SunCoke Energy Inc (SXC) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Rob, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the SunCoke Energy fourth quarter 2022 earnings and 2023 guidance conference call. (Operator Instructions)

早上好。我叫 Rob，今天我將擔任你們的會議接線員。此時，我想歡迎大家參加 SunCoke Energy 2022 年第四季度收益和 2023 年指導電話會議。 （操作員說明）

Shantanu Agrawal, Vice President, Finance and Treasurer, you may begin your conference.

副總裁兼財務主管 Shantanu Agrawal，您可以開始會議了。

Thanks, Rob. Good morning, and thank you for joining us this morning to discuss SunCoke Energy's fourth quarter and full year 2022 results as well as 2023 guidance. With me today are Mike Rippey, Chief Executive Officer; Katherine Gates, President; and Mark Marinko, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Following management's prepared remarks, we'll open the call for Q&A. This conference call is being webcast live on the Investor Relations section of our website, and a replay will be available later today. If we don't get your questions on the call today, please feel free to reach out to our Investor Relations team.

謝謝，羅布。早上好，感謝您今天早上加入我們，討論 SunCoke Energy 的第四季度和全年 2022 年業績以及 2023 年業績指引。今天和我在一起的是首席執行官 Mike Rippey；凱瑟琳·蓋茨，總裁；高級副總裁兼首席財務官 Mark Marinko。在管理層準備好發言後，我們將開啟問答環節。該電話會議正在我們網站的投資者關係部分進行網絡直播，今天晚些時候將提供重播。如果我們今天沒有在電話中收到您的問題，請隨時聯繫我們的投資者關係團隊。

Before I turn things over to Mike, let me remind you that the various remarks we make on today's call regarding future expectations constitute forward-looking statements. The cautionary language regarding forward-looking statements in our SEC filings apply to the remarks we make today. These documents are available on our website as our reconciliations to non-GAAP financial measures discussed on today's call.

在我把事情交給邁克之前，讓我提醒你，我們在今天的電話會議上就未來預期發表的各種評論構成前瞻性陳述。我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中有關前瞻性陳述的警示性語言適用於我們今天發表的言論。這些文件可在我們的網站上找到，作為我們在今天的電話會議上討論的非 GAAP 財務措施的對賬。

With that, I'll now turn things over to Mike.

有了這個，我現在把事情交給邁克。

Thanks, Shantanu. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us today. Let me start by recognizing the appointment of Katherine Gates as President of SunCoke effective January 1 of this year. Katherine joined SunCoke in early 2013, and has demonstrated excellent judgment and leadership in each of her various roles. Katherine's promotion to President recognizes her significant contributions at SunCoke, and I look forward to continuing to work together in her new role. Katherine will review our 2023 earnings guidance and key initiatives later in this presentation. As we look back on 2022, I want to thank all of our SunCoke employees for their contributions in achieving our 2022 objectives. The dedication of our team is evident through our excellent safety record, operational performance and financial results.

謝謝，山塔努。早上好，感謝大家今天加入我們。首先讓我承認凱瑟琳·蓋茨 (Katherine Gates) 被任命為 SunCoke 總裁，該任命將於今年 1 月 1 日生效。 Katherine 於 2013 年初加入 SunCoke，在擔任各種職務時都表現出了出色的判斷力和領導能力。凱瑟琳晉升為總裁是對她在 SunCoke 做出的重大貢獻的認可，我期待著在她的新角色中繼續合作。凱瑟琳將在本演示文稿的後面回顧我們的 2023 年收益指南和關鍵舉措。回顧 2022 年，我要感謝所有 SunCoke 員工為實現我們的 2022 年目標所做的貢獻。我們出色的安全記錄、運營績效和財務業績證明了我們團隊的奉獻精神。

Slide 3 details the key objectives that we set out for 2022 and how we performed against these objectives. We exceeded the high end of our revised guidance range of $285 million, delivering $297.7 million of adjusted EBITDA in 2022, a record for our company. Additionally, we generated approximately $133 million of free cash flow, which was within our revised guidance range of $120 million to $135 million. Our Domestic Coke business operated at full capacity, which allowed us to take advantage of strong export coke market conditions as well as increase our foundry market participation. As announced in our previous earnings call, we are undertaking a capital project that will enable our Jewell plant to produce 100% foundry coke. This project, which is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year, will allow SunCoke to further grow our participation in the foundry market. Importantly, the Jewell facility will not lose the flexibility to alternate between blast and foundry coke production after this project is completed. We also made great progress on our capital allocation priorities in 2022. We deployed free cash flow to reduce our gross debt by approximately $83 million. Additionally, we returned almost $24 million to our shareholders, having increased our quarterly dividend from $0.06 to $0.08 per share during 2022, which we anticipate will continue in 2023. Lastly, we entered into a nonbinding letter of intent with U.S. Steel to manufacture granulated pig iron. We will continue developing this project in the coming year.

