Reliance Inc (RS) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Reliance Inc. third quarter 2025 earnings conference call and webcast. (Operator Instructions)

各位好，歡迎參加 Reliance Inc. 2025 年第三季財報電話會議和網路直播。（操作說明）

It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Kim Orlando with ADDO Investor Relations. Kim, please go ahead.

現在我很高興將電話轉交給 ADDO 投資者關係部門的 Kim Orlando。金，請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thanks to all of you for joining our conference call to discuss Reliance's third quarter 2025 financial results. I am joined by Karla Lewis, President and Chief Executive Officer; Steve Koch, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; and Arthur Ajemyan, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. A recording of this call will be posted on the Investors section of our website at investor.reliance.com.

謝謝接線生。早安，感謝各位參加我們的電話會議，共同討論 Reliance 公司 2025 年第三季的財務表現。與我一同出席的還有總裁兼執行長卡拉·劉易斯；執行副總裁兼營運長史蒂夫·科赫；以及高級副總裁兼財務長亞瑟·阿傑米揚。本次電話會議的錄音將發佈在本公司網站 investor.reliance.com 的投資者關係版塊。

Please read the forward-looking statement disclosures included in our earnings release issued yesterday and note that it applies to all statements made during this teleconference. The reconciliations of the adjusted numbers are included in the non-GAAP reconciliation part of our earnings release.

請閱讀我們昨天發布的盈利報告中包含的前瞻性聲明披露內容，並注意該披露內容適用於本次電話會議期間作出的所有聲明。調整後資料的調節表包含在我們的獲利報告的非GAAP調節部分。

I will now turn the call over to Karla Lewis, President and CEO of Reliance.

現在我將把電話轉交給 Reliance 的總裁兼執行長 Karla Lewis。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you all for joining us today to discuss our third quarter 2025 results. We delivered another solid quarter amidst market uncertainty, reflecting the strength and adaptability of our business model and solid execution across the Reliance family of companies. Our third quarter results demonstrate how Reliance's scale, diversification and high-performing management teams combine to deliver strong financial performance and capture market share in a uniquely challenging environment.

各位早安，感謝大家今天蒞臨現場，與我們共同探討2025年第三季業績。在市場充滿不確定性的情況下，我們又取得了穩健的季度業績，這反映了我們商業模式的實力和適應性，以及信實集團旗下各公司穩健的執行力。我們第三季的業績表明，信實集團的規模、多元化和高效的管理團隊如何結合起來，在充滿挑戰的獨特環境中實現強勁的財務業績並奪取市場份額。

Our tons sold were a third quarter record and outperformed the industry by approximately 9 percentage points, increasing our US market share to 17.1%, up from 14.5% in 2023 due to our Smart profitable Growth strategy. Driven by our high levels of customer service and broad inventory and processing capabilities, we offset declining industry shipment trends by winning new business opportunities that also better leverage our operating expenses and meaningfully contributed to our overall profitability.

我們的銷量在第三季創下紀錄，比行業平均高出約 9 個百分點，由於我們明智的盈利增長戰略，我們的美國市場份額從 2023 年的 14.5% 增長到 17.1%。憑藉我們高水準的客戶服務和廣泛的庫存及處理能力，我們透過贏得新的業務機會來抵消行業出貨量下降的趨勢，這些新業務機會也更好地利用了我們的營運費用，並對我們的整體盈利能力做出了重大貢獻。

Trade policy uncertainty and readily available inventory are causing buyers to be hesitant, creating an extremely competitive market. In this environment, it is more difficult to immediately increase selling prices to fully offset mill price increases. These factors have contributed to short-term gross profit margin headwinds in the past two quarters.

貿易政策的不確定性和充足的庫存導致買家猶豫不決，造成了競爭異常激烈的市場。在這種環境下，要立即提高銷售價格以完全抵消軋鋼成本上漲，就比較困難了。這些因素導致過去兩季短期毛利率受到不利影響。

In addition, the aerospace and semiconductor markets that we serve, which have high-value specialty products that typically contribute meaningfully to our profits, continue to underperform due to excess inventories within the supply chains. We are confident, however, that the underlying margin profile of our consolidated business remains solidly intact, and we maintain our long-term annual sustainable gross profit margin range of 29% to 31%.

此外，我們所服務的航空航太和半導體市場，其高價值的特種產品通常會為我們的利潤做出重大貢獻，但由於供應鏈中庫存過剩，這些市場的表現仍然不佳。然而，我們有信心，我們合併業務的基本利潤率狀況依然穩固，我們維持長期可持續的年度毛利率在 29% 至 31% 的範圍內。

Our scale, product and end market diversity and exceptional customer service, including next-day delivery and extensive value-added processing capabilities, were instrumental in our outperforming our competition and capturing significant market share. Overall, non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of $3.64 were within our expectations and guidance for the quarter.

我們的規模、產品和終端市場的多樣性以及卓越的客戶服務（包括隔天送達和廣泛的增值處理能力）是我們超越競爭對手並取得顯著市場份額的關鍵因素。整體而言，本季非GAAP稀釋後每股收益為3.64美元，符合我們對該季度的預期和指引。

Our capital allocation strategy is designed to drive growth and deliver strong returns to our stockholders. We generated approximately $262 million in operating cash flow in the third quarter, that we strategically redeployed into high-value initiatives, including investments in advanced processing equipment and other projects that strengthen our long-term growth platform. Our 2025 capital expenditure budget remains at $325 million, with more than half directed towards growth initiatives.

我們的資本配置策略旨在推動成長，並為股東帶來豐厚的回報。第三季度，我們產生了約 2.62 億美元的營運現金流，我們將其策略性地重新部署到高價值項目中，包括投資先進的加工設備和其他能夠加強我們長期成長平台的項目。我們2025年的資本支出預算仍為3.25億美元，其中超過一半用於成長計畫。

Including carryover spending, we expect total cash outlays between $340 million and $360 million in 2025. Our strong financial position also affords us the flexibility to pursue M&A opportunities that enhance our geographic reach, expand our value-added capabilities and strengthen our margin profile.

包括結轉支出在內，我們預計 2025 年的總現金支出將在 3.4 億至 3.6 億美元之間。我們雄厚的財務實力也使我們能夠靈活地尋求併購機會，從而擴大我們的地域覆蓋範圍，拓展我們的增值能力，並增強我們的利潤率。

At the same time, we remain committed to returning capital to our stockholders. During the quarter, we returned $124 million through dividends and share repurchases. Our year-to-date repurchases total more than 1.4 million shares, reflecting our balanced approach to growth and shareholder value creation.

同時，我們仍然致力於向股東返還資本。本季度，我們透過分紅和股票回購返還了 1.24 億美元。今年迄今為止，我們的股票回購總額超過 140 萬股，反映了我們在成長和股東價值創造方面所採取的平衡策略。

In summary, our teams navigated the quarter exceptionally well, keeping our people safe while managing market dynamics with discipline and focus. Our primarily domestic supply chain and strong relationships with our US mill partners provide Reliance a distinct competitive advantage, while our nimble operating model, solid balance sheet and diversified product mix continue to underpin strong and consistent performance. These same strengths also position us favorably to capitalize quickly as market activity rebounds.

總而言之，我們的團隊在本季表現出色，在保障員工安全的同時，以嚴謹的態度和專注的精神來應對市場動態。我們主要依靠國內供應鏈和與美國工廠合作夥伴的牢固關係，為 Reliance 提供了獨特的競爭優勢；同時，我們靈活的營運模式、穩健的資產負債表和多元化的產品組合，也持續支撐著強勁而穩定的業績。這些優勢也使我們能夠在市場活動反彈時迅速抓住機會。

Looking ahead, we remain focused on investing for growth and delivering value to our customers and stockholders, supported by our consistently strong cash generation.

展望未來，我們將繼續專注於投資成長，並為客戶和股東創造價值，而我們強勁的現金流將為此提供支持。

I'll now turn the call over to our COO, Steve Koch, who will review our demand and pricing trends.

現在我將把電話轉交給我們的營運長史蒂夫·科赫，他將回顧我們的需求和定價趨勢。

Thanks, Karla, and good morning, everyone. I want to begin by recognizing our teams across the organization for their strong execution in the third quarter, delivering outstanding service to our customers, navigating ongoing macro challenges with discipline while maintaining the relentless focus on safety.

