Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Avient Corporation's Webcast to discuss the Company's Third Quarter 2023 Results. My name is Victor and I'll be your operator for today. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will have a question-and-answer session, following the Company's prepared remarks. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now like to hand the -- turn the call over to Joe Di Salvo, Vice President, Treasurer and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Victor, and good morning to everyone joining us on the call today. Before beginning, I'd like to remind you that statements made during this webcast may be considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements will give current expectations or forecast of future events and are not guarantees of future performance. They are based on management's expectation and involve a number of business risks and uncertainties, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements. Please refer to the investor presentation for this webcast for a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ. During the discussion today the Company will use both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the presentation posted on the Avient website where the Company describes the non-GAAP measures and provides a reconciliation to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. Joining me today is our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bob Patterson and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Jamie Beggs. I will now hand the call over to Bob to begin.

Well, thanks, Joe, and good morning. Today we reported our third quarter results and adjusted EPS was slightly ahead of our guidance, despite lower than projected sales. We also updated our guidance for the full year, to reflect our current view of the demand environment and weaker foreign exchange. Our prior guidance assumed, we would start to see a modest recovery in the fourth quarter, but based on our current orders, that is not the case and we are lowering our demand expectations, as we finish out the year. While we have adjusted our revenue projections, you'll see that we are expecting to grow fourth quarter earnings by 12% on a year-over-year basis, as margin expansion more than offsets lower sales. Jamie will cover specifics in a moment, but I wanted to start with some general observations about the economy and markets and what we're hearing from our customers. Destocking appears to be nearing an end. In many industries with the exception of a couple that I'll touch on first, and I'll start with healthcare. Historically, this is an industry where we see growth nearly every year without fail. So it's unusual to be reporting healthcare sales are down and I would further characterize this year is unprecedented. Sales in the quarter to healthcare was down about 25%. Our customers are telling us that this is related to their efforts to reduce inventory levels to more normalized pre-pandemic levels, and they simply built up too much over the last couple of years. As a result of COVID response and the supply chain challenges that followed. In the third quarter, you can see the impact of negative mix for engineered materials, when Jamie covers our results. And we expect destocking in healthcare to continue into next year. But the good news…

Thanks, Bob. The translation opportunities we have in composites, as well as in the other key growth areas, provide a great segue of how the changes in our portfolio will improve margins over time. Let's start with the third quarter, where continued margin expansion was the highlight. Third quarter adjusted EBITDA margins were 16.3% compared to our guidance of 16%. This reflects a 90 basis point improvement over the prior year. As has been the case all year, we have been able to partially offset weaker demand conditions with favorable mix from sustainable solutions and defense applications, which has proven resilience in the current environment. Lower raw material prices, along with cost reduction initiatives, also factored into the margin improvement. Our adjusted EPS of $0.57 was slightly better than our guidance of $0.56, while sales came in lower than projected due to slower demand and the strengthening of the U.S. dollar, margin improvement, partially offset these impacts. EBITDA was short of guidance, but EPS was higher as EPS benefited from lower depreciation expense associated with restructuring actions, as well as lower interest expense. We paid down $100 million of debt during the quarter, and refinanced our term loans, which not only reduce the interest rate but also extended its maturity from 2026 to 2029. The annualized impact of this refinancing will result in $10 million of interest expense savings. The third quarter EBITDA bridge reflects the impact of demand, price and mix, as well as raw material cost on a year-over-year basis. Starting with demand customers remain cautious and closely managed inventory levels within the quarter. As Bob mentioned previously, we have started to lap some of the weakness that started in 2022, particularly in Europe and that is reflected in overall demand, which is down less than in the…

