Earnings Labs

Tronox Holdings plc (TROX)

Q3 2012 Earnings Call· Tue, Nov 13, 2012

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Tronox Limited Q3 2012 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference call, Mr. Brennen Arndt. You may begin, sir

Brennen Arndt

Analyst

Thank you, Kevin, and welcome to Tronox Limited's Third Quarter 2012 Conference Call and Webcast. With me today are Tom Casey, Chairman and CEO; and Dan Greenwell, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Tom will begin the call with a review of our performance. Dan will then report on our financial position. And following Dan, Tom will provide our outlook and we'll complete the call by taking your questions. We'll be using slides today as we move through the conference call. Those of you listening via Internet broadcast on our website should already have them. For those listening via telephone, if you haven't already done so, you can access them on our website at tronox.com. Let me begin with a reminder that our discussion today will 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 Form S-4 dated May 4, 2012, our most recent Form 10-Q and other SEC filings. This information represents our best judgment based on today's information. Actual results may vary based on these risks and uncertainties, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. During today's conference call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial terms, including adjusted earnings per diluted share, EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA, which we use in the management of our business. Adjusted earnings per diluted share represents EPS adjusted for unusual or nonrecurring items on a fully diluted basis. EBITDA represents net income before net interest expense, income tax and depreciation and amortization expense. Adjusted EBITDA represents EBITDA as further adjusted for noncash, unusual and nonrecurring items, and a reconciliation of these is provided in our release. So it's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Tom Casey. Tom?

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Alembic Global

Thanks, Brennen, and thank you to all of you on the call for joining us today. In future quarters, we plan to release our reports earlier than 6 weeks after the close of the quarter, but the combination of this being our first full quarter as a combined business and the TZMI Conference held last week in Hong Kong caused us to move the schedule this time, and we appreciate your understanding. As the third quarter of 2012 was our first full quarter of operating as a vertically integrated supplier of both mineral sands and pigment, I'm pleased to report our global team made good progress on the integration. However, the advantages of our integration are not yet reflected in our financial performance since during the quarter, we continued to consume market-priced feedstock under legacy purchase contracts. This resulted in an average feedstock cost per ton that was almost $1,000 per ton higher than the comparable quarter a year ago. As we move this purchased ore through our pigment inventory, we will begin processing increasing amounts of our own ore as feedstock and, therefore, we will be recapturing this lost margin. Of course, the higher feedstock prices will also benefit us to the extent that we sell ore to unaffiliated customers in the market. As the market strengthens in the second half of 2013, which we believe it will, these advantages will continue to -- excuse me, will contribute to a more rapid recovery and higher margins, cash flows and net income for us than other firms not similarly structured. An example for you. While demand for high-grade chloride feedstock such as natural rutile and synthetic rutile is currently down as the pigment industry has reduced its operating rates, demand for titanium slag has remained relatively strong. Tronox is the…

Daniel Greenwell

Analyst · Barclays

Thank you, Tom, and good day to everyone. I'm pleased to be with you here today to report our strong financial position and our accomplishments during the third quarter. First, our successful debt offering: In August, we issued $900 million of senior notes priced at 6.375% due in 2020. In combination with the $700 million term loan we closed in February, at third quarter's end, we had $1.6 billion of long-term debt on our books at a weighted average cost of 5.45%. Second, we completed our share repurchase program. A portion of the proceeds of the notes offering was used to complete the share repurchase program. Following the board's authorization on June 26, we repurchased 10% of our total shares outstanding or 12,626,400 Class A shares at an average price of $25.84 per share, inclusive of commissions, for a total cost of $326.2 million. Let's now move to major line items on our income statement and balance sheet. Corporate and other revenue was $38.6 million in the third quarter of 2012 versus $37.5 million in the prior year quarter. This includes our electrolytic manufacturing business. Electrolytic and other chemical products net sales increased $2.6 million above last year's third quarter, primarily due to restocking programs by our customers. Corporate and other expenses in the quarter were $64.2 million, as compared to $63.2 million in the prior year quarter. Selling, general and administrative expenses for the third quarter 2012 were $59.6 million versus $53.8 million in the year ago quarter. The increase was primarily due to costs associated with the mineral sands acquisition. The current quarter included approximately $10 million of transaction-related costs. Depreciation and amortization in the quarter was $67.3 million. We estimate that annual depreciation and amortization will be in the range of $190 million to $210 million for…

