Koppers Holdings Inc (KOP) 2026 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Koppers' first-quarter 2026 earnings conference call and webcast. (Operator Instructions) Please note that this event is being recorded.

各位女士、先生，早安。感謝各位撥冗等候。歡迎參加 Koppers 2026 會計年度第一季財報電話會議與網路直播。(接線員指示) 請注意，本活動將被錄音。

I will now turn the call over to Quynh McGuire. Please go ahead.

現在我將把電話會議交給 Quynh McGuire。請開始。

Thanks, and good morning. I'm Quynh McGuire, Vice President of Investor Relations. Welcome to our first-quarter 2026 earnings conference call. We issued our press release earlier today. You can access it via our website at www.koppers.com. As indicated in our announcement, we've also posted materials to the Investor Relations page of our website that will be referenced in today's call. Consistent with our practice in prior quarterly conference calls, this is being broadcast live on our website, and a recording of this call will be available on our website for replay through June 8, 2026.

謝謝，各位早安。我是 Quynh McGuire，投資人關係副總裁。歡迎參加我們 2026 會計年度第一季財報電話會議。我們已於今日稍早發布新聞稿。您可透過我們的網站 www.koppers.com 取得。如同公告所示，我們也已在網站的投資人關係頁面上張貼了今日電話會議將引用的資料。依照我們過往季度電話會議的慣例，本次會議將於我們網站進行即時直播，且本次電話會議的錄音將於我們網站提供重播至 2026 年 6 月 8 日。

At this time, I would like to direct your attention to our forward-looking disclosure statement seen on slide 2. Some comments made on this conference call may be characterized as forward-looking statements as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve a number of assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, including risks described in the cautionary statement included in our press release and in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included in the company's comments, you should not regard the inclusion of such information as a representation that the company's objectives, plans, and projected results will be achieved. The company's actual results, performance, or achievements may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made during this call.

此刻，我想請各位注意投影片第 2 頁所示的前瞻性揭露聲明。本次電話會議中的部分評論可能構成《1995 年私人證券訴訟改革法案》所定義的前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述涉及多項假設、風險與不確定性，包括我們新聞稿中所載警示性聲明以及公司向美國證券交易委員會提交文件中所描述的風險。鑑於公司評論中所包含前瞻性陳述固有的重大不確定性，您不應將此類資訊的納入視為公司之目標、計畫與預期結果將會達成的表示。公司的實際結果、表現或成就可能與該等前瞻性陳述所明示或暗示者存在重大差異。公司不承擔更新本次電話會議中任何前瞻性陳述之義務。

Also, references may be made today to certain non-GAAP financial measures. The press release, which is available on our website, also contains reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. Joining me for our call today are Leroy Ball, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of Koppers; and Brad Pearce, Interim Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer.

此外，今日可能會提及若干非 GAAP 財務衡量指標。可於我們網站取得的新聞稿亦包含非 GAAP 財務衡量指標與最直接可比之 GAAP 財務衡量指標的調節表。今日與我一同參與電話會議的有：Koppers 執行長兼董事長 Leroy Ball，以及代理財務長兼會計長 Brad Pearce。

At this time, I'll turn the discussion over to Leroy.

此刻，我將把討論交給 Leroy。

Thank you, Quynh. Good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to join you today to provide more insight on Koppers' performance in the first quarter of 2026, as well as provide an update on how we're progressing toward our 2028 transformation targets.

謝謝你，Quynh。各位早安。我很高興今天能與各位一同分享 Koppers 在 2026 會計年度第一季的表現，並更新我們朝向 2028 轉型目標的推進情況。

So let me start with our major news from this morning. At the present moment, I'm in Chicago, where just a few hours ago, I delivered the unfortunate news to our workforce here of our conditional decision to begin immediately winding down production at our Stickney, Illinois facility, with a target to cease distillation by the end of this year. And note that I'm using the word conditional because the decision is subject to the satisfaction of any bargaining obligations that might exist with the union representing certain employees at the facility. Now, as outlined on page 4, this conditional decision impacting approximately 85 employees was driven by the continued challenging market conditions that have persisted for well over a decade.

我先從今天早上的重大消息談起。此刻我人在芝加哥，就在幾個小時前，我向這裡的員工傳達了一項令人遺憾的消息：我們已做出一項有條件的決定，將立即開始逐步縮減伊利諾伊州 Stickney 廠的生產，目標是在今年年底前停止蒸餾作業。請注意我使用「有條件」一詞，因為該決定仍須以履行任何可能存在的協商義務為前提；該協商義務可能與代表該廠部分員工的工會相關。如第 4 頁所述，這項有條件的決定將影響約 85 名員工，其原因在於已持續超過十年的艱困市場環境。

When we made the decisions to close our other two US facilities for CMC in 2016, approximately 565,000 metric tons of coal tar were being produced and readily available in North America. After the most recent coke plant closure we announced earlier this year of Algoma Steel, the number has now dropped to 350,000 metric tons, simultaneously putting pressure on raw material pricing and reducing our throughput.

當我們在 2016 年決定關閉另外兩座美國 CMC 設施時，北美仍有約 565,000 公噸的煤焦油產出且供應充足。在我們今年稍早宣布 Algoma Steel 最近一座焦化廠關閉之後，該數量已降至 350,000 公噸，同時對原料價格造成壓力並降低我們的處理量。

This has resulted in higher unit costs, which have not been able to be fully recovered in the form of higher pricing. And adding to the mix is that despite having spent over $100 million in capital at Stickney over the past five years, which is a multiple of the spending in any other Koppers site, we still find ourselves dealing with reliability issues. This means we would still have significant future capital requirements to address aging equipment.

這導致單位成本上升，而我們無法透過提高售價完全回收。此外，儘管過去五年我們在 Stickney 的資本支出已超過 1 億美元，且遠高於 Koppers 任何其他據點的投入，我們仍持續面臨可靠度問題。這表示我們未來仍需投入可觀資本，以處理設備老化問題。

This is not a people issue, as the team at Stickney has done heroic work over the past 10 years to try to get us to a better place, and I sincerely thank them for their efforts. But the bottom line remains that we feel we've done everything we can to make this operation viable, and we just don't see a credible path to get there. At this time, we are tentatively targeting the fourth quarter of 2026 for shifting production to our coal tar distillation facility in Nyborg, Denmark.

這不是人員問題；Stickney 團隊在過去 10 年做出了英勇的努力，試圖讓我們走向更好的狀態，我也由衷感謝他們的付出。但歸根結底，我們認為已盡一切努力讓這項營運具備可行性，但我們看不到任何可信的途徑能達成。目前，我們暫定在 2026 年第四季將生產轉移至我們位於丹麥 Nyborg 的煤焦油蒸餾設施。

In the meantime, we've further strengthened the supply chain from Nyborg to the US through expanded shipping and terminal capabilities in order to ensure an effective transition for existing pitch and creosote customers. We anticipate investing between $10 million to $15 million to further strengthen that supply chain over the next few years, which can be done while staying within our annual $55 million maintenance CapEx as capital is freed up from Stickney.

同時，我們已透過擴充航運與碼頭能力，進一步強化從 Nyborg 到美國的供應鏈，以確保現有瀝青（pitch）與雜酚油（creosote）客戶能順利轉換。我們預期未來幾年將再投資 1,000 萬至 1,500 萬美元以進一步強化該供應鏈；隨著 Stickney 釋出資本，此投資可在我們每年 5,500 萬美元的維護性資本支出（maintenance CapEx）範圍內完成。

Now, the discontinuation of production activities at Stickney is anticipated to result in pre-tax charges to earnings of $227 million to $262 million through the end of 2029, which includes $170 million to $195 million of non-cash charges projected to be recorded in the second and third quarters of this year. Cash closure charges of $57 million to $67 million will be spent over a three-year period beginning in the second quarter of 2026.

目前預期，Stickney 停止生產活動將在 2029 年底前帶來稅前盈餘費用 2.27 億至 2.62 億美元，其中包含預計於今年第二與第三季認列的 1.70 億至 1.95 億美元非現金費用。現金性關閉費用 5,700 萬至 6,700 萬美元，將自 2026 年第二季起於三年期間內支出。

These charges will be funded by the operating and capital cash benefits generated by this action, which are expected to total $15 million to $25 million on an annualized basis and, therefore, will have little impact on our near-term free cash flow projections, except for timing. At the same time, the longer-term result of this move will be significantly accretive to free cash flow.

