Enviri Corp (NVRI) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Rocco, and I will be your conference facilitator. Welcome, everyone to the Harsco Corporation Fourth Quarter Release Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

早上好。我叫 Rocco，我將擔任您的會議主持人。歡迎大家參加哈斯科公司第四季度發布電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。

This telephone conference presentation and accompanying webcast made on behalf of Harsco Corporation are subject to copyright by Harsco Corporation, and all rights are reserved. No recordings or redistributions of this telephone conference by any other party are permitted without the express written consent of Harsco Corporation. Your participation indicates your agreement. I would now like to introduce Dave Martin of Harsco Corporation. Mr. Martin, you may begin your call.

代表哈斯科公司製作的本次電話會議演示和隨附的網絡廣播受哈斯科公司版權保護，並保留所有權利。未經 Harsco Corporation 明確書面同意，任何其他方不得對本次電話會議進行錄音或重新分發。您的參與即表示您同意。我現在想介紹一下 Harsco Corporation 的 Dave Martin。馬丁先生，您可以開始通話了。

Thank you, Rocco, and welcome to everyone joining us this morning. I'm Dave Martin, VP of Investor Relations for Harsco. With me today is Nick Grasberger, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Pete Minan, Harsco's Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. This morning, we will discuss our results for the fourth quarter and our outlook for 2023. We'll then take your questions.

謝謝你，Rocco，歡迎大家今天早上加入我們。我是 Harsco 投資者關係副總裁 Dave Martin。今天和我在一起的是我們的董事長兼首席執行官 Nick Grasberger； Harsco 高級副總裁兼首席財務官 Pete Minan。今天上午，我們將討論第四季度的業績和 2023 年的展望。然後我們將回答您的問題。

Before our presentation, however, let me mention a few items. First, our quarterly earnings release and slide presentation for this call are available on our website. Second, we will make statements today that are considered forward-looking within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are based on our current knowledge and expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ from those forward-looking statements.

然而，在我們介紹之前，讓我提幾個項目。首先，我們的網站上提供了本次電話會議的季度收益發布和幻燈片演示。其次，我們今天將發表聯邦證券法意義上的前瞻性聲明。這些陳述基於我們目前的知識和預期，並受某些風險和不確定性的影響，這些風險和不確定性可能導致實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述不同。

For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, see the Risk Factors section in our most recent 10-K. The company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements.

有關此類風險和不確定性的討論，請參閱我們最近的 10-K 中的風險因素部分。公司不承擔修改或更新任何前瞻性陳述的義務。

Lastly, on this call, we will refer to adjusted financial results that are considered non-GAAP for SEC reporting purposes. A reconciliation to GAAP results is included in our earnings release and slide presentation. With that being said, I'll turn the call to Nick.

最後，在本次電話會議上，我們將參考被視為非 GAAP 的調整後財務結果，以用於 SEC 報告目的。與 GAAP 結果的對賬包含在我們的收益發布和幻燈片演示中。話雖如此，我會把電話轉給尼克。

Thank you, Dave, and good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the efforts of our Harsco Environmental colleagues in supporting the people impacted by the earthquake in Southern Turkey. We have nearly 200 employees working across 3 sites in the area with our partner, [Tosyali]. Thankfully, none of our employees or their immediate families was killed, but many have lost their homes and living conditions are very difficult. So we are doing what we can by providing temporary accommodations and other necessities.

謝謝戴夫，大家早上好，感謝今天加入我們。首先，我想感謝我們哈斯科環境部的同事為支持土耳其南部受地震影響的人們所做的努力。我們有近 200 名員工與我們的合作夥伴 [Tosyali] 在該地區的 3 個站點工作。值得慶幸的是，我們的員工和他們的直系親屬都沒有遇難，但許多人失去了家園，生活條件非常困難。因此，我們正在盡我們所能提供臨時住所和其他必需品。

Now on to the past quarter. The fourth quarter was above our guidance expectations as adjusted EBITDA improved year-over-year as did revenue and margins. These results reflect the continued improvements in our Clean Earth segment due to numerous ongoing operational initiatives, as well as pricing actions implemented in the previous quarter.

現在進入上個季度。第四季度超出了我們的指導預期，因為調整後的 EBITDA 同比有所改善，收入和利潤率也有所改善。這些結果反映了由於眾多持續的運營舉措以及上一季度實施的定價行動，我們的清潔地球部門持續改進。

Harsco Environmental also performed somewhat better than we expected as declining steel production over the previous few quarters stabilized in most of our markets.

Harsco Environmental 的表現也略好於我們的預期，因為前幾個季度下降的鋼鐵產量在我們的大多數市場都趨於穩定。

The Clean Earth team executed a very impressive turnaround in the second half of the year. Adjusted EBITDA margins, which were below 4% in the first half, grew to over 12% in the second half of the year. Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow were also about 3x higher in the second half of the year.

Clean Earth 團隊在今年下半年實現了令人印象深刻的轉變。上半年調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率低於 4%，下半年增長至 12% 以上。調整後的 EBITDA 和自由現金流在下半年也增長了約 3 倍。

The external forces that affected our first half performance, namely inflation, a tight labor market and severely limited incineration capacity largely continued through the remainder of the year. However, our team moved aggressively to mitigate the impact and executed the action plan that we developed extremely well.

