Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Kevin Crutchfield: As our base case heading into this year on the order of magnitude of that $5 million is what we’ve got baked in. And the extent to which that improves is a function of the timing of when Fortress receives its first base allocation. And so to the extent that that happens this side of the wildfire season and we’re able to execute then you could see that drag, I would say, diminish. As you think about the future, I go back and say, we think the overall profit pool here is in that $90 million to $100 million range. And so — and as much as it is our objective to get a very substantial portion of this market, whether it’d be 30%, 40%, 50%, you can do the math on the implications of that on our EBITDA, which is pretty substantial. And so we won’t speculate about base allocations and our success, but the size of the prize is pretty significant.

Unidentified Analyst: And then could you also please just explain what’s going on with the higher tax rate this year and what would a normalized tax rate look like for 2024?

Kevin Crutchfield: So in terms of taxes, our tax rate is higher despite our profitability being lower. And that’s a result of really our earnings mix. If you think about our guidance today or our outlook today, we’re really not taking down salt very much. And a lot of that profitability happens in Canada where we have some of our higher tax rates. What we’re taking down largely is plant nutrition, which a lot of that profitability occurs in the United States where we project that we’ll have losses in the United States, and as a result, we won’t be able to take those losses as a deduction. And so that’s why the numerator there is sticky and despite the profitability going down. And so on a normalized basis, from a cash tax perspective, I would say something in that 25% range is a good number to use from a cash flow perspective on a normalized basis.

Unidentified Analyst: And then one more if I can. Just seeing that GM is now willing to pay upfront in terms of pre and payment and equity stakes and US lithium assets, does that make Compass want to reassess its current MOUs or does the DLE process need to be proven out a little bit more before the company could pursue some upfront capital?

Lorin Crenshaw: I missed the very first part of that question. Would you mind repeating it?

Unidentified Analyst: So just seeing that GM is now willing to pay upfront for prepayments and equity stakes in US lithium assets, does that make Compass want to reassess its current MOUs or does the DLE process just need to be proven out a little bit more?

Lorin Crenshaw: I mean, I think the bottom line around that investment is that’s quite compelling news, and I think it’s just a testament to how much people want North American sourced lithium in the future. And it’s a testament that one of the iconic car brands in the US is willing to write a check of that size. But as it relates to our, I’ll take agreements. I mean, we’re certainly open to various structures. We have one that’s in the bag already with LGES that we’ve talked about, and we continue to prosecute the second one with another iconic car brand here in the US, and would hope to have that resolved in the next few weeks. But I think the agreements that we are working on, and Ryan and Chris are in the room, they could add some additional color. But I think we’re pleased with our agreements the way they’re structured and the potential profit pool that that’ll create for us in the future. Would you want to add anything to that, Ryan?