Olin Corporation (NYSE:OLN) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Todd Slater : Yes. Thanks for the question, Mike. Yes, you’re right on the onetime items. There are basically $80 million of cash taxes that are inflating our — the tax number on that slide. So more normalized is in that 25-ish percent range. And then there is a peak level of payments for some power supply contracts this year. So you’re right on, on the one-timers. When we think of those joint ventures, the investments during 2023 probably are less than $50 million. And so therefore, when you think about that cash flow, we can really be deployed for share repurchases.

Operator: Our next question will come from Matthew Blair with TPH.

Matthew Blair: Your EBITDA in Q4 was down by about $100 million. Do you have a breakout on just the moving parts here, like how much would you attribute to destocking, how much to seasonality and I think you had some turnaround activity, too. So was that material?

Scott Sutton : Well, I mean we’ve quit calling out a turnaround activity as we sort of leveled that across quarters. So it’s really a nonissue and any variability of our earnings going forward. I mean, look, most of that decline, you called it out well. It was a big decline. Most of that decline is from our own actions to make sure that we get set up to have the right shoulder coming out of this recession and make sure that we the highest 12-month trough result that we can going forward. The other things that you mentioned are really just drivers of that. Yes, there’s some level of destocking. But yes, demand still doesn’t look great. In fact, there’s really suspended demand still in China and still in Europe.

Todd Slater : If you think about it, all 3 — if you think about all 3 businesses year-over-year in the fourth quarter, volumes were down significantly. I know in the press release…

Operator: One moments as we reconnect the speaker line.

Todd Slater : Matthew, sorry, we got cut off again, maybe the fourth time will be the end of it. What I had said was if you look at all 3 businesses, volumes are down year-over-year in the fourth quarter, 29% chlor alkali, 36% epoxy, clearly, Winchester was down . But offsetting that to a big extent as well, was improved pricing across the board in all 3 businesses.

Matthew Blair: Got it. And on caustic exports, so some spot prices in Asia for caustic have started to roll over. Is that filtering into your U.S. caustic export pricing yet and just how would you characterize demand and volumes for your U.S. caustic exports?

Scott Sutton : Yes. I mean, this is Scott. I mean, look, I mean, there’s going to be impacts from that, of course. I mean, I would characterize demand generally not great. But it’s not isolated demand on cost. What it is, is the relative demand strength between caustic and the chlorine side of the ECU. And I would say those imbalances keep in place and keep forming. So even though demand may come down, it’s not necessarily an indicator that our direct results follow that.

Operator: Our next question will come from Angel Castillo with Morgan Stanley.

Angel Castillo : Just wanted to get I guess, level set you used to give sensitivities for your key products in your slides. And as we think about how the world has evolved, both your chlorine ratchet pricing strategy as well as just your hedging strategy around natural gas. Could you just update us on what — as we think about those key commodities, whether it’s chlorine and caustic or inputs like natural gas. Where are the key sensitivities for that from an EBITDA per kind of MMBtu or dollar per metric ton basis.

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