影響我們上半年業績的外部因素，即通貨膨脹、緊張的勞動力市場和嚴重受限的焚燒能力，在今年餘下時間里基本上仍在繼續。但是，我們的團隊積極採取行動以減輕影響，並出色地執行了我們制定的行動計劃。

Of equal importance, service levels to our customers reach new highs, and our safety culture took a big step forward in Clean Earth following the lead of Harsco Environmental, which delivered record safety performance for the year.

同樣重要的是，我們對客戶的服務水平達到了新高，我們的安全文化在 Harsco Environmental 的帶領下在 Clean Earth 方面向前邁進了一大步，Harsco Environmental 在今年創造了創紀錄的安全績效。

Changes in leadership structure and process along with the heightened emphasis of the Harsco values have been the underlying foundation of our success in Clean Earth. We certainly expect this momentum to continue throughout this year as we validate our strategy of building a leading platform in the hazardous waste sector.

領導結構和流程的變化以及對 Harsco 價值觀的高度重視一直是我們在清潔地球方面取得成功的基礎。隨著我們驗證我們在危險廢物領域建立領先平台的戰略，我們當然希望這種勢頭在今年繼續下去。

Turning to Harsco Environmental, while service volumes remain weak compared to last year, particularly in Europe, steel production appears to be stabilizing and was a bit higher than we anticipated in Q4. We continue to remove costs and boost productivity across our platform. And at the same time, we were improving our competitive position in light of the bankruptcy of Phoenix Services, the third largest mill services business.

談到 Harsco Environmental，雖然服務量與去年相比仍然疲軟，特別是在歐洲，鋼鐵產量似乎正在穩定並且略高於我們在第四季度的預期。我們繼續在我們的平台上降低成本並提高生產力。同時，鑑於第三大工廠服務企業 Phoenix Services 的破產，我們正在提高我們的競爭地位。

We see an opportunity to gain new contracts as a result without relaxing our standards for economics and risk protection.

我們看到了在不放鬆經濟和風險保護標準的情況下獲得新合同的機會。

At Harsco Rail, which is accounted for as a discontinued operation, let me address opportunities and then challenges. Our Rail business is solid and demand is growing. In fact, we are experiencing our highest backlog for standard equipment in several years. To alleviate some of the growing backlog, we will reopen our Ludington, Michigan manufacturing facility in the second quarter which we expect to be a net positive as it will alleviate some constraints in other parts of the Rail business.

在 Harsco Rail（被列為停產業務），讓我來談談機遇和挑戰。我們的鐵路業務穩固，需求也在增長。事實上，我們正在經歷幾年來標准設備的最高積壓。為了緩解一些不斷增長的積壓，我們將在第二季度重新開放位於密歇根州拉丁頓的製造工廠，我們預計這將是一個淨積極因素，因為它將緩解鐵路業務其他部分的一些限制。

Our aftermarket business, which accounts for about 2/3 of our Rail profit has also remained strong in the past few years, and we expect growth in 2023. The challenges for the Rail segment continue to be our long-term contracts for highly engineered and specialized equipment due to the impacts of inflation, supply chain disruptions and design changes. To mitigate these challenges, we are negotiating new delivery schedules, a reduction in penalties and price increases with many of our customers.

我們的售後市場業務約占我們鐵路利潤的 2/3，在過去幾年中也保持強勁，我們預計 2023 年會增長。鐵路部門面臨的挑戰仍然是我們的長期合同，以實現高度工程化和由於通貨膨脹、供應鏈中斷和設計變更的影響而導致的專用設備。為了緩解這些挑戰，我們正在與我們的許多客戶協商新的交貨時間表、減少罰款和價格上漲。

To be very clear, divesting Harsco Rail remains a priority. We are focused on value creation and are being thoughtful in our approach, given the division's unique attributes and positive outlook and we plan to reengage on the sale process with prospective buyers in the second half of the year.

需要明確的是，剝離 Harsco Rail 仍然是當務之急。考慮到該部門的獨特屬性和積極的前景，我們專注於價值創造，並在我們的方法中深思熟慮，我們計劃在今年下半年重新與潛在買家進行銷售流程。

Our 2023 outlook for continuing operations reflects improvements in all key financial metrics for each segment, namely adjusted EBITDA, margins and free cash flow, even with limited volume growth. In terms of adjusted EBITDA margins, we anticipate growth of about 150 basis points, led by a 300 basis point jump in Clean Earth margins.

我們對 2023 年持續經營的展望反映了每個部門所有關鍵財務指標的改善，即調整後的 EBITDA、利潤率和自由現金流，即使銷量增長有限。就調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率而言，我們預計增長約 150 個基點，其中 Clean Earth 利潤率將增長 300 個基點。

Importantly, we also anticipate a strengthening of the balance sheet, driven both by operations as well as by the future Rail divestiture. Adjusting for the impact of an accounts receivable securitization program last year, the cash flow from our two segments is expected to improve by more than $100 million.

重要的是，我們還預計資產負債表將在運營和未來鐵路資產剝離的推動下得到加強。調整去年應收賬款證券化計劃的影響後，我們兩個部門的現金流預計將增加 1 億多美元。

As Pete will discuss, we expect strong revenue and earnings growth in Clean Earth and while Harsco Environmental is holding its own, segment growth is expected to be slower given the difficult market conditions it faces.

正如皮特將要討論的那樣，我們預計 Clean Earth 的收入和盈利將強勁增長，而哈斯科環境保持著自己的地位，鑑於其面臨的艱難市場條件，預計該部門的增長將放緩。

So before I turn the call over to Pete, I'd like to thank our 12,000 employees for mitigating the many challenges of the past year and also identifying the opportunities for future growth in both revenue and productivity. I'll now turn the call to Pete.

