Eagle Materials Inc (EXP) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to Eagle Materials fourth quarter and fiscal 2025 earnings conference call. This call is being recorded. And at this time, I'd like to turn the floor 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 第四季和 2025 財年財報電話會議。此通話正在錄音。現在，我想把發言權交給 Eagle 公司總裁兼執行長 Michael Haack 先生。哈克先生，請繼續，先生。

Thank you, Jamie, and welcome, everyone. Joining me today are Craig Kesler, our Chief Financial Officer; and Alex Haddock, Senior 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.

謝謝你，傑米，歡迎大家。今天與我一起出席的還有我們的財務長 Craig Kesler；以及投資者關係、策略和企業發展資深副總裁 Alex Haddock。將會有與本次電話會議相關的幻燈片演示。要存取它，請訪問 eaglematerials.com 並點擊網路廣播連結。

While you're accessing the slides, please note that the first slide covers our cautionary disclosure regarding forward-looking statements made during this call. 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.

當您存取投影片時，請注意第一張投影片涵蓋了我們對本次電話會議中前瞻性陳述的警示性揭露。這些聲明受風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致結果與電話會議中討論的結果不同。欲了解更多信息，請參閱此披露，它也包含在我們的新聞稿末尾。

As our fiscal year ends, it allows me some time to look back on our performance and reflect on the year in totality. There is no question that this year has had its challenges. The true measure of an individual or a company is how they respond to those challenges. I'm extremely grateful to lead a company that has dedicated employees that have made this company stronger. Without this dedication, Eagle would not have been successful. So I want to thank every Eagle employee for making Eagle a better company.

隨著財政年度的結束，我有時間回顧我們的業績並對這一年進行總體回顧。毫無疑問，今年面臨挑戰。衡量個人或公司真正的標準是他們如何應對這些挑戰。我非常感激能夠領導這樣一家擁有敬業員工的公司，是他們的努力讓公司變得更強大。如果沒有這種奉獻精神，Eagle 就不會成功。因此，我要感謝每一位 Eagle 員工，是他們讓 Eagle 成為了一家更好的公司。

I also want to spend a few minutes highlighting what Eagle was able to accomplish this past fiscal year. I want to start these comments with a topic that is Eagle's top priority, employee health and safety. You have heard me state in the past that we are proud of our industry-leading safety record. But this year, I am more impressed that we were able to achieve our lowest total recordable injury rate or TRIR in company history. This was coupled with a 25% increase in our hazard observation or near miss reporting, showing that our safety culture is well established and self-sustaining.

我還想花幾分鐘來強調 Eagle 在過去的財政年度所取得的成就。我想以 Eagle 的首要任務——員工健康和安全——作為這些評論的開始。您以前曾聽我說過，我們為我們行業領先的安全記錄感到自豪。但今年，令我印象更深刻的是，我們實現了公司歷史上最低的總可記錄傷害率或TRIR。同時，我們的危險觀察或未遂事故報告增加了 25%，這表明我們的安全文化已經完善且能夠自我維持。

Over this next year, we will continue to progress our safety culture with the rollout of a program called Eagle Safe, a series of standardized company-wide best practices and procedures to focus our efforts on critical safety issues.

在接下來的一年裡，我們將繼續推進我們的安全文化，推出一項名為「Eagle Safe」的計劃，這是一系列標準化的全公司最佳實踐和程序，旨在將我們的努力集中在關鍵的安全問題上。

I'm a true believer that if you have diligence around safety, then you have a culture that strives for diligence around every other aspect in the business, leading to improved results holistically. This is the case for Eagle, where I am proud to say that this year marks our fourth consecutive year of record financial results, having generated record fiscal year revenue of $2.3 billion and record earnings per share of $13.77. This was accomplished with day-to-day headline noise surrounding the economy, but with focus, our businesses have continued to perform well and operate efficiently.

我堅信，如果你在安全方面勤勉盡責，那麼你就會形成一種在業務的其他各個方面都力求勤勉盡責的文化，從而全面改善業績。對 Eagle 來說，我很自豪地說，今年是我們連續第四年創下財務業績記錄，財政年度收入達到創紀錄的 23 億美元，每股收益達到創紀錄的 13.77 美元。這項成績是在經濟情勢日趨緊張的背景下取得的，但憑藉著專注，我們的業務繼續表現良好並且高效運作。

Next, I want to talk about the efforts we have made with regards to sustainability. You will see a lot of information on the projects we have in process or that are completed in our sustainability report that will be published this summer.

接下來我想講一下我們在永續發展方面所做的努力。您將在今年夏天發布的可持續發展報告中看到大量有關我們正在進行或已完成的項目的資訊。

For now, let me share a few highlights. We are on track to complete an upgrade of our wastewater treatment facility at our paper mill this summer. This $22 million project, when completed, will reduce our water consumption by approximately 50% through a more closed-loop system. It will also allow us to return water that is already heated to the process, hence, reducing our energy consumption and improving our efficiency.

現在，讓我分享一些亮點。我們計劃於今年夏天完成造紙廠廢水處理設施的升級。這個耗資 2,200 萬美元的工程完成後，將透過一個更閉環的系統將我們的用水量減少約 50%。它還允許我們將已經加熱的水返回到製程過程中，從而減少我們的能源消耗並提高我們的效率。

In our Cement business, we completed our Illinois cement plant's alternative fuel feeder that will enable the plant to run more alternative fuels. We are also nearing completion of a project at Kosmos Cement facility to expand the use of recycled tires that would otherwise be landfilled. All our environmental projects are similar to these examples. They have meaningful economic benefits, driving efficiency and lowering costs as we reduce usage of water, solid fuels and other raw materials.

在我們的水泥業務中，我們完成了伊利諾伊州水泥廠的替代燃料進料器，這將使該工廠能夠運行更多的替代燃料。我們也即將完成 Kosmos 水泥廠的一個項目，該項目旨在擴大原本會被填埋的再生輪胎的利用。我們所有的環境項目都與這些例子類似。由於我們減少了水、固體燃料和其他原料的使用，它們具有顯著的經濟效益，可以提高效率並降低成本。

Additionally, our deployment of capital in fiscal 2025 allowed us to strategically expand our ability to serve our customers across our geographic footprint. These investments are both acquisitions and organic investments. I will highlight a few of these.

此外，我們在 2025 財年的資本部署使我們能夠策略性地擴展為整個地理範圍內的客戶提供服務的能力。這些投資既包括收購，也包括有機投資。我將重點介紹其中的幾個。

Within Aggregates, a key growth area for us, we acquired two pure-play aggregate operations, one in Kentucky and the other in Western Pennsylvania, enhancing our ability to serve these markets, which are complementary to our existing heavy side footprint. Integration of both operations is going well, and both businesses are already contributing to Eagle. These two additions will increase Eagle's aggregate production capacity by 50%.