幻燈片 3 詳細介紹了我們為 2022 年設定的主要目標以及我們如何實現這些目標。我們超過了 2.85 億美元的修訂指導範圍的上限，在 2022 年實現了 2.977 億美元的調整後 EBITDA，創下了我們公司的記錄。此外，我們產生了大約 1.33 億美元的自由現金流，這在我們修訂後的 1.2 億美元至 1.35 億美元的指導範圍內。我們的國內焦炭業務滿負荷運轉，這使我們能夠利用強勁的出口焦炭市場條件並提高我們的鑄造市場參與度。正如我們在之前的財報電話會議上宣布的那樣，我們正在進行一項資本項目，使我們的 Jewell 工廠能夠生產 100% 的鑄造焦炭。該項目預計將於今年第三季度完成，將使 SunCoke 進一步擴大我們在鑄造市場的參與度。重要的是，在該項目完成後，Jewell 工廠將不會失去在鼓風和鑄造焦生產之間交替生產的靈活性。我們在 2022 年的資本分配優先事項上也取得了很大進展。我們利用自由現金流將總債務減少了約 8300 萬美元。此外，我們還向股東返還了近 2400 萬美元，將 2022 年的季度股息從每股 0.06 美元增加到 0.08 美元，我們預計這種趨勢將持續到 2023 年。最後，我們與美國鋼鐵公司簽訂了一份不具約束力的意向書，以製造顆粒豬鐵。我們將在來年繼續開發這個項目。

With that, I'll turn it over to Mark to review our fourth quarter and full year earnings in detail. Mark?

有了這個，我將把它交給馬克詳細審查我們的第四季度和全年收益。標記？

Thanks, Mike. Turning to Slide 4. The fourth quarter net income attributable to SunCoke was $0.14 per share, down $0.01 versus the fourth quarter of 2021 due to lower export coke contribution margins being partially offset by lower interest expense. Our full year 2022 net income attributable to SunCoke was $1.19 per share, up $0.67 versus the full year 2021, driven by our strong operating results, the absence of debt refinancing-related expenses and lower interest expense. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter 2022 was $58.9 million, down $4 million versus the fourth quarter of 2021. The decrease was mainly driven by lower contribution margin on export coke sales, partially offset by higher volumes in the Logistics segment and lower legacy liability expense at Corporate. On a full year basis, we delivered adjusted EBITDA of $297.7 million, up $22.3 million versus the full year 2021.

謝謝，邁克。轉到幻燈片 4。第四季度歸屬於 SunCoke 的淨利潤為每股 0.14 美元，比 2021 年第四季度下降 0.01 美元，原因是較低的出口焦炭貢獻利潤率被較低的利息支出部分抵消。我們 2022 年全年歸屬於 SunCoke 的淨收入為每股 1.19 美元，比 2021 年全年增長 0.67 美元，這得益於我們強勁的經營業績、沒有債務再融資相關費用以及較低的利息費用。 2022 年第四季度合併調整後 EBITDA 為 5890 萬美元，比 2021 年第四季度減少 400 萬美元。減少的主要原因是出口焦炭銷售的邊際收益下降，部分被物流部門的銷量增加和遺留負債費用減少所抵消在公司。在全年基礎上，我們實現了 2.977 億美元的調整後 EBITDA，比 2021 年全年增加了 2230 萬美元。

Turning to Slide 5 to discuss the year-over-year adjusted EBITDA variance in detail. Our coke business delivered strong financial results, mainly driven by higher contribution margin on export coke sales. The Domestic Coke segment delivered full year adjusted EBITDA of $263.4 million, well above our full year revised Domestic Coke guidance range. Including Brazil, our coke operations delivered adjusted EBITDA of $277.9 million. The Logistics segment adjusted EBITDA increased approximately $6.2 million year-over-year, driven by higher throughput volumes and higher pricing. With the backdrop of a strong commodity market, the Logistics segment delivered full year adjusted EBITDA of $49.7 million. Finally, our Corporate and Other expenses were higher by $1.2 million year-over-year, mainly due to higher employee-related expenses, partially offset by lower noncash legacy liability expenses. Overall, we are very pleased with the performance across all segments, resulting in a historic year for the company.