因此，在我將電話轉給皮特之前，我要感謝我們的 12,000 名員工減輕了過去一年的許多挑戰，並確定了未來收入和生產力增長的機會。我現在將電話轉給皮特。

Thanks, Nick, and good morning, everybody. So let's start by turning to Slide 4. Harsco fourth quarter consolidated revenues from continuing operations increased to $468 million, up 1% compared with the prior year quarter, or 6% if you exclude the impact of foreign exchange.

謝謝，尼克，大家早上好。那麼讓我們從幻燈片 4 開始。Harsco 第四季度來自持續經營業務的綜合收入增加到 4.68 億美元，比去年同期增長 1%，如果排除外彙的影響，則增長 6%。

The increase was primarily driven by the higher pricing that we implemented in both our Clean Earth and Environmental segments. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $61 million, which is above our prior guidance range and represents an improvement from the prior year. Each of our segments showed stronger-than-anticipated performance, although Clean Earth was the larger and largest contributor to the beat. Clean Earth results were better than expected due to lower operating costs as well as the timing and volume of dredge-related work, while Environmental benefited from lower spending and the mix of services performed during the quarter.

增長的主要原因是我們在清潔地球和環境部門實施了更高的定價。調整後的 EBITDA 總計 6100 萬美元，高於我們先前的指導範圍，比上一年有所改善。我們的每個細分市場都表現出強於預期的表現，儘管 Clean Earth 是最大的貢獻者。由於較低的運營成本以及疏浚相關工作的時間和數量，清潔地球的結果好於預期，而環境受益於較低的支出和本季度執行的服務組合。

And lastly, corporate expense was lower than anticipated given our continued discipline on our functional spending.

最後，鑑於我們對職能支出的持續紀律，公司支出低於預期。

Relative to the prior year quarter, the EBITDA increase was driven by Clean Earth as a result of price increases and cost improvements initiated midyear. The success of these efforts is apparent in our results for the past 2 quarters and we're pleased that Clean Earth adjusted EBITDA margin exceeded 12% in the second half of the year. Our adjusted earnings per share was $0.01 for the quarter. The unusual items in the quarter included $4 million of restructuring costs in Environmental, which will boost its performance going forward and a noncash impairment charge of $15 million related to ALTEK.

與去年同期相比，由於年中價格上漲和成本改善，清潔地球推動了 EBITDA 的增長。這些努力的成功在我們過去兩個季度的業績中顯而易見，我們很高興 Clean Earth 調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率在今年下半年超過 12%。本季度我們調整後的每股收益為 0.01 美元。本季度的異常項目包括 400 萬美元的環境重組成本，這將提高其未來的業績，以及與 ALTEK 相關的 1500 萬美元的非現金減值費用。

Free cash flow for the quarter was $3 million. This result was lower than our expectations due mainly to some delayed payments from China-based customers, some of which have since been paid in early 2023. Please turn to Slide 5 in our Environmental segment.

本季度的自由現金流為 300 萬美元。這一結果低於我們的預期，主要是由於中國客戶的一些延遲付款，其中一些已於 2023 年初支付。請轉到我們環境部分的幻燈片 5。

Segment revenues totaled $257 million, and adjusted EBITDA was $43 million for the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA decreased by $6 million year-on-year. The decrease from prior year was largely driven by foreign exchange translation, lower commodity prices and the impact of prior year Brazil tax credits, which did not repeat in 2022. And these headwinds were partially offset by higher service activity at certain sites, better site performance as well as new contracts.

本季度部門收入總計 2.57 億美元，調整後的 EBITDA 為 4300 萬美元。經調整 EBITDA 按年減少 600 萬元。與上一年相比下降的主要原因是外匯換算、商品價格下降以及上一年巴西稅收抵免的影響，這些影響在 2022 年沒有重演。這些不利因素被某些站點更高的服務活動、更好的站點性能部分抵消了以及新合同。

Overall, steel output at our customer sites remained stable year-on-year and sequentially, which compares favorably to the overall steel industry. Production performance varied by region, with weak production in Europe offset by growth in India, China and Latin America.

總體而言，我們客戶現場的鋼鐵產量同比和環比保持穩定，優於整體鋼鐵行業。生產表現因地區而異，歐洲的疲軟產量被印度、中國和拉丁美洲的增長所抵消。

Considering the headwinds faced during the quarter, we are encouraged by the solid execution and overall performance of Harsco Environmental. So next, please turn to Slide 6, and we'll discuss Clean Earth.

考慮到本季度面臨的不利因素，我們對 Harsco Environmental 穩健的執行力和整體表現感到鼓舞。接下來，請轉到幻燈片 6，我們將討論清潔地球。

For the quarter, revenues totaled $211 million and adjusted EBITDA was $25 million. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, revenues increased 9%, largely as a result of price.

本季度總收入為 2.11 億美元，調整後的 EBITDA 為 2500 萬美元。與 2021 年第四季度相比，收入增長了 9%，這主要歸功於價格。

Hazardous materials revenues reached $169 million, up 8% year-over-year, with the growth led by industrial markets, followed by retail. Meanwhile, soil and dredge revenues totaled $42 million, representing an increase of 13% over the prior year quarter. Clean Earth's adjusted EBITDA increased $8 million year-on-year and margin improved over 300 basis points. This improvement reflects the benefits of our price and efficiency initiatives across the business, including the restructuring program we introduced in Q3 which we expect to deliver annualized benefits of over $7 million. So now please turn to Slide 7.