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Alembic Global

Thanks, Dan. As Dan said, despite the third quarter's challenges, we closed the quarter with a very strong cash position; $774 million in cash, having -- after having spent $326 million to purchase 10% of our outstanding shares. And as I've mentioned earlier, pursuant to Australian law, those shares have now been canceled. In addition, we paid $32 million in dividends and funded $44 million in CapEx. There are 2 particularly significant aspects of the operating performance that I would like to review; first, the very strong performance of our mineral sands segment, which we consolidated for the first full quarter in this release. Sales of these products were particularly strong in our view, considering that this performance was delivered from our core feedstock business and achieved despite zircon volumes being down 74% from the prior year. And second, the prospective improvement in the mineral sands segment's performance as approximately 140,000 tonnes of under-market feedstock supply contracts expire. As we've reported, approximately 40,000 tonnes of those contracts expire at the end of 2012 and the balance of 100,000 tonnes expires by the end of 2013. We expect substantial price increases for those tons as the volumes are released from contracts. Two more -- two other matters warrant addressing. First, on a pro forma basis through the third quarter, we generated $1.6 billion in revenue and an adjusted EBITDA of $668 million for an adjusted EBITDA margin of 41%. While we expected the lower -- the second half of 2012 to be lower than the first, we did not foresee the degree of softness that we experienced in the third quarter and that we now expect in the fourth quarter. As I have indicated, we expect price, but not volumes, to soften further in the fourth quarter. Therefore, we no longer…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Hassan Ahmed with Alembic Global.

Hassan Ahmed

Analyst · Alembic Global

As I sort of look at some recent presentations that you've made, I mean, most of them start with a title Vertical Integration: Maximizing Value in Any Environment. Now, I'm sitting here and taking a look at your EBITDA margins for the pigment segment in Q3 and I see them as 9%, and that compares to Rockwood at 12%, Kronos at 11%, Huntsman at 23% and DuPont at 22%. Now, I completely understand the case that you have made that you were not sort of fully integrated, so to say. I mean, I guess, you were integrated, but you still had the legacy contract issues. Now from, I guess, an investor perspective or an analyst perspective, I think it would be really helpful if you could give us some guidance for '12, '13, '14, '15, over the next several years, how we should think about your level of integration on a non-contracted basis? I mean, we know that 125% integration you guys have, but there are contracts in the mix. So could you give us some clarity as to how to think about the non-contractual side over the next coming years?

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Alembic Global

Yes. This is Tom. Let me start and then if -- Dan, if you want to add to it. I mean, I mentioned that our inventory, at present, is approximately 1 quarter's worth of sales. That inventory is largely, but not exclusively, composed of pigment that used or that processed purchased ore, so that we have approximately 1 quarter more of purchased ore costs in our pigment margins. There, as I mentioned -- I mentioned also that the costs of ore in the third quarter were almost $1,000 more per tonne than they were in the third quarter of 2011. So one might derive from that, that the price increases Q3 '11 to Q3 '12 are not costs of extraction or mining costs or beneficiation costs, but rather margin increases for the mineral sands producers. That would mean that once we capture -- once we work through the ore pigment that is presently in inventory, which as I said is approximately a quarter's worth of sales, that we will be capturing that margin, that almost $1,000 margin again. And from that point on, from the early part of 2013 on, we are managing our feedstock purchases so that we will consume our own mineral sands ore supply, unless we have opportunities to sell our feedstock to third-party customers at a higher price or we are contractually committed to sell them. And I believe that the vast majority of our pigment production starting early in 2013 will be using our own mineral sands as feedstock and, therefore, that the margins that you see will include -- on a consolidated basis, the margins that you see will include -- will be much higher than what you saw this quarter. What you saw this quarter in our performance is an illustration of what…

Hassan Ahmed

Analyst · Alembic Global

Understood. Now, another quick follow-up. I mean, you were talking about around 40,000 tonnes of slag contracts rolling off in '12 and another 100,000 tonnes in '13. Now, I think if my numbers are correct, you have around 410,000 tonnes of slag. So what about the remaining 270,000 tonnes?