謝謝卡拉，大家早安。首先，我要表揚我們整個組織的各個團隊，感謝他們在第三季度的出色執行，為我們的客戶提供了卓越的服務，在應對持續的宏觀挑戰的同時，保持了對安全的堅定關注，並以嚴謹的態度應對挑戰。

Looking at our demand and pricing trends. Third quarter tons sold were consistent with the second quarter of 2025, surpassing our expectations of down 1% to 3%. Our tons sold increased 6.2% compared to the third quarter of 2024, significantly outperforming the service center industry, which reported a decrease of 2.9% in the same comparative period.

分析我們的需求和價格趨勢。第三季銷量與 2025 年第二季持平，超過了我們先前預期的下降 1% 至 3%。與 2024 年第三季相比，我們的銷售量成長了 6.2%，顯著優於同期銷售量下降 2.9% 的服務中心產業。

Our outperformance of the industry demonstrates our ability to gain share in a demand environment constrained by market uncertainty through our Smart Profitable Growth strategy and the contributions of our continued investments in growth.

我們超越行業的表現表明，我們有能力在市場不確定性受限的需求環境中，透過我們的智慧獲利成長策略和對成長的持續投資，獲得市場份額。

Consistent with our outlook, our third quarter average selling price remained steady compared to the second quarter of 2025, even as tariff-related momentum quickly leveled off. Pricing upside from certain aluminum and stainless steel products was offset by pricing pressure on most carbon steel products as well as stainless steel products sold into the aerospace and semiconductor industries.

與我們的預期一致，儘管關稅相關的勢頭迅速趨於平緩，但與 2025 年第二季相比，我們第三季的平均售價保持穩定。某些鋁和不銹鋼產品的價格上漲被大多數碳鋼產品以及銷往航空航天和半導體行業的不銹鋼產品的價格壓力所抵消。

Through industry overbuying in the first quarter of this year in advance of the tariffs as well as rarely available inventory at domestic mills and depots, pricing for most products has been declining since April, resulting in a very competitive market, which when combined with stable to declining end demand has pressured our gross profit margins.

由於今年第一季產業在關稅生效前過度採購，以及國內工廠和倉庫庫存稀少，大多數產品的價格自 4 月以來一直在下降，導致市場競爭非常激烈，再加上終端需求穩定或下降，給我們的毛利率帶來了壓力。

As Arthur will expand upon when reviewing our outlook, we believe pricing for most products has now stabilized entering the fourth quarter. Our teams navigated these market dynamics very well while maintaining discipline in pricing and strong customer service levels.

正如 Arthur 在回顧我們的展望時將詳細闡述的那樣，我們認為進入第四季度後，大多數產品的價格已經趨於穩定。我們的團隊很好地應對了這些市場動態，同時保持了定價的嚴謹性和高水準的客戶服務。

Turning to our key end markets. Non-residential construction represented roughly one-third of our third quarter sales, comprising carbon steel tubing, plate and structural products. Shipments for these products were seasonally strong in the third quarter and increased compared to the third quarter of last year, driven by strong demand in public infrastructure work, including civil projects, schools, hospitals and airports, as well as ongoing data center construction. Our scale and broad geographic footprint enable us to capture growth across these key areas.

接下來，我們來看看我們的主要終端市場。非住宅建築約占我們第三季銷售額的三分之一，其中包括碳鋼管、板材和結構產品。受公共基礎設施工程（包括民用工程、學校、醫院和機場）以及正在進行的數據中心建設的強勁需求推動，這些產品的出貨量在第三季度呈現季節性強勁增長，並且與去年第三季度相比有所增加。我們的規模和廣泛的地域覆蓋使我們能夠在這些關鍵領域實現成長。

General manufacturing, also about one-third of third quarter sales, is highly diversified across geographies, products and industries. Shipments in this market also increased year-over-year as military, industrial machinery, consumer products, shipbuilding and rail sector shipments were seasonally strong and showed solid year-over-year growth. Relative weakness in agricultural machinery continued.

一般製造業也佔第三季銷售額的三分之一左右，其地理位置、產品和產業分佈高度多元化。該市場的出貨量也同比增長，因為軍事工業、工業機械、消費品、造船和鐵路行業的出貨量在季節性方面表現強勁，並顯示出穩健的同比增長。農業機械相對疲軟的局面仍在持續。

Our sustained outperformance across key product groups in general manufacturing highlights the versatility and competitive advantage for our diversified business model as well as our ability to grow with both new and existing customers in an uncertain macroeconomic environment.

我們在一般製造業的關鍵產品組中持續取得優異成績，凸顯了我們多元化商業模式的多功能性和競爭優勢，以及我們在不確定的宏觀經濟環境下與新舊客戶共同發展的能力。

Aerospace products comprised approximately 9% of total sales in the quarter. Demand on the commercial side was down slightly due to pent-up inventory in the supply chain, while demand in defense and space-related aerospace programs remain consistent at strong levels.

該季度航空航太產品約佔總銷售額的9%。由於供應鏈中積壓的庫存，商業方面的需求略有下降，而國防和航太相關航空航太專案的需求則保持強勁水準。

Automotive, which we primarily service through our toll processing operations and are not included in our tons sold represented about 4% of our third quarter sales. Our processed tons improved over the third quarter of 2024 supported by our investments in capacity expansion.

汽車業（我們主要透過收費加工業務為其提供服務，並且不計入我們的銷售噸數）約占我們第三季銷售額的 4%。由於我們在產能擴張方面的投資，我們2024年第三季的加工噸數有所提高。

Semiconductor market remained under pressure from ongoing excess inventory in the supply chain during the third quarter. In summary, I thank our team for their strong, focused and safe execution in uncertain and volatile market conditions. The scale and diversity of our product offerings and value-added processing capabilities, combined with dependable customer service, continue to win Reliance new business and new customers and increase our market share. To reiterate what Karla said, we are well positioned to capitalize and improve on our already strong results as market activity rebounds.

第三季度，半導體市場持續受到供應鏈中庫存過剩的壓力。總之，我要感謝我們的團隊在不確定和動盪的市場環境下所展現的強大、專注和穩健的執行力。我們豐富的產品種類和加值加工能力，加上可靠的客戶服務，不斷為 Reliance 贏得新業務和新客戶，並提高我們的市場份額。正如卡拉所說，隨著市場活動的復甦，我們已做好充分準備，能夠把握機遇，並在我們已有的強勁業績基礎上更進一步。

I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Arthur Ajemyan, to review our financial results and outlook.

現在我將把電話交給我們的財務長亞瑟·阿傑米揚，讓他回顧我們的財務表現和展望。

Thanks, Steve, and thanks, everyone, for joining today's call. We were pleased to report third quarter non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of $3.64, consistent with both our expectations and the third quarter of 2024.

謝謝史蒂夫，也謝謝各位參加今天的電話會議。我們很高興地宣布，第三季非GAAP稀釋後每股收益為3.64美元，這與我們的預期以及2024年第三季的預期一致。

Of particular note, the third quarter of 2024 benefited from $50 million of LIFO income, compared with $25 million of expense this quarter, which equates to a $1.03 per share unfavorable year-over-year LIFO impact. I'll circle back to LIFO, but first, I'd like to expand on a couple of points that Karla Steve mentioned: gross profit margin headwinds and market share gains.

值得注意的是，2024 年第三季受益於 5,000 萬美元的 LIFO 收入，而本季支出為 2,500 萬美元，這相當於每股收益同比 LIFO 影響為 1.03 美元。我稍後會再談到後進先出法，但首先，我想詳細說明一下卡拉·史蒂夫提到的幾點：毛利率逆風和市場份額增長。

Trade policy uncertainty has contributed to temporary headwinds to gross profit margins since May of this year for most carbon steel products. Tariffs initially drove rapid price increases for carbon steel products, which slightly elevated carbon steel margins. But without a corresponding increase in demand and plenty of inventory availability in the supply chain, we encountered a very competitive pricing environment, which led to third quarter margin decline for carbon products from somewhat elevated level in the first half.

自今年5月以來，貿易​​政策的不確定性導致大多數碳鋼產品的毛利率暫時受到不利影響。關稅最初導致碳鋼產品價格快速上漲，這略微提高了碳鋼的利潤率。但由於需求沒有相應增加，供應鏈中庫存也不足，我們遇到了非常激烈的定價環境，導致碳產品的利潤率從上半年的較高水準下降到第三季。

In addition, ongoing excess inventories within the aerospace and semiconductor supply chain continue to pressure prices and margins across a range of stainless steel and aluminum products. In sum, gross profit margin associated with less than 10% of our sales has contributed to consolidated margin compression. We expect this pressure to ease as we move through 2026.

