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spk02: Good day and welcome to Advancic's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then 1 on a touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star, then 2. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Adam Kressel, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer. Please go ahead.
spk05: Thank you, Cindy. Good morning, and welcome to AdvanceX's first quarter 2024 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.advancex.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 way. 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, as further updated in subsequent filings of the SEC. This morning, we will review our financial results for the first quarter of 2024 and share 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 AdvanSix's President and CEO, Erin King.
spk03: Thanks, Adam, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us and for your continued interest in AdvanSix. As you saw in our press release, our first quarter performance was impacted by the previously announced process-based operational disruption at our Frankfurt, Pennsylvania site, along with a delayed ramp to targeted utilization rates across our integrated value chain. The total unfavorable impact to pre-tax income in the first quarter was approximately $27 million, comprised of the impact of lost sales and other additional costs. including purchases of replacement products and incremental plants spent. This disruption was fully resolved in the first quarter, and I would like to once again thank our customers, partners, and teammates for their collaboration to mitigate impact on the value chain. Looking ahead to the second quarter and remainder of 2024, there are a number of operational and commercial tailwinds at our back. We return to targeted plant utilization rates and are well positioned to serve our key customers, particularly in plant nutrients as the domestic planting season progresses and in our acetone portfolio amid a tight global supply and demand environment. We also expect nylon industry spreads to modestly improve through 2024 off 2023 trough levels. Critical to our stakeholders, importantly, our customers, I'm proud to share that in recent weeks, we've achieved a number of external recognitions for our corporate social responsibility and sustainability performance. We earned our third consecutive platinum rating by Echovatus, received strong ratings by CDP for water security and climate change, and were certified by ISCC Plus across our manufacturing sites at Frankfort, Holwell, and Chesterfield. We had a proven ability and demonstrated playbook with our diverse product portfolio to navigate and manage through various cycles and macro dynamics, evolving as we go to meet the needs of our end markets. As a diversified chemistry company, we take pride in our long legacy of success and track record of serving as a trusted partner for our customers. We'll continue to position our business for long-term sustainable performance through our smart and disciplined investments and remain focused on accelerating growth in the most profitable areas of our portfolio. And let me turn the call over to Mike.
spk04: Thanks, Erin, and good morning, everyone. I'm now on slide four, where I will provide a summary of the first quarter 2024 financials. Sales of $337 million decreased approximately 16% versus the prior year. Market-based pricing was unfavorable by 9%. This primarily reflects reduced ammonium sulfate pricing amid low raw material input costs and a more stable global nitrogen supply environment, as well as lower nylon pricing due to unfavorable supply and demand conditions. Sales volume decreased approximately 7%, primarily driven by lost sales resulting from the first quarter operational disruption. Raw material pass-through pricing was approximately flat. Adjusted EBITDA was approximately $1 million, down from $65 million in the prior year period. The impact of the first quarter operational disruption and unfavorable market-based pricing net of raw material costs were the primary drivers of the earnings decline. Volume mix and other items were unfavorable year-over-year, primarily reflecting lower production in the quarter. Adjusted earnings per share was a loss of 56 cents, The effective tax rate was 25.7% in the quarter versus 21% in the prior year, primarily due to a larger tax benefit last year related to the vesting of equity compensation. We continue to anticipate our full year 2024 effective tax rate to be approximately 24%. Free cash flow was negative 72 million in the quarter compared to negative 23 million in the first quarter of 2023. Cash flow from operations declined 38 million year-over-year, primarily as a result of the lower net income and the impact of changes in working capital. Capital expenditures of 35 million in the quarter increased 11 million versus the prior year, primarily reflecting increased spend on enterprise programs and other maintenance projects. On a trailing 12-month basis through the first quarter, our debt leverage was approximately two times when normalizing for the impact of the operational disruption. We anticipate that leverage to remain within our target range of one to two and a half times in 2024. We also anticipate free cash flow to improve in the second quarter sequentially on higher earnings. As a reminder, we incur an unfavorable impact on our cash flow in the first half from the unwinding of ammonium sulfate pre-buy cash advances as we do each year. Now let's turn to slide five. Here we highlight the key drivers of our first quarter adjusted EBITDA performance sequentially from the fourth quarter of 2023. In the quarter, we began to see tailwinds from a commercial perspective with pricing overall materials improving by $11 million. Tracking our key variable margin drivers, ammonium sulfate on a net price over natural gas and sulfur basis was up sequentially as prices strengthened through the quarter coupled with lower input costs. Chemical intermediates price over raws spread increased as well, driven by an expansion in acetone margins over propylene. Performance across our nylon portfolio over our key raws was a modest headwind sequentially, while caprolactam was relatively flat. Volume, sales mix, and other items provided improved performance of $7 million, largely reflecting lower nylon export sales in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter. SG&A costs were approximately $1 million favorable on lower functional spend. Finally, as discussed, the operational disruption was $27 million unfavorable, and we had an additional $5 million of planned turnaround impact in the quarter. Now, let me turn the call back to Erin.