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Alembic Global

We will consume -- well, we have 2 choices. We can consume it ourselves. We also have contracts with other providers, other pigment providers that are at market. They have quarterly resets to market. We have been contacted by still more pigment producers who have an interest in buying that slag. And we always have the ability to consume it ourselves. So we will -- again, as I said earlier, we will look at our consumption requirements in the pigment plant. We have SR that we produce out of Chandala in Australia. We have natural rutile from all of our facilities, all of our mining and beneficiation facilities. And we'll make a judgment about how to optimize the enterprise's margin by balancing consumption of our mineral sands versus a less consumption in sales into any of these contracts.

Hassan Ahmed

Analyst · Alembic Global

Got it. So final, final one in terms of the share buyback; obviously, through the course of the quarter, you were seeing industry conditions deteriorate. And as it appears, things have deteriorated further through the course of Q4. I mean, just -- no one can time these things to perfection. But was there a desire on your part to maybe sort of do a piecemeal rather than sort of all-in-one go?

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Alembic Global

No. I mean, we set up a program that involved daily purchases and we decided to do so because at least one of the motivations for us was to return capital to shareholders and to provide shareholders that wanted an opportunity to leave, to do so in an orderly way. So once we set up the program, we just executed it.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Gregg Goodnight with UBS.

Gregg Goodnight

Analyst · UBS

Zircon prices, you mentioned that year-over-year volumes are down 74%. What can you tell us about the current trend for zircon pricing? What did it average in third quarter? I mean, what is the trend now in the fourth quarter? Is -- are zircon prices holding up?

Thomas Casey

Analyst · UBS

No. I think that zircon prices will continue to decline. They held strong for a very long time. And in the third quarter, they remained relatively close to what they had been for the preceding year. But as the volumes declined, I think you will see some movement in the price down. There are auctions that are now taking place that are showing some price -- some demand at a lower price. And our forecast is that, in 2013, zircon volumes will increase and -- but prices will decline. I know you know, Gregg, from prior work that the margins on zircon are very, very high. I mean, zircon is a coproduct of the titanium mining. And as a result, there's very little work necessary to move it to a condition where it's in -- where it's sold. And as a result, I suspect it will remain a very high-margin product, but I don't think that it will hold the prices that it was at in 2012.

Gregg Goodnight

Analyst · UBS

Okay. Using $2,000 as a benchmark, where you above that benchmark in 3Q and do you expect to be below that benchmark in 4Q?

Thomas Casey

Analyst · UBS

Yes and yes.

Gregg Goodnight

Analyst · UBS

Okay. Moving along to your assumption, you mentioned that you thought your EBITDA could potentially be in the area of $100 million in Q4. What pricing does that have, average pricing for pigment does that have assumed in it for 4Q versus 3Q?

Thomas Casey

Analyst · UBS

We don't usually give specific quarterly price estimates. But we assume that -- I think we said that the price in the third quarter declined to 6.5% approximately Q2 to Q3 and we expect a further decline in the fourth quarter pricing, perhaps not of that magnitude, but a decline nevertheless.

Gregg Goodnight

Analyst · UBS

Okay, I appreciate that. That’s very helpful. The final question, if I could. The Fairbreeze project, have you considered the potential of either delaying that project or slowing it down in order to conserve cash? Is that an option that's on the table in these market conditions?

