TimkenSteel Corp (NYSE:TMST) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call May 5, 2023 9:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Jennifer Beeman - Senior Manager, Communications & IR
Michael Williams - CEO, President & Director
Kristopher Westbrooks - EVP & CFO
Conference Call Participants
John Franzreb - Sidoti & Company
Philip Gibbs - KeyBanc Capital Markets
David Storms - Stonegate Capital Markets
Operator
Thank you for standing by. My name is Briana, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the First Quarter 2023 TimkenSteel Corporation Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions].
I will now turn the call over to Jennifer Beeman, you may begin your conference.
Jennifer Beeman
Good morning, and welcome to TimkenSteel's First Quarter 2023 Conference Call. I'm Jennifer Beeman, Director of Communications and Investor Relations for TimkenSteel. Joining me today is Mike Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer; Kris Westbrooks, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Kevin Raketich, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. You all should have received a copy of our press release, which was issued last night.
During today's conference call, we may make forward-looking statements as defined by the SEC. Our actual results may differ materially from those projected or implied due to a variety of factors, which we describe in greater detail in yesterday's release. Please refer to our SEC filings, including our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and the list of factors included in our earnings release, all of which are available on the TimkenSteel website. Where non-GAAP financial information is referenced, additional details and reconciliations to its GAAP equivalents are also included in the earnings release.
With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Mike. Mike?
Michael Williams
Good morning, and thank you all for joining us on this call today. Our relentless focus on enhancing productivity and prioritizing safety in our melt shop operations contributed to strong progress in the first quarter of 2023. We expect this momentum to continue into the second quarter.
During the first quarter, we experienced a 35% increase in shipments, combined with strong base pricing, which resulted in improved profitability compared with the fourth quarter of 2022.
I'd like to express my gratitude to all of our teams for their hard work. Turning to safety. While we know that improving safety is a journey, we have observed positive trends during the first quarter. Our teams are actively engaged in continuous improvement activities, and is encouraging to see that our safety training is starting to make a difference. As I have reiterated on numerous occasions our commitment to safety remains unwavering. And we plan to invest approximately $7 million in company-wide training, new equipment and enhanced safety practices, processes and programs in 2023 to create a sustainable safety culture.