Albany International Corporation

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Albany International Q2 2022 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all telephone lines are on the listen-only mode. Later, there will be an opportunity for questions and answers with instructions given at that time. If you should require assistance during the conference call, please press star, then zero. An AT&T specialist will assist you offline. As a reminder, your conference call today is being recorded. I'll now turn the conference call over to your host, Director of Investor Relations, John Hobbs. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Alan, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Albany International's second quarter 2022 conference call. As a reminder for those listening on the call, please refer to our press release issued last night detailing our quarterly financial results. Contained in the text of the release is a notice regarding our forward-looking statements and the use of certain non-GAAP financial measures to and their associated reconciliation to GAAP. For the purposes of this conference call, those same statements apply to our verbal remarks this morning. Today, we'll make statements that are forward-looking, that contain a number of risks and uncertainties, among which are the potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on our operations, the markets we serve, and our financial results. For a full discussion, including a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures we may use on this call, their most comparable GAAP measures, please refer to our earnings release of July 25, 2022, as well as our SEC filings, including our 10-K. Now I'll turn the call over to Bill Higgins, our President and Chief Executive Officer, who will provide opening remarks. Bill?

Thank you, John. Good morning and welcome, everyone. Thank you for joining our second quarter earnings call. Today, I'll comment on our business conditions, and then Stephen will cover our financial results in more detail. We're reporting another strong quarter with revenue of $261 million up on both a year-over-year and a sequential basis. The growth was driven by rebounding lead production and revenues from the CH-53K helicopter content we recently won with Sikorsky. We're excited about this growth program, and our teams are doing a great job expanding our manufacturing capacity in our Salt Lake City facility. GAAP EPS of $1.25 per share includes 20 cents of foreign exchange revaluation gains. Adjusted EPS of $1.06 per share was higher than $1.01 adjusted EPS reported in Q2 last year. Our machine clothing segment had another great quarter. Overall, customer demand remained steady. Segment sales were down 1.8% on a constant currency basis from last year's exceptionally strong levels, in part a result of our exit from the Russian market. Underlying business conditions at our customers remain strong. Our MC team has done an outstanding job maintaining margins despite the inflationary pressures they've experienced, again delivering gross margins over 50%, with adjusted EBITDA margins of more than 38%. Looking forward in the MC business, demand remains resilient with order levels up year over year going into Q3. In general, papermakers continue to enjoy attractive demand, and they've been pushing price increases for the products resulting in healthy cash flow from their operations. Machine clothing is essential to our customers' ability to keep their machines running, and our team has done a great job meeting that demand despite supply chain challenges that seem ever-present. This ability to navigate dynamic logistics markets has become even more important to our success in this environment where supply chains are constrained and customers value the ability to deliver on time. Our engineered composite segment delivered a good quarter as well. The segment reported significant year-over-year revenue growth of $35 million driven by two primary factors. One, the revenues from the CH53K content I mentioned earlier, and two, a year-over-year increase in LEED production. Adjusted EBITDA margins rebounded to just under 20% as the revenue mix improved. During the quarter, Boeing notified us they would no longer cover ongoing production of 787 frames in order to keep our production line warm. Therefore, we have temporarily idled our Boeing 787 frame manufacturing. We've redeployed those employees to other growing programs. And with excellent performance continuing in both segments, we're raising company-level guidance for 2022, which Stephen will cover in a minute. Let me make a few comments on the environment and how we've managed through it. Supply chain constraints, logistics, material availability, inflation continue to challenge our teams. Tight labor markets and being able to recruit talent is another challenge in this environment. Our teams have done remarkably well managing through it by working together. For example, to overcome supply chain shortages and delays, We've taken a cross-functional approach that connects supply chain with engineering, with operations, and with customers to optimize material and manufacturing uptime and performance. We've been able to deliver on time and maximize profitability. We continue to experience inflationary pressures and worked hard to offset higher costs with ongoing productivity improvements across our operations and with selective price increases. In engineered composites, the structure of many of our contracts has helped soften the impact of inflation on our results. In machine clothing, our global operating footprint places us close to our customers, an advantage in this environment. In both our businesses, we've remained nimble and continue to support our customers. We're encouraged by early signs that transportation availability and pricing appear to be stabilizing. In engineered composites, we just returned from a very successful Farnborough air show where the level of engagement with current and potential customers, suppliers, and aerospace industry peers was exceptional. During the show, I heard nothing but positive comments from our customers. And because of that, all of our discussions were about future business opportunities, which translates into growth opportunities for us. The air show confirmed that we're increasingly recognizing the industry as a dependable and preferred partner of choice. I'm most proud of how both of our teams in both segments are performing. Our customers are pleased with our performance, and we continue to pursue new growth opportunities because of it. And our balance sheet is rock solid, which enables us to continue to invest in our future. So with that, I'll hand it over to Stephen. Stephen?

