Eagle Materials Inc (EXP) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to Eagle Materials' Third Quarter of Fiscal 2024 Earnings Conference Call. This call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Eagle's President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Michael Haack. Mr. Haack, please go ahead, sir.

大家好，歡迎參加 Eagle Materials 2024 財年第三季財報電話會議。此通話正在錄音。現在，我想將電話轉給 Eagle 總裁兼執行長 Michael Haack 先生。哈克先生，請繼續，先生。

Thank you. Good morning. Welcome to Eagle Materials Conference Call for our Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2024. This is Michael Haack, joining me today are Craig Kesler, our Chief Financial Officer; and Alex Haddock, Vice President of Investor Relations, Strategy and Corporate Development. There will be a slide presentation made in connection with this call. To access it, please go to eaglematerials.com and click on the link to the Webcast. While you're accessing the slides, please note that the first slide covers our cautionary disclosure, regarding forward-looking statements made during this call.

謝謝。早安.歡迎參加 Eagle Materials 2024 財年第三季電話會議。我是 Michael Haack，今天加入我的是我們的財務長 Craig Kesler；以及投資者關係、策略和企業發展副總裁 Alex Haddock。將進行與本次電話會議相關的投影片簡報。要存取它，請訪問 eaglematerials.com 並點擊網路廣播連結。當您存取投影片時，請注意，第一張投影片涵蓋了我們關於本次電話會議期間所做的前瞻性陳述的警告性揭露。

These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ from those discussed during the call. For further information, please refer to this disclosure, which is also included at the end of our Press Release. Let me start out by saying that I'm excited to report on another quarter of superior execution at Eagle Materials.

這些陳述存在風險和不確定性，可能導致結果與電話會議期間討論的結果不同。欲了解更多信息，請參閱本披露，該披露也包含在我們的新聞稿末尾。首先我要說的是，我很高興能夠報告 Eagle Materials 又一個季度的卓越執行力。

A few financial results that I want to highlight from our third quarter are record revenue of $559 million, up 9%. Gross profit margin increased 130 basis points to 32.3%. Adjusted EPS was up 16% to $3.72, and we returned $106 million to shareholders through stock repurchases and the quarterly dividend.

我想強調的一些第三季的財務業績是創紀錄的 5.59 億美元收入，成長 9%。毛利率成長130個基點至32.3%。調整後每股盈餘成長 16%，達到 3.72 美元，我們透過股票回購和季度股息向股東返還 1.06 億美元。

These results would not be attainable without the over 2,600 fantastic employees at Eagle Materials, that make the company successful through their safe, hard work and dedication to customer satisfaction. Each of you contributes to the results I'm proud to report on. Thank you. Because of these impressive results, Eagle Materials continued to produce strong cash flows.

如果沒有 Eagle Materials 超過 2,600 名出色的員工，這些成果是不可能實現的，他們透過安全、辛勤的工作和對客戶滿意度的奉獻使公司取得了成功。你們每個人都為我自豪地報告的結果做出了貢獻。謝謝。由於這些令人印象深刻的業績，Eagle Materials 繼續產生強勁的現金流。

Over the years, we have been very clear, as to how we will use the free cash flow generated from our operations. Our investment priorities have been consistent for years and will continue to remain so. They consist of 3 main components. First is to maintain or widen our low-cost producer strategy by keeping our facilities in like new condition.

多年來，我們非常清楚如何使用營運產生的自由現金流。多年來，我們的投資重​​點始終如一，並將繼續如此。它們由 3 個主要部分組成。首先是透過保持我們的設施處於新狀態來維持或擴大我們的低成本生產者策略。

Second is to grow the company with emphasis on expanding the Heavy Materials segment, through acquisitions or investments that increase existing capacity. And third, when investment opportunities do not meet our disciplined return on investment criteria, we prudently return excess cash to shareholders.

其次是透過收購或投資增加現有產能，並專注於擴大重材料領域，以發展公司。第三，當投資機會不符合我們嚴格的投資回報標準時，我們會謹慎地將多餘的現金回饋給股東。

In the first 9 months of fiscal year 2024, we have returned an impressive total of $276 million of cash, to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. Our ability to execute our investment priorities relies on the long-term sustainability of our businesses. A business is not just the hard assets of the equipment, but consists of our most vital asset, the people operating in the plants, their safety and ensuring we are good stewards of the environment. We have made and continue to make progress in these areas, and I'd like to spend a little time highlighting a few items here.

在 2024 財年的前 9 個月，我們透過股票回購和股利向股東返還了總計 2.76 億美元的現金，令人印象深刻。我們執行投資重點的能力取決於我們業務的長期可持續性。企業不僅僅是設備的硬資產，還包括我們最重要的資產、工廠中的操作人員、他們的安全以及確保我們成為環境的好管家。我們已經並將繼續在這些領域取得進展，我想花一點時間在這裡強調一些項目。

In 2023, we were able to sustain our total recordable injury rate well below industry averages. Any incident is one too many, and we will continue to strive for 0 incidents, but I am proud of the work that was done to sustain our step change in TRIR from previous years.

2023 年，我們能夠將總可記錄傷害率維持在遠低於產業平均值。任何事件都太多了，我們將繼續努力實現零事件，但我對為維持 TRIR 與前幾年的階躍變化所做的工作感到自豪。

Environmentally, we continue to make significant gains on our transition to blended Cements. This quarter, our Blended Cements accounted for over 75% of our manufactured sales volume. These Cement lower our CO2 content per ton of material, enable us to extend our clinker capacity.