危險材料收入達到 1.69 億美元，同比增長 8%，增長主要來自工業市場，其次是零售。與此同時，土壤和疏浚收入總計 4200 萬美元，比去年同期增長 13%。 Clean Earth 的調整後 EBITDA 同比增長 800 萬美元，利潤率提高超過 300 個基點。這一改進反映了我們在整個企業的價格和效率舉措的好處，包括我們在第三季度推出的重組計劃，我們預計該計劃將帶來超過 700 萬美元的年化收益。現在請轉到幻燈片 7。

For the full year, revenues from continuing operations increased almost $1.9 billion, and adjusted EBITDA totaled $229 million. As you are no doubt aware, 2022 presented some unique and unprecedented challenges. The Russia-Ukraine war had a profound impact on steel volumes, particularly in Europe, where our customer production declined more than 10% for the year and the financial impacts of inflation were significant as well.

全年，來自持續經營業務的收入增長近 19 億美元，調整後的 EBITDA 總計 2.29 億美元。眾所周知，2022 年帶來了一些獨特且前所未有的挑戰。俄烏戰爭對鋼鐵產量產生了深遠影響，尤其是在歐洲，我們的客戶產量全年下降了 10% 以上，通貨膨脹對財務的影響也很大。

We responded quickly and aggressively to these challenges, leading to a dramatic improvement in financial results during the second half of the year. Our actions to push price and manage costs while the lasting impact on Harsco and we believe will position us to create additional value for shareholders in the future.

我們迅速而積極地應對這些挑戰，導致下半年財務業績顯著改善。我們在推動價格和管理成本的同時對 Harsco 產生了持久影響，我們相信這將使我們能夠在未來為股東創造更多價值。

Moving on, our free cash flow was $75 million for the year, including $145 million from our accounts receivable securitization program. We ended 2022 with net debt of just under $1.3 billion which in part reflects Rail's operating performance and delays in cash collections during the year. Also, we recently executed a variable to fixed interest rate swap for $300 million which will benefit us in 2023 given the recent and anticipated movement in interest rates.

繼續前進，我們全年的自由現金流為 7500 萬美元，其中包括來自應收賬款證券化計劃的 1.45 億美元。到 2022 年，我們的淨債務略低於 13 億美元，這在一定程度上反映了 Rail 在這一年的經營業績和現金回收的延遲。此外，我們最近執行了 3 億美元的可變利率與固定利率互換，鑑於近期和預期的利率變動，這將使我們在 2023 年受益。

Lastly, on pension, higher rates have positively impacted our pension funding status. Our funded status at year-end improved by $71 million from year-end 2021 to an underfunded position of $22 million. Our annual cash contributions of $24 million for pensions are unchanged from the prior year and will actually decrease by more than 50% in 2 years.

最後，在養老金方面，較高的利率對我們的養老金資金狀況產生了積極影響。我們在年底的資金狀況比 2021 年底增加了 7100 萬美元，達到 2200 萬美元的資金不足狀況。我們每年為養老金繳納的現金為 2400 萬美元，與上一年相比沒有變化，實際上將在 2 年內減少 50% 以上。

Now let's turn to our 2023 outlook, starting with our segment guidance on Slide 8. Both segments are expected to realize growth in adjusted earnings in 2023. For Harsco Environmental, revenues are expected to grow at a low single-digit rate. The foreign exchange headwind is estimated to be roughly 100 basis points using the 2022 year-end rates. Profitability for Environmental is expected to be slightly above 2022 levels at the guidance midpoint.

現在讓我們轉向我們的 2023 年展望，從我們在幻燈片 8 中的部門指引開始。預計這兩個部門將在 2023 年實現調整後收益的增長。對於 Harsco Environmental，收入預計將以低個位數的速度增長。使用 2022 年底匯率估計外匯逆風約為 100 個基點。環境業務的盈利能力預計將略高於 2022 年的指導中點水平。

The business drivers for Environmental in the year will be pricing as well as cost and site improvement initiatives, partially offset by foreign exchange, commodities price increases and service mix. Environmental recently implemented a restructuring program, which included headcount and other spending reductions. The annualized benefits from this program are estimated to be $10 million. Customer steel output is anticipated to be largely consistent with 2022.

今年環境的業務驅動因素將是定價以及成本和場地改進計劃，部分被外匯、商品價格上漲和服務組合所抵消。 Environmental 最近實施了一項重組計劃，其中包括裁員和其他開支削減。該計劃的年收益估計為 1000 萬美元。預計客戶鋼鐵產量與 2022 年基本持平。

For Clean Earth, revenues are anticipated to grow mid- to high single digits, with the primary driver being price. And EBITDA margins are expected to increase 200 to 300 basis points for the full year. Beyond higher revenues and price, EBITDA drivers for Clean Earth include various efficiency initiatives with anticipated benefits of over $10 million for the year.

對於 Clean Earth，預計收入將以中高個位數增長，主要驅動因素是價格。預計全年 EBITDA 利潤率將增加 200 至 300 個基點。除了更高的收入和價格，清潔地球的 EBITDA 驅動因素包括各種效率舉措，預計全年收益超過 1000 萬美元。

And lastly, corporate costs are expected to be between $40 million and $42 million versus adjusted corporate costs of $33 million in 2022. And the change in corporate costs can be attributed to normal compensation increases, including incentive compensation as well as travel, IT spending and other smaller items.

