Ascent Industries (NASDAQ:ACNT) Q2 2026 Earnings Call

0:00 Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Ascent Industries Co. Second Quarter twenty twenty six Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. After the speakers presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised.

0:27 To withdraw your question, please press 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Vice President of Finance, Kenny Herring. Please go ahead. Thanks, Bonnie, and good afternoon, everyone. Before we continue, I would like to remind all participants that the discussion today may contain certain forward looking statements pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the federal securities laws. These statements are based on information currently available to us and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Ascent advises all of those listening to the call today to review the latest 10 Q and 10 ks posted on its website for a summary of these risks and uncertainties.

1:13 Ascent does not undertake the responsibility to update any forward looking statements. Further, the discussion today may include non GAAP measures. In accordance with Regulation G, the company has reconciled these amounts back to the closest GAAP based measurement. The reconciliations can be found in the earnings press release issued earlier today and posted on the Investors section of the company's website at ascentco.com. Please note that this call is available for replay via webcast link that is also posted on the Investors section of the company's website. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Brian Kitchen, Ascent's CEO, to discuss second quarter results. Thanks, Kenny, and good afternoon, everyone. We are pleased with the progress we saw in the second quarter, not because of any single performance metric, but because the improvement was broad based.

2:00 Brian will discuss the financial results in greater detail, but the headlines are straightforward. Sequentially and on a year over year basis, volume, average selling price, revenue, gross profit, and adjusted EBITDA all improved. On a trailing twelve month basis, the company saw record highs for volume, net sales, gross profit and adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations. To us, that's meaningful evidence that the strategy that we've been executing over the past two years is working. Excluding the sales from the Midwest Graphic Sales acquisition during the quarter, the legacy business delivered approximately 28% growth versus the prior year, substantially outpacing the broader specialty chemicals market.

2:43 On that same basis, June was our strongest chemical sales month since March 2023, and q two was our strongest sales quarter since the third quarter of twenty twenty two. Including the acquisition, net sales increased 37% versus the prior year, building on the strong momentum already established within the legacy business. Collectively, these results demonstrate that we're building a better business, not just a bigger one. To us, a higher quality business generates more recurring product revenue, earns higher margins, produces more predictable cash flows, requires less capital to grow, and delivers stronger returns on invested capital. We believe we're making measurable progress on each of those dimensions. Our disciplined execution is making Ascent a stronger company, one that's increasingly capable of performing well through the cycle, but we still have work to do. Portions of our legacy custom manufacturing portfolio continue to exhibit the same seasonality and normal program turnover that we've historically affected the fourth and first quarter performance.

3:47 And while we're making good strides in growing our way out of it, we expect those dynamics to remain a near term characteristic of the business. What's encouraging is that the improvements that we're making are becoming increasingly visible across the business, and it starts with our commercial performance. During the quarter, we converted 17 commercial opportunities across 13 customers into approximately $5,800,000 of annualized revenue, achieving a 26% conversion rate, well above the specialty chemicals industry benchmark of 10% to 15%. Just as importantly, we're winning better business. This quarter, 44% of our commercial wins came from core technologies, products that improve our customers' products and processes. That's another meaningful step toward building a higher quality business that we've been describing over the past two years, one with more predictable demand, greater ratability, and stronger margins.

4:44 And we're also creating more value with the customers that we already serve. Approximately 73% of the project wins came from existing customers, reinforcing that we're expanding our share of wallet by solving more technical challenges and becoming a more strategic partner. That deeper engagement extends well beyond the individual projects. During the quarter, we hosted 15 current and prospective customers across our manufacturing sites, giving them direct exposure to our technical capabilities, our manufacturing platform, our innovation process, and our incredible team. Those engagements are strengthening customer relationships, accelerating commercial opportunities, and reinforcing our position as a strategic partner. Looking ahead, our active selling project pipeline reached a record 140,000,000, up approximately 33% sequentially.

5:37 That increase was supported by the addition of Midwest Graphic Sales commercial pipeline following the acquisition, while also reflecting continued momentum across our legacy business. These results didn't happen by accident. There's a product of a commercial engine that with better business and an operating model that steadily improves the business over time. Winning a business is important. Converting that business into profitable, repeatable earnings is ultimately what creates shareholder value. That's where the commercial execution and operational excellence come together. The second quarter provided several good examples. Approximately 65% of our raw material spend is petroleum based. During the quarter, our industry experienced a meaningful inflationary pressure following the heightened geopolitical tensions in The Middle East, affecting both raw materials and freight costs.

