Compass Minerals Intl Inc

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. My name is Abby and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Compass Minerals fourth quarter and fiscal 2023 earnings conference call. Today's conference is being recorded and all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during that time, simply press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one a second time. Thank you, and I will now turn the conference over to Brent Collins, Vice President of Investor Relations. Mr. Collins, you may begin.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, and welcome to the Compass Minerals fourth quarter and fiscal 2023 earnings conference call. Today we will discuss our recent results as well as our outlook for 2024. We'll begin with prepared remarks from our president and CEO, Kevin Crutchfield, and our CFO, Lauren Crenshaw. Joining in for the question and answer portion of the call will be Jamie Standen, our chief commercial officer, and Chris Yandel, our head of lithium. George Shuler, our chief operating officer, is away today. Before we get started, I will remind everyone that the remarks we make today reflect financial and operational outlooks as of today's date, November 17, 2023. These outlooks entail assumptions and expectations that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially. A discussion of these risks can be found in our SEC filings located online at investors.compassminerals.com. Our remarks today also include certain non-GAAP financial measures. You can find reconciliations of these items in our earnings release or in our presentation, both of which are also available online. The results in our earnings release issued last night and presented during this call reflect only the continued operations of the business, other than amounts pertaining to the condensed consolidated statements of cash flows, or unless noted otherwise. I'll now turn the call over to Kevin.

