Worthington Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WOR) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

John Tumazos: I can ask another question or the same question that was asked earlier, but a little bit differently concerning Consumer. In the last four quarters in the containerboard market, the market shrank 10%. It’s historically unusual for containerboard to fall more than steel on a slowdown, but the consumer is under pressure. About half of containerboard goes to supermarkets and drugstores. Historically, it’s a very stable market, unlike manufacturing or autos or steel. Is it fair to say that consumer being down 21% greater than 10% might reflect poor outdoor activity? But if you were only down 8%, you’d be heroes. In other words, this sector is systemically down.

Joseph Hayek: So I think, John, down 24% – keep in mind that down 24% from record volumes a year ago, so tough compare. But, yes, we absolutely have seen and you’ve seen from Dick’s Sporting Goods and from other folks that participate in the outdoor category, in particular, that spending is down in activities. This summer, we’re down. Andy referred to it exactly right. It was a bit of the perfect storm. One of the things for us was also that we did really well in Q1 of last year. So we created the tough comp for ourselves.

John Tumazos: Are you doing anything to cut costs in the Consumer segment in view of the consumer being strapped everywhere and mortgage rates are almost 8% today, the 30-year mortgages?

Joseph Hayek: Yeah, every single day, John, regardless of market conditions, we are using our transformation playbook and our continuous improvement mindset to try and get better, not just when things aren’t going as well as we want them to, but every single day.

Operator: We have no further questions in queue. I would like to turn the call back over to Andy Rose for any closing remarks.

Andy Rose: Thanks, everyone, for joining us today. We are super excited about our future and look forward to speaking to you on October 11 at our Investor Day in New York City. Thanks, everybody.

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