SunCoke Energy Q2 2026 Earnings Report

SunCoke Energy EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.15
• Consensus EPS: $0.08
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.08
• One Year Ago EPS: $0.02

SunCoke Energy Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $475.30 million
• Expected Revenue: $445.20 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$30.10 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: +9.50%

SunCoke Energy Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2026
• Date: 7/30/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, July 30, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 11:00AM ET

SunCoke Energy (NYSE:SXC) is an independent producer of metallurgical coke, a carbon-based material used by integrated steelmakers in blast-furnace steel production. The company operates coke-making facilities that convert coal into coke while capturing and using the heat generated during the process to produce electricity and steam.

In addition to coke production, SunCoke provides coal-handling and logistics services. Its operations include coal terminals, blending and handling facilities, and other infrastructure that supports the movement of coal and coke for steel and industrial customers. The company’s logistics activities serve domestic supply chains and provide access to rail, river, and marine transportation networks.

SunCoke was established as an independent publicly traded company through its 2011 separation from Sunoco, Inc. Its principal operations and customer relationships are concentrated in the United States, particularly in regions associated with steel production and coal transportation. The company’s business is organized around long-term relationships with steelmakers and other industrial customers that rely on consistent supplies of coke and related logistics services.

SunCoke Energy Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: SunCoke reported second-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $69.6 million, up from $43.6 million year over year, and raised full-year 2026 consolidated adjusted EBITDA guidance to $250 million–$265 million.
• Positive Sentiment: Domestic coke performance benefited from improved coal-to-coke yields, while the Middletown turbine returned to service in May. Management raised full-year domestic coke adjusted EBITDA guidance to $172 million–$178 million, supported by a full second-half contribution from power generation and expected insurance proceeds.
• Neutral Sentiment: Industrial services adjusted EBITDA rose to $34.4 million from $7.7 million, helped by Phoenix and higher terminal volumes. However, management characterized the second quarter as “extraordinary,” citing one-time slag sales and unusually strong terminal activity, and expects volumes to normalize in the second half; full-year segment guidance was raised to $110 million–$115 million.
• Positive Sentiment: The company said it is sold out for 2026 and expects strong operating performance across both segments. SunCoke ended the quarter with $207 million of liquidity, plans to use free cash flow for debt reduction, and declared its 28th consecutive quarterly dividend of $0.12 per share.

Presentation

[Operator]

Welcome to the SunCoke Energy second quarter 2026 earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. I'll now turn the conference over to Sharon Doyle, Manager, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

[Sharon Doyle, Manager of Investor Relations and Treasury at SunCoke Energy]

Thank you. Good morning, thank you for joining us this morning to discuss SunCoke Energy's second quarter 2026 results. With me today are Katherine Gates, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Shantanu Agrawal, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. This conference call is being webcast live on the investor relations section of our website, and a replay will be available later today. Following management's prepared remarks, we will open the call for Q&A.

[Sharon Doyle, Manager of Investor Relations and Treasury at SunCoke Energy]

If we do not get to your questions on the call today, please feel free to reach out to our investor relations team. Before I turn things over to Katherine, let me remind you that the various remarks we make on today's call regarding future expectations constitute forward-looking statements.

[Sharon Doyle, Manager of Investor Relations and Treasury at SunCoke Energy]

The cautionary language regarding forward-looking statements in our SEC filings apply to the remarks we make today. These documents are available on our website as are reconciliations to non-GAAP financial measures discussed on today's call. With that, I'll now turn things over to Katherine.

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

Thanks, Sharon. Good morning, thank you for joining us on today's call. This morning, we announced SunCoke Energy's second quarter results. I want to share a few highlights before turning it over to Shantanu to discuss the results in detail. We're very pleased with our second quarter results with strong consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $69.6 million.

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

Our industrial services segment delivered the highest adjusted EBITDA since the acquisition of Phoenix, with substantially higher handling volumes at our terminals as compared to the prior year period. Our domestic coke segment benefited from favorable coal-to-coke yields, and the Middletown turbine was returned to service with power production resuming in May. Earlier today, we also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.12 per share payable to shareholders on September 2nd, 2026. This is our 28th consecutive quarterly dividend.