這些費用將由本次行動所帶來的營運與資本現金效益支應；該效益預期按年化計算合計為 1,500 萬至 2,500 萬美元，因此除時間點差異外，對我們短期自由現金流預估影響不大。同時，從長期來看，此舉將顯著增厚自由現金流。

We're estimating that the adjusted EBITDA savings related to this action will reach an annual run rate of $15 million to $20 million in 2027 and beyond, which would result in a 75- to 100-basis-point bump in adjusted EBITDA margin. And translating the adjusted EBITDA benefit to adjusted EPS would result in an increase of $1.00 to $1.20 per share. We also anticipate $8 million to $15 million in reduced future annual capital expenditures.

我們估計，與此行動相關的調整後 EBITDA 節省，將在 2027 年及之後達到每年 1,500 萬至 2,000 萬美元的年化運行率（run rate），並使調整後 EBITDA 利潤率提升 75 至 100 個基點。若將調整後 EBITDA 的效益換算為調整後每股盈餘（adjusted EPS），則每股將增加 1.00 至 1.20 美元。我們亦預期未來每年資本支出可再減少 800 萬至 1,500 萬美元。

I again want to thank our Stickney employees for their continued hard work and determination while operating under persistently tough circumstances. I understand that this situation is incredibly difficult and will have a real impact on our employees and their families, which we will make every effort to minimize. Our priority is to provide the support and assistance needed to help the employees navigate any transitions as we map out the future of our CMC business.

我再次感謝 Stickney 員工在長期艱困環境下仍持續努力與堅持，確保營運進行。我理解這個情況極其艱難，並將對員工及其家庭造成實質影響；我們將盡一切努力把影響降到最低。我們的首要任務是提供必要的支持與協助，幫助員工在我們規劃 CMC 業務未來方向的同時，順利因應任何轉換。

So now let's move on to page 5, which outlines our results for the first quarter, including adjusted EBITDA of $49.3 million, which is a 10.8% adjusted EBITDA margin. We had operating profit of $22 million and $0.57 in adjusted earnings per share. We generated operating cash flow of $46.3 million and free cash flow of $34.9 million, both cash flow metrics representing a first-quarter record. On a trailing 12-month basis, operating cash flow of $192 million and free cash flow of $139 million also represent new highs.

現在讓我們翻到第 5 頁，該頁概述我們第一季的業績，包括調整後 EBITDA 為 4,930 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 10.8%。我們的營業利益為 2,200 萬美元，調整後每股盈餘為 0.57 美元。我們創造了 4,630 萬美元的營業現金流與 3,490 萬美元的自由現金流，兩項現金流指標皆創第一季新高。以過去 12 個月計，營業現金流 1.92 億美元與自由現金流 1.39 億美元亦創新高。

Capital expenditures, net of insurance proceeds and sale of assets for the quarter, were $11.4 million. And we also deployed $29 million in share repurchases and $1.9 million in dividends, while keeping total debt consistent with December 2025.

本季資本支出（扣除保險理賠收入及資產出售所得）為 1,140 萬美元。同時，我們也投入 2,900 萬美元進行庫藏股回購並發放 190 萬美元股利，同時將總負債維持在與 2025 年 12 月一致的水準。

So now let's move on to our Zero Harm accomplishments as seen on page 6. Thanks to the commitment of our worldwide team, 30 of our 40 sites were accident-free in the first quarter. Our European CMC and PC businesses, as well as our Australasian PC and CMC businesses had zero recordables in the first quarter. Leading activities, a key contributor to our serious safety incidents, took a step back compared with the prior-year quarter. However, our recordable injury rate improved from the prior year.

接著讓我們看第 6 頁所示的「零傷害」（Zero Harm）成果。在全球團隊的投入下，我們 40 個據點中有 30 個在第一季達成零事故。我們歐洲的 CMC 與 PC 業務，以及澳大拉西亞地區的 PC 與 CMC 業務，在第一季皆為零可記錄事故。相較去年同期，作為嚴重安全事件重要成因的「領先性活動」有所回落。然而，我們的可記錄傷害率較去年有所改善。

The objective of Zero Harm is to constantly focus on what is most important, the health and safety of our team members, and we'll never lose sight of our goal of zero by reinforcing the foundational elements of the safety culture, deploying additional tools and training, and driving environmental improvements in 2026 and beyond.

「零傷害」的目標是持續聚焦最重要的事——團隊成員的健康與安全；我們將透過強化安全文化的基礎要素、部署更多工具與訓練，以及在 2026 年及其後推動環境改善，絕不偏離「零」的目標。

So turning to page 8, we issued our 2025 annual report and 2026 proxy statement, which are available on the Koppers website. Now for more information, please use the QR codes to access these materials. As shown on page 9, Koppers gained additional recognition by being named to Newsweek magazine's 300-member listing of America's Most Charitable Companies for 2026. It reflects our employees' ongoing commitment to volunteerism and our corporate support of community initiatives and causes.

接著看第 8 頁，我們已發布 2025 年年報與 2026 年委託書聲明（proxy statement），可於 Koppers 官網取得。如需更多資訊，請使用 QR code 存取這些資料。如第 9 頁所示，Koppers 亦獲得更多肯定，入選《Newsweek》雜誌 2026 年「美國最具慈善精神企業」300 家名單。這反映員工持續投入志工服務，以及公司對社區倡議與公益事業的支持。

It joins previous recognition of Koppers as one of Newsweek's America's Most Responsible Companies, USA Today's America's Climate Leaders list, and Time's America's Best Mid-Sized Companies. Now on March 30, our leadership team joined me to ring the closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange, celebrating 20 years of Koppers as a publicly traded company as seen on page 10. In addition, I participated in an interview on the financial news program Taking Stock to share the story of our continuing path to sustainable profitability for our customers.

這也加入 Koppers 先前獲得的肯定，包括《Newsweek》「美國最負責任企業」、USA Today「美國氣候領袖」名單，以及《Time》「美國最佳中型企業」。此外，3 月 30 日，我們的領導團隊與我一同在紐約證券交易所敲響收盤鐘，慶祝 Koppers 成為上市公司 20 週年，如第 10 頁所示。另外，我也參與財經新聞節目《Taking Stock》的專訪，分享我們持續為客戶走向永續獲利的故事。

Now moving on to page 11, Koppers will be hosting an Investor Day on Thursday, September 17, in Atlanta. On September 16, the prior day, we will be conducting a tour of our Research and Development lab in our Performance Chemicals business. On Wednesday evening, the Koppers executive team will also host a meet-and-greet reception. So look for more details in the months to come. In the meantime, please mark your calendars and plan to join us for our Investor Day and related activities.

接著看第 11 頁，Koppers 將於 9 月 17 日（週四）在亞特蘭大舉辦投資人日（Investor Day）。在前一天 9 月 16 日，我們將安排參觀我們 Performance Chemicals 業務的研發實驗室。週三晚間，Koppers 管理團隊也將舉辦交流酒會。未來幾個月將提供更多細節。同時，請先在行事曆上預留時間，規劃參加投資人日及相關活動。

Now I'll return in a bit to provide my view on how we're seeing the current year within each business while also reviewing our outlook for the remainder of 2026. But for now, I'm going to turn it over to Brad to speak in more detail on our first-quarter financial performance. Brad?

稍後我會再回來，分享我們如何看待今年各業務的現況，並檢視 2026 年剩餘期間的展望。但現在，我先把時間交給 Brad，請他更詳細說明我們第一季的財務表現。Brad？

Thanks, Leroy. Earlier today, we issued a press release detailing our first-quarter 2026 results. My remarks today are based on that information. As seen on slide 13, we reported consolidated first-quarter sales of $455 million, essentially flat compared with prior-year sales. Relative to the prior-year quarter, RUP sales decreased by $15 million, or 6%. PC sales were up $21 million, or 18%. and CMC sales decreased by $7 million, or 7%.

謝謝你，Leroy。今天稍早，我們已發布新聞稿，詳述 2026 年第一季業績。我今天的發言將以該資訊為基礎。如第 13 張投影片所示，我們第一季合併營收為 4.55 億美元，與去年同期基本持平。相較去年同期，RUP 營收減少 1,500 萬美元，降幅 6%。PC 營收增加 2,100 萬美元，增幅 18%；CMC 營收減少 700 萬美元，降幅 7%。

On slide 14, adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was $49 million, representing a 10.8% adjusted EBITDA margin on sales compared with $56 million and 12.2% in the prior-year quarter. By segment, RUPS generated adjusted EBITDA of $23 million, or a 10.3% EBITDA margin. PC generated adjusted EBITDA of $26 million, or an 18% EBITDA margin, and CMC reported adjusted EBITDA of $1 million, or a 1% EBITDA margin.