此外，航空航太和半導體供應鏈中持續存在的庫存過剩問題，繼續對各種不銹鋼和鋁產品的價格和利潤率構成壓力。總之，不到銷售額 10% 的毛利率導致了合併利潤率的下降。我們預計隨著2026年的到來，這種壓力將會緩解。

Finally, the impact of our LIFO accounting method also contributed to margin pressure this quarter. Since LIFO is applied on a pro rata basis, we continue to carry LIFO expense through 2025 that reflected cost increases that occurred earlier this year. This LIFO effect tends to smooth out on an annual basis though. For the full year 2025, we are still expecting $100 million of LIFO expense.

最後，本季後進先出會計方法的影響也加劇了利潤率壓力。由於後進先出法是按比例計算的，因此我們繼續將後進先出法費用結轉至 2025 年，以反映今年早些時候發生的成本增長。不過，這種後進先出效應在年度層級往往會逐漸減弱。2025 年全年，我們仍然預期 LIFO 支出為 1 億美元。

Turning to organic growth. Our teams have done an outstanding job winning new business and growing with existing customers. We tend to outperform industry shipment trends at wider margins during uncertain times. The incremental volume of over 100,000 tons for the third quarter and over 300,000 tons for the year so far in 2025 has allowed us to meaningfully contribute to our overall profitability.

轉向有機成長。我們的團隊在贏得新業務和與現有客戶共同發展方面做得非常出色。在不確定時期，我們的出貨量往往能以更大的幅度超越產業趨勢。2025 年第三季新增產量超過 10 萬噸，今年迄今新增產量超過 30 萬噸，這使我們能夠為整體獲利能力做出有意義的貢獻。

On a FIFO basis, our gross profit margin was 29% in the third quarter, up from the third quarter of 2024, and our FIFO pretax income increased 30%.

以先進先出法計算，我們第三季的毛利率為 29%，高於 2024 年第三季的水平，我們的先進先出稅前收入成長了 30%。

Looking at expenses, our same-store non-GAAP SG&A expenses were up 4.8% for the quarter and 3.6% for the 9-month period compared to the same prior year period, due to inflationary wage adjustments and higher variable warehousing and delivery costs to support our increased tons sold. We also saw higher incentive compensation in the third quarter due to a 30% increase in FIFO profitability.

從支出方面來看，由於通貨膨脹導致的工資調整以及為了支持我們增加的銷量而增加的可變倉儲和配送成本，我們本季度的同店非GAAP銷售、管理及行政費用比上年同期增長了4.8%，前9個月增長了3.6%。由於先進先出法 (FIFO) 獲利能力提高了 30%，第三季激勵性薪資也有所提高。

On a per ton basis, our same-store non-GAAP SG&A expenses were slightly lower in both the third quarter and the first 9-months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, demonstrating the operating leverage achieved through our Smart Profitable Growth strategy.

以每噸計算，2025 年第三季和前 9 個月的同店非 GAAP 銷售、一般及行政費用均略低於 2024 年同期，這表明我們透過智慧獲利成長策略實現了營運槓桿效應。

I'll now address our balance sheet and cash flow. We generated approximately $262 million in operating cash flow in the 2025 third quarter, which reflected a working capital investment due to seasonally strong net sales. We continue to generate strong cash flow from operations throughout market cycles that we redeploy to execute our opportunistic capital allocation strategy.

接下來我將介紹我們的資產負債表和現金流量表。我們在 2025 年第三季產生了約 2.62 億美元的營運現金流，這反映了由於季節性強勁的淨銷售額而進行的營運資本投資。我們持續在整個市場週期中透過營運產生強勁的現金流，並將這些現金流重新部署以執行我們的機會主義資本配置策略。

We use that cash to fund $81 million in capital expenditures, pay $63 million in dividends and repurchase $61 million of our common shares at an average price of approximately $288 per share. Year-to-date, our repurchases have reduced total shares outstanding by 2%, and we have approximately $964 million available for further repurchases under our $1.5 billion share repurchase plan that we refreshed in October 2024.

我們將這筆現金用於8,100萬美元的資本支出，支付6,300萬美元的股息，並以每股約288美元的平均價格回購6,100萬美元的普通股。今年迄今為止，我們的股票回購已使流通股總數減少了 2%，根據我們在 2024 年 10 月更新的 15 億美元股票回購計劃，我們還有大約 9.64 億美元可用於進一步回購。

As previously announced, on August 14, 2025, we borrowed $400 million under a term loan agreement maturing in August 2028, and used the proceeds to retire of senior notes due August 15, 2025. As of September 30, our total debt was $1.4 billion, including $238 million in borrowings on our $1.5 billion revolving credit facility. Our leverage position remains favorable with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of less than 1, providing significant liquidity to continue executing our capital allocation priorities.

正如先前宣布的那樣，2025 年 8 月 14 日，我們根據一項將於 2028 年 8 月到期的定期貸款協議借入了 4 億美元，並將所得款項用於償還 2025 年 8 月 15 日到期的優先票據。截至 9 月 30 日，我們的總債務為 14 億美元，其中包括從我們 15 億美元的循環信貸額度中藉入的 2.38 億美元。我們的槓桿狀況依然良好，淨債務與 EBITDA 比率低於 1，為繼續執行我們的資本配置優先事項提供了充足的流動性。

Looking ahead, we anticipate overall demand in the fourth quarter will remain stable across our diversified end markets, subject to ongoing domestic and international trade policy uncertainty. Accordingly, we estimate our tons sold will be up 3.5% to 5.5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. And consistent with seasonal trends, down 5% to 7% compared to the third quarter of 2025.

展望未來，我們預計第四季度我們多元化終端市場的整體需求將保持穩定，但會受到國內外貿易政策持續不確定性的影響。因此，我們預計與 2024 年第四季相比，我們的銷量將成長 3.5% 至 5.5%。與季節性趨勢一致，與 2025 年第三季相比下降 5% 至 7%。

We anticipate our average selling price per ton sold for the fourth quarter of 2025 will stay relatively flat compared to the third quarter. As a result, we anticipate flat to slightly improved FIFO gross profit margin in the fourth quarter.

我們預計 2025 年第四季每噸的平均售價將與第三季相比保持相對穩定。因此，我們預計第四季度先進先出法毛利率將持平或略有提高。

Based on these expectations and consistent with typical sequential seasonality, where we experience approximately 20% to 25% decline in earnings per share in the fourth quarter, we anticipate Q4 non-GAAP earnings per diluted share in the range of $2.65 to $2.85, inclusive of quarterly LIFO expense of $25 million or $0.35 per diluted share.

基於這些預期，並考慮到典型的季節性因素，第四季度每股收益下降約 20% 至 25%，我們預計第四季度非 GAAP 稀釋後每股收益在 2.65 美元至 2.85 美元之間，其中包括 2500 萬美元的季度後進先出法費用，即每股稀釋後 0.35 美元。

This concludes our prepared remarks. Thank you again for your time and participation. We'll now open the call for your questions. Operator?

我們的發言稿到此結束。再次感謝您抽空參與。現在開始接受大家的提問。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Katja Jancic, BMO Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）Katja Jancic，BMO 資本市場。

Hi, thank you for taking my questions. Maybe starting on the gross margin. So I understand that right now, the environment is such that it's resulting in gross margin compression. But is any of this compression attributable also potentially to your focus on growing volumes?

您好，感謝您回答我的問題。或許可以從毛利率著手。因此，我了解到，目前的市場環境導致了毛利率的下降。但這種壓縮是否也可能歸因於你們專注於提高銷售量？

Good morning, Katja. From a gross profit standpoint, I mean, we've tried to, in our remarks and the release, give enough context to help everyone understand the uniquely challenging market that we've been in the last couple of quarters. And what really said a lot to me in recently speaking with a couple of our people who run some of our typically higher-performing Reliance companies who've been in the business 30- to 40-years, they commented that they've never seen a market quite like the one we've been operating in the last 2 quarters with the pricing strength coming from tariffs without the underlying demand to follow it. And that's what we think is a little unique in the current environment.

早上好，卡佳。從毛利的角度來看，我的意思是，我們在講話和新聞稿中努力提供了足夠的背景信息，以幫助大家理解我們在過去幾個季度所處的獨特且充滿挑戰的市場環境。最近我和幾位負責我們一些業績通常較好的信實集團旗下公司的高階主管交談，他們在這個產業工作了 30 到 40 年。他們評論說，他們從未見過像我們過去兩個季度所經歷的這樣的市場，價格強勢來自關稅，但實際需求卻沒有相應增長。我們認為這在當前環境下有點特殊。

We think our teams have done exceptionally well in winning business. And they are getting price increases from some of the mill increases that are coming through on products, more so in some products than others, just not at the rate that Reliance has experienced in more normal periods where there was demand pull forward.

