Ingevity Corp (NGVT) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning or good afternoon, and welcome to the Ingevity third quarter 2024 earnings call and webcast. My name is Adam, and I'll be your operator today. (Operator Instructions)

早安或下午好，歡迎參加 Ingevity 2024 年第三季財報電話會議和網路廣播。我叫 Adam，今天我將成為您的接線生。（操作員說明）

I will now hand the floor to John Nypaver to begin. So John, please go ahead when you're ready.

我現在請約翰·尼帕弗開始。所以約翰，當你準備好後請繼續。

Thank you, Adam. Good morning, and welcome to Ingevity's third quarter 2024 earnings call. Earlier this morning, we posted a presentation on our investor site that you can use to follow today's discussion. It can be found on ir.ingevity.com under Events & Presentations.

謝謝你，亞當。早安，歡迎參加 Ingevity 的 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。今天早些時候，我們在投資者網站上發布了一份演示文稿，您可以使用它來關註今天的討論。您可以在 ir.ingevity.com 的“活動和演示”下找到它。

Also, throughout this call, we may refer to non-GAAP financial measures, which are intended to supplement, not substitute for comparable GAAP measures. Definitions of these non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations to comparable GAAP measures are included in our earnings release and are also in our most recent Form 10-K.

此外，在整個電話會議中，我們可能會提到非公認會計原則財務指標，這些指標旨在補充而不是替代可比較的公認會計原則指標。這些非 GAAP 財務指標的定義以及與可比較 GAAP 指標的調整表均包含在我們的收益發布中，也包含在我們最新的 10-K 表格中。

We may also make forward-looking statements regarding future events and future financial performance of the company during this call, and we caution you that these statements are just projections and actual results or events may differ materially from those projections as further described in our earnings release.

我們也可能在本次電話會議期間就公司的未來事件和未來財務表現做出前瞻性陳述，我們提醒您，這些陳述只是預測，實際結果或事件可能與我們的收益發布中進一步描述的這些預測存在重大差異。

Our agenda is on slide 3. Our speakers today are Luis Fernandez-Moreno, our Interim CEO; and Mary Dean Hall, our CFO. Our business leads, Ed Woodcock, President of Performance Materials; Rich White, President of Performance Chemicals; and Steve Hulme, President of Advanced Polymer Technologies, are available for questions and comments.

我們的議程在幻燈片 3 上。今天的演講者是我們的臨時執行長 Luis Fernandez-Moreno；和我們的財務長瑪麗·迪恩·霍爾。我們的業務負責人，高性能材料總裁 Ed Woodcock； Rich White，高性能化學品總裁；資深聚合物技術公司總裁 Steve Hulme 可以回答問題和提出意見。

Luis will start us off with some highlights for the quarter. Mary will follow with a review of our consolidated financial performance and the business segment results for the third quarter. Luis will then provide closing comments and discuss 2024 guidance.

路易斯將為我們介紹本季的一些亮點。瑪麗隨後將回顧我們第三季度的綜合財務業績和業務部門業績。Luis 隨後將發表總結評論並討論 2024 年指導。

With that, over to you, Luis.

就這樣，交給你了，路易斯。

Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. Please turn to slide 5.

謝謝約翰，大家早安。請翻到投影片 5。

Let me begin by saying how excited I am to be here to help Ingevity continue to execute on our business strategies to maximize profitability. Including the repositioning of our performance chemicals segment, the team has done much of the heavy lifting to set this segment up for success.

首先我要說的是，我非常高興能夠來到這裡幫助 Ingevity 繼續執行我們的業務策略，以實現利潤最大化。包括對我們的高性能化學品部門的重新定位，該團隊已經完成了許多繁重的工作，以使該部門取得成功。

We've exited lower-margin cyclical end markets. We've reduced our physical footprint to optimize costs and diversify our raw material stream. And we have exited long-term supply contracts, which have hindered our ability to manage the cost and timing of key raw material purchases.

我們已經退出了利潤率較低的週期性終端市場。我們減少了實際佔地面積，以優化成本並使原材料流多樣化。我們已經退出了長期供應合同，這阻礙了我們管理關鍵原材料採購成本和時間的能力。

These efforts have not been easy. I have been a member of the Ingevity Board since the day we became public and I can say that the Board has been and continues to be supportive of this strategic direction.

這些努力並不容易。自我們上市之日起，我一直是 Ingevity 董事會的成員，我可以說，董事會一直並將繼續支持這個策略方向。

I know that many of you have been keenly focused on our actions in the performance chemicals segment in the last several quarters. Understandably so. At the same time, I want to ensure our other segments, performance materials and advanced polymer technologies get the attention and focus they deserve.