spk03: Thanks, Mike. I'm now on slide six to further discuss each of our key product lines, starting with nylon. We've seen global industry spread stabilize in the first quarter, while the Asia benchmark saw declines following the sequential improvement in the fourth quarter. Though as we expected, we are trending favorably, albeit slowly, off the 3Q23 trough. Demand globally remains soft, while varying regional dynamics, including competitive intensity and trade flows, continue to impact regional pricing. Despite long supply-demand fundamentals, Estimated operating rates out of China remain elevated, resulting in continued nylon exports to the rest of the world. Here in North America, demand has been stable, albeit on a lower base, with continued weakness in building and construction markets as a result of a higher interest rate environment. Supply has been tighter in the region with production downtime across the industry, which has led to modest pricing increases trending into the second quarter. For our business, we continue to focus on driving productivity to improve unit profitability, optimizing our sales mix through target customer selling, while leveraging our competitive position to meet demand where it exists. In the fertilizer space, global nitrogen pricing began the quarter relatively steady and began to decline mid-March. In contrast, we have seen ammonium sulfate pricing strengthen through the first quarter and into the second quarter amid continued sulfur demand growth and reduced supply in North America. While we did see cautious buying behavior at the start of the year, we've now entered the heart of the season with a strong order book, and we are seeing a strong pull out of terminals for product going to the field to support nutrient demand for traditional corn applications along with growth on soybeans. The actions we drove to position ourselves to capitalize on the expected strength of the season is paying off. Lastly, in chemical intermediates, industry-realized acetone prices over a refinery-grade propylene cost continued to improve in the first quarter with spread sitting at multi-year highs. While acetone demand has seen softness, particularly into the large wire ends applications with some downstream MMA producers seeking turnaround in the first quarter, We see supply is tight globally. This has been supported by persistent lower global F&O operating rates on reduced demand into value chains, serving building and construction and other industrial applications. Let's turn to slide seven. We're encouraged by improved outlook heading into the second quarter, with both operational and commercial benefits anticipated. Operationally, we've returned to our expected robust plant utilization rates, ensuring we are well positioned to serve our customers across each line of business. We continue to expect capital expenditures in the range of $140 to $150 million in 2024, reflecting increased spend year-over-year to address critical enterprise risk mitigation and growth projects. the projects within our SUSTAIN program are progressing well. We now anticipate reaching approximately 70% ammonium sulfate granular conversion by the end of 2024. As a reminder, SUSTAIN stands for Sustainable U.S. Sulfate to Accelerate Increased Nutrition, and we continue to track this growth program to a robust investment return profile at our 20-plus percent target hurdle rate. We also continue to expect the pre-tax income impact of our planned plant turnarounds to be $38 to $43 million in 2024. Of note, the timing of our larger turnaround has now shifted from the third quarter to the fourth quarter as we've firmed up our planning for the year. As I shared, we see and anticipate positive trends commercially for ammonium sulfate and acetone to continue and are cautiously optimistic on nylon to modestly improve as the year progresses. The strength of our business model and our position as a diversified chemistry company will serve us well, and we continue to expect performance this year to demonstrate our resilience. We've consistently come through cycles at stronger companies that can maintain robust investment for growth, sustain good cash conversion over the long term, and structurally improve the underlying earnings power of our business. Let's turn to slide eight. To wrap up before moving to Q&A, I'd like to further discuss the recent highlights related to our sustainability initiatives and performance. As I mentioned earlier, we were awarded our third consecutive Platinum rating by Echovatus, an independent corporate social responsibility assessment agency. The Platinum rating puts the company in the top 1% of all companies assessed. This is a compelling recognition of the hard work and achievements of our Advancix teammates, We embed responsible and sustainable business practices into delivering for our customers, communities, and our stakeholders every day. In addition, we were once again rated on our water security and climate practices by CDP, a global nonprofit that operates the leading environmental disclosure platform. Our submission was recognized in the top leadership category with an improved A- rating for water security, and we maintained our strong B rating for climate change. Both of these ratings compare very favorably with peers across the globe and within the chemicals industry. Finally, we recently were certified to the ISCC Plus standard for three of our manufacturing sites, Frankfurt, Hopewell, and Chesterfield. ISCC Plus is a globally recognized voluntary certification system for developing sustainable supply chains. The certification validates the adoption of transparent and traceable practices, particularly for organizations applying a mass-balance approach to track feedstocks and their sustainability characteristics. This also complements our existing post-industrial recycled and post-consumer recycled nylon product lines. By enabling solutions that reflect our sustainability focus while also helping our customers transform and meet their own environmental goals, together we are building a more socially responsible future. With that, Adam, let's move to Q&A.