Thank you, Bill. Good morning to everyone. I will talk first about the results for the quarter and then about our updated outlook for the balance of the year. For the second quarter, total company net sales were $261.4 million. an increase of 11.4% compared to the 234.5 million delivered in the same quarter last year. Adjusting for currency translation effects, principally the decline in the Euro relative to the US dollars, net sales increased by 14.6% year-over-year in the quarter. In machine clothing, also adjusting for currency translation effects, net sales were down 1.8% year-over-year compared to an exceptionally strong second quarter of last year, driven by declines in engineered fabrics, packaging, and tissue grades. These declines were partially driven by our previously announced exit from the Russian market. Engineered composites net sales, again after adjusting for currency translation effects, grew by nearly 50%, with growth on CH53K and LEAP production partially offset by a decline on the F35 and 787 platforms. During the quarter, the LEAP program generated revenue of just over $40 million, compared to a little under $26 million in the same quarter last year. Second quarter gross profits for the company was $100.6 million, a reduction of 1.1% from the comparable period last year. Similar to the first quarter, as a result of the mixed shift due to AEC's top-line growth outpacing that of the MC segment, the overall gross margin declined by 490 basis points from 43.4% to 38.5% of net sales. Within the MC segment, gross margin declined by 90 basis points from 52.9% to 52.0% of net sales due to higher input costs and mix effects, partially offset by a one-time accrual release. Within AEC, the gross margin declined from 23.0% to 19.8% of net sales, caused primarily by a lower net favorable change to long-term contract profitability, which was just over $1 million this year compared to over $4 million in the same quarter last year, and by mixed effects. Second quarter selling technical, general, and research expenses decreased from $51.8 million in the prior quarter to $49.9 million in the current quarter and decreased as a percentage of net sales from 22.1% to 19.1%, primarily due to differences in foreign currency revaluation effects. Total operating income for the company was $50.7 million. up from $50.0 million in the prior year quarter. Machine clothing operating income decreased by about $1 million, caused by lower gross profit partially offset by lower STG&R, while AEC operating income rose by about $2.4 million, driven by higher gross profit partially offset by higher STG&R expense. Other income and expense in the quarter netted to income of about $7 million compared to expense of about $800,000 in the same period last year. The improvement was primarily driven by a more beneficial foreign currency revaluation effect in the quarter. The income tax rate for the quarter was 26.9% compared to 30.0% in the prior year quarter. The lower rate this quarter was primarily due to favorable discrete adjustments this quarter. Net income attributable to the company for the quarter was $39.2 million, an increase from $31.4 million last year, driven by more beneficial other income and expense, partially offset by higher tax expense. Gap earnings per share was $1.25 this quarter, compared to $0.97 in the same period last year. After adjusting for the impact of foreign currency revaluation gains and losses, restructuring expenses, and expenses associated with the Surcomp acquisition and integration, adjusted earnings per share was $1.06 this quarter, compared to $1.01 last year. Adjusted EBITDA decreased 4.9% to $66 million in the most recent quarter compared to the same period last year. Machine clothing adjusted EBITDA was $57.9 million, or 38.2% of net sales this year, down from $63 million, or 39.4% of net sales in the prior year quarter. AEC adjusted EBITDA decreased was $21.3 million, or 19.4% of net sales, up from last year's $19.3 million, or 25.9% of net sales. During the quarter, the company generated free cash flow, defined as net cash used in operating activities of less capital expenditures, of about $22.8 million. During the second quarter, we returned over $47 million of cash to our investors, comprised of over $6 million in regular dividends and over $41 million in share repurchases. We repurchased almost 510,000 shares during the second quarter at an average price of $80.93. At the end of the quarter, our net leverage ratio, defined as total debt, less cash and cash equivalents, divided by trailing 12 months adjusted EBITDA, was about 0.66%. I would now like to provide an update on our financial guidance for the balance of the year. Once again, machine clothing had a good quarter with a difficult comparison to a very strong second quarter in 2021. The decline