我知道你們中的許多人都非常關注過去幾個季度我們在高性能化學品領域的行動。可以理解是這樣。同時，我希望確保我們的其他細分市場、高性能材料和先進聚合物技術得到應有的關注和關注。

Together, these three segments give us scale and diversity around geographies and end markets. In addition to my focus on executing the business strategies underway, one of my first tasks will be to review our portfolio of businesses to bring a fresh look to our overall corporate strategy. Ingevity has many things to be proud of. And you see this in our third quarter results, which Mary will go over in detail.

這三個細分市場共同為我們帶來了地理和終端市場的規模和多樣性。除了專注於執行正在進行的業務策略之外，我的首要任務之一是審查我們的業務組合，為我們的整體企業策略帶來新的面貌。創造力有很多值得驕傲的地方。您可以在我們的第三季業績中看到這一點，瑪麗將詳細介紹這一點。

Performance materials continues to deliver profitable sales growth at top-quartile margins in what some consider a soft auto production environment. APT maintained solid EBITDA margins, despite mix changes and pricing pressures as inflation began to cool down, while global industrial demand remained weak.

在一些人認為軟汽車生產環境中，高性能材料繼續以最高四分之一的利潤率實現盈利的銷售成長。儘管隨著通膨開始降溫，組合發生變化並面臨定價壓力，而全球工業需求依然疲軟，APT 仍保持穩健的 EBITDA 利潤率。

And our performance chemicals segment saw margin improvement even as we worked through high-cost CTO inventory and were negatively impacted by adverse weather conditions in North America -- in the Northern -- key North America regions of our Road Technologies product line. This quarter gives you a glimpse of what this company can do even in the face of headwinds like slow industrial demand, weather impacts and consuming high-cost CTO inventory.

儘管我們的高性能化學品部門的利潤率有所提高，但我們的道路技術產品線受到了北美地區（北部地區）惡劣天氣條件的負面影響。本季讓您了解該公司即使面對工業需求放緩、天氣影響和消耗高成本 CTO 庫存等不利因素也能做什麼。

My focus in the upcoming quarters will be on execution to ensure our efforts and resources are focused on delivering the improved results we all expect. Although it has only been four weeks, I am even more excited now about the future of Ingevity.

在接下來的幾個季度中，我的重點將放在執行上，以確保我們的努力和資源集中在交付我們所有人期望的改進結果上。雖然只有四個星期，但我對 Ingevity 的未來更加興奮。

With that, I'll turn it over to Mary to review the financials for the quarter.

這樣，我將把它交給瑪麗來審查本季的財務狀況。

Thanks, Luis, and good morning all. Please turn to slide 5. Third quarter sales of $376.9 million were down 16%, due primarily to our repositioning actions in performance chemicals that resulted in the exit of lower-margin end markets in our Industrial Specialties product line and lower sales in the Road Technologies product line, due to unfavorable weather conditions in key parts of North America, as Luis mentioned.

謝謝，路易斯，大家早安。請翻到投影片 5。第三季銷售額為3.769 億美元，下降16%，這主要是由於我們對高性能化學品的重新定位行動，導致我們的工業特種產品線中利潤率較低的終端市場退出，以及道路技術產品線的銷售額下降（由於不利因素）。

During the quarter, we incurred before-tax restructuring charges of $86.9 million, primarily related to the closure of our Crossett, Arkansas facility and a $100 million charge for the termination of a long-term CTO supply contract, which led to a GAAP net loss of $107.2 million.

本季度，我們產生了 8,690 萬美元的稅前重組費用，主要與關閉阿肯色州克羅塞特工廠以及因終止長期 CTO 供應合約而產生的 1 億美元費用有關，這導致了 GAAP 淨虧損1.072 億美元。

We have excluded the impact of these charges in our non-GAAP disclosure and our discussion for the remainder of this presentation. A reconciliation of our non-GAAP measures to GAAP is in the appendix to this deck and also in our earnings release and Form 10-Q, which will be filed this evening.

我們在非公認會計原則揭露和本簡報其餘部分的討論中排除了這些費用的影響。我們的非 GAAP 指標與 GAAP 指標的調整表位於本報告的附錄中，也包含在我們將於今晚提交的收益發布和 10-Q 表格中。

Our adjusted gross profit of $146 million was flat to last year, while gross margin was higher by 610 basis points. The gross margin gains were largely driven by our performance chemicals repositioning actions, which have reduced our exposure to lower-margin end markets in Industrial Specialties product line and enabled our higher-margin businesses such as performance materials and Road Technologies to represent a larger portion of our total company results.

