Ingevity Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
July 30, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Ingevity reported strong second-quarter execution, with sales up 5% excluding the Road Markings divestiture, adjusted EBITDA up 14% to $115 million, and margins expanding to 36.6%.
  • Positive Sentiment: Performance Materials remained the standout segment, delivering $86 million of EBITDA and a 53.6% margin, supported by hybrid-vehicle demand, favorable product mix, pricing, and plant utilization.
  • Positive Sentiment: The company raised full-year guidance to adjusted EBITDA of $380 million–$400 million, adjusted EPS of $5.00–$5.45, and free cash flow of $220 million–$245 million; net leverage improved to 2.5x and $35 million of shares were repurchased in the quarter.
  • Positive Sentiment: Advanced Polymer Technologies improved materially, with sales up 14% and EBITDA rising to $11 million, while management said the strategic alternatives process for the business is in an advanced stage. Ingevity also secured its first municipal PFAS filtration contract, providing early commercial validation for a potential long-term growth opportunity.
  • Negative Sentiment: Management expects some second-half pressure from weaker North American auto production, planned Performance Materials maintenance outages, and elevated asphalt prices that have delayed pavement projects, particularly in international markets.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Ingevity Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections

Skip to Participants
Operator

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the Ingevity second quarter 2026 earnings call and webcast. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now hand the conference over to Mickey Walsh, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Mickey Walsh
Mickey Walsh
Head of Investor Relations at Ingevity

Thank you. Good morning, welcome again to Ingevity's second quarter 2026 earnings call. Last evening, we posted a presentation on our investor site that you can use to follow today's discussion. It can be found on our website, ir.ingevity.com, under Events and Presentations. Throughout this call, we may refer to non-GAAP financial measures, which are intended to supplement, not substitute, comparable GAAP measures.

Mickey Walsh
Mickey Walsh
Head of Investor Relations at Ingevity

Definitions of these non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations to comparable GAAP measures are included in our earnings release. We may make forward-looking statements regarding future events and future financial performance of the company during this call. We caution you that these statements are just projections and actual results or events may differ materially from those projections described in our earnings release. The agenda for today's call is listed on slide three.

Mickey Walsh
Mickey Walsh
Head of Investor Relations at Ingevity

Today, you will hear from Dave Li, our CEO and President, and Phil Platt, our CFO. Our prepared comments will focus on results from the second quarter of 2026 from continuing operations and recent business highlights. Following the prepared remarks, we will open the line for a Q&A session. I will now turn the call over to Dave.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

Thank you, Mickey. Good morning, everyone. Please turn to slide four. This quarter represents another period of outstanding execution across the company and further demonstrates the progress we're making in building a stronger, higher quality Ingevity. Our businesses delivered excellent commercial and operational performance. Excluding the Road Markings divestiture, sales increased 5% with growth across all three segments.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

More importantly, adjusted EBITDA increased nearly 14% and adjusted EBITDA margins expanded to 36.6%, demonstrating the earnings power of our portfolio and the discipline with which our teams continue to operate. Performance Materials once again delivered exceptional results with EBITDA margins approaching 54%. Beyond the quarter, we continue to benefit from a structural shift in consumer buying habits toward hybrid vehicles. Hybrid vehicles require our most advanced carbon solutions and contribute a higher value product mix.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

We believe this represents a sustainable market trend that reinforces both the long-term earnings power and competitive positioning of the business. Pavement Technologies continue to build positive momentum, while Advanced Polymer Technologies delivered meaningful year-over-year improvement through pricing actions, product mix, and operational execution. Both businesses performed well despite facing some headwinds from the volatile geopolitical environment. Along with this strong operating performance, we also continued executing our portfolio strategy.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

During the quarter, we completed the sale of our Road Markings product line. Combined with the Industrial Specialties divestiture completed earlier this year, these actions continue improving the quality of our portfolio while allowing us to focus resources on our highest return opportunities. In addition, the strategic alternatives process for Advanced Polymer Technologies continues to progress well and is now in an advanced stage. Our priority remains achieving the best outcome for shareholders while continuing to sharpen our strategic focus.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

Our disciplined and balanced capital allocation strategy also remained unchanged. During the quarter, we repurchased $35 million of shares and remain ahead of pace towards our $300 million share repurchase commitment by the end of 2027. We also continue to reduce leverage and invest in attractive organic growth opportunities. Together, these actions strengthen our financial flexibility and support our long-term value creation potential.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

Finally, we're beginning to see encouraging commercial validation of several organic growth initiatives, particularly filtration, where our carbon technology is demonstrating differentiated performance. I'll discuss these opportunities in more detail later in the call. Overall, I'm extremely proud of what our teams accomplished this quarter. We are executing with discipline, strengthening the business, and building a stronger, higher quality Ingevity with more durable earnings power while investing in long-term growth opportunities. With that, I'll turn it over to Phil.

