Russel Metals Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 11, 2023

There are 7 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our Q2 2023 Earnings Call for Russell Metals. Today's call will be hosted by Marty Jurafsky, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and John Reed, President and Chief Executive Officer of Russell Metals Inc. Today's presentation will be followed by a question and answer period. I will now turn the meeting over to Ronny Juraski. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Great. Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. I plan on providing an overview of the Q2 2023 results. And if you want I'll be using the PowerPoint slides that are on our website. Just go into the Investor Relations section.

Speaker 1

If you go to Page 3, you can read our cautionary statement Let me start with a little perspective on the quarter. In Q2, we are pleased with the financial results, Not just on an absolute basis, but also on a relative basis against our publicly traded peers. As you know, we're always trying to achieve 1st decile performance on key metrics with key focus on return on capital. Once again, we have shown industry leading performance on that benchmark as we outperformed our comps. Also, this quarter puts into context the initiatives of the past few years that serve to reduce the volatility of our business, Raise our cycle floor and raise our cycle ceiling.

Speaker 1

I think we've demonstrated great progress on this journey so far and we expect more on to come. Let's turn to market conditions on Page 5. Steel prices picked up in the early part of Q2, but came off somewhat towards the end of the quarter. In particular, sheet prices have adjusted down, while plate prices have come off a small amount, but remain at good and healthy levels. As you can see from the charts on the right, supply chain inventories are modest, so the industry appears to be well positioned from a supply and demand perspective.

Speaker 1

From the demand side, we are seeing solid demand from our customer base, notwithstanding that we do encounter some seasonal dynamics in parts of North America in Q3 Due to Canada Day, 4th July and the construction holiday in Quebec during late July early August. If we go to Page 6, there's a snapshot of Q2. We saw consistent revenue in Q2 versus the past few quarters, But a sequential pickup in EBITDA, margins and returns. If we look across the various charts on the bottom of the page, starting at the top left, Revenues were $1,200,000,000 versus $1,200,000,000 in Q1. EBITDA was $131,000,000 versus $16,000,000 in Q1 due to a pickup in margins at our service centers.

Speaker 1

Overall, we saw an approximately 100 basis point pickup in EBITDA margins and solid results from each of our business segments. From a bottom line perspective, EPS and return on invested capital also improved with earnings per share of $1.37 per share and Q2 2023 annualized return on invested capital of 31%. In terms of capital structure, we have net cash of over $150,000,000 versus net debt of almost $500,000,000 at the end of 2019. This $650,000,000 increase From free cash flow, it gives us a lot of financial flexibility going forward. It will also be further strengthened in Q3 with the closing of the TriMark transaction that will realize approximately $61,000,000 in the quarter.

Speaker 1

I'll provide more details on that transaction in a few minutes. Going forward, we are seeing some interesting opportunities to continue to grow the business, and I'll also talk about that in a few minutes. So if we go to our more detailed financial results on Page 7. From an income statement perspective, I covered a number of the high level items already on the previous page, On margin, Service Centers and Steel Distributors improved, while Energy Field stores were stable in what is Typically a seasonally weaker quarter in Canada. That being said, we did see margins pull back towards the end of Q2 for the service centers as a result of shifts in steel prices that I mentioned earlier.

Speaker 1

Interest expense came down to $3,000,000 as the increased interest rate Is allowing us to generate interest income on our cash reserves. Overall, we generated earnings of $85,000,000 earnings per share of $1.37 per share. Our Q2 results were impacted by a few non operating items. TriMark, we picked up $7,000,000 of equity earnings from that joint venture. And on the cash flow statement side, we picked up $10,000,000 in cash flow from dividends that we received in Q2.

Speaker 1

Stock based comp had a $2,000,000 negative impact versus a $4,000,000 impact in Q1, and we had a small approximately $3,000,000 increase in our Inventory NRV reserves in the quarter. From a cash flow perspective, in Q2, we generated $27,000,000 from working capital. There were a number of moving pieces with accounts receivable going down, accounts payable coming up and a small increase in inventory. CapEx of $60,000,000 was up a bit from Q1 and trending higher as we continue executing on our discretionary projects. As previously discussed, our annual CapEx should pick up to around $75,000,000 per year on average for the next few years.

