Ascent Industries Co.

Good afternoon and welcome to Ascent Industries' second quarter 2025 earnings call. Today's speakers are CEO Brian Kitchen, TFO Ryan Cavalasquez, and the company's outside investor relations advisor, Ralph Esper. We'll begin with prepared remarks, followed by Q&A. Before we go further, I would like to turn the call over to Ralph Esper as he reads the company's safe harbor statement within the meaning of the private security's Mitigation Reform Act of 1995 that provides important cautions regarding forward-looking statements. Ralph?

Thanks, Liz. Before we continue, I would like to remind all participants that the discussion today may contain certain forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the federal security laws. These statements are based on information currently available to us. are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Ascent advises all of those listening to this call to review the latest 10Q and 10K posted on its website for a summary of these risks and uncertainties. Ascent does not undertake the responsibility to update any forward-looking statements. Further, the discussion today may include non-GAAP measures. In accordance with Regulation G, the company has reconciled these amounts back to the closest GAAP-based measurement. The reconciliations can be found in the earnest press release issued earlier today and posted on the investor section of the company's website at www.asenco.com. Please note that this call is available for replay via a webcast link that is also posted on the investor section of the company's website. Now, I would like to turn it over to our CEO, Brian Kitchen, to walk you through the results and what's driving continued momentum. Brian?

Thanks, Ralph. Q2 marked a defining milestone in the sense transformation. With the successful divestitures of both Bristol Metals and American Stainless Tubing, we've now fully exited all operating assets within the tubular segment. The only remaining drag is our idle tubular facility in Munhall, Pennsylvania. a $2.1 million annualized headwind to adjusted EBITDA. We're actively pursuing parallel paths to unlock that trapped cash and close this final chapter. Our portfolio is clean. Our focus is singular. Ascent is officially a pure play specialty chemical company. Purpose built to scale, generate durable margin, and deliver exceptional customer outcomes. But we didn't just restructure the portfolio. We put it to work. This quarter, we repurchased and retired nearly 6% of our outstanding shares. That's not symbolic. It's a statement of conviction. We believe in the long-term value of the platform we've built, and we're backing it with decisive capital allocation. More importantly, we've delivered sequential improvements in revenue, gross profit, gross margin, and adjusted EBITDA. A few highlights. Revenue increased $817,000 sequentially to $18.7 million. though fell short of the $21.4 million prior year comp, largely due to broader market softness. Growth profit rose $1.8 million from Q1 and $2.1 million versus the same quarter last year. Growth margin expanded 26.1%, up 888 basis points sequentially and 1,298 basis points year over year. Adjusted EBITDA increased $131,000 sequentially to a loss of $335,000, in the quarter, but fell short of prior year by $53,000. And we achieved all of this despite absorbing $475,000 of Munholl-related cost in the quarter, excluding the asset impairment on the right-of-use asset on the facility. These canes are not episodic. They reflect disciplined execution, strategic focus, and a business model that's working. We're shifting mix to higher margin opportunities, managing costs with purpose, and turning commercial wins into real operating leverage. Our operations team continues to drive momentum. Labor, overhead, and production variance has improved by more than $1.2 million year over year, while service levels hit all-time highs, despite a more complex and more dynamic product mix. In Q2, our team developed process modifications that drove a 5% yield improvement across a targeted product basket. unlocking a $250,000 in annualized gross profit and a meaningful reduction in cycle times. That's continuous improvement in action. Strategic sourcing remains a standout strength, consolidating vendors, qualifying new sources, and continuing to lower raw material costs without sacrificing reliability. As reported last quarter, roughly 95% of our revenue is supported by domestically produced raw materials, dramatically reducing our exposure to tariff volatility. And on the commercial side, momentum continues to build. In Q2, we secured over $3.1 billion of annualized new revenue at a 29% gross margin, well above historical averages. These wins spanned oil and gas, HDI and NI, pulp and paper, and case. All markets where our value proposition continues to resonate. Roughly one-third of that growth came from product sales. Two-thirds came from high-quality products. custom manufacturing engagements. Notably, 88% of those wins were expansion with existing accounts, further proof that our model is earning trust and expanding share of wallet. This is where chemicals as a service comes to life. We're not just selling products. We're solving problems. We're creating formulations, offering blending and packaging, managing logistics, ensuring regulatory compliance, and delivering it all with speed and precision. We do this across small and large volume requirements in ways that traditional manufacturers won't and distributors simply can't. It's a hybrid model that fuses custom manufacturing, high service execution, and it's working. Underpinned by a $25 million increase in our selling project pipeline, the $3.1 million of new business, one in Q2, is expected to grow significantly into 2026. And with no significant new fixed cost burden, each incremental win translates directly to meaningful profit. That's what makes this model powerful, is that it's scalable. Every customer engagement, every sourcing win, yield improvement, and process improvement builds muscle. The platform that we're building compounds and strengths, and the value that we create for our customers multiplies as we grow. Across the moments that matter, We win because we respond faster than traditional manufacturers, especially in the early stages like discovery and development where our technical bench and speed help customers move from problem to solution. We offer services far beyond what distributors can, spanning the full range of the value chain from reaction-based product development to logistics to regulatory compliance and reformulation. We lead with service and agility, not blind cards. We solve problems most platforms aren't built to see because we design our model around every stage of customer loyalty, discovery, contracting, fulfillment, and lifecycle support. And we do it all while expanding margin and strengthening reliability for our customers, not by chance, but by design, with process automation, dual-source qualification, operational excellence built into everything we do. These moments that matter are where loyalty is earned. and retained, and Ascend is winning because we've made them our blueprint for scalable, profitable growth. Without question, the strategic recapitalization of SG&A and the operational horsepower behind it has been central to our transformation. Over the past year, we've redirected investment into roles that enable and unlock growth, technical sales, business development, engineering, strategic sourcing, marketing, business operations, and customer care. And while the total SG&A has remained effectively flat, the return on that spend has fundamentally changed. These teams are now delivering measurable results, new commercial wins, stronger margins, deeper customer penetration, and all-time service levels. And we're just getting started. We're not building a traditional chemicals company. We're building a performance platform engineered to solve the hardest problems across reaction chemistry, formulation, supply chain, compliance, and fulfillment. From development to delivery, we own the outcome. That's why we're gaining share. That's why margins are expanding. And that's why the best chapters of our story are still ahead. Before I pass it over to Ryan, I want to thank our incredible team at Ascent, our superpower, who has continued to demonstrate remarkable grit, hustle, and the drive to win. I also want to thank our investors for the trust and confidence that you placed in both Ryan and I and the team that we've assembled. With that, I'll turn it over to Ryan to provide you a bit more context behind our financial performance. Ryan, over to you.