轉到幻燈片 5，詳細討論按年調整後的 EBITDA 差異。我們的焦炭業務取得了強勁的財務業績，主要是受出口焦炭銷售貢獻率提高的推動。國內焦炭部門全年調整後 EBITDA 為 2.634 億美元，遠高於我們修訂後的全年國內焦炭指導範圍。包括巴西在內，我們的焦炭業務實現了 2.779 億美元的調整後 EBITDA。受更高吞吐量和更高定價的推動，物流部門調整後的 EBITDA 同比增長約 620 萬美元。在商品市場強勁的背景下，物流部門全年調整後 EBITDA 為 4970 萬美元。最後，我們的公司和其他費用同比增加 120 萬美元，這主要是由於與員工相關的費用增加，部分被非現金遺留負債費用減少所抵消。總的來說，我們對所有部門的表現感到非常滿意，這對公司來說是歷史性的一年。

Turning to Slide 6 to discuss capital deployment in 2022. We generated very strong operating cash flow of approximately $209 million, which allowed us to make good progress on our capital deployment initiatives. Capital expenditures of $75.5 million during the year were slightly below our guidance of approximately $80 million. We also reduced our gross debt outstanding by approximately $83 million in 2022. Year-over-year, we brought down our gross leverage ratio from 2.28x to 1.83x. We expect to continue to delever in 2023 and reduce our outstanding revolver balance. We returned capital to our shareholders in the form of our common dividend in 2022, which was a use of approximately $24 million of cash. As mentioned by Mike, we increased our dividend by 33%, that is from $0.06 to $0.08 per share during the third quarter of 2022. In total, we ended 2022 with a cash balance of approximately $90 million and strong liquidity of approximately $405 million, setting the stage for continued progress against our capital allocation priorities in 2023.

轉到幻燈片 6，討論 2022 年的資本部署。我們產生了非常強勁的運營現金流，約為 2.09 億美元，這使我們能夠在資本部署計劃方面取得良好進展。這一年的資本支出為 7550 萬美元，略低於我們大約 8000 萬美元的指導。我們還在 2022 年將未償債務總額減少了約 8300 萬美元。與去年同期相比，我們將總槓桿率從 2.28 倍降至 1.83 倍。我們預計將在 2023 年繼續去槓桿化，並減少我們未償還的循環貸款餘額。我們在 2022 年以普通股息的形式向股東返還了資本，這使用了大約 2400 萬美元的現金。正如 Mike 所提到的，我們在 2022 年第三季度將股息增加了 33%，即從每股 0.06 美元增加到 0.08 美元。總的來說，到 2022 年底，我們的現金餘額約為 9000 萬美元，流動性強，約為 4.05 億美元，為在 2023 年繼續推進我們的資本配置優先事項奠定基礎。

Now I'd like to turn it over to Katherine to review our guidance expectations for 2023. Katherine?

現在我想把它交給凱瑟琳來審查我們對 2023 年的指導預期。凱瑟琳？

Thanks, Mark, and good morning, everyone. We expect adjusted EBITDA to be between $250 million and $265 million this year. Domestic Coke adjusted EBITDA is expected to be lower by $22 million to $30 million, driven primarily by our expectation of lower price realization on export sales due to market conditions. We expect to continue to run our coke facilities at full capacity and to continue increasing our participation in the foundry coke market. Brazil Coke adjusted EBITDA will be lower by $5 million to $6 million due to the expiration of a technology fee from a prior transaction. In 2016, ArcelorMittal Brazil redeemed SunCoke's equity interest in the Brazil Coke facility for $41 million cash consideration. SunCoke also received approximately $5 million in technology fees annually for year 2017 to 2022 as part of that redemption transaction. As a reminder, the Brazil Coke facility is owned by ArcelorMittal Brazil and SunCoke provides the operating and technological services pursuant to an operating agreement.

謝謝，馬克，大家早上好。我們預計今年調整後的 EBITDA 將在 2.5 億美元至 2.65 億美元之間。國內焦炭調整後的 EBITDA 預計將減少 2200 萬美元至 3000 萬美元，這主要是由於我們預計出口銷售的價格會因市場狀況而降低。我們希望繼續滿負荷運行我們的焦炭設施，並繼續增加我們在鑄造焦炭市場的參與度。由於先前交易的技術費用到期，巴西焦炭調整後的 EBITDA 將減少 500 萬至 600 萬美元。 2016 年，安賽樂米塔爾巴西公司以 4100 萬美元的現金對價贖回了 SunCoke 在巴西焦炭工廠的股權。作為贖回交易的一部分，SunCoke 在 2017 年至 2022 年每年還收到約 500 萬美元的技術費用。提醒一下，巴西焦炭工廠歸 ArcelorMittal Brazil 所有，SunCoke 根據運營協議提供運營和技術服務。

Turning to the Logistics segment. We expect adjusted EBITDA to be flat to lower by $3 million in 2023. We anticipate similar volumes at CMT year-over-year, but with normalized high water costs that could impact profitability year-over-year. Lastly, we expect our Corporate and Other segment expense to be higher by approximately $6 million to $9 million, driven by normalized noncash legacy liability expenses.

