Radius Recycling Inc (RDUS) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Schnitzer Steel's Conference Call Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Release Call and Webcast. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎來到 Schnitzer Steel 的 2022 年第四季度收益發布電話會議和網絡直播。 （操作員說明）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, Mr. Michael Bennett, with Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想把會議交給你的演講者，投資者關係部的邁克爾貝內特先生。請繼續。

Thank you, Sherry, and good morning. I'm Michael Bennett, the company's Vice President of Investor Relations. I am happy to welcome you to Schnitzer Steel's earnings presentation for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2022. In addition to today's audio comments, we have issued our press release and posted a set of slides, both of which you can access on our website at schnitzersteel.com.

謝謝你，雪莉，早上好。我是公司的投資者關係副總裁 Michael Bennett。我很高興歡迎您參加 Schnitzer Steel 第四季度和 2022 財年的收益演示。除了今天的音頻評論外，我們還發布了新聞稿並發布了一組幻燈片，您可以在我們的網站上訪問這兩張幻燈片： schnitzersteel.com.

Before we start, let me call your attention to the detailed safe harbor statement on Slide 2, which is also included in our press release and in the company's Form 10-K, which will be filed later today. As we note on Slide 2, we may make forward-looking statements on our call today, such as our statements about our targets, volume growth and margins. Our actual results may differ materially from those projected in our forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in Slide 2 as well as our press release of today and our Form 10-K.

在我們開始之前，讓我提請您注意幻燈片 2 上的詳細安全港聲明，該聲明也包含在我們的新聞稿和公司的 10-K 表格中，該表格將於今天晚些時候提交。正如我們在幻燈片 2 中指出的那樣，我們可能會在今天的電話會議上做出前瞻性陳述，例如我們關於我們的目標、銷量增長和利潤率的陳述。我們的實際結果可能與我們的前瞻性陳述中預測的結果存在重大差異。有關可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中的結果存在重大差異的因素的更多信息，請參見幻燈片 2 以及我們今天的新聞稿和我們的 10-K 表格。

Please note that we will be discussing some non-GAAP measures during our presentation today. We've included a reconciliation of those metrics to GAAP in the appendix to our slide presentation.

請注意，我們將在今天的演講中討論一些非 GAAP 措施。我們在幻燈片演示文稿的附錄中包含了這些指標與 GAAP 的對賬。

Now let me turn the call over to Tamara Lundgren, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. She will host the call today with Stefano Gaggini, our Chief Financial Officer.

現在讓我把電話轉給我們的董事長兼首席執行官 Tamara Lundgren。今天，她將與我們的首席財務官 Stefano Gaggini 一起主持電話會議。

Thank you, Michael. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our fiscal '22 fourth quarter earnings call. We appreciate your interest in our company, and we look forward to sharing our results with you this morning.

謝謝你，邁克爾。大家早上好，歡迎來到我們的 22 財年第四季度財報電話會議。感謝您對我們公司的關注，我們期待著今天早上與您分享我們的成果。

Our fiscal '22 results represent the second best in our company's 116-year history. They would not have been possible without all our employees living our core values of safety, sustainability and integrity and operating with agility and resilience.

我們的 22 財年業績代表了我們公司 116 年曆史中的第二好成績。如果沒有我們所有的員工都踐行我們的安全、可持續性和誠信的核心價值觀，並以敏捷和有彈性的方式運營，他們就不可能實現。

On today's call, you'll hear about how our company is navigating the current market environment where macroeconomic factors are challenging and how we are positioned for what we believe is a very bright future for recycled metals.

在今天的電話會議上，您將了解到我們公司如何應對當前宏觀經濟因素充滿挑戰的市場環境，以及我們如何為我們認為再生金屬的光明未來做好準備。

But before we begin, I'd like to take a moment to formally welcome Stefano to the CFO earnings call seat today. As we previously announced, Stefano was promoted to the CFO role on September 1, after serving as our Deputy CFO and Chief Accounting Officer for the last 4 years, welcome Stefano, and congratulations. I also want to take a moment to thank our former CFO, Richard Peach, for his excellent leadership of the finance organization. As many of you are aware, for the last several years, Richard has been responsible for both the finance and strategy functions. In light of the importance of our strategic growth initiatives, we asked Richard to dedicate his time to leading our strategy organization as Chief Strategy Officer. Richard, we look forward to your continued success in this role and to your joining us from time to time on this call.

但在我們開始之前，我想花點時間正式歡迎斯特凡諾參加今天的首席財務官收益電話會議。正如我們之前宣布的那樣，Stefano 在過去 4 年擔任我們的副首席財務官和首席會計官後，於 9 月 1 日晉升為首席財務官，歡迎並祝賀 Stefano。我還想花點時間感謝我們的前任首席財務官 Richard Peach，感謝他對財務部門的出色領導。正如你們中的許多人所知，在過去的幾年裡，理查德一直負責財務和戰略職能。鑑於我們戰略增長計劃的重要性，我們要求 Richard 投入時間作為首席戰略官領導我們的戰略組織。理查德，我們期待您在這個職位上繼續取得成功，並期待您不時加入我們的電話會議。

Today on our call, I'll review our full year and Q4 financial results, the trends affecting our business and progress on our strategic activities. Stefano will then provide more detail on our financial performance, our capital structure and our capital investments. I'll wrap up, and then we'll take your questions.