Thank you, Brent. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on our call today. Over the course of fiscal 2023, we advanced the ball on a number of important strategic fronts. Unfortunately, the positive strides we've made across several areas this year have been wholly overshadowed by sustained uncertainty surrounding our lithium project in Utah, which has weighed heavily on our share price. I'll come back to our strategic achievements in just a moment, but I first want to provide some commentary on our operations in Utah and on our lithium project specifically. As a reminder, we've been operating in the state of Utah for more than half a century, currently providing approximately 370 local jobs at our Ogden facility. We've been an engaged corporate citizen in the community for decades. Our plan to lithium project would build upon the successful sulfate of potash, sodium chloride, and magnesium chloride businesses that currently operate on the lake and would not require any additional brine draw from the Gray Salt Lake. The current process draws mineral rich lake water or brine from the Gray Salt Lake into a series of solar evaporation ponds, which the brine moves through over a two to three year evaporation cycle. As the water content of the brine evaporates and the mineral concentration increases, some of those minerals naturally precipitate out of the brine and are deposited on the pond floors. These deposits provide the minerals necessary for processing into SOP, sodium chloride, and magnesium chloride. Those three products make up our core Ogden business today. Our lithium development would simply entail extracting a fourth mineral salt out of the brine that we're already processing. Our project would add over 100 incremental local high-paying jobs and drive substantial additional royalty and tax receipts to the local economy. In our view, that's a win-win situation, and we continue to patiently educate all relevant parties and decision makers on the positive attributes of this project. Utah House Bill 513 was enacted to establish a regulatory framework for how lithium would be developed, as well as introduce some updated rules on management of the Great Salt Lake. We're acutely aware of the recent concerns and sensitivities related to the Great Salt Lake. Maintaining the health and sustainability of the lake is a shared goal for all stakeholders in the community. We are no different, and in fact, we've worked hard to be part of the solutions to maintaining and improving the health of the lake for the long term. Several weeks ago, we announced our intention to suspend indefinitely any further investment in our lithium project in Utah until we achieve regulatory clarity with the state. We did not make this decision lightly. A critical linchpin to making investments on the order of magnitude we're considering here and have now paused is regulatory certainty. Without such certainty, it's essentially impossible to have confidence in the projected returns on invested capital over the next 30 years. Therefore, to move forward prudently, we must have confidence that the regulatory environment will include a set of rules that are reasonable now and will be stable and predictable over the coming decades. The March passage of House Bill 513 and particularly the subsequent rulemaking process have introduced uncertainty around the regulatory environment we'll be operating in, as well as the timing of how our development could proceed. Since the inception of House Bill 513, Compass Minerals has actively engaged with the state of Utah in a collaborative attempt to ensure the provisions of the legislation are implemented in a way that will not slow or halt the progress the company has made to date regarding its pursuit of developing a sustainable lithium salt resource to service the burgeoning North American advanced battery market. Despite the active and ongoing best efforts by all parties, we concluded that it's in the best interest of our shareholders to suspend further investment in our lithium project beyond certain already committed items associated with the early stages of construction of the commercial scale DLE demonstration unit that we've talked about in the past. I want to share some additional thoughts about how we're thinking about the project. First, to be perfectly clear, we'll not move forward with the project at any cost. We'll continue to refine our engineering estimates on phase one and we'll incorporate the proposed financial terms from the state when we receive them. Then we'll have a better view of the economics of the project. We'll only proceed if we're convinced that the long-term returns justify the investment. Second, if we do advance lithium, we'll do so in a manner that is financially prudent. As projected capital for the lithium program has increased, questions about how we'll fund the program have taken on greater importance. Clearly, bringing a partner in at the asset level will help answer at least part of that question by reducing our share of the capital cost. We still have some work to do on this, but the one thing I want to stress today is that we're firmly committed to not using common equity to fund our share of any future lithium development. We believe there are numerous other viable sources of funds at considerably lower cost of capital and do not dilute the ownership of existing shareholders. Third, whereas previously we were on a path toward commencing operations in the fiscal 2025 timeframe, we have to acknowledge that our timeline today is different than when we started this project. I'm hopeful that we will be able to chart a path forward with the state of Utah that will allow this resource to be responsibly developed for the great benefit of all stakeholders, including the state, in a timely manner. But we have to believe that we know the rules of the game and are standing on solid ground before we can credibly talk about timing again, and we aren't there yet. I'll comment now on the progress we made on our 2023 strategic objectives. Lauren will then review our financial performance for the year, and we'll discuss our outlook for 2024. We talked about it a lot this year, but restoration of the profitability of the salt business to historic levels was an important goal for the company in fiscal 23. Year over year, full year adjusted EBITDA per ton for salt increased by approximately 40% to $20.38 compared to $14.59 last fiscal year. Salt's adjusted EBITDA margin percentage also increased over the same period, up to nearly 23% from 18% a year ago. This improvement was driven by better pricing. as we saw increases of 12% and 6% in price for highway de-icing and CNI, respectively, year over year. We did a great job getting back to the basics and focusing on winning markets that we can effectively and profitably service. I'm also happy to know that despite the recent bidding season occurring on the heels of a winter that within the North American markets that we served had only 80% of the average number of snow days, Our base plan for 2024 shows us continuing to improve salt profitability on both an EBITDA per ton and EBITDA margin basis. Fiscal 23 was also an exciting year for our emerging fire retardant business. After a rigorous multi-year process, two core Fortress products were added to the U.S. Forest Service Qualified Product List in December of 2022. This opened the door to allow governmental agencies to purchase Fortress fire retardant products, which were the first new products to enter the market in nearly two decades. Fortress was awarded its first contract in May, and we consolidated our ownership of the company shortly thereafter. In June 23, we achieved another milestone when we dropped our first commercial product. The feedback that we've received on the efficacy of the products and the operational performance of the team has been excellent. We're currently in the process of finalizing our contract with US Forest Service for 2024. We're off to a good start with Fortress, and we're excited about the high margin counter seasonal growth potential that this business can provide for the company. We also improved the balance sheet and financial standing of the company during the fiscal year, which was another of our strategic goals. Early in the fiscal year in October, we successfully closed on a strategic equity partnership with Coke Minerals and Trading to help fund phase one of our lithium project and to pay down debt. We also improved our debt maturity profile in May with a successful refinancing that pushed our nearest maturity out to 2027. As a result of our focused execution on this goal, year over year, we saw an improvement in our available liquidity, a decline in our net debt outstanding, and a lengthening of our debt maturities. The last strategic goal that I'll touch on today relates to safety and our efforts to build a culture of zero harm. I say this almost every earnings call due to its importance. We make safety a top priority because it's the right thing to do for our people and it's the right thing to do for our business. Safety is often a leading indicator of operational performance. And if you can't do the basics of keeping yourself and your colleagues safe, how can you possibly operate reliably and efficiently? Our employees have clearly embraced the culture we're building here around zero harm, and it shows in our results. Specifically, our total recordable injury rate dropped approximately 8% to 1.17, and our lost time injury rate declined from 0.93 from a 1.02, or 9% in the comparable year ago period. Those are outstanding numbers. particularly in the complex operating environments that we have here at Compass Minerals. I want to extend my thanks to all the employees across the company for their commitment to safety and contribution to these outstanding results. As I reflect on the year, it's disappointing to know that the solid steps forward we made across our business were drowned out by noise and uncertainty that arose in Utah around our planned lithium project. We're determined to resolve those questions as soon as possible and we remain engaged with Utah leaders on that front. Compass Minerals has unique high quality assets that have tremendous value. I'm confident that the intrinsic value of the company will be recognized with continued strong execution. So with that, I'll now turn the call over to Lauren.