Speaker 1

From a balance sheet perspective, we are in net cash position of around $154,000,000 which is made up of our term notes of $300,000,000 that are more than offset by cash position of around $450,000,000 Our liquidity is over $800,000,000 Foreign exchange didn't move a fair amount from the end of Q1 to the end of Q2, which had an impact on our OCI accounts. Our book value moved up again and is now over $26 a share, notwithstanding that we were active on our share buybacks Lastly, we have declared a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share. On Page 8, I've included a summary of TriMark transaction that we announced a short while ago. As a starting point, this is the final step in what has been a 3 year process to monetize our legacy OCTG line pipe businesses in both Canada and the U. S.

Speaker 1

We consider the TriMark investment to be non core from day 1, And we're waiting for the right time to work with our JV partner to undertake the sale. As I mentioned earlier, our goal in making the portfolio changed over the last Couple of years to reduce the volatility of our earnings, lower the risk profile, enhance our margins and returns over cycle, And this transaction is another piece to that shift. If we go to the chart, I want to summarize the cash return evolution from this transaction. We started with $141,000,000 of capital just prior to the joint venture being created. That being said, the amount of capital in the business was higher prior to the closing of the joint venture, We reduced the invested capital in the 3 to 6 months leading up to the joint venture creation.

Speaker 1

When the JV first set up, we were able to We convert $109,000,000 into cash as the capitalization of the joint venture with the remainder of course debt, which provided us with substantial cash payout at that time. Therefore, our net capital at risk in mid-twenty 21 was only around $32,000,000 which was the face value of the preferred shares. But we also held a 50% interest in the common shares, which at the time had nominal value, but gave us a tool to participate in the upside. In the 2 years since the joint venture was created, we received $36,000,000 of dividends through the preferred and common shares. And when combined with the expected proceeds of around $61,000,000 will equal $97,000,000 versus our retained equity interest of 30 $2,000,000 This equates to an over 200% return on that investment.

Speaker 1

This structure is worth out very well We'll take into account our participation in the upside from the unusually robust OCTG mine pipe upcycle over the last 2 years. And the deal just received regulatory approval and we expect it to close on September 1. When we take this transaction and combine it with the Other OCPT line pipe liquidations in 20202021 will repatriate around $375,000,000 over the last 3 years. This liquidation and monetization is a large reason why we are in the strong financial position that we are currently in today. If you go to Page 9, you can see our EBITDA variance analysis between last quarter and this quarter.

Speaker 1

In looking at service centers, the volumes were very similar In Q2 versus Q1, so the biggest factor was really a pickup in margins that added around $60,000,000 to that segment's EBITDA. Energy field stores were mostly flat quarter over quarter, which is pretty good since we encountered the normal seasonal slowdown for spring breakup in Canada, but also the impact of the unusual wildfire activity. Steel Distributors was comparable in Q2 versus Q1, which is a pretty good level by historical frames of reference. And there was a $4,000,000 favorable variance in other, which included the seasonal pickup in our Thunder Bay terminal operation and a lower mark to mark on our stock based compensation. And this was somewhat offset by lower earnings from the TriMark joint venture in Q2 versus Q1.

Speaker 1

If you go to Page 10, we have our segmented P and L information. Service centers continue to do well as the market improves, revenues, margins and EBIT picked up. We saw good momentum in the front part of the quarter, but there was some softening as we came off a little bit in June. In energy field stores, we are continuing to see positive market sentiment. As said earlier, Q2 is impacted by some seasonal factors, but we are up in Q2 2023 versus Q2 2022.

Speaker 1

Overall market conditions remain upbeat as we look into the back half of twenty twenty three, particularly as we focused on gaining market share from our competitors. Gross margins came in at 27% And has remained in that 25% to 30% range since the monetization of the OCTG Line Pipe businesses in mid-twenty 21. Distributors revenues were down slightly, but margins were up, which resulted in similar operating profit in Q2 versus Q1. If you go to Page 11, we have a deeper dive on some of the metrics for our metal service center business. Top right graph is the past 5 years per tonne shipped.

