Metallus Inc.

Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Metallus Inc. fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings conference call. 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 this time, simply press star followed by the number one in your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, again, press star one. Thank you. I'd now like to turn the call over to Jennifer Beeman. You may begin.

Good morning and welcome to Metallus' fourth quarter and full year 2025 conference call. I'm Jennifer Beeman, Director of Communications and Investor Relations for Metallus. Joining me today is Mike Williams, Chief Executive Officer, Chris Westbrooks, President and Chief Operating Officer, and John Cerenic, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Kevin Rakitic, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. You should have received a copy of our press release, which was issued last night. During today's conference call, we may make forward-looking statements as defined by the SEC. Our actual results may differ materially from those projected or implied due to a variety of factors, which we describe in greater detail in yesterday's release. Please refer to our SEC filings, including our most recent Form 10-Q, our Form 10-K, which will be filed later today, and the list of factors included in our earnings release, all of which are available on the Metallus website. Where non-GAAP financial information is referenced, additional details and reconciliations to its GAAP equivalent are included in the earnings release and the earnings presentation available on the Investors page at metallus.com. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Mike. Mike?

Good morning and thank you for joining us today. In 2025, our specialty steel and multi metal solutions saw commercial recovery after market headwinds in the prior year. Demand improved across our end markets and a supportive fair trade environment reinforced the importance of domestically produced steel. On a year over year basis, shipments improved by 14 percent throughout the year we expanded our aerospace and defense presence including multiple new product offerings and strong growth in vacuum arc remelt or var steel with an increased focus on downstream processing and the support of supplier partnerships we met higher var demand and secured new A&D and industrial customers. VAR sales totaled approximately $28 million last year, almost doubling from 2024. Additionally, we maintained our intense focus on safety with initiatives like zero incident planning, crew safety meetings, and our Stand Up for Safety program. actively involving more than 1,000 employees. Results included zero serious injuries, a 35% reduction in days away or restricted cases, and our injury frequency improved 11% year over year. A focus on strong leading indicators underscores a more proactive prevention-focused safety culture. Furthermore, we received industry recognition for our commitment to safety, earning the Safety Culture Improvement Award from the Metals Service Center Institute. We will continue investing in safety training, prioritizing injury prevention through targeted programs such as cranes, and fall protection. We also continue to invest in our people by building the skills we need for a changing industry. Over the year, we strengthened both job specific and leadership skills and expanded our co-op and apprenticeship programs. To meet increased demand, we are actively increasing hourly staffing levels in targeted areas such as seamless mechanical tube production. In parallel, we made organizational leadership changes to better align strategic priorities and support our growing order book across our Canton-based assets. In February, we reached a new four-year contract with our local United Steelworkers union. This contract reflects our shared commitment to safety, innovation, and long-term competitiveness. It reinforces our strategic priorities and aligns with our disciplined focus on strong cash generation and sustained profitability across all market cycles. The contract offers our Canton-based bargaining unit employees annual increases to base wages for the duration of the contract competitive health care and retirement benefits for all members and a continued focus on employee well-being we are pleased with the collaborative outcome of these negotiations and thank the united steel workers and our canton-based employees for their constructive engagement moving to operations We made significant progress in advancing our manufacturing capabilities and supporting our long-term growth strategy by completing the ramp up for the new automated grinding line. Utilizing robotic technology, this new asset supports growing demand from our customers for high quality SPQ products. We remain on track for the scheduled commissioning of the new bloom reheat furnace roller hearth furnace, and automated saw lines in the first half of 2026. These state of the art assets will strengthen our ability to serve all our customers with high quality specialty metals, enhance production capability, and improve first time quality. Turning to our fourth quarter financial results, Shipments declined by 15,100 tons or 9% sequentially. As expected, seasonality was a factor behind the decreased volumes with lower shipments across all end markets. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was $2.4 million. Low expectation due to lower volumes in addition to compressed raw materials spread. Results were also negatively affected by a slower ramp up following our annual maintenance shutdown. While we are not satisfied with our fourth quarter performance, we acted decisively throughout the quarter and into early 2026 to strengthen our operational foundation and position the business for improved execution going forward. During the planned shutdown period, We accelerated several long-term operational improvements, including extending select outages to ensure our facilities are prepared to ramp efficiently in 2026 with minimal disruption. These actions support our ability to meet the growing demand reflected in our expanding order book. We also implemented targeted organizational and leadership changes to better align strategic priorities and sharpen our operational focus across all assets. In addition, we are increasing hourly staffing levels in the areas experiencing the most accelerated demand increases. Finally, we are continuing to invest in the next stage of our operational capabilities through a standardized efficiency initiative supported by an external expert partner aimed at enhancing throughput and improving high-quality steel output. These steps collectively position us to execute with greater consistency, capture growth opportunities, and we expect to deliver stronger performance in the year ahead. Our lead times have extended, reaching into mid-second quarter for bars and mid third quarter for seamless mechanical tubing. And our order book has increased more than 50% year over year. This underscores the growing demand for domestic steel and serves as a clear indicator of improved momentum we expect to carry throughout 2026. Turning to performance across our key markets. While industrial markets remain soft, the global trade environment is creating new opportunities as our customers reevaluate supply chains. Our distribution partners are also signaling concern about supply availability as inventories remain low, an environment that we believe will generate additional demand for reliable domestic suppliers like Metallus. We believe we will continue to take market share in 2026. As we enter 2026, auto sales and production are both expected to be down slightly, and pricing pressure persists as OEMs prioritize margins and pass along tariff costs. Although affordability challenges, interest rates, tight credit, and an EV slowdown could impact demand, our order book remains strong. This is supported by our solid position in light truck and SUV transmission programs, which have remained stable despite macroeconomic headwinds. Energy shipments remain at a lower level sequentially, though we are beginning to see signs of improvement. Favorable trade-related tailwinds are helping us offset continued softness in drilling activity, creating opportunities for incremental sales. Aerospace and defense outlook continues to be robust, with strong growth expected through 2026, driven both by expansion of existing programs and new platforms. We will remain focused on safety, outstanding customer service, product development in aerospace and defense, and completing our ongoing government-funded capital investments. These priorities support our strategy for sustainable growth as we expect a much more robust 2026. Now I'll turn the call over to John, who will provide more details on our financial performance and outlook.