Olin Corporation

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Olin Corporation's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. Following today's brief opening comments, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star and one on a touchstone telephone. To withdraw your questions, you may press star and two. Please also note today's event is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the floor over to Steve Keenan, OLIN's Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Steve.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Before we begin, let me remind you that this discussion, along with the associated slides and the question and answer session that follows, will include statements regarding estimates or expectations of future performance. Please note that these are forward-looking statements, and that actual results could differ materially from those projected. Some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ from our projections are described without limitations in the risk factors section of our most recent Form 10-K and in yesterday's first quarter earnings press release. A copy of today's transcript and slides will be available in our website in the investor section under past events. Our earnings press release and other financial data and information are available under press releases. With me this morning are Ken Lane, Olin CEO, and Todd Slater, Olin CFO. We'll begin with our prepared remarks, and thereafter, we'll be happy to take your questions. I'll now turn the call over to Ken Lane. Ken?

Thank you, Steve, and good morning, everyone. Let me start by saying I'm delighted to be part of Team Olin. Olin has a long and rich history with leading positions across his portfolio, and I'm looking forward to leading the company as we define the next phase of value creation for our shareholders and employees. Today, Olin is in great shape with an investment-grade balance sheet and a strong team. This company has incredible potential, and I look forward, together with our 7,000 Olin team members, to start building upon this foundation and writing the next chapter in Olin's success story. I do want to thank Scott Sutton for his leadership of the company, which resulted in a step change of record results. Scott has been very gracious with his time and support during our transition. I'm a firm believer in our operating model, and I am absolutely committed to continuing Olin's value-focused commercial approach. The entire Olin team embraces the winning model, and that support runs deep from senior leadership to frontline manufacturing. Now I want to talk about my near-term priorities. First and foremost is always operating safely. Keeping our people and our communities safe while running our assets efficiently and reliably, it is not a coincidence that the safest operators are the most reliable, and we are focused on being a leader with respect to our safety performance. Next, Owen is a coiled spring, and as our market demand recovers and customers seek to pull more volume we'll be ready to capture that significant value opportunity. I'll provide whatever support is needed to defend the gains we have achieved and continue our value generation as the industry leader that we are. Also, it's clear to me that investors appreciate Olin's consistently strong cash flow and share buybacks across the cycle. Delivering on our commitments is an imperative. We will continue our disciplined capital allocation strategy and will be a steady buyer of our shares. focused on delivering above average shareholder returns. Finally, I'm committed to providing Olin stakeholders with strategic transparency and a long-term roadmap for growth that we will share during a capital markets day around year end. More will be communicated on that in the near future. Now let's take a quick look at our core Apple I business and turn to slide five. Olin took decisive actions during the fourth quarter to curb price erosion across our system. Early in the first quarter, our value accelerator initiative continued to tighten Olin's supply, successfully advancing the inflection point and effectively stopping the value drop. During the first quarter, we saw improved chlorine volume being pulled by Olin customers at our value level across several key end uses, including agriculture, urethanes, titanium dioxide, and water treatment. As we look beyond the first quarter, we are seeing some seasonal demand increases for chlorine and caustic soda. In the United States, planned and unplanned outages and low supplier inventories have kept caustic availability tighter than expected. Trade publications confirm that domestic caustic is climbing up from a cycle bottom. Now let's turn to our epoxy business on slide six. During the first quarter, our epoxy business continued to realize the benefits of our 2023 restructuring actions. Our streamlined asset base will support the growth of our higher margin epoxy systems demand, while also reducing Olin's downside commodity exposure across the cycle. Our recently announced U.S. anti-dumping initiative seeks to level the playing field. The first quarter marks the beginning of the recovery for epoxy, and the start of a gradual climb out of a very deep trough. As that building momentum continues into the second quarter, we will realize continued benefits from our restructuring and stronger focus on higher margin formulated systems. Please turn to slide seven for a Winchester recap. First quarter, commercial ammunition demand was good, and our military segment continues to be strong, delivering sequential adjusted EBITDA growth for the fourth quarter. We are concerned the propellant shortages could limit commercial ammunition supply this year, and we're actively working on mitigations. Our integration of the White Flyer business has exceeded expectations and is a great addition to our Winchester business, the leading brand in the industry and a strong cash flow generator for Olin. During the second quarter, Olin expects to break ground on the Army's next generation squad weapon ammunition plant. This will be the world's most transformational small-caliber ammunition plant ever built. This project will be designed, built, and operated by Winchester, but funded and owned by the U.S. Army. Before I pass it to Todd to review our financials, I'll sum up by saying this. Olin's future is bright, but we must remain disciplined and dedicated to extending our leadership position. Olin has led through the trough, exceeding volume to maintain value. As demand recovers, we are well positioned to profitably capture the market recovery. We have reset the cycle and we will continue to lead with discipline to ensure that this new normal remains durable. The Olin assets and operating model provide an extraordinary foundation to build upon. I've had the opportunity over the last month to visit many of our sites and meet with many of our team members. Olin is well run well-funded, and with a highly engaged and committed team, we will continue to generate differential shareholder value. I'll now pass it over to Todd for a few financial highlights.