Thomas Casey

Analyst · UBS

Well, it's something that we are sort of -- we would have a responsibility to consider. We feel strong on our cash position. As I mentioned, I think, we -- at the end of the quarter, we had $774 million of cash. But we also -- and we have a very substantial feedstock inventory in Namakwa and at KZN and in Australia that we could feed the smelters at KZN for quite a while on feedstock materials that we have already mined and that are stockpiled in those locations. So it's not so much a question of slowing down Fairbreeze would cause us to reduce our slag production. We don't think it would. However, we also know that in this business, these assets last for a long time and you have to plan for decades of operations. And so we remain committed to bringing Fairbreeze into operation. Right now, the -- we have just begun some very preliminary work on site prep and road work and things like that. So we're not fully committed to -- we're not fully active yet in developing the mine because of our requirement to get permits out of the South African government. So right now, it's not a pressing current issue since we're not fully committed to it anyway in 2013 -- 2012. But in general, what I would say, Gregg, is we are -- we consider it, because it's our responsibility to do so, but we also think that we plan for the long term in the business and Fairbreeze will be a valuable asset for us over the long term. So our intention -- our inclination right now is we would continue to develop it.

Gregg Goodnight

Analyst · UBS

Is your upgrader project the one that you removed the high garnet from your stockpile? Is that up and running?

Thomas Casey

Analyst · UBS

I don't think it's in commercial production yet, but I know that construction of it is well along and we expect to see -- we'll have to -- once it's up and the parts are put together, we'll run some product through it to test it. And I expect that we'll get -- we'll be getting commercial production out of that in the first quarter.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Caroline Learmonth with Barclays.

Caroline Learmonth

Analyst · Barclays

A couple of questions. Can you tell me the amounts in dollars, millions of the dividend that was paid to Exxaro in this quarter? And then secondly, what are you considering in terms of further disclosure? So are you going to disclose volume information, pricing information in any detail? And then just finally, I caught the back-end of the question about zircon pricing. Could you make similar comments, please, around what pricing looked like in the quarter on pigment and on minerals and what you're seeing in terms of pricing since the quarter ended?

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Barclays

With respect to the Exxaro dividend, I don't know the exact amount, to be honest, but it was $0.25 times however number shares they held at that date we paid it.

Daniel Greenwell

Analyst · Barclays

Roughly 10 million shares.

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Barclays

They had -- yes, they...

Daniel Greenwell

Analyst · Barclays

Roughly 10 million pre-split.

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Barclays

Pre-split, right?

Daniel Greenwell

Analyst · Barclays

Right.

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Barclays

So they had approximately -- they had slightly under 50 million shares and they received $0.25 per share on that, approximately. I mean, Dan would know better than -- he would know the precise number and I can give you the precise number, Caroline, if you need it. But basically, it's $0.25 times 49-point-something million shares. With respect to the pigment prices and mineral sands prices, the pigment prices, as we said already, declined I think 6.5% or 6.7% in the third quarter, relative to the second quarter. There's variability in the regions of the world; that is Europe, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and North America, but on average, that was the price. I've already said that we expect it to decline further in the fourth quarter on average. In mineral sands, prices stayed relatively strong, again, with the exception of zircon, which stayed relatively strong in the third quarter but began to erode. I think if we were -- we don't have a good sense of NR and SR sales prices for this particular quarter because we consumed most of our own product and, therefore, we were not actively negotiating. I expect, in 2013, that NR, natural rutile and synthetic rutile prices will decline from their first half of 2012 levels; that slag will stay relatively strong, particularly chloride slag; that zircon prices, as I've already mentioned, will decline more than the other products, more than NR and SR but that volumes may pick up as a result. I don't know if I answered all your questions, Caroline.

Caroline Learmonth

Analyst · Barclays

And in terms of any further disclosure; I mean in these results, obviously, you do show revenue by segments between minerals and pigments and you show income. But are you going to give any further information going forwards in terms of disclosure?