Phil Platt
Phil Platt
CFO at Ingevity

Thank you, Dave, and good morning, everyone. Please turn to slide five. As Dave mentioned, our second quarter results highlight the continued improvement in the earnings quality of our businesses and demonstrate the benefits of our portfolio transformation strategy. Sales for the quarter were $314 million. While reported sales declined 5% due to the divestiture of the Road Markings product line on April 15th, sales excluding Road Markings increased over 5%, with growth across all three segments.

Phil Platt
Phil Platt
CFO at Ingevity

Adjusted EBITDA increased 14% to $115 million, while margins expanded over 600 basis points to 36.6%. These results were driven by higher pricing, a favorable product mix, improved asset utilization, and disciplined operational execution across the company. Adjusted earnings per share increased to $1.74, benefiting from the stronger operating performance, lower interest expense, and a reduced share count from our ongoing share repurchase program.

Phil Platt
Phil Platt
CFO at Ingevity

Turning to slide six. These charts highlight our continued focus on strengthening the balance sheet and generating cash. Beginning with the chart on the left, free cash flow, excluding the litigation settlement payment made this quarter, was approximately $89 million. Free cash flow per share increased to $2.52. Compared to the prior year, the improvement was driven by stronger earnings, lower interest expense resulting from debt reduction, and reduced restructuring spending.

Phil Platt
Phil Platt
CFO at Ingevity

Capital expenditures remained disciplined at approximately $10 million. Turning to net leverage, trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA increased to approximately $403 million, while net leverage improved to 2.5x. As a result, we have reached the upper end of our target leverage range outlined during the strategic portfolio update. We also repurchased $35 million of shares during the quarter, leaving approximately $211 million available under our current authorization.

Phil Platt
Phil Platt
CFO at Ingevity

As Dave mentioned, we remain fully committed to the $300 million share repurchase plan that we announced last December while continuing to maintain our leverage objectives. Let's turn to the segment results, beginning with Performance Materials on slide seven. Performance Materials delivered another strong quarter and remains a highly differentiated business, with industry-leading profitability and growth opportunities in both automotive and in higher-value filtration applications.

Phil Platt
Phil Platt
CFO at Ingevity

Sales increased 4% to $161 million, driven by higher volumes, favorable mix, and annual pricing actions. The continued shift in consumer preference towards hybrid vehicles, which utilize more advanced and higher-value carbon solutions, further supported both growth in revenue and profitability. Segment EBITDA increased 6% to $86 million, and EBITDA margins expanded to 53.6% as higher volumes, improved price and mix, and stronger plant utilization more than offset higher SG&A spending.

Phil Platt
Phil Platt
CFO at Ingevity

Demand remained solid throughout the quarter, supporting efficient plant utilization and inventory levels that remained largely unchanged from the first quarter. For the remainder of the year, we expect plant utilization to normalize, reflecting lower expected auto production, as well as the execution of planned maintenance outages. While this dynamic benefited second quarter profitability, it represents a timing shift that is reflected in our expectations for the back half of this year. Let's turn to slide eight. Beginning this quarter, we have renamed the Performance Chemicals segment to Pavement Technologies, following the completion of the Road Markings divestiture on April 15th.

Phil Platt
Phil Platt
CFO at Ingevity

Reported sales declined 22% as a result of the divestiture. Excluding Road Markings, sales increased 3% as favorable pricing and volume growth drove stronger performance in the remaining business. Growth was led by North America and was partially offset by softer demand in China and South America as higher asphalt prices impacted project costs and drove project delays. Segment EBITDA declined by $3.4 million due to the absence of approximately $6 million of Road Markings earnings included in the prior year period.

Phil Platt
Phil Platt
CFO at Ingevity

Segment EBITDA decline was partially offset by improved pricing and volumes in the core Pavement Technologies business. Overall, excluding the impact of the Road Markings divestiture, both sales and EBITDA increased year-over-year, and EBITDA margin expanded 300 basis points to 24.4%, highlighting the improved earnings profile of the remaining Pavement Technologies business. Let's turn to slide nine. Advanced Polymer Technologies delivered meaningful year-over-year improvement during the quarter, reflecting the benefits of a more favorable product mix and higher asset utilization.