in the top line was largely due to currency effects, a timing driven decline in North American revenues, and our exit from the Russian market. We are certainly seeing more impact on revenue from currency effects than we had anticipated, as even three months ago we had not expected the euro to be quite this close to parity with the US dollar. However, demand for our products remains strong globally, with higher orders in the second quarter compared to the same quarter last year in all regions. Therefore, we are reaffirming our previously issued revenue guidance for the segment of a range of 590 to 610 million. From a profitability perspective, we are seeing some impact from rising input costs. Our gross margin was down 90 basis points year-over-year in the quarter, and within the quarter, it trended a little lower in the third month compared to the first two months. For the full year, the expected impact from inflation continues to rise every quarter and is now about $8 million higher than when we provided our initial guidance. However, the MC team is continuing to drive efficiencies, offsetting the impact of some of that inflation. As I discussed a moment ago, we are also still seeing good demand for our products, which helps maintain strong margins. Therefore, while we still expect to see year-over-year impact from inflation and other factors in our results, we are modestly raising the lower end of our full year adjusted EBITDA guidance for the segment. resulting in a revised range of 210 to 225 million. Turning to engineered composites, the results for this quarter and for the balance of the year will be materially higher than what we had communicated to you last quarter. The primary positive driver of that change is the CH53K aft transition program. When we last discussed that new win, we indicated that we did not anticipate recognizing material revenue on that program during 2022. As you are aware, on the vast majority of the AEC's programs, we are required, under the relevant accounting standards, to recognize revenue as we incur cost on a program. However, we had anticipated a contract structure on the AFT transition program that would have led to us deferring revenue recognition on the non-recurring cost incurred in 2022, expected at that time to represent about 30 million of revenue, and then amortizing it over the life of the production program. Since then, two things have changed. First, in late May, we completed the negotiation of the contract with our customer, and its final form resulted in somewhat different accounting treatment than we had originally anticipated. And second, our customer has asked us to begin production and assembly work earlier than we had anticipated. As a result of those changes, we will now be recognizing significant revenue from the CH53K AFT transition program this year. During the recently completed quarter, we recognized close to $20 million in revenue on the program, largely related to tooling expenditures and we expect to recognize close to $50 million in revenue for the full year. Bill has already discussed the idling of our 787 frame production. Our other AEC programs are running as expected, including the ASC LEAP program, which we expect to deliver over $150 million in revenue for the full year, and the F-35 program, which we still expect to be down about $15 million for the full year, compared to 2021. Overall for the AEC segment, we are raising both the lower and upper end of our guidance range for the full year by $50 million, resulting in a revised range of $380 to $400 million. We are also updating our guidance for AEC adjusted EBITDA to a range of $75 to $80 million, up from the prior range of $65 to $75 million. At the company level, we are updating our previously issued full-year guidance as follows. Revenue of between 970 and 1.01 billion, up from a prior range of 920 to 960 million. Effective income tax rate of 28 to 30%, updated from our prior guidance of 29 to 31%. Depreciation and amortization of 71 to 72 million, down from 75 million. Capital expenditures in the range of $75 to $85 million, unchanged. Gap earnings per share of between $3.45 and $3.75, updated from prior guidance of between $2.76 and $3.26. Adjusted earnings per share of between $3.30 and $3.60, updated from our prior guidance range of between $2.80 and $3.30, and adjusted EBITDA of between 230 and 250 million, updated from prior guidance of between 215 and 245 million. Returning to the present, we want to thank all of our employees for the hard work that led to the great performance in the recent quarter. I'm pleased that we were able to nudge up our guidance at this point in the year. We feel good about the outlook for both segments, not only in the near term, but also into the future. With that, I would like to open the call for questions. Alan?