在環境方面，我們在向混合水泥轉型的過程中繼續取得重大進展。本季度，我們的混合水泥占我們製造銷售量的 75% 以上。這些水泥降低了每噸材料的二氧化碳含量，使我們能夠擴大熟料產能。

We also announced agreements with Terra CO2, granting us exclusive rights to use Terra's technology to produce low-carbon supplementary cementitious material in 3 regions complementary to Eagle's current footprint. This product has the potential to lower the carbon intensity of our cementitious materials and will enable us to fulfill the increased Cement demand in today's virtually sold-out market, especially as other SCMs like Fly Ash continue to decrease in availability.

我們也宣布與 Terra CO2 達成協議，授予我們使用 Terra 技術在 3 個地區生產低碳輔助膠凝材料的獨家權利，以補充 Eagle 目前的足跡。該產品有可能降低我們的水泥材料的碳強度，並使我們能夠滿足當今幾乎售罄的市場中不斷增長的水泥需求，特別是在粉煤灰等其他 SCM 的供應量持續減少的情況下。

We look forward to highlighting these achievements and much more in our updated sustainability report to be published later this quarter. In the report, you will see significant progress from Eagle, both in what we are doing for our businesses, but also in how we are reporting that progress.

我們期待在本季稍後發布的最新永續發展報告中強調這些成就以及更多成就。在報告中，您將看到 Eagle 取得的重大進展，無論是在我們為業務所做的事情上，還是在我們報告進展的方式上。

With that, let me turn to the specifics on the quarter, starting with the Heavy Materials business. Our Heavy Materials performance this quarter continued to benefit from favorable business conditions. Public infrastructure spending is robust. The bulk of the United States investment in roads, bridges and highways comes from the state and local level and tax receipts continue to be strong, while state budgets remain healthy.

接下來，讓我談談本季的具體情況，首先是重材料業務。本季我們的重材料業績持續受益於有利的業務條件。公共基礎設施支出強勁。美國道路、橋樑和高速公路的大部分投資來自州和地方層面，稅收持續強勁，而州預算也保持健康。

In addition, increased infrastructure spending from the federal IIJ funds should increase noticeably for the next several years. Private nonresidential spending also continues to provide demand tailwinds for our business. While certain pockets of nonresidential construction, such as warehousing, may be a drag on the total spending, the outlook from heavy industrial projects in manufacturing construction give us confidence in the visibility for our Cement business.

此外，聯邦 IIJ 基金增加的基礎設施支出在未來幾年應該會顯著增加。私人非住宅支出也持續為我們的業務提供需求推動力。雖然倉儲等某些非住宅建築可能會拖累總支出，但製造業建築中重工業項目的前景讓我們對水泥業務的能見度充滿信心。

The passing of the CHIPS Act and Inflation Reduction Act has led to meaningful increase in heavy industrial projects focused on computer, electric and onshoring of other manufacturing. Signs also suggest residential construction may have bottomed. From these facts, our demand outlook remains positive, and we will continue to focus on executing to provide materials for our customers.

《CHIPS 法案》和《通貨膨脹削減法案》的通過導致以電腦、電力和其他製造業為重點的重工業項目大幅增加。跡象還表明住宅建設可能已經觸底。從這些事實來看，我們的需求前景仍然樂觀，我們將繼續專注於為客戶提供材料。

Turning to the supply side dynamics for Heavy. We still see no meaningful supply additions for the Cement industry on the horizon. Blended cement products, while important for making clinker go further, will not add enough U.S. Cement capacity to alter the supply/demand fundamentals. Imports are increasingly required to meet U.S. demand, as they have been in the past, since we are well-positioned low-cost Heartland producer, Eagle remains generally insulated from imports as transportation is very expensive and is expected to remain so.

轉向 Heavy 的供應方動態。我們仍然認為水泥產業不會出現有意義的供應增加。混合水泥產品雖然對於使熟料進一步發展很重要，但不會增加足夠的美國水泥產能來改變供需基本面。與過去一樣，越來越需要進口來滿足美國的需求，因為我們是處於有利地位的低成本中心地帶生產商，因此伊格爾通常不會受到進口影響，因為運輸非常昂貴，並且預計將繼續如此。

Against this supply demand backdrop, half of our markets are implementing a January 1, price increase. While the other half of our markets have announced an April 1 price increase. Now let me turn to the Light side of our business. This quarter, our Light Materials business held steady in an uncertain environment. Gypsum Wallboard continues to benefit from a long tail construction backlog that has kept demand steadier than expected and construction across the South, where much of our footprint is, has held up particularly well.

在這種供需背景下，我們一半的市場正在實施 1 月 1 日漲價。而我們的另一半市場已宣布 4 月 1 日起漲價。現在讓我談談我們業務的光明面。本季度，我們的輕質材料業務在不確定的環境中保持穩定。石膏牆板繼續受益於長尾施工積壓，這使得需求比預期穩定，而且我們大部分足跡所在的南方地區的施工情況特別好。

The near-term outlook remains dynamic, with the latter half of our fiscal third quarter seeing constructive market conditions for Housing and Wallboard demand given the drop in interest rates. In the medium term, the direction of the U.S. monetary policy and its effect on mortgage rates remains uncertain and will dictate the big component of the demand picture. While we expect multifamily housing starts and construction to drop off, single-family housing starts are recovering nicely, especially in the South and homebuilders are reporting favorable outlooks.

近期前景仍然充滿活力，鑑於利率下降，我們第三財季後半段的房屋和牆板需求市場狀況良好。從中期來看，美國貨幣政策的方向及其對抵押貸款利率的影響仍然不確定，並將決定需求狀況的重要組成部分。雖然我們預計多戶住宅開工和建築面積將會下降，但單戶住宅開工量正在良好復甦，尤其是在南方，住宅建築商報告了良好的前景。

The longer-term housing deficiency in the U.S. will need to be addressed through New Home Construction. The wallboard demand backdrop continues to be set against supply constraints that are fundamentally changing our business. As the availability of synthetic Gypsum continues to diminish, the approximately 50% of the Wallboard industry designed to use synthetic Gypsum, basis raw material challenges. Challenges from which Eagle is generally insulated given the surety of raw material, we've maintained at all of our Wallboard plants.