Phil Platt
Phil Platt
CFO at Ingevity

Sales increased 14% to $49 million, benefiting from pricing surcharges and improved mix towards higher value derivative products. As a reminder, the pricing surcharges were implemented in response to higher raw material and energy costs following the conflict in the Middle East. Segment EBITDA increased to $11 million from $2 million a year ago, and EBITDA margin improved to 22.7%. The improvement reflects a favorable product mix, higher plant utilization, and the absence of the operational downtime associated with the boiler installation project that impacted results in 2025.

Phil Platt
Phil Platt
CFO at Ingevity

Results also benefited from competitor supply disruptions resulting from the Middle East conflict that began in the late part of the first quarter of this year. In summary, we continue to demonstrate our ability to execute our portfolio simplification strategy, while delivering solid operating performance. We are focused on maximizing value through commercial and operational excellence and remain committed to our capital allocation strategy. With that, I'll turn the call back to Dave to discuss our updated outlook.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

Thanks, Phil. Turning to slide 10, the strength and consistency of our first half performance gives us confidence to raise our outlook for the full year. Performance Materials continues to deliver exceptional profitability, supported by healthy demand and favorable product mix. As I mentioned earlier, we continue to benefit from the structural shift toward hybrid vehicles, which requires increasingly advanced carbon solutions. Pavement Technologies continues to perform well, and Advanced Polymer Technologies has improved meaningfully from last year.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

Collectively, these results reinforce our confidence that the business we are building is capable of delivering more durable and predictable earnings, stronger cash generation, and attractive returns across a variety of market conditions. Our updated outlook reflects the strength of our first half execution and financial results across the company. As we project our second half outlook, there are a few factors that we expect to influence the cadence of results.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

First, we will execute planned maintenance outages at two of our Performance Materials facilities. Second, auto production in North America is expected to be weaker in the back half of the year. Lastly, the macroeconomic environment remains dynamic. As a result, we are increasing our adjusted EBITDA and EPS guidance. We now expect adjusted EBITDA of $380 million-$400 million and adjusted earnings per share of $5-$5.45. The EBITDA outlook represents a 5% increase over prior year at the midpoint, which is in line or slightly ahead of expectations discussed at our strategic portfolio update in December.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

Additionally, we are raising the low end of our free cash flow guidance. Our free cash flow range is now $220 million-$245 million, as improved earnings are partially offset by higher inventory levels to support our customers amid strong demand in automotive end markets and seasonal inventory build in pavement. Advanced Polymer Technologies remains included in our reported results and guidance. As I noted earlier, the sale process continues to progress well and is now in an advanced stage, and our guidance does not assume any proceeds from a potential transaction.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

We are also encouraged by the progress of several organic growth initiatives that leverage our technology leadership in activated carbon materials. During the quarter, we secured our first municipal water treatment contract for PFAS filtration. This represents an encouraging early milestone provides commercial validation that our technology can deliver meaningful customer value and clear differentiation in the attractive water treatment market.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

While still early in its development, we believe filtration has the potential to become an important long-term growth driver for Ingevity. We expect to share more over time as we continue advancing both the technology and commercial development of this opportunity. Beyond filtration, we continue advancing attractive opportunities in warm mix asphalt technologies and energy storage, further diversifying our long-term organic growth profile. In closing, we are building a stronger, higher quality Ingevity. One with a more focused portfolio, more durable earnings, multiple organic growth vectors, and disciplined capital allocation. We believe those characteristics position us to create sustainable long-term shareholder value. With that, I'll turn it over for questions.

Operator

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Jon Tanwanteng with CJS Securities. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Lee Jagoda
Lee Jagoda
Analyst at CJS Securities

Hey, it's actually Lee Jagoda for John. Good morning.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

Morning.

Lee Jagoda
Lee Jagoda
Analyst at CJS Securities

I guess a couple questions on Performance Materials and then maybe one on the other segments. In terms of the Performance Materials, were the planned outages factored into the prior outlook in terms of the timing being in Q3?

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

Yeah, I'll let Phil take that one.

Phil Platt
Phil Platt
CFO at Ingevity

Yeah. Hey, Lee. Thanks for the question. Yes, those planned outages are already baked into the outlook that we previously provided.

