招標書，招標截止日期是1月10日。因此，它絕對推遲了合約進程。然而，我們很高興自 1 月 10 日開始談判以來，我們對美國林務局所取得的進展和參與感到滿意。

Keep in mind that previously the Forest Service was dealing with one sole source supplier for over two decades. So thinking about how to integrate another supplier, both from a contractual standpoint as well as in the field, has been quite challenging for them, but however, we are supporting them in those efforts. And again, we're pleased with the engagement that we've received since the submission deadline.

請記住，二十多年來，林務局一直與單一來源供應商打交道。因此，無論是從合約角度還是在現場，思考如何整合另一家供應商對他們來說都是相當具有挑戰性的，但我們正在支持他們的這些努力。再次，我們對自提交截止日期以來收到的參與感到滿意。

And Jeff, from an earnings perspective, you're exactly right. There's no change. We entered into this year not assuming EBITDA for 2024 for Fortress until we get the contract. When we get that contract, which we fully expect, you should expect us to raise our guidance to reflect the profitability. And so we have been conservative and not speculating, but you should expect that we will raise our guidance. And there's no change there. It's just a little bit delayed.

傑夫，從收益的角度來看，你是完全正確的。沒有任何變化。在獲得合約之前，我們今年不會假設 Fortress 2024 年的 EBITDA。當我們獲得我們完全期望的合約時，您應該期望我們提高我們的指導以反映盈利能力。因此，我們一直保持保守，不進行猜測，但你應該期望我們會提高我們的指導。那裡沒有任何變化。只是稍微晚了一點而已。

Okay. Then lastly for Ed. What's your number one priority that you want to get done over the next six months?

好的。最後是埃德。在接下來的六個月裡，您想要完成的第一要務是什麼？

Well, after ensuring that we're operating in a responsible manner as a company, it's focused on cash, working on the balance sheet, managing the inventories to an appropriate level, which it's just all cash management, and getting the mindset right, establishing the accountabilities and the changes of plans that accompany that, there's some subtleties that you run your business differently and making sure that we're moving ahead with that in a very quick way.

嗯，在確保我們作為一家公司以負責任的方式運作之後，它的重點是現金，處理資產負債表，將庫存管理到適當的水平，這只是現金管理，並保持正確的心態，建立隨之而來的責任和計劃的變化，有一些微妙之處，你以不同的方式經營你的業務，並確保我們以非常快的方式推進這一點。

Okay, great.

好的，太好了。

David Silver, CL King.

大衛·西爾弗，CL·金。

I have a question, I guess, about any lingering liabilities related to the decision to terminate the lithium project. So I'm sure you have a number of agreements, but the ones with Ford and LG on the supply agreements, you have an agreement with the technology provider, et cetera. Should we expect any lingering costs or cash requirements to any of the counterparties related to the lithium project going forward?

我想我有一個關於與終止鋰項目的決定相關的任何揮之不去的責任的問題。所以我確信你們有很多協議，但是與福特和 LG 的供應協議，你們與技術提供者都有協議，等等。我們是否應該預期與鋰項目相關的任何交易對手將面臨任何揮之不去的成本或現金需求？

As it relates to the technology provider, any expenses associated or potential liabilities associated with the technology provider have been included in our writedown. And so any expenses there have been included in that writedown. As it relates to the OEMs, there were no financial obligations that were not contingent on us advancing this project. And so we have notified them appropriately, but there are no financial obligation.

由於它與技術提供者相關，因此與技術提供者相關的任何費用或潛在負債均已包含在我們的減記中。因此，任何費用都已包含在該減記中。由於它與原始設備製造商相關，因此不存在與我們推進該項目無關的任何財務義務。因此，我們已適當通知他們，但沒有財務義務。

There's no take or pay or any requirement to deliver associated with those agreements. The more relationship base that when and if it got going, we had a customer base established, that's it.

沒有與這些協議相關的接受或付款或任何交付要求。關係基礎越多，當它開始時，我們就建立了一個客戶群，僅此而已。

Okay. So from an earnings per share perspective, the charges you took this quarter are sufficient. But is there any estimate of the cash impact that will flow from the decisions that's maybe how much of that $77 million, let's say, will be addressed via cash payment as opposed to just the writedown of things you've already paid for?

好的。因此，從每股盈餘的角度來看，您本季收取的費用是足夠的。但是，是否有任何對決策所產生的現金影響的估計，比如說，這 7700 萬美元中的多少可能會通過現金支付來解決，而不是僅僅沖減您已經支付的費用？

Sure. This is Lorin. So as you can see in our guidance for CapEx for lithium, it hasn't changed. We said that we would spend about $30 million for lithium as it relates to in-flight capital that we could not stop even after we suspend it. And so as you do your model, you should assume that we will be around that level and only that level, not any more than that level.

