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Text: Last night,we released results for our fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021, copies of which are posted in the Investor Relations section of our website.
In order to provide greater transparency regarding our operating performance, we refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures that involve adjustments to GAAP results.
Any non-GAAP financial measures presented should not be considered to be an alternative to financial measures required by GAAP.
Erica will review the business segment and corporate financial details.
At this time last year.
I talked about being prepared to win as the recovery takes hold and I think 2021 is evidence that we were prepared.
Fiscal 2021 was a remarkable year for Cabot as the business recovered from the 2020 COVID lows to deliver record results.
We accomplished this through a combination of extraordinary execution and our commitment to driving growth through differentiated investments.
I would like to spend a little time now recapping the accomplishments of the year.
The Cabot operating model is built on the foundations of commercial and operational excellence and our strength in these disciplines drove our outstanding results in fiscal year 2021.
We delivered record adjusted earnings per share of $5.02 and total segment EBIT of $550 million.
And our focus on cash, resulted in a record discretionary free cash flow of $353 million.
The macro environment in 2021 required resilience and agility and I'm very proud of the Cabot team in how they work tirelessly to support our customers' evolving needs.
Serving our customers and innovating to grow with them is what motivates our team.
This was made more challenging in 2021 given the myriad global supply chain disruptions that companies face and the fact that necessary COVID safety protocols continue to evolve and adjust our normal ways of working.
Additionally, companies experienced sharply rising input costs, which required dynamic commercial management.
Our teams worked closely with our customers to manage through this environment and we were successful in our pricing efforts to ensure our margins remained robust and we could invest to support our customers long-term supply needs.
Fiscal year 2021 mark the sixth year of our advancing the core strategy and I'm very pleased with our record of execution and the growth prospects for our company.
Adjusted earnings per share has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 11% since the inception of our strategy, ahead of our 7% to 10% target.
A growth focus built around our core segments and disciplined execution have been the hallmarks of our approach.
As pleased as we are with the results since 2015, I'm even more excited about the growth opportunities that lie in front of us and the progress we made in 2021.
Our growth strategy is built on a philosophy of investing from positions of strength and where we have what we call a right to win.
A few highlights from 2021 are particularly noteworthy.
Our unmatched portfolio of conductive carbon additives in our strong customer focus model resulted in a doubling of revenue in our battery materials business year-over-year.
We are progressing with the specialty carbons conversion of our plants in Xuzhou, China and this investment will provide growth across our broad range of specialty carbon applications and will free up additional capacity to support battery materials.
Our inkjet business is well positioned to capitalize on the shift in the commercial and packaging segments from analog to digital printing and we achieved multiple OEM qualifications in 2021 that set us up well for growth as inkjet presses penetrate these markets.
And finally, we continue to the execution of a project to build a specialty compounds production line in Cilegon, Indonesia, which will allow us to meet customer demand for black masterbatch in this high growth region.
While growth and execution are highlights from 2021, these accomplishments have been achieved with sustainability at the core.
We continued our sustainability journey in 2021 with several noteworthy accomplishments.
First and foremost, we committed to align our disclosures with the recommendations of the Task Force for Climate Related Financial Disclosure or TCFD and we engaged a third party to help us evaluate climate risks and opportunities following the TCFD guidelines.
We intend to share the results of this work in the coming months.
While the operating rhythm of 2021 was challenging, I'm very proud of our performance in employee safety.
Our total recordable incident rates of 0.34 keeps us firmly in the upper echelon of chemical and industrial companies.
We also completed a major air emissions control project at our carbon black manufacturing facility located in Louisiana.
This investment in control technology will result in improved air quality through the substantial elimination of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions and will ensure that we can support our customer supply needs in a sustainable fashion over the long term.
In addition, waste heat from the plant is being recovered and used to generate up to 50MW of cogen power without creating any additional emissions.
In August, we announced a new $1 billion revolving credit facility that has pricing that is based on the company's credit ratings, as well as our performance against annual intensity reduction targets for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions.
The transaction reinforces our commitment to sustainability and was one of the first sustainability-linked revolving credit agreements in the U.S. chemical industry.