Daniel Greenwell

Analyst · Barclays

Well, in our 10-Q, Caroline, we'll provide a full disclosure of our segment results; revenues, operating income, depreciation and amortization. And then, of course, we've given you the adjustments in the operating earnings related to the amortization of the inventory step up. So I think our full segment disclosure in the 10-Q, which we intend to file tomorrow, will have all that information for you.

Caroline Learmonth

Analyst · Barclays

No. But in terms of volumes, are you going to disclose what the volumes were or more detail on the pricing than you've given in terms of different other geographic or product segments?

Daniel Greenwell

Analyst · Barclays

Well, we certainly disclose total revenue in the geographic sense, so that's included in a footnote in our 10-Q that we'll file. So you'll get an idea of the geography. But as far as volumes and pricing, other than the movement of percentages, it was up x% or down x%, we don't intend to disclose actual volumes and actual prices.

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Barclays

Yes. And nor by regional breakdowns itself.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Hamed Khorsand with BWS Financial.

Hamed Khorsand

Analyst · BWS Financial

My question is regarding the seasonality factor in Q4. Are you seeing anything in the marketplace to consider that maybe the destocking that you're -- you've been talking about changing up the seasonality factor of Q4?

Thomas Casey

Analyst · BWS Financial

That's a very good question. I would have hoped so, to be honest. But I'm not sure. I'm not sure that we'll see it. I think that the fourth quarter, in terms of tons sold will be somewhat higher than our third quarter in terms of tons sold. But it is a -- it's a relatively, historically, weak quarter in terms of sales. And so I think that what we'll see is that the weakness in it, from a seasonal point of view, will be offset somewhat by the end of the destocking. But when you think about the end of the destocking period, the fact that the -- our customers are maintaining normal levels of inventory now means that when they buy, they'll be buying 100% of their requirement rather than what they might have been buying for the previous 4 or 5 quarters. And obviously, in the fourth quarter, they just buy less. So it won't be -- I don't think it's going to lead to a massive increase in sales volumes in the fourth quarter, if that's the question.

Hamed Khorsand

Analyst · BWS Financial

Okay. And then as far as -- just as much as the demand you're expecting, how much do you think we could see in Q1 or Q2? Are you suggesting that we'll see normal kind of purchasing habits in Q1 and Q2?

Thomas Casey

Analyst · BWS Financial

Yes. Well, I think Q1 is also a seasonally slow quarter historically. In Asia, it also has -- it's leading up to the leadership change in the government in China, which obviously affects the speed with which new policies are implemented. There's the Chinese New Year holiday, which takes out a good portion of February for next year. So we don't expect to see a significant increase in performance in the first quarter. We think that there may be an increase in purchases in the second quarter as some of -- as the North American new housing starts continues to pick up, as construction actually increases in North America, they get through the wintertime on these new housing permits that we've seen been issued, as China begins to pick up. But remember that in terms of sort of our response to increase in sales, we're carrying about a quarter's worth of inventory and, therefore, for a quarter after demand picks up, we will be working down our inventories. And we will then begin to -- as we approach the end of that period, which, as I said, is slightly less than a quarter, we'll begin to ramp up the utilization of our plants to meet the demand, assuming we see it continuing, which we expect they will into the second half. At which point, plant utilizations increase, margins increase as a result of greater absorption of fixed cost. And I suspect prices will also begin to stabilize and then increase as plant utilizations increase. So that's how we see 2013.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Oren Shaked with Crédit Suisse.

Oren Shaked

Analyst

Tom, my question is really on ore and I was just wondering if you could give us a sense of how do you see the pigment weakness impacting slag in particular? I know you gave some guidance that you expected it to be relatively strong, but can you be a little bit more specific on what relatively strong would mean? And then secondly, on capacity -- on industry capacity, can you just give us a sense of where you might see capacity coming out; an order of magnitude of how much capacity you think could come out of the industry? Just elaborate a little bit more on that comment. That would be great.