Thanks, Kevin. I'll begin my remarks by discussing our fiscal 23 performance before providing perspective around our outlook for fiscal 24. Starting at the consolidated level, fourth quarter results primarily reflect weaker plant nutrition sales offset by improved profitability in the salt business year over year. Consolidated revenue declined 6% year over year to $233.6 million. Consolidated operating earnings declined to $3.9 million, while adjusted EBITDA was slightly lower year over year at $33 million. Net loss for the quarter narrowed to $2.5 million, from a net loss of 5.5 million year over year. For the full year, a below average highway de-icing season and the impact of adverse weather conditions in California on the plant nutrition business negatively impacted the company's revenue. However, the salt business demonstrated improved profitability that allowed for gains in consolidated operating earnings and adjusted EBITDA year over year. Consolidated revenue was 3% lower at just over 1.2 billion. Consolidated operating earnings was 79.1 million, up 36.2 million year-over-year, and adjusted EBITDA of 200.8 million rose 12.3 million year-over-year. Net income from continuing operations was 15.5 million versus a net loss of 37.3 million in the prior year. Our full-year effective income tax rate came in at 53%. which is influenced by the fact that throughout the year we booked valuation allowances on U.S. deferred tax assets. Excluding the impact of valuation allowances, our full year effective income tax rate was roughly 22%, which is below the range we guided to last quarter. The rate came in below our expectation primarily due to lower estimated income associated with fortress earnings slipping into the first quarter and the refinement of certain foreign tax estimates. Moving to the salt business, on a quarterly basis, segment revenue was essentially flat year-over-year at $186.7 million, resulting from a 9% increase in price offset by a 9% decrease in total sales volumes, which declined for both the highway de-icing and CNI salt businesses. Highway de-icing price rose 11% year-over-year, while CNI price increased 8%, reflecting continued pricing power across both product lines. Quarterly distribution costs per ton decreased 8% year-over-year due to favorable freight rates within the CNI business, while all-in product costs per ton increased 4% year-over-year, driven by the impact of unplanned downtime. Operating earnings increased 91% to $28.8 million, while adjusted EBITDA improved 29% to $44.4 million year-over-year. For the full year, Salt segment revenue was flat year over year at approximately $1 billion. A below average highway deicing season in our served markets in North America was the leading cause of a 10% decrease in total sales volumes, with highway deicing volumes down 11% and CNI volumes down 6%. Higher highway deicing and CNI salt pricing led to an increase in overall salt segment pricing of 11% year over year. The decline in volumes and increase in price were consistent with the value over volume strategy that we pursued in 2023 and was the driver of this business's improved profitability. On a per-turn basis, both distribution and all-in product costs saw modest increases year over year of 2% and 6% respectively. The SALT segment generated $170.7 million in operating earnings, and adjusted EBITDA of 230.7 million, up 47 and 26%, respectively, year over year. Importantly, the segment saw adjusted EBITDA margins improved by over 400 basis points year over year, and adjusted EBITDA per ton recovered to over $20 per ton, which, as Kevin mentioned, was an important strategic objective for us this year. Turning to our plant nutrition segment, fourth quarter revenue totaled 35.3 million, down 39% year over year, driven by a combination of a 26% decrease in price and an 18% decline in sales volume. The decrease in price reflected the deterioration of global potassium fertilizer prices throughout the year. This influenced purchaser behavior, as throughout the year, buyers didn't want to hold inventory and generally waited to buy product until needed. Distribution costs per ton increased by 6% year-over-year due to the timing of market demand and associated railcar storage fees, while all end product costs per ton declined 2%. The segment had an operating loss of $1.6 million for the quarter, down $14.2 million year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA declined $15.1 million to $6.7 million. As we've discussed throughout the year, Highly unusual weather in California was the primary driver of the decrease in full year sales volumes year over year. For the full year, the segment generated 172.1 million in revenue, down 23% year over year, primarily due to a 23% decrease in sales volumes. Distribution costs per ton rose 6% year over year due to the impact of lower sales volumes on our fixed distribution costs. while all-in product costs per ton were up 15%. Operating earnings for the full year totaled $11.2 million, and adjusted EBITDA totaled $45.5 million. I would now like to provide a bit of color on Fortress' results for the year. Fortress had its first sales in 2023, so we recognize modest positive contributions from the business to revenue, operating earnings, and adjusted EBITDA this period, of 10.4 million, 3.2 million, and 4.6 million respectively. Our initial contract with the U.S. Forest Service was largely structured as take or pay and covered the calendar year ending in December 23. We expected to recognize the vast majority of the value of the contract during our fiscal year ended in September based on historic patterns of wildfire activity. However, wildfire activity in the final quarter of our fiscal year, which included heavy rain in the western U.S. from Tropical Storm Hillary, was unusually mild. Specifically, calendar year-to-date through September, acres burned from wildfires in the U.S. were approximately 36% of the 10-year average, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. As a result, while the ultimate value of the initial calendar 23 contract is unchanged. The bulk of the revenue recognition related to the take or pay portion of the contract will occur in the current quarter, three months later than our original expectation. Accordingly, approximately 12 million in adjusted EBITDA that we had expected to impact the fourth quarter of 