Thank you for standing by. This is the Conference Operator. Welcome to the L.B. Foster's Second Quarter 2018 Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode, and that conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Judy Balog, Investor Relations Manager. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us for L.B. Foster Company's earnings conference call to review the company's second quarter 2018 operating results. My name is Judy Balog, and I'm the Investor Relations Manager of L.B. Foster. Hosting the call today is Mr. Robert Bauer, L.B. Foster's President and CEO. Also on the call is Mr. James Maloney, L.B. Foster's CFO and Treasurer. In addition to our press release, we have a second quarter presentation on our Web site under the Investor Relation's tab for those who have online access. This morning, Jim will review the company's second quarter financial results. Afterwards, Bob will review the company's second quarter performance and provide an update on significant business issues and market developments. We will then open the session for questions. During today's call, our commentary and responses to your questions may contain forward-looking statements, including items such as the company's outlook for our businesses and markets, cash flows, margins, operating costs, capital expenditures and other key business metrics, issues and projections. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from statements we make today. These forward-looking statements reflect our opinions only as of the date of this presentation, and we undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revisions to these statements in light of new information, except as required by securities laws. All participants are encouraged to refer to L.B. Foster's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, as updated by subsequent items filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission or additional information regarding risk factors that may affect our results. In addition to the results provided in accordance with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, our commentary includes non-GAAP EBITDA statements. A reconciliation of net income to non-GAAP EBITDA has been included within the company's 8-K filings. Statements referring to EBITDA are considered non-GAAP measures, and while they are not intended to replace the presentation of our financial results in accordance with GAAP, the company believes that the presentation of these measures provides additional meaningful information for investors to facilitate the comparison of past, present, and forecasted operating results. Our accompanying earnings presentation reconciles this non-GAAP measure to the corresponding GAAP measure. With that, we will commence our financial review discussion, and I will turn it over to Jim.

Thank you, Judy. Net sales for the 2018 second quarter were $172.9 million compared to $144.9 million in the prior year quarter, an increase of $28 million or 19.3%. The 19.3% second quarter sales increase was due to improvements within our Rail Products and Services segment increasing by 32.5% and Tubular and Energy Services segment increasing by 29.1%. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in Construction Product segment of 7.2%. The rail sales improvement of $22.5 million or 32.5% was led by both our rail technologies as well as our rail products businesses. Our rail technologies business saw sales increases of 50.5% over the prior year, primarily from expanding transit projects. Our rail products increased 22.4% over the prior year period as North American freight and transit activity remained strong. The Tubular and Energy Services sales increase of $8.8 million or 29.1% was driven by improvements in each of our business units within the segment compared to the prior year period. Our second quarter Construction segment sales declined from the prior year by $3.3 million or 7.2%. The decrease was primarily due to piling division as a reduction in demand led to year-over-year sales decreasing by 16.5%. This reduction was partially offset by 3.2% increase over the prior year quarter Precast Concrete product sales. Fabricated Bridge sales were flat compared to the prior year quarter. As a percent of second quarter 2018 sales, rail accounted for 53.1%, construction was 24.4%, and tubular and energy services was 22.5%. Now looking at gross profit; our second quarter gross profit was $32.5 million, a 17.2% improvement over the prior year quarter. Second quarter 2018, gross profit margin was 18.8%, a decrease of 30 basis points from the prior year quarter, which was driven by construction, which saw a reduction of 310…

Thank you, Jim, and hello everyone. As Jim outlined, our second quarter report is very positive with several highlights particularly surrounding areas of strength in new orders and backlog coupled with improvement in profitability. Our served markets have been generally strong and several areas continued to see increased demand. The 46% order increase of $59 million had some significant wins for new rail which drove more than half of the increase with the remaining increase coming from several business lines having double digit increases. So it was a very solid bookings quarter. This capped off first half with a new order growth rate of 25% and a noticeable impact from transit rail projects in North America and Europe. As a result, a substantial portion of the backlog increase has been in new rail, rail fastening systems, and services related to automation for transit projects. We are seeing a substantial amount of spending in rail transit networks largely directed toward capital programs for expansion and increased capacity. We continue to have a substantial backlog of work in Europe for the Crossrail program. Much of which is for on-track services for the integration of driver automation, passenger information systems, access control, and security system interface. It's very promising to see North American transit networks receive funding for capacity expansion as ridership levels on a macro basis increase. We booked a large order in the second quarter form the Bay Area Rapid Transit in California that will ship over to next 30 months. Our on-track services in the United States continues to grow where services related to friction management for freight rail operators, another unique offering we pioneered, that's delivering benefits by improving wear and tear on rail and minimizing disruption through reduced rail replacement. The North American freight rail market currently has…

We currently have no questioners in the queue. I would like to turn the conference back over to Judy Balog for any closing remarks.

Okay. Thank you, Oreo, and thanks everybody for joining us today. Our second quarter earnings were released and posted on our Web site before this morning's call. We look forward to talking you again next quarter.

This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.