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Alembic Global

With respect to slag prices, I would recommend that you talk to Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto is by far the major supplier of slag to the market. And particularly, we already talked about that we produce 410,000 tonnes of slag a year and we can consume some or all of that. About 100,000 tonnes of that in 2013 will be under contract. So there's 300,000 tonnes available for ourselves. We may sell some of that to other pigment producers or we may consume it all ourselves. So the vast majority of the slag being supplied into the market will be produced by Rio Tinto. Recognizing that they are not -- if not the exclusive supplier of the product there, they are one -- they supply the majority of this product, I think they will be an important factor in determining the price of slag going forward. As I said, my sense is that it will stay strong, relatively speaking, but I can't give you a specific number. The other question was plant shutdowns. We have a -- we and some independent consultants, I know TZMI has a study on this subject. I'm sure others do as well. We do it. We have a sense of the cost per ton of producing pigment across the industry and, obviously, we made -- it may not be absolutely precise because we don't have perfect information, but we think we have a reasonably good idea of some of the cost per ton. And I believe that some of the smaller plants in some of the more expensive regions of the world are going to be -- find it very difficult to stay in operation in -- at prices that we foresee happening.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Steve Rozak [ph] with Sanken [ph].

Unknown Analyst

Analyst

Can you guys let us know what the share count was at the end of the quarter, following all of the repurchases?

Daniel Greenwell

Analyst · Barclays

Roughly 113 million shares.

Unknown Analyst

Analyst

Okay. And can you just provide a little more color on your decision to defer the special dividend? I believe even quite recently, you guys were pretty clear that, that was something you guys were going to address at the board meeting in December. Is that something that's just pushed out 6 months? Is that something that's no longer on the table? That's just quite a reversal from a lot of the public comments we've heard. That's all my questions.

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Alembic Global

Yes. We have been evaluating issuing a special dividend from the start. And what we just decided that we -- as I said, we think that the market's going to turn up. We think that there'll be strengthening in the market in the second half of the year, but we can't predict what happens with the fiscal cliff negotiations in the United States, and what happens with Greece and Spain and other Eurozone considerations, or what happens with the effects of the leadership transition in China. And so it just seemed to us that there is a lot of uncertainty that can affect timing. In all of those factors, we would think that even if it develops initially in a negative way, it will resolve over time. And so the long -- the mid- to long-term view for us is very optimistic and we're very confident about it. But in the short term, we just saw that there was uncertainty and we think the prudent course was to be -- to say we're not going to do it now. Whether we do it in the future, will be a function of the cash we're generating and carrying in the future. We've said before that we see no reason to maintain excessive levels of cash if there's no other reason to keep it. But now, we think that uncertainty and prudence call for us to hold on to it right now. And since we had talked about it earlier, we wanted -- since the board had made that decision already, we wanted to be as quick to tell you what we were thinking as we had been to talk about what we were thinking when we're thinking about another course.

Operator

Operator

Our last question comes from Charlie Rose with Cruiser Capital.

Charlie Rose

Analyst · Cruiser Capital

A couple of questions. One is that is there a price of the -- so the stock is now trading at $15.80, I'm just -- the first question is, is there a price where obviously, stock was bought back at $25, here we are nearly $10 lower. And I'm wondering is there a price where there's a line in the sand, where you decide this is going to be the line in the sand, whether it's to repurchase shares or other capital allocation issues become relevant? That's the first question.

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Cruiser Capital

I don't know what you mean by other capital allocation issues. But we can...

Charlie Rose

Analyst · Cruiser Capital

I mean whether it's special dividends or going private or selling the company or whatever those issues are, there's a price where -- let's suppose, the stock traded at $5 a share. I mean, things do happen in this economy that are kind of strange. And people are nervous about the direction of earnings for the company, so I'm just curious is there -- obviously, if you bought stock at $25, you had one view of the stock. And obviously, that's been revised and here we are at $10 lower, and I'm just curious. The first question is really is there a price where it becomes ridiculous? I'm just getting a little thought on that. Or is it just sort of we're just going to hold off no matter what? It sounds like...