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. If you do have questions, please press 1, then 0 on your touchtone phone at this time. You'll hear an indication you've been placed into a queue, and you may remove yourself from the queue by repeating the 1, then 0 command. If you are using a speakerphone, we ask you to please pick up your handset and to make certain that your phone is unmuted before pressing any buttons. Again, for questions, press 1 then 0 at this time. We'll go first to the line of Michael Ciaramoli with Truist Securities. Go ahead, please. One moment, Mr. Ciaramoli. We're having some technical difficulties. Sure. Go ahead, please.

Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. Nice quarter here. I guess, Bill or Steve, anything, you know, just looking at the remainder of the year, and, you know, obviously there's a lot of cross-currents, a lot of unknowns. You know, the second half, you know, I guess revenues flattened down. You know, the EPS at the low end, you know, really implies a pretty big fall-off versus what you did in the first half. What are the puts and takes, you know, that kind of drive the low end of the range there? What are you seeing in terms of risk factors that could really drive you down to that range?

Yeah, I think as a start, you know, in the machine clothing business, we now move into the summer season and then into the fall typically is a little bit lower. Engineering composites, you know, we're doing a really nice job there, but we had expected this Boeing 787 work to at least contribute a little bit, and now we've kind of, as I said, we've idled that production line for now. So I don't know, Steve, if you want to add anything to that.

Yeah, look, there are the pressures we have talked about in machine clothing, which we expect to be greater in the back half of the year than the first half of the year. Supply chain costs, our input costs, FX effect. As you know, FX continued to swing against us. This time through last year, we had averaged about $1.19. euro to the US dollar. This year, we've averaged about $1.09 in the first half. But right now, we're close to parity. We're at 101. So just currency, we've seen half of the effect in the first half that we expect to see in the second half, assuming it sticks around this parity level it's at right now. So those effects will certainly hit us more in the second half than they did in the first half of the year. And that's certainly embedded within our guidance. Got it. Got it. That's helpful.

And then just looking out, you know, to engineered composites in 23, you know, you said you get back to that $450 million. Does anything change here? Obviously, you know, we've got supply chain complications, you know, the 787 now idled, obviously small, but I guess even thinking that does the CH53K become a bigger contributor in 23 or just any moving parts to that 450? I'm assuming it's still

I would – there are moving parts. There are parts moving in both directions here, right? We have the CH53K, which we're really excited about, and that's growing faster than we anticipated. We had not anticipated the 787 line coming to a halt here, and we don't know when that's going to pick back up yet. So that's just still a question mark in our mind. So we'd like to defer to later in the year to come back with you with more information on that.

Yes, certainly, you know, the better performance on CH53K this year where we originally had not anticipated recognizing material revenue. I don't want you viewing that as a pull forward from 2023. If you recall, the bulk of that revenue was going to be deferred over a 10-year period. And so it has a fairly minimal impact to 2023 on the downside from recognizing that revenue this year. As Bill said, you know, the 787 is a bigger change. Quite frankly, look, we next do our full roll-up of 2023 in the back half of the year to prepare for getting our annual plan approved by the board in the December timeframe. So, as we do that, we'll update you if we see any material change.

Got it. Last question for me on the 787, idling the frames. You know, if we watch, you know, maybe we'll get news next week from Boeing. But if we hear about a restart there, can you give us any color in terms of how many frames are in inventory or what the burndown period might be like, assuming they start back up here shortly at modest volumes?

