Stepan Q4 2024 Earnings Report

Stepan EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.12
• Consensus EPS: $0.45
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.33
• One Year Ago EPS: $0.33

Stepan Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $525.60 million
• Expected Revenue: $520.97 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$4.63 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: -1.20%

Stepan Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q4 2024
• Date: 2/19/2025
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Wednesday, February 19, 2025
• Conference Call Time: 9:00AM ET

Stepan (NYSE:SCL) is a global manufacturer of specialty and intermediate chemicals. Founded in 1932 and headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, the company develops, manufactures and sells chemical products used by businesses in a range of consumer and industrial markets.

Its principal products include surfactants, which are used in detergents, cleaners, personal care products, agricultural formulations and food applications. Stepan also produces polyurethane polyols, specialty polymers and other chemical intermediates used in insulation, construction materials, automotive products, coatings, adhesives and other industrial applications.

Stepan serves customers across North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia through a network of manufacturing and research facilities. The company sells its products primarily to manufacturers and formulators, who incorporate them into branded consumer goods and industrial products.

Stepan Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Full-year 2024 adjusted EBITDA rose 4% to $187 million despite one-time charges, underscoring resilience amid strategic investments.
• Surfactants delivered double-digit adjusted EBITDA growth and global volumes grew 2.5%, led by a 30% second-half lift in the agricultural end market.
• Polymers segment faced soft demand with Q4 net sales down 12% and adjusted EBITDA plunging 44%, driven by sluggish construction activity and high interest rates.
• Free cash flow was positive at $39 million for the year, complemented by $48 million in pretax cost savings from supply chain and productivity initiatives.
• The new Pasadena, Texas facility is on track for Q1 2025 startup with full run-rate savings expected in H2, supporting management’s 2025 guidance for EBITDA, earnings, and cash flow growth.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good morning and welcome to the Stepan Company fourth quarter 2024 earnings conference call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Afterward, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. As a reminder, this call is being recorded on Wednesday, February 19th, 2025. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Mr. Sam Hinrichsen, Vice President and Interim Chief Financial Officer of Stepan Company. Mr. Hinrichsen, please go ahead.

[Sam Hinrichsen, VP and Interim CFO at Stepan Company]

Good morning and thank you for joining Stepan Company's fourth quarter and full year 2024 financial review. Before we begin, please note that information in this conference call contains forward-looking statements which are not historical facts. These statements involve risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including but not limited to prospects for foreign operations, global and regional economic conditions, and factors detailed in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings. In addition, this conference call will include discussions of Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EBITDA, and Free Cash Flow, which are non-GAAP measures. We provide reconciliations to the comparable GAAP measures in the earnings presentation and press release, which we have made available at www.stepan.com under the investor section of our website. Whether you're joining us online or over the phone, we encourage you to review the investor slide presentation.

[Sam Hinrichsen, VP and Interim CFO at Stepan Company]

We make these slides available at approximately the same time as when the earnings release is issued, and we hope that you find the information and perspectives helpful. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Luis Rojo, our President and Chief Executive Officer.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

Thank you, Sam. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us today to discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2024 results. I plan to share highlights of the full year performance and will also share updates on our key strategic priorities, while Sam will provide additional details on our financial results. The company reported fourth quarter Adjusted EBITDA of $35 million, down 7% versus the prior year, and full year Adjusted EBITDA of $187 million. While we are disappointed with our overall financial performance in 2024, we advanced our strategic investments and took the necessary steps to return the company to profitable growth. I'm proud of the resiliency and work and dedication of the entire organization. Full year Adjusted EBITDA grew 4% versus the prior year, despite several one-time events that negatively impacted earnings and the pre-operating expenses on our new Pasadena site.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