今天在我們的電話會議上，我將回顧我們全年和第四季度的財務業績、影響我們業務的趨勢以及我們戰略活動的進展。然後，Stefano 將提供有關我們的財務業績、資本結構和資本投資的更多詳細信息。我會結束，然後我們會回答你的問題。

So let's turn now to Slide 4 to get started. We expect to publish our ninth annual sustainability report in the coming weeks. In advance of its publication, I'd like to highlight a few examples of the significant progress we made this year against our sustainability goals, which are centered on our framework of people, planet and profit.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 4 開始。我們預計將在未來幾週發布我們的第九份年度可持續發展報告。在發布之前，我想強調幾個例子，說明我們今年在實現可持續發展目標方面取得的重大進展，這些目標以我們的人、地球和利潤框架為中心。

First, on people. For fiscal '22, like our financial results, our team delivered the second best safety performance in our company's history with 90% of our facilities free of any lost time injuries. We've made excellent progress in identifying and addressing potential hazards before they become injuries. While we still have work to do to keep achieving year-over-year improvement in our safety performance, our team's commitment to safety continues to be reflected in these results. In addition, I'd like to highlight that in fiscal '22, we were certified for the second consecutive year as a great place to work. And the Ethisphere Institute named us one of the 2022 World's Most Ethical Companies for the 8th consecutive year. We believe employee engagement and initiatives focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, community service and job satisfaction contribute significantly to our operational performance, the achievement of our strategic goals and the growth and development of our employees.

首先，在人身上。對於 22 財年，與我們的財務業績一樣，我們的團隊提供了公司歷史上第二好的安全績效，我們 90% 的設施沒有任何損失工時傷害。我們在識別和解決潛在危險方面取得了長足的進步，以免它們成為傷害。儘管我們仍有許多工作要做，以保持我們的安全績效逐年提高，但我們團隊對安全的承諾繼續反映在這些結果中。此外，我想強調的是，在 22 財年，我們連續第二年被認證為理想的工作場所。 Ethisphere Institute 連續第 8 年將我們評為 2022 年全球最具商業道德企業之一。我們相信，專注於多元化、公平、包容、社區服務和工作滿意度的員工參與和舉措對我們的運營績效、戰略目標的實現以及員工的成長和發展做出了重大貢獻。

Moving to our planet goals. We're also well on our way to achieving our commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at our recycling operations by 25% by fiscal '25 against our 2019 baseline and maintaining 100% net carbon-free electricity use across our company for the second consecutive year. We're meeting these goals primarily through significant investments in state-of-the-art emissions control systems for our metal shredding operations and more efficient operating equipment. And earlier this year, we introduced GRN Steel, our line of net zero carbon emission steel products from our Cascade Steel Mill. The launch of our GRN Steel product line provides our customers with net zero steel solutions as they build tomorrow's essential infrastructure.

朝著我們的星球目標邁進。我們也正在努力實現我們的承諾，即到 25 財年將我們回收業務的溫室氣體排放量比我們的 2019 年基線減少 25%，並連續第二年在我們公司保持 100% 的淨無碳電力使用.我們主要通過對用於金屬切碎操作的最先進排放控制系統和更高效的操作設備進行大量投資來實現這些目標。今年早些時候，我們推出了 GRN Steel，這是我們的 Cascade 鋼廠的淨零碳排放鋼鐵產品系列。我們 GRN Steel 產品線的推出為我們的客戶提供了淨零鋼鐵解決方案，幫助他們構建未來的重要基礎設施。

Now let's turn to Slide 5. I am very proud of the results our team achieved in fiscal '22. Our adjusted EBITDA of over $300 million was 8% higher than in fiscal '21. Our year-over-year ferrous sales volumes were 5% higher, and our nonferrous sales volumes were 16% higher. Our full year operating cash flow of almost $240 million, reflects the continued profitability of our business as well as strong working capital management. It's our highest annual operating cash flow since fiscal '12.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 5。我為我們的團隊在 22 財年取得的成果感到非常自豪。我們調整後的 EBITDA 超過 3 億美元，比 21 財年高出 8%。我們的黑色金屬銷量同比增長 5%，有色金屬銷量同比增長 16%。我們全年的運營現金流接近 2.4 億美元，反映了我們業務的持續盈利能力以及強大的營運資金管理。這是我們自 12 財年以來最高的年度運營現金流。

Our fiscal '22 performance was also well above our 3- and 5-year average trends, underpinned by higher sales volumes, progress on our strategic initiatives, productivity improvements and the benefits from the rollout of our One Schnitzer organizational structure. During fiscal '22, we invested in capital projects to upgrade our equipment and infrastructure and for investments in environmental and safety-related assets and advanced metal recovery technology systems. We returned capital to our shareholders through our quarterly dividend, and we repurchased 3.5% of our outstanding shares. Our fiscal '22 adjusted ROCE was over 16%, significantly higher than our cost of capital.

我們的 22 財年業績也遠高於我們 3 年和 5 年的平均趨勢，這得益於更高的銷量、我們戰略計劃的進展、生產力的提高以及我們推出 One Schnitzer 組織結構帶來的好處。在 22 財年期間，我們投資了資本項目以升級我們的設備和基礎設施，並投資於環境和安全相關資產以及先進的金屬回收技術系統。我們通過季度股息向股東返還資本，並回購了 3.5% 的流通股。我們的 22 財年調整後 ROCE 超過 16%，大大高於我們的資本成本。

Let's turn now to Slide 6 to review our Q4 results. Earlier this morning, we announced our fiscal '22 fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.50. Our fourth quarter results were adversely impacted by a significant decline in ferrous and nonferrous sales prices and demand, tighter supply flows resulting from the drop in prices and the weaker economic environment and disruptions due to the extended outage at our Everett, Massachusetts shredding operations to replace damaged equipment. We generated strong operating cash flow, reduced our debt, repurchased almost 2% of our outstanding shares and paid our 114th consecutive quarterly dividend.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 6 來回顧我們第四季度的結果。今天早上早些時候，我們宣布了 22 財年第四季度調整後的每股收益 0.50 美元。我們的第四季度業績受到以下因素的不利影響：黑色金屬和有色金屬銷售價格和需求大幅下降，價格下跌導致供應緊張，經濟環境疲軟，以及我們馬薩諸塞州埃弗里特的切碎業務長期停運以取代損壞的設備。我們產生了強勁的經營現金流，減少了債務，回購了近 2% 的流通股，並連續第 114 個季度派發股息。

Let's turn to Slide 5 -- sorry, let's turn to Slide 7 to review price trends and supply flows. The ferrous and nonferrous price changes during the quarter were significant, and recessionary fears and economic growth concerns remain at the forefront of global markets. Recent metal price declines have been heavily influenced by macro concerns globally, including slower growth, the impact of China's COVID lockdowns, inflationary pressures, the strength of the U.S. dollar, the war in Ukraine and steel inventory destocking.