spk05: Thanks, Erin. Cindy, can you please open the line for questions?
spk02: We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then 1 on your touchtone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed, and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star, then 2. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Our first question comes from Charles Nivert of Piper Sandler. Go ahead, please.
spk01: Morning, guys.
spk00: Just a couple questions. Morning. One, on the nylon side, you said, you know, some of the export of nylon has been reduced. How far away are you from, I say, you know, sort of that pre-run normal, and how long do you think it'll take you to get back there? And the other question is, you know, from the downtime, To what degree do you think it may have constrained your ability to move product into the agricultural space? I mean, how much product is lost in that respect, or will you be able to catch up? And lastly, as you move to more granular, I know that you guys have talked in the past about granular and standard and that the South American markets, which take your product in the non-U.S. agricultural season, tend to be more towards the standard side. Are they taking more granular now? I'll stop it. I'll leave it there.
spk03: Great. Let's unpack that a bit here, Charlie. Thanks for the questions. First on the nylon exports, as we had Spoken last quarter, we had anticipated a higher rate of exports, consistent probably more with our exit run rate of 2023, which was in the high 20s. When we finished 2024, certainly with the operational disruption and our targeted focus on optimizing NICs and in sales, and certainly with our contract and domestic customers, that rate dropped to about 15%, which is a lot closer to what we've shared in the past as historical sort of norms. We think that will probably ebb and flow a bit here as we move through the year. You know, obviously as production across the industry is constrained, and has been in the past couple of months. So getting our value chain realigned here in North America, and then certainly perhaps as we progress and see how the market improves in the second half, whether we can maintain those rates or if certainly export will increase. But certainly our cost position and capital lifetime allows us to meet demand where we need to, and then we're highly focused on the targeted selling, mix optimization, and unit profitability in nylon. That's part A. You know, V asked about AS. I would say there's practically no impact to AS. We did go out and purchased in the first quarter. You know, so that was... So let me reframe. Sorry, I was thinking more in the season here because I think that's what you're putting in the question, but I'll reframe just to be clear. Certainly sales in the first quarter for AS were down, but we did purchase to protect the heart of the season and our customer demand in Q2. So we are in good shape as we are here now in the season going to market and allowing our customers and farmers to be successful in their planting season. Just wanted to clarify that. You're a third piece relative to granular and standard. At the highest level, we're expanding our granular sales and, well, production to meet sales growth here in North America. And so, you know, certainly we have and always have had limited export granular in the first half. And as we continue to upgrade, you know, that conversion level, you know, those those products are focused here for domestic. So we'll still maintain, you know, some sales in the export side. We've got some great customers in various regions that will continue to take the standard.
spk00: Thanks very much.
spk03: Did I capture the essence of where you were, or is there any further clarification?
spk01: That's true. All right.
spk02: Excuse me, Charlie, would you like to respond?
spk00: I'm sorry, I missed the response, sorry.
spk01: What was the question? Back? We'll come back to you, Charlie.
spk05: Okay. Thanks.
spk02: Okay. The next question comes from David Silver of CL King. Go ahead, please.
spk07: Yeah. Hi. Good morning. Thank you. Morning. I kind of have a scatter of questions here, so I apologize in advance if it hops around a bit. I listened with interest with your comments about how AS pricing has progressed during the run-up to the planning season, and timing looks very favorable. You know, there is another issue that I was hoping you could maybe lend some perspective on, and that is the relationship between AS pricing and urea pricing. So there's always some variation, you know, and certainly different pricing points or delivery points, you know, have different relationships. But that said, I mean – by the information I've been tracking. It looks like AS pricing is unusually favorable for you relative to urea. I'm just wondering if you could point to something that might have driven that relationship more in AS's favor. Is it your outage, for example? But more to the point, I mean, how sustainable would that, you know, unusually favorable or historically unusually favorable relationship persist? I'll stop there. Thanks.