當然。這是洛林。正如您在我們的鋰資本支出指南中看到的那樣，它沒有改變。我們說過，我們將花費約3000萬美元購買鋰，因為這涉及流動資金，即使我們暫停了流動資金，我們也無法停止。因此，當您建立模型時，您應該假設我們將在該水平附近並且僅在該水平附近，而不會超過該水平。

Now when we get to the end of the year, not all of that $30 million will show up as CapEx because we have written down the asset. Some of it will just be liabilities that we pay off. But that $30 million is a good number, and there's nothing more than that. And I would also say that the preponderance of the cash has already been paid. And so it will be behind us after this 3/31 quarter.

現在，當我們到年底時，這 3000 萬美元並不會全部顯示為資本支出，因為我們已經減記了資產。其中一些只是我們還清的負債。但這3000萬美元是一個不錯的數字，僅此而已。我還要說的是，大部分現金已經支付。因此，在 3/31 季度之後，它就會被我們拋在腦後。

Okay, great. I have a question about operational strategies on your salt business. So Ed, you were very clear discussing your priority on cash generation. And there's a couple of things when I think about your salt business. But firstly, there is the underground mine plan that is underway. And to me that's something where you would have to invest a little more to generate a certain amount of efficiency, incremental efficiency from that.

好的，太好了。我有一個關於你們鹽業務營運策略的問題。Ed，您非常清楚地討論了現金產生的優先事項。當我想到你們的鹽生意時，有幾件事。但首先，地下採礦計劃正在進行中。對我來說，你必須多投入一點才能產生一定的效率，進而提高效率。

And then, so I'm wondering about should we expect the underground mine development program to take a little longer or to be conducted at a more measured pace going forward? And then secondly, on your marketing strategy, I did note that you talked about maintaining the product pricing as far as, I guess, bid season strategies are concerned.

然後，我想知道我們是否應該期望地下礦山開發計劃需要更長的時間或以更謹慎的速度進行？其次，關於您的行銷策略，我確實注意到您談到了維持產品定價，我想，就投標季節策略而言。

But I'm just wondering, I mean, along with Kevin's departure, the Chief Commercial Officer did depart as well. And some people might interpret cash flow generation and per ton margins as a bit of a trade off there. So could you just reiterate, I mean, what is the plan for spending to further progress the underground mine development? And then what, if anything, might change going forward with the value over volume approach to your upcoming bid season for deicing salt?

但我只是想知道，我的意思是，隨著凱文的離開，首席商務官也離開了。有些人可能會將現金流量產生和每噸利潤視為一種權衡。那麼您能否重申一下，我的意思是，進一步推進地下礦場開發的支出計畫是什麼？那麼，在即將到來的除冰鹽競標季節，價值超過數量的方法可能會發生什麼變化（如果有的話）？

George and I will address the first half of your question, and then Ben will speak to the market and commercial side of that. There are numerous improvement efforts underway, not just at Goderich, but at all of our operations. And that's not just the mines but at the plants and at our distribution centers, all focused on cash. When you go to a mine like Goderich, our priority will be to be driving through the east on the mains that are up on the north side of the mine really tied into the infrastructure better than what the existing infrastructure is.

喬治和我將解決你問題的前半部分，然後本將談論市場和商業方面的問題。不僅在 Goderich，我們所有的營運部門都在進行大量的改進工作。不僅是礦山，還有工廠和配送中心，所有這些都以現金為中心。當你去戈德里奇這樣的礦井時，我們的首要任務是沿著礦井北側的干線行駛穿過東部，這些幹線與基礎設施的連結比現有基礎設施更好。

We have to haul through conveyor or other means the product all the way around to the shaft basically going three quarters away around our many miles more than the direct shot through would be. So that's really the priority. So we will continue to prioritize that move forward. And as we ramp up and down, we'll flex our production from other parts of the mine, for example. And we're also looking at alternative mining methods, looking at some of the most expensive equipment we have. We're looking at different alternatives on that.

我們必須透過傳送帶或其他方式將產品一直拖到軸上，基本上比直接射擊要多四分之三的距離。所以這確實是當務之急。因此，我們將繼續優先考慮這項進展。例如，隨著產量的增加和減少，我們將調整礦山其他部分的生產。我們也在尋找替代採礦方法，研究我們擁有的一些最昂貴的設備。我們正在尋找不同的替代方案。

We need to do better with our way that we manage those in terms of maintenance and other things and improve our, you might call, our general systems in the company. What we're trying to say, there's a variety of levels and timing that these activities are going on at Goderich, which you referenced, but then really but everywhere. I think that as we get a little further down the road, we'll plan to do some analyst days, investor days up at the mines, and we can show you what we're doing first hand, and I hope you would participate in that.