讓我們轉到幻燈片 5——抱歉，讓我們轉到幻燈片 7 來回顧價格趨勢和供應流。本季度黑色金屬和有色金屬價格變化顯著，對經濟衰退和經濟增長的擔憂仍然是全球市場的首要問題。近期金屬價格下跌受到全球宏觀擔憂的嚴重影響，包括增長放緩、中國 COVID 封鎖的影響、通脹壓力、美元走強、烏克蘭戰爭和鋼鐵庫存去庫存化。

Ferrous export prices declined rapidly and steeply at the beginning of the quarter by over $250 per ton from the peak in Q3 and were quite volatile during July and August. Since the end of the quarter, reported prices have been more stable, higher than the 5-year average and trading in the range of $375 to $400 per ton delivered depending on the region. High energy costs in Turkey and slow demand in Europe have been offset in part by demand in South Asia, where energy problems are not as severe.

本季度初，黑色金屬出口價格從第三季度的峰值每噸快速下降超過 250 美元，並且在 7 月和 8 月期間波動很大。自本季度末以來，報告的價格更加穩定，高於 5 年平均水平，交易價格在每噸 375 美元至 400 美元之間，具體取決於地區。土耳其的高能源成本和歐洲的緩慢需求已被南亞的需求部分抵消，那裡的能源問題並不那麼嚴重。

In the U.S. domestic market, ferrous prices have fallen for 6 consecutive months, although absolute prices remain higher than the 10-year average. Prime grades experienced the largest decreases due to an overhang at many mills. Prime is now trading below shredded for the first time since 2016, impacted by lower manufacturing activity and lower steel demand. The average U.S. steel mill utilization rate has been below 80% for 15 consecutive weeks.

在美國國內市場，黑色金屬價格已連續 6 個月下跌，但絕對價格仍高於 10 年平均水平。由於許多工廠的懸垂，優質等級的降幅最大。受到製造業活動減少和鋼鐵需求下降的影響，Prime 價格自 2016 年以來首次低於切碎價格。美國鋼廠平均利用率已連續15週低於80%。

Turning to non-ferrous. As you can see in the upper right chart on this slide, base metal index prices for copper and aluminum have dropped 33% and 45%, respectively, from their peaks in Q3. Since the end of the quarter, prices have stabilized at these levels due to concerns about availability at these lower prices. These concerns are valid. As the significant drops in ferrous and nonferrous prices have led to considerably tighter supply flows across all regions and channels, exacerbated by inflationary pressures, which have increased collection costs and reduced consumer scrap generation.

轉向有色金屬。正如您在這張幻燈片的右上角圖表中看到的那樣，銅和鋁的基本金屬指數價格分別較第三季度的峰值下跌了 33% 和 45%。自本季度末以來，由於擔心這些較低價格的可用性，價格已穩定在這些水平。這些擔憂是有道理的。由於黑色金屬和有色金屬價格的大幅下跌導致所有地區和渠道的供應流量大幅收緊，通貨膨脹壓力加劇了這種情況，這增加了收集成本並減少了消費者廢料的產生。

Turning to finished steel. Metal spreads reached record highs as falling scrap prices outpaced the decline in finished steel prices. While the construction markets are softening a bit due to interest rates and inflationary pressures on construction costs. The Architectural Billings Index and the Dodge Momentum Index are both signaling strong growth in the non-res commercial and industrial sectors. In addition, increased demand related to the U.S. infrastructure bill, the Inflation reduction act and the Buy Clean directors is expected to materialize in 2023 and beyond. With the higher focus on low carbon steel, our steel mill is very well positioned to meet this increased longer-term demand. Near-term conditions, however, appear weaker than what we've experienced for the last 2 years.

轉向成品鋼。由於廢鋼價格下跌超過成品鋼材價格下跌，金屬價差創下歷史新高。由於利率和建築成本的通脹壓力，建築市場略有疲軟。 Architectural Billings Index 和 Dodge Momentum Index 都表明非水資源商業和工業部門的強勁增長。此外，與美國基礎設施法案、通貨膨脹減少法案和購買清潔董事相關的需求增加預計將在 2023 年及以後實現。隨著對低碳鋼的高度關注，我們的鋼廠完全有能力滿足這種增長的長期需求。然而，近期情況似乎比我們過去兩年所經歷的要弱。

At Schnitzer, we focus on the things we can control, and we have a long history of successfully navigating through challenging times. As we look at the first quarter, we expect a softer environment than we saw in Q4. Prices fell in both September and October, along with steel mill utilization. The outage at our Everett facility, which impacted our supply flows during Q4 has continued into Q1. While we expect to be able to restart the shredder very shortly, our first quarter results will be adversely impacted by this extended shutdown.

在 Schnitzer，我們專注於我們可以控制的事情，我們在成功度過充滿挑戰的時代方面有著悠久的歷史。展望第一季度，我們預計環境將比第四季度更加溫和。 9 月和 10 月價格隨鋼廠利用率下降。我們埃弗雷特工廠的停電影響了我們在第四季度的供應流量，並一直持續到第一季度。雖然我們預計能夠很快重啟碎紙機，但我們的第一季度業績將受到此次停工時間延長的不利影響。

In addition, changes in regulatory requirements impacting our shredder facility in Oakland, resulted in certain operational limitations for disposal of our auto shred residue. These issues have recently been resolved. However, the resulting cost and adverse impacts on volumes will also be reflected in our Q1 results.