美國的長期住房短缺問題需要透過新房屋建設來解決。牆板需求背景繼續受到供應限制的影響，這從根本上改變了我們的業務。隨著合成石膏的供應量持續減少，約 50% 的牆板產業設計使用合成石膏，這是基礎原料面臨的挑戰。考慮到原材料的保證，Eagle 基本上可以抵禦挑戰，我們在所有牆板工廠都進行了維護。

The result of the Synthetic Gypsum shortages is a steepened industry cost curve and crimped industry capacity. We do not see any improvement in cost or capacity in the medium term. Against these market conditions, we recently announced a Wallboard price increase for February 1. Given the structural and operational dynamics, we believe our Heavy and Light Materials businesses look increasingly similar. Structurally, as I have discussed, supply-side dynamics mean capacity remains constrained for both Cement and Wallboard, although for different reasons.

合成石膏短缺的結果是產業成本曲線陡峭和產業產能縮減。我們認為中期內成本或產能沒有任何改善。針對這些市場狀況，我們最近宣布從 2 月 1 日起提高牆板價格。考慮到結構和營運動態，我們認為我們的重質材料和輕質材料業務看起來越來越相似。從結構上講，正如我所討論的，供應方的動態意味著水泥和牆板的產能仍然受到限制，儘管原因不同。

On the demand side, each business is supported by long-term demographic-driven tailwinds, that should provide meaningful growth. Operationally, our 2 core businesses are well defined, well established and well positioned. Each uses mine minerals that have many decades of owned reserves. And each are in cyclical sectors, so cycle management skills are important and we have proven for decades that operating through the up and down of the cycle is where we excel.

在需求方面，每項業務都受到長期人口驅動的順風的支持，這應該會帶來有意義的成長。在營運方面，我們的兩大核心業務定義明確、完善且定位良好。每種礦產資源均擁有數十年的自有儲量。而且每個產業都屬於週期性產業，因此週期管理技能非常重要，幾十年來我們已經證明，在週期的上下波動中運作是我們的優勢所在。

In all, the combined businesses produce meaningful free cash flow, keeping our balance sheet healthy and positioning us to capitalize on growth opportunities when they come. With that, I'll turn it over to Craig to go through our financial results in more detail.

總而言之，合併後的業務產生了有意義的自由現金流，使我們的資產負債表保持健康，並使我們能夠在成長機會到來時抓住它們。這樣，我會將其交給克雷格，以更詳細地查看我們的財務表現。

Thank you, Michael. Third quarter revenue was a record $559 million, an increase of 9% from the prior year. The increase reflects higher Cement sales volume and prices and contribution from the recently acquired import terminal in Stockton, California, partially offset by lower Wallboard sales volume and prices.

謝謝你，麥可。第三季營收達到創紀錄的 5.59 億美元，較上年成長 9%。這一增長反映了水泥銷售和價格的上漲以及最近收購的加州斯托克頓進口碼頭的貢獻，但部分被牆板銷售和價格的下降所抵消。

Excluding the Stockton acquisition, revenue was up 7%. Again, this past quarter, we generated record EPS. Third quarter earnings per share was $3.72, that's a 16% increase from the prior year and represents the tenth consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvement. This quarter's increase was driven by higher earnings and a 5% reduction in fully diluted shares, due to our buyback program.

不包括對 Stockton 的收購，收入成長了 7%。上個季度，我們再次創造了創紀錄的每股盈餘。第三季每股收益為 3.72 美元，較上年同期成長 16%，連續第十季實現年成長。本季的成長是由於我們的回購計劃帶來的收益增加和完全稀釋股票減少 5% 推動的。

Turning now to Segment Performance highlighted on the next slide. In our Heavy Materials sector, which includes our Cement and Concrete and aggregates segments, revenue was up 18% to $366 million. This revenue growth was driven primarily by an increase in Cement sales prices that were implemented earlier this year, higher Cement sales volume and the contribution from the recently acquired Cement import terminal in Northern California.

現在轉向下一張投影片中突出顯示的細分市場績效。在我們的重材料部門，包括水泥、混凝土和骨材部門，收入成長了 18%，達到 3.66 億美元。這項收入成長主要得益於今年稍早實施的水泥銷售價格上漲、水泥銷售增加以及最近收購的北加州水泥進口碼頭的貢獻。

Operating earnings were up 43%, primarily because of increased Cement prices and sales volume. Cement prices increased 13% and sales volume was up 7%. Given the strong market conditions that Michael discussed, we have announced another round of price increases for the first half of calendar 2024.

營業利潤成長 43%，主要是由於水泥價格和銷量的成長。水泥價格上漲 13%，銷售成長 7%。鑑於 Michael 討論的強勁市場狀況，我們宣布 2024 年上半年進行另一輪漲價。

Moving to the Light Materials sector on the next slide. Revenue in our Light Materials sector decreased 4%, reflecting lower Wallboard sales volume and prices, partially offset by record recycled Paperboard sales volume, which was up 9% in the quarter. One comment on our Wallboard sales price this quarter. With Wallboard sales volume coming in stronger than we had anticipated, we had a catch-up in our customer rebate program this quarter that impacted our quarterly average Wallboard sales price.