6:30 Despite that volatility, our strategic sourcing and commercial teams operated as one, working to see working to secure critical supply continuity for our customers while implementing price increases in real time where contractual mechanisms allow. Those actions protect the customer supply while preserving the economics of the business. That same operating discipline that helps us navigate that volatility is also driving continuous improvement across our manufacturing network. Last quarter, we announced a platform wide optimization initiative expected to generate approximately 3 to $5,000,000 of annualized gross profit improvement at run rate. Today, we remain on track. We expect these improvements to be fully institutionalized across the platform by the end of twenty twenty six, with the earnings benefits continuing to build as these actions are implemented, embedded in the business, and leveraged across our growing platform.

7:24 One recent example illustrates how a relatively small improvement can create meaningful financial value. During the quarter, our process engineering team developed and implemented an OE driven debottlenecking initiative that increased the effective capacity of a key reaction asset, unlocking more than 500,000 pounds of incremental annual capacity. As utilization continues to improve across our assets, these types of incremental improvements become increasingly valuable because they allow us to support profitable growth with limited future capital investment. Now viewed in isolation, many of these improvements may appear modest, but collectively, they compound over time, steadily increasing the quality, the resilience, and earnings power of the business.

8:10 Everything I've discussed thus far focused on how we're improving Ascent's existing business. But what's particularly encouraging is that we're now beginning to leverage those same commercial capabilities, the operational discipline, the manufacturing platform to create value beyond our legacy operations. The Midwest acquisition is the first demonstration of that. Since we closed the acquisition on May 4, Midwest has validated the core elements of the investment thesis that we outlined when we announced the transaction, Immediate earnings accretion, disciplined integration, and the ability to create new growth opportunities by combining the strengths of both organizations. We've retained key customers while maintaining exceptional service levels throughout the integration. In fact, Midwest secured its first new customer since joining Ascent while simultaneously executing broad based pricing actions across the portfolio.

9:03 Back office integration was completed a full quarter ahead of our original commitment. Cost synergy initiatives remain on schedule, and the transition of manufacturing into the Ascent network continues to progress as planned. Beyond the integration, we're already creating opportunities that neither company could have pursued, and more importantly, won independently. By combining Midwest deep applications expertise with Ascent's manufacturing platform, commercial capabilities, and operational discipline, we recently secured a significant field trial program with a very large prospective customer. And and while it's still early, we're we're encouraged by the initial results. More importantly, it demonstrates how combining Midwest application expertise with Ascent's commercial, operational, and manufacturing capabilities creates differentiated solutions and unlock opportunities that were beyond the reach of either company on a stand alone basis.

9:58 What gives us confidence in the long term opportunity isn't simply that Midwest is a high quality business. It's how quickly it's benefiting from the operating model that we spent the past two years building. We believe that capability will become an increasingly important competitive advantage as we continue to deploy capital in a disciplined manner. Before I turn it over to Ryan, I'd like to leave you with one final thought. Our strategy hasn't changed. For the past two years, we've remained focused on improving the quality of our business through a stronger commercial capabilities, greater operational discipline, and disciplined capital allocation. Taken together, our results through the second quarter of twenty twenty six reinforce that we're on the right path. The breadth of the progress that we've delivered sequentially, year over year, and across our trailing twelve month performance demonstrates that the operating model that we've built over the past two years is translating into measurable financial results.

10:55 Ultimately, our objective is straightforward, create a company capable of delivering more consistent growth, higher returns on invested capital, and greater long term value for our shareholders. And while there's still significant work ahead, we believe this quarter reinforces a simple but important point. We're not waiting for the market to improve our business. We're improving our business regardless of the market. That's what disciplined execution, continuous improvement, and thoughtful capital allocation are designed to do. None of that would be possible without the dedication of our employees, the trust of our customers, and the confidence of our shareholders. To each of you, thank you for your continued support. And with that, I'll turn it over to Ryan to review our financial results and capital allocation in more detail. Ryan, over to you.

11:45 Thanks, Brian. The second quarter reflects meaningful progress in the direction we've been working toward. Revenue grew strongly, the business returned positive adjusted EBITDA and Midwest began contributing immediately. Those results are encouraging, but they also underscore the next phase of our work, ensuring that growth translates more consistently into gross margin, cash generation and returns. I'll provide additional context on where that conversion stands today, the actions underway to improve it and how those priorities are guiding our capital allocation. Starting with the top line, second quarter net sales were $25,700,000 an increase of $7,000,000 or 37.6% compared with the prior year period.