此外，監管要求的變化影響了我們在奧克蘭的碎紙機設施，導致我們處理汽車碎紙殘渣的操作受到某些限制。這些問題最近已得到解決。然而，由此產生的成本和對銷量的不利影響也將反映在我們的第一季度業績中。

Looking beyond the current macro uncertainty and the Q1 disruptions, we expect the positive structural trends of increased demand for ferrous and nonferrous recycled metals to remain firmly intact. A low carbon economy and many low carbon technologies are widely acknowledged to be more metal intensive. The use of recycled metals is now an important strategic solution for companies, industries and governments that are focused on carbon reduction. And it is a critical part of every community's commitment to supporting a circular economy.

展望當前的宏觀不確定性和第一季度的中斷，我們預計對黑色金屬和有色金屬回收金屬需求增加的積極結構性趨勢將保持完好。低碳經濟和許多低碳技術被廣泛認為是金屬密集型。對於專注於碳減排的公司、行業和政府而言，使用回收金屬現在是一個重要的戰略解決方案。它是每個社區支持循環經濟承諾的重要組成部分。

So let's turn to Slide 8 to discuss these longer-term demand trends in more detail. Decarbonization is a powerful structural demand -- driver of demand for recycled metals. Increasing the use of recycled metals in low-carbon technologies and infrastructure investments is a great example of how old economy tools will lead the way to decarbonization of the new economy. We can see how some of these trends have translated into higher ferrous scrap metal usage in the U.S. and globally by looking at the charts on this slide.

因此，讓我們轉到幻燈片 8 來更詳細地討論這些長期需求趨勢。脫碳是一種強大的結構性需求——是對回收金屬需求的驅動力。在低碳技術和基礎設施投資中增加回收金屬的使用是舊經濟工具如何引領新經濟脫碳的一個很好的例子。通過查看這張幻燈片上的圖表，我們可以看到其中一些趨勢如何轉化為美國和全球更高的黑色金屬廢金屬使用量。

EAF steelmaking capacity, which uses scrap as its primary raw material, has been expanding in the U.S. and globally and is projected to increase even further. And scrap usage in China steelmaking is expected to increase by up to 50%, driven by EAF replacement capacity as well as by the increased use of scrap in their BOFs.

使用廢鋼作為主要原材料的 EAF 煉鋼產能在美國和全球範圍內一直在擴大，預計還會進一步增加。在電弧爐更換產能以及轉爐中廢鋼使用量增加的推動下，中國煉鋼的廢鋼使用量預計將增加 50%。

Let's turn now to Slide 9 to review the strategic actions we have underway aligned with these long cycle trends. We are focused on 4 strategic priorities: first, technology investments in advanced metal recovery systems at our major recycling operations to enable us to extract more nonferrous metals from our shredding activities, lower our operating costs and improve our margins, expand our product offerings and customer base and reduce materials going to landfills; second, volume growth. Our multiyear focus on increasing our ferrous and nonferrous volumes has led to an annual 6% volume growth rate since fiscal '16. We've achieved this through a combination of organic growth, acquisitions and improved recovery of nonferrous materials through our shredding process; third, expansion of our products and services to meet the evolving demand for recycled metals such as the launch of our net zero green steel products, and the reverse logistics services we provide to manufacturers and retailers; and fourth, productivity initiatives that we undertake as part of our continuous improvement culture, where our focus is on efficiencies in processing, procurement and pricing in the face of significant inflationary pressure, we're targeting new productivity initiatives of $40 million in fiscal '23, nearly double the annual benefits we have achieved in each of the preceding 2 years.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 9，回顧我們為適應這些長周期趨勢而採取的戰略行動。我們專注於 4 個戰略重點：首先，在我們的主要回收業務中對先進金屬回收系統進行技術投資，使我們能夠從破碎活動中提取更多有色金屬，降低我們的運營成本並提高我們的利潤率，擴大我們的產品供應和客戶基地和減少進入垃圾填埋場的材料；二是體量增長。自 16 財年以來，我們多年來一直專注於增加黑色金屬和有色金屬的產量，實現了每年 6% 的銷量增長率。我們通過有機增長、收購和通過我們的粉碎過程改進有色金屬材料的回收來實現這一目標；第三，擴大我們的產品和服務以滿足對再生金屬不斷變化的需求，例如推出我們的淨零綠色鋼鐵產品，以及我們為製造商和零售商提供的逆向物流服務；第四，我們作為持續改進文化的一部分採取的生產力舉措，我們的重點是在面對巨大的通貨膨脹壓力時提高加工、採購和定價的效率，我們的目標是在 23 財年投入 4000 萬美元的新生產力舉措，我們在過去 2 年中每年取得的年度收益幾乎翻了一番。

So now let me turn it over to Stefano for a more detailed review of our financial and operating performance. Stefano?

因此，現在讓我將其轉交給 Stefano，以更詳細地審查我們的財務和運營業績。斯特凡諾？

Thank you, Tamara, and good morning. I'll start with a review of our consolidated results and provide an update on our ferrous sales and the market dynamics.

謝謝你，塔瑪拉，早上好。我將從回顧我們的綜合結果開始，並提供有關我們黑色金屬銷售和市場動態的最新信息。

For the full year fiscal '22, our adjusted EBITDA was $313 million. Adjusted EBITDA per ferrous ton increased year-over-year and reached $68. Adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter was $40 million or $32 per ferrous ton. While our metal margins benefited from forward sales made at higher prices early in the quarter, the majority of the sequential decline in quarterly results was attributable to the sharp drop in ferrous and nonferrous selling prices, which led to a compression in metal spreads.