我們調整後的毛利為 1.46 億美元，與去年持平，而毛利率則高出 610 個基點。毛利率的成長主要是由我們的高性能化學品重新定位行動所推動的，這減少了我們對工業特種產品線中利潤率較低的終端市場的敞口，並使我們的高性能材料和道路技術等利潤率較高的業務佔據了更大的份額。

In addition, the repositioning actions generated cost savings of $14 million, which benefited gross profit in the quarter. Adjusted SG&A dollars and percent of sales increased year-over-year despite repositioning savings of about $4 million, primarily due to credits to variable incentive compensation recorded in the third quarter last year versus a normalized run rate this quarter.

此外，重新定位行動還節省了 1,400 萬美元的成本，這有利於本季的毛利。儘管重新定位節省了約 400 萬美元，但調整後的 SG&A 美元和銷售額百分比仍同比增長，這主要是由於去年第三季度記錄的可變激勵薪酬與本季度的正常運行率相比。

Adjusted EBITDA dollars were down about $4 million in the current quarter versus last year. This quarter's results were negatively impacted by approximately $5 million in CEO severance charges and almost $4 million in Crossett restructuring-related inventory charges. Adjusted EBITDA margin improved 340 basis points to 28.2%, primarily due to a strong quarter from performance materials and the positive impact we're beginning to see of our repositioning actions in performance chemicals.

本季調整後 EBITDA 與去年相比減少了約 400 萬美元。本季的業績受到約 500 萬美元的執行長遣散費和近 400 萬美元的 Crossett 重組相關庫存費用的負面影響。調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率提高了 340 個基點，達到 28.2%，這主要是由於高性能材料季度的強勁表現以及我們開始看到高性能化學品重新定位行動的積極影響。

In fact, we realized a total of $18 million of savings in Q3, which puts us on track to realize our 2024 target of $65 million to $75 million in savings from the restructuring actions we have taken. We continue to expect that our full year 2024 effective tax rate will be between 23% and 25%.

事實上，我們在第三季總共實現了 1,800 萬美元的節省，這使我們有望實現 2024 年透過我們採取的重組行動節省 6,500 萬至 7,500 萬美元的目標。我們繼續預計 2024 年全年有效稅率將在 23% 至 25% 之間。

Please turn to slide 6. We generated free cash flow of $28.5 million in Q3, which includes the first $50 million payment to terminate a long-term CTO supply contract as well as $21 million of cash restructuring charges. Clearly, we had a very good quarter from a cash generation standpoint. Also we've been very disciplined on CapEx this year, as we managed free cash flow, while ensuring appropriate safety and maintenance spend at the plants.

請翻到幻燈片 6。第三季我們產生了 2,850 萬美元的自由現金流，其中包括終止長期 CTO 供應合約的首筆 5,000 萬美元付款以及 2,100 萬美元的現金重組費用。顯然，從現金產生的角度來看，我們度過了一個非常好的季度。此外，我們今年在資本支出方面非常嚴格，因為我們管理自由現金流，同時確保工廠適當的安全和維護支出。

Leverage was slightly lower than last quarter, still around 4 times but we expect this to move closer to 3.5 times by year-end. Our bank calculated leverage was about 3 times at the end of Q3 and we are comfortably in compliance with all of our bank covenants. As we've stated in recent quarters, our capital allocation priority for the near term is to focus on debt reduction.

槓桿率略低於上季度，仍約為 4 倍，但我們預計到年底將接近 3.5 倍。我們的銀行計算出的槓桿率在第三季末約為 3 倍，我們輕鬆遵守了所有銀行契約。正如我們在最近幾季所指出的，我們近期的資本配置重點是減少債務。

Turning to slide 7. You'll find results for performance materials. The segment delivered solid sales growth of 3% to $151.1 million. Not included in this number are approximately $4 million of sales that were scheduled to be shipped out in the third quarter, but were delayed into Q4 due to the port strike on the East Coast.

轉到投影片 7。您將找到高性能材料的結果。該部門的銷售額穩定成長 3%，達到 1.511 億美元。該數字不包括約 400 萬美元的銷售額，原定於第三季發貨，但由於東海岸港口罷工而推遲到第四季度。

EBITDA was up 8% to $80.6 million with an EBITDA margin of 53.3%. The segment continues to benefit from lower input costs as a result of investments made at the plants to improve operational efficiency, primarily by reducing natural gas usage. B

EBITDA 成長 8%，達到 8,060 萬美元，EBITDA 利潤率為 53.3%。由於對工廠進行投資以提高營運效率（主要是透過減少天然氣使用量），該部門繼續受益於較低的投入成本。乙

ecause of these improvements, it is possible that segment will maintain margins in the high-40%s to low-50%s over the next few quarters. But over the long-term, we continue to expect EBITDA margins in this segment to be in the mid- to high-40%s as the geographic and automotive sales mix changes over time.