我們認為我們的團隊在贏得業務方面做得非常出色。由於工廠價格上漲，一些產品的價格也隨之上漲，某些產品的漲幅比其他產品更大，只是漲幅沒有 Reliance 在需求提前增長的正常時期所經歷的那麼大。

But we do think that, that is temporary. We also tried to highlight, in particular, there's been a drag on margins for some of our special -- high-value specialty products that we sell into aerospace and semiconductor. We're bullish on both of those markets long term. There's just been a little pain, and it has a bit of an outsized impact on our gross profit margin that we've been experiencing the last couple of quarters.

但我們認為這只是暫時的。我們也特別強調，我們向航空航太和半導體產業銷售的一些特殊高價值特種產品的利潤率受到了拖累。我們長期看好這兩個市場。只是遇到了一些小麻煩，但這對我們的毛利率產生了相當大的影響，這種情況已經持續了幾個季度。

But as far as our Smart Profitable Growth strategy that we've been pushing the last couple of years, that we think our teams have executed really well on, it means grow your tons with good profitable business and keep our gross profit margin in that sustainable annual range of 29% to 31%. We said there may be quarters where we dip down, which we experienced in this quarter, which there's a little bit of the LIFO timing that Arthur explained that impacts that.

但就我們過去幾年一直在推行的「智慧獲利成長策略」而言，我們認為我們的團隊執行得非常好，這意味著透過良好的獲利業務實現噸位成長，並將我們的毛利率保持在 29% 至 31% 的可持續年度範圍內。我們說過，可能會有季度業績下滑，而我們本季就經歷了這種情況，這其中與亞瑟解釋的後進先出法的時機有關，而這確實會產生一些影響。

But the tons we're going after, we certainly have picked up tons in the flat-rolled space, which those margins aren't always as high as some of the other products that we sell. So could there be a little bit of impact from that? But overall, the end game is the right end game in our view because this is profitable business that's adding to our earnings, it's helping leverage our SG&A expenses, and we're really happy with the additional profit that those tons are bringing to us.

但是，我們追求的噸位，我們當然已經在扁軋領域獲得了噸位，儘管這些產品的利潤率並不總是像我們銷售的其他一些產品那麼高。那麼這會不會產生一些影響呢？但總的來說，我們認為最終結果是正確的，因為這是一項盈利的業務，它增加了我們的收入，幫助我們降低銷售、管理及行政費用，我們對這些噸位帶來的額外利潤感到非常滿意。

So it's not the reason that our margin dipped down. It could be a factor to a certain extent. But there are other -- it's more of the market and a couple of those specialty lines for us having the bigger impact.

所以這並不是我們利潤率下降的原因。這可能在一定程度上是一個因素。但還有其他因素——更多的是市場因素，以及我們的一些特色產品線，這些產品線對我們的影響更大。

Okay. Maybe when I look at your inventory level on your balance sheet, it seems like they're moving higher a little bit. I wouldn't expect this to be the case in this environment. Can you maybe talk a little bit about what's going on there?

好的。或許當我查看你們資產負債表上的庫存水準時，似乎它們略有上升。在這種環境下，我並不認為會出現這種情況。您能稍微談談那裡發生了什麼事嗎？

So part of that is pricing. Because as we mentioned, there have been mill price increases, so that's part of the dollars increasing. But we also have our tons up, and we buy based on what we're shipping. And so I think we might have a slight uptick in tons as well, but it's ripe for the market. And I think we've seen many of our competitors pulling back a bit from having inventory on hand, and this is allowing us to win some business and better service our customers.

所以，其中一部分原因在於定價。正如我們之前提到的，木材加工價格上漲了，這也是美元上漲的原因之一。但我們也儲備了大量的貨物，我們會根據出貨量來採購。所以我認為噸位可能會略有上升，但現在已經到了上市的時機。我認為我們已經看到許多競爭對手減少了庫存，這使我們能夠贏得一些業務，更好地服務我們的客戶。

Timna Tanners, Wells Fargo.

蒂姆娜·坦納斯，富國銀行。

Yeah, hey, good morning. I wanted to follow up, if I could, on the inventory side. I know you said ongoing -- I think the quote I have was ongoing excess inventory was pressuring margins -- contributing to the margin pressure. And another mill CEO this week said destocking was over. So I'm just trying to get a sense of, how close are we to putting that in the rearview mirror? When do you think we could switch to seeing appropriate levels of inventory?

是啊，嘿，早安。如果可以的話，我想跟進一下庫存方面的情況。我知道你說過持續存在——我認為我得到的引述是持續的庫存過剩正在擠壓利潤率——加劇了利潤率壓力。本週另一家工廠的執行長也表示，去庫存化已經結束。所以我想了解一下，我們距離徹底擺脫這件事還有多遠？您認為我們什麼時候才能看到合適的庫存水準？

And did you mean that from your competitors or from your customers, I guess?

你指的是競爭對手還是顧客？

Yeah. So Timna, more at both the mill and the service center level in Q2 and Q3. There was a lot of inventory at the beginning of the year. We think a lot of service center companies were buying heavy to get in front of the tariffs, whether that was coming through import or domestic buys. So we believe service centers have been trying to work down that inventory.

是的。所以，Timna，第二季和第三季度，工廠和服務中心層級都會有更多成長。年初時庫存量很大。我們認為許多服務中心公司都在大量採購，以趕在關稅生效前完成採購，無論是透過進口或國內採購。因此我們認為服務中心一直在努力減少庫存。

We do believe those inventories have come down. We're not going to say if destocking is over. We don't talk about destocking and restocking in our company. We talk about buying what we need based on our shipment levels. But we are starting to see lead times for certain products go out a bit, which is a positive sign.

我們相信這些庫存已經下降。我們不會透露去庫存化是否已經結束。我們公司不談論去庫存和補庫存。我們根據出貨量討論購買所需物資。但我們開始看到某些產品的交貨週期有所延長，這是一個正面的訊號。

Are we at an inflection point? Potentially. If we're not there, we're probably closer than we were. And when we were talking about the impact on gross profit margin from the competitive environment with a lot of inventory, that was really talking about Q2 and Q3 and the markets we were in every day. So we do see momentum coming out of that, you know, we think like gross profit margin troughed in Q3 based on the factors we see today.

我們正處於轉折點嗎？有可能。即使我們還沒到達目的地，也可能比之前更接近了。當我們談到庫存積壓等競爭環境對毛利率的影響時，我們實際上指的是第二季和第三季以及我們每天所處的市場環境。所以我們確實看到了這種勢頭，你知道，根據我們目前看到的因素，我們認為毛利率在第三季觸底反彈。

So I would say we probably generally agree with that comment, but probably just wouldn't say it as strongly as others.

所以我覺得我們大概大致同意這個觀點，但可能不會像其他人那樣強烈地表達出來。

Fair enough. I want to ask on the comment about winning new business. How does Reliance win new business? Is it execution? Is it price? Is it a little of both?

很公平。我想就贏得新業務的評論問一下。Reliance 如何贏得新業務？是執行嗎？是價格問題嗎？兩者兼具嗎？

Well, hopefully, it's execution and not price. That's the strategy. And we have changed our message starting a couple of years ago and set specific targets with certain of our Reliance companies where we felt that they could grow their tons in a profitable way and ask them to execute on that. And it's really them calling on customers, maybe their customers they had not been calling on.

希望問題出在執行上，而不是價格。這就是策略。從幾年前開始，我們改變了宣傳策略，並與我們信實集團旗下的一些公司設定了具體的目標，我們認為這些公司可以透過獲利的方式提高產量，並要求他們執行這些目標。實際上，他們是在主動聯絡客戶，也許是他們之前沒有聯絡過的客戶。

Prior to that, maybe they're going back after some business they used to have. We also have much more expanded processing capabilities. We can do a lot more for our customers now with the investments that we've made in that equipment.

在此之前，他們或許是回去處理一些以前的事情。我們也擁有更強大的處理能力。有了我們對這些設備的投資，我們現在可以為客戶提供更多服務。

And so it's really going back out educating our customers and then getting their orders and proving ourselves. We think that -- we think we provide among the highest levels of customer service in the industry. And that's why typically, once our companies can get their foot in the door with business and show our customers how well we can service them, we expect to retain most of that business that we've earned during these last couple of quarters.

