Koppers Holdings Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to COPPA's Q2 2021 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. If you need assistance, please alert a conference specialist by pressing star followed by zero. Following the presentation, instructions will be given for the question and answer session. Please also note today's event is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference call over to Quinn McGuire. Ma'am, please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning. I'm Quinn McGuire, Vice President of Investor Relations. Welcome to our second quarter 2021 earnings conference call. We issued our press release earlier today. You may access it via our website at www.coppers.com. As indicated in our announcement, we've also posted materials to the Investor Relations page of our website, that will be referenced in today's call. Consistent with our practice in prior quarterly conference calls, this is being broadcast live on our website, and a recording of this call will be available on our website for replay through November 6th, 2021. At this time, I would like to direct your attention to our forward-looking disclosure statement seen on slide two. Certain comments made on this conference call may be characterized as forward-looking statements as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve a number of assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, including risks described in a cautionary statement included in our press release and in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included in the company's comments, you should not regard the inclusion of such information as a representation that its objectives, plans, and projected results will be achieved. The company's actual results, performance, or achievements may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made during this call. References may also be made today to certain non-GAAP financial measures. The company has provided with its press release, which is available on our website, Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures to the Most Directly Comparable GAAP Financial Measures. Joining me for our call today are Leroy Ball, President and CEO of Coppers, and Mike Zuge, Chief Financial Officer. I'll now turn the call over to Leroy.

Thank you, Quinn. Good morning, everyone. We'll start on slide three, where there's a save-the-date for our upcoming Investor Day, scheduled to be in Pittsburgh on Monday, September 13th, starting at 9 a.m. Eastern Time. Now, while there will be an option to join the meeting remotely, we hope that the current developments regarding COVID tamp down enough so that you feel comfortable enough joining us in person for this event. Of course, we'll continue to closely monitor health and safety guidelines regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, and we'll have appropriate safety protocols in place. The invitation with specific details of the event will be distributed in the coming weeks. Now, as mentioned, we're also providing a remote option to attend, so the Investor Day event will also be accessible virtually through a live webcast, to include video, audio, and presentation slides. Now, for those attending virtually, there will be an opportunity to participate in real time with the question and answer session following the formal presentation. We'll also provide a replay of the webcast on our website following the Investor Day event. Now, let's move on to slide five. You know, COPRAS continues to serve in an essential role, such as keeping railroads safe so they can transport critical goods. helping to provide power and connectivity to homes and businesses, and keeping our infrastructure strong and reliable both home and away. Our team members take this responsibility seriously, and we are incredibly proud to do our part to keep the global economy moving and growing. Now let's take a look at our zero-harm activities and results, as shown on slide 7, which details the changes in guidance recently outlined by the Center for Disease Control due to the rise in COVID-19 cases from the Delta variant. The occupational health Safety and Health Administration followed suit, directing all U.S. employers to adhere to the CDC's updated guidelines. And we've communicated these updates to our employees and have adopted them at each of our applicable locations. The primary driver of mask requirements is now based on a county-by-county measurement of disease transmission rates. A high rate, which is red, or a significant rate, which is orange, means masks must be worn by all individuals indoors, regardless of whether they've been vaccinated fully, partially, or not at all, or whether they've already been infected by COVID-19. COPRES has also updated our zero harm, life-saving rule to reflect these new requirements as described on slide eight. In counties with high or significant infection rates, vaccinated employees must wear a mask in public indoor environments, and unvaccinated employees must mask and social distance from others. These same guidelines are in effect for employees returning to the office. However, vaccinated employees do not need to mask, if alone, in their office. Intentional violations of life-saving rules could lead to disciplinary actions up to and including termination of employment. Unfortunately, COVID is not going away quietly, and with vaccination rates at our locations ranging anywhere from 22% to 76%, we need to continue to practice good behaviors to keep our people safe. In other Zero Harm news, as seen on slide 9, following delays due to the pandemic, we've begun reaching frontline employees directly by rolling out a series of Zero Harm in-person training workshops. One of the first examples came when our Zero Harm trainers spent time with our railroad structure's frontline employees in the Chicago area, conducting workshops both in a classroom setting and in the field. Similar trainings have been conducted in Galesburg and Guthrie, with more sessions scheduled for the third quarter and the remainder of 2021. The idea, as always, is to illustrate and illuminate specific steps to prevent exposure to unsafe conditions and practices, but also to instill an empathetic mindset where every employee actively and intuitively is always looking out for other team members and placing safety first. We continue to strongly promote employee vaccinations, addressing misinformation with a special video produced in partnership with the Allegheny Health Network here in Pittsburgh. Two expert physicians, neither of whom are affiliated with COPPERS in any way, are featured in the video speaking about how the vaccines were developed and their safety and effectiveness. Our purpose in sharing this video is to help overcome any hesitation or concerns among our unvaccinated employee population. In addition, our $250 vaccination incentive remains in place. On another note, the wildfires on the west coast of the U.S. and Canada have continued their devastation and recently came close to our Copper's Ashcroft facility, forcing employees to evacuate. Our operation was down for a total of 11 days as Wildcat Fire Services arrived to fight the fires and keep our people and our facilities safe. The men and women of Wildcat and other fire services like them are amazing, heroic, and every other superlative adjective you want to apply to them. We're so thankful for what they did for us and are relieved that our Ashcroft team members are safe. On slide 10 through 15, we have a number of notable happenings that have occurred in the past quarter, and I won't go through them in any detail. You can do that on your personal time if you'd like. So in the meantime, I would like to turn the program over to Mike to discuss the second quarter results.