Steel Dynamics, Inc.

Good day and welcome to the Steel Dynamics fourth quarter and full year 2021 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After management's remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. Please be advised this call is being recorded today, January 25, 2022, and your participation implies consent to our recording this call. If you do not agree to these terms, please disconnect. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to David Lipschitz, Director, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Kate. Good morning, and welcome to Steel Dynamics' fourth quarter and full year 2021 earnings conference call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded and will be available on our website for replay later today. Leading today's call are Mark Millett, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Steel Dynamics, and Teresa Wagler, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The other members of our senior leadership team are joining us on the call individually. Some of today's statements, which speak only as of this date, may be forward-looking and predictive, typically preceded by believe, expect, anticipate, or words of similar meaning. They are intended to be protected by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, should actual results turn out differently. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties related to our steel, metal, recycling, and refabrication businesses. as well as to general business and economic conditions. Examples of these are described in the related PROS release, as well as in our annually filed SEC Form 10-K under the headings Forward Looking Statements and Risk Factors, found on the internet at www.sec.gov, and is applicable in any later SEC Form 10-Q. You'll also find any reference non-GAAP financial measures reconciled to the most directly compared GAAP measures in the press release issued yesterday entitled Geodynamics Reports Record Fourth Quarter and Record Full Year 2021 Results. Now I'm pleased to turn the call over to Mark.

Thank you, David. And good morning, everybody. And happy 2022. Welcome to our fourth quarter and four-year 2021 earnings call. We appreciate your time, and thank you for joining us today. The entire Steel and Lambs team delivered an exceptional performance in 2021 with record sales, earnings, and cash flow generation. The team totally shattered previous four-year records. It was a tremendous achievement Certainly supported by a strong market, but driven by the commitment and passion of our teams, executing on our long-term strategies that continue to grow our through-cycle lending capability. Thank you, team, for your dedication to excellence in every pursuit. I'm proud to work alongside you. Due to the steadfast commitment our people have to one another and their families, to our communities, and to our customers, we are operating faithfully amidst the extended pandemic. The health and welfare of our teams remain paramount. Record financial results with no import, our teams did not remain safe. Although our safety performance continues to be better than industry averages, our safety performance deteriorated year over year. This is an unacceptable trend that we're working diligently to resolve, as our intent will always be to have zero incidents. Since our founding over 25 years ago, we've been intentional in managing our resources sustainably to the benefit of all our stakeholders. We are a steel industry leader in sustainability, operating exclusively with electric electronics technology with a differentiated circular manufacturing business model. As our journey continues, we are committed to the reduction of our climate footprint, including a practical and achievable goal for our steel metals to be carbon neutral by 2050. We are starting from a position of strength, yet plan to do more. We're competitively positioned and focused towards generating long-term, sustainable growth. But before I continue with additional market commentary, I'd like Teresa to share insights into our recent performance.