由於這些改進，該部門有可能在未來幾季將利潤率維持在 40% 至 50% 的低水平。但從長遠來看，隨著地理和汽車銷售組合隨著時間的推移而變化，我們繼續預計該細分市場的 EBITDA 利潤率將在 40% 左右。

Turning to slide 8. Revenue in APT was $48.8 million, up 14% as volumes increased versus last year's lows. We believe Q3 last year was the peak of destocking for APT customers. China especially had a nice uptick this quarter, as sales for paint protective film for autos increased, which may indicate market demand in China is beginning to show some signs of improvement.

轉到投影片 8。APT 的營收為 4,880 萬美元，成長了 14%，銷量較去年的低點增加。我們認為去年第三季是 APT 客戶去庫存的高峰期。尤其是中國，本季汽車漆面保護膜銷量有所成長，這可能顯示中國的市場需求開始出現一些改善的跡象。

EBITDA margins were a solid 20.1%, although down compared to last year. The increased volumes also improved our plant utilization, but these gains were more than offset by pricing pressure, unfavorable product mix and a negative impact from movements in foreign exchange rates, primarily the strengthening of the British pound versus the US dollar.

EBITDA 利潤率為 20.1%，儘管與去年相比有所下降。產量的增加也提高了我們的工廠利用率，但這些收益被定價壓力、不利的產品組合以及外匯匯率變動（主要是英鎊兌美元走強）的負面影響所抵消。

We've also noted that APT is exposed to several end markets affected by the continued weakness in industrial demand. Not only does this slowdown affect current markets in which we participate, but it also dampens customer momentum to adopt new products such as bioplastics, which is where our Capa technology brings many unique benefits.

我們也注意到，APT 面臨著受工業需求持續疲軟影響的多個終端市場的風險。這種放緩不僅影響了我們目前參與的市場，而且還削弱了客戶採用生物塑膠等新產品的動力，而這正是我們的 Capa 技術帶來許多獨特優勢的地方。

Please turn to slide 9 for performance chemicals results. Sales of $177 million were down 31%, primarily due to the repositioning actions affecting the Industrial Specialties product line, where sales declined 54%. This reflects our intentional actions to exit lower-margin cyclical end markets.

請參閱投影片 9 以了解高性能化學品的結果。銷售額為 1.77 億美元，下降 31%，主要是由於重新定位行動影響了工業特種產品線，該產品線的銷售額下降了 54%。這反映出我們有意退出利潤率較低的周期性終端市場。

However, we're also still experiencing lackluster industrial demand in our remaining Industrial Specialties end markets, which include our fatty acids that go into mining and lubricants, dispersants that go into Ag Chem for crop protection and rosin that goes into rubber and certain molten adhesive applications. Road Technologies sales were down 8%, primarily due to weather-related delays in road construction projects during the current quarter.

然而，我們在剩餘的工業特種終端市場上仍然面臨著低迷的工業需求，其中包括用於採礦和潤滑劑的脂肪酸、用於作物保護的農業化學的分散劑以及用於橡膠和某些熔融粘合劑的松香應用程式。道路技術銷售額下降 8%，主要是由於本季道路建設工程因天氣原因而延誤。

Since weather caused a number of road projects to be delayed in both the second and third quarters and we're entering the winter months, we expect many of those projects will shift into next year's paving season. Recognizing the challenges in getting resources to complete road projects, it is unlikely this shift will result in a significant increase in projects next year since there are only so many projects that can be completed in any given year.

由於天氣原因導致許多道路項目在第二季和第三季被推遲，我們正進入冬季，我們預計其中許多項目將轉移到明年的鋪路季節。認識到獲得資源完成道路專案的挑戰，這種轉變不太可能導致明年專案的大幅增加，因為任何一年都只能完成這麼多專案。

EBITDA for the segment was $19.8 million, down 20%, due primarily to higher CTO costs, continued weak industrial demand and the weather-related delays impacting Road Technologies. These headwinds were partially offset by savings from our repositioning actions. EBITDA margins improved 160 basis points to 11.2%.

該部門的 EBITDA 為 1,980 萬美元，下降 20%，主要是由於 CTO 成本上升、工業需求持續疲軟以及影響道路技術的天氣相關延誤。這些不利因素被我們重新定位行動所節省的資金部分抵消。EBITDA 利潤率提高了 160 個基點，達到 11.2%。

This is primarily a result of the exit of lower-margin end markets in the Industrial Specialties product line, which is a key element of our repositioning strategy. As we indicated last quarter, we expect to run through our remaining high-cost CTO inventory by the end of the first quarter next year.

這主要是由於工業特種產品線中利潤率較低的終端市場退出的結果，這是我們重新定位策略的關鍵要素。正如我們上季度表示的那樣，我們預計到明年第一季末將耗盡剩餘的高成本 CTO 庫存。

And I'll now turn the call back to Luis for an update on guidance and closing comments.