最後，公司成本預計在 4000 萬至 4200 萬美元之間，而 2022 年調整後的公司成本為 3300 萬美元。公司成本的變化可歸因於正常的薪酬增長，包括激勵薪酬以及差旅、IT 支出和其他較小的物品。

So turning to Slide 9, which is our consolidated 2023 outlook. Harsco's full year adjusted EBITDA is now expected to be within a range of $240 million to $260 million, up 9% year-on-year at the midpoint. This EBITDA guidance translates to adjusted loss per share of $0.23 to $0.52. And this per share range contemplates year-on-year headwinds from interest and pension expense.

因此，請轉到幻燈片 9，這是我們對 2023 年的綜合展望。 Harsco 全年調整後的 EBITDA 現在預計在 2.4 億美元至 2.6 億美元之間，按中點計算同比增長 9%。該 EBITDA 指引轉化為調整後的每股虧損 0.23 美元至 0.52 美元。這個每股範圍考慮了利息和養老金支出的同比逆風。

Net interest expense is expected to be $100 million to $105 million, including securitization fees compared with $75 million in 2022. And pension expense in 2023 should be in the range of $20 million to $22 million versus pension income of $9 million in 2022, largely the result of higher discount rates. These items create a headwind of approximately $0.70 per share relative to 2022.

淨利息支出預計為 1 億至 1.05 億美元，其中包括證券化費用，而 2022 年為 7500 萬美元。2023 年的養老金支出應在 2000 萬至 2200 萬美元之間，而 2022 年的養老金收入為 900 萬美元，主要是貼現率較高的結果。相對於 2022 年，這些項目造成每股約 0.70 美元的逆風。

Lastly, we're targeting free cash flow of $20 million to $40 million. As Nick mentioned, improving our free cash flow is an important priority for us, along with lowering our leverage. By the end of 2023, we are targeting a leverage ratio of near 4x and even better when considering the sale of Rail. For 2023, we are expecting considerable underlying improvement in operating cash flows with both Environmental and Clean Earth expected to show significant year-on-year improvement.

最後，我們的目標是自由現金流為 2000 萬至 4000 萬美元。正如尼克提到的，改善我們的自由現金流是我們的一個重要優先事項，同時降低我們的槓桿率。到 2023 年底，在考慮出售 Rail 時，我們的目標是槓桿率接近 4 倍甚至更高。到 2023 年，我們預計運營現金流量將有顯著改善，環境和清潔地球預計將出現顯著同比改善。

Adjusting for the accounts receivable securitization last year, the underlying improvement will be roughly $100 million despite the fact that our cash interest will increase more than $25 million in 2023. A portion of this improvement will be driven by earnings. However, the majority will be working capital with much of that coming from Harsco Environmental. This improvement will be a step in the right direction, and we are targeting even better performance in the coming years.

調整去年的應收賬款證券化後，儘管我們的現金利息到 2023 年將增加超過 2500 萬美元，但潛在的改善將約為 1 億美元。這一改善的一部分將由收益推動。然而，大部分將是營運資金，其中大部分來自 Harsco Environmental。這一改進將是朝著正確方向邁出的一步，我們的目標是在未來幾年取得更好的業績。

So let me conclude on Slide 10 with our first quarter guidance. Q1 adjusted EBITDA is expected to range from $45 million to $50 million. We expect Clean Earth adjusted earnings to be significantly above prior year results due to our pricing and cost initiatives. Meanwhile, Environmental results are anticipated to be lower year-on-year given the comparison to our relatively stronger Q1 in 2022. And specific headwinds for Environmental include foreign exchange rates, commodity prices and product volumes.

因此，讓我以我們的第一季度指導結束幻燈片 10。第一季度調整後的 EBITDA 預計在 4500 萬美元至 5000 萬美元之間。由於我們的定價和成本舉措，我們預計 Clean Earth 調整後的收益將大大高於上一年的結果。與此同時，與我們 2022 年相對強勁的第一季度相比，環境業績預計將同比下降。環境的具體不利因素包括匯率、商品價格和產品數量。

Sequentially, and as is typical in the first quarter, results are anticipated to be negatively impacted by seasonal volumes, weather-related challenges, lower commodity prices as well as the timing of certain expense accruals, including for incentive compensation and professional fees.

隨後，正如第一季度的典型情況一樣，預計業績將受到季節性銷量、與天氣相關的挑戰、較低的商品價格以及某些應計費用的時間安排的負面影響，包括激勵補償和專業費用。

And lastly, corporate costs should be between $9 million and $10 million for the first quarter. Thanks, and I'll now hand the call back to Rocco for Q&A.

最後，第一季度的企業成本應該在 900 萬美元到 1000 萬美元之間。謝謝，我現在將電話轉回 Rocco 進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) Today's first question comes from Michael Hoffman at Stifel.

（操作員說明）今天的第一個問題來自 Stifel 的邁克爾霍夫曼。

So I'm impressed by -- you did react quickly to the cost side. I'm trying to understand -- the steel market says that the steel -- global steel, world steel is saying steel production is going to be pretty muted. So are you expecting some rebound in Europe? Is that sort of what gives you a little bit more comfort, that's how to think about that? Is the mix within your customers? Everything is stable, that was good, and the thing that was weak gets better?