Lastly, as a chemical industry, we need to attract the next generation of talented and diverse candidates into our field of chemistry.
In support of this aim, Cabot is taking part in an industry effort to support the Future of STEM Scholars Initiative or FOSSI, which focuses on creating pathways for students at historically black colleges and universities to enter and succeed in STEM careers within the chemical industry.
This initiative will have a lasting and transformational impact on the students and our industry and we are proud to be an inaugural sponsor.
Overall, we had a very successful 2021 in terms of financial performance and progress against our strategic objectives.
This well-rounded performance is a testament to the positioning of our portfolio and our exceptional team.
Now a few comments on the fourth quarter.
I am pleased to report solid fourth quarter results with adjusted earnings per share of $1.11.
This performance was 63% above the same quarter last year despite the effects of the semiconductor chip shortage and ongoing global supply chain disruptions, as well as a higher level of maintenance spending due to the timing of turnarounds.
We also continue the momentum of battery materials and ended the year with EBITDA in our previously communicated range of $15 million to $20 million.
Cash flow from operations was strong at $100 million in the quarter despite the impact of higher raw material prices.
I will start with discussing results in the Reinforcement Materials segment.
During the fourth quarter and full year of fiscal 2021, EBIT for Reinforcement Materials increased by $8 million and $167 million respectively, as compared to the same periods in the prior year.
The increases were principally due to higher unit margins and higher volumes.
Higher margins were driven by higher spot pricing, particularly in Asia.
The higher volumes in the fourth quarter and full year of fiscal 2021 were due to a strong recovery in all regions from the COVID related impacts in fiscal 2020.
The fourth quarter results were also impacted by higher costs associated with the plant maintenance.
Globally, volumes were up 6% in the fourth quarter as compared to the same period of the prior year due to 6% growth in the Americas, 5% increase in Europe and up 7% in Asia.
Higher volumes were driven by strong demand in all regions as the replacement tire market remain robust.
Looking at the first quarter of fiscal 2022, we expect a sequential increase in EBIT from a decrease in fixed costs with lower plant maintenance spend and as volumes are expected to increase modestly sequentially as demand for replacement tire remains solid.
Now turning to Performance Chemicals.
EBIT increased by $20 million in the fourth quarter and $93 million for the full year as compared to the same periods in fiscal 2020, primarily due to improved product mix, stronger volumes and higher customer pricing.
The stronger product mix was driven by an increase in sales into automotive and conductive carbon applications in our specialty carbons and compounds product line.
Pricing improved year-over-year in our fumed silica product lines, particularly in China.
Year-over-year volumes in the fourth fiscal quarter increased by 2% in performance additives and decreased by 8% in formulated solutions.
Volumes were impacted during the quarter, largely due to two plant outages as we discussed on last quarter's call.
This segment experienced increased maintenance costs in the fourth fiscal quarter as expected, but these higher costs were offset by $7 million of insurance proceeds related to a claim from earlier in fiscal 2021.
Looking ahead to the first quarter of fiscal 2022, we expect sequential volume growth as one of the impacted plants came back online and a positive benefit from growth in our battery materials product line.
We anticipate higher input costs in the first quarter that will temporarily impact results until our latest round of announced price increases and surcharges can be fully implemented to recoup the rising costs.
Moving to Purification Solutions.
EBIT in the fourth quarter of 2021 increased by $4 million compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 and full year EBIT increased $7 million.
The increases were driven by lower fixed costs from the sale of the mine in Texas and the related long-term activated carbon supply agreement and the favorable impact from improved pricing in our specialty applications.
Looking ahead to the first quarter of fiscal 2022, we expect EBIT to decline sequentially due to seasonally lower volumes and higher maintenance costs due to planned turnaround activities.
I will now turn to corporate items.
We ended the quarter with a cash balance of $168 million and our liquidity position remains strong at approximately $1.3 billion.
During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, cash flows from operating activities were $100 million, which included a working capital decrease of $4 million.
Capital expenditures for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021 were $80 million and additional uses of cash during the fourth quarter were $20 million for dividends.