轉向物流部門。我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 到 2023 年將持平或減少 300 萬美元。我們預計 CMT 的同比銷量相似，但正常化的高水成本可能會影響同比盈利能力。最後，我們預計在標準化的非現金遺留負債費用的推動下，我們的公司和其他部門費用將增加約 600 萬至 900 萬美元。

Moving on to Slide 9 to discuss the Coke segment in detail. In 2023, we estimate our Domestic Coke adjusted EBITDA to be between $234 million and $242 million, with sales of approximately 4 million tons of contract, foundry and export coke. We expect to run the domestic fleet at full capacity. Approximately 3.6 million tons are contracted under our long-term take-or-pay agreements in 2023. We anticipate selling the remaining 650,000 furnace equivalent tons in the foundry and export coke markets. As a reminder, foundry tons do not replace blast furnace tons on a ton per ton basis. For example, due to differences in the production process, a single ton of foundry coke replaces approximately 2 tons of blast furnace coke. The order book for foundry coke is solid and export sales for the first quarter of 2023 have been finalized. While we expect to continue running at full capacity, the lower year-over-year adjusted EBITDA is primarily due to lower price realizations on export coke sales based on current and future expected market conditions. The export coke market is experiencing significant price volatility and that is factored into our guidance.

轉到幻燈片 9 詳細討論可口可樂部分。到 2023 年，我們估計國內焦炭調整後的 EBITDA 將在 2.34 億美元至 2.42 億美元之間，合同、鑄造和出口焦炭的銷售額約為 400 萬噸。我們預計國內機隊將滿負荷運行。根據我們的長期照付不議協議，我們在 2023 年簽訂了約 360 萬噸的合同。我們預計將在鑄造和出口焦炭市場銷售剩餘的 650,000 爐當量噸。提醒一下，鑄造噸不以每噸為基礎取代高爐噸。例如，由於生產工藝的差異，一噸鑄造焦可替代約2噸高爐焦。鑄造焦的訂單穩固，2023 年第一季度的出口銷售已經確定。雖然我們預計將繼續滿負荷運轉，但調整後的 EBITDA 同比下降主要是由於根據當前和未來的預期市場狀況，出口焦炭銷售的價格實現較低。出口焦炭市場正在經歷顯著的價格波動，這已被納入我們的指導方針。

Moving to Slide 10 to discuss logistics in more detail. 2023 logistics adjusted EBITDA is estimated to be between $47 million and $50 million. This estimate is based on normalized high water costs at CMT, which we did not experience in 2022. Our outlook also considers the current expectations for thermal coal export volumes from the Gulf Coast, the price realizations based on the API2 forward curve. We anticipate volumes to be similar year-over-year at CMT, projecting approximately 5.7 million tons of coal to be exported and approximately 4.3 million tons of noncoal throughput such as iron ore, pet coke and other products. We anticipate logistics adjusted EBITDA to be slightly lower to flat year-over-year, mainly driven by the expectation of more normalized high water costs in 2023. Like 2021, 2022 was another unusual year at CMT from a high water perspective. We incurred no high water costs during 2021 or 2022, but anticipate a more normalized weather pattern, resulting in high water costs at CMT in 2023. Overall, we anticipate another strong year for our Logistics segment.

轉到幻燈片 10 更詳細地討論物流。 2023 年物流調整後的 EBITDA 估計在 4700 萬至 5000 萬美元之間。這一估計是基於 CMT 的標準化高水成本，我們在 2022 年沒有經歷過這種情況。我們的展望還考慮了當前對墨西哥灣沿岸動力煤出口量的預期，以及基於 API2 遠期曲線的價格實現。我們預計 CMT 的出口量將與去年同期持平，預計將出口約 570 萬噸煤炭和約 430 萬噸非煤炭吞吐量，如鐵礦石、石油焦和其他產品。我們預計物流調整後的 EBITDA 同比略低至持平，這主要是由於預計 2023 年水費將更加正常化。與 2021 年一樣，從高水費角度來看，2022 年是 CMT 又一個不尋常的一年。我們在 2021 年或 2022 年沒有產生高昂的水費，但預計天氣模式將更加正常化，導致 2023 年 CMT 的水費高昂。總體而言，我們預計我們的物流部門將迎來又一個強勁的一年。