Speaker 1

And as you can see, Q2 volumes were similar to Q1 as well as the Q2 2022. Demand continues to look Solid in the early part of Q3, although there are some seasonal dynamics for summer holidays that will lower Q3 levels. If we look typically over the last couple of years, Q3 volumes are traditionally down 5% Q2 to take into account some of that seasonal dynamics. On the bottom left chart, we have the revenue and cost of goods sold per ton. On revenue per ton, our price realizations increased to around $96 increased by about $96 per ton versus a $43 increase in cost of goods sold, which resulted in a $53 per ton pickup in margin.

Speaker 1

For the quarter, our margin per ton was $5.36 which is much higher than the long term historical average. As we've said many times in the past, we expect to realize higher average margins and lower volatility over the cycle as compared to the pre COVID margins On Page 12, we've illustrated our inventory turns. This chart shows the inventory turns by quarter for each segment. Energy in red, service centers in green and steel distributors in yellow. The black line is the average for the entire company.

Speaker 1

A few observations. Overall, our inventory turns were similar versus Q1 at about 3.9 turns. By sector, service centers improved from 4.7 to 4.9 as we proactively manage inventory and reduce risk. When we benchmark versus our publicly traded peers, we are generally the top performer on this metric. Our energy field source were down to 2.6 3.0 due to the seasonal factor with spring breakup that I previously mentioned.

Speaker 1

For steel distributors in yellow, the inventory turns were similar in Q2. On Page 13, we'll see the impact of inventory turns on inventory dollars. Total inventory has been pretty steady for the past three quarters. The service center saw a reduction in inventory, which is mostly due to a 4% decline in tonnage, where there was a pickup in energy inventory With the higher expected activity in our field stores going into Q3. If we go to Page 14, you can see the overall impact on capital utilization and returns.

Speaker 1

Our capital deployment remains right around that $1,500,000,000 mark. More importantly, our returns continue to be industry leading And our last 12 months' returns stand at 27%. If we go to Page 15, I want to update our capital structure. The continuation of favorable market conditions and our disciplined approach to capital utilization gives us a lot of financial flexibility. On the left table, you can see that our cash position went up to $450,000,000 which was a $49,000,000 increase over March 31 and a $263,000,000 increase since this time last year.

Speaker 1

We are realizing a return on our cash balance that substantially offsets interest costs on our outstanding notes. Our shareholders' equity is over $1,600,000,000 And the chart on the right shows the continuation of the growth in our equity base. Book value per share is now over $26 per share, which is a $0.51 Per share increase since March 31 and a $3.52 per share increase since this time last year.

Speaker 2

If we go to Page 16, we

Speaker 1

have an update on our capital allocation priorities going forward. Given our strong balance sheet, we have a multi pronged approach to capital As we've always talked about in the past, for investment opportunities, we seek average returns of over 15% through the cycle, And we've delivered well above that target. The ongoing opportunities are multifaceted. 1, on value added equipment, we are continuing to identify and New value added projects. In total, we have over 30 equipment projects ongoing throughout North America.

Speaker 1

2, on facility modernizations. We are moving forward with several expansion and upgrading projects. We just approved 2 new projects being a $11,000,000 project at Green Bay, Wisconsin as well as a $9,000,000 U. S. Project at Texas, Arkana, Texas.

Speaker 1

These projects should be completed in late 2024. When combined with other projects on the go, We have a robust series of initiatives that should grow our volumes, increase operating efficiencies, generate attractive returns and improve health and safety conditions. In terms of acquisitions, the 3rd piece to the 2 initiatives, we remain committed to our financial operating criteria. That being said, we are optimistic about opportunities that are in the pipeline. Yesterday, we signed an agreement to acquire Alliance Supply, which is a small tuck in to our energy field store business in Western Canada and we have other potential M and A opportunities on the go that we are continuing to pursue.