Well, thanks, Jamie. Well the year isn't over and we're obviously focused on delivering in the fourth quarter. But as we look ahead, I am encouraged to see destocking come to a conclusion in many end markets. There remains some question marks related to healthcare, and interest rate sensitive industries. But overall, we expect to return to growth in 2024. And I'm very pleased to see the EBITDA expansion in Europe in the fourth quarter, and see that as a positive heading into next year. And lastly, over the last few years, we have done an exemplary job of managing price, initially to overcome significant raw material inflation, and now with lower raw material costs we see that as a potential tailwind heading into next year. Our performance in this regard reflects the specialty nature of our applications, and the important steps we have taken over the years to upgrade our portfolio. We're obviously very positive about our growth potential and in September, we hosted our virtual Sustainability Day to highlight the opportunities we see in this area. The objective was to provide detailed context around the mega trends, supporting long-term demand for our portfolio and specific product examples of where we are helping our customers, achieve their sustainability goals. As a reminder, our four key growth drivers now account for 60% of total Company sales. There are sustainable solutions, composites healthcare in emerging regions. Combined, these growth drivers support a 6% long-term revenue growth rate. These projections are based on our historical performance as well as a deep understanding of the megatrends to support the long-term advancement of these areas. This includes customer sustainability goals and government mandates, that rely on our material science know-how and formulation expertise to achieve them. At our Sustainability Day we summarized our portfolio…

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Mike Harrison from Seaport Research Partners. Your line is open.

Hi, good morning. Can you hear me okay?

Yeah.

Yeah, Mike.

Perfect, thanks. Wanted to see if you could provide some more detail on what you're seeing in the packaging end market as you acknowledged, it's a very important market for you, particularly in Europe, and it's very encouraging to hear that you expect destocking to kind of run its course. But what are you seeing in terms of order pattern trends, what are you hearing from customers. And I'm curious, are there differences between what you're seeing in the food and beverage side and personal care, and maybe some other parts of that packaging market.

Yeah, look I think, first of all customers have all you know, told us that they expect the balance of this year to be you know, weak. We've kind of have that reflected in our guidance. But we are hearing from them that there is you know, less of a focus on just inventory reduction and maybe more of a focus on inventory management. So maybe not such as specifically stated goal to try to reduce inventory beyond works out, which I think is a good thing. I believe directionally they are planning for growth. I mean obviously, if I just referred to someone like P&G, it's just one of many customers that we have and that Mike could be in the areas of personal care, as well as consumer food and beverage packaging. I think all of those are actually going to start to show a positive trend those are historically very resistant -- food and beverage packaging historically recession resistant, and I think that will be proved the case when we get into the beginning of 2024.

All right. And then just in terms of the healthcare destocking that you're seeing, obviously a very unusual dynamic and your analysis suggests that that's going to continue. Is this a, a consumables issue, is it an equipment issue, is it both. And I guess just maybe give us a sense of what keeps you confident that healthcare should continue to be one of your, your strategic growth areas.

Yeah, I mean, look for the most part, you know what we do can be viewed as probably part of the consumable or disposable space in terms of minimally invasive you know, catheter tubing drug delivery devices and related packaging. We do some medical equipment but the prior descriptions of what we doing it really makes up most of what we're doing in healthcare. And I mean, look, I just think overall the system, just had too much inventory of all those things on hand, largely in response to you know COVID and then of course the supply chain challenges that followed have had some conversations in the healthcare industry, where, you know, look we're encouraged. We know that people are still actually seeking medical care. I think with employment numbers being strong, that's going to continue to be the case as long as people have access to insurance and so on. So I think the real demand is actually there. And systems, hospitals themselves, as well as OEMs are just trying to work down their inventory.

All right. Thanks very much.

Yeah.

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from the line of Frank Mitsch from Fermium Research. Your line is open.

Thank you and good morning. Appreciate the, the level of details. I was wondering if I could drill down a little bit more into the sales miss for 3Q and the 10% down guide for 4Q. You know, at the last conference call, Bob, you, you indicated that you thought pricing would be flat in the back half of the year and in fact that's how it looked like the third quarter came in. So that, so that 5% delta on the. on the sales line, can you talk a little bit more about how much of that might have been volume versus FX because I know I think FX was also an issue there. And then on the 10% down. I assume you're still calling for flat pricing in the fourth quarter. So then, so then, how much of that is also kind of volume and FX in terms of a decline.