所以，我們現在要做的就是走出去，教育我們的客戶，然後獲得他們的訂單，並證明我們自己的實力。我們認為－我們認為我們提供的客戶服務水準在業界名列前茅。因此，通常情況下，一旦我們的公司能夠打開業務之門，並向客戶展示我們能夠為他們提供多麼優質的服務，我們就期望能夠保留過去幾季贏得的大部分業務。

Our model, though, does fit with the market that we've been in, where it's been competitive, people have been hesitant to buy too much inventory because of the tariff uncertainty and falling prices in certain products, our ability to service small orders on a just-in-time basis is a positive in that type of market environment. So we probably won some business because some customers buying patterns changed a bit. But I think we should be able to hold on to a lot of that business that we were able to win during the last couple of quarters.

不過，我們的模式確實符合我們所處的市場環境。在這個競爭激烈的市場中，由於關稅的不確定性和某些產品價格的下跌，人們不願意購買過多的庫存。在這種市場環境下，我們能夠及時處理小訂單是一個優勢。所以，我們可能贏得了一些生意，因為一些客戶的購買習慣發生了一些變化。但我認為我們應該能夠保住過去幾季贏得的大部分業務。

Okay. I appreciate it. And I want to squeeze in one more if I could. I'm going to dare to ask a question about LIFO. But it's kind of bizarre to see continued LIFO expense at the same time as you're talking about prices having drifted lower recently.

好的。謝謝。如果可以的話，我還想再擠進一個。我鬥膽問一個關於後進先出法的問題。但是，在談到近期價格走低的同時，仍然繼續採用後進先出法（LIFO）支出，這有點奇怪。

So I guess just at a high level, when do we clear the decks and start to have like a neutral LIFO environment? It sounds like you're still expecting continuation into Q4. But is it getting to a point where we run through that and start to see LIFO income or at least no LIFO impact?

所以我想，從宏觀層面來說，我們什麼時候才能徹底清除障礙，開始建立中立的後進先出（LIFO）環境？聽起來你仍然期待第四季能繼續進行下去。但是，這種情況是否會發展到我們完成這些步驟並開始看到後進先出法 (LIFO) 的收入，或者至少不會產生後進先出法的影響？

Yeah, Timna, good question. So LIFO is an annual estimate. So I guess, the way you're thinking about it, a lot of the cost increases if you step back or look at the year, happened in the first half of the year. But because it's an annual estimate, we applied it pro rata. So you're right.

是的，提姆娜，問得好。所以，後進先出法（LIFO）是一種年度估價方法。所以我想，按照你的想法，如果你回顧這一年，你會發現很多成本增加都發生在上半年。但由於這是年度估算值，所以我們按比例應用了它。你說得對。

And intuitively, when you look at Q3 and you say there's LIFO expense, it's essentially associated with cost increases that are in the rearview mirror. But again, because the accounting method is pro rata, you're effectively spreading that equally throughout the year. So as we head into 2026 and costs are relatively flat, then essentially LIFO expenses in the rearview mirror.

直觀地說，當你查看第三季度並發現存在後進先出 (LIFO) 費用時，這本質上與已經過去成本增加有關。但是，由於會計方法是按比例分配的，所以實際上是將這部分成本平均分配到全年。因此，隨著我們進入 2026 年，成本相對平穩，那麼基本上後進先出法 (LIFO) 的費用將成為過去。

And just as a reminder, Timna, when we're in more normal times with pricing moves based more on the supply-demand dynamics and prices are going up because of demand and that creates LIFO expense, we're happy to incur LIFO expense in that type of environment. But again, it's been a bit of an atypical environment the last couple of quarters.

提姆娜，提醒你一下，在更正常的時期，價格變動更多地取決於供需動態，價格因需求而上漲，從而產生後進先出費用時，我們很樂意在這種環境下承擔後進先出費用。但話說回來，過去幾季的環境確實有些反常。

Phil Gibbs, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Phil Gibbs，KeyBanc Capital Markets。

Hey, good morning.

嘿，早安。

The semis infrastructure and aerospace pieces specifically certainly been noting excess inventories for most of 2025. And I know Timna made a general question about excess inventory in the supply chain. But those markets specifically, are you anticipating that those begin to turn around or levelize sometime in 2026?

半導體基礎設施和航空航太零件尤其在 2025 年的大部分時間都出現了庫存過剩的情況。我知道蒂姆娜提出了一個關於供應鏈中庫存過剩的一般性問題。但具體到這些市場，您是否預期它們會在 2026 年某個時候開始好轉或趨於平穩？

Yeah. And Phil, maybe we want to make sure too that we're clear, these are -- in those markets, we're talking in particular about the high-value products. These are the products you've heard us start talking about the end of last year -- well, actually for the last couple of years, coming out of COVID, we saw lead times move to 80 -- 50 to 80 weeks, which we had never seen before. And the whole industry saw that.

是的。菲爾，或許我們還要確保我們說清楚，這些──在這些市場中，我們特別指的是高價值產品。這些產品就是你們從去年年底開始就聽我們談論的——實際上，在過去幾年裡，隨著新冠疫情的爆發，我們看到交貨週期延長至 80 週——50 到 80 週，這是我們以前從未見過的。整個產業都看到了這一點。

We do think there was some general overbuying in both the aerospace and semiconductor market of some of these products because there was just concern about availability. And so we've just seen the supply chain working through those products. There are pockets where you start to see some improved demand. So we don't think it's getting worse today. We think it's getting better, but it's -- for certain products, it's just going to take some time.

我們認為，航空航太和半導體市場對某些此類產品有普遍的過度購買，是因為人們擔心供應問題。所以，我們剛才看到的就是這些產品的供應鏈運作。有些地方的需求開始有所改善。所以我們認為今天情況並沒有惡化。我們認為情況正在好轉，但是——對於某些產品來說，這還需要一些時間。

So we commented as we go through 2026, we think we'll see continued improvement in the supply chain working itself down for those products.

因此，我們評論說，隨著我們進入 2026 年，我們認為這些產品的供應鏈將持續改善並逐步完善。

, I wSoould say that if you think about the aerospace inventory, from a Reliance point of view, we're probably in the seventh or eighth inning of kind of getting our inventory under control and in a good position to start restocking in the first quarter of 2026. But the overall industry and our competitors and some of our customers, they're probably more in the fifth and sixth inning. But I think we're in good shape, but we're still going to have to deal with the market dynamics of the reality of there's a lot of inventory.

我想說，如果你從 Reliance 的角度來看航空航天庫存，我們可能正處於控制庫存的第七局或第八局，並且處於一個良好的位置，可以在 2026 年第一季開始補充庫存。但就整個產業、我們的競爭對手以及我們的一些客戶而言，他們可能更處於第五局和第六局的階段。但我認為我們目前狀況良好，但我們仍然需要應對庫存量大的現實市場動態。

Thank you. And on the CapEx side, I think you said around $350 million in cash CapEx this year. What should we anticipate for 2026? Because I know you've been kind of on an above trend for the last several years as you've invested in your capabilities and made more acquisitions.

謝謝。至於資本支出方面，我想您說過今年現金資本支出約 3.5 億美元。我們對2026年應該抱持怎樣的預期？因為我知道，在過去幾年裡，你們一直處於上升期，不斷投資提升自身能力並進行更多收購。

Yeah, Phil, that is our current estimate for this year. We're working on our 2026 CapEx budget as we speak. It, we believe, will be probably below what our 2025 number was. We've had some record years in the last few years. And it's been good investments for us, but we are pushing our people to really utilize the equipment that we have better, how can we maybe share some of that equipment within the Reliance network and just really pushing for better utilization of the investments we've already made.

是的，菲爾，這是我們今年目前的預估。我們正在製定2026年的資本支出預算。我們認為，它可能會低於我們2025年的預測數字。過去幾年我們取得了一些創紀錄的成績。這對我們來說是一筆不錯的投資，但我們正在努力讓員工更好地利用我們現有的設備，思考如何在 Reliance 網路內共享部分設備，並努力更好地利用我們已經進行的投資。

But we will continue. We do continue to see growth opportunities and we will have some growth initiatives in our CapEx in 2026. We'll give you that number in February, but probably directionally lower than our budget of $325 million in 2025. And remember, there will be carryover. Some of these projects are multiyear projects.

但我們會繼續。我們仍然看到成長機會，並且我們將在 2026 年的資本支出中推出一些成長計畫。我們將在二月公佈這個數字，但可能會比我們 2025 年 3.25 億美元的預算略低。記住，會有結轉影響。有些項目是多年期項目。

So the cash outlay might be more consistent with this year just because of some of the carryover coming into 2026.