所以我印象深刻 - 你確實對成本方面做出了快速反應。我試圖了解 - 鋼鐵市場表示鋼鐵 - 全球鋼鐵，世界鋼鐵表示鋼鐵生產將非常低迷。那麼，您是否期待歐洲出現反彈？是那種讓你更舒服一點的東西，就是這樣想的嗎？您的客戶中是否存在混合？一切都穩定了，那很好，弱的東西變好了？

Yes. Michael, yes, that is true in the second half of the year. We have a very difficult comp in the first half of the year. And even though there's a lot of discussion amongst our European customers to restart or boost production, it actually hasn't yet started. But we do anticipate to see very modest volume improvement in the second half of the year.

是的。邁克爾，是的，下半年確實如此。今年上半年我們的比賽非常艱難。儘管我們的歐洲客戶就重啟或提高生產進行了很多討論，但實際上還沒有開始。但我們確實預計今年下半年銷量會出現非常適度的改善。

Okay. And then on Clean Earth, there's a lot of really strong volume activity in 4Q across the disposal end of the market and in their recurring business and you emphasized price, but I was wondering if we were sort of nuancing that. Did you, in fact, see volume as well, but price just overwhelmed that?

好的。然後在 Clean Earth 上，第四季度在整個市場的處置端和他們的經常性業務中有很多非常強勁的交易量活動，你強調了價格，但我想知道我們是否有點細微差別。事實上，你是否也看到了成交量，但價格壓倒了它？

Volume was fairly modest. We continue to be revenue constrained because of the incineration capacity issue. Volume was a little better in soil and dredge than it was and has. But overall, the driver of our EBITDA improvement really was price and cost.

成交量相當適中。由於焚燒能力問題，我們的收入繼續受到限制。土壤和疏浚的體積比過去和現在要好一些。但總的來說，我們 EBITDA 改善的驅動力確實是價格和成本。

Okay. And then WTI is back online, but we're hearing that there's so backlog that it's not really providing much relief yet. Would you concur with that probably the scenario at least through the first half of the year before that incremental capacity really provides market relief?

好的。然後 WTI 重新上線，但我們聽說積壓如此之多，以至於它還沒有真正提供太多緩解。在增量產能真正緩解市場壓力之前，您是否同意至少在今年上半年可能出現的情況？

Yes. We really are not anticipating in our outlook here any improvement in the incineration capacity or to be clear, more slots available to us that would enable us to take more business ourselves.

是的。在我們的前景中，我們真的沒有期望焚燒能力有任何改善，或者明確地說，我們有更多可用的插槽，這將使我們能夠自己開展更多業務。

Even by the second half of the year, so you think the whole year just remains constrained?

甚至到下半年，所以你認為全年仍然受到限制？

Largely, yes.

很大程度上，是的。

Okay. And then you have shared with us in the past that there's some big infrastructure, jobs with a lot of dirt that are kind of looming. The Moynihan tunnel for Metro North and LaGuardia next phase and Princeton University. Any visibility on either the IIJA driving things or those projects where there is some more activity around that part of the model?

好的。然後你過去曾與我們分享過一些大型基礎設施，有很多污垢的工作迫在眉睫。地鐵北和拉瓜迪亞下一階段和普林斯頓大學的 Moynihan 隧道。關於 IIJA 驅動事物或圍繞模型的該部分有更多活動的那些項目的任何可見性？

Yes, Michael, as you've heard from us, and I'm sure others, the delays in these projects are quite frustrating. So we've assumed a pretty modest degree of incremental volume from those projects this year. Will we see some? I certainly expect to. But in the past couple of years, we've also built some of that upside into our outlook and it hasn't materialized. So we're being fairly cautious.

是的，邁克爾，正如你從我們那裡聽到的那樣，我相信其他人，這些項目的延誤令人非常沮喪。因此，我們假設今年這些項目的增量量相當適度。我們會看到一些嗎？我當然希望。但在過去的幾年裡，我們也將其中的一些好處納入了我們的前景，但它並沒有成為現實。所以我們相當謹慎。

Okay. And last one for me. This industry on the Clean Earth side has not been noted for pricing as a driver of growth in the hyperinflationary environment, certainly had to change that. Do you see that, that now becomes a structural change in that -- and I ask it from two perspectives, you had to follow through with price ultimately because of the inflation. What was the impact of churn and by the way, do you think you can now use [price] as a form of sustained growth even as inflation ebbs.

好的。最後一個給我。 Clean Earth 方面的這個行業並沒有因為定價作為惡性通貨膨脹環境中增長的驅動力而受到關注，當然必須改變這一點。你看到了嗎，現在變成了結構性變化——我從兩個角度問，由於通貨膨脹，你最終不得不跟進價格。流失的影響是什麼，順便說一句，你認為你現在可以使用[價格]作為持續增長的一種形式，即使在通貨膨脹消退的情況下也是如此。

Well, I certainly think we learned in the second half of the year that our value proposition and its importance to our customers enables us to get price when it's justified as it certainly was in the second half of the year. Now we're also increasing prices -- our annual price increase early this year, which we also expect to have a high realization rate. So yes, I would say that the value proposition that we have in both hazardous waste and contaminated soil is one that should enable us to gain price going forward.

