Intrepid Potash, Inc

Welcome to the Intrepid Potash Inc. 4th Quarter 2024 Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star, then 1 on your telephone keypad. And should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star and then 0. I would now like to turn the conference over to Evan Mapes, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us to discuss and review Intrepid's fourth quarter 2024 results. With me today is Intrepid's CEO, Kevin Crutchfield, and CFO, Matt Preston. Also available to answer questions is our VP of Sales and Marketing, Zachary Adams, and our VP of Operations, John Galassini. Please be advised that the remarks today include forward-looking statements as defined by U.S. securities laws. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause intrepid to actual results to be different from those currently anticipated or based upon information available to us today, and we assume no obligation to update them. These risks and uncertainties are described in the reports filed with the SEC, which are incorporated here by reference. During today's call, we referred to certain non-GAAP financial and operational measures. Reconciliation's most directly comparable gap measures are included in yesterday's press release, and along with Intrepid's SEC filings, are available at IntrepidPottage.com. I'll now turn the call over to our CEO, Kevin Crushfield.

Thank you, Evan, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate your interest and attendance for our fourth quarter earnings call this morning. Since joining the company, I've had the pleasure of visiting all of our operating sites, meeting many of our key stakeholders, and speaking with a number of our investors. but want to take this opportunity to quickly introduce myself. My background prior to Intrepid has been spent working for over three decades with and leading various management teams in the extractive industries, and most recently in a complementary role as CEO for a company operating in the specialty plant nutrition and sodium and magnesium chloride space. I'm happy to be part of the Intrepid team and I look forward to building on recent accomplishments and driving long-term value creation for our shareholders. Moving on to our results, in the fourth quarter, Intrepid generated adjusted EBITDA of 8.6 million and had an adjusted net loss of 1.4 million, which compares to prior year adjusted EBITDA of 7.1 million and adjusted net loss of 5.2 million, respectively. This year's improvements were primarily driven by higher production, and the corresponding benefit to our unit economics, as well as from strong operational execution and cost discipline across the business. Related to these efforts, I'd like to thank our site leadership and all of our employees for their focus and encourage them to maintain the positive momentum. The positive impact from higher production and better unit economics was most pronounced in the back half of 2024. And when looking at just the second half of the year, our adjusted EBITDA of $18.5 million was roughly double the same prior year figure. Being able to improve our EBITDA by maintaining the focus on our core assets, even with a backdrop of a lower potash price environment, speaks to the importance and success of the recent asset revitalization initiatives. As for segment highlights, in potash, our fourth quarter production of 117,000 tons was the third quarter in a row where we demonstrated higher year-over-year potash production. For the full year 2024, our production of 295,000 tons was the best since 2020 and represents an increase of over 30% compared to 2023. TRIO was a clear standout where operational efficiencies helped to drive better production and margins and our 2024 gross margin improved by approximately $8.5 million compared to 2023. Strong demand for TRIO led to company record sales volumes of 254,000 tons and price increases throughout the year, with TRIO pricing currently higher than potash for the first time since 2016. Lastly, on the back of strong oilfield activity and investment in the Permian, Oilfield Solutions remained a consistent and key contributor to our business in 2024, with segment sales and margins both showing modest improvements compared to 2023. Before passing the call to Matt, I want to reinforce the initiatives that drive our decisions related to strategy and capital allocation. First and foremost, it's imperative that we deliver on our established strategic priority of sustaining higher levels of production to ensure we capitalize on our unique position as the only domestic potash producer in the United States. The corresponding logistics advantage from this position have historically led to consistently higher netbacks than our peers, and our multi-decade reserve lives provide for a long runway to benefit from an improving unit economics driven by higher production. Second, we'll be very disciplined in our capital spending with our investments focused on the core fertilizer assets. One of the biggest risks to our business is getting caught short-sighted on production and then having to go through the process of getting it back on track. With our potash production increasing as expected, we're committed to continuing this positive momentum through timely capital investments and are on track to drill a sample well in the HB AMAX cavern for the first half of this year. Lastly, through these initiatives, we believe that Intrepid's core assets will be more durable and consistent and help return the company to generating positive free cash flow throughout the cycle. Consistent cash flow and the ability to flex capital investment when necessary are paramount before committing to any sort of capital return program to shareholders. That said, we're quite encouraged by our progress and acknowledge that the potential to receive the second guaranteed $50 million payment from XTO ahead of the seven-year deadline could serve as a catalyst for capital return discussions. I'll now pass the call to Matt to provide more details on our segment results and our outlook. Matt? Thank you, Kevin.