Surfactants and Specialty Products delivered strong double-digit Adjusted EBITDA growth, partially offset by softer demand in Polymers. Global volumes grew 1%, driven by 2.5% growth in Surfactants business. We are encouraged by the Surfactants growth across several of our key strategic markets. We finished the year with $50.5 million of Adjusted Net Income, which was flat versus the prior year. Strong earnings growth in Surfactants and Specialty Products was fully offset by Polymers. Free Cash Flow for the year was positive at $39 million, and in line with our expectations and our operating plan. The company delivered $48 million in pre-tax cost out during 2024, mainly through disciplined efforts in supply chain and workforce productivity actions taken in the last quarter of 2023. During the fourth quarter of 2024, the company paid $8.7 million in dividends to shareholders.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

Our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend on Stepan Common Stock of $0.385 per share, payable on March 14th, 2025. Stepan has paid and increased its dividend for 57 consecutive years. Sam will now share some details about our fourth quarter and 2024 results.

[Sam Hinrichsen, VP and Interim CFO at Stepan Company]

Thank you, Luis. My comments will generally follow the slide presentation. Let's start with slide five to recap the quarter. Fourth quarter 2024 Adjusted Net Income was $2.8 million, $0.12 per diluted share versus $7.5 million or $0.33 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of last year. The 63% decrease was mainly due to $4.4 million of higher pre-operating expenses, our new alkoxylation investment in Pasadena, Texas, and $2.9 million related to a one-time tax proceeding reserve in Latin America. The previously announced CEO transition also impacted quarterly results by $2.8 million. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $35 million, down 7% year-over-year. Global sales volume was down 1% versus the prior year, as double-digit growth in several surfactant end markets was fully offset by softer demand in rigid polyols. Cash from operations was $68 million for the quarter, and Free Cash Flow was $32 million.

[Sam Hinrichsen, VP and Interim CFO at Stepan Company]

In the fourth quarter, the company recognized $13 million in pre-tax savings out of the $48 million for the full year of 2024. Slide six shows the total company net income bridge for the fourth quarter compared to last year's fourth quarter and breaks down the decrease in Adjusted Net Income. Because this is net income, the figures noted are on an after-tax basis. We will cover each segment in more detail, but to summarize, we delivered operating income growth in Surfactants and Specialty Products, fully offset by lower operating results in Polymers. Corporate expenses increased primarily due to the higher expenses associated with the previously announced CEO transition in the fourth quarter of 2024. Slide seven shows the total company Adjusted EBITDA bridge for the fourth quarter compared to last year's fourth quarter.

[Sam Hinrichsen, VP and Interim CFO at Stepan Company]

Adjusted EBITDA was $35 million versus $38 million in the previous year, a 7% decrease year-over-year. We will cover each segment in more detail, but to summarize, we delivered Adjusted EBITDA growth in Surfactants and Specialty Products, fully offset by global Polymers. Lower corporate expenses reflect savings related to productivity efforts implemented at the end of 2023. Slide eight focuses on the Surfactants segment results. Surfactants net sales were $379 million for the quarter, a 3% increase versus the prior year. Selling prices were up 5%, primarily due to improved product and customer mix. Sales volume was up 1% year-over-year, driven by double-digit growth within the agricultural and oilfield end markets, along with our distribution partners. This growth was partially offset by lower demand within the consumer products end markets. Foreign currency translation negatively impacted net sales by 3%.

[Sam Hinrichsen, VP and Interim CFO at Stepan Company]

Surfactants Adjusted EBITDA increased $3 million or 10% versus the prior year. This increase was primarily driven by higher sales volume, favorable product and customer mix, and margin recovery. Higher pre-operating expenses at the company's new alkoxylation facility being built in Pasadena, Texas, and the tax proceeding reserve in Latin America partially offset these drivers. Now, on slide nine, Polymers net sales were $130 million for the quarter, a 12% decrease versus the prior year. Selling prices decreased 4%, primarily due to the pass-through of lower raw material costs and competitive pressures. Sales volume declined 9% in the quarter, primarily due to an 11% decrease in global rigid polyols volume due to sluggish demand and competitive pressure. We believe the sluggish demand is related to continued global macroeconomic uncertainties, overall lower construction activity, and a higher interest rate environment. Specialty polyols volume was up year-over-year.