Speaker 1

In terms of returning capital to shareholders, we have adopted a fairly flexible approach. For dividends last quarter, we increased Our dividends of $0.40 per share and we'll continue to reevaluate the appropriate level on a go forward basis. For the NCIB, we acquired 1,200,000 shares last quarter and to date we have acquired 2,200,000 shares at an average price of $32.18 Going forward, we'll file a renewed NCIB that will allow us to acquire up 6,100,000 shares over the next 12 months and we plan to continue using the NCIB on an opportunistic basis. In closing, on behalf of John and other members of the management team, I'd like to express our appreciation to everyone within the Russell family. We couldn't be happier with how the Russell team has navigated its way through the evolving markets over the past few years, and we look forward to the new opportunities that are ahead.

Speaker 1

Thanks to everyone across the company for your contributions. That concludes my introductory remarks. So operator, you can now open the line for any questions, please.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll now begin the question and answer session. One moment for your first question. Okay. Your first question comes from Devin Dodge from BMO Capital Markets.

Operator

Devin, please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Yes. Thanks. Good morning, guys. So

Speaker 2

good quarter. Just the a question on M and A. I thought there was a little

Speaker 1

bit more optimism there. So just kind of get a sense, I think you see balance sheet It's really strong across the sector, including at Russell, obviously, as you highlighted. But M and A has been a bit slower to materialize. I know you

Speaker 2

did a tuck in, but

Speaker 1

I think Just a lot of dialogue, but not a lot of action yet. Just why do you think that is? And the industry consolidation to be a bit more active over the next 6 to 12 months? Yes, it's a fair point and maybe dealing with your last point first. I do expect there to be more activity in the next 6 months and there has been in the last 6 months or last year for that matter.

Speaker 1

And I think like any market, there's always recalibrations of appropriate value. And to be candid, I think there was a fair number of transactions that were in the market over the last little bit That had fairly unrealistic views of value. And there seems to be based upon the lens that we're looking through, More of a reality check on things that meet our criteria. So I'm more optimistic as we look forward for the next 6 months Because of that reality check perhaps kicking in for potential vendors. Okay.

Speaker 1

Okay. Interesting. Okay. And then we

Speaker 2

saw that industry volumes, at least based

Speaker 1

on MSCI data, they were up about 3% to 5% in Q2, but Russell's is, Let's say flat to down very slightly in the quarter. Do you think that reflects some competitors getting a bit less disciplined in going after market share?

Speaker 3

Devin, this is John. Again, you'll see that from time to time based on people's inventory positions or their go to market Approach that's out there, but in the markets we serve, we don't feel like we gave up any share compared to the MSCI statistics for those that were out. We actually gained share in those markets. So Again, I think there may be a bit of anomaly where our footprint is obviously, it's very focused in the U. S.

Speaker 3

Where it's very broad in Canada. We think overall the market share was fine, but you do see that from time to time where you have pockets where people will get aggressive or you have an import situation We're maybe in that coastal area, they get aggressive for a short period

Speaker 1

of time. And just to supplement that, what is also interesting is the MSCI data includes lots of different companies, Private public, all kinds of other data that's in there. If we look at the publicly traded companies, those who've reported already, including The larger player in the sector, their quarter over quarter volumes is very similar in terms of changed ours. Okay. Good color.

Speaker 1

Thanks, I'll turn it over. Thanks, Devin.

Operator

Your next question comes from Michael Doumet from Scotiabank. Michael, please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Hey, good morning, guys. On the topic of organic growth, I guess, maybe as a follow-up to Devin's Question. Can you talk about why you've moved up some of the expansion projects? And then maybe if it's related,

Speaker 2

Do you think the combination of

Speaker 1

these expanded facilities increased reshoring, maybe it's infrastructure that kicks in the second half In the U. S, is that going to accelerate organic growth going forward?

Speaker 3

Thanks, Devin. Yes, the projects that we have on the go right now that we're And obviously, we're running at capacity. We have an opportunity to move into some more automation To improve our operating cost as well as expand our footprint for products we carry and services we offer. So obviously, you can grow in those markets. So all those have that component involved with them.