我們需要更好地管理維護和其他方面的工作，並改進我們公司的通用系統。我們想說的是，這些活動在戈德里奇進行的程度和時間安排各不相同，正如您所提到的，但實際上卻無處不在。我認為，隨著我們走得更遠，我們將計劃在礦山進行一些分析師日、投資者日，我們可以向您展示我們正在做的第一手資料，我希望您能參與那。

I'll let George make a few comments as well and then turn it over to Ben.

我也會讓喬治發表一些評論，然後將其交給本。

David. This is George Schuller. Good to hear from you. Just to add a little bit what Ed said. Our strategic focus hasn't changed one bit at Goderich in regards to the east development that we're doing there. Keep in mind that Ed has been around on our Board year and a half to two years now, and he was fully versed on that. If anything, I would say Ed, in his short time he's been here, has probably asked the questions a little bit more around can we do it quicker, faster, better, those kind of things that are all necessary.

大衛。這是喬治舒勒。很高興聽到你的消息。只是補充一點艾德所說的話。在戈德里奇，我們對東部開發的戰略重點沒有任何改變。請記住，艾德已經在我們的董事會工作一年半到兩年了，他對此非常熟悉。如果有的話，我會說艾德，在他來到這裡的短暫時間裡，可能已經問了更多一些關於我們是否可以做得更快、更快、更好的問題，這些都是必要的。

So again, as he highlighted, we're looking at some potential ways we can attack it in different directions and how we can actually move that forward. So I would say anything other than the delay is how we can continue to move that effort forward.

因此，正如他所強調的那樣，我們正在研究一些可以從不同方向攻擊它的潛在方法，以及如何真正推動這一進程。所以我想說，除了延遲之外，我們還可以繼續推進這項努力。

This is Ben. I appreciate the question about our pricing strategy. And I wouldn't see any fundamental change in our approach. We're focused on seeking the appropriate value of our product in the market. And I can appreciate the undertone of how price and volume play together to generate cash. And frankly, it would be a little premature even to comment on where we're headed in the next season because we need to see how this winter plays out, so fundamentally no change.

這是本。我很欣賞有關我們定價策略的問題。我認為我們的方法不會有任何根本性的改變。我們專注於尋求我們產品在市場上的適當價值。我可以理解價格和成交量如何共同產生現金的含義。坦白說，現在評論我們下個賽季的發展方向還為時過早，因為我們需要看看這個冬天會如何發展，所以基本上沒有變化。

Let me just close that with the departure of some of our senior executives, Kevin and Jamie, for example, please don't think there's something nefarious going on in the background there. These were all made for different decisions. They're not related to one another and that -- for example, we have two high potential executives now on the commercial side, and we've delayered the organization. So that's the kind of the focus and an example of kind of the things that are going on and that you'll continue to see.

最後，我想說的是，隨著我們的一些高階主管（例如凱文和傑米）的離職，請不要認為背後有什麼邪惡的事情發生。這些都是為了不同的決定而做出的。他們彼此之間沒有關係，例如，我們現在在商業方面有兩位高潛力的高階主管，但我們已經推遲了組織的建立。這就是焦點，也是正在發生的事情的一個例子，你將繼續看到。

Okay.

好的。

(Operator Instructions) Seth Goldstein, Morningstar.

（操作員說明）Seth Goldstein，晨星公司。

Can you help us understand the $10 million sustaining CapEx decrease? And are you risking long-term underinvestment by cutting this similar to what happened that led to the need for Goderich to be fixed several years ago?

您能否幫助我們了解 1000 萬美元的持續資本支出減少？你們是否會冒著長期投資不足的風險，像幾年前導致需要修復戈德里奇的情況那樣削減這一問題？

No, as a quick answer -- I mean, we'd give you the details associated with it. George, you want to talk about that a little bit?

不，作為一個快速回答 - 我的意思是，我們會向您提供與之相關的詳細資訊。喬治，你想談談這個嗎？

Yeah. Seth, this is George Schuller. Just to kind of build on what Ed highlighted, I would also say, no. One of the areas that we're doing is, as we talked about the East Bay development, what we're doing around with that mill. We're looking at utilizing many of the components we have, which in fact which when you go back and look at them are actually new or refurbished, and what we're trying to do is optimize that whole process. That in itself has drove quite a bit of a change in the sustaining capital.