Moving to the 2023 guidance summary on Slide 11. This slide provides a historical view of actual performance across several metrics as well as a summary of our 2023 guidance. Once again, we expect adjusted EBITDA to be between $250 million and $265 million. Our coke business is expected to run at full capacity, but with lower price realizations on export coke sales. We expect 2023 logistics performance to be similar to 2022. We anticipate our CapEx requirements in 2023 to be approximately $95 million, which includes the foundry coke expansion project. Our free cash flow is expected to be between $105 million and $120 million after taking into account cash interest, cash taxes, capital expenditures and working capital changes.

轉到幻燈片 11 上的 2023 年指導摘要。這張幻燈片提供了跨多個指標的實際績效的歷史視圖以及我們 2023 年指導的摘要。我們再次預計調整後的 EBITDA 將在 2.5 億美元至 2.65 億美元之間。我們的焦炭業務預計將滿負荷運轉，但出口焦炭銷售實現的價格較低。我們預計 2023 年的物流績效將與 2022 年相似。我們預計 2023 年的資本支出要求約為 9500 萬美元，其中包括鑄造焦炭擴建項目。考慮到現金利息、現金稅、資本支出和營運資本變化後，我們的自由現金流預計在 1.05 億美元至 1.2 億美元之間。

Now turning over to Slide 12 to discuss our 2023 key initiatives. As always, safety is our first priority, and we will continue to focus on strong safety and environmental performance in 2023. Operational excellence will drive our operating and capital plan achievements. We will continue to pursue opportunities to optimize our assets, specifically as it relates to foundry and export coke. As mentioned earlier in the call, we are pleased with our increased participation in the foundry coke market, and our focus in 2023 will be on completing the foundry coke expansion project at our Jewell facility. This will enable us to continue to grow our market participation and provide further diversification. As we've demonstrated in the past, we will continue to pursue a balanced yet opportunistic approach to capital allocation. We expect our deleveraging initiatives to continue in 2023 as we look to bring down our revolver balance further. From a growth perspective, we will work on developing the Granite City GPI project. We continue to evaluate the capital needs of the business, our capital structure and the need to reward our shareholders, and we'll make capital allocation decisions accordingly.

現在轉到幻燈片 12 討論我們 2023 年的關鍵舉措。一如既往，安全是我們的首要任務，我們將在 2023 年繼續專注於強大的安全和環境績效。卓越運營將推動我們的運營和資本計劃取得成就。我們將繼續尋求機會優化我們的資產，特別是與鑄造和出口焦炭相關的資產。正如電話中前面提到的，我們很高興我們增加了對鑄造焦市場的參與，我們在 2023 年的重點將是完成 Jewell 工廠的鑄造焦擴建項目。這將使我們能夠繼續增加我們的市場參與度並提供進一步的多元化。正如我們過去所展示的那樣，我們將繼續追求平衡但機會主義的資本配置方法。我們預計我們的去槓桿化舉措將在 2023 年繼續，因為我們希望進一步降低循環餘額。從增長的角度來看，我們將致力於開發 Granite City GPI 項目。我們將繼續評估企業的資本需求、我們的資本結構和回報股東的需要，並據此做出資本分配決策。

Looking beyond 2023, we believe that SunCoke is well positioned for long-term success. We believe that coke supply will continue to exit the market as many assets are underinvested and significantly aging. SunCoke has the youngest domestic cokemaking facilities in North America with the leading technology. We will continue to invest in our facilities to ensure that they operate safely, efficiently and with outstanding environmental performance. We will continue to take advantage of our facilities and their performance by taking additional steps towards diversifying both our customer and product base. In 2023, we see good potential to further build on the strength of our core cokemaking and logistics businesses to meet our financial targets and create value for shareholders.

展望 2023 年以後，我們相信 SunCoke 已做好長期成功的準備。我們認為，由於許多資產投資不足且嚴重老化，焦炭供應將繼續退出市場。 SunCoke擁有北美最年輕、技術領先的國內煉焦設備。我們將繼續投資於我們的設施，以確保它們安全、高效地運行並具有出色的環保性能。我們將繼續利用我們的設施及其性能，採取更多措施使我們的客戶和產品基礎多樣化。到 2023 年，我們看到了進一步加強核心煉焦和物流業務實力以實現財務目標並為股東創造價值的良好潛力。

With that, let's go ahead and open up the call for Q&A.

有了這個，讓我們繼續打開問答電話。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Your first question comes from the line of Lucas Pipes from B. Riley Securities.

