L.B. Foster Company (NASDAQ:FSTR) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

John Kasel: So we have — Bill and I, we have been saying now for — well, since it came out in what 14 months ago, we said that we weren’t expecting much in 2022, but we were expecting billings to start flowing through in 2023. We have seen only a small piece of that actually hitting our order book and coming through in billings. So we expect some of that still yet to come. But a lot of this pays to where we are at right now with our near record backlog of $272 million. Chris, that’s really put us in a strong position right now. So anything that’s going to be coming from the Infrastructure Bill, I think, will be — give us opportunity to maybe even — maybe hopefully be towards the top end of that range, but we will see how things come together here. Bill, anything you’d like to add there?

William Thalman: Yes. No. I would say that — yes, the Infrastructure Bill, activity has been increasing in terms of quotations, and we would expect to start to see some higher volumes coming through, maybe towards the back half of the year, and a continued run rate increase. The only other thing I would highlight is that there are some recessionary risks out there that create disruption. Obviously, there is interest rate headwinds and what have you. So we think these projects are going to get done and might be a bit more delayed than what we would have otherwise seen in past periods of time. But we feel confident that we will start to realize some more of those benefits towards the end of the year.

Chris Sakai: Okay. And last one for me. Your — the backlog and new orders increase in Coatings and Measurement, can you shed some light there? How do you see that playing out in 2023?

John Kasel: Yes. Thanks for the question. We did — we brought up in last quarter as said, we booked the Summit order, right, which was $19 million and was a big order for us to finish the year. As far as Summit itself, we are — ourselves as well as our partner, our in line partner ACIPCO, have scaled up produce that work. They’re running both of their steel mills today. And we have added about — we doubled our workforce in the recent two to three months, giving us opportunities to produce that, as well as we have seen a number of other pipeline coating jobs that have come through, that really make us feel that we are going to have a nice year in that business in 2023 and beyond, including starting to ship up to the Summit order.

Operator: And our next question comes from Brett Kearney of Gabelli.

Brett Kearney : Excellent. Probably just two quick ones. The recent announcement of the FUCHS partnership, can you just talk about the evolution of that, and I guess what it unlocks for both of the organizations?

John Kasel: We’re kind of the brand leader, if you will, in the friction management business. And it’s about standing that cutting edge. So we’ve been looking for a channel partner to help us on the R&D side, the chemistry side, as well as take some of our products across the globe, specifically in Western Europe, and the FUCHS is a perfect partner, channel partner as well as R&D partner to make that happen. So there’s a lot of collaboration that’s going on for the last, I’d say 1 year, 18 months. We signed a deal with them not that long ago. I’m going to be heading over there shortly to meet with the CEO of FUCHS. And we’re very excited about the opportunities it’s going to do to make our — I guess, our footprint, if you will, and our opportunity to bring more of the innovation technology to the rail space specifically in Western Europe.

We are very excited about that. So that’s about all I care to say about that today. But look for more things coming out of that collaboration cooperate-ship over the years to come.