12:31 Pound shipped increased 15.2% and average selling price increased approximately 23%, while Midwest contributed $1,900,000 of sales following the May 4 acquisition. Excluding Midwest, our legacy business still grew approximately 28% year over year. But a strong growth in a specialty chemicals market that remains soft. Before turning to gross margin, I'll briefly cover the remainder of the income statement. SG and A was $5,500,000 in the quarter, down approximately $900,000 from the prior year and improving to 21.5% of sales from 34.5%. The year over year reduction included lower incentive compensation and professional fees, partially offset by investments in salaries, wages and benefits and the addition of Midwest.

13:24 Over the longer term, our objective is to bring SG and A toward approximately 15% of revenue on a run rate basis. We have increasing confidence in the target as we continue to optimize our corporate functions, install repeatable processes and standardize how we operate across the portfolio. Reaching that level require both continued cost discipline and growth across the platform, but we believe the operating model we are putting in place can support meaningful additional leverage as the business scales. Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations was $1,500,000 or 5.7% of sales compared with a loss of approximately $300,000 in the prior year quarter. The improvement reflects higher gross profit and material lower corporate cost.

14:09 While this is an important step forward, the earnings contribution from the growth we have won remains below our expectations, which brings me to profitability. Gross profit increased 14% to 5,500,000 from 4,900,000 in the prior year quarter. Gross margin, however, declined to 21.6% from 26.1%. On a year to date basis, gross profit increased 5% to $8,400,000 while gross margin declined three twenty basis points to 18.5% from 21.7%. The year to date margin decline reflected pressure in both material costs and conversion costs. Material costs increased by approximately 127 basis points as a percentage of sales, driven in part by inflation in petroleum based raw materials and freight.

15:00 Other costs of goods sold increased by approximately 193 basis points. We have taken pricing and sourcing actions to offset those pressures, but there's typically a timing gap between those actions. Typically a timing gap before those actions are fully reflected in reporting reported results. The conversion cost pressure also reflects where Ascent is in its development. As we scale, newer expanding programs can require incremental inventory, production planning, labor, customer support and network coordination before they reach steady state efficiency. At our current scale, changes in mix, production timing and asset utilization can therefore have a more visible impact on quarterly margins than they would in a larger, more mature platform. The result is that the revenue growth we have generated is not yet carrying through to gross profit at the level we expect.

15:50 That is the opportunity in front of us, improving sourcing, pricing realization, throughput, campaign planning and network utilization of the growth already in the business converts more consistently into margin and cash flow. Midwest is a positive early example of that model in practice. The business entered the portfolio with a gross margin of approximately 26% and was accretive to the quarter, while also adding a greater mix of product revenue, technical capability and customer access. Its contribution reinforces the type of higher quality earnings profile we are working to build across the broader platform. The near term focus is therefore execution, allowing recently won business to mature, tightening production and labor planning and improving absorption as utilization builds.

16:36 We expect those actions together with the pricing and sourcing initiatives already underway to reduce the temporary inefficiencies associated with growth and improve the consistency of margin performance over time. We do working capital in the same way, extending appropriate terms, carrying the right raw materials and positioning inventory to support a customer launch can be productive uses of capital when they help us win and retain attractive business. But growth alone is not sufficient. Those investments must be accompanied by disciplined pricing, reliable collections, optimized inventory, efficient production and margins that support an acceptable return in the capital deployed. We are therefore managing margin and working capital as one operating objective, not a separate finance exercises.

17:24 We will continue to support growth, but we will be increasingly selective about where we deploy working capital and will not accept structurally weak margins simply to add revenue. The optimization work Brian described is intended to improve annual gross profit by approximately $3,000,000 to $5,000,000 through sourcing, manufacturing improvements and better use of the network. We are seeing tangible progress, including improved capacity and reaction assets, lower corporate costs and the early integration benefits from Midwest. At the same time, the current margin profile makes clear that the work is not complete. Our near term financial priority is to translate the revenue base we have built into higher gross margin and more consistent cash generation. As we look to the balance of the year, investors should expect a moderate contraction in gross margin in the fourth quarter from the stronger second and third quarter periods.

18:17 That is consistent with the seasonal pattern we experienced in 2025 and with the normal program timing and turnover in portions of our custom manufacturing portfolio. We are not viewing that expected movement as a change in trajectory. Ascent is not yet a fully scaled platform and quarterly results can move meaningfully based on mix, production timing and customer schedules. For that reason, we believe the trailing twelve month view provides the clearest measure of whether this business is progressing through the quarterly noise. On that basis, the direction of the business continues to point upward. Turning to cash, we ended June with $28,100,000 of cash and cash equivalents and no borrowings under our revolving credit facility. We had an additional $17,900,000 of revolver availability, resulting in approximately $46,000,000 of total liquidity.