好吧，我當然認為我們在今年下半年了解到我們的價值主張及其對客戶的重要性使我們能夠在合理的情況下獲得價格，因為它肯定是在今年下半年。現在我們也在提高價格——我們今年早些時候的年度價格上漲，我們也預計會有很高的實現率。所以是的，我會說我們在危險廢物和受污染土壤中的價值主張應該使我們能夠在未來獲得價格。

The next question today comes from Larry Solow of CJS Securities.

今天的下一個問題來自 CJS 證券的拉里索洛。

A couple of follow-ups on the Clean Earth. Essentially, are you saying that volumes are going to be -- at least on the hazardous side, pretty flat this year, and it's mostly price and then maybe a little incremental, just to kind of summarize it, incremental benefit from infrastructure and dredging that sort of the summary of the drivers of Clean Earth this year?

關於清潔地球的一些後續行動。從本質上講，你是說數量將是——至少在危險方面，今年相當持平，而且主要是價格，然後可能會有一點增量，只是總結一下，基礎設施和疏浚帶來的增量收益對今年清潔地球驅動因素的總結？

Yes, and cost reduction -- operational cost production. We have also removed some overhead costs. But the impact of those are largely being mitigated by inflation and some compensation related matters. But yes, the plan, the growth year-over-year is being driven by price and cost. I will say that our pipeline of growth opportunities, both in haz waste and in soil are quite robust. We just simply not built in the benefits of those.

是的，還有降低成本——生產運營成本。我們還取消了一些管理費用。但這些影響在很大程度上被通貨膨脹和一些與薪酬相關的問題所減輕。但是，是的，計劃，同比增長是由價格和成本驅動的。我要說的是，我們在危險廢物和土壤中的增長機會管道都非常強勁。我們只是沒有內置這些的好處。

And the limitation on growth in hazardous is, like you said, it's basically -- it's this capacity and ability to incinerate and make room for more stuff essentially for you to process.

就像你說的，對危險品增長的限制基本上是——這種能力和能力可以焚化並為更多的東西騰出空間供你處理。

As well as the overall economy -- sorry.

以及整體經濟——抱歉。

Right. Fair.

正確的。公平的。

In the overall economy, the outlook for retail and industrial, in particular.

在整體經濟中，尤其是零售和工業的前景。

And basically, on the soil side, it's really -- it's more timing and your visibility on that is still limited, it sounds like.

基本上，在土壤方面，它真的 - 它更多的是時機，你在這方面的能見度仍然有限，聽起來像是。

Right. Better than it has been in the previous couple of years, I'll say. Right, and again, I think we're being a bit cautious on [SRL] volumes.

正確的。比前幾年好，我會說。是的，我認為我們對 [SRL] 數量有點謹慎。

Sure. And then just switching gears a little bit. So on the Environmental side, obviously, I think it's just more a victim of just a slower production environment this year. Obviously done a great job on cost cutting and all that good stuff. What about just longer term, just ability to obtain new contracts? And I know it's sort of a fine line, but you're still fairly levered. Obviously, you want to kind of reduce this leverage, improve your free cash flow, but how do you kind of get new wins and new business wins without some investment?

當然。然後稍微換檔。因此，在環境方面，顯然，我認為它更像是今年生產環境放緩的受害者。顯然在削減成本和所有這些好東西方面做得很好。只是長期，只是獲得新合同的能力呢？我知道這是一條很好的路線，但你仍然相當有槓桿作用。顯然，您想降低這種槓桿作用，改善您的自由現金流，但您如何在不進行一些投資的情況下獲得新的勝利和新的業務勝利？

Yes, it's a great question. It's something we're very focused on. If you consider how Harsco Environmental truly adds value to its customers, right? It's around engineering and know-how and new environmental solutions and the skill of our labor force, et cetera, et cetera. It's not, right? Utilizing our balance sheet to fund these assets to perform the service.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。這是我們非常關注的事情。如果您考慮一下 Harsco Environmental 如何真正為其客戶增加價值，對嗎？它圍繞著工程和專門知識以及新的環境解決方案以及我們勞動力的技能等等。這是不對的？利用我們的資產負債表為這些資產提供資金以執行服務。

So I think over time, and you've -- this Phoenix bankruptcy provides a bit of an opportunity, I think, for us to drive our true value proposition. The fact is that our customers' balance sheets are healthier than ours, their cost of capital is lower than ours. And so you put all that together, and we're going to push pretty hard to see if we can win some new contracts here on more of a capital-light basis.

所以我認為隨著時間的推移，你已經 - 我認為，鳳凰城的破產為我們提供了一些機會來推動我們真正的價值主張。事實上，我們客戶的資產負債表比我們的更健康，他們的資本成本低於我們的。所以你把所有這些放在一起，我們將非常努力地推動，看看我們是否能在更多的輕資本基礎上贏得一些新合同。

Got you, that's fair enough. And just maybe a question for Pete. Could you just clarify, you said the -- you're targeting sort of getting towards or maybe even under 4x lever by the end of the year. So if I take the $260 million EBITDA, have I used the high end number, right now would suggest you're going to get your net debt a little over $1 billion or down like $225 million, $250 million. Is that right? And how do you [see that]?

明白了，這很公平。也許只是皮特的問題。你能不能澄清一下，你說過——你的目標是在年底前達到或什至低於 4 倍槓桿。因此，如果我採用 2.6 億美元的 EBITDA，我是否使用了高端數字，現在會建議您的淨債務略高於 10 億美元或下降至 2.25 億美元，2.5 億美元。是對的嗎？你怎麼看？

Yes, you've got to recognize that the leverage ratio I quoted is the...