Lee Jagoda
Lee Jagoda
Analyst at CJS Securities

Okay. Perfect. Just on the margins in that segment in general, a couple of questions. Obviously, really impressive performance in the quarter. How do we think about the short-term kind of margins relative to Q2? Assuming that the U.S. auto stuff is supposed to be down, so the geographic mix changes a little bit. Kind of medium term, as we think about margins starting to include some of the positive benefits from potentially this PFAS opportunity and or other opportunities. How does that change the margin structure in Performance Materials more structurally over time?

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

Yeah. Why don't I start, and then I'm sure Phil can pepper in some more details. First, we're really encouraged by the strong first half, and we saw both all the segments performing well. As to your question on the second half, Yes, we're watching all the industry forecasts and sort of the cadence of auto production is expected to be a bit softer in the second half, and obviously our sales would follow that. One of the things that we talked about and called out that I think is really going to be a more structural and enduring positive for us is this transition to hybrid.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

We saw that in the first quarter, we saw that continue in the second quarter. Seems like the hybrids, especially in North America, are really hitting a sweet spot for the consumer. Hybrids also require our most advanced carbon solutions and also produce a higher value product mix, so that's a real positive for us. As you mentioned, we saw some early commercial validation of our filtration opportunity. All of that we think is, in the mid-term, very positive for the Performance Materials margins. In the second half, we would expect likely some step back, just given the kind of cadence and plan outages that Phil mentioned. What would you say, Phil?

Phil Platt
Phil Platt
CFO at Ingevity

Lee, I'd point you to our commentary on slide 10 of the deck, where our expectation for the full year of 2026 is around mid-50s for that segment. To Dave's point, that would imply a slight pressure in the second half compared to the first half.

Lee Jagoda
Lee Jagoda
Analyst at CJS Securities

Sure. Great. One more on APT, if I can slip it in here. $11 million of quarterly EBITDA, really strong, nice improvement. I know it's being influenced by a couple of different factors. Can you kind of talk about or remind us if there's any seasonality in that business, or if that's the sort of run rate that that business is capable of in the environment that we're in right now going forward?

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

There's not really seasonality. We are coming off a trough in the last couple of years in terms of industrial demand. The team is doing a great job in a pretty volatile environment. We mentioned earlier, I think last quarter, that we actually saw some benefit from the Middle East conflict because some of our fellow suppliers had some supply challenges, so we were able to step in there and fill that supply need. I think that's normalized now. What we'd expect to see is more normalized trends going forward. The business has performed very strongly. We're encouraged by that. I think there's not really seasonality. We'd expect some more normalization through the year.

Lee Jagoda
Lee Jagoda
Analyst at CJS Securities

Sounds great. I will hop back in the queue.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

Thanks.

Operator

Your next call comes from the line of John McNulty with BMO. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

John McNulty
John McNulty
Analyst at BMO

Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Maybe two quick ones. On the road paving side or Pavement Technologies, I think in the prepared remarks, you commented on rising asphalt prices and the potential that it may impact road spending. Is it fair to assume that anything that may get curtailed just because budgets are thin and things are getting a little bit trickier as people get to the end of the year because of raw material inflation and what have you, that spending likely gets pushed out just to the next year? It's not like the road is half paved and just is left there. Is that a fair way to think about it, or is this potentially an ongoing issue that may drag through 2027 as well if raws are difficult and budgets are still thin?

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

John. First, thanks for the question. Despite the challenging environment, we actually saw growth in pavement, absent the Markings, the [inaudible] In fact, Evotherm, the warm mix additive, grew 8% year-over-year. We're encouraged by that, and we still think there's a long runway for penetration of that technology. We did start to see some of that impact from the Middle East. The reality is, given the higher oil prices, asphalt prices are up almost 50%. We saw that most pronounced in the international opportunities.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

For example, China, although it's not a big part of our business, was down almost 80%. In North America, I think projects are still continuing to go through. Obviously if the environment remains elevated, you could see that start to impact the business, and that's all comprehended in our outlook. We saw it most pronounced in the international projects, less so in North America. Obviously, we're continuing to monitor that situation closely.

John McNulty
John McNulty
Analyst at BMO

Got it. Okay. Fair enough. Just a question in PM on the filtration initiative, and in particular, sounds like you landed something for the use of filtering PFAS out. As part of that, did you find, or did the customer find that your activated carbon solution is maybe better than the traditional carbon solution, I guess, or is it just, hey, look, you're a new entrant, you're more aggressively going after business and really chasing it down where maybe in the past you hadn't in certain areas, and this is just the first win, I guess. How should we think about that?