你的第一個問題來自 B. Riley Securities 的 Lucas Pipes。

Nice results. And this leads me to my first question. You're providing solid guidance for next year kind of from EBITDA down to cash flow. What stands in the way here of significantly higher capital returns to shareholders?

不錯的結果。這引出了我的第一個問題。你為明年提供了從 EBITDA 到現金流的可靠指導。是什麼阻礙了顯著提高股東資本回報率？

Lucas, I appreciate your comments, and we don't think anything stands in the way of our continued progress. Our balance sheet is in great shape. As we've indicated in the past, we expect it to delever significantly. We've done that. We positioned ourselves very well to grow. Our focus with regard to growth now is the GPI facility at Granite City. We continue to work in developing that project. And our cokemaking assets continue to run full. We've been able to move some away from the contractual market into the export market as well as our success in foundry. We've repositioned CMT towards slowing off of very, very high levels of return operating -- not yet capacity, but pretty darn close to it. So there are incremental opportunities to grow our participation down at CMT. But the challenge for us is to keep doing the good things we're doing, generating cash and deploying it to grow to the benefit of our shareholders.

盧卡斯，非常感謝您的評論，我們認為沒有任何事情會阻礙我們繼續前進。我們的資產負債表狀況良好。正如我們過去所指出的，我們預計它會顯著去槓桿化。我們已經做到了。我們為自己的成長定位得很好。我們現在的增長重點是 Granite City 的 GPI 設施。我們繼續致力於開發該項目。我們的煉焦資產繼續滿負荷運轉。我們已經能夠將一些產品從合同市場轉移到出口市場以及我們在代工方面的成功。我們已經將 CMT 重新定位為放慢非常非常高水平的回報運營——還不是產能，但非常接近它。因此，有越來越多的機會來增加我們在 CMT 的參與度。但我們面臨的挑戰是繼續做我們正在做的好事，產生現金並將其用於增長，以造福於我們的股東。

That's helpful. Then maybe to turn to the balance sheet on this note. What is your long-term debt gross or net target?

這很有幫助。然後也許轉向這張票據上的資產負債表。您的長期債務總額或淨額目標是多少？

We said, we wanted to be under 3x. We've successfully brought it down under 3x. We've had great progress, $83 million down this year, and we're going to continue to work. We still got a little bit left in revolver. We'll pull it down, and again, that leaves us very well positioned. For growth, it leaves our balance sheet in a really good shape to weather any storms we might see out ahead. We have to remind ourselves that this is, in fact, a cyclical business. So we're not going to lever up, and we have the ability to continue to reward shareholders as we did last year when we raised the dividend by 33%.

我們說，我們希望低於 3 倍。我們已成功將其降低到 3 倍以下。我們取得了很大進展，今年減少了 8300 萬美元，我們將繼續努力。我們的左輪手槍還剩一點點。我們會把它拉下來，然後再一次，這讓我們處於非常有利的位置。對於增長，它使我們的資產負債表處於非常良好的狀態，可以抵禦我們未來可能看到的任何風暴。我們必須提醒自己，這實際上是一個週期性的行業。所以我們不會加槓桿，我們有能力像去年將股息提高 33% 那樣繼續回報股東。

And then in terms of the capital for -- CapEx spending -- capital spending for 2023, can you provide the breakdown between sustaining capital and growth capital?

然後就 2023 年資本支出的資本支出而言，您能否提供維持資本和增長資本之間的細分？

Thanks, Lucas. In terms of the capital for 2023, we don't give out specific capital on projects itself. But as you can see in the capital number, that reflects the growth expansion project for foundry at Jewell and that is built into our $95 million number.

謝謝，盧卡斯。在2023年的資金方面，我們不給項目本身俱體的資金。但正如您在資本數字中看到的那樣，這反映了 Jewell 鑄造廠的增長擴張項目，並且已包含在我們 9500 萬美元的數字中。

And order of magnitude of maybe $10 million to $20 million, would that be the right?

可能是 1000 萬到 2000 萬美元的數量級，對嗎？

That would be, and that gives you a good sense of going forward when we think about our sort of ongoing maintenance CapEx to continue to invest in our facilities, you can think about that around $80 million to $85 million.

那就是，當我們考慮我們的持續維護資本支出以繼續投資於我們的設施時，這讓你有一個很好的前進感，你可以考慮大約 8000 萬到 8500 萬美元。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Your next question comes from the line of Nathan Martin from The Benchmark Company.

你的下一個問題來自 The Benchmark Company 的 Nathan Martin。

Katherine, congrats on the recent appointment.