在第 14 張投影片，第一季調整後 EBITDA 為 4,900 萬美元，按營收計的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 10.8%，相較去年同期為 5,600 萬美元與 12.2%。按事業別，RUPS 的調整後 EBITDA 為 2,300 萬美元，EBITDA 利潤率為 10.3%。PC 的調整後 EBITDA 為 2,600 萬美元，EBITDA 利潤率為 18%；CMC 的調整後 EBITDA 為 100 萬美元，EBITDA 利潤率為 1%。

Turning to the RUPS business, slide 15 shows first-quarter sales of $220 million compared with $235 million in the prior-year quarter. Of the $15 million change in sales, approximately $10 million of the decrease came from the railroad structures business that we sold in 2025. The remaining decrease in sales can be attributed to customer mix and price decreases in our Class I crosstie business and lower activity in the maintenance-of-way businesses. These factors were partly offset by volume increases in our domestic utility pole business, higher commercial crosstie volumes, and $1.4 million in favorable foreign currency changes compared with the prior-year period, mostly attributed to our Australian utility pole business. RUPS delivered adjusted EBITDA of $23 million compared with $26 million in the prior year due to lower sales and lower sales volumes.

談到 RUPS 業務，第 15 張投影片顯示第一季營收為 2.20 億美元，去年同期為 2.35 億美元。在 1,500 萬美元的營收變動中，約 1,000 萬美元的減少來自我們於 2025 年出售的鐵路結構業務。其餘營收下滑可歸因於我們 Class I 枕木（crosstie）業務的客戶組合變化與降價，以及路線維護（maintenance-of-way）業務活動量降低。上述因素部分被抵銷，抵銷項包括：美國國內電線桿業務的出貨量增加、商用枕木出貨量提高，以及相較去年同期有 140 萬美元的有利匯率變動，主要來自澳洲電線桿業務。由於營收與銷售量較低，RUPS 的調整後 EBITDA 為 2,300 萬美元，低於去年同期的 2,600 萬美元。

Turning to slide 16, our Performance Chemicals business reported first-quarter sales of $142 million, up from $121 million in the prior-year quarter. This increase was primarily due to a 15% volume increase, higher sales activity primarily in the Americas, and $2.7 million in favorable foreign currency changes from international companies. Adjusted EBITDA for PC increased to $26 million versus $20 million in the prior-year quarter. Profitability benefited from higher sales volumes and higher prices, partly offset by $2.4 million of higher raw material and operating costs.

接著看第 16 張投影片，我們的 Performance Chemicals 業務第一季營收為 1.42 億美元，高於去年同期的 1.21 億美元。此增長主要來自出貨量增加 15%、銷售活動提升（主要在美洲地區），以及來自海外公司的 270 萬美元有利匯率變動。PC 的調整後 EBITDA 提升至 2,600 萬美元，高於去年同期的 2,000 萬美元。獲利能力受惠於較高的銷售量與較高的售價，但部分被原物料與營運成本增加 240 萬美元所抵銷。

Slide 17 shows that sales in the first quarter for our CMC business were $93 million compared to $101 million in the prior-year quarter. This decrease was primarily driven by $14 million of lower volumes related to our phthalic anhydride business which was discontinued in the second quarter of 2025, and lower sales prices across most products, especially carbon pitch, which was down 9% globally. These were partly offset by volume increases in carbon pitch, naphthalene, and carbon black feedstock, as well as $7.6 million in favorable foreign currency changes from international companies. Adjusted EBITDA for CMC in the first quarter was $1 million compared with $10 million in the prior-year quarter due to lower sales prices and higher operating and raw material costs, partly offset by operating cost savings associated with discontinuing the phthalic anhydride business. Compared with the first quarter of 2025, the average pricing of major products was lower by 11%, while average coal tar costs were slightly higher.

第 17 張投影片顯示，我們 CMC 業務第一季營收為 9,300 萬美元，去年同期為 1.01 億美元。此下滑主要由兩項因素驅動：其一為與鄰苯二甲酸酐（phthalic anhydride）業務相關的出貨量減少 1,400 萬美元（該業務已於 2025 年第二季停止）；其二為多數產品售價下滑，尤其是碳瀝青（carbon pitch）全球價格下跌 9%。上述因素部分被抵銷，抵銷項包括碳瀝青、萘（naphthalene）與炭黑原料（carbon black feedstock）出貨量增加，以及來自海外公司的 760 萬美元有利匯率變動。CMC 第一季調整後 EBITDA 為 100 萬美元，低於去年同期的 1,000 萬美元，主因為售價較低以及營運與原物料成本較高；但部分被停止鄰苯二甲酸酐業務所帶來的營運成本節省所抵銷。相較 2025 年第一季，主要產品平均售價下降 11%，而平均煤焦油成本則略為上升。

As shown on slide 19, we continue to pursue a balanced approach to capital allocation in terms of investments to position the company for the future. $11.4 million was spent in the first quarter for capital expenditures. We are anticipating a total of $55 million in gross capital spending for the full year of 2026. Our share buyback activity in the first quarter totaled approximately $29 million, including those associated with tax withholding from our incentive stock plans.

如投影片19所示，我們持續在資本配置上採取均衡策略，透過投資為公司未來發展做好布局。第一季資本支出為1,140萬美元。我們預期2026年全年總毛資本支出為5,500萬美元。第一季我們的庫藏股回購活動合計約2,900萬美元，其中包含與我們獎勵性股票計畫之稅款扣繳相關的回購。

We have approximately $45 million remaining on our $100 million repurchase authorization. We also continue to return capital to shareholders through our quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share. At March 31, we had $386 million in available liquidity and $877 million of net debt, representing a net leverage ratio of 3.5 times. We remain focused on our long-term goal of reducing the net leverage ratio to 2 to 3 times.

在1億美元的回購授權額度中，我們尚餘約4,500萬美元可用。我們也持續透過每季每股0.09美元的現金股利向股東返還資本。截至3月31日，我們可用流動性為3.86億美元，淨負債為8.77億美元，淨槓桿比率為3.5倍。我們仍專注於長期目標，將淨槓桿比率降至2至3倍。

Slide 20 provides additional detail on our total capital expenditures for the first quarter of just over $11 million. We deployed approximately $7 million to maintenance capital spending, with the remaining balance allocated to Zero Harm initiatives and growth and productivity projects. Capital expenditures were approximately $5 million for RUPS and $3 million for both PC and CMC.

投影片20提供第一季總資本支出（略高於1,100萬美元）的更多細節。我們投入約700萬美元於維護性資本支出，其餘則分配至零傷害（Zero Harm）倡議，以及成長與生產力專案。資本支出約500萬美元用於RUPS，PC與CMC各約300萬美元。

As highlighted on slide 21, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend on May 7 of $0.09 per share, reflecting a 12.5% increase from the prior year. This dividend will be paid on June 15 to shareholders of record as of the close of trading on May 29. While future dividends are subject to ongoing Board approval, maintaining a quarterly dividend at this rate will result in an annual dividend of $0.36 per share for 2026.

如投影片21所強調，我們董事會於5月7日宣告每季現金股利每股0.09美元，較去年增加12.5%。該股利將於6月15日支付給截至5月29日收盤時的登記在冊股東。雖然未來股利仍須經董事會持續核准，但若維持此每季配息水準，2026年全年股利將為每股0.36美元。

With that, I will turn it back over to Leroy.

接下來，我把時間交還給Leroy。

Thank you, Brad. So I'll now review the market outlook for each of our businesses, starting with Performance Chemicals on page 23. Now, despite a number of different headwinds on demand, such as the Middle East conflict, higher mortgage rates, lower housing turnover, and general inflationary pressures, our PC business still posted a healthy 15% top-line gain from volume in Q1. As we expected, the gains came from market share growth of about 9%, and a cost inventory build added about 6%, while organic volumes were mostly flat. Through Q1, that puts us reasonably on track to likely exceed our expected top-line increase of 11% as the inventory build will continue through Q2 and then taper off.

謝謝你，Brad。接著我將回顧我們各項業務的市場展望，先從第23頁的性能化學品（Performance Chemicals）開始。儘管需求面臨多項逆風，例如中東衝突、房貸利率上升、房屋換手率下降，以及整體通膨壓力，我們PC業務在第一季仍因出貨量帶動，營收年增15%，表現穩健。如我們所預期，成長主要來自約9%的市占率提升，以及約6%的成本庫存建立，而有機出貨量大致持平。截至第一季，我們的進度大致符合預期，且由於庫存建立將延續至第二季後再逐步趨緩，我們很可能會超越原先預估的全年營收成長11%。

However, we will only begin hitting our run rate for market share growth in Q2 as we finish the remaining plant conversions. As I mentioned, most external markers that drive the health of this business, such as mortgage rates, housing turnover, and repair and remodeling spending, are still lagging, but the recent moves from our customers are more hopeful than they have been in some time. The recovery may be around the corner. Now we're discounting that optimism for now until we begin seeing it in the numbers.