在骨材業務（我們的一個重要成長領域）中，我們收購了兩家純骨材業務，一家位於肯塔基州，另一家位於賓州西部，增強了我們服務這些市場的能力，這對我們現有的重型業務足跡形成了補充。兩項業務的整合進展順利，兩項業務均已為 Eagle 做出貢獻。這兩家公司的新增產能將使 Eagle 的總產能提高 50%。

In Cement, we completed commissioning of our Texas Lehigh slag facility this winter, and production will ramp up throughout this upcoming fiscal year, providing additional cementitious tons to the Texas market. In Northern Colorado area, our Mountain Cement plant expansion continues to be on time and on budget.

在水泥方面，我們今年冬天完成了位於德州利哈伊礦渣廠的調試，產量將在即將到來的財政年度大幅提升，為德州市場提供更多的水泥產量。在科羅拉多州北部地區，我們的山區水泥廠擴建工程繼續按時按預算進行。

This next fiscal year, we'll see a major ramp-up in construction efforts and capital expenditure. Like the other projects I mentioned above, the Mountain Cement modernization will have meaningful economic benefits as well as environmental benefits, utilizing alternative fuels and lowering our CO2 intensity per ton.

下一個財政年度，我們將看到建設力度和資本支出大幅增加。與我上面提到的其他項目一樣，山地水泥現代化項目將帶來顯著的經濟效益和環境效益，利用替代燃料並降低每噸水泥的二氧化碳強度。

Lastly, we announced last week, we have initiated a project to modernize and expand our Duke, Oklahoma gypsum wallboard facility. The modernized plant takes advantage of our decades-long natural gypsum position at Duke and upgrades the facility with state-of-the-art technology, enhancing Eagle's low-cost producer position and strengthening our competitive advantage as the rest of the industry continues to struggle to source synthetic gypsum.

最後，我們上週宣布，我們已經啟動了一項項目，對我們位於俄克拉荷馬州杜克市的石膏牆板工廠進行現代化改造和擴建。現代化工廠充分利用了我們在杜克數十年的天然石膏資源，並採用最先進的技術對設施進行了升級，增強了 Eagle 的低成本生產商地位，並增強了我們的競爭優勢，因為業內其他公司仍在努力尋找合成石膏。

Duke is advantaged geographically, allowing the plant to serve customers throughout the high-growth South and Southeast markets. The project is expected to cost about $330 million and start-up is scheduled for the second half of calendar 2027.

杜克擁有優越的地理位置，使工廠能夠為整個高成長的南部和東南市場的客戶提供服務。該項目預計耗資約 3.3 億美元，計劃於 2027 年下半年啟動。

Our ability to execute on these investment opportunities is underpinned by our capital allocation principles and our balance sheet strength. In fiscal 2025, we completed over $175 million of M&A transactions and increased our capital expenditure for the Mountain Cement project while ending the year with a net leverage ratio of 1.5 times. And even while investing our excess free cash flow in these high-return projects, we continue to return capital to shareholders, distributing $332 million of cash to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends.

我們的資本配置原則和資產負債表實力支撐著我們執行這些投資機會的能力。2025 財年，我們完成了超過 1.75 億美元的併購交易，並增加了 Mountain Cement 專案的資本支出，同時年底的淨槓桿率為 1.5 倍。即使在將多餘的自由現金流投資於這些高回報項目的同時，我們仍繼續向股東返還資本，透過股票回購和股息向股東分配 3.32 億美元現金。

In summary, FY 2025 was a good year for Eagle. We held to our strategy that has always served us well and demonstrates that in periods of uncertainty like we're facing today, Eagle's steady focus on investing through cycles, not just for a point in the cycle, enables us to navigate through turbulence, continue to perform well and position ourselves for the future. In fact, as a 100% US domestic manufacturer, we feel well equipped to weather the variety of potential tariff outcomes and the uncertainty it has created for the US economy more broadly.

總而言之，2025 財年對 Eagle 來說是一個好年。我們堅持始終如一地為我們提供良好服務的策略，並證明在當今我們面臨的不確定時期，Eagle 堅定地專注於週期性投資，而不僅僅是周期中的某個點，這使我們能夠渡過動盪，繼續表現良好，並為未來做好準備。事實上，作為一家 100% 美國本土製造商，我們認為自己有能力承受各種潛在的關稅結果以及它對美國經濟帶來的更廣泛的不確定性。

Let me now give some color on our fourth quarter performance and outlook. Our fourth quarter results reflect the impact of adverse weather on our Cement and Concrete and Aggregates businesses, which was severe enough to cause production interruptions at some of our facilities. We made the decision to constructively use the downtime caused by the poor weather to pull forward the annual maintenance outage at our Texas Lehigh Cement facility.

現在讓我來介紹一下我們第四季的業績和展望。我們的第四季業績反映了惡劣天氣對我們的水泥、混凝土和骨材業務的影響，其嚴重程度足以導致我們部分工廠的生產中斷。我們決定積極利用惡劣天氣造成的停工時間，提前完成德州利哈伊水泥廠的年度維修停機。

Despite the recent choppiness in our Heavy Materials financial performance, we believe the underlying fundamentals in the sector remain solid. Demand and supply dynamics remain favorable across all of our business lines, and we are positioned to benefit from these dynamics.

儘管近期重質材料業務的財務表現波動較大，但我們相信該行業的基本面依然穩固。我們所有業務線的供需動態依然良好，我們有能力從這些動態中受益。

In the Cement sector, we have seen no material disruption in award funding for public infrastructure projects. Our customers report healthy bidding activities and are anticipating a rebound from the softer 2023 and 2024 demand realization. Looking out further, there's continued bipartisan support for infrastructure funding, which should be additive to cement consumption for the next several years.

在水泥產業，我們沒有看到公共基礎設施項目獎勵資金出現重大中斷。我們的客戶報告稱，投標活動表現良好，並預計 2023 年和 2024 年需求將反彈。進一步看，兩黨將繼續支持基礎建設資金，這應該會在未來幾年增加水泥消費量。

Turning to the residential outlook, which is a primary end market driver for our Wallboard businesses. In many ways, we are in a similar place to where we've been for the last several years. While high mortgage rates and housing affordability challenges continue to exert downward pressure on single-family housing starts, this pressure is mitigated somewhat by the clear need for new housing and overall pent-up buyer demand. Ultimately, new home construction will be needed to address the affordability issue. Thus, we believe it's a matter of when, not if single-family housing starts will rebound.

