Koppers Holdings Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to COPR's third quarter 2024 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 the star key 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 floor over to Quinn McGuire, investor relations. Please go ahead.

Thanks, and good morning. I'm Quinn McGuire, vice president of investor relations. Welcome to our third quarter 2024 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 February 8th, 2025. 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 the 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 press release, which is available on our website, also contains reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. Joining me for our call today are Leroy Ball, Chief Executive Officer of COPPERS, and Jimmy Sue Smith, Chief Financial Officer. I'll now turn this discussion over to Leroy.

Mr. Thank you, Quinn. Good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to share the details of another strong performance delivered by our Global Coppers team in the third quarter, which includes record third quarter sales and record third quarter profitability and better safety performance. We generated improved sequential profitability in our railroad and carbon materials businesses, helped by cost reduction initiatives undertaken earlier this year. On the other hand, we continue to experience reduced year-over-year volumes in our legacy utility pole business and lower sequential profitability in our performance chemicals business due to higher raw material costs. Now, as always, we believe that our balanced and diversified business portfolio, as well as our team's ongoing commitment to solving everyday challenges, will keep us on track to meet our 2024 goals. So let's begin on slide four by looking at some of our key metrics from the quarter. Consolidated sales of $554.3 million represented a record third quarter, compared with sales of $550.4 million in the prior year quarter. Our railroad and utility products and services segment reported record third quarter sales, while performance chemicals sales slightly declined due to brown wood sales now being reported as intercompany, and carbon material and chemicals still seeing some demand weakness. We generated adjusted EBITDA of 77.4 million, a new third quarter record, compared with 70.70 million in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 14% versus 12.8% in the prior year. Third quarter diluted earnings per share was $1.09, compared with $1.22 in the prior year quarter, while adjusted earnings per share for the quarter were $1.37, compared with $1.32 in the prior year quarter. Operating cash flow was $29.8 million for the third quarter and $44.7 million for the year-to-date period through September of 2024. That's versus $81.6 million and $79.5 million in 2023, respectively. Let's now review our continuing zero harm efforts on slide six. In early October, we held our Zero Harm Safety Coordinators Conference in Florence, South Carolina, attended by zero harm representatives throughout our North American locations. The key focus was on looking for ways to identify environmental hazards and incorporating it into our existing process for physical hazard identification, which allows employees to identify and report hazards that may lead to an injury at their facilities. As a result, our employees are encouraged to identify and report environmental and or safety concerns in order to help overall with compliance and safety efforts at COPRS. Now, to date in 2024, Twenty-five of our 47 facilities have operated accident-free, with Europe CM&C and Europe Performance Chemicals notably having zero recordable incidents. Our leading activities have increased by 5 percent, our recordable injury rate has gone down 8.5 percent, and our rate of serious safety incidents has decreased by an impressive 42 percent. Zero Harm 2.0 remains our priority, re-energizing engagement at the frontline of operations to accelerate our progress towards zero incidents. We're encouraged by these results with kudos to our team members worldwide. Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our people. As shown on slide seven, we recently held our 2024 Truck Driving Championship in September. The competition consisted of the safest copper truck drivers based on traffic citations, service violations, speeding, and inspections. The three winners were William Bailey from our Recovery Resources Division, David Dunn from Utility and Industrial Products, and Dennis Roberts from Railroad Structures. Each of these drivers earned a cash prize and visited Copper's headquarters in Pittsburgh, where they were honored at a special dinner with Copper's leadership. Bill, David, and Dennis represent the best of Copper's in the way they approach their work with passion and pride, and we and our customers are lucky to have them driving for us. Now I'd like to turn it over to our Chief Financial Officer, Jimmy Sue Smith, who will provide an overview of our third quarter financial results. Jimmy Sue?