Ecovyst Inc. (NYSE:ECVT) Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call November 2, 2023 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Gene Shiels - Director of Investor Relations

Kurt Bitting - Chief Executive Officer

Michael Feehan - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

John McNulty - BMO Capital Markets

Aleksey Yefremov - KeyBanc Capital

Hamed Khorsand - BWS Financial

Daniel Rizzo - Jefferies

David Silver - CL King

Operator

Good morning. My name is Travis and I will be your conference operator today. Welcome to the Ecovyst Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Call and Webcast. Please note today's call is being recorded and should run approximately one hour. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to turn the call over to Gene Shiels, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Gene Shiels

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to the Ecovyst third quarter 2023 earnings call. With me on the call this morning are Kurt Bitting, Ecovyst's Chief Executive Officer; and Mike Feehan, Ecovyst's Chief Financial Officer. Following our prepared remarks this morning, we'll take your questions.

Please note that some of the information shared today is forward-looking information, including information about the company's financial and operating performance strategies, our anticipated end-use demand trends and our 2023 financial outlook. This information is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results and the implementation of the company's plans to vary materially. Any forward-looking information shared today speaks only as of this date. These risks are discussed in the company's filings with the SEC. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures mentioned in today's call with their corresponding GAAP measures can be found in the earnings release and the presentation materials posted in the Investors section of our website at Ecovyst.com.

I'll now turn the call over to Kurt Bitting.

Kurt Bitting

Thank you, Gene and good morning. I am pleased with Ecovyst's performance in the third quarter. Against the backdrop of an evolving and an uncertain macro environment, Ecovyst delivered solid results for the third quarter of 2023. Ecovyst also made good progress on several key strategic initiatives, including launching our operational and reliability enhancement program, announcing a major expansion for our Kansas City Silica Catalyst plant and rebranding our zeolite products to highlight our differentiated technology in emerging areas such as renewables and plastic circularity.

During the third quarter, demand across the majority of our end-use exposures remained stable. In our Ecoservices business, high utilization rates for our refining customers continued to drive demand for our regeneration services. While in our virgin sulfuric acid business, our broad exposure to a variety of industrial applications provided a level of stability in the quarter. However, as anticipated on our second quarter earnings call in early August, our third quarter sales of virgin sulfuric acid reflected weaker demand for oleum and high-purity grades of sulfuric acid utilized in the production of caprolactam and other nylon intermediates.