對於 22 財年全年，我們調整後的 EBITDA 為 3.13 億美元。每噸黑色金屬的調整後 EBITDA 同比增長，達到 68 美元。第四季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 4000 萬美元或每噸鐵 32 美元。雖然我們的金屬利潤率受益於本季度初以更高價格進行的遠期銷售，但季度業績環比下降的主要原因是黑色金屬和有色金屬銷售價格大幅下跌，導致金屬價差壓縮。

The sharpness of the price decline also generated a significant adverse accounting impact from our average inventory costing method of approximately $23 per ferrous which compares to a benefit of $4 per ferrous ton in the third quarter. However, the contribution from our steel mill operations were strong during the fourth quarter, supported by new record finished steel prices.

價格的急劇下跌也對我們的平均庫存成本法產生了重大的不利會計影響，平均庫存成本法約為每噸黑色金屬 23 美元，而第三季度每噸黑色金屬的收益為 4 美元。然而，在創紀錄的成品鋼材價格的支持下，第四季度我們鋼廠業務的貢獻強勁。

Our SG&A expense decreased $8 million sequentially, primarily as a result of lower incentive compensation accruals, which together with benefits from productivity initiatives, helped partially offset the impact of environmental compliance and inflation on our operating costs, primarily for labor, energy, logistics and waste disposal.

我們的 SG&A 費用環比減少 800 萬美元，這主要是由於應計激勵薪酬較低，加上生產力舉措帶來的好處，有助於部分抵消環境合規和通貨膨脹對我們運營成本的影響，主要是勞動力、能源、物流和廢物處理。

In addition, we had a detrimental impact from the extended shredding operation outage in Everett to replace damaged equipment, net of recognition of insurance recoveries of $6 million.

此外，我們在埃弗里特因更換損壞的設備而延長的粉碎操作中斷對我們造成了不利影響，扣除確認的 600 萬美元保險賠償金。

Average net ferrous selling prices were down by 28% sequentially and by 14% year-over-year. Our ferrous sales volumes were up sequentially by 12%, primarily reflecting 4 bulk cargoes delayed at the end of the third quarter.

黑色金屬平均淨售價環比下降 28%，同比下降 14%。我們的黑色金屬銷量環比增長 12%，主要反映了 4 批散裝貨物在第三季度末的延誤。

Fourth quarter sales volumes also include contributions that came from the first full quarter of ownership of Encore Recycling. Reflecting the increased size of our domestic business, we shipped 38% of our ferrous volumes to the U.S. market, up from 27% in the prior year quarter. Our largest sales destinations for ferrous exports in the quarter were Bangladesh, Turkey and India.

第四季度銷量還包括來自 Encore Recycling 第一個完整季度所有權的貢獻。反映出我們國內業務規模的擴大，我們將 38% 的黑色金屬運往美國市場，高於去年同期的 27%。本季度我們最大的黑色金屬出口銷售目的地是孟加拉國、土耳其和印度。

Now let's move to Slide 11 for an update on nonferrous sales and the market dynamics. We sold our nonferrous products to 17 countries with the major export destinations being India, Malaysia and China. The share of domestic sales of nonferrous increased to 45% in the fourth quarter compared to 38% in the prior year, reflecting more attractive economics, better logistics and the contribution of our acquisitions.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 11，了解有色金屬銷售和市場動態的最新情況。我們的有色金屬產品銷往 17 個國家，主要出口目的地為印度、馬來西亞和中國。有色金屬國內銷售的份額從去年同期的 38% 上升到第四季度的 45%，反映出更有吸引力的經濟、更好的物流和我們收購的貢獻。

Our product mix was highly diversified with sales of zorba representing 30% of our nonferrous volumes, aluminum 27%, copper 14%, twitch 10% and with stainless Zurik and other nonferrous metals making up the balance.

我們的產品組合高度多樣化，zorba 的銷售額占我們有色金屬銷量的 30%，鋁佔 27%，銅佔 14%，twitch 佔 10%，其餘為不銹 Zurik 和其他有色金屬。

As Tamara mentioned, while market selling prices decreased in the range of 30% to 45% from their highs, our average net selling prices for nonferrous declined only 7% sequentially as we benefited from forward sales made at higher prices prior to the steep decline in nonferrous markets. Nonferrous sales volumes declined sequentially by 8%, primarily due to tighter flows resulting from the drop in prices. Year-over-year, nonferrous volumes were up 13%, including the contributions from both Columbus Recycling and Encore Recycling.

正如 Tamara 提到的，雖然市場銷售價格從高位下跌了 30% 至 45%，但我們的有色金屬平均淨銷售價格環比僅下降 7%，因為我們受益於在價格急劇下跌之前以較高價格進行的遠期銷售。有色金屬市場。有色金屬銷量環比下降 8%，主要是由於價格下跌導致流量收緊。有色金屬銷量同比增長 13%，其中包括 Columbus Recycling 和 Encore Recycling 的貢獻。

Now let's move to Slide 12 to provide an update on our advanced metal recovery technology investments. We continue to progress our technology deployment focused on increasing metal recovery and the volume of nonferrous materials from shredding operations. Once fully operational, we expect nonferrous volumes recovered from shredding to increase in the range of 20%. Benefits also come from our ability to generate more furnace-ready higher-valued products and creating product optionality. We are targeting completion of construction of our technology initiatives by the summer of 2023.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 12，以提供有關我們先進金屬回收技術投資的最新信息。我們繼續推進我們的技術部署，重點是提高金屬回收率和破碎操作中有色金屬材料的數量。一旦全面投入運營，我們預計從破碎中回收的有色金屬量將增加 20%。收益還來自我們生產更多可用於熔爐的高價值產品和創造產品可選性的能力。我們的目標是到 2023 年夏季完成技術計劃的建設。

As you can see in the slide, our program is comprised of 7 primary nonferrous recovery systems at our major shredder facilities. They will be the main drivers of the projected increase in recovered volumes. Of these systems, 3 are major aluminum and 4 are major copper recovery systems, of which one is operational to date. Our initiative also includes an aluminum separation system on each coast, one of which is operational and 4 supplemental copper separation systems, of which 3 are operational.