[Sam Hinrichsen, VP and Interim CFO at Stepan Company]

Foreign currency translation positively impacted net sales by 1%. Polymers Adjusted EBITDA decreased $9 million or 44% versus the prior year, primarily due to the 9% decline in sales volume. Finally, Specialty Products net sales were $17 million for the quarter, a 10% increase versus the prior year, primarily due to higher sales volume and higher selling prices. Sales volume was up 32% versus the prior year, and Adjusted EBITDA increased 65%. The increase in Adjusted EBITDA was primarily due to margin recovery and volume growth within the medium-chain triglycerides product line. Turning to slide 10, which shows the total company Adjusted EBITDA bridge for full year 2024 compared to full year 2023. Adjusted EBITDA was $187 million versus $180 million in the prior year, a 4% increase year-over-year, despite one-time extra costs and higher pre-operating expenses associated with our Pasadena site.

[Sam Hinrichsen, VP and Interim CFO at Stepan Company]

We delivered Adjusted EBITDA growth in Surfactants and Specialty Products, partially offset by lower polymer performance. Polymer results decreased primarily driven by lower global rigid polyol demand and competitive pressures. Corporate expenses were higher, mainly due to the Asia fraud event and the CEO transition. Excluding these events, corporate expenses were down year-over-year due to workforce productivity efforts implemented at the end of 2023. Overall, the company delivered $48 million in cost savings despite the flood event at Millsdale during the first half of 2024 and the Asia fraud event. Next, on slide 11, Free Cash Flow was positive at $39 million for the year, up $125 million year-over-year, as capital investments returned to normalized levels and working capital decreased. During the year, we deployed $123 million against capital investments and $34 million for dividends.

[Sam Hinrichsen, VP and Interim CFO at Stepan Company]

Now, on slide 12 and 13, Luis will update you on our strategic priorities and capital investments.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

Thanks, Sam. I will focus my comment on our strategic priorities. Our customers will always remain at the center of our strategy and innovation efforts. Our long-standing Tier 1 customers value our technical capabilities and our ability to manufacture and deliver quality products at the scale they need. Our Tier 1 customer base remains a solid foundation of our business. Continuing our new customer acquisition with Tier 2 and Tier 3 customers remains a key priority. This is an important and profitable growth channel within our Surfactant business. For the full year of 2024, our volume grew high single digits, and we added over 1,700 new customers. Our end market diversification strategy remains a key focus area. In 2024, we grew double digits in oilfield and in our Construction and Industrial Solutions businesses.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

After a difficult first half of the year, our Agricultural business grew volume 30% versus the prior year in the second half of 2024. Insulation remains a critical enabler of a more sustainable and energy-efficient world. Our Polymers business continues to focus on developing the rigid polyol technologies that can increase the energy efficiency and cost performance of our customer insulation products. Additionally, we are excited about the new products we are introducing in the growing spray foam end market. Cost and operational excellence remains as a key priority area. During 2024, the company recognized $48 million in pre-tax savings despite unfavorable one-time events. These savings were partially offset by pre-operating expenses on our new Pasadena site, the CEO transition, and overall inflation. During 2024, the company made significant expenses and CapEx investments to improve the resiliency of our supply chain network.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

These investments will improve our customer service levels and reduce potential production disruptions in the future. Moving on to slide 13, construction at our new alkoxylation production facility in Pasadena, Texas, is nearing completion, and we expect the plant to start up in the first quarter of 2025. We expect the full contribution run rate of the plant to be achieved during the second half of 2025. To conclude, I'm excited and energized to continue our focus on accelerating our business strategies through improved execution to drive consistent volume growth, margin improvement, and Free Cash Flow generation. We believe Adjusted EBITDA will improve in all our reporting segments. The Stepan team is executing on opportunities to grow volume, deliver improved product and customer mix, and further progress our cost out and cost avoidance initiatives. We are optimistic that polymer volumes will increase as we execute our innovation and growth plans.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

We believe our Surfactants business will experience continued growth in our key strategic end markets. As previously announced, we expect our Pasadena facility will start up in the first quarter of 2025 and enable us to deliver volume growth and supply chain savings during the year. We believe we are positioned well to deliver full-year Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income growth and positive Free Cash Flow in 2025. This concludes our prepared remarks. At this time, we would like to turn the call over for questions. Gigi, please review the instructions for the questions portions of today's call.