23 will slide into the current quarter. Overall, we were encouraged by the operating performance we saw at Fortress in its initial year of commercial operations. Turning to our balance sheet, at quarter end, we had liquidity of $317 million, comprised of roughly $39 million of cash and revolver capacity of around $278 million. Net debt to adjusted EBITDA stood at 3.7 times at the end of the quarter. Moving on to our outlook for fiscal 24, the latest North America highway de-icing bidding season has concluded. And we expect the average contract price for the upcoming North America winter season to be up by roughly 3% versus the prior year's bid season results. And total committed bid volumes to decline by approximately 5% year over year. Despite the 5% decrease in commitments, we are expecting an increase in sales volumes year over year based on historical sales to commitment ratios, And assuming we experience average winter weather activity, snow days during last year's winter within our North America served markets were only approximately 80% of the long run average. As a result, simply having an average winter should drive more than enough volume year over year to offset lower commitment levels. For salt, we expect adjusted EBITDA in the range of 230 to 270 million. This is, again, based on the assumption that we have an average winter. During our first quarter earnings call in February of 2024, we expect to update investors on where the SALT segment is tracking against the range of outcomes shown on slide 14 of our earnings presentation. Then during our second quarter earnings call in May, we will revisit our SALT guidance following the completion of the winter season. The outlook for plant nutrition EBITDA is in the range of 20 to 40 million, despite meaningfully higher sales volumes. This level of performance margin wise is well below our targeted potential for this business at this stage in the industry pricing cycle. And I'll now take a moment to discuss why that's the case. From a top line perspective, sales are projected to be higher year over year at roughly 300,000 tons, primarily driven by a restoration of more normal West Coast demand conditions, assuming the extraordinary weather conditions that occurred last year don't repeat themselves. and higher production out of Ogden. Two factors, the continuation of elevated cash costs and lower pricing year over year, are offsetting the sharp sales increase. From a pricing perspective, we are assuming an average SOP price next year of around $660 per ton, which is roughly 4% or around $30 below levels we experienced in the fourth quarter of 23. From a cost perspective, Although cash unit costs are projected to decline year over year, they are still roughly $100 per ton higher than our targeted performance levels. The reason for this is that while we have a production strategy supportive of restoring sales volumes back toward historical levels, and you see that in our sales guidance, the naturally occurring pond tons, which have the lowest unit costs, remain below historical levels. Just as we did in 2023, this year, we intend to continue supplementing our production process with potassium chloride, a higher cost input to close the gap in cheaper pond tons available. We expect this to enable us to achieve the yields and volumes required to deliver higher sales tons, but at a higher unit cost than the historical average. Over time, assuming current demand levels persist, Using potassium chloride is expected to allow us to maximize evaporation seasons and enable the replenishment of our stockpile, resulting in lower cost pond-based tons rising as a percentage of our production mix over time and potassium chloride use declining over time, resulting in lower unit costs as that happens. Now that we have a production strategy that we expect to allow us to deliver sales tons in line with historical levels, A key operational initiative in 2024 will be to identify additional cost reduction strategies to lower our unit costs. Such actions are not reflected in our guidance. However, we are committed to identifying a path to restoring the unit cost of this business closer to historical levels by lowering the cost in the short run and producing more pond-based tons longer term. Turning to our corporate guidance, We expect this segment to come in at a range of between minus 55 million and minus 65 million. As a reminder, corporate is comprised of three components, fortress, lithium, and other. Other includes costs unrelated to the salt and plant nutrition segments and the impact of our deep store document and records management business. As it relates to fortress, we are currently working closely with the U.S. Forest Service to establish a contract for calendar year 2024. However, an agreement is not expected to be finalized until late December 2023 or early January 2024. As a result, our initial guidance only includes the approximately $12 million in adjusted EBITDA related to the 2023 contract that we will recognize in the current quarter. However, our current expectation is that we will achieve at least a similar level of profit for our 2024 contract. When our negotiations have concluded and we have a finalized contract, we'll update our guidance accordingly. Lithium related expenses are projected to be in the range of $5 and $10 million for fiscal 24. These costs will be heavily influenced by whether adequate regulatory clarity in Utah is achieved to resume lithium development. Total capex is expected to be in a range of 125 to 140 million and is comprised of three parts, sustaining capex related to salt and plant nutrition of approximately 90 to 100 million, capex of between 25 and 30 million related to the orderly suspension of the lithium project, and fortress related growth capex of approximately 10 million. In closing, Our company remains well positioned financially and operationally with strong competitive positions in the production of essential minerals with few viable economic substitutes. As Kevin alluded to in his remarks, we made several positive steps across the business in fiscal 23 that set us up well for success in 2024 as we continue focusing on maximizing the performance of our high quality salt plant nutrition and emerging fire-retardant businesses. With that said, I will turn it back to the operator to open the lines for Q&A. Operator?