正如您在幻燈片中看到的那樣，我們的計劃由我們主要破碎機設施中的 7 個主要有色金屬回收系統組成。它們將是回收量預計增加的主要驅動力。在這些系統中，3 個是主要的鋁回收系統，4 個是主要的銅回收系統，其中一個目前正在運行。我們的計劃還包括每個海岸的鋁分離系統，其中一個正在運行，以及 4 個輔助銅分離系統，其中 3 個正在運行。

We are now targeting substantial achievement of the estimated full run rate benefits of $10 EBITDA per ferrous ton by the end of calendar year 2023. While the contribution from the fully operational systems was not yet material in the fourth quarter, as our major systems become fully operational, we expect the quarterly benefit profile to gradually increase during fiscal '23, beginning with the first quarter and to reach approximately 2/3 of the full targeted run rate by the end of fiscal '23, subject, of course, to construction and permitting time lines.

我們現在的目標是到 2023 日曆年年底實現每噸黑色金屬 10 美元 EBITDA 的估計全面運行率收益的實質性實現。雖然全面運營系統的貢獻在第四季度還不是很重要，因為我們的主要係統變得全面在運營方面，我們預計從第一季度開始的 23 財年季度收益狀況將逐漸增加，到 23 財年結束時將達到全部目標運行率的大約 2/3，當然，這取決於建築和允許時間線。

We expect the overall capital investment to be in the range of $130 million, of which $113 million have been spent to date leaving just over $15 million to complete the projects in fiscal '23.

我們預計總資本投資將在 1.3 億美元左右，其中 1.13 億美元迄今已支出，僅剩 1500 萬美元用於完成 23 財年的項目。

Now let's move to Slide 13 to discuss our steel mill performance and West Coast markets. Reflecting healthy demand in the quarter in our West Coast markets, average selling prices for finished steel were up year-over-year by 22%, and up only 1% from the highest ever levels reached in the third quarter supporting robust metal spreads at our mill. Finished steel sales volumes of 125,000 tons, were down 7% sequentially. Our average rolling mill utilization for the quarter was 93%, which was significantly higher than the U.S. average of less than 80%.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 13 來討論我們的鋼廠業績和西海岸市場。反映我們西海岸市場本季度的健康需求，成品鋼的平均售價同比上漲 22%，僅比第三季度達到的最高水平上漲 1%，支持我們強勁的金屬價差磨。成品鋼銷量為 125,000 噸，環比下降 7%。我們本季度的平均軋機利用率為 93%，遠高於美國不到 80% 的平均水平。

Now let's move to Slide 14 and discuss cash flow, capital structure and our outlook for the first quarter. Operating cash flow in the fourth quarter was strongly positive at $180 million, driven by profitability and a significant reduction in working capital, including from the lower price environment and the reduction in inventories due to the 4 bulk shipments delayed from the prior quarter. For the full year, our operating cash flow was $238 million, driven by strong profitability and effective working capital management.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 14，討論現金流、資本結構和我們對第一季度的展望。受盈利能力和營運資金大幅減少的推動，第四季度的運營現金流為正，為 1.8 億美元，其中包括較低的價格環境以及由於上一季度延遲的 4 批散貨而導致的庫存減少。在強勁的盈利能力和有效的營運資金管理的推動下，全年我們的經營現金流為 2.38 億美元。

Benefiting from the strong cash flow generation, our net debt was $205 million, a reduction of more than $100 million sequentially. We amended our credit facility agreement during the quarter, which provides for more favorable pricing, extends its maturity to August 2027, and upsizes the borrowing capacity by $100 million to $800 million. We have a healthy balance sheet with net leverage of 18% at quarter end, primarily reflecting our investments in acquisitions during the fiscal year, and our ratio of net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA is 0.7x.

受益於強勁的現金流產生，我們的淨債務為 2.05 億美元，環比減少超過 1 億美元。我們在本季度修訂了信貸安排協議，提供更優惠的定價，將期限延長至 2027 年 8 月，並將藉貸能力提高 1 億美元至 8 億美元。我們擁有健康的資產負債表，季度末淨槓桿率為 18%，主要反映了我們在本財年的收購投資，我們的淨債務與調整後 EBITDA 之比為 0.7 倍。

As part of our balanced capital allocation strategy, we returned capital to shareholders through our quarterly dividend and the repurchase of 500,000 shares of our Class A common stock for $16 million. CapEx in the fourth quarter totaled $52 million. For fiscal '22 as a whole, CapEx was $150 million, 1/3 of which was for investments in growth, driven primarily by our nonferrous recovery technology projects.

作為我們平衡資本配置策略的一部分，我們通過季度股息和以 1600 萬美元回購 500,000 股 A 類普通股的方式向股東返還資本。第四季度的資本支出總額為 5200 萬美元。對於整個 22 財年，資本支出為 1.5 億美元，其中 1/3 用於增長投資，主要由我們的有色金屬回收技術項目推動。

Looking ahead to fiscal '23, we currently expect our CapEx to be in the range of $120 million to $140 million. Around 1/3 will be for growth projects including the completion of our technology initiatives, investments to support recycling services expansion and planned post-acquisition CapEx at Columbus and Encore Recycling. The remaining CapEx will be for maintaining the business and environmental-related capital projects.