I wish I could, Michael. I'm not sure I can. We supply to other companies that assemble frames into the sections and don't have real good visibility of how the inventory in the system or at Boeing, what it looks like today.

Got it. Understood. Thank you.

We'll go next to the line of Pete Skibitsky with Alembic Global. Go ahead.

Hey, good morning, guys. Nice quarter. Thanks, Pete. Maybe just to start a follow-up on CH-53, Stephen, your comments about $50 million this year on CH-53, I wasn't sure if that was the all-in program or just the AF portion. So maybe you can clarify that and just so directionally into 2023, should we think about that program continuing to grow also?

Yeah, so the $50 million I gave was just for the AFT transition component of the program. The entire CH53K program for us would be much, much larger. As you think about into 2021, 2023. On just the AFT transition program, we'd actually expect a bit of a dip from 2022 to 2023 as we move into production. Right now, we're incurring tooling expenses, non-recurring expenses, which are larger within the given year than the annual run rate, the production expenses are likely to be. So as we go into production, you'll actually see a little bit of a different revenue before it starts to grow again. Look, the outlook, say, for 2023 is is not materially different than what we had previously embedded within the $450 million forecast we shared with you a couple of quarters ago. So I don't think you should see what we're recognizing this year in CH53K as changing that.

Right. Okay. Okay. And then just to follow up on AEC margins, I mean, it was a strong number this quarter despite 787 being down, I feel like you guys were pretty cautious coming into the quarter. So I'm surmising that CH-53 is a pretty healthy margin program for you in that direction into 2023, you've got some tailwind there.

You know, CH-53K as a fixed-price program, its margins would be, you know, more in line, certainly. We've talked previously about a cost-plus program like LEAP being lower than average margin. That would not be true of CH-53K. It would be more like one of our typical fixed-price programs.

Right. Okay. That's great. Okay. I'll get back in queue. Thanks, guys.

Thanks, Peter. We'll go next to the line of Gautam Khanna with Colin. Go ahead, please.

Yes, a couple questions. First, machine clothing, I'm just curious if you still view that there's excess inventory in the channel, and if on, you know, currency, is currency actually any sort of headwind to demand because of pricing or what have you? Is there... If you could address those two, and then we can switch to AEC.

No, to answer the second part of your question first, no, I don't think we're seeing any, you know, material headwinds to demand from currency. You know, other than obviously, as we've discussed before, you know, we have over 100 million of sales in euros today. And therefore, as the euro falls against the dollar, those sales in U.S. dollars fall. But it's not driving underlying demand for our product. It's just a translation effect as we recognize that in U.S. dollars. If you're concerned that we're pricing a lot of our product in U.S. dollars in regions where the dollar has now fallen against the local currency and our products are more expensive, that's not really a material driver of demand for our products and machine clothing at all.

And then on the inventory level, previously you thought maybe $10 million of excess.

What's your current thought on that? We're still watching the inventory. It may not be as severe as we had expected. There is some inventory build in the system. I think it's probably a natural reaction to all the supply chain, logistics bottlenecks, and our customers don't want to get caught without a belt. You know, we've kind of heard that some of the other competitors in the industry that ship across Atlanta, across Pacific, you know, have struggled with delivery. So I think there is a natural inclination right now to have a little extra inventory, but I don't see it as possibly as a bigger problem as we thought.

Yeah, it's certainly no larger than the number we communicated to you before, Gotham, in the $10 million range. From our current – that's our assessment right now is it's no larger than that.

Okay. No, that's helpful. Then switching to AC – A couple questions. First, can you quantify the positive EAC in the quarter?

Sure. It was just over $1 million compared to roughly a $4 million positive range in the same quarter in 2021. Great.