Speaker 3

We're seeing it across the board as we grow our value added initiative. We're having more opportunities to And that value added initiative, we kind of got the hubs initially set up now as the folks are needing growth from to add that equipment and add more market share. With the reshowing coming on, you do see that in specific areas and there are specific opportunities that seem to be a little bit more broad for us right now. So we could I couldn't point to one specific and say this was making a huge material impact for all of Russell, but we're seeing an impact across Russell and various opportunities there with Bruchon.

Speaker 1

And Michael, I guess the other thing is you were also asking about have we moved up expansion projects and we haven't moved them up. This is just the Cadence that they're in. And so the projects that were announced for Green Bay and Texarkana, for example, Those weren't things that were accelerated or decelerated. There's a preparation, there's an organization, there's Engineering work, there's prep work that's required. So the work to get to this point of having them announced started quite some time ago.

Speaker 1

So So I wouldn't say they've been accelerated, but the preparation started behind the scenes probably a year ago, if not earlier than that in terms of thinking That these projects could make sense, and it just takes a while for them to come to fruition. Okay. Thanks for the clarification there, Marty. And then maybe, Marty, I think I caught this in your remarks, just talking about share gains in energy products. Just curious on what's Driving that dynamic there.

Speaker 1

I'd say, yes, you picked that up correctly. And we look at both The public data for those folks who operate in the same backyard in the energy field stores as we do compared to our data and we are picking up Gain, I think it's primarily a function of we have a really well positioned business, particularly in Canada, And they're continuing to do the right things with customers and perhaps have competitors who may be less committed to certain markets. So our folks on the ground are doing an exceptionally good job of taking advantage of the market opportunities that are out there. Great. Thanks, Bob.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Michael.

Operator

Your next question comes from James McGarigle from RBC Capital Markets. James, please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Hey, good morning, guys. Congrats on a really good quarter here.

Speaker 1

Great. Thanks, James. Thanks.

Speaker 4

Yes. So I would just some of your U. S. Competitors during reporting were kind of talking about some of the benefit they're kind of seeing The early benefit from the U. S.

Speaker 4

Infrastructure spending, is your team seeing a similar benefit? And is that are you seeing that in both The Canadian service centers and in the U. S. Service centers are primarily concentrated more in the U. S?

Speaker 3

The concentrations more in the U. S. Again, we're seeing some benefit again across the board. That one Big project or 2 you could point to that would be material within all of Russell, but we're seeing it across the board. When you look at the infrastructure Spending, there's a lot on the come that's coming forward in the next 2, 3, 4 quarters.

Speaker 3

And so that's starting to ramp up. We're seeing that go through the process now, the bid process, whether that Bridge work, whether it be wind tower. So a lot of plate usage is coming forward. So very optimistic about what that's doing again for our U. S.

Speaker 3

Service centers. On the Canadian side, we're seeing some of that as well. We do men work in Canada, and so that will go cross border. Again, we can actually ship that across. If you look at the Canadian index, if you look at the Architectural Billing Index, it's actually gone back above 50.

Speaker 3

Some of that's driven by Preparation for infrastructure project, the Purchasing Manager Index has come down below 50, but in Canada, it's hovering right just below 50. So we're actually seeing Canadian manufacturing It's been holding up better this year than the U. S. Manufacturing has been holding up.

Speaker 4

I appreciate the color. And then on the Q3 outlook, Some of the U. S. Peers were a little bit more conservative. I know your businesses aren't exactly comparable, but your guide was obviously a little more optimistic.

Speaker 4

So can you just provide some color on some of the end market strength that you're seeing? And I guess kind of what gives you some of that confidence during the remainder of Q3 here?

Speaker 3

Sure. Well, keep in mind, we don't do automotive. And so automotive is obviously a question mark right now for some of our competitive people that were out there. And I think when they were talking about demand, there's a concern around what's going on with automotive and potential We're not involved in the automotive industry by design. When you look at demand, we're seeing it again, Marty mentioned the typical seasonal dynamics you have with the holidays, Construction holidays.

Speaker 3

So we're seeing steady manufacturing right now. We deal with small to medium Size end users again in a transactional nature. So we're not contractual. The OEMs that we deal with, again, medium sized to small, All of those have very steady backlogs right now. The construction side of our business, we're seeing the fabricators are very busy.