凱瑟琳，祝賀最近的任命。

Thanks, Nathan.

謝謝，內森。

You guys talked about how, again, expected lower realizations on export sales or likely to drive down EBITDA per ton in the Domestic Coke segment this year. Can we maybe get your thoughts on possible cadence of that pricing over the next 4 quarters? I know you pointed out 1Q export coke sales have already been finalized. So just as an example, is the market weaker now and you expect it to get better in the second half? Or any color there would be great.

你們再次討論了今年國內焦炭市場的出口銷售實現預期降低或可能降低每噸 EBITDA 的情況。我們能否了解您對未來 4 個季度定價可能節奏的看法？我知道你指出一季度的出口焦炭銷售已經完成。舉個例子，現在市場是否疲軟，你預計下半年會好轉？或者任何顏色都會很棒。

Sure. Thanks, Nathan. I think as we look over the full course of 2023, we expect to see some improvement in the market as we move further into 2023. So the back half is looking better for us than as we sit here in the first quarter and second quarter.

當然。謝謝，內森。我認為，當我們回顧 2023 年的整個過程時，我們預計隨著我們進一步進入 2023 年，市場會有所改善。因此，後半部分對我們來說比第一季度和第二季度看起來要好。

Great. Very, very helpful, Katherine. Maybe a quick question on CMT. It looks like you guys guiding to kind of flat volumes overall, about 5.7 million tons of coal exports for this year. Curious how does that compare to full year '22? Even just directionally would be helpful. And then with the pullback of API2 prices, we've seen around $145 a metric ton a day. So are you still receiving that price kicker on those tons?

偉大的。非常非常有幫助，凱瑟琳。也許是關於 CMT 的快速問題。看起來你們指導的整體數量持平，今年的煤炭出口量約為 570 萬噸。好奇這與 22 年全年相比如何？即使只是定向也會有所幫助。然後隨著 API2 價格的回落，我們看到每天每公噸 145 美元左右。那麼你還在收到那些噸的價格踢球者嗎？

So in terms of the volumes, we're really flat year-over-year satisfied with those volumes, but really it's flat year-over-year. And when we look at API2, we are very comfortable that the guidance that we have build in the price adjustment for the full year and with where we are today, we're very comfortable with that guidance on the API2 pricing.

因此，就銷量而言，我們對這些銷量的滿意度確實同比持平，但實際上同比持平。當我們查看 API2 時，我們非常滿意我們在全年價格調整中建立的指導以及我們今天的情況，我們對 API2 定價的指導非常滿意。

So are you receiving that kicker today or no? Or is that incorporated in your guidance that you're comfortable with, I guess?

那麼你今天收到那個踢球者了嗎？或者我猜這是否包含在您的指導中，您對此感到滿意？

We are receiving the kicker today and the guidance incorporates the anticipation of receiving it for the full year.

我們今天收到了踢球者，該指南包含了全年接收它的預期。

Perfect. Very helpful. Maybe just one final question on a segment you doesn't give much attention. I think you've described this a little bit in your prepared remarks, but the Brazil Coke segment, again, kind of down $5 million to $6 million on the EBITDA side, the expiration of those technology fees. Is there any opportunity to get some of that EBITDA back over the next few years? Or is it kind of going from $15 million of EBITDA plus or minus to $22 million to around, let's call it, $10 million this year. Is that $10 million kind of a good run rate to think about going forward for that?

完美的。很有幫助。也許只是關於您沒有給予太多關注的部分的最後一個問題。我認為你在準備好的發言中已經對此進行了一些描述，但巴西可口可樂部門在 EBITDA 方面再次下降了 500 萬至 600 萬美元，這些技術費用已到期。未來幾年是否有機會收回部分 EBITDA？或者是從 1500 萬美元的 EBITDA 正負增長到 2200 萬美元，再到今年的 1000 萬美元左右。 1000 萬美元的運行率是否適合考慮向前推進？

It is, Nathan. That really is. The run rate going forward, this was an expected drop. And based on the structure of Brazil, we don't take any risk on the capital or operating side, and we anticipate collecting that $10 million going forward.

是的，內森。確實如此。未來的運行率，這是預期的下降。根據巴西的結構，我們不會在資本或運營方面承擔任何風險，我們預計未來會收集到這 1000 萬美元。

Got it. And maybe just one final one, just I'm going to try. Any updates you can share on the Granite City opportunity?

知道了。也許只是最後一個，只是我要嘗試。您可以分享關於 Granite City 機會的任何更新嗎？

I appreciate that you -- I'm going to try, but I may disappoint you a bit, Nathan. But we are in discussions with U.S. Steel, and we're continuing to assess the capital and the other project requirements.