轉到下一張投影片的輕質材料部門。我們的輕質材料部門的收入下降了 4%，反映出牆板銷量和價格的下降，但部分被創紀錄的再生紙板銷量（本季增長 9%）所抵消。關於我們本季牆板銷售價格的評論。由於牆板銷售量強於我們的預期，本季我們的客戶回扣計畫有所改善，這影響了我們的季度平均牆板銷售價格。

Excluding the catch-up, our Wallboard sales price decline would have been about half sequentially. Operating earnings in the sector declined 13% to $83 million, reflecting lower Wallboard sales volume and prices. Looking now at our cash flow. As Michael discussed, we continue to generate strong cash flow and allocate capital in a disciplined way. During the first 9 months of our fiscal year, operating cash flow was up 4% to $501 million. Capital spending increased to $88 million and we acquired the Cement Import Terminal in Stockton, California for $55 million.

排除追趕因素，我們的牆板銷售價格將比上一季下降約一半。該行業的營業利潤下降 13% 至 8,300 萬美元，反映出牆板銷量和價格的下降。現在看看我們的現金流。正如邁克爾所討論的，我們繼續產生強勁的現金流並以嚴格的方式分配資本。在本財年的前 9 個月，營運現金流成長了 4%，達到 5.01 億美元。資本支出增加至 8,800 萬美元，我們以 5,500 萬美元收購了加州斯托克頓的水泥進口碼頭。

We repurchased approximately 1.5 million shares or 4% of our outstanding for $249 million, in addition to paying our quarterly dividends, returning a total of $276 million to shareholders during the first 9 months of the fiscal year. We have approximately 6.3 million shares remaining under our current repurchase authorization.

除了支付季度股息外，我們還以 2.49 億美元回購了約 150 萬股股票，即已發行股票的 4%，在本財年的前 9 個月內向股東總共返還了 2.76 億美元。根據我們目前的回購授權，我們剩餘約 630 萬股股票。

Finally, we also used our strong cash flow to strengthen our balance sheet. Let's look at our capital structure. At December 31, 2023, our net debt-to-cap ratio was 43% and our net debt-to-EBITDA leverage ratio was 1.2x. We ended the quarter with $49 million of cash on hand.

最後，我們也利用強勁的現金流來強化我們的資產負債表。讓我們看看我們的資本結構。截至2023年12月31日，我們的淨負債與上限比率為43%，淨負債與EBITDA槓桿比率為1.2倍。本季末，我們手頭現金為 4900 萬美元。

Total committed liquidity at the end of the quarter was approximately $684 million, and we have no meaningful near-term debt maturities, giving us substantial financial flexibility. Thank you for attending today's call. Rocco will now move to the question-and-answer session.

本季末承諾的流動性總額約為 6.84 億美元，而且我們沒有有意義的短期債務到期日，這給我們帶來了巨大的財務靈活性。感謝您參加今天的電話會議。羅科現在將進入問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) And today's first question comes from Trey Grooms with Stephens.

（操作員說明）今天的第一個問題來自 Trey Grooms 和 Stephens。

Wallboard volume clearly came in a little bit better, looks to maybe even seen a little bit of an inflection here in the quarter. First, is that primarily the impact of single-family starts beginning to show up. And as we kind of look into the next few quarters, would you expect to see volume continue to get better here?

牆板銷量顯然有所好轉，看起來本季甚至出現了一些變化。首先，單戶家庭的影響主要開始顯現。當我們展望未來幾季時，您是否預期這裡的銷售量會繼續好轉？

Yes. Thanks, Trey. So I would say, yes, look, as I said in my comments, I think Wallboard volumes came in stronger throughout the entire year, not just this quarter. I think that for the calendar year 2023, volume was 27 billion square feet, not that far off of the pace for calendar '22.

是的。謝謝，特雷。所以我想說，是的，正如我在評論中所說，我認為牆板銷量全年都在增長，而不僅僅是本季度。我認為 2023 年的成交量為 270 億平方英尺，與 22 年的速度相差不遠。

So overall, I would say things sales volume for Wallboard was stronger than anticipated. And as you say, you've looked at the Housing numbers coming -- the orders coming out of the homebuilders for the last 3 quarters or more and they've certainly seen a pickup in their order books, which would translate eventually into Wallboard volume.

總的來說，我想說牆板的銷售量強於預期。正如你所說，你已經看到了即將到來的住房數據——過去三個季度或更長時間來自住宅建築商的訂單，他們的訂單簿肯定有所增加，這最終將轉化為牆板數量。

There's a little bit of a lag between the start or really an order to a start and then ultimately to Wallboard consumption. Our best guess is that's more of a calendar '24 event. So I don't know that we've actually seen that turn yet in the actual volume, but would anticipate that given the increase in orders and as Michael mentioned, that's why we put out a February price increase in Wallboard, as we start -- we think we're going to be pretty busy into calendar '24.

從開始或真正的訂單到開始，然後最終到牆板消耗之間有一點延遲。我們最好的猜測是，這更像是 24 年日曆上的活動。所以我不知道我們實際上已經在實際數量中看到了這種轉變，但預計考慮到訂單的增加，正如邁克爾所提到的，這就是我們在開始時對 Wallboard 進行 2 月份提價的原因 - - 我們認為24 日曆年我們將會非常忙碌。

I wanted to touch on that as well. So thank you for bringing up the price increase here. The Wallboard margins were down and I understand volume and price were both slightly down in the quarter, but maybe if you could talk about a little bit more into the drivers there on the margin declines. And Clearly, the February price increase comes at a good time given that some of the headwinds you're seeing on the margin. Any color on magnitude or geographically, if it's widespread? Or just any other color you could give us around that increase?

