Minerals Technologies Reports Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Per Share of $1.22, or $1.28 Excluding Special Items, a Record for Current Quarter
The Company Reports Full Year 2023 Earnings of $2.58, Or $5.21 Per Share, Excluding Special Items, a Record Year for MTI
Fourth Quarter Highlights:
Record Fourth Quarter Revenue of $525 Million
Strong Cash Flow from Operations of $95 Million and Free Cash Flow of $73 Million
Increased Dividend and Initiated a New, 1-Year, $75M Share Repurchase Program
Full Year Highlights:
Record Revenue of $2.17 Billion
Record EPS of $5.21, Excluding Special Items
Strong Cash Flow from Operations of $234 Million and Free Cash Flow of $140 Million
Repaid $49 Million of Debt; Net Leverage Ratio at 1.9 Times EBITDA
Reorganized Around Core Technologies and End-Markets, and Announced 5-Year Financial Targets
Minerals Technologies Inc. (NYSE: MTX) (“MTI” or “the Company”) today reported diluted earnings per share of $1.28 for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2023, excluding special items. Reported diluted earnings per share were $1.22.
For the full year 2023, The Company reported earnings per share of $5.21, excluding special items, compared with $4.88 in the prior year. Reported earnings per share were $2.58.
“Our team delivered a record year of sales, operating income, and earnings per share in 2023. The realignment of our business segments with our key markets and core technologies highlights our balanced portfolio of consumer and industrial businesses. It also drives organizational efficiencies that lead to higher levels of performance,” said Douglas T. Dietrich, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “The combination of our leading business positions, continued margin expansion, and strong cash flow generation demonstrates the power of our business model.”
Fourth Quarter 2023
Worldwide net sales were $525 million, up 3 percent from the prior year. Underlying sales, excluding the deconsolidation of Barretts Minerals Inc. (BMI), grew 6 percent. Reported operating income was $67 million. Operating income excluding special items was $69 million representing 13.2 percent of sales.
Cash flow from operations was $95 million and free cash flow was $73 million. The Company repurchased $14 million of shares in the quarter and repaid $28 million of debt.
Consumer & Specialties segment sales were $281 million in the fourth quarter, up 3 percent over the prior year. Underlying sales, excluding the deconsolidation of BMI, grew 8 percent over the prior year.
Household & Personal Care sales were $134 million, up 13 percent from the prior year driven by continued strong demand for our cat litter products as well as growth in other consumer-oriented products. Specialty Additives sales were $147 million, 5 percent below the prior year. Underlying sales, excluding the deconsolidation of BMI, grew 3 percent over the prior year.
Segment operating income was $37 million, a significant improvement over the prior year driven by higher volumes in Household & Personal Care and price-cost recovery. Operating margin excluding special items was 13.0 percent.
The Consumer & Specialties segment provides technologically enhanced products to consumer-driven end markets, including mineral-to-market household products, as well as specialty additives that become functional components in a variety of consumer and industrial goods. This segment includes two product lines: Household & Personal Care and Specialty Additives.
Engineered Solutions segment sales were $243 million in the fourth quarter, up 4 percent over the prior year.
High-Temperature Technologies sales were $182 million, up 7 percent from the prior year on strong demand in North America and higher volumes in Asia. Environmental & Infrastructure sales were $61 million, 6 percent lower than the prior year, primarily due to commercial construction market conditions in North America.
Segment operating income was $37 million, up 16 percent from the prior year, driven by higher sales in High-Temperature Technologies and a strong operating performance. Operating margin represented 15.1 percent of sales.
The Engineered Solutions segment provides advanced process technologies and solutions that are designed to improve our customers’ manufacturing processes and projects. This segment includes two product lines: High-Temperature Technologies and Environmental & Infrastructure.
Full Year 2023
Worldwide net sales were $2.17 billion, up 2 percent from the prior year. Reported operating income was $172 million. Operating income excluding special items was $280 million representing 12.9 percent of sales, 100 basis points above prior year.
Cash flow from operations was $234 million, more than double the prior year and free cash flow improved significantly to $140 million. The Company repaid $49 million of debt and repurchased $14 million of shares. The Company’s balance sheet remains strong with a net leverage ratio of 1.9 times EBITDA.
Consumer & Specialties segment sales were $1.16 billion, up 3 percent over the prior year.
Household & Personal Care sales were $518 million, up 9 percent mainly driven by strong demand for our cat litter products and growth in other high-margin consumer-oriented products. Specialty Additives sales were $643 million, 1 percent below the prior year. Underlying sales, excluding the deconsolidation of BMI, grew 1 percent over prior year.
Segment operating income was $141 million excluding special items, a significant improvement over the prior year driven by strong operating performance and price-cost recovery across both product lines. Operating margin excluding special items was 12.2 percent, up 210 basis points over the prior year.
Engineered Solutions segment sales were $1.01 billion, up 1 percent over the prior year.
High-Temperature Technologies sales were $721 million, up 3 percent from the prior year driven by strong demand in North America market and volume growth in Asia in the second half of the year. Environmental & Infrastructure sales were $289 million, 3 percent lower than the prior year due to weak commercial construction activity.
Segment operating income excluding special items was $151 million, 3 percent up from the prior year. Operating margin excluding special items was 15.0 percent of sales, up 30 basis points over prior year.
-----------------
Minerals Technologies will host a conference call tomorrow, February 2, 2024, at 11 a.m. Eastern Time. The live earnings webcast can be accessed at https://investors.mineralstech.com/quarterly-results-conference-calls. A presentation for the call will be available at the same location at approximately 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on February 2, 2024.
-----------------
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release may contain "forward‐looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations and forecasts of future events such as new products, revenues and financial performance, and are not limited to describing historical or current facts. They can be identified by the use of words such as “believes,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “anticipates,” and other words and phrases of similar meaning. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on assumptions, estimates and limited information available at the time they are made. A broad variety of risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, as well as the inaccuracy of assumptions and estimates, can affect the realization of the expectations or forecasts in these statements. Actual future results may vary materially. Significant factors that could affect the expectations and forecasts include worldwide general economic, business, and industry conditions; the cyclicality of our customers’ businesses and their changing regional demands; our ability to compete in very competitive industries; consolidation in customer industries, principally paper, foundry and steel; our ability to renew or extend long term sales contracts for our satellite operations; our ability to generate cash to service our debt; our ability to comply with the covenants in the agreements governing our debt; our ability to effectively achieve and implement our growth initiatives or consummate the transactions described in the statements; our ability to successfully develop new products; our ability to defend our intellectual property; the increased risks of doing business abroad; the availability of raw materials and access to ore reserves at our mining operations, or increases in costs of raw materials, energy, or shipping; compliance with or changes to regulation in the areas of environmental, health and safety, and tax; risks and uncertainties related to the voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code filed by our subsidiaries Barretts Minerals Inc. and Barretts Ventures Texas LLC; claims for legal, environmental and tax matters or product stewardship issues; the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting preventative measures; operating risks and capacity limitations affecting our production facilities; seasonality of some of our businesses; cybersecurity and other threats relating to our information technology systems; and other risk factors and cautionary statements in our 2022 Annual Report on Form 10‐K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward‐looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
About Minerals Technologies Inc.
New York-based Minerals Technologies Inc. (MTI) is a leading, technology-driven specialty minerals company that develops, produces, and markets a broad range of mineral and mineral-based products, related systems, and services. MTI serves globally a wide range of consumer and industrial markets, including household, food and pharmaceutical, paper, packaging, automotive, construction, and environmental. The company reported global sales of $2.2 billion in 2023. For further information, please visit our website at www.mineralstech.com.
###