不過，直到第二季完成剩餘的工廠轉換後，我們才會開始達到市占成長的常態化（run rate）。如我所提到，驅動此業務健康度的大多數外部指標（如房貸利率、房屋換手率，以及修繕與翻新支出）仍然落後，但近期客戶端的動向比過去一段時間更令人期待。復甦可能近在眼前。但在我們於數據中看到之前，我們暫時先對這份樂觀保持保留。

So as a result, we're still forecasting flat demand on the base and residential business, with a mid-single-digit volume increase expected for our industrial product segment, as driven by growth in utility pole demand. Now, on the cost side of the equation, to say there's a lot of noise in the system would be a vast understatement. Between potential IEEPA tariff recoveries, net exposure to the across-the-board 10% tariffs that were put in place in response to the IEEPA ruling, higher fuel costs from the spike in oil, and copper volatility, I'd say we have more working against us than for us right now.

因此，我們仍預測基礎與住宅業務需求持平；工業產品部門則預期出貨量將有中個位數成長，主要由公用事業電桿需求成長所帶動。至於成本面，若說系統中雜訊很多，那將是嚴重低估。在可能的IEEPA關稅追溯回收、因IEEPA裁決而全面實施10%關稅所帶來的淨曝險、油價飆升導致燃料成本上升，以及銅價波動等因素之間，我認為目前不利因素多於有利因素。

And with what amounts to $5 million to $10 million current net exposure, our procurement team has been working hard to offset it by negotiating better pricing on certain materials, while our commercial team has been preparing to implement fuel surcharges. Koppers continued to hold its lofty copper pricing with modest periodic corrections, but it looks like mid-to-high $5 per pound copper is likely the new low-water mark, and we're now above the $6 threshold. So that's going to require at least $50 million in price adjustments in 2027 to just recover that increase.

以目前約500萬至1,000萬美元的淨曝險而言，我們採購團隊正努力透過就特定材料談判更佳價格來抵銷影響，同時商務團隊也在準備導入燃料附加費。Koppers的銅價仍維持在高檔，僅有小幅且週期性的修正；但看起來每磅5美元中段至高段可能已成為新的低點，而目前我們已高於6美元門檻。因此，僅為了回收這項上升幅度，2027年將至少需要5,000萬美元的價格調整。

In summary, PC has gotten off to a strong start, giving us confidence to move our sales projection up slightly from our initial view of the year while holding our EBITDA projection where it was, as those additional sales get offset by a net cost increase. And that's obviously contingent on base residential volumes holding steady and our ability to mitigate some of our cost exposure via pricing pass-throughs and other cost reductions.

總結而言，PC業務開局強勁，使我們有信心將銷售預測較年初的看法小幅上調；但由於新增銷售將被淨成本上升所抵銷，我們維持EBITDA預測不變。這顯然取決於基礎住宅出貨量能否維持穩定，以及我們能否透過價格轉嫁與其他降本措施來緩解部分成本曝險。

Now moving on to our Utility and Industrial Products business shown on page 24, market sentiment remains bullish for all the reasons we've continued to talk about, which include increasing electrical demand related to the buildout of AI infrastructure, crypto mining, EV development, and new manufacturing. Now our first quarter sales increased by 12% due to volume, and that reflects that bullishness, with 3% of that 12% resulting from the December 2025 acquisition of our Doug Fir supply chain.

接著看第24頁所示的公用事業與工業產品（Utility and Industrial Products, UIP）業務，基於我們持續討論的各項原因，市場情緒仍偏多，包括與AI基礎設施建置、加密貨幣挖礦、電動車（EV）發展，以及新製造業投資相關的用電需求增加。第一季我們的銷售因出貨量帶動成長12%，反映了這股樂觀情緒；其中12%裡有3%來自我們於2025年12月收購的道格拉斯杉（Doug Fir）供應鏈。

Now in our targeted underserved regions, we grew volumes by 9%, coming off growth in 2025 of 17%. Market demand remains concentrated on a limited range of pole sizes, and this has put pressure on fiber sourcing and driven up raw material costs, which we're working to recoup to return margins to our long-term target. We expect some cost relief on the whitewood side when our peeler in Leesville, Louisiana, which was damaged by fire last September, comes back online, which will enable us to bring more peeling capacity back in-house and lower our third-party costs.

在我們鎖定的供給不足區域，我們出貨量成長9%，而2025年的成長為17%。市場需求仍集中在有限範圍的電桿尺寸，這對纖維原料採購造成壓力並推升原料成本；我們正努力回收這些成本，以使毛利率回到長期目標。當我們位於路易斯安那州Leesville、於去年9月遭火災損壞的剝皮廠（peeler）恢復上線後，我們預期白木（whitewood）方面的成本將獲得部分緩解，這將使我們能把更多剝皮產能收回自營，並降低第三方成本。

As mentioned earlier, our Doug Fir acquisition is showing early dividends by increasing our access to this important fiber, enabling us to better compete for previously unavailable business. And on the flip side, the southern yellow pine market is under pressure due to closures of pulp and paper mills and lumber mills, as well as fires that destroyed tracts of timber in the Southeast. Now with sales volume strong and pricing relatively flat, we have more work to do to bring costs into check.

如先前所述，我們的道格拉斯杉收購案已開始展現早期效益，提升我們取得這項關鍵纖維原料的能力，使我們能更有效競爭過去無法取得的業務。另一方面，南方黃松（southern yellow pine）市場因紙漿與造紙廠、以及木材廠關閉而承壓，同時東南部也有火災摧毀部分林地。在銷售量強勁且價格相對持平的情況下，我們仍需投入更多努力以控制成本。

Getting the Leesville peeler back online will help, along with the consolidation of Vanceboro production into Kearney, which began in Q1 and should contribute $2 million in savings by year-end. We're experiencing higher costs for fuel and freight that we're working to pass on. Additional Catalyst initiatives from our transformation program launched in 2025 are expected to generate further cost savings, which will help to overcome the additional corporate cost allocations that have been shifted to UIP this year and enable our pole business to contribute to the year-over-year EBITDA improvement projected for the rough segment.

讓Leesville剝皮廠恢復上線將有所助益，此外，將Vanceboro產能整併至Kearney的計畫已於第一季啟動，預計至年底可貢獻200萬美元節省。我們正面臨燃料與運輸費用上升，並正努力將其轉嫁。我們於2025年啟動的轉型計畫之額外Catalyst倡議，預期將帶來進一步的成本節省，這將有助於抵銷今年轉撥至UIP的額外公司成本分攤，並使我們的電桿業務能對粗材（rough）部門預期的EBITDA年增改善做出貢獻。

The market outlook for our Railroad Products and Services business is summarized on page 25, and our Q1 top line was down compared to the prior year despite crosstie sales being consistent with prior year. After adjusting for the sale of our KRS business last August, the main driver of our revenue decline was an unfavorable mix, with lower pricing having a smaller impact. We had a greater proportion of treatment-service-only sales in Q1 compared to the prior year, combined with lower green tie purchases and black tie shipments.

我們鐵路產品與服務（RPS）業務的市場展望已在第25頁彙總說明；儘管枕木（crosstie）銷售與去年同期一致，我們第一季營收仍較去年同期下滑。在調整去年8月出售KRS業務的影響後，營收下滑的主要原因是不利的產品組合，較低定價的影響相對較小。與去年同期相比，我們第一季治療服務（treatment-service-only）銷售占比更高，同時綠材枕木（green tie）採購較少、黑材枕木（black tie）出貨量也較低。

The severe winter storms that hit much of the country in Q1 knocked our plants offline for a number of days. This impacted production and shipping, which we began making up in March. But uneven customer car flow in and out of our plants also had an impact, and our customers have pledged to work on improving that situation, which should enable us to catch up as the year goes on.