我也想談談這一點。所以謝謝你在這裡提出漲價的問題。 Wallboard 的利潤率下降了，我知道本季的銷售和價格都略有下降，但也許您可以多談談利潤率下降的驅動因素。顯然，考慮到您在利潤率上看到的一些不利因素，二月的價格上漲來得正是時候。如果它廣泛存在的話，有什麼關於規模或地理的顏色嗎？或者您可以為我們提供圍繞該增加的任何其他顏色嗎？

Yes, the February increase is slated for across the country. A little too early for us to speculate on exact dollar amounts and region by region. But again, given the volume strength and utilization rates are still pretty high. We're going to be moving forward with it. You did point out some cost pressures, OCC prices, while they had been lowered during most of calendar '23, we have seen a recent uptick in recycled fiber prices, and so that will start to impact in the next quarter or 2.

是的，二月全國各地都將上漲。對我們來說，推測確切的美元金額和地區還為時過早。但同樣，考慮到銷量強度和利用率仍然相當高。我們將繼續推進它。您確實指出了一些成本壓力，OCC 價格，雖然它們在 23 日曆年的大部分時間裡都在降低，但我們看到最近再生纖維價格上漲，因此這將在下一個或第二個季度開始產生影響。

And then in terms of the price for this past quarter, as I mentioned in my comments, the -- we had -- because volumes were better, we had our rebate programs needed to get caught up in the last part of the calendar year. And so really, if you were to exclude that catch-up, the price cadence has been very similar for the last several months.

然後就上個季度的價格而言，正如我在評論中提到的，我們有——因為銷量更好，我們有我們的回扣計劃，以趕上日曆年的最後一部分。事實上，如果你排除這種追趕的情況，過去幾個月的價格節奏非常相似。

And our next question today comes from Anthony Pettinari with Citi.

今天我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的安東尼·佩蒂納裡 (Anthony Pettinari)。

You talked about Cement hikes. I think half of your regions in January 1 and half in April 1. If I got that right, is there any way to kind of think about the differentiation between the 2 hikes or maybe where the impact or why they're staggered or any color you can give there?

您談到了水泥價格上漲。我認為你們一半的地區是在1 月1 日，一半是在4 月1 日。如果我沒說錯的話，有沒有辦法考慮兩次升息之間的差異，或者可能影響在哪裡，或者為什麼它們交錯或任何顏色你可以給那裡嗎？

Yes. Really, when you look at the staggering of the increases, if you remember in last year, we had several price increases and some of them were at different times on the second price increase. So really, this is more on the cadence of where these price increases are falling for our customers and everything.

是的。真的，當你看到驚人的漲幅時，如果你還記得去年，我們有幾次漲價，其中一些是在第二次漲價的不同時間。所以實際上，這更多地取決於我們的客戶和所有東西的價格上漲下降的節奏。

If they got one in the later half of the year, they're not in the January time frame there in the April time frame with it. As for consistency, it's very similar to what Craig was saying on the Wallboard side. Nationally, as everybody knows, we've been in a sold-out condition across the nation with it. So it's going to be increases pretty much across the nation for our Cement businesses with it. And we also with the Wallboard, as you know, it's too early for us to speculate on what those numbers are. We're working with our customers right now. And then you'll see those results as we report the next quarter.

如果他們在下半年得到了一個，那麼他們就不會在一月的時間範圍內，而是在四月的時間範圍內得到它。至於一致性，這與 Craig 在 Wallboard 方面所說的非常相似。在全國範圍內，眾所周知，我們在全國範圍內都處於售罄狀態。因此，我們的水泥業務在全國各地都會大幅成長。如你所知，我們也使用了 Wallboard，現在推測這些數字是多少還為時過早。我們現在正在與客戶合作。然後您將在我們下一季的報告中看到這些結果。

Okay. That's helpful. And then I guess maybe switching gears, can you talk a little bit more about the Terra agreement? And I guess in the announcement, it says that you have sort of the right to build the SEM plants and that those could produce each 240,000 tons per year. In terms of time line, implementation, capital investment, I'm just wondering if you can give us any more kind of details on how this agreement is expected to play out.

好的。這很有幫助。然後我想也許換個話題，可以多談談 Terra 協議嗎？我猜在公告中，它說你們有權建造 SEM 工廠，而這些工廠每年的產量為 24 萬噸。在時間表、實施、資本投資方面，我只是想知道您是否能為我們提供更多有關該協議預計如何實施的細節。

Yes. No, I'm happy to talk about the Terra businesses with you today. We, as a company, look at a lot of different technologies out there, that help us provide product to our customers and also reduce our CO2 footprint through some blended products. As you know, we've been talking a lot about blended products here over the last year, and we've increased that quite a bit.

是的。不，我今天很高興與您談論 Terra 業務。作為一家公司，我們研究了許多不同的技術，這些技術幫助我們向客戶提供產品，並透過一些混合產品減少我們的二氧化碳足跡。如您所知，去年我們在這裡談論了很多混合產品，並且我們已經增加了很多。

Terra was a great partner that we wanted to work with. Us, as Eagle, don't necessarily have a research and development arm with it, and we rely sometimes on some outside experts in that field to help us there. And we've been very happy with the what Terra has brought to the table. They have done a bunch of research on a product that we feel is very beneficial for us.

Terra 是我們希望與之合作的優秀合作夥伴。作為 Eagle，我們不一定擁有研發部門，有時我們會依賴該領域的一些外部專家來幫助我們。我們對 Terra 帶來的東西非常滿意。他們對我們認為對我們非常有益的產品進行了大量研究。

What I do want to caution in a way is that they are working on their first commercial scale facility right now. So we're still a little ways away from having that commercial production, but we're working with them really daily between our engineering teams and their engineering teams, on how we bring that to the market.