轉向住宅前景，這是我們牆板業務的主要終端市場驅動力。從很多方面來看，我們現在的處境與過去幾年類似。儘管高抵押貸款利率和住房負擔能力挑戰繼續對獨棟住宅開工造成下行壓力，但這種壓力因對新住房的明顯需求和總體被壓抑的買家需求而得到一定程度的緩解。最終，需要建造新房子來解決負擔能力問題。因此，我們認為獨棟住宅開工量反彈只是時間問題，而不是是否會反彈的問題。

Turning to supply. We believe the outlook in both cement and Wallboard is unlikely to change in the medium term. Significant capacity constraints persist in both cement and wallboard. As a result, even in an environment like last year, where cement volumes were down and wallboard volumes remain subdued versus historical figures, both sectors continue to see relatively elevated utilization rates.

轉向供應。我們認為，中期內水泥和牆板的前景不太可能改變。水泥和牆板的產能嚴重受限。因此，即使在去年這樣的環境下，水泥產量下降，牆板產量與歷史數據相比仍然低迷，但這兩個行業的利用率仍然相對較高。

As we look forward three to five years and beyond, we believe both the demand and supply dynamics will continue to support our business. Our strategy of steady investment through economic cycles and volatile market conditions positions us well to capture the benefits of these dynamics.

展望未來三到五年甚至更久，我們相信需求和供應動態將繼續支持我們的業務。我們在經濟週期和動盪的市場條件下進行穩定投資的策略使我們能夠很好地捕捉到這些動態帶來的好處。

We are committed to health, safety, sustainability, investing in every one of our plants to maintain our reserves position and keep them in like new condition, expanding our geographic and customer footprint through compelling organic and M&A investments and maintaining capital allocation discipline. Those are just some of the reasons why we've been able to outperform and provide value for our shareholders through varied economic cycles and why we continue to do so.

我們致力於健康、安全和永續發展，投資於我們的每一家工廠，以維持我們的儲備地位並使它們保持像新的一樣的狀態，透過引人注目的有機和併購投資擴大我們的地理和客戶足跡，並保持資本配置紀律。這些只是我們能夠在不同的經濟週期中表現出色並為股東提供價值以及我們繼續這樣做的原因之一。

Lastly, before I turn it over to Craig, I want to highlight a governance-related announcement we made earlier this month. On May 15, we announced the appointment of David Rush to our Board of Directors. Dave is the retired CEO of Builders FirstSource. And prior to being CEO at Builders, he held a variety of senior executive roles over his nearly 30-year career there. Dave brings a wealth of valuable industry and management experience, and we are thrilled to add him to the Board.

最後，在將發言權交給克雷格之前，我想強調我們本月早些時候發布的一項與治理相關的公告。5 月 15 日，我們宣布任命 David Rush 為董事會成員。Dave 是 Builders FirstSource 的退休執行長。在擔任 Builders 執行長之前，他在該公司近 30 年的職業生涯中擔任過各種高階管理職務。Dave 帶來了豐富的寶貴產業和管理經驗，我們很高興能將他加入董事會。

With that, I'll turn it over to Craig.

說完這些，我就把麥克風交給 Craig。

Thank you, Michael. Fiscal year 2025 revenue was a record $2.3 billion, up slightly from the prior year. The increase primarily reflects higher prices across all of our business lines, partially offset by lower Cement and Concrete and Aggregate sales volume. Revenue for the fourth quarter was down 1% to $470 million, primarily reflecting lower cement and gypsum wallboard sales volumes, partially offset by higher cement and aggregate prices.

謝謝你，麥可。2025財年營收達到創紀錄的23億美元，比前一年略有成長。這一增長主要反映了我們所有業務線價格的上漲，但被水泥、混凝土和骨材銷售的下降部分抵消。第四季營收下降 1% 至 4.7 億美元，主要原因是水泥和石膏牆板銷量下降，但水泥和骨材價格上漲部分抵消了這一影響。

Diluted earnings per share for the full fiscal year increased 1% to $13.77. The increase was due to the reduced share count resulting from our share repurchase program, which more than offset the net earnings decline.

全年每股攤薄收益成長 1% 至 13.77 美元。成長的原因是我們的股票回購計劃導致股票數量減少，這足以抵消淨收益的下降。

Fully diluted shares were down 4% from the prior year and are down 20% in the last five years. Fourth quarter earnings per share was down 11%, largely because of heavy materials results in the quarter when the Cement and Concrete and Aggregates businesses were affected by adverse weather and maintenance costs in the Cement business increased. Our quarterly results were also affected by approximately $3.4 million of acquisition accounting and related expenses. Adjusting for these items, fourth quarter diluted earnings per share were down 7%.

完全稀釋股價較前一年下降 4%，過去五年下降 20%。第四季每股收益下降 11%，主要是因為本季水泥、混凝土和骨材業務的重型材料表現受到惡劣天氣的影響，且水泥業務的維護成本增加。我們的季度業績也受到約 340 萬美元的收購會計和相關費用的影響。調整這些項目後，第四季每股攤薄收益下降了 7%。

Turning now to segment performance highlighted on the next slide. In our Heavy Materials sector, which includes our Cement and Concrete and Aggregates segments, annual revenue declined 2% to $1.4 billion. The decline reflects lower cement sales volume, which was down 5% and was partially offset by higher sales prices.

現在轉向下一張投影片中重點介紹的細分市場表現。在我們的重型材料部門（包括水泥、混凝土和骨材部門），年收入下降 2% 至 14 億美元。下降的原因是水泥銷量下降了 5%，但部分被銷售價格上漲所抵消。

The two aggregates businesses acquired during the year contributed approximately $12 million to annual revenue. Annual operating earnings in the heavy materials sector declined 11% to $311 million, again, reflecting lower sales volume, partially offset by higher cement prices.

今年收購的兩家骨材業務為其年收入貢獻了約 1,200 萬美元。重型材料產業的年度營業收入下降 11% 至 3.11 億美元，同樣反映了銷售量的下降，但部分被水泥價格上漲所抵銷。

During the fourth quarter, Heavy Materials operating earnings declined 50% to $18.3 million. As Michael mentioned, adverse weather conditions during the fourth quarter, most notably in February, caused disruption to not only cement sales opportunities, but also to cement operations. We estimate the operational impact from equipment downtime to be $4 million to $5 million.

第四季度，重質材料業務營業收入下降 50% 至 1,830 萬美元。正如邁克爾所提到的，第四季度（尤其是 2 月）的惡劣天氣條件不僅擾亂了水泥銷售機會，也擾亂了水泥業務。我們估計設備停機對營運的影響為 400 萬至 500 萬美元。

In addition, we pulled forward our annual maintenance outage at the joint venture to March versus April in the prior year, and the joint venture started up its new slag cement facility in Houston. The combined impact on joint venture results from the timing change of the annual outage and the commissioning cost for the new facility was approximately $4 million. Our fourth quarter cement price was up 2%.