第一季席捲全國多地的嚴重冬季風暴使我們的工廠停工了數日。這影響了生產與出貨，我們自3月起開始補回進度。但客戶車流進出我們工廠的不均衡也造成影響；客戶已承諾將致力改善該情況，這應可讓我們在今年後續逐步追趕進度。

And while we've had a few customers pull back on their demand for the year, most of it was known as we entered 2026. A few others are increasing demand, which is expected to more than offset the other railroads’ reductions. Commercial backlog remains as strong as ever, delivering 3% higher sales in Q1, and the price reductions we exchanged for growing our piece of a smaller market this year will be made up through the year as we work to idle the Florence, South Carolina facility by October.

此外，雖然我們有少數客戶下修了今年的需求，但在進入2026年時大多已知悉。另有少數客戶正在提高需求，預期將足以抵銷其他鐵路公司需求下滑。商業訂單積壓（commercial backlog）一如既往地強勁，第一季帶動銷售成長3%；而我們為了在今年較小的市場中擴大市占而做出的降價交換，將在今年內隨著我們於10月前讓南卡羅來納州佛羅倫斯（Florence）廠區進入閒置而逐步補回。

We also continue to relentlessly go after costs, with Q1 representing the eighth consecutive quarter of reduced operating expense and direct SG&A compared to the prior year quarter. While we expect to be in good shape from a demand standpoint this year, the overall lower industry demand is wreaking havoc on mills, resulting in reduced production and widespread mill closures.

我們也持續不懈地降低成本，第一季已是連續第八個季度，營運費用與直接SG&A相較去年同期下降。雖然我們預期今年在需求面仍將維持良好，但整體產業需求走低正對鋼廠造成嚴重衝擊，導致減產並出現廣泛的工廠關閉。

I mentioned our strong cash performance during my earlier comments. Our RPS business led the way in that area with stellar working capital management, holding inventory in check during a period where we usually see a build. And while we still expect strong sales in both RPS and UIP for the year, we're incorporating more of an unfavorable mix into our forecast for the year, also baking in some of the impact from higher oil.

我在先前的發言中提到我們強勁的現金表現。RPS業務在此方面表現領先，透過出色的營運資金管理，在通常會出現庫存增加的期間仍有效控制庫存。儘管我們仍預期RPS與UIP今年的銷售將維持強勁，我們在全年預測中納入了更多不利的產品組合影響，也同時反映部分油價上升的影響。

This is bringing our revenue projections down by $10 million on both the top and bottom end of our range, as well as bringing our EBITDA projections down proportionally. Now, the outlook for our CMC business is summarized on page 26. Overall, the market continues to be in turmoil, with Q1 results reaching their lowest point since the beginning of our major restructuring efforts in 2016.

這使我們的營收預測區間上下限各下調1,000萬美元，並相應下調EBITDA預測。接著，我們CMC業務的展望已在第26頁彙總。整體而言，市場仍處於動盪之中，第一季結果降至自2016年我們啟動重大重整以來的最低點。

The war in the Middle East, which began two days after our last earnings call, has only made the situation in this business more challenging, as oil price shocks have resulted in rapidly escalating raw material costs. With higher oil prices holding, we'll be playing catch-up over the next couple of quarters regarding passing on higher pricing. This is estimated to have a $5 million impact on CMC over the remainder of the year, in addition to the $1 million impact it had on Q1 for this segment.

中東戰爭在我們上次財報電話會議後兩天爆發，使該業務情勢更具挑戰，因油價衝擊導致原料成本快速攀升。在油價維持高檔的情況下，未來幾個季度我們在轉嫁漲價方面將需要追趕進度。估計這將在今年剩餘期間對CMC造成500萬美元影響，另加上第一季該事業部已承受的100萬美元影響。

On the plus side, this could potentially create some good opportunity for Australian, European, and North American aluminum producers to fill the void of Middle East aluminum producers, and will likely create an opportunity of more sales for Koppers. The continued uncertainty in the carbon products markets only highlights the necessity to take major action, which we're doing by ceasing production at our Stickney site.

正面來看，這可能為澳洲、歐洲與北美的鋁生產商帶來填補中東鋁生產商缺口的良機，並可能為Koppers創造更多銷售機會。碳產品市場持續的不確定性更凸顯採取重大行動的必要性；我們正透過停止Stickney廠區生產來落實。

There's no need to repeat all the financial details I previously mentioned, but they are once again outlined on page 26 and speak for themselves. Once we felt comfortable that we had the capacity to reliably absorb the US volume in Denmark and could beef up our logistics assets to further improve reliability, it became a very unfortunate but obvious no-brainer to move forward with shifting production to Europe.

無需重複我先前提到的所有財務細節，但這些內容已再次列於第26頁，並不言自明。當我們確認丹麥廠具備可靠吸收美國產量的產能，且能強化物流資產以進一步提升可靠性後，將生產轉移至歐洲便成為一項非常不幸但顯而易見、毫無疑問的決策。

And while there are no celebrations at Koppers to commemorate this action, it's an unquestionable win for our shareholders. This action is expected to pay for itself over the next few years while improving long-term cash flow significantly. In addition, by significantly strengthening our European operation, we increase the likelihood that weaker European competitors will eventually succumb to the challenging market conditions. For this year, though, we're going to have to reduce both our revenue and EBITDA estimates for CMC due to impacts from higher oil and generally worse market conditions.

雖然Koppers不會為此舉辦任何慶祝活動，但這對股東而言無疑是一項勝利。預期此舉在未來幾年可回收成本，同時顯著改善長期現金流。此外，透過大幅強化我們的歐洲營運，我們也提高了較弱的歐洲競爭對手最終在艱困市場環境下敗退的可能性。不過就今年而言，由於油價上升與整體市場狀況惡化的影響，我們必須下調CMC的營收與EBITDA預估。

As shown on slide 27, we're a little over a year into our Catalyst transformation and executing successfully on many initiatives. In Q1, we realized $14 million of benefits spread across our business segments and corporate functions. In PC, the driver was market share growth in new products. In RUPS, it was the plant consolidation advance and market share growth. For CMC and corporate, it was procurement savings.

如第27頁投影片所示，我們推動Catalyst轉型已逾一年，並在多項計畫上成功執行。第一季，我們在各事業部與公司職能合計實現1,400萬美元效益。在PC方面，主要驅動因素是新產品的市占成長。在RUPS方面，則是工廠整併推進與市占成長。在CMC與公司層面，則來自採購節省。

In addition, we're using Catalyst to improve our working capital discipline, delivering $16 million in benefits in Q1, driven primarily by inventory control in RPS. Adding the benefits from our Stickney announcement, we've now identified a minimum of $90 million of benefits to be realized from 2026 through 2028. And of that, we expect $30 million to $40 million of benefits in '26, which is up by $10 million on the low end.

此外，我們也運用Catalyst強化營運資金紀律，第一季帶來1,600萬美元效益，主要由RPS的庫存控管所驅動。加上我們Stickney公告所帶來的效益，我們目前已辨識出自2026年至2028年可實現的效益至少9,000萬美元。其中，我們預期在2026年可實現3,000萬至4,000萬美元效益，低端較先前上調1,000萬美元。

This puts us squarely on track to deliver on our 2028 goals of adjusted EBITDA greater than 15%, a three-year EPS CAGR of more than 10%, net leverage of lower than 2.5 times, a three-year free cash flow average of $100 million minimum, and our combined PC and RUPS segments making up 85% or more of our sales. The result of reaching those metrics should result in significant shareholder value creation.

這使我們穩健地走在達成2028年目標的軌道上：調整後EBITDA利潤率高於15%、三年EPS年複合成長率（CAGR）超過10%、淨槓桿低於2.5倍、三年自由現金流平均至少1億美元，以及PC與RUPS合計占銷售額85%或以上。達成上述指標的結果，應可創造顯著的股東價值。

Now as we move on to slide 29, our consolidated sales guidance remains at $1.9 billion to $2.0 billion in 2026 compared with $1.88 billion in 2025, with higher sales in PC and RUPS more than offsetting lower CMC sales. The foundation of customer demand is proving to be solid four months into the year, especially for our PC and RUPS segments, as we have now turned the corner on our PC market share loss from last year and are starting to see the needle move in the other direction.

接著看第29頁投影片，我們2026年合併銷售指引仍維持在19億至20億美元，相較2025年的18.8億美元；PC與RUPS較高的銷售將足以抵銷CMC較低的銷售。進入今年第四個月，客戶需求的基礎證明仍然穩固，尤其是PC與RUPS事業部；因為我們已扭轉去年PC市占下滑的局面，並開始看到指標朝相反方向移動。

On slide 30, we're lowering our adjusted EBITDA forecast to $240 million to $260 million in 2026 compared with $257 million in 2025. The major reason for shifting our previous range of guidance down by $10 million is the impact of higher oil across our entire enterprise. The war in the Middle East was not a variable we had contemplated when we communicated our 2026 guidance in February, and while we believe it is contained to a less than 5% impact on our consolidated EBITDA, we believe it's prudent to incorporate it into current guidance at this point while various other puts and takes are projected to offset each other.