And then I want to be clear on the CH53K. Can you give us a ballpark of the aggregate sales level for the program this year, AFT plus EAC? the original win. And then, and just so I understand what you said earlier about the 20 ish million of non-recurring tooling, was that, was that expected to be like 2 million a year or something? Cause I think you said over 10 years, I just want to make sure I understand what changed. Will the entire program grow next year? And if so, you know, just thinking about that 20 million.

Yes.

Thank you.

Yes. Okay. Sorry, sorry for speaking over you. So certainly as we look at coming into the year, we had expected to do non-recurring work, both tooling and non-recurring engineering, which would have been the equivalent of about $30 million in revenue. But we were not expecting to recognize any revenue. We were going to put that on the balance sheet in inventory, so at a somewhat lower cost, because we wouldn't be putting margin onto it, so it would be just at cost. We would be putting it in inventory and And then we would recognize that as revenue over the subsequent roughly 10-year production period. So we had expected to recognize about $3 million a year of revenue over that 10-year period. Instead, all of that $30 million is being recognized this year as we incur the cost. We are also doing some additional work we had not anticipated doing this year, which is generating about another $20 million of revenue this which means in aggregate the app transition program this year will generate about 50 million of revenue, give or take. The larger CH53K program, if we include both app transition and our, you know, what we'll, for now I'll call legacy work. In the future we're going to just talk about the program in aggregate, but the legacy work, which is really the sponsors and the tail structure, So that legacy work is roughly the same size this year as the app transition work. So in aggregate, this year's CH503K will result in something like $100 million of revenue.

And next year in aggregate, will it grow or decline because of that $30 million of non-recurrence?

Yeah, look, we haven't finalized our plans for next year. There are puts and takes, as you indicate. I certainly don't expect a material decline, whether we'll see some growth on it or it'll be kind of flattish. I don't have that. There's a period there where there is a dip, right? We have a dip for the tooling. But we're seeing some growth in the legacy program. So we're not issuing guides for next year yet, obviously Gotham, but it certainly is not a material dip next year.

And I hate to do this, the last one on LEAP, because no one asked, just on LEAP, where are we with respect to, you said 40 million plus of revenue in the quarter, but I'm just curious, are you generally tracking with the... with the shipment rates that GE disposed today or, you know, any – where are you ahead, where are you behind with respect to inventory and the like? Thanks.

Yeah, let me just remind everyone that when we set our plans with lead production, we set them for the year pretty stable rates. So when we look at the growth, it's – you wouldn't see us growing, you know, every month, every week, whatever, with the airline production, with the aircraft production rate. So we're on track for what we set our plans for this year, and then we'll come back and reset at a higher level for next year.

But, you know, as I mentioned three months ago, we don't expect to keep discussing inventory in the LEAP program because our inventory is effectively at the level we expected, you know, that we're targeting. And absent, as Bill talks about, somewhat level loading during the year, there's no excess inventory right now on our books for LEAP at all.

Thank you. One moment, please. We'll go next to the line of Peter Arment with Baird.

Go ahead, please. Yes. Good morning, Bill, Stephen. Nice quarter. Bill, I want to know if I could circle back to you on your supply chain comments. It feels like we're last few months we've been hearing about actually feels like things have gotten worse, not better, but you guys seem to be managed through it quite well. Maybe if you could just describe maybe what you're seeing in terms of, you know, at least the trajectory of any improvement or if things have not gotten any better in between MC and AEC. Maybe just a little color on, you know, how things are shaking out on both sides.

Sure, Peter. Yeah, the supply chain has been a challenge for a while. It seems like we do our business reviews. It's a different story every quarter. It just continues. So, It has gotten a little better on the logistics side, and that was my comment. You know, the shipping of material, the shipping of whether it be raw materials or finished products seems like it's a little bit better. Some containers are available. But we're still watching the supply of materials. So you think about raw materials, whether it's yarns or resins or chemicals. We're still watching those. There's secondary effects that we're watching with what's going on with the Russian gas supply into Europe and the availability that that would put on resins or other chemicals used in the process. So I think we're fortunate in the sense that we use a lot of basic materials. We build our products. We're not buying subcomponents and embedded chips and things that other companies are struggling with. So we have a little bit more control over our supply chain. But it has been an ongoing challenge. But I do sense maybe it's a little bit better. You know, we're looking for the optimism in it, but I think it's a little better.

