Chart Industries, Inc. (NYSE:GTLS) Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call November 1, 2024 8:30 AM ET
Company Participants
Jill Evanko - Chief Executive Officer
Joe Brinkman - Chief Financial Officer
Conference Call Participants
Eric Stine - Craig-Hallum
Marc Bianchi - TD Cowen
Ben Nolan - Stifel
Martin Malloy - Johnson Rice
Pavel Molchanov - Raymond James
Manav Gupta - UBS
Rob Brown - Lake Street Capital
Craig Shere - Tuohy Brothers
Walt Liptak - Seaport Research
Alexa Patrick - Goldman Sachs
Sherif Elmaghrabi - BTIG
Saurabh Pant - Bank of America
Operator
Good morning, and welcome to the Chart Industries, Inc. 2024 Third Quarter Results Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session.
The company's release and supplemental presentation were issued earlier this morning. If you have not received the release, you may access it by visiting Chart's website at www.chartindustries.com.
A telephone replay of today's broadcast will be available approximately two hours following the conclusion of the call until Sunday, December 1, 2024. The replay information is contained in the company's press release.
Before we begin, the company would like to remind you that statements made during this call that are not historical in fact are forward-looking statements. Please refer to the information regarding forward-looking statements and risk factors included in the company's earnings release and latest filings with the SEC. The company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statement.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Jill Evanko, Chart Industries CEO. Please go ahead.
Jill Evanko
Thank you, Joelle. Good morning, and thank you all for joining our third quarter 2024 earnings call. Joining me today is our CFO, Joe Brinkman.
We will begin on Slide 4 of the supplemental deck that was released this morning. Results shown are from continuing operations. When referring to any comparative period, all metrics are pro forma for continuing operations of the combined business of Chart and Howden. Pro forma excludes the following businesses that were divested in 2023: Roots, American Fan, Cofimco, and Cryo Diffusion.
In the third quarter of 2024, we generated $200.7 million of net cash from operating activities and, after $26 million of CapEx spend, had free cash flow of $174.6 million. This cash was used to reduce net debt and resulted in our September 30th net leverage ratio of 3.04x, meaningful progress to our net leverage ratio target of 2x to 2.5x as well as our 2025 year-end net-debt goal of $3 billion. In a few slides, we will discuss further balance sheet optimization plans.