Thank you. And as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, press star and then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one a second time. To be able to take as many of your questions as possible, we do ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. and we'll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. We will take our first question from Joel Jackson with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Good morning, everyone. I have a few questions. I'll go one by one. On the 24 guidance and Fortress, so thank you for the color that you'd expect. this year's contribution from Fortress to be at least similar to $12 million. What? So I assume what's going to happen in 24 is there'll be a bit of double counting, right? You have the 23 earnings that comes at 24 and the 24. Just trying to figure out what a normalized 24 earnings would be like. It sounds like it'd be a little bit higher than $12 million contribution. And how would you expect that business to ramp into 25, fiscal 25? Just how the business is going to ramp.

So I'll start and then ask Jamie. So we did book about four or five million of fortress profit in 2023 and 12 will roll into next year. And so you add those together, you get kind of 15 and change. And it all depends on the level of profitability that we see in this upcoming contract. Jamie, you want to elaborate?

Yeah, I think. Yeah. So you think about normalized 23 was about 15 million or so, 15, 16 million. Uh, Lauren's prepared remarks said we expect in 24 to achieve something at least at that level. Uh, so the negotiations are ongoing. We're figuring out which bases, uh, what, what it looks like. Uh, it's, it's likely that it won't be a take or pay scenario next year. Um, so that's, that's about all the incremental color we can give you right now.

And Joel, rather than speculate, we just felt it'd be better to let the dust settle. and then update you in February. Yeah.

Right. Okay.

So really this guidance number is, it's a fair case guidance for Fortress. It's going to be better because from a normalized perspective, it's fair, right? Okay. Okay. On cost, excuse me, on the salt business, looking at costs, I could be wrong, just first blush. It looks like maybe you're

in your guidance projecting maybe about a dollar per ton increase in salt cost is that right if i'm not let me know and tell me what's driving salt cost this year yeah from a cash cost perspective salt costs are about lattice around i don't know roughly sort of forty dollars a ton and ebada per ton is actually up about a dollar and so i'm not sure what you're seeing but salt is up

an ebitda per time perspective and roughly flat from a cash time perspective year over year maybe then in that flat environment before i pass the baton on maybe talk about what on costs are up what a costs are down thanks let's make it flat

from a fuel perspective which is important for that business and the first half of this year is where we'll consume most of the fuel we're assuming brent kind of in the mid 80s and if you look you over a year that's kind of roughly flattish from from from that point of view and then this relates uh to cni from a natural gas perspective we are going to benefit from we hope will be the absence of natural gas spike that we saw last year at a high level. Jamie, anything else you want to share?

I would say on the operating side, on the cash cost itself, we saw some unplanned downtime in 2023, items like that not expected to repeat. So we've got some inflationary pressure on the input side still, but that's being offset by improved production levels as we go into 2024 on salt.

Thank you.

And we'll take our next question from David Begleiter with Deutsche Bank. Your line is open.

Thank you. Good morning. Kevin, on lithium, is there a timeframe where you would say these negotiations is just

taking too long and we're going to move on and just not pursue lithium is there is it six months is a year is it longer that would be helpful thank you yeah i mean look that's a good question david it's kind of hard to pin it down but what i'll tell you i mean there's kind of two two work streams in terms of uh kind of how we're thinking about this i think as everybody knows they released the draft rules that were promulgated as part of house bill 513 um those need to get sorted so they're out for public comment i think we've made our comments on those and we'll work with the state to uh come up with a set of draft rules that govern how lithium could be extracted on the lake and you know we have some concerns about the way they were released and we'll be at the table trying to uh you know bend that outcome in a way that works for us as well as folks in utah and then secondarily there's the legislative session coming up in after the first of the year that we'll obviously be involved in. So I think all that will kind of settle in maybe the April timeframe. And I think that'll give us the kind of clarity we need to make a decision on whether this thing's still got legs or put it on the shelf for another time. So I would kind of direct you to that April, May timeframe next year.

Very helpful. And just on plant nutrition, What do you think is normalized earnings in this segment? I think the last four years averaged maybe 55 to 60 million EBITDA. Is that a good number or could it even be higher in terms of normalized?