此外，我們將合資企業的年度維護停機時間從去年的四月提前到三月，合資企業在休士頓啟動了新的礦渣水泥廠。年度停產時間變化和新設施的調試成本對合資企業績效的綜合影響約為 400 萬美元。我們第四季的水泥價格上漲了2%。

Moving to the light materials sector on the next slide. Annual revenue in our Light Materials sector increased 3% to $969 million, driven by higher wallboard sales prices and record Recycled Paperboard sales volume. Annual operating earnings increased 3% to $389 million, also because of higher wallboard sales prices and record paperboard sales volume, plus lower energy and freight costs.

下一張投影片將介紹輕質材料領域。受牆板銷售價格上漲和再生紙板銷售量創紀錄的推動，輕質材料部門的年收入成長 3%，達到 9.69 億美元。年度營業收入成長 3% 至 3.89 億美元，這也是因為牆板銷售價格上漲、紙板銷售量創歷史新高，加上能源和運費成本降低。

Looking now at our cash flow. We continue to generate healthy cash flow and allocate capital in line with our strategic priorities and rigorous financial return criteria. Operating cash flow in fiscal 2025 totaled $549 million.

現在看看我們的現金流。我們繼續產生健康的現金流，並根據我們的策略重點和嚴格的財務回報標準分配資本。2025財年經營現金流總計5.49億美元。

Capital spending increased to $195 million as we continue to invest in and improve our operations. Most of the increase in capital spending was associated with the modernization and expansion of our Mountain Cement plant, which began construction in July.

隨著我們繼續投資和改善運營，資本支出增加至 1.95 億美元。資本支出的增加大部分與我們 7 月開始建造的 Mountain Cement 工廠的現代化和擴建有關。

As a reminder, the plant is being upgraded from the existing two long dry kilns to a single modern precalciner kiln line, which will significantly improve energy efficiency and simplify maintenance programs, resulting in cost savings of approximately 25%. The project will also increase plant capacity by 50%, enhancing our ability to serve the growing Northern Colorado market.

需要提醒的是，該工廠正在從現有的兩條長乾窯升級為一條現代化的預分解窯線，這將顯著提高能源效率並簡化維護程序，從而節省約 25% 的成本。該項目還將使工廠產能提高 50%，增強我們服務不斷增長的北科羅拉多市場的能力。

And as Michael mentioned, last week, we announced plans to modernize our Oklahoma Wallboard plant, which will further improve its competitive position. The total investment is $330 million, and construction is expected to start later this year. Considering these two projects as well as our sustaining capital spending, we expect total company capital spending in fiscal 2026 to increase to a range of $475 million to $525 million.

正如邁克爾所提到的，上週，我們宣布了對俄克拉荷馬牆板工廠進行現代化改造的計劃，這將進一步提高其競爭地位。項目總投資3.3億美元，預計今年稍後開工。考慮到這兩個項目以及我們持續的資本支出，我們預計 2026 財年公司總資本支出將增加至 4.75 億美元至 5.25 億美元。

During fiscal 2025, we acquired two aggregates businesses for approximately $175 million. The previously announced acquisition of Bullskin Stone & Lime was completed in early January and was funded with cash on hand and borrowings under our bank credit facility.

在 2025 財年，我們以約 1.75 億美元收購了兩家骨材企業。先前宣布的 Bullskin Stone & Lime 的收購已於 1 月初完成，資金來自庫存現金和我們銀行信貸額度下的借款。

Also, during the year, we paid $34 million in dividends and repurchased approximately 1.2 million shares of our common stock or 4% of the outstanding for $298 million. We have 4.7 million shares remaining under our current repurchase authorization.

此外，本財年我們還支付了 3,400 萬美元的股息，並以 2.98 億美元的價格回購了約 120 萬股普通股，佔流通股的 4%。我們目前的回購授權還剩下 470 萬股。

Finally, a look at our capital structure, which continues to give us significant financial flexibility. At March 31, 2025, our net debt-to-cap ratio was 46%, and our net debt-to-EBITDA leverage ratio was 1.5 times. We ended the year with $20 million of cash on hand. Total liquidity at the end of the fiscal year was approximately $560 million, and we have no meaningful near-term debt maturities, giving us substantial financial flexibility.

最後，看看我們的資本結構，它繼續為我們提供顯著的財務靈活性。截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日，我們的淨負債與資本比率為 46%，淨負債與 EBITDA 槓桿比率為 1.5 倍。截至年底，我們的現金餘額為 2,000 萬美元。本財政年度末的總流動資金約為 5.6 億美元，並且我們沒有重大的短期債務到期，這為我們提供了相當大的財務靈活性。

Thank you for attending today's call. Jamie will now move to the question-and-answer session.

感謝您參加今天的電話會議。傑米現在將進入問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) Brian Brophy, Stifel.

（操作員指示） Brian Brophy，Stifel。

So just at a high level, you guys have had a number of large modernization expansion efforts here recently. Can you remind us how you philosophically think about deploying capital into these projects? How do you think about return on capital hurdles, payback periods or anything else we should keep in mind?

因此，從高層次來看，你們最近在這裡進行了許多大規模的現代化擴建工作。您能否提醒我們一下，您是如何從哲學角度考慮將資本部署到這些項目中的？您如何看待資本回報障礙、投資回收期或其他我們應該牢記的事項？

Yeah, I'll answer part of that, and Craig will probably jump in with some, is we've always been pretty open on how we look at our operations and how we keep them in as good a condition as possible and in favorable markets.

是的，我會回答部分問題，克雷格可能也會回答部分問題，我們一直對如何看待我們的營運以及如何讓它們盡可能保持良好狀態和有利的市場持非常開放的態度。

We've run strategies on basically every single one of our facilities, and these two have just shown themselves as great investments for us. We like to invest in assets we know and markets we know, and we think both of these are high-return projects that will add significant value to our customers.

我們基本上對每個設施都制定了策略，而這兩個設施對我們來說是一項巨大的投資。我們喜歡投資我們了解的資產和我們了解的市場，我們認為這兩者都是高回報的項目，將為我們的客戶增加巨大的價值。

Yeah. And Brian, look, I'd add to that. Yeah, these are two significant projects, good returns. We have bogeys internal hurdle rates of 15% cash-on-cash after-tax type of returns. And these are projects, and we've done similar projects in our history that have been fantastic return projects for us, really improving the competitive position of both of these facilities in really good returning markets or growing markets.

