Tronox Holdings plc (NYSE:TROX) Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call October 25, 2024 8:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Jennifer Guenther - IR
John D. Romano - CEO
John Srivisal - SVP and CFO

Conference Call Participants

John McNulty - BMO Capital Markets
Joshua Spector - UBS Investment Bank
David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank
Patrick Fischer - Goldman Sachs
John Roberts - Mizuho Securities
Jeffrey Zekauskas - J.P. Morgan Chase
Hassan Ahmed - Alembic Global Advisors
Michael Leithead - Barclays Bank
Roger Spitz - Bank of America Securities

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Tronox Holdings Plc Q3 2024 Earnings Call. At this time all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]. This call is being recorded on Friday, October 25, 2024. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jennifer Guenther, Chief Sustainability Officer, Head of Investor Relations and External Communications. Please go ahead.

Jennifer Guenther

Thank you and welcome to our third quarter 2024 conference call and webcast. Turning to Slide 2, on our call today are John Romano, Chief Executive Officer; and John Srivisal, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. We will be using slides as we move through today's call. You can access the presentation on our website at investor.tronox.com.

Moving to Slide 3. Friendly reminder that comments made on this call and the information provided in our presentation and on our website include certain statements that are forward-looking, and subject to various risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the specific factors summarized in our SEC filings. This information represents our best judgment based on what we know today. However, actual results may vary based on these risks and uncertainties. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

During the conference call, we will refer to certain non-U.S. GAAP financial terms that we use in the management of our business and believe are useful to investors in evaluating the company's performance. Reconciliations to their near U.S. GAAP terms are provided in our earnings release and in the appendix of the accompanying presentation. Additionally, please note that all financial comparisons made during the call are on a year-over-year basis, unless otherwise noted. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to John Romano. John?

John D. Romano

Thanks, Jennifer and good morning, everyone. We'll begin this morning on Slide 5 with some key messages from the quarter. Tronox's third quarter results demonstrated continued demand recovery compared to the prior year, though ultimately we came in below our expectations as a result of softer-than-anticipated market conditions as the pace of the recovery slowed late in the quarter. Orders in North America and Latin America met our expectations, while demand in Europe and Asia Pacific was softer than forecasted in the last month of the quarter. Our TiO2 volumes declined 7% sequentially compared to Q2, outside our guidance of a 2% to 4% decrease. The lower demand, which was more pronounced in September, was influenced by short-term impacts from antidumping and a shift in competitive behaviors. Zircon volumes declined 12% sequentially, below our guidance of relatively flat volume versus the second quarter due to orders that rolled into Q4 and weaker-than-expected demand in China.