Howmet Aerospace Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the HowMet Aerospace Third Quarter 2021 results. My name is Erica, and I will be your operator for today. As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host for today, Paul Luther, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please proceed.

Thank you, Erica. Good morning and welcome to the HowMet Aerospace Third Quarter 2021 Results Conference Call. I'm joined by John Plant, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Ken Giacobi, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. After comments by John and Ken, we will have a question and answer session. I would like to remind you that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements relating to future events and expectations. You can find factors that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from these projections listed in today's presentation, in earnings press release, and in our most recent SEC filings. In addition, we've included some non-GAAP financial measures in our discussion. Reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures can be found in today's press release and in the appendix in today's presentation. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to John.

Thanks, PT. Good morning and welcome to the call. We'll move quickly through the slides and then get to your questions. First, let's summarize the headline numbers starting on slide number four. Revenue was $1.28 billion, adjusted EBITDA $292 million, and EBITDA margin was 22.8%. Each number was within the guidance range provided. More importantly, year-over-year revenues increased for the first time. The revenue was led by commercial aerospace, up 15% year-over-year, and contributing to a total increase of 13%. Of note, the HowMet segment leading the increase was engine products, as previously forecasted. The company was also able to overcome the challenges, once again, of the Boeing 787 build rate declines and the supply chain issues limiting commercial truck production. The 787 affecting fastening systems and engineering structures in particular. Aluminum prices continued their upward surge with aluminum and regional premiums increasing by over $400 per metric, consequentially, and impacting the margin rate by 20 basis points. Adjusted earnings per share, excluding special items, was 27 cents and cash generated in the quarter was $115 million. AR securitization was unchanged at 250 million. On a sequential basis, the third quarter revenue and adjusted EBITDA were up 7% and adjusted earnings per share up 23%. Moving to the balance sheet and cash flow, adjusted free cash flow for the quarter was strong at $115 million which results in a Q3 year-to-date free cash flow at a record $275 million. Ken will provide further details of our debt actions in the quarter, which included a bond tender refinance to fundamentally lower interest costs and thereby improve future free cash flow yield. The combination of debt actions in the third quarter combined with our first half results and actions will reduce annual interest expense by approximately $70 million. In the quarter, we also repurchased approximately 770,000 shares of common stock for $25 million, which increases share repurchases year-to-date to approximately 7 million shares for $225 million. The net results of all these actions, plus the reinstatement of the common stock dividend and the $115 million cash inflow resulting in a cash balance of $726 million, similar to that at the end of Q2. Lastly, we continue to focus on legacy liabilities and have reduced pension and OPEB liabilities by approximately $180 million year-to-date. Moreover, year-to-date pension and OPEB expense have reduced by approximately 50% compared to last year. Please move to slide number five. Revenue for the quarter increased 13% year-over-year and 7% sequentially. As expected, commercial aerospace was up 15% year-over-year and 16% sequentially, driven by the engine product segments and narrow-body aircraft production. Commercial transportation, namely wheels, was up 38% year-over-year. Volume was impacted by supply chain constraints limiting the commercial truck production. The volume reduction in the wheels business was offset by metal recovery dollars. The industrial gas turbine business continues to grow and was up 26% year over year and 6% sequentially, driven by new builds and spurs. Defense aerospace was down 11% year over year, driven by reductions in the joint strike fighter builds, but was up 3% sequentially from the second quarter. At the bottom of the slide, you can see the progress on price, cost reduction, and cash management. Price increases are up year over year and continue to be in line with expectations. Structural cost reductions have exceeded our annual target of $100 million. Q3 structural cost reductions were $23 million year over year and $121 million year to date. Every segment achieved a strong year-on-year margin expansion as revenue increased for the first time in a year in aggregates. In the third quarter, engine products had an incremental operating margin of approximately 70%, and forged wheels had an incremental operating margin of approximately 45%. Fastening systems and engineering structures both had higher EBITDA and lower revenue. Fasteners had an operating margin expansion of some 630 basis points, while structures was up 210 basis points. As a result, Hymer's adjusted EBITDA margin expanded a full 800 basis points year-on-year, driven by volume, price, and structural cost reductions. Adjusted free cash flow with a quarter was $150 million, and year-to-date, $275 million. And as I said previously, AR securitization is unchanged from the start of the year. Lastly, we have lowered our annualized interest costs by $70 million through a combination of paying down debt and refinancing into lower cost debt. Please move to slide number six. Adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter is 22.8%, representing an 800 basis points improvement compared to the third quarter of 2020. The margin for the third quarter is consistent with the last few quarters, despite the cost of adding employees to meet the increasing production demand and the effect on margins of the higher aluminum prices. In the quarter, engine products added approximately 500 employees net, which now brings the total to 800 net additional employees hired for that segment during the second and third quarters. We continue to review the headcount required in our other segments to adjust for future demand requirements. Now, let me turn it over to Ken for further details on revenue by market and the detailed financials.