是的。布萊恩，你看，我想補充一點。是的，這是兩個重要的項目，回報豐厚。我們內部的最低報酬率是 15% 現金稅後報酬率。這些都是項目，我們歷史上也做過類似的項目，這些項目對我們來說都是非常有回報的項目，真正提高了這兩個設施在真正良好的回報市場或成長市場中的競爭地位。

And then last but not least, given where the balance sheet sits today, right around 1.5 times, that also does -- these projects don't preclude us from continuing to explore M&A opportunities and continuing to return capital. So we positioned ourselves really well here.

最後但並非最不重要的一點是，考慮到目前的資產負債表狀況，大約是 1.5 倍，這些項目並不妨礙我們繼續探索併購機會並繼續返還資本。因此，我們在這裡定位得非常好。

Yeah, that's really helpful. And then in the deck, you talked about -- in your comments you talked about some expansion to utilize alternative fuels on the cement side of the business. Can you add any more color here? What type of alternative fuels are you able to utilize? And how should we be thinking about that impacting your ability to manage costs on the energy side?

是的，這確實很有幫助。然後在演講中，您談到了——在您的評論中，您談到了在水泥業務方面利用替代燃料的一些擴展。你能在這裡添加更多顏色嗎？您能夠使用哪種替代燃料？我們該如何看待這會對您管理能源成本的能力產生影響？

Yeah. So we look at all of our facilities for what we're burning as fuels. The two that mentioned today are really using tires at our Kosmos cement facility and an alternative fuel feeder at Illinois Cement. That feeder will allow us to burn multiple different products.

是的。因此，我們會檢查所有設施所燃燒的燃料。今天提到的兩個實際上是在我們的 Kosmos 水泥廠使用輪胎，在伊利諾伊水泥廠使用替代燃料進料器。這個進料器可以讓我們燃燒多種不同的產品。

Right now, we're burning tire chips at that facility with it. How we view these projects is for a CO2 benefit and also for flexibility in the fuel source themselves that we could switch from one fuel source to another opportunistically as the pricing looks beneficial for us at the facilities. We will continue to look for other alternative fuel source projects across our cement plants. That's really helpful. I'll pass it on.

現在，我們正在該設施內焚燒輪胎碎片。我們如何看待這些項目，一方面是為了二氧化碳效益，另一方面也為了燃料來源本身的靈活性，我們可以隨時從一種燃料來源切換到另一種燃料來源，因為設施的定價看起來對我們有利。我們將繼續在我們的水泥廠尋找其他替代燃料來源項目。這真的很有幫助。我會傳達的。

Trey Grooms, Stephens.

特雷格魯姆斯、史蒂芬斯。

So if we could maybe dive into the wallboard pricing down a few dollars sequentially in the quarter. You mentioned increased freight costs. And clearly, your wallboard prices reported net of freight, so that makes sense. But how did the like-for-like wallboard pricing trend through the quarter and maybe thus far through your fiscal 1Q? And should this higher kind of freight costs in the quarter, should that continue here?

因此，如果我們能夠深入研究牆板價格，那麼本季牆板價格可能會連續下降幾美元。您提到運費增加。顯然，你們的牆板價格是扣除運費後的淨價，所以這是有道理的。但本季以及迄今為止第一財季同類牆板的定價趨勢如何？本季運費上漲的情況是否應該持續下去？

Yeah. Look, Trey, I would tell you the kind of exit price was not that far off of what the quarterly average was. And we are moving forward on a price increase in Wallboard here this spring. And so I really won't talk much about kind of post the quarter pricing until we get to the next call in July where we can talk about the realization of that.

是的。聽著，特雷，我會告訴你，這種退出價格與季度平均價格相差不遠。今年春天，我們將提高牆板的價格。因此，在 7 月的下一次電話會議之前，我不會談論太多有關季度後定價的問題，屆時我們可以討論這一問題的實現情況。

But look, it's interesting. The freight cost being higher, that's at least half of the sequential decline. We've seen that in a couple of markets where things are a little busier than I think people expected, at least on the trucking side. So that was the majority of the change there.

但看看，這很有趣。由於運費較高，這至少佔連續下降的一半。我們已經看到，在一些市場中，情況比人們預期的要繁忙一些，至少在卡車運輸方面是如此。這就是那裡發生的大部分變化。

Yeah. Okay. Got it. Makes sense. And then on that note with wallboard volume held in well in the quarter, maybe a little better than some of the industry numbers may have suggested through the quarter. Can you talk about maybe your expectations around volume here as we move into the seasonally busier season. Should it continue at this kind of level of change? Or should there be any shifts there? Or kind of what -- anything -- any update on kind of what you're seeing on the demand front?

是的。好的。知道了。有道理。從這個角度來看，本季牆板銷售量保持良好，可能比本季一些行業數據所顯示的要好一些。隨著我們進入季節性繁忙季節，您能否談談您對這裡的銷售的預期？這種程度的改變是否應該持續下去？或者那裡應該有任何轉變嗎？或什麼 — — 任何事 — — 您對需求方面有什麼最新了解嗎？

Yeah. Trey, as we've said for years, I think we are well positioned geographically in better-than-average markets. So we look at the performance of our business, not just quarterly but over a trailing 12-month basis. And I think our markets maybe outperform slightly, but pretty much in line with the marketplace.

是的。特雷，正如我們多年來所說的那樣，我認為我們在地理位置上處於優於平均水平的市場。因此，我們專注於業務表現，不僅是季度表現，而且是過去 12 個月的表現。我認為我們的市場表現可能略勝一籌，但基本上與市場保持一致。

Look, as it comes to the overall demand picture, it's been interesting. Homebuilding, which has been pretty tepid for the last three or four years and annual consumption of wallboard in the US has been pretty flat for several years now.

看，就整體需求情況而言，這很有趣。過去三、四年，房屋建築業一直不溫不火，美國牆板的年消費量也幾年來一直持平。

Sitting here today, our outlook is homebuilding to kind of remain in the same level. Michael mentioned it, and we've talked a lot about interest rates and the sensitivities around homebuilding affordability. The demand is there. It's just how do you have people being able to afford getting to these homes. But the -- we're underbuilt in the US, and we've been underbuilt for quite some time. But until you can fix the interest rate and affordability issue, I think you're rangebound here for a while.

今天坐在這裡，我們預計房屋建設將保持在同一水平。麥可提到了這一點，我們已經討論了很多有關利率和房屋建築負擔能力的敏感性問題。需求是存在的。問題只是如何讓人們負擔得起這些住房。但是——我們在美國建設不足，而且這種狀況已經持續了相當長一段時間。但是，除非你能解決利率和負擔能力問題，否則我認為你的利率將在一段時間內處於區間波動。

Anthony Pettinari, Citigroup.