Do you want to say something on the FX number?

The FX for the quarter, it's about $5 million of the total, you know, I have to look at the for the fourth quarter. I think that was in total $0.03 of total from an EPS perspective and that's combined in the back half and $45 million in the fourth quarter for bringing it down.

Okay. So that -- all right. So more sizable in 4Q. So -- and in terms of again on this 10% down sales for 4Q. How is your visibility on orders for the quarter. I mean what sort of expectations are baked in, in terms of, you know, let's say when Europe shuts down or any, any sort of color that you can provide on how you built up into that 10% down sales would be helpful.

Yeah. I mean look we -- I mean, first of all, this whole year visibility has been even shorter than normal, and you know, we're not a backlog business. But typically we've got good visibility 30 to you know sort of 40 days out, let's call it 30. When I look at where October and orders are for November, it's aligned with our expectations. And the guidance that we just gave today with some of what you just said, you know, Frank acknowledging that there will be some plant shutdowns at the end of this year. Europe and so on and holidays. That's really all included in the numbers that we've provided today.

Okay. And then in terms of the planned shutdowns, I know you were talking about your customers, which is what I was asking about. But in terms of your own planned shutdowns, there was a 3% sequential decline in PP&E. I assume that that's a result of planned restructuring in Europe, where do you stand on those shutdowns. Yeah. So those are really all related to the timing of previously announced facility closures that finally came to a conclusion and ow you're seeing the benefit of less depreciation expense. We're really through that. There's one last facility that we continue to work on as part of the legacy Clariant and PolyOne combination that could come into next year.

And then I am sorry, I wanted just, to come back to one of the very first thing you said about price because that assumption is correct, you know, that we basically have got that assumed to be you know, flat as we go through the end of this year. We did have some unfavorable mix that we highlighted for engineered materials that will probably be the case for Q4 as well. And the pricing should be you know, should be about a push.

Great, thanks so much.

Yeah.

One moment for our next question. And our next question will come from the line of Michael Sison from Wells Fargo. Your line is open. Michael, your line is open. Michael, if you could please disconnect and try dialing in using the U.S. toll number or use the Call Me feature that would be great. Thank you. We'll go ahead and move on to our next question. One moment. Our next question comes from the line of Vincent Andrews from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Thank you and good morning. You know, raw materials have been good new story in the back half of this year, in particular, helping you know, drive, drive some nice margin improvement. Is it fair to say that, that rise will probably continue to be a benefit through the first half of next year and then probably flatten out maybe we just start there.

Yeah. I mean, look, I think a lot of that of course depends on ultimately what happens with, with demand. But we're still at a relatively low-demand type environment than I would expect the level of benefit that we are seeing right now does continue into the first half of next year. And obviously when you just look at the bridge schedule that Jamie presented, that's a pretty significant, pretty significant benefit and tailwind. So hopefully that is the case, but I mean obviously with the -- we do expect growth in 2024 which could take that down a little bit.

Okay. And just you know, as we think it's, it's obviously early to talk about the full year 2024. But you know, as we think about 4Q, the way that it's going to come in, you know, do you think that's the sort of starting point for 2024 that 1Q, maybe just a bit better than 4Q or do you think 1Q could actually have a nicer step up from the 4Q exit rate?

I mean, look, typically, our, our first quarter and second quarter are the strongest of the years. Europe is typically the strongest in the first quarter. And I am expecting a good you know, first quarter, so you would see a step up from Q4 to Q1, simply because of seasonality and demand patterns that we see there. You know as I was said in my prepared remarks, you know, I'm really pleased with what we're seeing right now. Anybody else is saying that are thinking that, but a lot of it's been because of what we can control you know, with the facility closures, with the cost reductions and doing what we're doing with price margins are overcoming the lower sales. So, I see that as a positive on 2024.