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

While the dividend is evaluated on a quarterly basis by our board, we expect the dividend to continue as part of our well-balanced capital allocation strategy. As previously discussed in our first quarter earnings call, we are running at full capacity and sold out for the full year. We expect continued strong operating performance for both business segments, and with a solid outlook through the second half of the year, we are increasing our full year 2026 consolidated adjusted EBITDA guidance range to $250 million-$265 million.

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

With that, I'll turn it over to Shantanu to review our second quarter earnings in detail. Shantanu?

[Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO at SunCoke Energy]

Thanks, Katherine. Turning to slide four. Net income attributable to SunCoke was $0.15 per share in the second quarter of 2026, up $0.13 versus the prior year period. The increase was primarily driven by the addition of Phoenix results and higher terminal handling volumes. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter of 2026 was $69.6 million, compared to $43.6 million in the prior year period.

[Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO at SunCoke Energy]

The increase in adjusted EBITDA was primarily driven by the addition of Phoenix, higher terminal handling volumes, and favorable coal-to-coke yields, partially offset by lower coke sales volumes due to the Haverhill one shutdown and higher employee expense accrual driven by the company's strong financial performance. Moving to slide five to discuss our domestic coke business performance in detail.

[Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO at SunCoke Energy]

Second quarter domestic coke adjusted EBITDA was $42.5 million, and coke sales volumes were 878,000 tons compared to $40.5 million and 943,000 tons in the prior year period. The increase in adjusted EBITDA was primarily driven by favorable coal-to-coke yields due to improved operating conditions, partially offset by lower coke sales volumes due to the Haverhill one shutdown.

[Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO at SunCoke Energy]

We are pleased with the improvement in our coke operations during the second quarter and with the return of power production at Middletown earlier than anticipated. We expect this strong operational performance to continue throughout the second half of the year and are increasing our full-year domestic coke adjusted EBITDA guidance range to $172 million-$178 million. Moving on to slide six to discuss our industrial services results.

[Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO at SunCoke Energy]

Our industrial services segment generated $34.4 million of adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter of 2026, compared to $7.7 million in the prior year period. The increase in adjusted EBITDA was primarily driven by the addition of Phoenix results and higher terminal handling volumes. Second quarter total terminals handling volumes were 6.7 million tons, and steel customer volumes serviced were 5.8 million tons.

[Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO at SunCoke Energy]

We are increasing our full year 2026 industrial services adjusted EBITDA guidance range to $110 million-$115 million, driven by continued solid outlook for the second half of the year. Turning to slide seven to discuss our liquidity position for Q2. SunCoke ended the second quarter with a cash balance of $42.7 million and revolver availability of $164.5 million, representing ample liquidity of $207 million.

[Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO at SunCoke Energy]

Net cash used in operating activities was $27.2 million and was negatively impacted by the timing of approximately $65 million of cash receipts at the quarter end, which were subsequently received in July. We expect operating cash flow to normalize over the remainder of the year and are increasing our full-year operating cash flow guidance to $240 million-$260 million. During the quarter, we used $6.5 million for debt paydown, spent $15.9 million on CapEx, and paid $10.2 million in dividends at the rate of $0.12 per share.

[Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO at SunCoke Energy]

SunCoke has a strong track record of generating steady free cash flow, and we expect the trend to continue throughout the year. As Katherine mentioned earlier, we intend to continue utilizing our free cash flow to pay down debt, as well as to reward our long-term shareholders via dividends, which is reviewed and approved on a quarterly basis by our board of directors. With that, I'll turn it back over to Katherine.

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

Thanks, Shantanu. Wrapping up on slide eight. As always, safety is our first priority, and our team remains committed to maintaining strong safety and environmental performance throughout the year. Robust safety and environmental standards set SunCoke apart and are central to our reliable delivery of high-quality coke and industrial services.

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

We continue to be confident in our operations for 2026 with our profitable long-term coke business underpinned by the three pillars of Indiana Harbor, Middletown, and Jewell Foundry, which have consistently delivered excellent performance and results. With our Haverhill two and Granite City coke making contracts in place and all spot blast and foundry coke sales finalized, we're sold out for the full year.