花旗集團的安東尼佩蒂納裡。

This is Asher Sohnen on for Anthony. I think you mentioned that there wasn't really any impact on like public demand from macro uncertainty. But I was wondering what that might look like for your private non-res or commercial end markets and what you're seeing there right now quarter-to-date?

這是 Asher Sohnen 代替 Anthony 上場。我想您提到過，宏觀不確定性對公眾需求實際上並沒有產生任何影響。但我想知道這對您的私人非住宅或商業終端市場來說會是什麼樣子，以及您目前在本季度迄今為止看到的情況如何？

Yeah. And good question. It really is a bigger driver on the cement side. Private non-res is not a big driver for wallboard, but it's probably, call it, 25% or so for the cement demand. And the private non-res has so many different subcategories, including data centers and warehouses and large manufacturing facilities in addition to hospitals and commercial office buildings and the like. So very different.

是的。好問題。這確實是水泥領域更大的推動力。私人非住宅並不是牆板需求的主要動力，但它對水泥需求的貢獻可能達到 25% 左右。私人非房地產有許多不同的子類別，除了醫院和商業辦公大樓等之外，還包括資料中心和倉庫以及大型製造設施。非常不同。

And then geographically, the answer can be very different. But as we look at the overall picture, there's a large number of big projects that are multiyears in length. So again, it's been a growing market for us for a while. I think it remains a pretty steady business for us and especially in our geographic markets.

從地理位置來看，答案可能會大不相同。但從整體來看，有大量的大型專案需要多年的時間。所以，對我們來說，這已經是一個不斷成長的市場了。我認為對我們來說這仍然是一項相當穩定的業務，特別是在我們的地理市場。

Got it. That's helpful. And then just switching gears, and forgive me if I missed this, but how should we think about the cadence of spending for the Duke modernization.

知道了。這很有幫助。然後換個話題，如果我錯過了這一點請原諒我，但是我們應該如何考慮杜克現代化的支出節奏。

As we said, we should start up construction sometime later this year, late summer, fall time frame. And the cadence will be pretty heavy here in fiscal '26 in the $475 million to $525 million level for total company capital spending.

正如我們所說，我們應該在今年晚些時候，也就是夏末或秋季的某個時候開始施工。26 財年的節奏將相當緊湊，公司總資本支出將在 4.75 億美元至 5.25 億美元之間。

Obviously, that includes Mountain Cement plus the Duke Wallboard facility and our sustaining capital. And then I would expect to see that start to trail off a little bit into fiscal '27 as the Mountain Cement project will complete late calendar '26 or late fiscal '27.

顯然，其中包括 Mountain Cement、Duke Wallboard 工廠和我們的維持資本。然後我預計這一數字將在 2027 財年開始有所下降，因為 Mountain Cement 專案將在 2026 年末或 2027 財年末完成。

Jerry Revich, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的傑瑞·雷維奇。

I'm wondering if you could just talk about in cement, obviously, the cadence of pricing for the industry is slowing a bit. Can you folks just talk about based on the pricing and cost visibility that you see over the next three to six months, do you expect pricing to be ahead of inflation? I know we've got moving pieces in terms of maintenance timing, et cetera. But conceptually, how do you feel about price cost in cement over the next three to six months?

我想知道您是否可以談談水泥行業，顯然，該行業的定價節奏正在放緩。你們能否根據未來三到六個月內看到的價格和成本可見度來談談，你們是否預期價格會高於通膨？我知道我們在維護時間等方面有一些變動。但從概念上講，您對未來三到六個月的水泥價格成本有何看法？

Yeah, Jerry, I think I would tell you rather than looking at just the next three to six months because our primary outage season is April and May. So the June quarter always has quite a bit of costs associated with that program. But as you look at the year, on the cost side, energy prices or costs have been pretty flat here for a little while. Electricity costs are up slightly.

是的，傑瑞，我想我會告訴你，而不是只專注在未來三到六個月，因為我們的主要停電季節是四月和五月。因此，六月季度與該計劃相關的成本總是相當多。但縱觀今年，從成本來看，能源價格或成本在一段時間內一直保持穩定。電力成本略有上升。

But on the balance, I think as we look across our network, we think we can continue to improve margins from here. The exact cadence of that over the next year or two years to be determined. And obviously, a lot of that is going to be driven by the volume outlook as well. The incrementals on additional volume is important. And whereas we've come off of two years in a row with lower volume across the country for the US Cement business. So a rebound in volumes would also go a long way towards improving the margins of the business.

但總的來說，我認為當我們審視我們的網路時，我們認為我們可以從現在開始繼續提高利潤率。未來一年或兩年的具體節奏仍有待確定。顯然，這很大程度上也將受到銷量前景的影響。額外音量的增量很重要。而美國水泥業的全國銷售量已連續兩年下降。因此，銷售量的反彈也將大大提高企業的利潤率。

Okay. And then in terms of the Wallboard business in Texas, there's a significant importer of wallboard from Mexico. Can you just talk about what impact you're seeing on pricing from tariffs in wallboard? And then in Cement, can you just talk about what benefits you could focus with (multiple speakers)

好的。就德州的牆板業務而言，有大量來自墨西哥的牆板進口商。您能否談談關稅對牆板定價有何影響？那麼在水泥方面，您能否談談您可以重點關注哪些優勢？（多位發言者）

Jerry, when we look at it for both Mexico and Canada, wallboard and cement are both excluded. So there is no tariff impact to any imports coming in from either of those countries. So really, the tariffs are very low impact to us as a domestic manufacturer, and there's not really a lot of other imports other than the cement side.

傑瑞，當我們考慮墨西哥和加拿大時，牆板和水泥都被排除在外。因此，來自這兩個國家的任何進口產品都不會受到關稅影響。因此，作為國內製造商，關稅對我們影響實際上很小，而且除了水泥之外，我們實際上沒有太多其他進口產品。

When you look at the tariffs on cement, most of the countries right now are at a 10% tariff for their product. That's off of the -- really the cost loaded into the ship. So when you're looking at a large component of a cement ton landing in the United States is the shipping cost. So when you back that out, a lot of the cement coming into the US only has a $4 to $5, maybe $6 tariff associated with it. So it's not a substantial impact to the business one way or the other.

如果你看一下水泥關稅，你會發現目前大多數國家對其產品徵收 10% 的關稅。這實際上是船上的成本。因此，當您查看一噸水泥抵達美國時，很大一部分成本是運輸成本。因此，當你回過頭來看時，許多進入美國的水泥僅需繳納 4 到 5 美元，甚至 6 美元的關稅。因此，無論如何，它都不會對業務造成實質影響。

Appreciate it. And then lastly, can I ask in terms of wallboard really attractive margins considering we're sitting at just north of 1.3 million starts. As you folks think about price cost in that business over the next, call it, three to six months, can you just talk about the ebbs and flows? And how do you expect margins to play out on a year-over-year basis. You've got some tough comps coming up in the June quarter.