Okay. Great. Thank you very much.

Yeah.

One moment for our next question. And our next question comes from the line of Kristen Owen from Oppenheimer. Your line is open.

Great. Thank you so much for taking the questions. Wanted to follow up on that last one. And just sort of outline some of the puts and takes for the margin coming into 2024. I'm looking at the adjusted EBITDA margin bridge that you provided at Sustainability Day here on Slide 19. Just thinking about the puts and takes for 2024 sort of those items within your control on the margin side.

Yeah, I mean, so there. One is, I mean, kind of just do the math right and maybe as a follow on in my previous response. I mean if you just look at where we are on the EBITDA bridge in Q3 and assume flat raw materials going into next year, you know, you should see some similar comparisons until you get to really you know, the middle of next year, which I think is true. There's a little bit of cost action that has yet to you know, that will come into 2024 because those actions you know, came into fruition this year, you know, partly through the year, later in the year. And then lastly, just you know, one additional facility that we're looking at, that was always part of the original Clariant, PolyOne sort of synergy plan, those are things that you know, I look at right now. You know, I'd say that's in our control. I'd also say look so as -- you know, so as pricing and I think we've done a really good job of that over the last a few years. I view that as a strength. I think that's a great sign in our portfolio and think that's in our control for next year as well.

Fantastic. That, that was part of my follow up question. So I'll ask a different one then. We've spent a lot of time talking about Europe, but I recall you mentioning some potential green shoots out of Asia earlier in the year. I'm just wondering if you can provide an update on that region. Thank you.

Yeah, I mean, look, I think you know, at the beginning of this year everybody was really optimistic that you know, when Asia know sort of came out of the COVID protocols specifically China, you know that we would see a return to growth. A little bit of that, we did see at the beginning of the year, we saw an uptick and requests for color design, color match and so on, which is usually a pretty good leading indicator that additional business is coming. But China is really kind of had some fits and starts this year and is largely you know, not you know, reached what we thought would happen. So I kind of view that as sort of flat or unchanged probably to where we were just a few months ago, so not much to report there at this point. I know there is some discussion around you know, government stimulus ultimately that could always take place would be should be a positive, I would think if that if that happens but until it does we'll see.

Thank you so much.

Sure.

Thank you. One moment. For our next question. And our next question comes from the line of Laurence Alexander from Jefferies. Your line is open.

Good morning. So wanted to touch on kind of the longer term growth targets you laid out at the Sustainability Day and you've been talking about, you know, for several quarters. How has the destocking affected your confidence and that maybe another way to put it is how much of the sales lost to destocking this year, do you expect to get back in 2024, 2025, you know, if and when demand trends normalize? Or do you just see kind of that longer term target now being applied to a lower base.

Yeah. Like I ultimately I see this playing out over a cycle where the growth rates that we presented inclusive of you know 2023 will be achievable going forward. So -- in some of those cases obviously we're down in 2023, just to give you some perspective on that. Laurence obviously with our guidance you can see with total sales are down in third quarter is down 15%. So far this year Sustainable Solutions have been down around five or six, kind of hard to get excited about a negative but obviously holding up well. So I do think that that helps to support the long-term growth rate that it's really not down so much in 2023. Look, in terms of how destocking comes to an end and what that means for demand really has yet to be seen in play out yet, and I really can't put any specific numbers to 2024, yet on now. I think that plays out. But I am -- look I'm optimistic and positive about composites and about sustainable solutions, returning to growth next year.

Thank you.

Thank you. One moment for our next question. And our next question comes from the line of Vincent Anderson from Stifel. Your line is open.

Yes, thanks, good morning. So not to deliver the price versus raw material conversation too much more. But you know, as I'm working through expectations on your mix on a mix that you know, now includes significantly more pigment than historically. I'm kind of curious if you're able to optimize your color offerings around maybe a lower cost pigment mix in a way where intrinsic physical properties on, on a resin input wouldn't allow that kind of flexibility on your part.