[Operator]

Thank you. As a reminder to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Dave Storms from Stonegate.

[Dave Storms, Director and Equity Research Analyst at Stonegate]

Good morning.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

Hi, Dave.

[Sam Hinrichsen, VP and Interim CFO at Stepan Company]

Morning.

[Dave Storms, Director and Equity Research Analyst at Stonegate]

Morning, Luis and Sam. Just kind of wanted to.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

We cannot hear you. We cannot hear you well. Can you speak louder?

[Dave Storms, Director and Equity Research Analyst at Stonegate]

Is that better? Perfect.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

Yeah, now it's better.

[Dave Storms, Director and Equity Research Analyst at Stonegate]

Appreciate that. Okay. Just kind of wanted to start with Surfactants. Ag had a really strong quarter, and you've mentioned in the past that Stepan kind of goes the way of Ag. How much more runway do you see in Ag through the balance of 2025?

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

Great question, Dave. So look, we had a very strong second half in our Ag business, as I said in my prepared remarks. The Ag business grew 30% in the second half, so 22% in Q3 and 37% in Q4. So we are actually seeing the acceleration of the growth in the Ag business after a difficult Q1 half with all the destocking that we still saw in that end market. We believe, based on the low base that we have in the first half of 2024, we expect that double-digit growth to continue. And clearly, the Ag business is coming back. So we are positive that we should continue seeing the double-digit growth in the first half of 2025.

[Dave Storms, Director and Equity Research Analyst at Stonegate]

Understood. Thank you. And then just turning to Polymers, obviously a challenged quarter and year. Would you characterize the challenges in Polymers as across the board, or are there any pockets of strength or green shoots that we could look at there?

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

Good point, Dave. If you think about our 2024 performance and why we are disappointed with the overall financial results of the company, we can do better, and we're capable of doing better. You saw that in Surfactants, we still grew 15% Adjusted EBITDA in the year despite all the investments that we did in Pasadena and despite all the one-time events that we have. I just want to clarify that the reserve that we created in Latin America for the tax item is an above-the-line reserve. It's not in the tax line. So that's actually above the line and impacting operating income and pre-tax. So Surfactants did okay. Specialty Products had an outstanding year, almost, you saw it, almost doubling the operating income.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

Really, where we saw a sluggish demand was in our Polymers business with high interest rate, with a slow construction activity, with challenges in Europe. We grew our Specialty Polymers business. We had a great year in China. Despite all the issues in China, our Polymers business in China is growing nicely. There are pockets of strength in our Polymers business, and we need to, and we need to, of course, grow the core, which is North America polymers. We believe that we have a good plan for 2025. As I said in my prepared remarks, we're introducing, we're launching a spray foam market, and we believe the market should grow, overall the market should grow in 2025 with all the backlogs that we have in reroofing and remodels and all of that.

[Dave Storms, Director and Equity Research Analyst at Stonegate]

Understood. Thank you for that color, and I'll get back in queue.

[Operator]

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Mike Harrison from Seaport Research Partners.

[Mike Harrison, Managing Director and Senior Chemicals Analyst at Seaport Research Partners]

Hi, good morning. Can you hear me okay?

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

I can hear you, Mike. Perfect.

[Mike Harrison, Managing Director and Senior Chemicals Analyst at Seaport Research Partners]

Great. Thank you very much. I was surprised to see the surfactants price mix positive in the 5% level there. You mentioned that was mostly product mix and customer mix. But maybe help us understand a little bit more what you're seeing in that price mix number as we're starting to look into next year. Should price mix be kind of flattish, or could it be positive for the full year 2025?