在第30頁投影片，我們將2026年調整後EBITDA預測下調至2.4億至2.6億美元，相較2025年的2.57億美元。將先前指引區間下修1,000萬美元的主要原因，是油價上升對我們整體企業的影響。我們在2月發布2026年指引時並未將中東戰爭納入變數；雖然我們認為其對合併EBITDA的影響可控制在低於5%，但在此時點將其納入現行指引更為審慎，因為其他各項正負因素預計將彼此抵銷。

Slide 31 shows our adjusted earnings per share bridge, which reflects a range of $3.80 to $4.60 per share in 2026 compared with $4.07 in 2025. Year over year, that represents a 3% increase at the midpoint and a 13% increase at the high end. Most of the projected improvement is expected to come from lower interest expense and benefits from a lower share count.

第31頁顯示我們調整後每股盈餘（EPS）的橋接分析，反映出2026年每股介於3.80至4.60美元的區間，相較於2025年的4.07美元。以年對年來看，中位數代表增加3%，高端則代表增加13%。預期改善的大部分將來自較低的利息費用，以及較低股數帶來的效益。

On slide 32, we now expect an even higher jump in both operating cash flow and free cash flow this year. As a result, this will provide the most cash we've had for debt paydown since 2020, when we received the cash proceeds from selling our KJCC business. Not only would operating cash flow and free cash flow represent new highs at these projected levels, but more importantly, 2026 will represent an inflection point for our step change in cash generation as we expect these new higher levels to become the norm.

在第32頁，我們現在預期今年營運現金流與自由現金流都將出現更大幅度的跳升。因此，這將提供自2020年以來我們用於償還債務的最多現金，當時我們因出售KJCC業務而取得現金收入。在這些預估水準下，營運現金流與自由現金流不僅將創下新高，更重要的是，2026年將成為我們現金創造能力階梯式提升的拐點，因為我們預期這些新的較高水準將成為常態。

At our current market cap, this equates to a 10% to 15% free cash flow yield and places Koppers at the top end of whatever industry you want to compare us to and provides several attractive options for how we deploy our excess cash.

以我們目前的市值計算，這相當於10%至15%的自由現金流殖利率，使Koppers位於無論與哪個產業相比都屬於頂端水準，並為我們如何運用多餘現金提供數個具吸引力的選項。

On slide 33, in terms of capital spending, we continue to forecast $55 million for the year, consistent with $55 million spent in 2025. Currently, we're spending at a run rate lower than $55 million, but we'll still likely spend at that rate for the year as we take dollars that we would have spent at Stickney this year and put it towards bulking up our logistics assets. The foundation we have built over the past decade has set us up to create significant shareholder value over the next several years, and I'm confident we will deliver.

在第33頁，就資本支出而言，我們仍預估全年為5,500萬美元，與2025年支出5,500萬美元一致。目前我們的支出速度低於5,500萬美元，但全年仍可能以該水準支出，因為我們會把原本今年要在Stickney投入的資金，轉而用於強化我們的物流資產。過去十年我們所建立的基礎，已讓我們在未來幾年能創造顯著的股東價值，我有信心我們會交出成果。

We still maintain leading shares in niche markets that utilize our essential products with low capital requirements going forward. And couple that with the unlocking of significant cash flow, we find ourselves in a strong position to deliver shareholder value in multiple ways. While today represents a difficult next step, I believe it's the right one for our customers, our team members at Koppers, and our shareholders who have patiently hung in while we have methodically built a model that is built to last.

我們在使用我們關鍵產品、且未來資本需求較低的利基市場中，仍維持領先的市占。再加上可觀現金流的釋放，我們處於能以多種方式為股東創造價值的有利位置。雖然今天代表一個艱難的下一步，但我相信這對我們的客戶、Koppers的團隊成員，以及在我們有條不紊地建立一個可長久維持的模式期間耐心支持的股東而言，都是正確的一步。

So now, I would like to open it up to any questions.

那麼現在，我想開放大家提問。

(Operator Instructions) Gary Prestopino, Barrington Research.

(接線員指示) Gary Prestopino，Barrington Research。

Hi, good morning, all. Hey, Leroy, throughout your narrative on what you're looking for go forward in a couple of your segments, you mentioned you've got to get some price increases to offset some of these input increases. I mean, in the past, how successful have you been at driving those kind of price increases, and what's generally the lag? How long does it usually take relative to where we are right now in the cycle?

嗨，各位早安。嘿，Leroy，在你談到未來在幾個事業部門的規劃時，你提到你們必須提高一些價格來抵消部分投入成本的上升。我的意思是，過去你們在推動這類漲價方面有多成功？一般的時間落差是多久？相對於我們目前所處的景氣循環位置，通常需要多長時間？

Yeah, not, it's a good question. So I think it varies, and it varies depending upon business unit as well. But I'd say for the most part, we have been successful. But yeah, there is a timing aspect to it. There's been some changes that we've made in some of our agreements over the past, coming through COVID and that big inflationary environment that we were in, that we got kind of caught in for a period where we were hamstrung in terms of being able to pass on some of these increases.

是的，這是個好問題。我認為情況會有所不同，也會因事業單位而異。但我會說，大多數情況下我們是成功的。不過確實存在時間點的因素。在過去一段時間，經歷COVID以及我們所處的那個高通膨環境時，我們對部分協議做了一些調整；當時我們有一段時間有點被卡住，因為在轉嫁這些成本上升方面受到限制。

We were able to make some changes in certain contracts to give us more flexibility to pass stuff on a little more currently. I would say generally the way that we feel about it, as it relates to passing on fuel surcharges, those sorts of things, I think we have an ability to do that more or less currently, right? So there's little to no lag that needs to happen there.

我們已在某些合約中做出一些變更，讓我們在目前能更有彈性地把一些成本轉嫁出去。一般來說，就燃油附加費等這類轉嫁而言，我認為我們或多或少可以即時處理，對吧？所以那方面幾乎不需要時間落差，甚至可以說沒有落差。

We've tried to -- in regards to, again, some of the larger relationships we have, understand exactly whether this stuff was going to be sustainable or short term, but we've gotten to the point now where we're moving forward on trying to work with passing that on.

我們也嘗試——就我們一些較大型的合作關係而言——釐清這些因素究竟是可持續的還是短期的，但我們現在已經走到下一步，開始推動並與對方合作進行轉嫁。

As it relates to some of the bigger issues in terms of impacts on raw materials that we know are going to linger for a bit, most of our contracts on the CMC side, we're at least a quarter to six months from being able to pass that on, which is why we talk about the impact we see more or less in the back half of the year that we will get to catch up on until we probably turn the page into either the fourth quarter or into 2027.

至於一些更大的議題，也就是我們知道原物料影響會持續一段時間的部分，在CMC端我們大多數合約至少需要一季到六個月才能轉嫁出去；這也是為什麼我們談到我們看到的影響大致會落在今年下半年，我們要到可能進入第四季或跨到2027年時才會逐步追上。

And then on the PC side of things, we tend to go through a couple-year agreements, and the latest cycle wraps up this year. So discussions will be happening in the back part of this year. Actually discussions are currently happening about trying to give them some insight in terms of where the overall cost structure looks like at this point and what to expect. So we'll have more news on that as we get to the back half of the year.

而在PC端，我們通常是簽訂為期數年的協議，而最新一輪的週期會在今年結束。因此，相關討論將在今年下半年進行。其實目前已經在討論，試著讓他們了解在這個時間點整體成本結構看起來如何，以及可以預期什麼。所以等到今年下半年，我們會有更多消息可以分享。

And as we talk about often, we're mostly hedged for the biggest piece of that as it relates to copper, but there will need to be a reset on that as we head into next year. But we also are continuing to work on products that can help maybe minimize the amount of copper that needs to go in or improve retention rates. So there's all kinds of things that we're working on to try to mitigate and minimize the impact on our customers, hopefully put a few more dollars in their pockets as well as ours, and just create more success for the industry.