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

We also maintain a positive outlook for our industrial services segment. 2026 will benefit from a full year of Phoenix adjusted EBITDA, as well as solid market conditions at our terminals. As always, we take a balanced yet opportunistic approach to capital allocation. Our focus will remain on utilizing our free cash flow to support our capital allocation priorities, including paying down our revolver balance.

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

We also plan to continue returning capital via the quarterly dividend as approved by our board, which has always been well-received by our long-term shareholders. We continuously evaluate the capital needs of the business, our capital structure, and the need to reward our shareholders, and we'll make capital allocation decisions accordingly. We're committed to maximizing value for all of our stakeholders, which means operating and investing in our assets in the best and most efficient way possible.

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

We will continue to focus on maintaining the strength of our core businesses, as well as assessing new growth opportunities across all areas of our business. Overall, we see the strong fundamentals of our business and expect our 2026 results to be reflective of that. We are confident that we'll be able to deliver full-year consolidated adjusted EBITDA within our revised guidance range of $250 million-$265 million. Let's go ahead and open up the call for Q&A.

[Operator]

Thank you. If you have a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you wish to remove yourself from the queue, simply press star one again. Your first question comes from the line of Henry Hearle of B. Riley Securities. Your line is open.

[Henry Hearle, Analyst at B. Riley Securities]

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. Just to start off, in the domestic coke business, your adjusted EBITDA per ton was roughly $48.4, which is still slightly below your revised higher full-year guidance of $51-$52. Could you help us and walk through the drivers to achieve this higher EBITDA per ton in the second half of the year? Thanks.

[Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO at SunCoke Energy]

Thanks, Henry. Yeah, there are a couple of things in there. First, the Middletown turbine came back online late part of May. We still did not have the full benefit of the Middletown turbine power generation for the full quarter. You're going to see that in the third and the fourth quarter, the full turbine power generation from Middletown.

[Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO at SunCoke Energy]

The other piece, which is also included in the second half of the year, is the insurance recovery proceeds which we lost not having the turbine during the first half of the year. That is also built into our guidance for the second half.

[Henry Hearle, Analyst at B. Riley Securities]

Got it. Thanks, Shantanu. I believe your terminal handling volumes increased almost 20% quarter-over-quarter. What was kind of the main driver or drivers of that significant step-up?

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

This was really an extraordinary quarter for the terminals, as we've said. We see really a shift in the end of last year and even the beginning of this year. We saw that mismatch where you had higher domestic pricing for coal versus internationally, that has certainly shifted. I think that there's supply chain concern and energy concern with respect to the war in Iran that's probably driving some of these prices higher.

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

When the prices go higher, we see that higher volume come through the Gulf. Those things have all converged to really create a very strong second quarter for us.

[Henry Hearle, Analyst at B. Riley Securities]

Understood. Thank you, Katherine, for that color. I think in your prepared remarks, you said that terminal volumes are expected to see strong performance in the second half. Does that mean further growth or kind of remaining at those 2Q levels?

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

Yeah. Very good question. We see the second half as being strong, but I would refer to it as being strong as opposed to extraordinary. The second quarter, really several things converged across all of our terminals to give us those really high volumes that we're very pleased with. We feel very good about the second half, but I would expect those to normalize to what I would consider to be our normal kind of strong results in the second half.

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

That's really reflective when you look at the guidance that we're giving for industrial services on a full year basis.

[Henry Hearle, Analyst at B. Riley Securities]

Got it. Understood. I'll turn it over. Thanks, guys, and continued best of luck.

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

Thank you.

[Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO at SunCoke Energy]

Thanks, Henry.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Nathan Martin of The Benchmark Company. Your line is open.

[Nathan Martin, Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Thanks, operator. Good morning, everyone. Congrats on a strong quarter. Maybe just digging in a little bit more on that last question. You did raise, obviously, Industrial Services Segment guidance by what it looks like about $18 million or so at the midpoint. It actually implies, I guess, average adjusted EBITDA back down to about $26 million a quarter, in the back half. Am I thinking about that correctly? Just trying to, again, reconcile the implied half-over-half decline or is there maybe some conservatism built in?

[Nathan Martin, Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

I think you guys had previously guided to terminal volumes of 24 million tons and then Phoenix volumes of 22 million tons. Is that still what you're seeing for that segment or any other thoughts there would be great.

[Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO at SunCoke Energy]

Yeah, thanks, Nate. That's a great question. A couple of things, I think one thing in what happened in Q2, Katherine mentioned, right? We saw a significant amount of volumes come through in the terminals this quarter, right? If you look at our Q1 was pretty strong as well in the terminals with the 5.6 million kind of volumes, we did 6.6 million volume this quarter. I would say the run rate for the second half is somewhere in the middle of that, more closer to Q1, I would say.

[Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO at SunCoke Energy]

The other piece which really impacted and helped us in Q2 was some extraordinary kind of slag sales that we did on the Phoenix side of the business, which helped drive the number in Q2. These are more seasonal things that it happens in one quarter. You're handling the slag and then you sell those kind of slag into the market. It just depends on the timing, so that helps quite a bit in the Q2 and which should normalize out in Q3 and Q4. That's why kind of the full year guidance of $110 million-$115 million makes sense from that perspective.

[Nathan Martin, Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Okay, that's some good color, Shantanu. Appreciate that. With Phoenix, are you guys still thinking that $60 million adjusted EBITDA per year is a good way to think about that or have you been able to institute some cost savings initiatives, et cetera, or higher sales that might see some upside there?

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

With respect to the synergies that we expected to realize and we discussed previously the $5 million-$10 million of synergies, we have already achieved that this year. We have a good portion of the synergies this year, but we would expect to see full synergies in 2027. Certainly with respect to the integration of the business and the cost side of it, we are right where we expected to be. Operationally, things are just the same level of discipline, reliability, and rigor that we bring to Coke and Terminals we brought to Phoenix.

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

We're seeing that strong operational performance and coupling that with the mills and how they've been performing. You've seen that across the board in terms of results from our customers. We're having a very strong year for Phoenix, so I think that thinking about our original sort of $60 million-$61 million as sort of a baseline when we announced the acquisition of Phoenix, that is the baseline, but you're certainly seeing stronger performance this year due to our operational excellence coupled with the mill's strong performance.

[Nathan Martin, Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Got it, Katherine. Appreciate that. Maybe another question as it relates to covenant. Did you guys receive the price kicker there for the quarter based on where the FOB New Orleans index was? Are you assuming any benefit in the second half with those prices still elevated because of what's going on in the war in the Middle East?

[Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO at SunCoke Energy]

Yes. That's a great question. We changed the price index last year, it's FOB New Orleans. We did see the favorable impact of that, not to a great extent. We did see some impact I think two months out of the three this quarter. That price it's a mix of how the domestic producers are doing as well as kind of what the market looks like in Europe. We expect to see some benefit in Q3 as well. It can change pretty quickly.

[Nathan Martin, Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Okay. Got it, Shantanu. I just wanted to come back to the domestic coke side. You mentioned that insurance proceeds from Middletown are partly at least driving some of the higher expected adjusted EBITDA per ton in the back half. How much are those proceeds and how should we think about how that flows through?

[Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO at SunCoke Energy]

Nate, we are not laying out because it's just one plant and how much energy we're going to produce. If you think about it, what we said was in Q1, the impact of the turbine and the weather impact on Indiana Harbor and our other coke plants was around $10 million, right? We did not have power. You can think about it the way is that we did not have power for five months of the year, right? Roughly, if you can extrapolate that, model that out, that's kind of the insurance proceed that we need that is built into the second half of the year.

[Nathan Martin, Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Okay. Maybe we're thinking $5 million, kind of half that number or something like that since part of it was weather.

[Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO at SunCoke Energy]

That was just Q1, right? That continued into a good part of Q2 as well.

[Nathan Martin, Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Okay. Got it. All right. I'll leave it there. Appreciate the time, everybody, and best of luck in the second half.

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

Thank you.

[Operator]

With no further questions, I will now turn the call back over to CEO and President, Katherine Gates, for closing remarks.

[Katherine Gates, President and CEO at SunCoke Energy]

Thank you all for joining us this morning and for your continued interest in SunCoke. Let's continue to work safely today and every day.

[Operator]

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Sharon Doyle, Manager of Investor Relations and Treasury
• Katherine Gates, President and CEO
• Shantanu Agrawal, SVP and CFO

Analysts

• Henry Hearle, Analyst at B. Riley Securities
• Nathan Martin, Analyst at The Benchmark Company