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

Good point, Mike. And as we said, our strategy continues to be growing with Tier 2, Tier 3 customers, and of course, getting as much business as possible with Tier 1. Everything is a priority. But Tier 2, Tier 3 deliver a positive mix, and we're growing high single digits in the Tier 2, Tier 3 space while total Surfactants, you saw that the volume grew 2.5%. So when you think about it, from a customer point of view, we continue having a positive mix by growing faster the Tier 2, Tier 3 segments. And then on the product side, we had a great, as I mentioned before, we had a great Ag second half, and Q4 was stellar, growing 37%. Oilfield continues growing very nicely, and that provides a positive price mix.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

So we are very pleased with how we are returning the Surfactant business, which is, at the end, 70% of the company to growth and to growth levels that are pretty healthy. And those places where we're growing provide that positive price mix that you saw.

[Mike Harrison, Managing Director and Senior Chemicals Analyst at Seaport Research Partners]

All right. Very helpful. And then I was hoping, Luis, that you could help us level set the starting point for 2025 EBITDA. If we look at 2024, as you referenced, there were a lot of unusual items. There were some outages, the CEO search and the tax issues this quarter, and the Pasadena startup costs that presumably don't repeat. I also assume, though, that there's maybe some incentive comp that was running below normal, maybe some discretionary costs that start to come back, and maybe some FX headwinds. So a lot of different moving pieces. I was hoping that you could just help us bridge the, call it $185 million or $190 million of EBITDA you did in 2024. How might we think of a more normalized starting point as we look at 2025?

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

Great point, Mike. And thanks for pushing me for guidance, which I'm not going to provide. But let me say something because we have been trying to be very, very clear and very transparent with the numbers and the one-timers that we had. You saw that Millsdale was an $18 million impact in 2024. And when you think about all the other items, Asia, the transition, the taxes in Latin America, so we're talking about more than $30 million in one-time events that we really have a strong cost avoidance and cost out program in 2025 to ensure that we don't repeat those. So if you think about our performance and the 187, of course, we are very disappointed about those $30+ million dollars. Pasadena, of course, we had to spend all this money. We had to hire the people.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

We had to train the people before the site is up and running. We started some of the depreciation already because there are a lot of areas of the plants that are functioning. So those costs will continue, but then you will see the revenue and the supply chain savings from the plant as the plant starts up and we get to full run rates in the second half of 2025. You are going to see the savings that can compensate the extra cost that you saw in 2024. And we have been very clear, I mean, around $4 million per quarter. So we have provided that data, and that's the piece that we need to offset in the future with the revenue of the plant and the supply chain savings from the plant, right? And we need to avoid the $30 million issues that we had.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

I think I was clear in a few calls previously that when you saw 2024 and you excluded some of those items, we were actually performing at the $60 million EBITDA per quarter. I'm not saying that's my guidance. I'm saying that's where this team should be capable of doing without those one-timer effects. So the team is committed to turn around the profitability of the company in 2025, and we are working hard, and the whole team is working hard to make that happen.

[Mike Harrison, Managing Director and Senior Chemicals Analyst at Seaport Research Partners]

All right. Thank you for that. And then last question for me is just in thinking about the first quarter and the impact of Pasadena, you've mentioned that it's nearing completion and going to be starting up, but presumably we're still going to have another $4 million EBITDA headwind from Pasadena still being in its very early ramp stages. And I was curious, are there any other kind of one-time or unusual factors we need to keep in mind as we're thinking about Q1?

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

No, you are fully correct on the Pasadena comment. We're expecting to start up in Q1. What I will say is that Q1, I mean, we are, what, 60% into the quarter. We're week number eight from the 13 weeks of the quarter, and as I said before, Ag continues to do well. Oilfield continues to do well. Our distribution partners continue to do well, so we are seeing a good start of 2025, but of course, this is only seven, eight weeks, and we still have to deliver the quarter and the year. There are a lot of moving pieces with tariff and many, many other moving pieces, as you can imagine, but so far, we have a good start for the year, and the only one-timer, Mike, will be Pasadena.