現在，我將把電話轉迴路易斯，以獲取有關指導和結束語的最新資訊。

Thanks, Mary. Please turn to slide 10. As you've heard today and seen in our release, we had a good quarter. As you know, the fourth quarter is a seasonally low quarter for our Road Technologies product line and we are still consuming high-cost CTO inventory in our performance chemicals segment, as Mary mentioned.

謝謝，瑪麗。請翻到投影片 10。正如您今天聽到的以及在我們的新聞稿中看到的那樣，我們度過了一個不錯的季度。如您所知，第四季度是我們道路技術產品線的季節性淡季，正如瑪麗所提到的，我們仍在高性能化學品領域消耗高成本的 CTO 庫存。

Also as you heard from many other companies, there are few, if any, signs of industrial demand improving and auto production forecasts appear to be softening. In light of these headwinds, we expect to deliver toward the lower end of our guidance of sales between $1.4 billion and $1.5 billion, with adjusted EBITDA of between $350 million and $360 million.

此外，正如您從許多其他公司聽到的那樣，幾乎沒有工業需求改善的跡象（如果有的話），而汽車產量預測似乎正在疲軟。鑑於這些不利因素，我們預計銷售額將達到 14 億至 15 億美元的下限，調整後的 EBITDA 為 3.5 億至 3.6 億美元。

As I look at the next few months, I see three key priorities for me; improved execution and focus; reducing our leverage through improved free cash flow; and complete a fresh look at our business portfolio and corporate strategy. Based on these priorities, while it is too early to provide guidance on 2025, with the actions we have taken and our continued focus on improving growth and profitability, I have challenged the team to deliver a plan approaching $400 million of EBITDA for 2025 and return our leverage to around 3 times by year-end 2025.

展望未來幾個月，我看到了三個關鍵的優先事項：提高執行力和專注力；透過改善自由現金流來降低我們的槓桿率；並重新審視我們的業務組合和企業策略。基於這些優先事項，雖然現在提供2025 年指導還為時過早，但透過我們已採取的行動以及我們對提高成長和盈利能力的持續關注，我向團隊提出了挑戰，要求其在2025 年交付接近4 億美元EBITDA 的計畫並回報到 2025 年底，我們的槓桿率將提高至 3 倍左右。

I will be able to provide more details of these initiatives and our progress in our February earnings call. Let me say again how excited I am to be in this position to drive the execution of our strategy. I look forward to speaking with you all again next quarter when we will also share more details on our outlook for 2025.

我將能夠在二月份的財報電話會議上提供有關這些舉措以及我們進展的更多詳細資訊。讓我再說一遍，能夠擔任這個職位來推動我們策略的執行，我感到多麼興奮。我期待下個季度再次與大家交談，屆時我們也將分享有關 2025 年展望的更多細節。

With that, I'll turn it over for questions.

這樣，我就把它轉過來供大家提問。

(Operator Instructions) Jon Tanwanteng, CJS Securities.

（操作員指示）Jon Tanwanteng，CJS 證券。

It's actually Lee Jagoda for Jon this morning. If we could just start with the CTO sales in Q3, can you speak to the volume of CTO sales you had in Q3? How much inventory you have remaining? And I think prior expectations were that you should be done with all the high-cost inventory sometime during Q1 of 2025. Is there any update to that?

今天早上喬恩的電話實際上是李·賈戈達。如果我們可以從第三季的 CTO 銷售額開始，您能談談第三季的 CTO 銷售額嗎？您還剩下多少庫存？我認為之前的預期是，您應該在 2025 年第一季的某個時候處理完所有高成本庫存。有更新嗎？

So I believe the CTO resales were very nominal in Q3. And I -- and as I think we said last quarter, we don't -- we expect that we have completed essentially the resales. Your comment about the CTO inventory, we continue to have high-cost inventory that runs through our production as we're actually consuming CTO to make product.

所以我相信第三季 CTO 的轉售是非常名義上的。我——正如我認為我們上季度所說的那樣——我們預計我們基本上已經完成了轉售。您對 CTO 庫存的評論是，我們的生產過程中仍然存在高成本庫存，因為我們實際上正在消耗 CTO 來製造產品。

And that's the CTO, the high-cost CTO that is actually impacting the EBITDA margins, for example and profitability. And that's what we said that we expect to finish with that high-cost inventory, consume it essentially all by the end of first quarter of next year.

這就是 CTO，高成本的 CTO 實際上影響著 EBITDA 利潤率和獲利能力。這就是我們所說的，我們預計將完成高成本庫存，並在明年第一季末基本全部消耗掉。

Okay. Great. And then just another question on CTO. Where is the underlying price of CTO today in the spot market? And how does that compare to your expectations from prior quarters in terms of when you need to go back to the market, the spread versus the high-cost stuff that you're burning through today?