展望 23 財年，我們目前預計我們的資本支出將在 1.2 億美元至 1.4 億美元之間。大約 1/3 將用於增長項目，包括完成我們的技術計劃、支持回收服務擴展的投資以及計劃在 Columbus 和 Encore Recycling 的收購後資本支出。剩餘的資本支出將用於維持業務和與環境相關的資本項目。

Our quarterly run rate of depreciation and amortization approximated $20 million during the fourth quarter of fiscal '22. As major capital projects are completed, we would expect this quarterly run rate to gradually increase to $25 million by the end of fiscal '23. Our effective tax rate was an expense of 11% on our fourth quarter results and included benefits of approximately $2 million associated with certain discrete tax items.

在 22 財年第四季度，我們的季度折舊和攤銷率約為 2000 萬美元。隨著主要資本項目的完成，我們預計到 23 財年末，該季度運行率將逐漸增加到 2500 萬美元。我們的實際稅率是我們第四季度業績的 11% 的費用，包括與某些離散稅項相關的大約 200 萬美元的收益。

For fiscal '23, we expect our tax rate to be in the range of 23%, subject to financial performance.

對於 23 財年，我們預計我們的稅率將在 23% 的範圍內，具體取決於財務業績。

While we are just over halfway through the quarter, I'll now turn to our outlook for the first quarter of fiscal '23, which is based on market conditions and information we have today. We expect our ferrous volumes to be down 15% year-over-year due to tighter supply flows and the impact on volumes from the shredder outage at our Everett facility and the regulatory issue in California. Nonferrous sales volumes are expected to be higher year-over-year by approximately 10%.

雖然本季度剛剛過半，但我現在將根據市場狀況和我們今天掌握的信息，談談我們對 23 財年第一季度的展望。我們預計我們的黑色金屬銷量將同比下降 15%，原因是供應緊張以及我們埃弗雷特工廠的碎紙機停機對銷量的影響以及加利福尼亞州的監管問題。預計有色金屬銷量將同比增長約 10%。

Finished steel sales volumes are expected to be down about 10% sequentially due to normal seasonality and a softening in West Coast demand for wire rod products. Our mill utilization is expected to be in the range of 80% due to a planned maintenance outage. We expect the disruptions in Everett and Oakland to lead to an adverse impact in the first quarter, estimated at $15 per ferrous ton from a combination of lower intake and sales volumes and higher costs. Excluding this impact, we expect our consolidated adjusted EBITDA per ferrous ton to approximate the $32 achieved in the fourth quarter.

由於正常的季節性和西海岸對線材產品的需求疲軟，預計成品鋼銷量將環比下降約 10%。由於計劃中的維護中斷，我們的工廠利用率預計將在 80% 的範圍內。我們預計埃弗雷特和奧克蘭的供應中斷將對第一季度產生不利影響，由於進貨量和銷量下降以及成本上升，估計每噸鐵價為 15 美元。排除這一影響，我們預計我們每噸鐵礦石的綜合調整後 EBITDA 將接近第四季度實現的 32 美元。

Looking at some of the underlying sequential dynamics, our recycling metal spreads in the first quarter will not have a similar benefit of forward sales at higher prices than we saw in the fourth quarter. We also expect the contribution from our steel mill to be reduced due to the impact of lower finished steel prices and sales volumes. We anticipate the compression of margins resulting from these 2 items together with the impact of tighter scrap flows will substantially offset the sequential improvement from average inventory accounting, which is projected to be a detriment of approximately $5 per ferrous ton in the first quarter compared to a detriment of $23 per ferrous ton in the prior quarter and the partial benefit of our new productivity initiatives. We expect our net debt to increase sequentially driven by a detriment from working capital on operating cash flow, including from payment of incentive compensation previously accrued for fiscal '22 performance.

從一些潛在的連續動態來看，我們在第一季度的回收金屬價差不會像第四季度那樣以更高的價格進行遠期銷售。由於成品鋼價格和銷量下降的影響，我們還預計我們鋼廠的貢獻將減少。我們預計這兩個項目導致的利潤率壓縮以及廢料流動收緊的影響將大大抵消平均庫存核算的連續改善，預計第一季度每噸鐵的損失約為 5 美元，與上一季度每噸鐵損失 23 美元，並從我們的新生產力計劃中受益。我們預計我們的淨債務將因營運資金對經營現金流的損害而依次增加，包括支付先前為 22 財年業績累積的激勵補償。

Looking beyond our first quarter operational disruptions, even in an environment of tight supply and low mill industry utilization, we expect the benefits of our nonferrous recovery initiatives and realization of the full run rate contribution from our new productivity initiatives to provide a path to an expansion of margins. We also expect to generate operating leverage from volume growth once flows improve.

展望我們第一季度的運營中斷，即使在供應緊張和工廠利用率低的環境下，我們預計我們的有色金屬恢復計劃的好處以及我們新的生產力計劃對全開工率貢獻的實現將為擴張提供途徑邊距。一旦流量改善，我們還預計將從銷量增長中產生經營槓桿。

And with that, I'll turn the call back over to Tamara.

有了這個，我會把電話轉回塔瑪拉。

Thank you, Stefano. As we move forward in fiscal '23, our strategic growth investments and our productivity initiatives are expected to deliver additional material benefits.

謝謝你，斯特凡諾。隨著我們在 23 財年向前邁進，我們的戰略增長投資和我們的生產力計劃預計將帶來額外的物質利益。

We have a strong balance sheet with low leverage and interest expense a track record of delivering positive operating cash flow and ability to invest in the growth and productivity of our company, and an uninterrupted record of returning capital to our shareholders through our dividend. We are well positioned to benefit from the global focus on decarbonization, the increased metal intensity of low-carbon technologies and the continued growth in U.S. and global EAF steel-making capacity.