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Cruiser Capital

Well, we have some constraints, right, on our ability to buy additional shares back. I mean, obviously, if we thought that it was worth doing at $25, we think even more certainly, it's worth doing at $15. However, there is an Australian law restriction on buying more than 10% of the outstanding shares without a shareholder vote to approve it. We could convene a shareholder meeting. I suspect the shareholders would approve using some of our cash to buy more shares. However, that would likely put Exxaro into control of the company because they are sitting now at 45%, we believe. And it's been our view that if anyone is going to take control of the company, they should pay the typical control premium for doing so. So our ability to buy more shares back is limited by both Australian law and Exxaro's ownership position. We've already talked about the special dividend and our thoughts on that. So right now, basically, the -- our view is that we have to -- we'll just -- we remain confident that as these contracts roll off, that Exxaro -- the mineral sands business has subject to, our margins will increase. They'll increase through increased utilization starting in this -- in the later half of 2013. Prices will firm and we'll recover more quickly than anyone else. And so, if we just have to wait and prove that, then that's sort of what our options amount to at the moment.

Charlie Rose

Analyst · Cruiser Capital

Let me ask a second question on China. China seems to be a more disruptive factor than even the substitution issues I'm getting from -- when I talk to various companies, there's a greater concern about how much volumes have been displaced by the Chinese even here in North America than there is by the issue of substitution with sulfate material or other -- or the Dow Chemical stuff or whatever it is. I'm just curious what your thoughts are on the Chinese having a much greater disruptive effect?

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Cruiser Capital

We -- our experience is that they're -- the Chinese are not -- we're not losing tons of chloride pigment sales, which is what we make and sell, to a customer who is buying a Chinese sulfate ton of pigment to any great degree. That's not the impact on us. The -- I think the China domestic production came out into the market and mostly went into Asia-Pacific. To some degree, it went into Europe. And -- but it competed for sulfate product. That, in turn, displaced sales that other sulfate manufacturers would have made into those markets. And those tons then went looking for a home. And that's what's causing prices to come down across the world. The chloride producers are somewhat more insulated from that, from the impact of the Chinese because at the high -- chloride is a relatively high-end product and sulfate is a relatively lower quality product. And so, it's not as impactful as if we were in the low to mid-quality sulfate pigment market. So others may have been affected more than we have been.

Charlie Rose

Analyst · Cruiser Capital

Is there -- Tom, is there a -- going to couple of the quick issues. I'm hearing from the trade, I've been getting this [indiscernible] that DuPont's been moving some of its volumes from PPG Industries to Tronox. Is there any validity in that?

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Cruiser Capital

I don't know what that means. They have been moving...

Charlie Rose

Analyst · Cruiser Capital

It means that they're getting some contracts or they've taken contracts that supplied chloride-based material to PPG, and PPG's moved some of that to Tronox. That's anecdotal. I've gotten that from 2 different voices, but I never heard any of that before.

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Cruiser Capital

Well, Charlie, we don't -- I mean, we don't talk about -- PPG is an important customer of ours. We work closely with them. We have other important customers, obviously, but we don't talk about the relative market shares at individual customers, so...

Charlie Rose

Analyst · Cruiser Capital

Okay, okay. Then the other 2 things is that is there a transaction that you hear anything about Rockwood, because Rockwood's had this asset on the block now for a while. I mean, it's probably been several months and I'm just wondering do you see that transaction moving and who do you see as a potential buyer or is that transaction movable?

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Cruiser Capital

I don't know, Charlie. I don't have any comment on what Rockwood is doing. I don't know and I don't have any comment. Is there a question, Charlie?

Charlie Rose

Analyst · Cruiser Capital

Okay. The other noise is that on Kronos, Simmons just sold TIMET, as you probably saw. Is there any reason to revisit a consolidation opportunity or is that something that's not in the cards?

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Cruiser Capital

Again, I don't have any comment on any sort of strategic initiatives by other people or by us.

Thomas Casey

Analyst · Cruiser Capital

Thank you, operator. And thank you, everyone. We'll talk to you next quarter.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's presentation. You may now disconnect and have a wonderful day.