是的。賽斯，這是喬治舒勒。只是為了以艾德強調的內容為基礎，我也會說，不。當我們談到東灣開發時，我們正在做的領域之一就是我們正在圍繞該工廠所做的事情。我們正在考慮利用我們擁有的許多組件，事實上，當你回頭看它們時，它們實際上是新的或翻新的，而我們正在嘗試做的是優化整個過程。這本身就推動了維持資本的相當大的變化。

So when you look at the rest of the platform, whether it'd be our plants, our facilities, our bagging facilities, those types of things and our other operations, there's not a substantial change there at all. So a vast majority of that's coming directly from that thinking of how we're going to redevelop the Goderich mine. But again, it's still high priority for us.

因此，當你查看平台的其餘部分時，無論是我們的工廠、我們的設施、我們的裝袋設施、這些類型的東西還是我們的其他業務，根本沒有實質的變化。因此，其中絕大多數直接來自於我們將如何重新開發戈德里奇礦的想法。但同樣，這對我們來說仍然是重中之重。

Yeah. What George is saying is that when we initially looked at putting the mill to the north side of the mine and really to the west side on that corner, but from where it is a couple of miles to the south who's looking initially to build a new mill. And what we're headed to now is to -- because we think we have the flexibility to establish that is to relocate what we have, and that would cut the estimated capital by a very large percentage point, by about two-thirds.

是的。喬治所說的是，當我們最初考慮將磨坊放在礦井的北側，實際上是在那個拐角處的西側，但從那裡向南幾英里處，我們最初希望建造一個新的工廠磨。我們現在要做的是——因為我們認為我們可以靈活地重新安置我們擁有的資源，這會將估計資本削減一個非常大的百分點，大約三分之二。

Correct. And some of that's flowing through in fiscal year 2024 is what you're actually seeing in there, Seth.

正確的。Seth，您在 2024 財年實際看到的就是其中一些。

So anyway, that's a big part of what you're seeing there.

所以無論如何，這是你在那裡看到的很大一部分。

Okay, that's really helpful. And what's the lead time from when you buy KCl to when it's sold as SOP? And would we expect to see your input cost coming down from buying KCl for a longer lead time?

好的，這真的很有幫助。從購買 KCl 到以 SOP 形式出售的交貨時間是多少？我們是否希望看到您的投入成本因購買氯化鉀而獲得更長的交貨時間而降低？

So I'd say, Seth, again this George Schuller. I think Ben and I will tag that together. I think a couple of comments there. We can -- depending on what we do, we do have some longer term contracts on KCl, but we also buy some on a shorter term spot, which lets us optimize our fiscal year 2024 budget. So with that said, there is some opportunity because of the lower MOP price right now, I'd say, there's some potential upside.

所以我會說，塞斯，又是喬治舒勒。我想本和我會把它放在一起。我想有一些評論。我們可以 - 根據我們所做的事情，我們確實有一些關於 KCl 的長期合同，但我們也購買了一些短期合同，這讓我們可以優化 2024 財年的預算。話雖如此，由於目前澳門幣價格較低，因此存在一些機會，我想說，有一些潛在的上漲空間。

But again, as we start to look at this longer term is that we are looking to gain a longer term contract with an MOP provider as we start to go forward. I do think it bodes well for us in the future. Again, I know it's always tough to sit here and tell you exactly where that is. But you've heard Lorin say this multiple times that I'm confident that we're going to continue to see our SOP price, our cost, the sites, continue to go down with our efforts that we have around the pond process, and the KCl combined. Ben?

但同樣，當我們開始著眼於更長期的目標時，我們希望在我們開始前進時與 MOP 提供者獲得長期合約。我確實認為這對我們的未來來說是個好兆頭。再說一遍，我知道坐在這裡告訴你確切的位置總是很困難。但你已經聽洛林多次說過，我相信我們將繼續看到我們的 SOP 價格、我們的成本、場地，隨著我們圍繞池塘流程所做的努力繼續下降，並且KCl 合併。本？

I might just add, it's probably fair to say that any KCl we purchase as an input is monetized within that given fiscal year. It's just kind of a broad statement, and we're turning inventories consistently.

我想補充一點，可以公平地說，我們作為投入購買的任何氯化鉀都會在給定的財政年度內貨幣化。這只是一個籠統的說法，我們正在持續週轉庫存。

Vincent Anderson, Stifel.