好的。偉大的。然後是關於 CTO 的另一個問題。今天現貨市場CTO標的價格在哪裡？與您對前幾個季度的預期相比，您何時需要重返市場、利差與您今天正在消耗的高成本產品相比如何？

So while -- what we have talked about is how the spot price of CTO has continued -- did continue to come down largely throughout the year, I would say, plateaued in the last few months. And I think the last August price I saw was in the $700, $650, $750, call it, range.

因此，儘管我們所討論的是 CTO 現貨價格如何持續，全年確實繼續大幅下降，但我想說，在過去幾個月中趨於穩定。我認為我看到的去年 8 月的價格在 700 美元、650 美元、750 美元之間，可以這麼說。

So again significantly below where we had indicated our CTO contract costs had been previously, although not back to the levels that we had seen in prior years before the dynamic of biofuels began to impact CTO prices.

因此，我們的 CTO 合約成本再次顯著低於先前的水平，儘管沒有回到生物燃料動態開始影響 CTO 價格之前幾年的水平。

Got it. And one more from me, and I'll hop back in. Just in terms of the CEO search process, can you give us the criteria for some of the things that a new CEO might have -- you might want in a new CEO? And any update on when the process might be completed?

知道了。我再寄一封信，我會跳回來。就執行長搜尋流程而言，您能否為我們提供新執行長可能具備的一些標準—您可能希望新執行長具備哪些條件？有關該過程何時完成的任何更新嗎？

This is Luis. Yes, a couple of comments regarding that. The Board has a committee that is conducting the search and obviously they have the criteria that it's needed for that search. The thing that I always highlight is that, while that happens, I am committed to stay here for as long as it takes to find the right leader for the company. And I will be acting as a full-fledged CEO.

這是路易斯.是的，對此有一些評論。董事會有一個委員會正在進行搜尋，顯然他們有搜尋所需的標準。我一直強調的一點是，儘管發生這種情況，我仍致力於留在這裡，直到為公司找到合適的領導者。我將擔任正式的執行長。

I don't expect to be just being a gatekeeper. So my focus and the focus of the organization continues to be to deliver based on my leadership. And again the Board is diligently acting on it, but they're going to take the time required to find the right leader for the company.

我不希望只是做一個看門人。因此，我和組織的重點仍然是根據我的領導力交付成果。董事會再次努力採取行動，但他們將花時間為公司找到合適的領導者。

Daniel Rizzo, Jefferies.

丹尼爾·里佐，杰弗里斯。

You mentioned during your prepared remarks that you're reviewing portfolio businesses. Does this suggest that you might be selling or divesting the PC or APT segment? Is that a possibility?

您在準備好的發言中提到您正在審查投資組合業務。這是否表明您可能正在出售或剝離 PC 或 APT 部門？有這種可能嗎？

Yes, it means that we are looking at the portfolio. I will be looking at it. The remark -- the comments talk about the fact that the threehree segments that we have today provide scale and geography and market diversity. Having said that, with me coming on the Board, I think it's a good time to revisit and check if this is the right composition, the right corporate strategy, the right portfolio composition.

是的，這意味著我們正在研究投資組合。我會看看它。這句話——這些評論談到了這樣一個事實，即我們今天擁有的三個細分市場提供了規模、地理位置和市場多樣性。話雖如此，隨著我加入董事會，我認為現在是重新審視並檢查這是否是正確的組成、正確的公司策略、正確的投資組合組成的好時機。

So I cannot and will not speculate on what that may mean in terms of specific businesses, other than indeed myself, the team and the Board will be continued to reviewing the composition and the strategy. But again, recognizing that the current composition provides scale and diversity.

因此，我不能也不會猜測這對特定業務可能意味著什麼，除了我本人之外，團隊和董事會將繼續審查組成和策略。但再次強調，當前的組成提供了規模和多樣性。

And then with Industrial Specialties, is there a percent that's all your base at this point, or is the transition still in its beginning stages?

然後，對於工業特種產品，目前是否有一個百分比是您的全部基礎，或者過渡期仍處於開始階段？

So the strategy around Industrial Specialties is to diversify our raw material capability. So we are not tied to one or the other and being able to optimize the raw material mix to maximize both quality, profitability, but also again, the ability to move from one to the other.

因此，圍繞特種工業的策略是使我們的原材料能力多樣化。因此，我們不受其中之一的束縛，能夠優化原材料組合，以最大限度地提高品質、盈利能力，以及從一種材料轉向另一種材料的能力。

So at this time, that's not something that we're focusing on in terms of what percentages, because the percentages may change quarter to quarter depending on the specific economics of each of the raw materials. And again, that provides flexibility that it's very important to us moving forward.