And just the labor piece as well, I know you mentioned that. I mean, that's everyone's dealing with the labor constraints. You know, what are you seeing there on your ability to kind of ramp back up in ADC?

Yeah, we've been ramping up. So we've been actually adding people in multiple locations, and it's been a challenge. The labor markets are still tight. You know, we're watching the compensation side as well. So far, we've been able to manage it predictably in kind of the way we thought it would play out, but it challenges our recruiting infrastructure and our training pipeline of bringing people in and onboarding them. It's not easy. We're working through it, but it is still a very tight labor market.

Appreciate the call. Thank you. Thanks.

We have a follow-up question from Michael Charmoli with Truist Securities. Go ahead.

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the follow-up. Maybe just to piggyback on what Gotham was asking about the leap. It sounded like you You guys have set your rates. You know, we keep hearing, I guess, engine lack of supply being one of the bigger choke points. I mean, are you guys effectively keeping in sync with your customer demands? Do you expect, you know, any kind of ramp up or changes? Does, you know, the pending, you know, certification of the COMAC change anything on the LEAP program?

Yeah, we can't. Michael, yes, part of your question, yes, we are able to keep up with demand. We don't have a capacity issue. You know, to Peter's question about labor, we've added some folks to our workforce, and we'll continue doing that. But we have the capacity. We have the machine capacity. We have the physical capacity to produce that, the current needs. And even if it grows, we have a capacity to do that. So we're not part of the supply chain bottleneck that you may be reading about or hearing about in the production of engines and aircraft. So we're feeling pretty good about being able to keep up with the demand. And we won't get a new schedule until later in the year for next year. So I can't really comment on what LEAP might look like next year. Got it. Perfect.

Thanks, guys. We also have a follow-up from Pete Skibitsky with Alembic Global. One moment, please. Your line is open, Mr. Skibitsky.

Yeah, thanks. A couple quick follow-ups, guys. I'm sorry if I missed this on machine clothing, but They're starting to talk about, you know, curtailing natural gas use in Europe in order to kind of prep for the winter. And, you know, people think that that'll kind of lead to a slowdown there. I'm wondering if you're seeing, you know, how things are going with machine clothing in Europe. Are you seeing any slowdown there yet? Are you planning for kind of flattish revenue there in the back half of the year? Just looking for color for that region. Thanks.

Yeah, I would say in general the markets have remained healthy. There are some pockets we did see earlier in the year where there was some concern about the high gas prices and the impact that has on specific types of production. If you think about tissue production as energy intensive, as natural gas and other fuel prices went up, that would put a lot of pressure on the tissue manufacturers. But overall, the market's held up pretty well, and publications kind of stabilized after a decline in the last few years. So overall, we're feeling like it's pretty good. When we think about the natural gas and the situation in Europe, it's probably a little bit more on the supply of materials and chemicals and resins and things.

Okay. Okay. So I guess that'll be a watch item. Last one for me – on engineer composites. You know, it sounds like DOD is getting ready to award the new helicopter contract, FLORA, this fall. And I'm not sure if I've asked you this, but do you guys have content on FLORA, either on one of the teams or both of the teams? And could that be significant for you?

We'd love to be on it. I can't really comment on who we're working with and what we're doing at this point. You know, as we've said, we have a really good relationship with Sikorsky. So that's one we're working really closely.

Okay. Okay. Sounds great. Thanks, guys.

Thank you. If there are any additional questions, please take this opportunity now to press 1, then 0 on your touchtone phone. Speakers, we have no one else queuing up.

All right. Thank you, Alan. All right. Thank you, everyone, for joining us on the call today. As always, we appreciate your continued interest in Albany International. Thank you and have a good day.

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