Unidentified Analyst: Okay. Now, I know last year was spent with streamlining tubular operations with Munhall being cut out and things being streamlined over at Bristol. So is there a lot of work left with Tubular to get that coming along? Or is that something where we can begin to see some profitability rather quickly?
Bryan Kitchen: Yeah, really, there’s kind of two to three main areas where we’re focusing our time and energy right now, David, with respect to tubular. I mean, beyond stabilization, a couple of key components for us as we think about stabilization is cost reduction, right? So there is still a significant amount of cost that can be extracted out of that business and given back to net income. And we believe that that can happen in the near term. So we’re working feverishly on pulling those levers without jeopardizing safety or compliance. But yeah, in the near future, look to seeing those benefits. The other area that we’re working hard on is what I would call core product line management. So taking a really deep analytical look at, the products that we’re making and where are we making money and where are we not making money?
That analysis has not been complete yet, but we look for it to be completed inside of the second quarter, along with actions being taken as a result of that.
Unidentified Analyst: Okay. And now you mentioned in the comments and in Vincent’s questions, talking a little bit about branded product with the Chemical segment. Is that the same as proprietary product that the company has been working on for the last couple of years? That you can — it’s something that would have a higher margin. Is that something that — is that the focus when you’re talking about branded products?
Bryan Kitchen: Correct.
Unidentified Analyst: Okay.
Bryan Kitchen: And again, from a branded product or proprietary product perspective, we have, again, in our portfolio today, a set of branded products that can be taken out into a wide array of different markets. And we can do that without significant R&D dollars being invested into it. So existing products into existing markets, into existing applications.
Unidentified Analyst: Okay, good. I think one of the biggest challenges that I’ve seen since 2020, since the Board was refreshed, is just turnover on the management team. There’s been promises, I would say, maybe limited follow through, just no one sticking around to see results. And it’s always six months away, the results. So you think that you and — Bryan and Ryan can do something special with what we have, with just the assets that we have without even acquisition? So that we look back in a couple of years and we have something special here.
Bryan Kitchen: Yeah, this is Bryan. So from my perspective, the answer is absolutely yes. I mean, Ryan and I have worked together for a number of years, outside of Ascent. And we’ve been a part of turnarounds in the past. I firmly believe that we can build something incredibly special within the existing asset base. I’m a big believer in organic growth. I’m a big believer in unleashing the fullest potential of the enterprise. And in order to do that, you’ve got to get the best talent on the planet, working together and making each other better every single day. And we’re starting to build that momentum, David, right? We’re just starting to build that momentum. And it’s really exciting to see what’s happening and what we believe will continue to happen in the near term.
Unidentified Analyst: Okay. Good to hear. And then, I know with M&A, it’s, months off, whatever, but I guess my question is, is there a risk that as you build a foundation in chemicals and get, tubular, streamlined, whatever, that the pricing, you could miss an opportunity? Because the chemical market recovers and now all of a sudden we’re paying more for an acquisition.
Bryan Kitchen: Sure, David, I would say that that is a risk, but I would also say that, our efforts towards, fixing the foundation, right, to stabilizing the enterprise, that’s going to have a massive ROI in the future, especially as we look at integrating properties down the road. If we were to go out and acquire a company today, we would not get the full benefit of contemplated synergies.
Unidentified Analyst: Okay. Yeah. So looking kind of my rough math, it looks like in the last two years, ’22 and ’23, there was about $2.6 million spent on buybacks, 253,000 shares bought at an average cost of $10.27, according to my records. So it would seem like the $10 range is the — do you still feel like it’s a good deal considering what we have in front of us, earnings power ahead of us?
Ben Rosenzweig: Yeah, I mean, David, it’s Ben. So I think the most important thing is to not be dogmatic about things like this, right? We live in a dynamic environment and information is very fluid. So we’re constantly reassessing. So it’s not just something where I said, we picked, 10 or 11 bucks a share, call it two years ago when we started buying back stock, and that’s just going to be our number into the future. We’re constantly processing the information we have. We get the real-time readouts of what the businesses are doing and we act on that information. I think you can see just in the past quarter, we have been buyers of the stock, I think, an average price of high nines or so. So that’ll give you some insight into where we believe the intrinsic value is very recently, a good deal north of that. But we’re going to continue to be flexible. And obviously we think that there’s the potential for that to be very accretive use of our capital.
Unidentified Analyst: Yeah. And obviously with no debt, you do have firepower.
Ben Rosenzweig: That’s right.