是的，你必須認識到我引用的槓桿比率是……

(inaudible) covenant? Okay.

（聽不清）契約？好的。

So there's adjusted (inaudible). Yes.

所以有調整（聽不清）。是的。

That's fair. We could talk about it off-line. That's my clarification. Sounds great.

這還算公平。我們可以離線討論。這是我的澄清。聽起來不錯。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Rob Brown at Lake Street Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Lake Street Capital Markets 的 Rob Brown。

Just wanted to get a little more detail on the competitive environment and Environmental with the Phoenix bankruptcy. Are you seeing more opportunities sort of come to market? How has that changed things?

只是想了解更多關於菲尼克斯破產的競爭環境和環境的細節。您是否看到更多機會進入市場？這如何改變了事情？

Rob, thanks for the question. Yes, it's a very dynamic situation now with the Phoenix bankruptcy and it's -- you really need to look at on a contract by contract basis. Of course, we all know that these mill services that we perform on behalf of our customers are extraordinarily critical to the production of steel. So our customers understandably need to be very cautious in how they navigate the situation with Phoenix. And what, if anything, of Phoenix will survive and what the ownership structure will be and how they're going to approach their contracting function in the future.

羅伯，謝謝你的提問。是的，隨著鳳凰城的破產，這是一個非常動態的情況——你真的需要逐個合同地看。當然，我們都知道，我們為客戶提供的這些鋼廠服務對於鋼鐵生產至關重要。因此，我們的客戶在處理 Phoenix 的情況時需要非常謹慎，這是可以理解的。如果有的話，Phoenix 將如何生存，所有權結構將是什麼，以及他們將如何處理未來的承包職能。

So we are very focused on a handful of contracts or sites that we know well, that we think truly appreciate our value proposition. And so we're selectively targeting 6, 8 contracts, which we would hope to secure at some point during the year. But it's a very unusual bankruptcy process in many ways, and it's going to take a little more time. And so we'll see how this plays out. But again, our focus is on the 6 to 8 sites where we think we can really add value and would be a good new business for our company and for our shareholders.

因此，我們非常關注少數我們熟知的合同或網站，我們認為這些合同或網站真正欣賞我們的價值主張。因此，我們有選擇地瞄準 6、8 份合同，我們希望在今年的某個時候獲得這些合同。但從很多方面來說，這是一個非常不尋常的破產程序，而且需要更多時間。因此，我們將看看結果如何。但同樣，我們的重點是 6 到 8 個我們認為可以真正增加價值並且對我們公司和股東來說將是一項很好的新業務的站點。

Okay. Great color. And then on the Rail sale process, you talked a little bit about re-energizing it later this year. Is that sort of dormant right now? How has that progressed? Is it waiting for certain things? Just an update on what's sort of driving that?

好的。很棒的顏色。然後在鐵路銷售過程中，你談到了今年晚些時候要重新激活它。現在是那種休眠狀態嗎？進展如何？它是在等待某些事情嗎？只是關於什麼驅動的更新？

Yes. So it's certainly dormant from our standpoint. We continue to have a lot of interest expressed both to us and to our banker, from parties that want to re-engage. As I think both Pete and I mentioned, we're very focused on simplifying the core part of the business and also continuing to re-negotiate the delivery schedule and penalties and price on somebody's large longer-term contracts. And that is a frustratingly slow process, as Pete can attest, he's kind of on point for us there. But it's moving in the right direction.

是的。所以從我們的角度來看，它肯定處於休眠狀態。我們繼續從想要重新參與的各方那裡向我們和我們的銀行家表達了很多興趣。正如我認為皮特和我都提到的那樣，我們非常專注於簡化業務的核心部分，並繼續重新談判交付時間表以及對某人的大型長期合同的罰款和價格。這是一個令人沮喪的緩慢過程，正如皮特可以證明的那樣，他在那裡對我們來說有點重要。但它正朝著正確的方向發展。

The customers understand and it's -- of course, this is not a situation unique to our Rail business. Many, many other suppliers to our Rail customers are facing similar situations. So our customers understand the need to provide a degree of relief and we're negotiating that as we speak, and we're confident that we'll be pleased with the outcome and -- but that's going to take still a few months. And between wrapping up those negotiations and executing the simplification of other parts of the Rail business, we think we'll be in a very strong position to re-engage with buyers in the second half of the year.

客戶理解並且它是 - 當然，這不是我們鐵路業務獨有的情況。我們鐵路客戶的許多其他供應商也面臨著類似的情況。因此，我們的客戶明白需要提供一定程度的緩解，我們正在就此進行談判，我們相信我們會對結果感到滿意——但這還需要幾個月的時間。在結束這些談判和簡化鐵路業務的其他部分之間，我們認為我們將在今年下半年處於非常有利的地位，重新與買家接觸。

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to the management team for any final remarks.

謝謝。女士們，先生們，今天的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給管理團隊，聽取任何最後的評論。

Thanks, Rocco, and thank you for all that joined this call. Please feel free to contact me with any follow-up questions. And as always, we appreciate your interest in Harsco, and have a great day. Take care.

謝謝 Rocco，也感謝所有參與此次電話會議的人。如有任何後續問題，請隨時與我聯繫。一如既往，我們感謝您對 Harsco 的關注，祝您今天愉快。小心。

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

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家出席今天的演講。您現在可以斷開線路，度過美好的一天。