我很感激你——我會嘗試，但我可能會讓你有點失望，Nathan。但我們正在與美國鋼鐵公司進行討論，我們將繼續評估資本和其他項目要求。

As I expected, Katherine, but I wanted to throw that out there.

正如我所料，凱瑟琳，但我想把它扔在那裡。

I know. I tried real hard for you. Sorry, Nathan.

我知道。為了你，我真的很努力。對不起，內森。

And we have a follow-up question from the line of Lucas Pipes from B. Riley Securities.

我們有來自 B. Riley Securities 的 Lucas Pipes 系列的後續問題。

I want to ask a few more questions on Granite City. So I appreciate Nathan softening the ground on that score. Is there a time by which you would like to conclude the analysis?

我想再問幾個關於花崗岩城的問題。所以我很欣賞 Nathan 軟化了這一點。您是否希望在某個時間結束分析？

Well, Lucas, I appreciate the question. I think we are -- this is a complex project. It takes time. We're going to take the time that it takes to get the project right.

好吧，盧卡斯，我很欣賞這個問題。我認為我們 - 這是一個複雜的項目。這需要時間。我們將花時間把項目做好。

And in terms of the aspects that are still under analysis today, is it -- could you comment on that? What -- where are you spending most of the time in the due diligence today?

就今天仍在分析的方面而言，你能對此發表評論嗎？什麼 - 您今天在盡職調查中花費的大部分時間在哪裡？

We're really focused on the capital. That is the primary focus is the capital requirements for the project.

我們真的專注於首都。也就是說，主要關注的是項目的資本要求。

And that's on an ongoing -- that's essentially like the amount of capital you would have to put into the facility to convert it to pig iron facility?

這是一個持續的 - 這基本上就像你必須投入設施以將其轉換為生鐵設施的資金量？

Exactly right. Exactly right.

非常正確。非常正確。

Okay. That's very helpful. And in terms of back to capital returns, would it be fair to assume that part of the current capital return policy is contingent upon a decision on Granite City? Or is that maybe a step too far?

好的。這很有幫助。就回到資本回報而言，假設當前資本回報政策的一部分取決於對 Granite City 的決定是否公平？或者這可能太過分了？

Sure. Absolutely. No, I think that's really -- that's right in the sense of right now, we are really focused on preserving our cash for the GPI project.

當然。絕對地。不，我認為那是真的 - 從現在的意義上來說是正確的，我們真的專注於為 GPI 項目保留我們的現金。

Got it. Very, very helpful. And do you have a minimum liquidity target can you remind us?

知道了。非常非常有幫助。您是否有最低流動性目標可以提醒我們嗎？

We really don't. I mean, as Mike said before, I mean...

我們真的不知道。我的意思是，正如邁克之前所說，我的意思是……

I can take that, Lucas. I mean, basically, what we have left on the revolver kind of -- that's kind of our target to get that off about -- like get that paid down. That's what Mike said, and then kind of we'll go from there.

我可以接受，盧卡斯。我的意思是，基本上，我們在左輪手槍上留下的東西——這是我們實現它的目標——比如把它還清。這就是 Mike 所說的，然後我們將從那裡開始。

And as we said in the past, Lucas, 3x is the high watermark for us, so we're not going above that. And as we indicated with regard to the GPI project, we fully expect to fund that with cash flow from operations and perhaps, some very modest borrowings under our revolver. But we have very, very significant liquidity, and we don't expect to have to go into that. And if we do at all, it will be in a very modest revolver. So we're in good shape all the way around it.

正如我們過去所說，盧卡斯，3 倍是我們的高水位線，所以我們不會超過這個水平。正如我們就 GPI 項目所指出的那樣，我們完全希望通過運營現金流以及我們循環貸款下的一些非常適度的借款來為該項目提供資金。但我們有非常非常重要的流動性，我們不希望有進入。如果我們真的這樣做了，那將是一把非常普通的左輪手槍。所以我們一直都處於良好狀態。

And there are no further questions at this time. Miss Katherine Gates, I turn the call back over to you for some final closing comments.

目前沒有其他問題。凱瑟琳·蓋茨小姐，我將電話轉回給您，請您作最後的結束評論。

All right. Well, thank you all again for joining us this morning. For those of you who are attending the BMO conference coming up here, I look forward to meeting with you in-person. And thank you for your continued interest in SunCoke.

好的。好吧，再次感謝大家今天早上加入我們。對於參加即將到來的 BMO 會議的各位，我期待與您面對面會面。感謝您一直以來對 SunCoke 的關注。

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

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。