非常感謝。最後，考慮到我們的開機數量剛剛超過 130 萬台，我能否問一下牆板利潤率是否真的具有吸引力。當你們考慮未來三到六個月內該業務的價格成本時，能否談談其起伏？您預計利潤率將年比會如何變動？您在六月季度將面臨一些艱難的競爭。

Yeah. Look, similar, Jerry, I would say, looking at it over a longer time period, I think we're very well positioned as a overall business, given the certainty that we have around our raw material reserves, notably on the Gypsum side. And so I think that is well positioned for us as homebuilding, when it does recover in a more meaningful way to continue to see some margin expansion from here.

是的。傑瑞，我想說，從較長的一段時間來看，我認為作為一個整體業務，我們的定位非常有利，因為我們對原材料儲備有把握，特別是在石膏方面。因此，我認為這對我們的房屋建築業來說是一個有利條件，當它以更有意義的方式復甦時，利潤率將繼續擴大。

But I mean, look, in the immediate term, homebuilding, a lot of uncertainty, again, back around interest rates. And so the question is when does homebuilding recover? And that's when the real big opportunity to move pricing and therefore, margins.

但我的意思是，從短期來看，房屋建設存在著許多不確定性，再次回到利率方面。那麼問題是房屋建築何時才能復甦？這正是改變定價和利潤的真正大好機會。

On the shorter end of the curve, natural gas has come down here recently. OCC prices are down recently. So those are all favorable from that perspective. But we're more focused on the longer term and when does homebuilding actually turn in our favor and therefore, wallboard demand really meaningfully move higher.

在曲線的較短端，天然氣價格最近有所下降。OCC價格近期有所下跌。從這個角度來看，這些都是有利的。但我們更關注的是長期發展，以及房屋建設何時才能真正對我們有利，從而使牆板需求真正大幅上升。

I'd point out, Jerry, we've shipped in this country 36 billion square feet of product before, and we're shipping at an annual pace for the last four years around 28 billion square feet, plus or minus a couple of percent. So we're well off historical type of higher levels of shipments.

傑瑞，我想指出的是，我們之前已經向這個國家運送了 360 億平方英尺的產品，過去四年我們每年的運送量約為 280 億平方英尺，上下浮動幾個百分點。因此，我們的出貨量遠遠超出歷史最高水準。

Adam Thalhimer, Thompson Davis.

亞當泰爾希默，湯普森戴維斯。

Craig, the operating loss in Concrete and Aggregates in Q4, are you looking at that basically as a one-off?

克雷格，第四季度混凝土和骨料的經營虧損，您是否認為這基本上是一次性的？

Yeah. Good question, Adam. Look, we had an acquisition that closed during the fourth quarter. As I mentioned, you've got some purchase accounting that added some incremental additional costs there. Not to mention, you've got a full quarter of depreciation and amortization related to that business. So I would tell you, really look at the Concrete and Aggregates business on an EBITDA basis.

是的。問得好，亞當。你看，我們在第四季完成了一項收購。正如我所提到的，您有一些購買會計，其中增加了一些增量額外成本。更不用說，您還有整整一個季​​度與該業務相關的折舊和攤提。所以我想告訴你，真正從 EBITDA 的角度來看待混凝土和骨材業務。

And again, a lot of noise in this fourth quarter given the acquisition closing. But more broadly, look at it as a -- on an EBITDA basis. And once you peel through that, actually, we're pretty happy with where we are positioned with the aggregates business. And we've increased the production capacity there by 50% with these two acquisitions this year. So it's starting to really move the needle.

由於收購即將結束，第四季再次出現了許多噪音。但從更廣泛的角度來看，我們可以將其視為基於 EBITDA 的基礎。事實上，一旦你深入了解這一點，你就會發現，我們對我們在骨材業務中的定位感到非常滿意。透過今年的兩次收購，我們的生產能力提高了 50%。因此它開始真正發揮作用。

Okay. And then at the cement joint venture, are you looking at fiscal year '26 as a nice recovery year for that business?

好的。那麼在水泥合資企業中，您是否認為 26 財年是該業務的良好復甦年？

Yeah. We've certainly put some investments into that business over the last 12 to 18 months. If you recall, we had a pretty large clinker cooler work done in the fall. We started up the slag business during the winter. That's been a drag on earnings as that business really starts to improve here with the paving season this summer, we would expect to see a meaningful improvement there.

是的。在過去的 12 到 18 個月裡，我們確實對該業務進行了一些投資。如果你還記得的話，我們在秋天完成了一項相當大的熟料冷卻器工作。我們在冬天開始了礦渣生意。這對盈利造成了拖累，因為隨著今年夏天鋪路季節的到來，這裡的業務才真正開始好轉，我們預計會看到顯著的改善。

And then just lastly, for modeling purposes, is there anything more to come from purchase accounting. So an impact there in the first half of '26? And then how much is left in the ERP costs you called out?

最後，為了建模的目的，採購會計還有什麼好說的嗎？那麼 26 年上半年有影響嗎？那麼，您所說的 ERP 成本還剩下多少呢？

Yes. From a purchase accounting perspective, no, that was all contained really in our fourth quarter. And then on the IT side with our ERP system implementation, that will continue here into fiscal '26. So I would model the corporate SG&A at the same level.

是的。從採購會計的角度來看，不，這些實際上都包含在我們第四季中。然後在 IT 方面，隨著我們的 ERP 系統實施，這將持續到 26 財年。因此，我會以相同的等級模擬企業銷售、一般及行政費用。

Philip Ng, Jefferies.

傑富瑞的 Philip Ng。

Cement volumes have been pretty muted the last few quarters, and part of that is weather related. So any update and color in terms of what activity you're seeing right now? Have you seen demand kind of bounce back with weather clearing out? Any color on orders, backlogs. Helpful to kind of get a little perspective on how demand is shaping up thus far on your heavy material side of things?

過去幾個季度，水泥銷量一直相當低迷，部分原因是天氣原因。那麼，就您現在看到的活動而言，有任何更新和情況嗎？隨著天氣轉晴，您是否看到需求反彈？訂單、積壓訂單上的任何顏色。有助於了解迄今為止重型材料方面的需求嗎？

Yeah. No, you're right, Phil. It's been a slog for a couple of years, quite frankly, on the US cement side. Some of it's certainly weather, but there's no doubt, infrastructure spending has been very slow to materialize. We spent not quite even 35% of the infrastructure bill at this point. That's several years old. We would have expected those dollars to have benefited the business well before now. But encouragingly, as the weather has improved here in March and April, we've seen volumes start to improve. So that's been very encouraging from our perspective.