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

Thanks, John. We're really encouraged by that first win. We think it's a key milestone for us. It's a situation where we were not the low bidder for that opportunity. We were chosen because of the differentiation of our technology. I think as most know, this is a really fast-growing market, especially in the U.S., where many municipalities are looking to reach those expected requirements for PFAS.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

Our technology, as we continue in this discovery process, we believe offers customers an easy drop-in, and it's lower cost as well, and it's really good for taking out some of the larger molecules associated with PFAS. There is definitely some technology differentiation. We're continuing our efforts there. The team is doing a great job, and we're really excited. We think this is just the beginning for us.

John McNulty
John McNulty
Analyst at BMO

Got it. Thanks very much for the color.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

Thanks.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Daniel Rizzo with Jefferies. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Daniel Rizzo
Daniel Rizzo
Analyst at Jefferies

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. With the Road Markings business, you mentioned that North America is relatively strong despite some cost take-ups, but I think you said you saw some weakness in China and South America. I guess, how meaningful is that, though? I thought that you were mostly North American for this business, particularly after all the moves you guys have made.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

Yeah, you're right, Dan. Thanks for the question. I think that was one of the reasons why we're able to grow despite those headwinds. International is not the biggest part of that business, but it represents growth opportunities. As a reminder, we recently were regulated or got approval in Germany, so that was a good indication of the continued validation of the technology in Europe. I think what we'd say is that without those headwinds, the business would have grown even more strongly.

Daniel Rizzo
Daniel Rizzo
Analyst at Jefferies

Okay. That's helpful. With just looking at EBITDA margins broadly, you have maybe down the road some mixed headwinds from activated carbon, overall, it should continue to expand. I guess my question is that coming from just improved mix broadly and improved cost absorption Or are there other productivity moves you are making that are going to continue to bear fruit? Because you've done a lot already. I was wondering if the cost-cutting like aspect of it is kind of finished.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

Yeah, I'll let Phil take that one.

Phil Platt
Phil Platt
CFO at Ingevity

Yeah, you're talking specific to Performance Materials. Is that right?

Daniel Rizzo
Daniel Rizzo
Analyst at Jefferies

No. Just overall, actually.

Phil Platt
Phil Platt
CFO at Ingevity

Well, part of the margin uplift you're seeing is the removal of Road Markings, which we said was near zero EBITDA. That's a benefit there. I'd love to talk about it, but we did have some stranded costs that were left over from our Industrial Specialties sale, as well as the Road Markings sale. As a reminder, that was about $20 million. What we said is we expect to eliminate at least $15 million of that. Happy to report through Q2, we've eliminated $10 million of that. There is some cost benefit that we're seeing. Really what you're seeing a lot in the margin uplift is really the mix in Performance Materials and our ability to run the plants at really high throughputs.

Daniel Rizzo
Daniel Rizzo
Analyst at Jefferies

Okay. All right. Thank you very much.

Operator

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call back to Dave Li for closing remarks.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

Thank you again for joining us today. As we conclude, I leave you with five key takeaways. First, our portfolio transformation is nearing completion and continues to improve the quality of our portfolio and sharpen our strategic focus. Second, our core businesses continue to demonstrate resilient margins and strong cash generation across a dynamic operating environment. Third, our first-half performance demonstrates the durability and resilience of the business and the strength of our execution.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

This is reflected in our margin expansion, strong cash generation, and increased full-year guidance. Fourth, disciplined capital allocation remains a priority. We're investing in high-return growth opportunities with minimal capital investment, strengthening our balance sheet, and returning meaningful capital to shareholders.

Dave Li
Dave Li
CEO and President at Ingevity

To wrap up, we are delivering on the commitments we set out in our strategic portfolio update and remain on track to achieve our financial commitments. We are building a stronger, higher quality Ingevity with a more focused portfolio, differentiated technology positions, expanded earnings power, and financial flexibility to create long-term value for our shareholders. Thank you again for your interest and support of Ingevity. With that, we'll conclude today's call.

Operator

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

Executives
    • Mickey Walsh
      Mickey Walsh
      Head of Investor Relations
    • Dave Li
      Dave Li
      CEO and President
    • Phil Platt
      Phil Platt
      CFO
Analysts
Powered by Quartr