[Mike Harrison, Managing Director and Senior Chemicals Analyst at Seaport Research Partners]

Perfect. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

Thank you. As a reminder to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Our next question comes from the line of Kevin Holder from C.L. King & Associates.

[Kevin Holder, Equity Research Analyst at C.L. King & Associates]

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking our question.

[Sam Hinrichsen, VP and Interim CFO at Stepan Company]

Good morning, Kevin.

[Kevin Holder, Equity Research Analyst at C.L. King & Associates]

This is for Dave Silver. Good morning.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

Good morning Kevin.

[Kevin Holder, Equity Research Analyst at C.L. King & Associates]

I just wanted to start off with a few clarifications. Good morning, Luis. I just wanted to start off with a few clarifications with the Pasadena facility. Can you maybe give us a bit of guidance on how to look at interest expense and depreciation through 2025 as you kind of begin to ramp up production kind of in the Pasadena facility? Thank you.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

Thank you, Kevin, for the question. We have provided guidance in the slides about our depreciation forecast for the year. We provided $128-$132 guidance, so call it a $130 in the midpoint, so that's mainly the increase versus 2024 is mainly the Pasadena site, and again, I mean, all of that can vary a little bit based on timings and based on when each reactor is going online or not, so that can change a little bit, but what I'm planning to do is once the site is up and running and once we have more clarity on the qualification of the new SKUs, etc., in April, we can talk a little bit more about how we see the second half and what should be any savings or any modeling that you need to do in your models about the second half.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

I want to see the plant up and running, and I want to have a little bit more details before we can talk about the implications for the second half. You see the depreciation already in our forecast, and we will update you more in April.

[Kevin Holder, Equity Research Analyst at C.L. King & Associates]

Great. Thank you for that. That's very helpful. And then maybe kind of I wanted to switch gears kind of towards current currency rates and the strengthening dollar. What is your sensitivity to currencies in the euro, the Mexican peso, and the Brazilian real?

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

Yeah. No, good point. Good point. Look, we have the majority of the impact could be the euro. I mean, euro sitting at EUR 103 or EUR 104 or EUR 102. Some people are already talking about parity. That's our main risk, right? I mean, it's very hard to do pricing in Europe just because of FX. That's not the dynamic in that environment. I'm not worried about Mexico and Brazil. Our cost structure is a lot based on local currency. So you see the help in the cost structure as well. So the net impact is really not material when you think about Brazil or Mexico. The only risk that we need to continue managing is the euro. And I believe it's still manageable in our total numbers.

[Kevin Holder, Equity Research Analyst at C.L. King & Associates]

Great. Thank you for that. And then maybe my last one, kind of turning to China and maybe kind of your Polymers business there. Can you maybe talk about your expectations in the construction market in China and maybe kind of your expectations in terms of growing spray foam into that market as well? Thank you.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

No, great question, and what I will say is that the China team has done an outstanding job in diversifying the business, so when you think about our Polymers business in China, it's not really focused 100% in roofing or construction. I mean, it's a very diversified Polymers business going into many end markets, including LNG ships and including many other end markets, so that's what the team has been able to do, and that's why we keep growing at a very nice rate. Albeit it's a small business, but we're growing very nicely in China, so we are not exposed to the whole construction and residential issue that you see in China these days. We're not exposed to that.

[Kevin Holder, Equity Research Analyst at C.L. King & Associates]

Great. Thank you. That's very helpful. I'll hop back in the queue.

[Operator]

Thank you. At this time, I would now like to turn the conference back to Luis for closing remarks.

[Luis Rojo, President and CEO at Stepan Company]

Thank you very much for joining us in today's call. We appreciate your interest and ownership in Stepan Company. Have a safe and productive and great day. Thank you.

[Operator]

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Luis Rojo, President and CEO
• Sam Hinrichsen, VP and Interim CFO

Analysts

• Dave Storms, Director and Equity Research Analyst at Stonegate
• Mike Harrison, Managing Director and Senior Chemicals Analyst at Seaport Research Partners
• Kevin Holder, Equity Research Analyst at C.L. King & Associates