我確實想在某種程度上警告的是，他們現在正在建造他們的第一個商業規模的設施。因此，我們距離商業化生產還有一段距離，但我們的工程團隊和他們的工程團隊每天都在與他們合作，討論如何將其推向市場。

They do have one facility, they are building that they're doing with another partner that they have. And that is in process of being constructed on a commercial grade. We are kind of watching that closely. So we know when we could pull the -- I feel confident on pulling the trigger on building our own facilities with Terra with it.

他們確實有一個設施，他們正在與他們擁有的另一個合作夥伴一起建造這個設施。該項目正在商業級建設中。我們正在密切關注這一點。所以我們知道什麼時候可以拉動——我有信心拉動扳機，用 Terra 建造我們自己的設施。

So in the meantime, we're going to work with them, still work on the making this a commercially viable product, which they feel confident in doing. And so we're still several quarters out from having in potentially several years out, from having a commercially available plant running to deliver that 240,000 tons, that we put in the Press Release. But all indications are very favorable in their product and their performance and the testing we've done in the Cement manufacturing.

因此，同時，我們將與他們合作，繼續努力使之成為商業上可行的產品，他們對此充滿信心。因此，我們距離實現我們在新聞稿中提到的 24 萬噸的商業化工廠的運行，可能需要幾年的時間，還有幾個季度的時間。但所有跡象表明他們的產品、性能以及我們在水泥製造中所做的測試都非常有利。

Anthony, I might just add one thing to that. In terms of the capital investments, as Michael mentioned, I would not anticipate that being in our fiscal '25. And then in terms of a profitability, look, I would just say, we believe this will more than meet our investment hurdle rates and return criteria. So very excited about it, but it is still a ways off for us.

安東尼，我想補充一件事。就資本投資而言，正如邁克爾所提到的，我預計不會出現在我們的 25 財年。然後就盈利能力而言，我只想說，我們相信這將超出我們的投資門檻和回報標準。對此非常興奮，但對我們來說還有很長的路要走。

And our next question today comes from Jerry Revich with Goldman Sachs.

今天我們的下一個問題來自高盛的傑瑞·雷維奇（Jerry Revich）。

This is Jatin Khanna on behalf of Jerry Revich. Could you please talk about the potential for new margin highs for Cement, amid rising replacement costs and slowing input costs in the coming quarters?

我是賈汀·卡納 (Jatin Khanna)，代表傑瑞·雷維奇 (Jerry Revich)。您能否談談在未來幾季重置成本上升和投入成本放緩的情況下水泥利潤率再創新高的潛力？

Could you repeat the first part of that question?

您能重複問題的第一部分嗎？

Yes, sure. Could you please talk about the potential for new margin highs for Cement? amid rising replacement costs and slowing input costs?

是的，當然。能談談水泥利潤率再創新高的潛力嗎？在重置成本上升和投入成本放緩的情況下？

Yes. No. Look, it's very consistent with what we've talked about for several years now. We've improved the Cement network at Eagle through large M&A over the last decade or so on the assets that we've acquired have been high-quality assets. And so then against the backdrop of very limited supply response to improving demand. You have diminishing alternative materials like fly ash. And so that's led to an environment where we've been able to achieve good pricing.

是的。不，你看，這與我們多年來談論的內容非常一致。我們在過去十年左右的時間裡透過大規模併購完善了Eagle的水泥網絡，我們收購的資產都是優質資產。因此，在供應對需求改善的反應非常有限的背景下。粉煤灰等替代材料越來越少。因此，這創造了一個我們能夠實現良好定價的環境。

And so yes, we've seen margins improve very nicely, and this quarter is in line with that. As we look forward into fiscal '25, we've talked many times over the last several quarters about we would expect to see some lower energy prices, especially around fuel. So we would expect over the rest of the cycle, we should continue to be able to expand margins across our Cement network.

是的，我們已經看到利潤率有了很大的提高，本季的情況也與此一致。當我們展望 25 財年時，我們在過去幾季多次談到，我們預計能源價格會下降，尤其是燃料價格。因此，我們預計在本週期的剩餘時間內，我們應該能夠繼續擴大整個水泥網路的利潤率。

And our next question today comes from Kevin Gainey with Thompson, Davis.

今天我們的下一個問題來自凱文蓋尼和湯普森戴維斯。

It's Kevin on for Adam. I actually maybe wanted to talk a little bit about the California (inaudible) terminal. It seems to be performing well. And have those assets been absorbed into the network easily? And how are they performing versus kind of when you guys bought them?

凱文替補亞當。實際上我可能想談談加州（聽不清楚）航站樓。看來表現不錯。這些資產是否容易被吸收到網路中？與你們購買它們時相比，它們的表現如何？

Yes. That asset was a fantastic fit into our operation, as we discussed previously with -- they were absorbed very quickly into the operation, and it's to support that Western market and to support our plants on that side and satisfy our customers' demand. We'll continue to integrate that. However, it's actually came up very fast and very efficiently and is supporting our markets very well.

是的。正如我們之前討論的那樣，該資產非常適合我們的運營 - 他們很快就被吸收到運營中，它是為了支持西方市場並支持我們在那邊的工廠並滿足客戶的需求。我們將繼續整合它。然而，它實際上出現得非常快、非常有效，並且很好地支持了我們的市場。

Good to hear. And then maybe if you guys wanted to go just on Cement margins a little more. Do you -- what gives you guys the confidence in sustaining that looking forward?