因此，由於部分結轉至 2026 年，今年的現金支出可能與今年更一致。

And the last question, just on taxes. So I know there's been the Big Beautiful Bill and half a dozen other things that seemingly are changing cash tax rates and effective tax rates for companies, but is your cash tax rate for this year and next year relatively aligned with the effective rate? Or is it somewhat below?

最後一個問題，是關於稅的。我知道有《大法案》以及其他一些法案，這些法案似乎正在改變公司的現金稅率和實際稅率，但是您今年和明年的現金稅率與實際稅率是否相對一致呢？或略低於這個數值？

Yeah, Phil. So I mean, you can look at our tax rate for the most part, it's -- we're a full rate taxpayer. I think as far as the new tax bill, yes, it is definitely -- especially the bonus depreciation, that's going to help lower our cash taxes paid. We're currently estimating the impact, but that could be an incremental reduction of cash taxes, probably into $30 million to $40 million range. So that's kind of the extent of the impact at the moment that we've estimated.

是的，菲爾。所以我的意思是，你可以看看我們的稅率，我們大部分情況下都是全額稅率納稅人。我認為就新的稅收法案而言，是的，它肯定會有幫助——特別是額外折舊，這將有助於降低我們繳納的現金稅。我們目前正在估算其影響，但這可能會逐步減少現金稅收，大概減少 3,000 萬至 4,000 萬美元。所以，這就是我們目前估計的影響程度。

Bennett Moore, JPMorgan.

貝內特摩爾，摩根大通。

Morning, Carla, Steve, Arthur.

早安，卡拉、史蒂夫、亞瑟。

Thank you for taking my question. If I could circle back real quick on the aero comment, I think from Steve. It sounds like you're expecting maybe restocking could emerge as soon as the first quarter. Is there any difference there between the aluminum and stainless side just given some commentary for some other players this morning and Boeing moving to 42 a month as of Friday?

感謝您回答我的問題。如果我能夠快速地回應一下關於空氣動力學的評論，我想這是史蒂夫提出的。聽起來你似乎預計補貨最快可能在第一季就會出現。鋁和不銹鋼有什麼區別嗎？今天早上我給其他一些玩家提了一些意見，波音公司從週五開始將每月產量提高到 42 噸。

Yeah. Bennett, so from I think Steve's comment, again, he was talking specifically about Reliance's inventory position. And remember, we're talking about these specialty alloy steels, titanium, specialty aluminum products. So it's not impacting all of our aerospace inventory and aerospace business. We've seen relatively steady activity with like the aluminum plate and some of the other products that we consistently sell into aerospace.

是的。Bennett，所以我認為從Steve的評論來看，他再次特別談到了Reliance的庫存狀況。請記住，我們談論的是特殊合金鋼、鈦、特殊鋁製品。所以它並沒有影響我們所有的航空航太庫存和航空航太業務。我們看到，像是鋁板以及我們持續銷往航空航太領域的其他一些產品的銷售活動相對穩定。

This is a pocket of our inventory that we were talking about that -- I commented earlier we're long-term bullish on aerospace. Increased build rates absolutely could help that supply chain excess inventory get worked through faster. So that's all positive for Reliance and for the industry if we realize increased build rates.

這是我們庫存中的一小部分，我們之前也提到過——我們長期看好航空航太領域。提高生產速度絕對有助於更快消化供應鏈中的過剩庫存。如果建築速度能夠提高，那麼這對信實集團和整個產業來說都是利好消息。

Yeah. We're in really good shape regarding our heat treated aluminum with the 2x and the 7x for aerospace. We're a little more challenged with some of the specialty long products that we're working through.

是的。我們用於航空航太領域的 2x 和 7x 熱處理鋁材的供應情況非常好。我們正在研究一些特殊的長條狀產品，這給我們帶來了一些更大的挑戰。

All right. And then turning to the steady pricing guidance, if I could kind of dig into some of the puts and takes here. I mean it seems like flat steel is looking pretty steady. I think you made some similar comments. But we have seen [the tinted] plate price hikes over the past few weeks with some success.

好的。接下來，我想就穩定的定價指導進行一些深入探討，看看其中的一些優點和缺點。我的意思是，扁鋼的價格看起來相當穩定。我認為你也發表過類似的評論。但過去幾週，我們已經看到（有色）車牌價格上漲，並且取得了一定的成效。

Structural sounds pretty strong and the Midwest premium reached a record high over this past week. So could you walk us through kind of the puts and takes there?

結構性因素聽起來相當強勁，中西部地區的溢價在上週達到了歷史新高。那麼，您能給我們詳細介紹其中的買賣過程嗎？

So from the (inaudible) beam point of view, the lead times have been extended and demand has been strong for most of the year, actually probably the last 12- to 18-months. We do appreciate the plate increase that was announced recently, because there was a continuous sliding of some of those products. So we believe that that stopped some of the bleeding, and we are looking for more of an uptick in the fourth quarter going into 2026.

因此，從（聽不清楚）光束的角度來看，交貨週期已經延長，而且今年大部分時間，實際上可能是過去 12 到 18 個月的需求都很強勁。我們非常感謝最近宣布的提高產品價格的舉措，因為先前某些產品的價格一直在下滑。所以我們相信這止住了部分損失，我們期待在2026年第四季出現更大的回升。

Whereas merchant bar increased, that we think is going to take hold. And just in general, there's been some hold in some of the tubing mills. And overall, looking for brighter days in some of the carbon products.

雖然商家門檻提高了，但我們認為這種情況將會持續下去。總的來說，一些管材廠的產量受到了一定程度的影響。總體而言，一些碳產品前景光明。

Yeah. And I would comment too, you mentioned aluminum, Bennett, on the common alloy aluminum, and we did get our prices up in Q3 based on those price increases, some pretty high levels on the Midwest spot, which are good for us, and we're passing through. But I think with the trade uncertainty and not knowing when and what some of those final agreements might be, there's overall some hesitancy of stocking up too much on inventory in case there is a trade action related to the aluminum product.

是的。我還要補充一點，你提到了鋁，Bennett，關於常見的鋁合金鋁，我們確實在第三季度根據這些價格上漲提高了價格，中西部現貨價格水平相當高，這對我們來說是好事，我們正在經歷這個階段。但我認為，由於貿易的不確定性，以及不知道何時以及最終協議的內容，人們普遍對囤積過多庫存持謹慎態度，以防出現與鋁產品相關的貿易行動。

That's great color. Thank you. And if I could squeeze one more in maybe just on M&A. We saw some activity from peers this past month. Just hoping to get your latest read on the M&A landscape, valuations, if you're seeing any new opportunities emerge.

顏色真好看。謝謝。如果可以的話，我或許可以再加一篇關於併購的文章。上個月我們看到同行們的一些活動。只是想了解您對併購市場、估值的最新看法，以及您是否發現了任何新的機會。

Yeah So we're continuing to see a pretty steady flow of opportunities. We have commented the first quarter -- the fourth quarter of last year, we think, because of the elections, and first quarter of this year, it has slowed a bit. But the market's been -- picked back up to what we would call fairly normal levels and has stayed there. So we continue to look at opportunities as they become available, think about where we might want to be growing.

是的，我們持續看到相當穩定的機會湧現。我們已經評論過第一季——我們認為去年第四季度，由於選舉的影響，以及今年第一季度，成長速度有所放緩。但市場已經回升到我們所說的相當正常的水平，並且總是保持在那裡。因此，我們會繼續關注出現的各種機會，思考我們可能希望在哪些方面發展壯大。

So we think it's a decent M&A environment. I think valuations are generally reasonable. Each opportunity is a little different depending on what the sellers are looking for. But we're pleased with the level of activity we've been seeing.

所以我們認為這是一個不錯的併購環境。我認為估值總體上是合理的。每個機會都略有不同，這取決於賣家的需求。但我們對目前看到的活躍程度感到滿意。

Mike Harris, Goldman Sachs.

麥克哈里斯，高盛集團。

Thank you. Good morning, guys. Quick question. As you work through the gross profit margin headwinds, are there any SG&A leverage you can pull to help protect the operating margin?

謝謝。各位早安。問個問題。在應對毛利率逆風時，您可以利用哪些銷售、管理及行政費用的槓桿作用來幫助保護營業利潤率？

Yeah. So I think, Mike, that's something we're focused on every day and pushing our people to be focused on. We have been talking more internally and pushing our people to really look for efficiencies in their operations, in their warehouse activities. We have reduced our head count even with higher tons being shipped over the last couple of quarters. So that's a focus, again, like I said, that we're always looking at.