因此，目前我們關注的不是百分比，因為百分比可能會根據每種原材料的具體經濟情況而逐季變化。再說一次，這提供了靈活性，這對我們的前進非常重要。

John McNulty, BMO Capital Markets.

約翰·麥克納爾蒂 (John McNulty)，BMO 資本市場部。

So I guess the first one is in performance chemicals. So when I look at the improvement from 2Q to 3Q and the margin doubled and yet sales in some of your higher-margin business on the paving side was actually down a little bit. So I guess can you help us to understand what drove that improvement from quarter to quarter?

所以我想第一個是高性能化學品。因此，當我看到第二季到第三季的改善時，利潤率翻了一番，但鋪路方面一些利潤率較高的業務的銷售額實際上略有下降。所以我想你能幫助我們了解是什麼推動了每季的改進嗎？

Yes. It's primarily two things, John, and good catch there. So clearly we're seeing the benefit of the mix shift as over again, progressively exiting those lower-margin products and we're seeing that mix shift to the higher-margin products in that segment. And also, frankly in Q2, we were still had -- we're still operating Crossett, the Crossett facility.

是的。這主要有兩件事，約翰，以及那裡的好收穫。很明顯，我們再次看到了組合轉變的好處，逐步退出那些利潤率較低的產品，我們看到該細分市場的組合轉變為利潤率較高的產品。而且，坦白說，在第二季度，我們仍然——我們仍在運營 Crossett，Crossett 工廠。

We announced the shutdown of that at the very end of Q2 and are seeing some -- the benefit of not having the drag. If you recall, we talked about earlier the drag from the Crossett facility. So we would have had that drag in Q2. We don't have it in Q3. So both those things really are benefiting and showing up in that margin improvement.

我們在第二季末宣布關閉該服務，並看到了一些——沒有阻力的好處。如果你還記得的話，我們之前討論過克羅塞特工廠的拖累。所以我們在第二季就會遇到這種拖累。我們在第三季沒有。因此，這兩件事確實都受益並反映在利潤率的提高中。

No, that's helpful. And it definitely was -- obviously, was a big one. So I guess the other question that I had also on PC, I know it's a little bit early in terms of a guide for '25, but I guess, look, there's a lot of big buckets of improvement to come with CTO lower, Crossett gone. I guess, can you help to quantify the buckets as we go from '24 to '25?

不，這很有幫助。顯然，這絕對是一件大事。所以我想我在 PC 上也遇到了另一個問題，我知道就 25 年的指南而言還為時過早，但我想，看，CTO 較低，Crossett 有很多重大改進走了。我想，你能幫忙量化一下我們從 24 歲到 25 歲的時間段嗎？

Let's just say the macro is -- everything is flat, like let's make a no-comp case what's going on in the rest of the world. But on the savings on the lower CTO, et cetera, can you help us to think about what that year-over-year bridge might look like for '25?

我們只能說宏觀情況是——一切都很平淡，就像讓我們做一個無補償案例，看看世界其他地方正在發生什麼。但是，關於較低 CTO 的節省等等，您能否幫助我們思考 25 年的逐年橋樑會是什麼樣子？

Yes. I'll point to some information that we did talk about end of Q2 when we talked about Crossett, for example. We said that we expected the savings from closing Crossett to be -- Crossett alone to be between $20 million and $25 million with an additional $10 million of savings coming from corporate actions taken to rightsize the company as a result.

是的。例如，我將指出我們在第二季末談論克羅塞特時確實討論過的一些資訊。我們表示，我們預計關閉 Crossett 後將節省 2,000 萬至 2,500 萬美元，另外 1,000 萬美元的節省來自企業調整公司規模的行動。

On the CTO, again, what we've done is move from long-term contractual arrangements at much higher cost to more of a spot purchase and you heard, so we are obviously looking at the spot prices. And again, as I mentioned, those have come down.

在 CTO 方面，我們所做的就是從成本高得多的長期合約安排轉向更多的現貨購買，你聽說過，所以我們顯然正在關注現貨價格。正如我所提到的，這些已經下降了。

Also recognized though, I believe as we talked about last quarter, in Industrial Specialties, because our raw material costs were so high, we were less competitive in pricing and selling of certain products in the market. So now with those CTO costs coming down as we move forward, we would expect that pricing will adjust as well.

不過，我相信正如我們上季度談到的，在特種工業領域，我們也認識到，由於我們的原材料成本如此之高，我們在市場上某些產品的定價和銷售方面的競爭力較差。因此，隨著我們的前進，隨著 CTO 成本的下降，我們預期定價也會隨之調整。

And again, we'll be more competitive in the market. We should see volume improvement as a result of that. But I think for modeling purposes to just take the delta and CTO costs without any price movement would not be a fair apples to apples comparison.