文森安德森，史蒂菲爾。

I just had two, hopefully, quick ones. So I understand everything that has been said about refocusing on cash generation. And as it has been mentioned, parting ways with Kevin and Jamie is quite a bit of experience out the door unless you have a very high conviction level that the business is already moving in the right direction and fairly quickly to basically change jockeys mid race here. So I'm wondering if that's a fair assessment that these comments on further Goderich optimization pushing the Goderich market east, those were really mostly established plants and most of the pieces for achieving your cash generation goals are really already well in place?

我只喝了兩杯，希望能快一點。所以我理解關於重新關注現金生成的所有說法。正如已經提到的，與凱文和傑米分道揚鑣是相當多的經驗，除非你非常確信業務已經朝著正確的方向發展，並且相當快地在比賽中基本上更換了騎師。所以我想知道這些關於戈德里奇進一步優化推動戈德里奇市場向東發展的評論是否是一個公平的評估，這些評論實際上大部分都是已建立的工廠，並且大多數實現現金生成目標的部分確實已經就位？

I would say that a large percentage of the things that you're aware of were preexisting. Of course, from a Board perspective, we were involved in that as well. And as George said, I've been out for the operations and consulting essentially with our operating team to make different suggestions on things that we need to do. I'd say there's a number of other things that are underway now. For example, some of the changes that we've made already and others that we're looking at with an overall outlook really managing cash that there's going to be other future changes coming in the way we do business, and to really generate improved cash flows per share.

我想說的是，你所知道的大部分事情都是預先存在的。當然，從董事會的角度來看，我們也參與其中。正如喬治所說，我一直在與我們的營運團隊進行營運和諮詢，以就我們需要做的事情提出不同的建議。我想說現在還有很多其他事情正在進行中。例如，我們已經做出的一些改變，以及我們正在考慮的其他改變，真正管理現金的整體前景，未來我們的業務方式將會發生其他改變，並真正產生更好的現金每股流量。

And I don't know how fair this question is. But Ed, you're coming down off of the Board, so I figured I'd lob it at you anyways. I'm just trying to understand -- well, what's the conviction level right now that the public equity markets are ever going to properly value your assets, either before or after you hit these cash flow targets? Because I don't know if there's an internal timeline, right? But is anything off the table for achieving that fair valuation?

我不知道這個問題有多公平。但是艾德，你將從董事會中退下來，所以我想無論如何我都會把它扔給你。我只是想了解——好吧，現在公眾股票市場對你的資產進行正確估值的信念是多少，無論是在你達到這些現金流目標之前還是之後？因為我不知道是否有內部時間表，對嗎？但要實現這公平估值，有什麼是不可能的嗎？

The only thing off the table is doing business in a responsible way. Other than that, we're looking at everything. And I'd just say that my crystal ball is no better than yours on how the market values things. But through efforts and communication and showing you what we're doing or going to be doing, I believe that the market could get confidence in how we're moving ahead. I think there has been uncertainty on how the business is looked at for growth versus yield.

唯一不能考慮的就是以負責任的方式經營業務。除此之外，我們正在考慮一切。我只想說，在市場如何評估事物方面，我的水晶球並不比你的好。但透過努力和溝通，並向大家展示我們正在做什麼或將要做什麼，我相信市場會對我們的前進方式充滿信心。我認為如何看待業務的成長與收益率存在不確定性。

I want to make it clear that we're out to develop a yield-type company. And lithium has also been a big question mark. And doing a project with a technology that hasn't been successfully deployed yet. That's inherently -- in a regulatory environment, that's really uncertain. If I was in your shoes, I'd add a higher discount rate to us just on that. So I think with clarity of what we're doing, the direction that we're headed, I think the market is efficient.

我想明確表示，我們要發展一家收益型公司。而鋰也一直是個很大的問號。並使用尚未成功部署的技術進行專案。從本質上講，在監管環境中，這確實是不確定的。如果我處於你的立場，我會為此增加更高的折扣率。因此，我認為，只要清楚我們正在做什麼、前進的方向，我認為市場是有效的。

I appreciate the candor.

我很欣賞你的坦誠。

And with no further questions at this time, I will now turn the call back to President and CEO, Mr. Ed Dowling, for closing remarks.

現在沒有其他問題了，我現在將把電話轉回給總裁兼執行長艾德·道林先生，讓他發表結束語。

Well, look, thank you all for joining us today. I will look forward to engaging with you going forward. And please feel free to reach out to contact us if you have additional questions or things that you'd like additional clarity on. Have a great day.

好吧，謝謝大家今天加入我們。我期待與您繼續合作。如果您還有其他問題或需要進一步澄清，請隨時與我們聯絡。祝你有美好的一天。

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call, and we thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束，我們感謝你們的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。