Vertex Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VTNR) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call August 8, 2024 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Chris Delange - IR Coordinator
Ben Cowart - Chairman and CEO
Doug Haugh - Chief Commercial Officer
Chris Carlson - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Operator

Good morning. I would like to welcome everyone to Vertex Energy's Second Quarter 2024 Conference Call.

I will now turn the call over to Chris Delange, IR Coordinator.

Chris Delange

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Vertex Energy's second quarter 2024 conference call. On the call today are Chairman and CEO Ben Cowart, Chief Financial Officer Chris Carlson, Interim Chief Operating Officer and Chief Commercial Officer Doug Haugh, and Chief Strategy Officer Alvaro Ruiz.

I want to remind you that management's commentary on today's conference call may include forward-looking statements which, by their nature, are uncertain and outside of the company's control. Although these forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs, actual results may differ materially. For a discussion of some of the risk factors that could cause actual results to differ, please refer to the risk factors section of Vertex Energy's latest annual and quarterly filings with the SEC.

Additionally, please note that you can find reconciliations of the historical non-GAAP financial measures discussed during our call in the press release issued today. Today's call will begin with remarks from Ben Cowart, followed by an operational review from Doug Haugh, financial review from Chris Carlson, and closing remarks by Ben Cowart. With that, I'll turn the call over to Ben.

Ben Cowart

Thank you, Chris. Good morning to those joining us. On the call today, the team and I plan to update you on the financial and operating results for the second quarter 2024, as well as update you on the progress around the hydrocracker conversion from renewable feedstock to conventional, and outline some strategic steps that we've taken to help Vertex navigate the current near-term landscape.

The second quarter saw a difficult macroeconomic environment where crack spreads fell by 28% compared to the first quarter. And despite doing a lot of good things operationally, the lower-pricing environment negatively impacted our financial performance. We maintained our commitment to safe and reliable operations. We saw absolute operating expenses decrease by 6% quarter-over-quarter and 12% year-over-year, which shows our continued commitment to reducing costs, expanding margins in areas that we can control, and operating efficiently.