AdvanSix Inc.

Good day, and welcome to the AdvanceX second quarter 2019 earnings conference call. Today's conference is being recorded, and after today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. I would now like to turn the conference over to Adam Kressel, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Cassie. Good morning and welcome to Advan6's second quarter 2019 earnings conference call. With me here today are President and CEO Aaron Kane and Senior Vice President and CFO Michael Preston. This call and webcast, including any non-GAAP reconciliations, are available on our website at investors.advanc6.com. Note that elements of this presentation contain forward-looking statements that are based on our best view of the world and of our business as we see it today. Those elements can change, and the actual results could differ materially from those projected, and we ask that you consider them in that light. We refer you to the forward-looking statements included in our press release and earnings presentation. In addition, we identify the principal risks and uncertainties that affect our performance in our SEC filings, including our annual report on Form 10-K. This morning, we'll review our financial results for the second quarter of 2019 and share with you our outlook for our key product lines and end markets. Finally, we'll leave time for your questions at the end. So with that, I'll turn the call over to Advancix's president and CEO, Erin Kane.

Thanks, Adam, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for your joining us and for your continued interest in Advancix. It's been a dynamic first half of 2019. As you saw in our press release, Advancix continues to benefit from our global low-cost advantage in a challenging macro environment while executing against our strategic priorities. Mike will detail the full results in a moment, but overall, the second quarter results were supported by high plant utilization rates in the face of trade and macro uncertainty, soft nylon end markets, challenging acetone industry dynamics, and a weather-delayed domestic planting season. Second quarter pre-tax income also included the previously announced $12.6 million repositioning charge associated with the closure of our Postal Pennsylvania manufacturing facility, which ceased operations in July. As we shared last quarter, we expect a cash payback in approximately one year as a result of this action and entering into a strategic alliance with Obeng Group. Our alliance continues to gain strength, positioning us for success in the nylon films industry. And lastly, we maintained our investment in high growth return and cost savings capex in the quarter while also continuing to buy back shares. We're excited to share that our new natural gas boilers are on stream and the decommissioning of our coal operation is on track, delivering immediate productivity benefits for our business. We repurchased approximately $16 million of shares in the second quarter, and in total have repurchased nearly $45 million of shares this year through July 26th. We're operating in what continues to be a more challenging end market environment overall. Despite the uncertainty, we're highly focused on continuing to execute our high return investments and driving improved operations that will support long-term underlying performance. We expect our full year 2019 capex to be approximately $150 million at the high end of our previous range. We also continue to expect the full year pre-tax income impact of planned plant turnarounds to be in the range of $35 to $40 million. We're ramping up preparations for our fourth quarter turnaround at Hopewell, which is primarily focused around our sulfuric acid plant. Overall, we continue to benefit from our focus on safe, stable, and sustainable operations. Over the past several weeks, our organization is again demonstrating its ability to successfully navigate a dynamic environment following the refinery fire at one of our Cummings suppliers in Philadelphia. Mike will spend further time on this topic later in the call, but as you've seen in our release, we've narrowed the range of the second half 2019 financial impact of this event. Our key focus is to ensure security supply at optimized economics as we realign our supply chain into 2020. There is still work to be done, and we remain confident in our long-term optionality. Lastly, as you likely saw in May, we announced that the United States government has notified us that the criminal investigation regarding air emissions at our Hopewell facility had concluded with no further action required. We are very pleased with this outcome and remain committed to a strong culture of operating compliance driven by our values of safety, accountability, integrity, and respect. So with that, I'll turn it over to Mike to discuss the details of the quarter.