Speaker 3

You do have a construction holiday that they take off a week in July and a week in August and put back, which is normal. But coming back out of That backlog is very good right now. So we have not seen the interest rates really impact the construction backlog like we thought we would. The energy side of the business for our fuel stores, again, very steady. Canada has got a very steady growth Right now, trend for us because we are taking market share.

Speaker 3

Also, when you look at the rig count was down slightly, taking into Consideration all the wildfires that were going on, I don't think there's anything to be concerned about there. So overall across the board, we just see our end markets as very steady

Speaker 4

And then before I turn the line over here, one more question on returns. I mean, Your team has talked about 2% to 3% lift kind of versus pre pandemic returns Just on the back of some of those investments your teams made during the pandemic, but we've seen a pretty big decline in steel prices, But your returns are well above that kind of 2% to 3% net that you had previously talked about. Have you changed Your view on how you're viewing returns that you can kind of deliver longer term? Or do you think it's too early to say that right now just given some of the uncertainty looking

Speaker 1

at? It's a good question, James, and we haven't changed our point of view. That being said, there is always some element of cyclicality to the business. So when we look at that 200 to 300 basis point shift, That's not at a point in time that's through the cycle and there's going to be ebbs and flows through the cycle. As I said earlier, The thing that I think we've done a really good job of is taking some of that volatility out of the cycle from what we have seen in the past.

Speaker 1

And some of that's by virtue of the businesses we've got out of, some of that is by virtue of the investments we've made, the acquisitions we've made. No, our point of view hasn't changed. And when we look through the cycle, we're very comfortable that the initiatives that we have Completed and are still underway. We're going to generate that couple of 100 basis point pickup over the course of

Speaker 4

the cycle. Appreciate you taking the time. I'll turn the line over. Thank you.

Speaker 1

Thanks, James.

Operator

Your next question comes from Michael Tupholme from TD Securities. Michael, please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Thank you. Good morning. Hey, Mike. Hey. I guess the first question is just around one of the comments In the outlook section related to an expectation for some moderation in margins in the Q3, which I gather It's a function of the fact that steel prices just as you mentioned sort of late in the second quarter and into early Q3 pulled back A little bit.

Speaker 5

So I guess the question is,

Speaker 4

if you can just kind

Speaker 5

of help me understand that how to think about that moderation, maybe starting with service centers. Margins were up a touch sequentially in the Q2. How should we think about margins as we move into the Q3? Is this sort of going back To the kind of level we saw in Q1 and is that sort of the run rate normal level to think about service centers absent sort of bigger moves

Speaker 1

Yes, that's a fair frame of reference. So Within the quarter, within Q2, margins did come down in June versus what they were for the average of the quarter. And so if you look at where things are at right now, they're closer to Q1 levels on average than Q2 levels on average. So the frame of our since, yes, Q3 margins should be down from Q2, something closer to Q1 without trying to be too specific about it. So the comments that were made about margins was really about the service centers.

Speaker 1

We're still when we look across energy field stores, we don't really see any Substantial change in terms of margins in that business. As John talked about earlier, good backlog, good activity, good dynamic in terms of market Our businesses are well positioned. So the comments on margin were more related to energy field stores. Steel distributors will follow a similar cycle well. Yes, there's probably some softening of those margins coming into Q3 as well.

Speaker 1

Just to

Speaker 3

add on to that Michael,

Speaker 1

from the industry as a whole, again, keep in mind, service centers are

Speaker 3

turning their As a whole, again, keep in mind, service centers are turning their inventory at a pretty high level in comparison to historical levels. In addition, there are a lot of mill shutdowns that are scheduled for the Q3. So you'll take a lot of supply out of the marketplace. Scrap has bottomed appears and gone up Maybe $20 a ton. I think flat roll has now seen the bottom in July, early August.

Speaker 3

So it's starting to bounce along, may go up. Plate never really came off much, it Marginally. So we're seeing some things that say, okay, this is we've hit the bottom. People should flush through their inventories fairly quickly. You'll have some outliers that are out there that might be in a bad position, but overall the industry is in a pretty good position.