spk03: Yeah. So maybe just to reground everyone and ourselves. we have nitrogen and sulfur in our ammonium sulfate product lines. We talk about the relationship on nitrogen to urea because that is the largest nitrogen fertilizer and sets that nutrient value for the nitrogen in AF. We really are marketing and providing ammonium sulfate for the sulfur nutrition. And, you know, certainly AS has proven to deliver pound for pound the most readily available sulfur and nitrogen to a wide variety of crops. So when we price, we have that base consideration, which is why, you know, like you said, you track where nitrogen is headed. But we really have always been focused on pricing to earn the premium for sulfur as well. And effectively what we are seeing right now is the value that ag customers in the value chain is placing on sulfur. due to the yield benefit in what has become a tight market for AS as well. So it really is those fundamentals. There is a linkage to the base nutrient value, but, again, that focus on the premium that's earned, and that premium, you know, is earned in a supply-demand environment. Sulfur nutrition is also growing. As we alluded to, you know, certainly, you know, we see that demand growth. There is... You know, the work we've been doing on soybeans and certainly several customers down the chain this season have reported a big uptake on sulfate use this season on soybeans. And so I think it's those combination of factors, Dave, that are leading to the opportunity and the pricing situation that we're in today.
spk07: Okay. Thank you for that. And, you know, I was getting a little feedback when Charlie was asking one or two of his questions, so I apologize if I'm making you repeat yourself, but this goes back to your comment about increasing the percentage of your AS in the granular form to up to 70%. I'm just kind of wondering, your sales strategies vary in different seasons of the year and other factors. But in thinking about having the flexibility, right, to increase the percentage of granular product, premium-priced product to, you know, maybe 10 percentage points, as you look back, has there been a period in the past, I don't know, five to ten years, where AdvanSix wouldn't benefit from selling their maximum output in the form of granular In other words, is this really adding flexibility or is this just increasing the amount year after year that you intend to sell in the granular form?
spk03: Yeah, so we've been steadily increasing granular conversion within our operations for quite a period of time. And certainly, you know, the program here for Sustain is targeting a total direction to get to 75. We are tracking ahead of our original plan and, you know, reaching 70% here this year. But the heart of it, the simple answer is no, there's not a time in history where granular wouldn't always be more profitable than standard. It is the growing form. We think about mechanized agriculture, the development, the needs of our customers, particularly in North America, and that's just really the fundamentals move forward. very consistent with sort of long-term strategy and the investment here allows us to take this really next significant step forward.
spk07: Good. Thank you. That makes my modeling that much simpler. Thank you. I would like to switch over to your comments about nylon and how, you know, you anticipate some moderate improvement this year after, you know, what's been a very difficult stretch, you know, overall in that particular, you know, product line, Nylon and Capro. And, you know, I have to confess, I'm a little bit, you know, I don't know what to, I wouldn't say confused, but I'm questioning kind of the thought process behind, you know, anticipating an improvement. In other words, and I apologize, but You mentioned that nylon production rates in China continue to be frustratingly high. And I'm not really aware of a dramatic pickup in auto builds or, I don't know, capacity closures or regulatory actions, whatever. But maybe just a little bit of background or perspective on why you're anticipating after a very difficult stretch why there should be some moderate easing in the fundamentals such that there might be some improvement or you anticipate some improvement in your financial results there. Thank you.
spk03: Yeah, it certainly is one where, you know, I think in the tone of the view is we are cautiously optimistic here. I can agree that when we think about sort of the macros, you know, there are signs and considerations relative to continuous sort of robust, you know, strength in auto and packaging. Those are the strongest, you know, segments in North America. And rightfully, sort of building construction. is the larger end market, and that is the one that has lagged. And so, you know, certainly as we look to residential and commercial construction and the opportunities that's there, you know, we, like many others, are watching this space associated with interest rates and, you know, other considerations that will allow, you know, more typical demand to come back in those spaces. And so that's That's sort of the North America piece. When we think about really the broader sort of Asia consideration, there are logistics constraints. Certainly challenges in the Panama Canal and just sort of the Middle East are constraining you know, logistics into Europe and coming sort of east. So there are some things that play out as we go. And the third we would just say is not all cycles, you know, perhaps repeat as history does, but we are extending into this downturn now relative to, to history and when some structure usually comes back into the marketplace. And you see that already in constrained operating rates in Europe and the rest of Asia. you know, the semi-tumor shutdown in Japan. And, you know, so I do think that there are, you know, slow signs here. This is not going to be a fast recovery, we don't believe, but we should continue to see, or at least that would be our expectation of starting to tick up off the trough, which we have seen over the last two quarters. And I'll be, it's slow.