而且如同我們常提到的，就其中最大的一塊——銅——而言，我們大多已經做了避險，但在進入明年時仍需要重新調整。不過我們也持續開發一些產品，或許能降低所需使用的銅量，或提升留存率。因此我們正在做各種工作，試圖緩解並降低對客戶的影響，希望也能讓他們以及我們的口袋都多留一些錢，並為整個產業創造更多成功。

So it's a mixed bag, Gary, but bringing the guidance down by $10 million on both the top and bottom end of the range was our best attempt at, from an unmitigated standpoint, that's what we would expect for the year related to the oil impact, which is the biggest -- well, other than copper, is the biggest impact -- big impact that we're currently facing on an ongoing basis. So it will be copper and oil, but we feel pretty good that we have that captured there with a little opportunity for upside on pass-throughs.

所以Gary，這是好壞參半；但我們把指引區間的上緣與下緣都下調了1,000萬美元，是我們在未採取緩解措施的角度下，對今年與油價影響相關的最佳估計——這是我們目前持續面臨的最大影響之一（除了銅之外）。因此會是銅與油，但我們相當有信心已把這些反映在指引中，同時在成本轉嫁方面仍有一些上行空間。

Okay. That's a good explanation. And then as it relates to what you're doing in the CMC business, I realize it's a difficult decision. It's always hard to tell people of that decision. Was it mostly -- Is it mostly just that you're looking at it as cutting excess capacity? There just isn't the end demand there, and by holding everything in Nyborg, you would expect that you could get more utilization of that facility and get your margins up that way. Is that kind of how we should think about it?

好的。這個解釋很清楚。另外，關於你們在CMC業務所做的事情，我知道這是個艱難的決定。要把這個決定告訴大家總是很不容易。這主要——是否主要只是因為你們把它視為削減過剩產能？終端需求就是不足，而把所有產能留在Nyborg，你們預期可以提高該廠的稼動率，並藉此提升毛利率。我們應該這樣理解嗎？

It is. It is another consolidation play, yes, it is. We have excess capacity at Nyborg that's freed itself up over the last couple of years. At the same time, raw material availability in North America has come down. So with what we have remaining here in North America, we found that we could comfortably fit that into our Nyborg operations and have very little incremental cost to do so.

是的。是另一個整併策略，沒錯，就是如此。過去幾年我們在尼堡（Nyborg）有多餘產能已經釋放出來。同時，北美的原料供應量也下降了。因此，針對我們在北美這邊剩餘的業務量，我們發現可以很從容地把它納入尼堡的營運中，而且幾乎不需要增加太多的額外成本。

And so we could essentially again source raw material from North America, process it there, and actually still serve the vast majority of our customer base here in North America and cut out a significant level of fixed cost in the process. So yes, it is a consolidation play.

因此，我們基本上可以再次從北美採購原料、在那邊加工，並且仍然能服務北美這裡絕大多數的客戶群，同時在過程中削減相當程度的固定成本。所以沒錯，這是一個整併策略。

Liam Burke, B. Riley Securities.

Liam Burke，B. Riley Securities。

Leroy, with the shifting of production from Stickney to Nyborg, do you anticipate any competitive disadvantage? Having your in-house creosote for the coatings has been a competitive advantage. Does the greater distance affect that competitive advantage?

Leroy，隨著把產能從史蒂克尼（Stickney）轉移到尼堡，你是否預期會有任何競爭劣勢？你們自製的雜酚油（creosote）用於塗層一直是競爭優勢。距離拉長是否會影響這項競爭優勢？

No, we don't believe so. I mean, that's really happening today. We already bring a significant amount of creosote into North America, and like I said, with where the cost structure with that. But in fact, what we believe is we'll be able to actually improve the reliability of the supply chain because while certainly distilling in Chicago, you can look at it and say, well, again, you're closer to your costs. There is no question.

不，我們不這麼認為。我的意思是，這其實今天就正在發生。我們已經把相當數量的雜酚油運進北美，而且如我所說，考量到那樣的成本結構。但事實上，我們相信供應鏈的可靠性反而能提升，因為雖然在芝加哥蒸餾，你可以說，嗯，你離成本更近。這點毫無疑問。

But again, the aging equipment that we have there has created a host of different reliability issues over the years, and so we would find ourselves scrambling at times despite the fact that, again, we had operations right here. Nyborg is a beautiful facility. It's been incredibly well maintained, and we do not deal at all with those sorts of issues as it relates to that. So while, yes, you're extending the time to get product back and forth, but again, we're adding tank capacity here.

但同樣地，我們那邊老舊的設備多年來造成了各式各樣的可靠性問題，因此即使我們的營運就在這裡，我們有時仍會手忙腳亂。尼堡是一座很棒的工廠。維護得非常好，而在這方面我們完全不會遇到那類問題。所以，雖然是的，產品往返運輸的時間會拉長，但同時我們也在這裡增加儲槽容量。

We already have terminals set up and a fairly mature logistics operation that's been doing this for a while. And our competitor makes similar sorts of shipments back and forth across the pond as well. So this is not unique, it's not new, and we believe it actually improves the reliability and competitiveness for us, which is again a driver for us making the decision.

我們已經設有碼頭（terminals），而且物流營運相當成熟，已經做這件事一段時間了。我們的競爭對手也同樣會進行這類跨洋往返運輸。所以這並不特殊，也不是新鮮事；我們相信這反而能提升我們的可靠性與競爭力，這也是我們做出這項決策的驅動因素。

Great. That is good news. On copper pricing, have you been able to increase prices to your costs with margin, or is that going to create a competitive pricing problem?

很好。這是好消息。關於銅價，你們是否已能把價格提高到足以涵蓋成本並保有利潤，還是這會造成競爭性的定價問題？

Well, I think we'll be pricing to market because we're not the only one in this situation. Our margins fluctuate. They range anywhere in that 17% to 22% range over time. We've had one year, I think, where it fell down below that. That was actually, I think, in '22 or '23 when we ate a lot of cost, and it was not necessarily on the copper side. It was on all the other raw material pieces that we weren't able to pass through at that point in time. That was an anomaly.

我想我們會依市場定價，因為不只我們面臨這種情況。我們的毛利率會波動。長期來看大約落在17%到22%的區間。我記得有一年曾經低於那個區間。那其實我想是在2022或2023年，當時我們吸收了很多成本，而且不一定是銅的部分。而是其他各種原料項目，在那個時間點我們無法轉嫁。那是個例外。

We had an occasion here or there where we bumped up above that 22% range. I see no reason why going through this round we'll end up somewhere in that range coming out of it. But we'll have to be competitive, and we'll definitely -- I'll be doing that while also, again, hoping to demonstrate to our customers our commitment to them, our commitment to the industry in terms of looking to develop new products for them, take the market, and again help them from a profitability standpoint. So I think we're in a position to sort of maintain that 17% to 22% margin range overall.

我們也曾有一兩次高於22%那個區間。我看不出這一輪過去之後，我們為什麼不會回到那個區間。但我們必須保持競爭力，而我也一定會這麼做——同時也希望向客戶展現我們對他們的承諾、對產業的承諾，包括為他們開發新產品、拓展市場，並再次從獲利角度協助他們。所以我認為我們整體上有能力維持17%到22%的毛利率區間。

Michael Mathison, Sidoti & Company.

Michael Mathison，Sidoti & Company。

Congratulations on the quarter, you guys. Very impressive.

恭喜這一季的表現，各位。非常亮眼。

Thank you, Michael. Appreciate that.

謝謝你，Michael。感謝。

Just turning to my questions, you mentioned a $10 million impact this year from the increase in oil prices, which of course fluctuate. They were down a lot the past few days. Is there a rule of thumb that we can use that if oil prices move by X, the impact to Koppers is Y%?

回到我的問題，你提到今年油價上漲帶來1,000萬美元的影響，而油價當然會波動。過去幾天油價下跌很多。是否有一個經驗法則可供我們使用：如果油價變動X，對Koppers的影響就是Y%？

I wish it was that simple. I wish it was that simple because there are so many tentacles to it that it's tough to put your finger on it with that level of precision. But you can look at sort of the current situation that we're going through as a little bit of a guide.

我希望事情有那麼簡單。我真的希望有那麼簡單，因為牽涉的面向太多，很難用那樣精準的程度去界定。但你可以把我們目前正在經歷的情況，當作一個小小的參考。

I mean, with oil prices rising suddenly at the end of February up into anywhere in that $100 to over $100 a barrel range, we're sitting here telling you and talking about the fact that that's going to have, we believe, up to a $10 million unmitigated impact over the year. So that gives you some indication in terms of that level of sensitivity.

