Stepan Company (NYSE:SCL) Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call July 26, 2023 9:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Luis Rojo - VP & CFO
Scott Behrens - CEO, President & Director
Conference Call Participants
Michael Harrison - Seaport Research Partners
Vincent Anderson - Stifel, Nicolaus & Company
Dave Storms - Stonegate
David Silver - CL King & Associates
Operator
Good day, and thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Q2 2023 Stepan Company Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions].
I would now like to introduce your host for today's call, Luis Rojo, CFO. Please go ahead.
Luis Rojo
Good morning, and thank you for joining Stepan Company's Second Quarter 2023 Financial Review. Before we begin, please note that information in this conference call contain forward-looking statements. which are not historical facts. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to, prospects for our foreign operations, global and regional economic conditions and factors detailed in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Whether you are joining us online or over the phone, we encourage you to review the investor slide presentation, which we have made available at www.stepan.com on the divestor section of our website. We make these slides available at approximately the same time as when the earnings release is issued, and we hope that you find the information perspective helpful. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Scott Behrens, our President and Chief Executive Officer.
Scott Behrens
Good morning, and thank you for joining us today to discuss our second quarter results. I plan to share highlights from our second quarter performance. I will also share updates on our key strategic priorities while Luis will provide additional details on our financial results. The company reported second quarter adjusted net income of $12.1 million. Earnings were significantly impacted by a 19% decline in sales volume versus the all-time record prior year second quarter due to continued demand softness across most of our markets and continued inventory destocking in certain market channels.
In the second quarter, margins in our Surfactant and Polymer segments were only slightly lower versus prior year as a result of less favorable mix, while unit margins for Specialty Products were significantly lower versus prior year due to high-cost inventory and pricing pressure. Gradual volume improvement throughout the quarter within our rigid polyol business was more than offset by destocking activity within our agricultural business. Cash expenses were slightly lower versus prior year due to proactive head count and discretionary expense controls implemented earlier in the year and lower accruals for incentive-based compensation.