是的。所以我覺得，麥克，這是我們每天都在關注的事情，也是我們督促員工關注的事情。我們一直在加強內部溝通，並敦促員工在營運和倉儲活動中真正尋求提高效率的方法。儘管過去幾季的出貨量有所增加，但我們仍然減少了員工人數。所以，就像我剛才說的，這是我們一直在關注的重點。

We look -- we have several different locations. They don't all perform at the same levels. So we are continuously looking at any underperforming assets. How do we make changes there? Sometimes we combine locations.

我們有很多不同的辦公地點。他們的表現水準並不都一樣。因此，我們會持續關注任何表現不佳的資產。我們如何做出改變？有時我們會合併地點。

We'll close small locations. That's kind of constant activity that we're doing. And also with our Smart Profitable Growth strategy, we are getting better leverage off of the fixed cost component of our costs.

我們將關閉一些小型門市。這是我一直在做的一項持續性活動。此外，透過我們的智慧獲利成長策略，我們能夠更好地利用成本中的固定成本部分。

I don't know, Arthur, anything you would add?

我不知道，亞瑟，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yeah. No, great color, Karla. And Mike, yes, we actually peak head count in Q2, and we've trended down. And that's part of the efforts that Karla mentioned around rationalizing our operations.

是的。不，顏色真棒，卡拉。麥克，是的，我們的員工人數確實在第二季達到峰值，之後呈現下降趨勢。這就是卡拉提到的，我們為合理化運作所做的努力的一部分。

I think the service levels in this environment are important, and our market share gains have had a lot to do with our service levels. So it's important to be really thoughtful about maintaining those and not just go in and reduce head count for the short term, but in the long term really impact our service levels.

我認為在這種環境下，服務水準非常重要，而我們市場份額的成長與我們的服務水準密切相關。因此，認真考慮如何維持這些，而不僅僅是在短期內減少人員數量，而是要從長遠來看真正影響我們的服務水準。

So we're being very thoughtful methodical as we're navigating this environment and really growing the business, getting new customers going with existing customers. We've had some really good success with that, and we're looking forward to continue that.

因此，我們在應對當前環境、真正發展業務、吸引新客戶並維繫現有客戶的過程中，採取了非常周全、有條不紊的方式。我們在這方面取得了非常好的成功，我們期待繼續保持這種勢頭。

Okay. Great color, guys. Thanks. And then I guess just on the market share gain that you pointed out, going from 14.5% up to like 17.1%. Just curious as to how much of that would you attribute to organic versus inorganic growth.

好的。顏色真棒！謝謝。然後，正如你指出的那樣，市場份額也從 14.5% 增長到了 17.1%。我只是好奇，您認為其中有多少成長歸功於有機成長，又有多少成長歸功於無機成長？

Yeah. So certainly, Mike, we have had a few acquisitions over the last couple of years for in 2024. That is part of that. But -- and we called out our same-store and our consolidated shipment trends. But the majority has been organic growth, both, again, investments we're making in some greenfields, some expansions, our increased value-added processing we're able to do.

是的。所以，麥克，當然，在過去幾年裡，我們確實進行了一些收購，目標是在 2024 年實現。這是其中的一部分。但是——我們也指出了我們同店銷售和合併發貨的趨勢。但大部分成長來自有機成長，包括我們對一些新建項目和一些擴建項目的投資，以及我們能夠進行的增值加工。

But really just our salespeople looking for more opportunities and going after good business that's out there that maybe we haven't been servicing the last few years. So we're really proud of what our teams have done going out aggressively but aggressively through service, not through price, getting that increased business.

但實際上，我們的銷售人員只是在尋找更多機會，爭取那些我們過去幾年可能沒有服務過的優質業務。因此，我們為我們的團隊所取得的成就感到非常自豪，他們積極主動地透過服務而不是價格來拓展業務。

Yes. That majority is organic, so.

是的。大部分是有機的，所以。

Okay. Great. And then just last one, if I could. If we look at the third quarter shipments, were there any, I guess, major onetime items in there or perhaps any pull-forward sales that you would call out?

好的。偉大的。如果可以的話，再加最後一個。如果我們看一下第三季的出貨量，我想問的是，其中是否有任何重大的一次性項目，或者是否有任何提前銷售的訂單需要特別指出？

No, there's nothing there we would call out, Mike. I mean when your average order size is $3000 in order, it's hard to get that one big order so that really moves the needle. So I think it was just pretty broad-based.

不，那裡沒有什麼值得我們指出的，麥克。我的意思是，當你的平均訂單金額只有 3000 美元時，很難拿到一個能真正改變局面的大訂單。所以我認為它的影響範圍相當廣泛。

Martin Englert, Seaport Research Partners.

Martin Englert，Seaport Research Partners。

Hello, good morning, everyone.

大家好，早安。

For non-residential construction, it seems reasonably good. I'm curious how much of this activity do you think is related tied to AI, data centers, semiconductor build-outs, kind of that camp of activity?

對於非住宅建築而言，這似乎相當不錯。我很好奇，你認為這些活動中有多少與人工智慧、資料中心、半導體建置等相關？

Yeah, hi. Martin, it's hard for us to quantify just based upon the diversification we have within our companies and then the customers that we're selling into. And I think we commented on this last quarter, almost every one of our Reliance businesses is touching the data center trend and build, including the build of the electrification to support that with many, many different products, right? It's not just building the shell of the facility, it's a lot of the internal racking and enclosures and equipment. It's cooling systems.

嗨，你好。馬丁，僅憑我們公司內部的多元化經營以及我們所服務的客戶群，我們很難對其進行量化。我認為我們在上個季度已經評論過這一點，我們 Reliance 的幾乎所有業務都與資料中心的發展趨勢和建設有關，包括為支援資料中心建設而進行的電氣化建設，以及許多不同的產品，對吧？這不僅僅是建造設施的外殼，還包括大量的內部貨架、機櫃和設備。這是冷卻系統。

It's, again, the grid. So we're touching it. And it's been very positive for the industry that the data center trend is strong right now. But for us to quantify that, we think it will continue to grow. You can look at all the estimates out there of the builds that are being announced, and that will continue. So that's all very positive for us, but difficult for us to quantify specifically.

又是網格的問題。所以我們正在觸摸它。資料中心發展趨勢目前十分強勁，這對整個產業來說是一個非常正面的訊號。但就我們而言，要量化這一點，我們認為它會繼續成長。你可以查看所有已公佈的建設項目估算數據，而且這種情況還會持續下去。所以這對我們來說都是非常正面的，但很難具體量化。

Thank you. And if the government shutdown continues for an extended period, does this pose any risk to any programs you might have exposure to or anything within defense spending?

謝謝。如果政府停擺持續較長時間，這是否會對您可能參與的任何專案或國防開支構成風險？

There's nothing that we're aware of that's impacted us directly today. We're on -- I think the programs we're on are pretty solid programs, that we expect to continue. But certainly, there, like with anyone else, there could be some fallout if this continues. But it's not something that we've heard any warnings from any of our companies about any of the programs they're on.

據我們所知，目前還沒有任何事情對我們造成直接影響。我認為我們目前正在執行的項目都是非常可靠的項目，我們希望能夠繼續下去。但可以肯定的是，就像對其他人一樣，如果這種情況繼續下去，可能會產生一些後果。但我們尚未收到任何公司就其參與的任何項目發出此類警告。

Lawson Winder, Bank of America.

勞森·溫德，美國銀行。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Operator and good morning Carla, Steven, and Arthur. Nice to hear from you all. May I ask about capital return, and I guess, really in the context of capital allocation? One might expect that as the shares were a little bit weaker during the quarter, it might present an attractive opportunity, perhaps allocate more of your capital to the share buyback as opposed to less and maybe direct that away from other opportunities. I mean so how do you think about that in terms of return on your dollars in buying back shares versus investing in the rest of the business? And how should we think about that going forward?

接線員，早安，卡拉、史蒂文和亞瑟。很高興收到大家的來信。請問關於資本回報的問題嗎？我想，這主要是關於資本配置的問題吧？人們可能會認為，由於該季度股價略有走弱，這可能提供了一個有吸引力的機會，或許可以將更多資金分配給股票回購，而不是減少資金，從而避免投資其他機會。我的意思是，從資金回報的角度來看，回購股票與投資公司其他業務相比，您是如何考慮的？那麼，我們接下來該如何看待這個問題呢？

Lawson, we think buying Reliance stock is always a good decision, no matter what the price level is. But we do look at that, we do look at what the market value is, and adjust our activity accordingly. We've been active the last few quarters. The exact volumes vary a bit. But we look to be in the market, we look to buy at attractive levels.