Speaker 3

So as far as it go running back up, we'll see what pricing does. There is a lot of supply coming out of the marketplace in Q3 with shutdowns. I think there's over 8 mills shutting down in Q3 for maintenance.

Speaker 5

Okay. That's definitely helpful. Thank you, John. When we think about margins in CO distributors, Appreciate your comment that direction that I guess they'll follow a similar pattern in terms of movements to what you'll see in service centers. You're still at quite healthy levels in steel distributors relative to what you would have seen historically.

Speaker 5

I mean, I think you're down from where you look up a year or 2 ago. The relative kind of a longer term reference to distributors, you're running at quite healthy levels. What is the right way to think about the margins in that business Kind of over the medium to longer term, is this sort of a new normal, this keeping a 15% EBIT margin in the 2nd quarter and Steel distributors and gross margins were 22.5%. Like is this the new normal? Or how do we think about them medium to longer term?

Speaker 3

We'll still see the cyclicality in that business with the trade suits. With imports being at bay, that's helped stabilize that markets on Both sides of the border for us are the groups have been in it well over 30 years. So they're very professional traders at what they're doing They're bringing in product or working product from inside the North American market. So again, they'll be very opportunistic. We have one side and the worst side is getting buy and sell.

Speaker 3

It's all kind of locked up. So it's pretty much a flow through with very low margin risk. There's a little more risk in the U. S. Again, they will pull back from markets if they don't see the opportunity to make those kind of margins.

Speaker 3

They want to just keep Going forward, as maybe some others do in the market, there will be cyclicality to this to follow steel pricing, to follow the steel pricing that's out there, But they will pull back and they may slow the revenue side down before they give up margin.

Speaker 5

Okay. That's helpful. Thank you. Just maybe on picking up on your comment there about imports being FA, what Do you anticipate any change on that front going forward? And I guess I'm thinking about, one, they seem to have been Fairly modest for some time, but at the same time prices are healthy here in North America.

Speaker 5

And then your comment about mill shutdowns in the Q3, like Does that attract some import product as a result of those sometimes coming here in the shorter term?

Speaker 3

If you look at the import statistics, they're not marginally different. They're up a little bit year over year, but that's really a function of quotas and timing when they brought And the steel from the imports on quotas more so than they're bringing in more. There are product specific things that will come and ebb and flow there Well, you'll bring them in. But right now, we're not seeing that as a dramatic change. We don't think the 232 will have any significant change.

Speaker 3

It's up for review In November, December, we're going into an election year. I think there may be some window dressing around it, some things moved around, but I don't think there'll be any material change in that. So I think the 232 is functioning as intended, that it's protecting the North American steel market from a surge of low priced imports. And so I don't see any directional changes on that. So again, I don't think you're going to have an import market that's going to make A more impact than it has in the last 2 or 3 years.

Speaker 5

Okay. Thank you. And then Regarding M and A, obviously, you announced a tuck in in energy field stores. I mean, I think I've asked this before and others have as well. But when we think about your M and A strategy, can you

Speaker 1

talk about

Speaker 5

what the main focus is right now in terms of Ideally, what you'd be targeting, it sounds like activity and opportunities are picking up. So maybe that gives you an To go after the kinds of things that you're most interested in, whereas in the past, That may not have been possible given market dynamics and conditions. So just kind of curious if you can just talk to what the focus is here at this point?

Speaker 1

It's a good question, Mike. In some ways, the last two acquisitions we made in service centers, 1 at the tail end of 2020, 1 at the tail end of 2021 were really good illustrations of the types of things that are front and center for us now. They're businesses that are complementary to where our service centers are, both from a product perspective as well as from a geographic perspective, Augmenting most of the regions where we currently operate and sometimes product expansion as well into other Opportunities, value added opportunities, non ferrous opportunities from time to time, but in complementary geographic So we're not looking to do stuff that's far afield. We do look at those things from time to time that could be standalone business units. So by and large, we're looking for stuff that fits very well into what we currently have and is complementary to that.