Yeah, we're $100 below where we expect this business to be on a cash cost basis. If you look back over the past five years, you multiply that times our times and you get $30 million. This business ought to be in the range you just referred to. And and that's going to be a focus of our efforts in the coming years. From the long term perspective, as we harvest less and let the ponds just deposit and concentrate, we expect that we'll get better yields over that two or three year deposition process. But we're not going to just wait for that. We're also looking at the cost base at Ogden in terms of things we can do in the near term to improve the cost base as we wait for the ponds to regenerate. Very good. Thank you.

We will take our next question from Greg Lewis with BTIG. Your line is open.

Yeah, thank you, and good morning, and thanks for taking my question. You know, my first one was I did want to go back on costs. So as we think about freight, you know, it seems like that could be pulling back a little bit. Any way to kind of gauge how much of your rate costs are fixed or if they are, like when we could see like those, you know, agreements, I guess, I guess, recontracted or reset.

Hey, Greg, we you are garbled up there. Could you please repeat your question for us?

It was around freight costs. If we were to see freight costs generally across North America move lower, how should we think about the company benefiting from that impact? As you look at your freight exposure, how much of it is spot contracted? That is my question, the first one. sure greg this is jamie um so in and we've assumed uh we talk about it in in different buckets um on the on the vessel and barge side for 2024 you're we're going to see typical inflationary pressure a lot of those are those are fixed uh when we look at truck for 2024 we think the truck market's actually bottoming out now maybe first quarter and would be expected to rise uh given given some of the freight supply rationalization, Conway, Yellow, bankruptcies. So we think the supply picture of freight is shrinking, actually. And with the post-pandemic destocking behind us, we think there's demand increase in retail over the next year. So we've baked into our plan for 2024 increased truck rates really in the back half of the year. Now, that is significant. It is a significant increase. Think of it as 15% or so. But if that does not occur and the bottom stays in longer and freight rates don't rise, we would stand to benefit from that versus our current operating plan. Okay, perfect. Super helpful. And then I did want to, realizing that it's you know, we need to kind of move forward in the project. But when we think about a strategic partner, you know, that you mentioned on the lithium side, I mean, really, you know, with the project and largely funded, at least phase one, like when we think about a strategic partner, is that just really an offtake partner? Is that kind of a fair way to think about it or any kind of rough how you're thinking about like what you're looking for in terms of that partner? And really, just given what's, you know, the ongoing, I don't know, landscape in Utah, is that something where we probably won't see that partner until we kind of get more clarity and can move forward and know a better line of sight on what we could see, you know, I guess the lithium project move forward?

Yeah. So I think in terms of, you know, conditions precedent to uh having a partner it would have to be regulatory legislative clarity in utah where you've got a horizon that is you know suitable for long making long-term investments so clearly as i mentioned earlier when david asked his question there's work there to be done um and then secondarily we still have we still want to prove out the dust guard unit to demonstrate to the world that that is a scalable technology at commercial level. So anything that we would do with a partner would be conditioned upon those two criteria having been met. And then in terms of the type of the partner, we'd be looking for, I mean, clearly a balance sheet to reduce our capital exposure. at the uh the project level and then you know ideally it'd be nice to have a partner that's got some sort of prowess in that domain space the lithium or the ev ev world itself so that gives you kind of some sense of how how we're thinking about it okay super helpful thank you very much yep thank you and as a reminder if you would like to ask a question press star 1 on your telephone keypad

And we will take our next question from Vincent Anderson with Stifel. Your line is open.

Yeah, thanks. Good morning. Going back to the drivers of SALT margin expectations, I mean, you hit on the variable components, super helpful, but I was hoping you can maybe frame the season on season changes in fixed cost leverage and then any incremental net back positives or negatives based on the geographical mix of your commitments this year versus last year.

Well, to the extent that our volumes increase as a result of a normalized winter, just the sheer leverage from a 3%, 4% increase in the tonnage on the same cost base will improve the tons, and that's what you're seeing. As it relates to fuel, as I said, to the extent that that, in fact, is sort of flattish, you overhear, and we have taken some efforts that we referred to in the last call uh in terms of cost reductions we refer to efforts at the sites to reduce cost following our efforts at the corporate center to reduce cost uh those are the kind of things that if we can uh if they hang in there should allow us to see a dollar or two increase in profit per ton and that's what's in the midpoint of our guidance okay okay that's helpful um and then just turning over to fortress uh just to

two-parter here. So first, does the CapEx budget reflect any on-base investments? And then kind of related to that, you said you expect this year likely won't have take-or-pay contracts, but as I understand it, those are in place to help support initial commercialization of a new product. So should I interpret that as you expecting a high enough level of organic base wins that you'll no longer qualify for that?