19:09 Cash declined by approximately $29,500,000 from year end. The principal uses were clear and deliberate, approximately $14,600,000 for the Midwest acquisition, 6,900,000 for share repurchases and $1,200,000 for capital expenditures. Operating activities used $7,700,000 of cash during the first half, driven primarily by working capital. Accounts receivable used approximately $6,500,000 of cash reflecting higher receivables to sales group. The $800,000 escrow related to the sale of American Stainless Steuben has already been received and is additive to the quarter end cash balance I referenced. While the remaining $4,500,000 associated with the Bristol's metal transaction is expected to be released in October 2026.

19:59 Beyond receivables and the timing of those escrow proceeds, inventory used approximately $1,100,000 while accounts payable provided approximately $2,600,000 of cash. Overall, operating working capital absorbed approximately $7,600,000 in the first half. Separately, the timing of the escrow proceeds reduced recorded cash at quarter end. But those amounts represent contractually deferred divestiture proceeds rather than underlying operating cash consumption.

20:27 Our cash conversion cycle increased to seventy five days, up twelve days from the prior year. Days sales outstanding increased to sixty six days, days inventory outstanding increased to forty seven days, and days payable outstanding declined to thirty seven days. Some of that reflects the timing and support required for the growth we have won, but the current level is higher than we want and is not a permanent requirement of the business. We are targeting an initial five day improvement in the cash conversion cycle with the greatest opportunities and inventory discipline and vendor terms, while continuing to improve collections without undermining strategically important customer relationships. At our current scale, we estimate that each five day improvement could release approximately $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 of cash, depending on the mix of working capital improvements.

21:17 Our objective is to bring the cycle towards seventy days and then continue to improve as the new revenue base matures. That opportunity is also important context for how investors should view our first half cash use relative to the run rate we anticipate going forward. Excluding the acquisition and share repurchases, the business used approximately $9,000,000 of free cash flow in the first half of which approximately $7,600,000 was working capital. Before working capital changes, the business was near cash breakeven. As we restore margin, normalize working capital and sequence capital deployment against our priorities, we expect the cash use run rate to decline materially from the first half. Looking ahead, before considering any additional discretionary capital deployment, we expect cash to recover into the mid $30,000,000 range as operating cash use moderates and the two escrow amounts are received.

22:12 With borrowing capacity expected to remain in the high teens that would result in an anticipated total liquidity in the low to mid $50,000,000 range. We would then evaluate acquisitions and share repurchases within the capital allocation framework and in light of liquidity, working capital needs and expected returns. That leads directly to our capital allocation framework. We are managing capital across five priorities in order, liquidity, working capital, internal investment, strategic M and A and share repurchases. The order matters. First, we will protect liquidity and maintain sufficient flexibility to operate through normal volatility.

22:58 Second, we will fund working capital where it supports attractive, durable growth, while holding the organization accountable for cash conversion and margin. Third, we will invest internally in safety, maintenance, technology and high return projects and improve productivity, capacity and gross profit. Fourth, we will preserve strategic optionality for acquisitions that improve the quality of the portfolio. Midwest is a good example. It added higher margin product revenue, technical application capabilities and customer access, and it was immediately accretive to adjusted EBITDA. We remain disciplined and prioritize existing earnings quality over speculative synergy assumptions. Fifth, we will repurchase shares opportunistically when the expected return is compelling relative to other uses of capital and when liquidity, working capital and operating investments are appropriately funded.

23:55 During the second quarter, we repurchased approximately 210,000 shares for $2,900,000 at an average price of $13.80 per share. For the first half, we repurchased approximately 506,000 shares for $6,900,000 and we have approximately 1,500,000 shares remaining under the authorization at quarter end. In the near term, the highest return use of capital is improving cash conversion and restoring gross margin. That does not mean stepping back from growth. It simply means making the growth we have already won more efficient, more profitable and less cash intensive, while deploying capital in order we have outlined. We believe that discipline will produce a substantially lower cash use run rate and allow the upward trajectory of the business to become more visible over time.

24:47 With that, I'll turn it back to the operator for questions. Thank you. Thank you. At this time, we will conduct the question and answer session. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press 11 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press 11 again. Please stand by while we compile the Q and A roster. I'm showing no questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to President and CEO, Brian Kitchin. Okay. Thank you, Bonnie. We'd like to thank everyone for listening to today's call, and we look forward to speaking with you again when we report our third quarter twenty twenty six results.

25:42 Thank you and be safe. Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.