很高興聽到。然後也許如果你們想增加水泥利潤一點。你們——是什麼讓你們有信心維持這種期待？

Yes. And just to be clear, we look at our margin profile, whether you want to call it a trailing 12 months or on an annual period. You certainly have quarters, where you'll have our major maintenance outages like we'll have in the June quarter. And so we're really talking about annual margins. And look, it comes from a foundation of high-quality assets, low-cost position in very good markets.

是的。需要明確的是，我們會查看我們的利潤狀況，無論您想將其稱為過去 12 個月還是年度。當然，您也會遇到像六月季度那樣的重大維護中斷的情況。所以我們真正在談論的是年利潤率。看，它來自於優質資產的基礎，以及良好市場中的低成本地位。

Michael has alluded to many times, we're relatively insulated from imports. So we're more in the Heartland part of the country. And so given the market conditions where demand is outpacing supply, that generally provides a pricing power to the manufacturers. And you've seen that the last couple of years, and we've got incremental price increases announced for the first half of this year. And then on the cost side, it's an energy-intensive business and energy prices certainly have stopped being as inflationary as they were a couple of years ago. So that's what gives us the confidence, as we look at this business at -- on an annual basis why we think we can continue to improve margins.

麥可多次提到，我們相對不受進口影響。所以我們更多的是在這個國家的中心。因此，考慮到需求超過供應的市場狀況，這通常為製造商提供了定價權。您已經看到了過去幾年的情況，我們宣布了今年上半年的增量價格上漲。然後在成本方面，這是一個能源密集產業，能源價格肯定已經不再像幾年前那樣通貨膨脹。因此，當我們每年審視這項業務時，這給了我們信心，為什麼我們認為我們可以繼續提高利潤率。

Our next question today comes from Phil Ng with Jefferies.

今天我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Phil Ng。

Appreciating you're pretty insulated from imports, Craig, as you mentioned. But there is the conflict in the Red Sea. Are you seeing any impact out there from imports, whether it's supply and pricing, and what that ultimately means for the markets you're in?

克雷格，正如您所提到的，您很高興能夠與進口產品保持良好的隔離。但紅海地區存在衝突。您是否看到進口有任何影響，無論是供應還是定價，以及這最終對您所在的市場意味著什麼？

Phil, no direct impact for us in terms of supply or anything coming across the ocean. But I think it does highlight the risk that imports have that they are subject to global issues, whether it's very specific events, as you mentioned, or others that could impact timing of ships, the trips that they have to take longer trips that are more expensive. So that is the issue with why imports have a restricted ability to impact the U.S. market.

菲爾，在供應或跨洋運輸方面對我們沒有直接影響。但我認為這確實凸顯了進口產品面臨全球問題的風險，無論是正如您提到的非常具體的事件，還是其他可能影響船舶時間的事件，它們必須採取更長的行程，昂貴的。這就是為什麼進口產品影響美國市場的能力有限的問題。

Are you seeing any upward pressure on import prices, just given that dynamic in recent weeks?

鑑於最近幾週的動態，您是否認為進口價格有上行壓力？

Ocean freight rates have kind of gone up and down over the last, call it, 6 to 9 months. Those are impacted by many things. Again, we're not as large of an importer as others are. So I can't say that we've seen any direct impact at this point. But I think your point is well made that there are some upward pressures on ocean freight rates.

在過去的 6 到 9 個月裡，海運費有所上升和下降。這些受到許多因素的影響。再說一次，我們不像其他國家那樣是大進口商。所以我不能說我們目前已經看到任何直接影響。但我認為你的觀點是正確的，即海運費存在一些上行壓力。

Okay. On the Wallboard side, the quarter was obviously quite strong from a volume standpoint. Is any of that like tied to like prebuy, I know there was a fall price increase or any of your customers trying to hit these rebates. So my question is, could there be a hangover effect on the demand side for your March quarter? And then I guess bigger picture this year with rates potentially coming back, let's say we get back to like 5.5%. How quickly do you see that kind of rippling through? I appreciate there's a lag, but like how quickly do you kind of see that inflection, if you do see one on Wallboard demand?

好的。在牆板方面，從銷售的角度來看，本季顯然相當強勁。這些是否與預購相關？我知道價格有所上漲，或者您的任何客戶都試圖獲得這些回扣。所以我的問題是，三月季度的需求方面是否會產生宿醉效應？然後我猜今年的整體情況是利率可能會回升，假設我們會回到 5.5% 左右。您多久會看到這種漣漪效應？我很欣賞這種滯後，但如果你確實看到了 Wallboard 的需求，那麼你要多快才能看到這種變化？

Yes. We didn't see any sort of prebuy activity, those type of things. I think that is fundamental Wallboard consumption. We look at our orders post the quarter and been very happy with the environment and the order activity. So I don't think it is pretty clean volume.

是的。我們沒有看到任何類型的預購活動，諸如此類的事情。我認為這是牆板的基本消費。我們查看了本季後的訂單，對環境和訂單活動非常滿意。所以我不認為這是一個非常乾淨的捲。

Yes, in terms of the inflection point for interest rates and therefore, the benefit to housing affordability and demand. As I mentioned earlier, there is a lag between a start to Wallboard consumption, that was elongated post COVID because of some of the supply chain issues the homebuilders we're dealing with. I think those issues have been have eased over the last 18 months, let's call it. So you would expect to see going back to more of a normal timing in terms of, call it, 3 to 4 months from a start to Wallboard consumption is typically what -- or historically what we've seen for how fast that flows back into the business.

是的，就利率轉折點而言，因此對住房負擔能力和需求的好處而言。正如我之前提到的，牆板消費的開始之間存在一個滯後期，由於我們正在處理的住宅建築商的一些供應鏈問題，這一滯後期在新冠疫情之後被延長。我認為這些問題在過去 18 個月裡已經得到緩解，我們就這麼說吧。因此，您可能會期望看到回到更正常的時間安排，即從開始到牆板消耗通常需要 3 到 4 個月，或者從歷史上看，我們看到的回流速度有多快。這生意。

And our next question today comes from Keith Hughes with Truist.