Yeah, it's not a matter of qualification. Vincent, this is Jamie. It's a matter of how the agreement unfolds. The take or pay element of last year's contract was related to gallons. There are a number of elements in a contract that give us security around daily rates. So there are a lot of moving parts. And that's why we've kind of said, hey, we're going to wait and let this kind of give you some transparency after we finalize the contract. So there are quite a few things moving. As it relates to investment, one of the neat things about our delivery mechanisms is that they're fundamentally mobile. So even though we get assigned a base on a permanent basis, so to speak, we have mobility. So we're investing for the future. That's the $10 million in capital. And we have flexibility to put that to manufacture that, get it ready, and then deploy it to the bases that we're awarded. So it's not, it's less capital intensive than a typical situation. We're not burying pipes and pouring concrete and investing in infrastructure at bases. We have more of a mobile structure.

And I would just add, when we do provide, when we do provide guidance on this business, we'll approach it similar what you see in our earnings deck today with regard to to salt this to the extent it's not take or pay uh this will be a business that is subject to uh the wildfire season and so you should expect us to come out with a range that tells you what we think a normal wildfire season would look like and the bell curve for that on both sides and so i just want to uh underscore that you you will have that dimension

No, that's helpful. I appreciate that. If I could sneak one more in for Kevin, actually, you know, if I'm not mistaken, 2024 will put you on the back nine of your Godrich overhaul. I was just hoping to get an update on priorities for this year and maybe any larger projects planned for that March turnaround.

Yeah, so like the maybe the 11th hole of the back nine, just to be specific, Vincent. But yeah, fair. We continue to drive our main entryways george is not here i don't have an exact percentage but we're probably 65 67 percent of the way driven there so as we've shared before connecting up those new entries with the shaft bottom and the new sections in the west of the mine will then promote our ability then to kind of close the old section of the mine and you know stop uh spending money you know holding roof up and ventilating and lighting and all that sort of thing so that's kind of first phase and then you know we continue to develop the panels out in the west and some new panel infrastructure up into the kind of the north north part of the mine so you'll see you know the results can gradually start to filter through uh on a on a cost side over the next you know two two three years as we as we've talked about before there's not going to be some Justin Fields , REL Appalachia, magic moment where all of a sudden cost precipitously fall it'll it'll be it'll be gradual. Justin Fields , REL Appalachia, But you'll start to see that as soon as we connect those road roadways up, so I think we still got probably close to a year or so before we do get those connected up but that's when you'll start to see things begin to change at goddard Benson.

Justin Fields , REL Appalachia, Sure, no very helpful thanks again everyone.

We will take our next question from David Silver with CL King. Your line is open.

Yeah. Hi. Good morning. Thank you. A couple of questions. I think first I'd like to ask about the inventory levels at September 30. I think it's one of the higher totals in recent years and it is up pretty substantially year over year. So just wondering if you could kind of talk about maybe the cost versus volume elements in there. Is this kind of a carryover from a sub-par or below average winter season last year? Just how to think about that inventory level at September 30, or maybe if you could update it for November 15 or something. I'll stop there. Thank you.

All right, David. It's Lauren. And when you look at 930 on a year-over-year basis, you're right. It is higher, and it's roughly half related to salt and half plant nutrition. In terms of plant nutrition, Ogden performed very well production-wise throughout last year in the face of a sales environment that was severely diminished. And so we restored our inventory levels at plant nutrition um the levels that are frankly more normal and and if there's any silver lining uh that was that was it uh from a salt perspective we ran godrich for a normal winter and only an 80 winter actually happened um and so those are two reasons for the inventory to be higher uh with that said if you look back over the last four or five years from a volume from a unit's perspective Our units of inventory are only up about 5% versus that average, 5% or 10%. It's inflation for that same unit that has risen. And one of the things that Kevin has talked about is this notion that our customers understand that the cost of holding this inventory has gotten more expensive. And I don't know, Kevin, if you want to elaborate, but we've restored the profitability of the business even though per ton. but working capital is more expensive to carry.

Okay. Thank you for that. I'd also just ask you for an update, I guess, on your business realignment or your cost reduction program. You know, you had some targets.

in terms of lowering the fixed cost base as of the kickoff i guess of fiscal year 24. so if you could just update us on that that would be great thank you yeah when we did it we did an ak where we laid out about 15 to 20 million of costs that we were going after uh last year and those were split roughly 50 percent sgna 50 percent cost of goods sold maybe half salt a quarter plant nutrition, et cetera. And so we've captured those costs and they are reflected in this, the guidance that you see. Of course, there are offsets like merit that would eat into some of that along with other factors, but we feel good about what we've accomplished and it's reflected in our guidance.