是的。不，你是對的，菲爾。坦白說，美國水泥產業幾年來一直舉步維艱。部分原因肯定是天氣原因，但毫無疑問，基礎設施支出的實現非常緩慢。目前，我們花費的基礎建設費用不到 35%。那已經是好幾年以前的事了。我們原本預計這些資金早就能為公司帶來利益。但令人鼓舞的是，隨著三月和四月天氣好轉，我們看到產量開始增加。從我們的角度來看，這是非常令人鼓舞的。

Okay. So you're seeing positive year volumes at this point in April and March, correct?

好的。所以您看到四月和三月的年度交易量為正，對嗎？

That's right.

這是正確的。

Okay. Super. And then on the cement price increases, I believe you guys had some in the marketplace in April. Any update on how that has progressed? I know weather has been a little choppy. Cement is very regional in nature. So any color on how that's kind of shaping up across your portfolio?

好的。極好的。關於水泥價格上漲，我相信四月市場上已經出現了一些上漲。有關於進展的最新消息嗎？我知道天氣有點不穩定。水泥具有很強的地域性。那麼，您能透露一下您的投資組合的進展嗎？

Yeah. Most of those were slated for the April time frame. We try not to talk too much forward-looking around pricing. So we'll certainly give you that update as we get into -- on our July call as we talk about our first fiscal quarter.

是的。其中大部分預定於四月完成。我們盡量不談論太多有關定價的前瞻性問題。因此，當我們在 7 月的電話會議上討論第一財季時，我們一定會向您提供最新情況。

Okay. Helpful. And then from a wallboard demand standpoint, volumes were certainly down, call it, 3 points in the fourth quarter. Spring selling season has been pretty muted. Are you seeing choppy orders from your distributors? And any color on how we should think about inventory in the channel because we cover some other housing-related sectors like insulation, for example, order patterns do seem to be very choppy there. So curious if you're seeing any of that as well.

好的。很有幫助。然後從牆板需求的角度來看，第四季的交易量肯定下降了 3 個百分點。春季銷售旺季相當低迷。您是否發現來自分銷商的訂單不穩定？我們應該如何看待通路中的庫存，因為我們涵蓋了一些其他與住房相關的領域，例如隔熱材料，所以那裡的訂單模式似乎非常不穩定。我很好奇您是否也看到了這些。

Yeah, Phil, I'd tell you, it's been choppy for a couple of years, just with a very muted single-family housing environment here in the US. And so not a lot of visibility. As you said, though, volumes have hung in there reasonably well in the grand scheme of things. So I would tell you, inventory in the channel, not as big of a thing in wallboard given that it's a perishable product, so you're not going to store it outside.

是的，菲爾，我告訴你，這幾年情況一直很不穩定，美國的獨戶住宅環境非常低迷。因此可見度不高。不過，正如你所說，從整體來看，交易量仍然保持得相當好。所以我想告訴你，渠道中的庫存，在牆板中並不像庫存那麼大，因為它是一種易腐爛的產品，所以你不會把它存放在外面。

And so not a lot of inventory in the grand scheme of things within the channel, either at the manufacturer level or even at the distributor level. But look, I think we're all waiting for the turnaround of affordability and interest rates to kind of move the needle.

因此，從整體來看，通路內部的庫存並不多，無論是製造商層級還是經銷商層面。但是，我認為我們都在等待負擔能力和利率的轉變來推動情勢的發展。

Jonathan Bettenhausen, Truist.

喬納森·貝滕豪森，真理論者。

I'm on for Keith Hughes this morning. What kind of production downtimes, if any, do you expect from the existing lines at the Duke Wallboard facility while you work on that plant?

今天早上我為 Keith Hughes 效力。在您為 Duke Wallboard 工廠工作期間，您預計該工廠現有生產線會出現什麼樣的生產停工期（如果有的話）？

The existing lines will continue to operate as they have until the new line is complete. So very similar to the Mountain Cement project.

在新線路竣工之前，現有線路將繼續運作。與 Mountain Cement 專案非常相似。

Okay. Got it. And then what are your thoughts on the Aggregates deal pipeline? Are you guys going to target to do more of those acquisitions here in fiscal '26?

好的。知道了。那麼，您對 Aggregates 交易管道有何看法？你們是否計劃在 26 財年進行更多此類收購？

Yes. So we always look at aggregate deals when they come around with it. The pipeline is pretty cyclical. We get a few every now and then that comes through. From our past history, you can see that we are a buyer in that space with it if it meets our criteria, which we will not stray from our criteria.

是的。因此，當出現整體交易時，我們總是會考慮。該管道具有相當強的周期性。我們時不時就會收到一些這樣的訊息。從我們過去的歷史中，你可以看到，如果它符合我們的標準，我們就會成為該領域的買家，我們不會偏離我們的標準。

We like them that -- tie into our network, have -- we feel we can get a great financial return from and that our entire network could benefit from those. So as they come available, we will continue to look in that space along with the other spaces we look in.

我們喜歡它們——與我們的網路結合——我們覺得我們可以從中獲得巨大的財務回報，而且我們的整個網路都可以從中受益。因此，當它們可用時，我們將繼續在該領域以及我們正在研究的其他領域中尋找。

Ladies and gentlemen, with that, we'll be concluding today's question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over to Michael Haack for any closing comments.

女士們、先生們，今天的問答環節就到此結束。我想將發言權交還給邁克爾哈克 (Michael Haack)，請他發表最後評論。

Thank you, Jamie, and thanks to all of you for joining the call today. Before we conclude, I want to acknowledge the hard work of our dedicated team members. It's their daily focus on operational excellence, safety and incremental efficiency gains that enables us to perform steadily in economic cycles.

謝謝你，傑米，也謝謝大家今天參加電話會議。在結束之前，我想對我們敬業的團隊成員的辛勤工作表示感謝。他們每天都專注於卓越營運、安全和不斷提高的效率，這使我們能夠在經濟週期中穩步發展。

Regardless of the day-to-day and noise around us, we will continue to invest wisely in our businesses and capitalize on high value-enhancing opportunities in the year ahead and beyond. We look forward to talking to you in the summer.

無論周圍環境如何喧囂，我們都會繼續明智地投資於我們的業務，並在未來一年及以後抓住高價值提升的機會。我們期待夏天與您交談。

Ladies and gentlemen, with that, we'll conclude today's conference call and presentation. We do thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議和演講就到此結束。我們非常感謝您的加入。現在您可以斷開線路了。