spk07: Got it. Thank you. I appreciate that. Maybe just one last question. You know, this would be with your chemical intermediates segment or product line, and you did talk about the strength in acetone, but I was wondering maybe if you had some comments about the progress or whatnot on the U.S. amines side of the business. In other words, you know, the – various, you know, intermediates there. And in particular, I believe, you know, agriculture is a pretty significant end market for the output there. And I'm just wondering if what you're seeing from the US Amines intermediates side is jibing with your comments on ammonium sulfate and, you know, as well. Thanks.
spk01: Yeah.
spk03: No, it's certainly, you know, when we kind of think about broader ag, there really is a segmentation between fertilizer and then, you know, crop protection and ag chemical. And, you know, the U.S. amines products fit into that ag chemical, you know, space given that you're really flowing into the herbicide, you know, value chain. And we, like we see others, you know, continuing to still report that there is desocking is sort of generally slow demand, which is, again, I think consistent with what we've seen, you know, others in the space report and certainly is what we're continuing to work through. So, you know, I think SENS is this is a season that sort of corrects you know, the prior year, but that is a headwind for us in the U.S. and mean space. You know, however, we continue to progress, you know, certainly the project pipeline that was part of, you know, the core investment pieces here relative to being able to grow the business given the asset base that we that we acquired, and that continues to progress. So that is a positive here that we continue to watch forward here and stay focused on, and the market dynamics certainly should sort themselves as we come through into the next ag season on the base.
spk07: Okay. You hit right on the aspect I was wondering about. Thanks very much. I'll get back in queue.
spk02: Thanks, David.
spk03: Thanks, David.
spk02: Our next question comes from Vincent Anderson of Stiefel. Go ahead, please.
spk06: Thanks. Good morning, everyone. Morning. I think I'll just segue off of David real quick. Beyond agriculture and U.S. Amines, could you maybe just level set how your mix has been trending, say the last two, three quarters? So including things like your higher-value nylon products, your film business, your oxymes, kind of stacking up all of those little buckets and how that's looked. And if we start seeing a broader demand recovery, you know, is there a bit more pent-up margin with those coming back in relative terms, or has it been pretty stable?
spk03: Yeah, it's certainly, you know, when we think about those – Those product lines that have the, you know, stickier and more differentiated margins, as we've shared, have been impacted by the downturn. Most notably probably is our Natome product line, which is a high-purity application into, you know, solvents and electronics. And, you know, that is still quite weak. And so I think as... We see that recovery and certainly there's a lot of broader macro trends that should support that going forward. As you indicate, that will be a positive as we see that come through. And likewise, coatings in Europe has been a bit of a headwind as well here on the oxygen side for 2PO or EZ-Blox. And so the differentiated products haven't been immune to the broader macro considerations. And certainly as we see more broad-based recovery, that will come back in as a tailwind as well in the future.
spk06: Okay, that's helpful. And then kind of a quick one on US Amines. I think when you first bought it, you mentioned it had a favorable acetone contract, at least for the time being. But something like a swap agreement could be a possibility in the future to get that asset more closely integrated into your acetone cost structure. I'm just curious where we stand with how long that contract lasts and if it still makes sense to be looking at getting it closer to your acetone.
spk03: Yeah, I think the easiest way to think about this, Vincent, here is just like in all of our, you know, supply agreements and considerations that, you know, all options are open. We have a good relationship and partnership with the current supplier. The flexibility, you know, works. You know, there is, as you can imagine, you know, in this space, co-producer, you know, relationships given, you shutdowns, operations, whatever it may be, swaps come into play. And so I think it's simple to say we keep all of our options open relative to being able to drive the best decisions, profitability, and growth for the company.
spk06: Okay, fair enough. And then coming back to the move in the turnaround schedule for this year, I'm just curious if any of that was driven by like a need or to have more time to rebuild inventory ahead of it, and kind of given where it sits in the year, should we anticipate maybe a little bit less participation in the export markets in the third quarter for ammonium sulfate compared to a typical year?