再次，我們將在市場上更具競爭力。我們應該會看到銷量因此而改善。但我認為，出於建模目的，僅採用 Delta 和 CTO 成本而不考慮任何價格變動，這並不是公平的同類比較。

Michael Sison, Wells Fargo.

麥可西森，富國銀行。

Nice quarter and outlook. Luis, I guess, when I think about 2025, the last two quarters are running above that run rate. I understand the seasonality for the first and fourth quarter being a little bit lower.

不錯的季度和前景。路易斯，我想，當我想到 2025 年時，最後兩個季度的運行速度高於該運行速度。據我了解，第一季和第四季的季節性要低一些。

But when you think about building that bridge to next year that you're walking your team through, just off the cuff, how much of that bridge from this year could be just what you do on your own? And how much help do you think you need from auto build or the economy?

但是，當您考慮為您的團隊即興搭建通往明年的橋樑時，今年的橋樑有多少是您自己完成的？您認為您需要汽車製造或經濟上的多少幫助？

Yes. Very good question. I think that the reason I'm challenging the team to deliver a plan that is again, approaching $400 million, at this time, obviously we understand that there's a fair amount of uncertainties on the things that you mentioned around auto production, industrial demand.

是的。非常好的問題。我認為，我之所以要求團隊再次交付一項接近 4 億美元的計劃，顯然我們知道您提到的汽車生產和工業需求方面存在相當大的不確定性。

But I'm definitely focusing on the self-help that we've done as a company including the fact that we got out of the CTO contracts that will allow us to benefit from lower CTO costs in the last three quarters of the year. The benefits that Mary was just referring to when it comes to the PC repositioning.

但我絕對關注我們作為一家公司所做的自助，包括我們取消了 CTO 合同，這將使我們能夠從今年最後三個季度較低的 CTO 成本中受益。瑪麗剛剛提到的 PC 重新定位的好處。

And the third element are the benefits of the enhanced focus, or accelerated focus on execution by again, making sure the teams are focused on the right things that allow us to improve profitability and growth. I think those are the key elements, while we understand that there are dynamics in the markets that are still uncertain. But definitely we will be able to provide way more clarity in the February call in -- February 2025.

第三個要素是加強關注或再次加速關注執行的好處，確保團隊專注於正確的事情，使我們能夠提高獲利能力和成長。我認為這些是關鍵因素，但我們知道市場的動態仍然不確定。但我們肯定能夠在 2025 年 2 月的 2 月電話會議中提供更清晰的資訊。

Understood. And then you gave a little bit of color on what each of the segments you'd like to see, but can you maybe give us -- I mean, just on general, when you think about what type of businesses that you or Ingevity should own or want to own, any metrics behind that versus, yes, what type of growth, what type of return of capital, what type of free cash flow, any color of what is a good business you think that should be kept in the portfolio?

明白了。然後，您對您希望看到的每個細分市場給出了一些顏色，但是您可以給我們 - 我的意思是，只是一般性的，當您考慮您或 Ingevity 應該開展什麼類型的業務時擁有或想要擁有，其背後的任何指標與，是的，什麼類型的增長，什麼類型的資本回報，什麼類型的自由現金流，任何你認為應該保留在投資組合中的好企業的顏色？

Yes, that's a great question, Mike. And the only thing I can tell you is obviously I'm starting to look together with the team at the portfolio. But it would be too early for me to tell even in -- with four weeks on the job and even as we are looking on -- at the Board. It will be very early for me to tell you what we're thinking. Clearly, we have some thoughts, but I think it will be early to share some of those.

是的，這是一個很好的問題，麥克。我唯一能告訴你的是，我顯然開始與團隊一起研究投資組合。但對我來說，即使在董事會上任四個星期，甚至在我們正在觀察的情況下，現在下結論還為時過早。我現在告訴你我們的想法還為時過早。顯然，我們有一些想法，但我認為現在分享其中一些還為時過早。

We have no further questions, so I'll hand the call back to John Nypaver for some closing remarks.

我們沒有其他問題了，所以我會將電話轉回給約翰·尼帕弗（John Nypaver），讓他做一些結束語。

Great. Thanks, Adam. Well, that concludes our call. Thank you for your interest in Ingevity and we'll talk with you again next quarter.

偉大的。謝謝，亞當。好了，我們的通話就到此結束。感謝您對 Ingevity 的興趣，我們將在下個季度再次與您交談。

This concludes today's call. Thank you very much for your attendance. You may now disconnect your lines.

今天的電話會議到此結束。非常感謝您的出席。現在您可以斷開線路。