我們擁有穩健的資產負債表、低杠桿和低利息支出、提供正經營現金流和投資於公司增長和生產力的能力的記錄，以及通過股息向股東返還資本的不間斷記錄。我們完全有能力受益於全球對脫碳的關注、低碳技術金屬強度的提高以及美國和全球 EAF 煉鋼能力的持續增長。

In closing, I'd like to thank our employees for their dedication to serving our customers and communities, supporting our suppliers and demonstrating the critical and essential role of our business and industry and the economy. You have demonstrated once again why we have continued to be a leader in the recycling industry for over a century. And now Sherry, let's open up the call for questions.

最後，我要感謝我們的員工致力於為我們的客戶和社區服務，支持我們的供應商，並展示我們的企業和行業以及經濟的關鍵和重要作用。您再次證明了為什麼我們在一個多世紀以來一直是回收行業的領導者。現在雪莉，讓我們開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question will come from Emily Chieng with Goldman Sachs.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自高盛的 Emily Chieng。

I wanted to ask around the new $40 million of productivity initiatives in FY '23. Could you please outline some of the actions that will be taken to drive that $40 million sort of uplift there? And how should we see the cadence of these benefits materialize throughout the year?

我想問問 23 財年新的 4000 萬美元生產力計劃。您能否概述將採取的一些行動來推動那裡的 4000 萬美元的提升？我們應該如何看待這些好處在全年實現的節奏？

Sure. Stefano, why don't you take that?

當然。斯特凡諾，你為什麼不接受它？

Sure. So Emily, thanks for the question. So our productivity initiatives are aimed to help offset inflationary pressure on operating costs and really are looking at things like achieving production efficiencies, increasing yields, generating savings from procurement initiatives, optimizing logistics and the like. And we have a process if you want to track these initiatives based on KPIs and other data points to support and ensure achievement so we feel comfortable about our ability to achieve those. And from a timing perspective, most of the initiatives are being implemented during Q1, our first quarter.

當然。艾米麗，謝謝你的提問。因此，我們的生產力舉措旨在幫助抵消運營成本的通貨膨脹壓力，並真正著眼於實現生產效率、提高產量、從採購舉措中節省開支、優化物流等。如果您想根據 KPI 和其他數據點跟踪這些計劃以支持和確保實現，我們有一個流程，因此我們對實現這些目標的能力感到滿意。從時間的角度來看，大多數舉措都是在我們的第一季度第一季度實施的。

So we expect partial benefits in Q1. I would say about after run rate of the benefits are in our fourth quarter -- first quarter results. And then I would expect substantially, all the full run rate benefits to be achieved during our second quarter.

因此，我們預計第一季度會部分受益。我想說的是我們第四季度的收益運行率——第一季度的結果。然後我預計在我們的第二季度將實現所有的全部運行率收益。

And Emily, I would add to that, that we have a track record of doing this, even in market environments that are positive. So as I mentioned in my remarks, in each of the preceding 2 years, for example, we have delivered productivity benefits in the range of $20 million or so each year. So this is something that we do as part of our continuous improvement culture. And as Stefano said it's something that we track on a line-by-line basis.

艾米麗，我要補充一點，即使在積極的市場環境中，我們也有這樣做的記錄。因此，正如我在發言中提到的，例如，在過去的兩年中，我們每年都實現了 2000 萬美元左右的生產力收益。因此，這是我們作為持續改進文化的一部分所做的事情。正如 Stefano 所說，這是我們逐行跟踪的內容。

Great. And just a quick follow-up, if I may. Around the 1Q '23 outlook, Stefano, you mentioned, I think, that consolidated EBITDA per ton, was to approximate $32 we saw in the fourth quarter. I just wanted to confirm that had also included the inventory account detriment of, I think it was $5 a ton there.

偉大的。如果可以的話，只是快速跟進。關於 23 年第一季度的展望，Stefano，我認為，你提到的每噸綜合 EBITDA 約為我們在第四季度看到的 32 美元。我只是想確認還包括庫存帳戶的損失，我認為那裡是每噸 5 美元。

Thanks, Emily. Yes. So our outlook for the first quarter of $32 per ton includes the $5 from the average inventory accounting, which is a detriment.

謝謝，艾米麗。是的。因此，我們對第一季度每噸 32 美元的預期包括來自平均庫存核算的 5 美元，這是不利的。

And just to reiterate that outlook, the $32 basically exclude the impact, the disruptions associated with the average shredder outage and the Oakland -- the Oakland regulatory change. So we view those kind of as a unique items, and so we are looking beyond that and we're excluding those and that's how the $32 per ton is based.

只是為了重申這一前景，32 美元基本上排除了影響、與平均碎紙機中斷和奧克蘭相關的中斷——奧克蘭監管變化。因此，我們將這些視為獨特的項目，因此我們超越了這一點，我們將這些排除在外，這就是每噸 32 美元的基礎。

(Operator Instructions) And speakers, I'm showing no further questions in the queue at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Ms. Tamara Lundgren for any closing remarks.

（操作員說明）發言者，我現在不會在隊列中顯示更多問題。我現在想把電話轉回給 Tamara Lundgren 女士，聽取任何結束語。

Thank you, Sherry, and thank you, everyone, for your time today. We look forward to speaking with you again in January and over the course of the next few weeks during investor meetings when we report our first quarter results in January and can review the Q4 and full year results and outlook that we discussed today.

謝謝雪莉，也謝謝大家今天的時間。我們期待在 1 月份和接下來幾週的投資者會議期間再次與您交談，屆時我們將在 1 月份報告第一季度業績，並回顧我們今天討論的第四季度和全年業績以及展望。

In the interim, stay safe and stay well. Thank you.

在此期間，請保持安全並保持健康。謝謝。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。