Speaker 1

Most of the focus is on the service center side. There are situations that pop up from time to time on the energy field store side And the small tuck in that we announced as an example of that, but most of it is really complementary expansions within the service center business On

Speaker 5

both sides of the border.

Speaker 3

Just to add on to that, Mike, I mean, we've talked about it in the past. We obviously look at culture as a big thing for us Will that be able to fit in the Russell culture? How do we integrate that? Can be highly decentralized? Are they very centralized?

Speaker 3

And is there going to be a natural rub there? Is this somebody that has a smaller location that has a key person leaving that will impact the business? So we like to bond well run businesses. We like to look for opportunities that either expand our product or expand our offering. We're not as tied to a geographic as we maybe once thought we would always continue to grow in the U.

Speaker 3

S. And not only enough we kept buying stuff in Canada. So we're more opportunistic If it fits for us, then there's obviously the financial metrics that we look at that have to complement what we're doing. So we stay pretty disciplined there as well.

Speaker 5

Okay. That's all very helpful. I will leave it there. Thank you.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Nick.

Operator

Your next question comes from Frederic Bastian from Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Hi, good morning.

Speaker 6

Hi, sir. I was a little surprised by how active you were buying back stock in Q2 given where the stock has been trading lately. If my math That's correct. You repurchased 1,200,000 shares at an average price of $36.60 and change during the period, which is quite the step up from what you did earlier, I guess, in the back half of last year. Can you comment on that?

Speaker 6

And secondly, on your appetite to continue buying back stock at the current level?

Speaker 1

Yes. Your math is close. We picked about 1,200,000 shares in the quarter. The average was just below $36 per share for the quarter. Cumulatively, we picked up 2,200,000 shares since we put the NCIB in place at a little over $32 We need his approach to acquire shares opportunistically relative to our view of intrinsic value.

Speaker 1

So from our perspective, we're always recalibrating opportunities. We're always recalibrating our view of intrinsic value. And I think that's the game plan that we'll continue to have going forward as we've done the renewal of the NCIB For up to 6,100,000 shares, if we think there's a good opportunity to pick up our shares, it's no different than looking at acquisitions or anything else in terms of capital deployment. We think it makes good economic sense and in particular on the NCIB, the focus is being able to do it opportunistically below our intrinsic value and we think where we're trading at today

Operator

Your next question comes from Maxim Sytchev from National Bank Financial. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Hi, John, Marty. Good morning. Hey, Matt.

Speaker 2

I think actually Brad kind of like asked my question, but maybe Just thinking sort of broader in terms of kind of capital deployment on a prospective basis, is sort of more flexibility? Is sort of part of kind of the new algorithm when it comes to kind of capital deployment on a going forward basis. Just curious what's been sort of maybe the catalyst to potentially sort of rethink your approach or obviously, I guess, the balance sheet, you have cash position, so just What's more optionality? Just maybe some broader thoughts on this would be helpful. Thanks.

Speaker 1

Yes. Well, Matt, it's really The way you characterize it is spot on. You used two words, flexibility and optionality. And that those are very those ring true to How we think about it as well. We have the balance sheet that gives us a tremendous amount of flexibility to do anything that makes sense or do nothing if it doesn't make sense.

Speaker 1

And so we're not wedded to one thing or another or another. That being said, we do see opportunities across a variety of capital deployment alternatives. But given the way our balance sheet is set up right now, we think we can do a variety of things if they all make sense. This past quarter, again, we were active on the NCIB. We stepped up our dividend last quarter, did a little tuck in acquisition.

Speaker 1

We're being active on Internal investments, we have the flexibility to do a variety of things. So your operative words, optionality, flexibility, those do ring very true In terms of how we think about capital deployment opportunities.

Speaker 5

Thanks, Matt.

Operator

There are no further questions at this time. I'll turn it back to Marty for closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Great. Thanks, operator. Appreciate everybody for tuning in. If you have any follow-up questions, please feel free to reach out at any time. Otherwise, we look forward to staying in touch during the quarter and have a

Speaker 2

good rest of the day, everyone.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.

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Earnings Conference Call
Russel Metals Q2 2023
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