I'm not sure I completely got that question. But --

Make rate cheaper.

So look what I would say is that, I mean, first and foremost, you know, I would say our customers are very much focused on and we're just talking about the color space. So they are very much focused on sustainable solutions being able to use more recycled content and making things easily recyclable that's certainly the brand owner focused. but they're also focused on costs. So you know, to the extent that they want to look at alternate materials that could result in some cost savings. I mean, we've always been agnostic candidly where the underlying base resin they want to use or the formulation, it's really just ultimately up to them you know, with respect to what formula works for down to achieve the performance characteristics they're looking for. I don't really see that as a meaningful, you know headwind at all really price I think that's, that's still fine as long as we're delivering what they need as to specifically again you know, around those two areas of sustainability.

Okay, all right. Helpful. Thank you. And then, this will be a little bit simpler. When I think about your cross-selling opportunities in Dyneema, you know, would you expect to focus really around expanding sales where you've already commercialized Dyneema into a specific application or would these be you know, potentially more novel and if so, just kind of curious what kind of prototyping capabilities you have or would consider investing in to drive adoption in the new applications.

I mean, look, fortunately, I do think there is a lot of opportunities there and maybe specifically if you're just looking at pulling you know, Dyneema and a more consumer space, it really starts with customer introduction and increasing awareness of the material and its capabilities. You know, we have a great design team at event that just really looks at how to use different materials for you know, customer needs, and so that is getting increasingly to save more incorporated into that analysis. And then you know, from this idea of a prototyping a lot of times, our customers have that capability and like to do that just to see how material is perform themselves so oftentimes, I'd say that's a partnership with our customers. But it really starts with awareness in terms of what the material can do and how it can benefit down, particularly as it relates to increasing strength or reducing waste all right.

All right. Excellent. Thank you.

Thank you. One moment for our next question. And our last question comes from the line of Michael Sison from Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Hey, good morning. Bob, would you, I apologize, if I missed this, but what was volume down in the third and implied volume for the 4th.

Yes. So that's down about 15% in Q3 implied is about 10% in Q4. Really kind of that sales reduction is principally demand is a little bit of an FX could go, I think they're catching about 9% in Q4.

Got it. And then for the fourth quarter. You know if I take your EBITDA outlook and annualize it. You're running you know, fairly below you know, 2023 levels, But it did seem like you felt you can grow EBITDA in 2024 how we think about, you know improving on that run rate as we head into the first half of the year. And then, is there anything else that you have, you know, to generate growth into 2024?

Yeah, I mean it's like, well look at the fourth quarter it's obviously the first quarter this year, where we are showing year-over-year EBITDA growth. I just really can't emphasize enough again like sort of how I'm feeling positive about Europe and what we've been able to do margins there. And so, I see that probably as the first thing just going into next year as a positive and so, we've got good momentum in that, in that regard. I might be redundant here but raw material is staying where they're, that is also positive going into the first part of next year and then there is a little bit probably on the cost side, really if it just comes down to what we can control. But anecdotally you know, customers are giving us feedback, they do you think that you know, destocking is coming to an end, and I think that bodes well for you know the sales side picking up in the first quarter.

Right, okay. And then do you have sort of deflation that sort of helps you in the first half of the year, that just sort of flows through?

Yeah, I mean that's what I'm saying like raw materials sort of stay flat, where they are and we're just looking at year-over-year comps. So I mean you can take the EBITDA bridge that we had for the quarter, and kind of look at that and know that second quarter was the first time we really had any deflation this year. Third quarter is obviously a bigger number saying kind of model out how that will flow into the first half of next year.

Got it, okay. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Now that [Multiple Speakers]

We appreciate everybody's time and attention this morning, and we'll look forward to updating all of you with our year-end results when we get there. We'll be at a few conferences through this fall. So maybe get a chance to see some of you in person at that time. Thank you.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Everyone have a great day.