Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Leroy Ball: Yes. So, I’d say, in terms of the projects that that $40 million to $50 million are going into? Yes, much of that drops off the table in 2024, because we just brought – we’re commissioning our North Little Rock facility as we speak. We’re commissioning our enhanced carbon product facility in Newport as we speak to significant projects. We will be bringing online our Leesville facility in the early part of next year. So there’s some spending that rolls into next year for that. Our expansion at Rock Hill will also go into next year. But the bulk of the dollars that are spent this year on projects, those projects are either finishing up this year or early next year. So our need to continue to fund them goes away.

Then it just becomes a question of, well, we have a funnel of other projects, right? Are we going to fill that funnel back up in 2024 or in if so, by how much? And that’s what we are going through right now. Today, I do not expect that we will spend $120 million in capital next year. It’s not our intent to do that. By the same token, keep in mind, those projects are projects that are enabling us to go from $228 million to $250 million to $275 million to $300 million. So you cannot grow without investment. And so, we have a lot of other good projects. We will be a little more measured about it, I think. So I am not saying we are not going to spend anything we will, but we’re likely not going to spend, well, I do not think we’re going to spend $40 million to $50 million next year on productivity.

Gary Prestopino: Thank you very much.

Leroy Ball: You are welcome.

Operator: And the last question today comes from Liam Burke with B. Riley FBR. Please go ahead.

Liam Burke: Thank you. Good morning, Leroy. Good morning, Jimmi Sue.

Leroy Ball: Hi, Liam.

Liam Burke: Leroy, you talked about market share gains on the industrial side of PC. Is that just replacing penta or do you have other areas of market share gains or opportunities for share gains in industrial?

Leroy Ball: Yes, I would say it is primarily replacing Penta. We didn’t make that chemical. It’s gone away and it needs a replacement. In some cases, it needs to be an oil-borne preserve like a DCOI. In other cases, it doesn’t necessarily matter, and so the CCA becomes an option as well. But I would say primarily it has been really the replacement of Penta.

Liam Burke: Got it. Okay. And on CMC, your guidance for the year would reflect a pretty decent sequential recovery on the margin side of CMC. Do you still envision the business being steady, eddy, low to mid-teens, EBITDA generative? Understanding that’s a quarter-to-quarter volatility?

Leroy Ball: Yes, right. Correct. There is some quarter-to-quarter volatility that occurs. I would say that at the very least, we expect it to be in that 10% to 15% range, and with the possibility of moving it up to more like a 12% to 18% range or something like that, more up in the upper teens, which we have seen some of that throughout last year or two. But as enhanced carbon products comes online, as we are able to take some of the product that we’re producing through that process, through testing for different markets and things like that, we believe its a higher value — we know it is a higher quality product, and there is value in that, and we believe we will be able to capture that in some additional pricing and margin. And so, that is what we think we will be able to take that up to hopefully a consistent mid-teens margin business instead of sort of a 10% to 15% type of business.