今天我們的下一個問題來自 Truist 的 Keith Hughes。

I had questions on the volume of the JV. It was down in the quarter. It was fairly easy comp in the prior year. I'm sure weather played some role here, but you just talk about the pace of business at the volume of the JV in the quarter.

我對合資企業的規模有疑問。本季有所下降。前一年的比賽相當簡單。我確信天氣在這裡發揮了一定作用，但您只是談論本季合資企業業務量的業務節奏。

Yes. I'll take that question, Keith. Thank you. When we look at the JV, we had discussed earlier in the year that we had some older equipment at that JV that we -- if you remember about a couple of quarters ago, we had a mill that we were struggling with a little bit. And we did a repair to that mill that we thought would carry us through the lead time to get the parts that we need for that mill. That mill actually had some additional issues that it was still running fine, but from a safety perspective and standpoint, we wanted to make sure we took it down and address the issues that were happening, so we didn't have a catastrophic failure.

是的。我來回答這個問題，基斯。謝謝。當我們審視合資企業時，我們在今年早些時候討論過，我們在該合資企業擁有一些舊設備，如果你還記得幾個季度前，我們有一家工廠，我們正在努力解決這些問題。我們對那家工廠進行了維修，我們認為這將使我們能夠在交貨時間內獲得工廠所需的零件。該工廠實際上還有一些其他問題，但仍然運作良好，但從安全角度和立場來看，我們希望確保將其拆除並解決正在發生的問題，這樣我們就不會發生災難性故障。

So we did take a little bit more of an outage this last quarter to address that. We have the parts for that mill on order. It's just the lead time on these heavy industrial parts, and it's a part that typically doesn't wear out as much that we're going to have to replace. So it had an 18- to 24-month lead time with it. We're going to change that, those mill components out later on this year. The other thing I also wanted to highlight with Texas Lehigh, as I've talked about in previous quarters is, but we have the secondary thing that caused us some issues throughout the year was a clinker cooler we have, which we are going to also address during this next year.

因此，我們在上個季度確實採取了更多的停電來解決這個問題。我們已經訂購了該工廠的零件。這只是這些重工業零件的交貨時間，而且這種零件通常不會磨損到我們需要更換的程度。因此，它有 18 到 24 個月的交付時間。我們將在今年稍後改變這一點，這些工廠零件將被淘汰。我還想在德克薩斯州利哈伊強調的另一件事是，正如我在前幾個季度談到的那樣，但我們還有第二件事導致我們全年出現一些問題，那就是我們擁有的熟料冷卻器，我們也將其明年在此期間發表演說。

So this next fiscal year, we will have a little bit more extended downtime to address those 2 issues. We're very confident that the plant infrastructure other than these 2 components is very, very good. We just are getting to the end of life of these components, and they take a little bit of time to replace and to get the parts into dissatisfy them. So we had a little bit more downtime in the quarter.

因此，在下一個財年，我們將有更長的停機時間來解決這兩個問題。我們非常有信心，除了這兩個組件之外，工廠基礎設施非常非常好。這些部件的使用壽命即將結束，需要一些時間來更換並使零件不滿意。因此，本季我們的停機時間稍微多一點。

Okay. It sounds like this is going to continue through really the next fiscal year, is that you're saying...

好的。聽起來這將持續到下一個財政年度，你是說...

Yes. We're going to have an extended outage. We haven't defined when that outage is going to be yet because we want to ensure all the components are in, but it will happen sometime in this next fiscal year, where we will have an extended outage probably a couple of weeks longer than a typical outage to address these 2 issues.

是的。我們將面臨長時間的停電。我們還沒有確定停電時間，因為我們希望確保所有組件都已到位，但它會在下一個財年的某個時候發生，屆時我們的停電時間可能會比正常情況長幾週。解決這兩個問題的典型中斷。

And any -- can you give us any kind of feel of how much capacity effectively is affected by the problems you're discussing?

您能否讓我們了解您正在討論的問題實際上影響了多少容量？

Yes. Keith, I don't know that I would say it's impacting the capacity. It's just the ability to ramp up to full production. And as Michael said, post the installation of these -- of the new equipment, we should be back to our ordinary level.

是的。基思，我不知道我會說這會影響容量。這只是提升到全面生產的能力。正如邁克爾所說，在安裝這些新設備後，我們應該回到正常水平。

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Michael Haack for any closing remarks.

女士們、先生們，我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回由邁克爾·哈克（Michael Haack）發表閉幕詞。

Thank you, Rocco. We entered the new calendar year committed to continuing to operate safely and responsibly and deliver excellent results for our customers and you, our shareholders. The outlook for Eagle is bright, and we look forward to capitalizing on opportunities ahead. We're also excited to publish an updated and upgraded sustainability report and to discuss highlights, when we meet again in May, on the report and our full fiscal year 2024 results and progress on our strategic priorities. Thank you for joining us today.

謝謝你，羅科。進入新的一年，我們致力於繼續安全、負責任地運營，為我們的客戶和您（我們的股東）提供卓越的業績。 Eagle 的前景是光明的，我們期待著抓住未來的機會。我們也很高興發布更新和升級的可持續發展報告，並在 5 月再次開會時討論該報告以及我們的 2024 財年完整業績和戰略重點進展的重點內容。感謝您今天加入我們。

Thank you, sir. This concludes today's conference call. We thank you all for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful day.

謝謝你，先生。今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝大家參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開線路，度過美好的一天。