Okay, great. And then maybe just a last one. I would like to go back to Fortress. And I understand there's quite a few moving parts on how your first fire season went and timing issues and whatnot. But I believe you had some longer-term, I guess, market share targets for how your product might be positioned once it's fully accepted in the markets. And any thoughts about where, you know, your market share shook out this first year and whether, you know, the expectation is that that share would be maintained or increased over the next year? Thank you.

Yeah, sure, David. This is Jamie. We were right around the 3% to 5% share as it relates to the U.S. Forest Service total contract. in 2023. We expect that to grow that year on year. We absolutely expect to increase our base count and expected volumes as we negotiate this contract here this month, hopefully to be resolved later this month or early January. And then we'll build from there. Our expectation is to continue to reinvest in the business, add bases, add share, and grow over the next several years. So Nothing on that front has changed. That was part of the investment thesis when we made the acquisition. And we feel good about how we're positioned and we can deliver on that plan.

That's great. Thank you very much.

And we will take our next question from Chris Kapsch with Loop Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Yeah, good morning. I had one on the SALT business and specifically around the 3% pricing outcome from the fiscal 24 contract bidding season and maybe juxtapose against the look back at 23. So you specifically use the words like referring to your value over volume strategy in 23, but I don't think I have heard those words reflecting 24. So I'm curious about the outcome this year was – Is it partly a function of that strategy still, or is it more simply a function of other considerations, like whether it's the inflation? For example, you flagged the interest rates and the higher bearing costs of inventories or other residual inflationary costs or some other dynamic like the Windsor mine strike. Just wondering if you could provide additional color on that, on the value over volume strategy, if that's persisting. Thanks.

Let me hit that at a high level, Chris, and then Jamie probably want to add some color. But, you know, we approach the bid season again with the same mindset, which is value over volume. Let's focus on areas that we're geographically advantaged from a delivery and transport cost. You know, that last mile stuff in this business, like like any business. And we we stay very disciplined through the whole marketing season. um you know competitors do what competitors do and they're driven by different things but our goal was to promote value in the marketplace which is what we did and you know i'd like to just hand kudos to the team for delivering three percent price up in the face of uh or on the heels of an eighty percent winner which is kind of unprecedented when you when you think about it so our our team did good i think in terms of kind of promoting that value in the marketplace and I would tell you that you can expect that strategy to continue going forward as we try to march above $20 a ton and continue to move that number up over time.

Okay. That's helpful. Thanks. And then just one quick follow-up on Fortress. I believe there is some incentive or premium pricing that was applicable, maybe even a government statute to incentivize alternative suppliers when there's like a sole source situation. So curious if that will apply to the fiscal 24 supply agreements when they're more definitive.

Yes, the open solicitation currently is a sole source. So our competitor has a sole source contract, as do we, for 2024. So yes, that continues into 2024. The terms could be a little bit different than they were in 23. but fundamentally it's the same structure. And then ultimately over time, we expect this to move away from that mechanism and move more into a competitive environment with bidding, regional bidding occurring from year to year.

Okay. And then, sorry, could you just, then the follow-up is just on the,

um situation in canada i think they were effectively piggybacking off the u.s approval for this product is there you just provide any color on how that's progressing as well thank you yep yep the the canadians use uh use the u.s forest service um qpl uh you know our our focus in north america for the for the early days of this business are the u.s forest service contract cal fire and and then uh canada so uh yes we we we are able to to compete up there but uh our focus right now is is in the us thank you and as a reminder if you would like to ask a question press star one and we will take our next question from jeff zakowskis with jp morgan your line is open

Thanks very much. Can you briefly discuss how management comp changed in or incentive comp changed in 2023 versus 2022 and how it might change in 2024? So there are a couple of components of incentive compensation.

Jeff, one is kind of the cash bonus annual incentive plan. And I'm sitting here thinking, but I don't think that changed from one year to the next. It's driven off of cash flow, EBITDA, safety, and some shared goals and ESG activities, that kind of thing. The long-term incentive plan, which is a stock-based plan, did change. Have we disclosed that yet? No. So you'll read about that coming up here shortly. So the short-term incentive plan didn't change. The long-term incentive plan, the stock-based plan is going to change modestly from one year to the next. And you'll read about that in the upcoming proxy.

You talked about looking for a partner in your lithium project. So if it turned out that regulatory developments were favorable, would you then begin spending as you did before and look for a partner? Or would you wait for a partner before you spent more? Or if you didn't have a partner, would you continue to spend? Can you just clarify the importance and the timing of the selection of a partner if things resumed?

Wow, that's a lot to unpack in there, Jeff. I mean, I think the ideal outcome for us is to have a partner at the project level or live here, again, to allay some of that. capital risk, and as I mentioned earlier, to the extent that they have domain expertise, that's a nice bonus.