勞森，我們認為無論物價水平如何，購買信實集團的股票始終是明智的決定。但我們會關注這一點，我們會關注市場價值，並據此調整我們的活動。過去幾季我們一直很活躍。具體數量略有不同。但我們打算進入市場，我們打算以有吸引力的價格買入。

We've got the balance sheet and the ability. We look at it as a pretty low-risk use of our capital when we're investing in Reliance by repurchasing our shares. And yes, it could be more attractive at different price levels, the same, I think, as for the general market.

我們擁有足夠的資產負債表和能力。我們認為，透過回購股票投資信實集團是一種風險相當低的資本運用方式。是的，它在不同的價格水平上可能會更具吸引力，我認為這與一般市場的情況相同。

Okay. That's helpful context. Can I also ask you, are you being impacted by, any way, by the aluminum supply disruption in New York State?

好的。提供的背景資訊很有幫助。我還可以問一下，紐約州的鋁供應中斷是否對您造成了任何影響？

Yeah. So we do, in our total processing businesses, directly, we do work with the mill, that I think you're referring to there specifically. And it has created some disruption in the market that was not expected. And we are working closely with our mill suppliers as well as the end users of the metal, the automakers and others, to try -- to do whatever we can.

是的。所以，在我們的整體加工業務中，我們確實直接與工廠合作，我想你指的就是這家工廠。這給市場造成了一些意想不到的混亂。我們正在與軋鋼廠供應商以及金屬的最終用戶——汽車製造商和其他相關方密切合作，盡我們所能。

We try to be a problem solver for them, whether it's storing metal for them, processing metal for them, actually leveraging the whole Reliance company to see if we can source the metal and fill some holes through some of the other Reliance businesses.

我們努力為他們解決問題，無論是為他們儲存金屬，還是為他們加工金屬，實際上都是利用整個信實集團的資源，看看我們能否透過信實集團的其他業務來獲取金屬並填補一些缺口。

So definitely a collaborative effort within Reliance trying to help that particular mill and its customers, as well as the overall industry because it's having a much broader impact on multiple end-use customers and different mills. So we're just trying to do what we can to help lessen the disruption for those impacted.

因此，這無疑是 Reliance 內部的一項合作努力，旨在幫助這家特定的工廠及其客戶，以及整個行業，因為它對多個終端用戶和不同的工廠產生了更廣泛的影響。所以我們正在盡我們所能，幫助減輕受影響者的生活中斷。

Is it materially -- or material enough for Reliance that that could show up on your cost item or impact profitability?

這是否具有實質影響——或者說，對於 Reliance 而言，這是否重要到足以反映在您的成本項目中或影響獲利能力？

No. And the good news with our tolling operations, if they do lose some processing business to this particular mill, they generally have more demand than they can accommodate that they can process metal for some other customers and end-use applications.

不。好消息是，即使我們的加工業務確實因為這家特定的鋼廠而損失了一些加工業務，但他們通常還有比他們能夠滿足的需求更多的需求，因此他們可以為其他一些客戶和最終用途加工金屬。

Okay. Great. And can we maybe talk a bit about seasonality or can you give us some perspective on that? I mean we've talked for a number of quarters about kind of negative impacts of seasonality on the business. In Q1, we saw seasonality benefit Reliance.

好的。偉大的。我們能否稍微談談季節性問題，或者您能否就此給我們一些見解？我的意思是，我們已經連續幾個季度討論過季節性因素對業務的負面影響。第一季度，我們看到季節性因素對信實集團有利。

When you think about the business today, and looking out to Q1, I mean, overall, across the business line, should we be looking at a recovery in Q1? Or how are you thinking about seasonality going forward from here?

當你思考當今的業務，並展望第一季時，我的意思是，總體而言，在整個業務線中，我們是否應該期待第一季出現復甦？或者，您如何看待未來季節性因素的影響？

Yeah. Lawson, as much as anything is kind of normal in our business, the last few years hasn't been that much normal. But in the service center business, our activity is really based on shipping days and it's based on the number of shipping days that our customers are open. So the normal seasonality is Q1 and Q2 are our two strongest shipping quarters.

是的。勞森，雖然在我們這個行業裡，很多事情都還算正常，但過去幾年卻沒那麼正常。但在服務中心業務中，我們的業務量其實是基於出貨天數，而出貨天數又取決於我們的客戶的營業天數。因此，正常的季節性規律是，第一季和第二季是我們出貨量最大的兩個季度。

They're usually fairly even, but there can be a little, give or take. But the first two quarters of the year are our strongest. Q3 typically trends down a bit because a lot of big OEMs will do shutdowns for planned shutdowns during the summer in industries that we're selling into. Also a lot of the smaller customers, there are vacations and things going on where small businesses will shut down for a week or 2.

它們通常相當接近，但可能會有一些出入。但每年的前兩個季度是我們業績最好的時期。第三季通常會略有下降，因為我們所銷售行業的許多大型 OEM 廠商會在夏季進行計劃內的停產檢修。此外，許多小客戶也會遇到假期或其他情況，導緻小型企業關閉一兩週。

So we generally see probably a 3% to 5% falloff in our shipping volumes in Q3 versus Q2. I think the fact that our Q3 '25 shipments were equal with Q2 '25 is a big positive and again shows how our businesses, the Reliance businesses, are going out and winning business from others. And the fact that there was no dip in our shipment levels -- because the industry, I think will see -- did have the normal seasonality.

因此，我們通常會看到第三季的出貨量比第二季下降 3% 到 5%。我認為，我們 2025 年第三季的出貨量與 2025 年第二季持平，這是一個很大的利好消息，再次表明我們的業務，即 Reliance 集團的業務，正在走出去，從其他公司手中贏得業務。而且，我們的出貨量沒有下降——我認為業內人士都會看到——這確實具有正常的季節性。

And then Q4, with the holidays, that's usually another 5% to 7% reduction in shipment levels from Q3, just again because of customers being shut down more days, us being shut down a couple of days for the holidays. And then you see the bounce-back in Q1 when there are just more shipping days, people are back to kind of full staffing moving into the year. So we certainly expect that to happen.

然後，由於第四季有假期，出貨量通常會比第三季再減少 5% 到 7%，這同樣是因為客戶停工的時間更長，而我們自己也會因為假期停工幾天。然後你會看到第一季出現反彈，出貨天數增加，人們在新的一年也恢復了滿員狀態。所以我們當然預期這種情況會發生。

I would comment, and when people look at seasonality, I just talked about shipment levels, but that obviously trickles down to earnings. And we -- our guide for Q4 earnings per share, typically, we've been down -- earnings per share from Q3 to Q4 dips about 20% to 25%, which is consistent with our guide. However, it was not reflected in the consensus numbers that were out there. So we ask that people putting those numbers out there do steady history and pick up on some of those trends and react accordingly.

我會發表評論，當人們關注季節性因素時，我剛才談到了出貨量，但這顯然會影響到收益。而我們——我們對第四季度每股收益的預期，通常情況下，已經有所下降——從第三季度到第四季度，每股收益下降了約 20% 到 25%，這與我們的預期一致。然而，這並沒有反映在現有的共識數據中。因此，我們要求發布這些數據的人要持續關注歷史數據，並注意到其中的一些趨勢，並做出相應的反應。

Thank you. We've reached end of our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over for any further or closing comments.

謝謝。我們的問答環節到此結束。我想把發言權交還給各位，請大家補充或作總結發言。

Well again we'd like to thank everyone for joining the call today and your continued support of Reliance, in particular we'd like to thank all of the reliance family members for continuing to operate safely and for all that you're doing in these challenging.

再次感謝大家今天參加電話會議，感謝大家一直以來對 Reliance 的支持，尤其要感謝 Reliance 的所有成員，感謝你們繼續安全運營，感謝你們在這些充滿挑戰的時期所做的一切。

Market times and the successes that we've had we're very proud of what you're accomplishing out there and also before we close out the call I'd like to remind everyone that we'll be in Chicago next month presenting at Bay's Global industrials conference and we hope to meet with many of you there.

鑑於目前的市場狀況以及我們所取得的成功，我們為你們在市場上所取得的成就感到非常自豪。另外，在結束本次電話會議之前，我想提醒大家，我們下個月將在芝加哥參加 Bay 的全球工業大會，我們希望在那裡與你們中的許多人見面。

Thank you and goodbye.

謝謝，再見。

Thank you, that does conclude today's teleconference and webcast. You may just connect your line at this time and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.

謝謝，今天的電話會議和網路直播到此結束。現在您可以接通電話線，祝您有美好的一天。感謝您今天的參與。