spk03: Yeah, so, you know, when we moved it, it's subtle, Vincent. It's about two weeks, you know, so when we think about – you know, September into October, there were some customer accommodations that we manage because we do impact folks like our CO2 customers and others. So, AS mix shouldn't really change significantly, but it's just a matter of just, you know, lining this thing up and it's a modest move.
spk06: Gotcha. Okay, that makes sense. And then just last one, since you brought up your recycled nylon again, I wanted to maybe just touch base on how you're thinking about the commercial strategy there, if it's something you think you can basically place into a nice, you know, long-term supply agreement at attractive margins, or is this going to have to be a bit more nimble just based on, you know, how much demand there is for recycled nylon today? Yeah.
spk03: So, you know, I think it's probably going to be a bit of a mix as we move forward. Certainly we have, you know, you know, customers that have been, you know, quicker adopters and have kind of layered those into their, you know, contracts. But certainly this is a lot of targeted selling with our customers that have, you know, strong interest with consumer-facing, you know, requests and commitments. And certainly the ISCC plus was a significant, I would think, step forward because there were customers in the packaging industry that And to some extent, those in engineering plastics as well that have been requesting this verification and certification as a substantiation of PCR and PIR, well, that will allow them to not really assess this into their chain. So I think it's the right step forward, a lot of interest in these types of products, but a lot of work that has to go through the value chain to earn the premiums.
spk06: Gotcha. And can we actually take one step back and explain from an advanced six point of view how PIR versus PCR works? Just because I only think of you as a virgin nylon producer, and so PIR makes sense, but I'm not entirely sure how PCR fits in.
spk03: Yes. So, you know, certainly the post-industrial, you know, plays in through our asset base, right, and our capturing and recirculation, you know, loops. The PCR by the certification takes into consideration the materials we bring back from our partners.
spk06: So basically waste from their own manufacturing lines?
spk03: Yes. Anything that a lot of this is a ligament recapture and, you know, we reincorporate that back into our system from our downstream customers.
spk06: That's very interesting. Okay. I'll chew on that and maybe we'll circle back on it next quarter.
spk03: You got it. Thank you.
spk06: Thank you.
spk02: Our last question comes from Charles Nivert of Piper Sandler. Go ahead, please.
spk00: I deal with have had issues in inventories, not their own necessarily, but within the chain and a lot of destocking. And largely, it seems that most of them commented that destocking was over with and they could sort of resume a more normal pace of sales. Did you guys run into any major destocking issues over the last few quarters? And if so, have they basically dissipated at this point? Are we done with them? And then... you know, going forward we should see more regular cadence of sales going forward?
spk03: Yeah, our sense is, you know, again, we probably saw a variety of things here depending on which line of business. I think certainly in nylon, we saw that predominantly through last year, and I think we would view that most of that value chain is sorted, and what we're seeing now is more typical demand signals that we would expect. In intermediates where we play, I think likewise there as well with the outstanding consideration of ag chemicals because where our materials get pulled through is in combination with other materials and until those downstream materials are pulled through. But I would say we believe we're really mostly done. The goal there, as you all know, is to make sure that we have the inventories as low as possible at the end of the season, and that allows us for a strong reset into the fall, which would be our intent and expectation for this year as well.
spk00: Is that really clear? And then whatever I missed on the left, go around the perils of working at home sometimes.
spk03: Okay.
spk00: Well, if there's anything we need to follow, yeah.
spk03: Yeah, if there's anything that we need to follow up on, you know, I tried my best to ensure that I tackled all three parts of your question, but I think we might have had some connectivity issues. But if there's anything that we can help to clarify, you know, certainly reach out.
spk00: Okay. Very good. Yeah, we've got a good call later, so I'll clear up anything that I've missed. Thank you.
spk03: Perfect. You bet.
spk02: This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Erin Kane for any closing remarks.
spk03: Thank you all again for your time and interest this morning. We hope this call and discussion has clarified the operational and commercial tailwinds that are constructive and supportive to our anticipated rebound in earnings and cash flow performance as we head into the second quarter. We feel very good about the strategies we've implemented and our continued investments to support expectations for AdvancX's long-term sustainable performance. I am confident this year presents a great opportunity to further maximize our value to shareholders. With that, we look forward to speaking with you again next quarter. Stay safe and be well.
spk02: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.
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