During fiscal 2021, we generated $257 million of cash flow from operations, including an increase in net working capital of $222 million.
The working capital increase was largely driven by the impact of higher raw material costs on our inventory balances and accounts receivable balances as we passed higher costs onto our customers in our pricing.
The increase was also partially driven by the growth in our business year-over-year.
Capital expenditures for fiscal year 2021 were $195 million dollars, which included both our targeted growth investments and the spend related to U.S. EPA compliance projects.
We expect capital expenditures in fiscal 2022 to be between $225 million and $250 million.
This estimate includes continued U.S. EPA related capital compliance spend and increased spending on growth projects related to high confidence, high return areas of the portfolio.
The growth related capital includes completing the conversion of upgrading our new China carbon black plant to produce specialty carbons, which is planned to come online in the second half of 2022.
In addition, we are executing on a new specialty compounds unit in Indonesia and have planned growth capital related to capacity expansions in battery materials and inkjet.
Additional uses of cash during the fiscal year included $80 million for dividends.
The operating tax rate for fiscal year 2021 was 27% and we anticipate our operating tax rate for fiscal 2022 to be in the range of 27% to 29%.
As we look ahead to 2022, I'm excited about the growth opportunities in front of us.
Let me take a couple of minutes to share with you our priorities for the upcoming year.
First, we will finalize our 2022 tire customer agreements and we remain positive about the outcome as security of supply remains the top priority for customers.
Demand continues to be strong and is projected to be robust in all regions.
Inventories levels are low across the value chain and global transportation flows remain challenging, all of which are placing a greater premium on local supply.
Second, we'll continue to advance a broad portfolio of strategic growth investments across the company.
In battery materials, we plan to expand capacity at our carbon nanotube facility in Zhuhai, China.
Additionally, the aforementioned specialty carbons conversion of our Suzhou plant will provide 50,000 metric tons of growth capacity across specialty carbons and will free up our network to support growth of battery materials.
We also expect to complete our new specialty compounds production unit in Indonesia later in the calendar year 2022, which will enable us to build on our strong position in the high growth ASEAN region.
And finally, we intend to build on our track record of execution by delivering earnings growth and strong cash flow, while maintaining our investment grade rating and industry-leading dividend.
I hope this gives you some color on our priorities for 2022.
I'll close out my prepared comments today by talking about our outlook for the year.
Clearly, we are pleased with the momentum coming out of fiscal 2021 and we feel very good about how the new year is shaping up.
We expect a step-up in Reinforcement Materials starting in the second quarter based on an expected positive outcome from our 2022 customer agreements.
We anticipate improved results across all product lines in the Performance Chemicals segment with above-market growth in our battery materials and inkjet product lines.
Based on this, we expect adjusted earnings per share for the fiscal year 2020 to be in the range of $5.20 to $5.60.
The first quarter results are expected to be generally in line with the fourth quarter with results accelerating as we move through the year.
On the cash side, we anticipate strong free cash flow from year-over-year earnings growth, partially offset by an increase in working capital to support growth.
Cash flow will be used to fund advantage growth investments, dividends and opportunistic share repurchases.
Overall, I'm very excited about where we are as a company and where we're going.
The growth opportunities we have in front of us are better than they have been at any point during my time as CEO.
The long-term fundamentals of our businesses are strong.
Our end markets remain robust and we continue to execute at a high level.
Looking ahead, we believe we have a winning formula, a talented team, an excellent portfolio of businesses that for growth and a strong balance sheet, all of which position us to deliver on our strategic objectives and continue to grow and lead in our industry.

user
compname reports fourth quarter diluted earnings per share of $0.50 and adjusted earnings per share of $1.11.
q4 adjusted earnings per share $1.11.
sees fy 2022 adjusted earnings per share $5.20 to $5.60.
coterra energy qtrly believe robust end-market demand will continue.
coterra energy - in our reinforcement materials segment, expect fy to benefit from higher volumes.
coterra energy - in performance chemicals segment, anticipate particular strength in battery materials and inkjet packaging in fy.

assistant