我的意思是，油價在2月底突然上升，來到每桶100美元左右甚至高於100美元的區間，我們現在告訴你、也在談的是：我們相信這在一年內可能帶來最高達1,000萬美元、尚未緩解（unmitigated）的影響。所以這能讓你大致了解其敏感度的程度。

But we do have abilities to pass some of that stuff on, to negotiate higher pricing because again these sorts of things don't just impact us. They impact our competition as well. And so it's not a situation where any of this sort of stuff is Koppers specific.

但我們確實有能力把其中一部分轉嫁出去，透過協商提高售價，因為這類事情不只影響我們。也同樣影響我們的競爭對手。因此，這不是只有Koppers才會遇到的狀況。

I believe we will get it back over a reasonable timeframe, and that's what we work to do. But when you think about it overall, I mentioned this number here is going to be less than a 5% impact. It's meaningful to the numbers that we gave out, but in the grand scheme of things not necessarily so, and it's something that we'll be able to pull back in over the next 3 to 12 months, I would say.

我相信我們會在合理的時間內把它補回來，這也是我們努力要做的事。但從整體來看，我提到這個數字的影響會低於5%。對我們給出的指引數字而言它是有意義的，但從大局來看未必那麼重大；而我會說，我們應該能在接下來3到12個月內把它拉回來。

Okay, fair enough. Turning to the future of the CMC business, if we look forward to 2027 after the plant shutdown at Stickney, is there an EBITDA margin target for CMC that you can share with us?

好的，合理。談到CMC業務的未來，如果我們往前看到2027年、在史蒂克尼工廠關閉之後，CMC是否有一個你們可以分享的EBITDA利潤率目標？

I would say that we certainly have run those numbers internally, and I would say that it would be in line with our overall consolidated margin target. So we have talked about one of our transformation target goals is to be a 15% or greater EBITDA margin from an overall company standpoint, and I think our expectation is that this particular business will be right around that number.

我會說，我們內部當然已經跑過那些數字，而我會說它會與我們整體合併的利潤率目標一致。我們曾談到，我們轉型目標之一是從整體公司角度達到15%或更高的EBITDA利潤率，而我認為我們的預期是，這項特定業務大約會落在那個水準附近。

Okay, perfect. Very helpful. Just turning to PC, the sales growth there was especially striking. Flat overall market residential sales, what drove the market share increase, if you can share that with us?

好的，完美。非常有幫助。轉到 PC 這邊，那裡的銷售成長特別亮眼。在整體市場住宅銷售持平的情況下，是什麼驅動市占率提升的？如果方便的話，能跟我們分享一下嗎？

Well, it was a situation where it was a stark change last year, as you know, as we took a market share hit. We had talked about in the back part of last year that we thought we had opportunities to win back a little bit of that market share, and we were able to do that to some extent, while also picking up some additional market share from some of our larger customers who still had a little bit of business out there in the other camps, the other two camps.

嗯，這是個情況——如你所知，去年出現了很明顯的變化，因為我們的市占率受到衝擊。我們在去年後段曾談到，我們認為有機會把部分市占率贏回來；我們也確實在某種程度上做到了，同時也從一些大型客戶那裡額外拿到一些市占，因為他們仍有一部分業務分散在其他陣營、另外兩個陣營。

And again, through some different product development that we had done, we were able to get them comfortable to make some conversions on some straggling plants that were not in our network at that point in time and get them moved over.

而且同樣地，透過我們所做的一些不同產品開發，我們讓他們更放心，願意把當時還不在我們網路內的一些零星工廠做轉換，並把它們移轉過來。

And on the industrial side, I think we've done a really good job. Tommy Kaiser and his team in PC have done a really good job of continuing to develop that business. And that is a business that's in a nice healthy spot right now too.

在工業端方面，我認為我們做得非常好。Tommy Kaiser 和他在 PC 的團隊在持續拓展那項業務上做得非常出色。而那項業務目前也處在相當健康、良好的狀態。

Our sales team has consistently done a really good job of building that customer network, relationship network. So we've been successful more often in winning that business than losing it. You're going to go through some phases. We went through a good eight years of nothing but wins, wins, wins, and all that just made us more vulnerable at some point that some business was going to get moved away.

我們的銷售團隊一直以來都很擅長建立客戶網路、關係網路。因此，我們在爭取到業務的情況下，成功的次數多於失去的次數。你會經歷一些階段。我們曾經連續八年幾乎都是贏、贏、贏，而這也讓我們在某個時間點變得更脆弱——總會有一些業務被移走。

That's what happened last year, and we kind of did a reset. I think we've proven to our customer base that we understand they're incredibly important to us, and it's our job to help them be more profitable and open up doors for them to be successful because their success is ultimately ours.

去年就是發生了那樣的事，我們也算是做了一次重置。我認為我們已向客戶群證明，我們理解他們對我們極其重要；而我們的工作是幫助他們更有獲利能力，並為他們打開成功之門，因為他們的成功最終就是我們的成功。

But we had signaled that near the end of last year, and now it's just being put into action.

我們在去年接近年底時就已經釋出這個訊號，而現在只是把它落實到行動上。

Okay, excellent. Thanks for the information, and good luck in the coming quarter.

好的，非常好。謝謝提供資訊，也祝你們接下來一季順利。

Jim Marrone, Singular Research.

Jim Marrone，Singular Research。

Yeah, great. Good afternoon, gentlemen. My question is just with regards to all this volatility with regards to commodity markets and inflationary pressure. What are you getting a sense of from with regards to your competitors. Are there a lot of tailwinds or headwinds, or in other words, are you finding any M&A activity opportunities as a result of all this volatility in the markets?

是的，很好。各位先生，下午好。我的問題是，關於大宗商品市場的波動以及通膨壓力。你們對競爭對手的情況有什麼感受？是有很多順風或逆風？換句話說，因為市場這些波動，你們是否看到任何併購（M&A）活動的機會？

Yeah, that's a good question. Look, three of our four businesses, we hold such significant share that any sort of M&A consolidation activities for us in those businesses are really unlikely from an antitrust standpoint. So it doesn't really matter whether it relates to RPS, and for the most part PC certainly in North America, as well as CMC. UIP is a different animal, and certainly we would have much more flexibility in terms of M&A in that space.

是的，這是個好問題。你看，我們四個業務中的三個，我們的市占率都非常高，因此從反托拉斯的角度來看，在那些業務上進行任何併購整合活動，對我們而言都不太可能。所以不管是 RPS，或是大致上在北美的 PC，以及 CMC，都差不多是這樣。UIP 則是另一種情況，在那個領域我們在併購方面的彈性會大得多。

We continue to keep up our relationships and have our conversations and see where they go. I know there's a lot of companies, certainly on the smaller end, that are feeling the pinch. But there's nothing we have to report at this moment as it relates to that. We continue to keep monitor and keep our eyes on it, and if something pops up, obviously we'll be looking to evaluate it, and if it makes sense, we'll do it, and if it doesn't, we'll pass and go on from there.

我們會持續維持關係、持續對話，看看進展如何。我知道有很多公司，特別是規模較小的，確實感受到壓力。但就目前而言，沒有任何我們可以對外報告的事項。我們會持續追蹤、持續關注；如果有機會出現，我們當然會評估，合理就做，不合理就略過，然後繼續往前。

But it's really only one business where we have that sort of opportunity as it relates to the core business, and that's on the UIP side.

但就核心業務而言，真正有這類機會的其實只有一個業務，也就是 UIP 這一塊。

Thank you very much for that insight.

非常感謝你的見解。

You're very welcome. Thank you.

不客氣。謝謝。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the call back over to CEO, Leroy Ball, for any closing remarks.

問答環節到此結束。我想把電話交回給執行長 Leroy Ball，請他做結語。

Thank you. I really appreciate everybody's patience and hanging in. It's been a tough, hard‑fought last year, but the company and our team continue to do an amazing job keeping their fellow teammates safe and keeping everybody focused on the bigger goals at hand.

謝謝。我非常感謝大家的耐心與一路參與。過去一年很艱難、也很辛苦，但公司與我們的團隊仍持續做得非常出色，確保同仁安全，並讓大家聚焦在眼前更大的目標上。

While again today is an unfortunate and painful chapter in our history from a people standpoint, for shareholders it's clearly a win, and we're seeing that reflected in the market today. We look forward to continuing to execute on our plans and updating you on in the future.

再次強調，從人的角度來看，今天是不幸且令人痛苦的公司歷史篇章；但對股東而言，這顯然是一場勝利，而我們也看到今天市場的反應反映了這一點。我們期待持續執行我們的計畫，並在未來向各位更新進展。

Thank you everybody for tuning in today.

謝謝大家今天收聽。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

本次電話會議到此結束。感謝各位參加今天的簡報。您現在可以掛線。