Innospec Inc. ($IOSP)

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Innospec's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Release and Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, David Jones, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you. Welcome to Innospec's first quarter earnings call. It's David Jones, I'm Innospec's General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. The earnings release for the quarter and this presentation are posted on the company's website. During this call, we will make forward-looking statements, which are predictions about future events. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from the anticipated results implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are detailed in Innospec's 10-K, 10-Qs and other filings with the SEC. Please see the SEC site and Innospec's site for these and related documents. In today's presentation, we've also included non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure is contained in the earnings release. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as a substitute for or superior to those prepared in accordance with GAAP. They're included to aid investor understanding of the company's performance in addition to the impact that these items and events had on financial results. With me today from Innospec are Patrick Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Ian Cleminson, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. And with that, I'll turn it over to you, Patrick.

Thank you, David, and welcome, everyone, to Innospec's First Quarter 2026 Conference Call. Before discussing the results, I want to recognize the focus and determination being demonstrated by our employees around the world and especially those in the Middle East. Volatile environments like this bring a unique set of challenges and opportunities. We are seeing increased chances to deliver innovative solutions and security of supply to all our customers, and we will continue to execute on these initiatives. This was a mixed quarter for Innospec with continued strong results in Fuel Specialties, partially offsetting the impacts of the January 2026 U.S. winter storm, which affected Performance Chemicals and Oilfield Services. Performance Chemicals sales were broadly flat with last year, but margins and operating income were significantly impacted by the shutdown of our North Carolina plants due to the U.S. winter storm. We are continuing to prioritize plant repairs in order to meet customer requirements. Additionally, and without slowing the pace of these critical plant repairs, we have elected to pull forward multiple plant optimization projects, which will drive long-term benefits. In parallel, we continue to execute on a range of top line and margin opportunities identified in the business, which we expect to drive sequential growth in the second quarter. Fuel Specialties had another strong quarter with sales growth and margins that remained at the upper end of our target range. The business has continued to deliver consistent strong results through a range of economic cycles. With a diverse pipeline of nonfuel opportunities across all regions, we expect a continued strong performance in this business. Oilfield Services operating income and margins improved on the prior year, but sequential results were impacted by the U.S. winter storm. While the Middle East conflict may delay some activity in the region, it is also creating new opportunities, which we are aggressively pursuing. In parallel, we remain focused on driving incremental growth from our recent DRA expansion and other opportunities in our Completions and Production segments. We are cautiously optimistic that this combination will deliver sequential operating improvement in the second quarter and leave us well positioned for further improvement in the second half of 2026. Now I will turn the call over to Ian Cleminson, who will review our financial results in more detail, then I will return with some concluding comments. After that, Ian and I will take your questions. Ian?

Thanks, Patrick. Turning to Slide 7 in the presentation. The company's total revenues for the first quarter were $453.2 million, a 3% increase from $440.8 million a year ago. Overall gross margin decreased by 1.1 percentage points from last year to 27.3%. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $43.7 million compared to $54 million last year, and net income attributable to Innospec for the quarter was $30.4 million compared to $32.8 million a year ago. Our GAAP earnings per share were $1.22, including special items, the net effect of which increased our first quarter earnings by $0.17 per share. A year ago, we reported GAAP earnings per share of $1.31, which included a negative impact from special items of $0.11 per share. Excluding special items in both years, our adjusted EPS for the quarter was $1.05 compared to $1.42 a year ago. Turning to Slide 8. Revenues in Performance Chemicals for the first quarter were $169.4 million, up 1% from last year's $168.4 million. Volume reductions of 9% were offset by a positive price/mix of 1% and a favorable currency impact of 9%. Gross margins of 16.8% decreased 4.2 percentage points compared to the 21% in the same quarter in 2025 due to the impact of the U.S. winter storm at the start of the quarter. Operating income of $10.7 million decreased 46% from $19.8 million last year. Moving on to Slide 9. Revenues in Fuel Specialties for the first quarter were $181.6 million, up 7% from the $170.3 million reported a year ago. A 10% increase in volumes and a favorable currency impact of 6% were offset by negative price/mix of 9%. Fuel Specialties gross margins of 35.4% were broadly flat with the same quarter last year. Operating income of $37.8 million was up 2% from $36.9 million a year ago. Moving on to Slide 10. Revenues in Oilfield Services for the quarter were $102.2 million, flat with the first quarter last year. Gross margins of 30.1% increased 1.7 percentage points from last year's 28.4% on an improved sales mix. Operating income of $5.6 million increased 37% from $4.1 million a year ago. Turning to Slide 11. Corporate costs for the quarter were $22.3 million compared with $17.7 million a year ago, driven by higher legacy costs of closed operations, higher legal and compliance expenses and additional amortization for our ERP system. The effective tax rate for the quarter was 22.8% compared to 25.7% a year ago. Moving on to Slide 12. Cash generated from operating activities was $17.6 million before capital expenditures of $8.6 million. In the first quarter, we bought back 90,000 shares at a cost of $6.2 million. As of March 31, Innospec had $289.1 million in cash and cash equivalents and no debt. And now I'll turn it back over to Patrick for some final comments. Patrick?

Thanks, Ian. With our diversified global supply chain and manufacturing footprint, we believe that we are well positioned to manage the direct impacts of near-term geopolitical disruptions. We are monitoring closely the potential for further raw material inflation and supply disruption as the Middle East conflict extends. During this period, we remain focused on our continued commitment to security of supply and innovative solutions for our customers. We will continue to implement improvements across all our businesses that will position us for growth and margin expansion as market conditions recover. Our short-term expectations is for sequential operating income growth in Performance Chemicals and Oilfield Services and steady performance in Fuel Specialties. Our strong debt-free balance sheet continues to allow for significant flexibility in the current environment to pursue further dividend growth, buybacks, organic investment and M&A. Cash generation was again positive this quarter, and our net cash position held at over $289 million after repurchasing 90,000 shares at a cost of $6.2 million. In addition, this quarter, our Board approved a further 10% increase in our semiannual dividend to $0.92 per share, which together with the newly announced $75 million buyback further enhances shareholder returns. Now I will turn the call over to the operator, and Ian and I will take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] And now we're going to take our first question, and it comes from the line of Michael Harrison from Seaport Research Partners.

I wanted to just start with the Performance Chemicals business. Maybe help us understand how much of that volume decline was related to the weather or outage impact? And I guess, what you're seeing in terms of underlying market dynamics there, given the consumer sentiment remains a little bit weak. And really just trying to get a sense of should we see volumes start to recover in the second quarter? Or is that more of a second half type of dynamic?

Yes, Mike, I'll kind of go in reverse of the question. I think you'll start seeing it in the second half of the year. It's not necessarily orders that we're seeing a negative impact. Our order pattern is very strong right now. The issue we're still having is the plant and that effect from the winter storm that we had early on or late in the season. So it's an issue of getting product out and manufactured and out the door. It's not an issue of orders. I think what you'll see probably is a similar, maybe a little better quarter in Q2 with a significant better increase in Q3. That's where we sit right now. And we can give you, obviously, more color as we go along.

Yes. Just to kind of follow up on that. Can you maybe walk us through the repairs and upgrades or optimizations that you're making at the High Point and Salisbury plants in North Carolina. What's happening at each plant? What's the time line for each plant, I guess, to get fully back up and running? And can you help us understand what the potential benefits are of the optimizations that you're working on?

Yes. Number one was to get the plant up and running so we could at least meet most of the orders that we have in place today. So the #1 priority was to get the plant up and running, and we've gotten the majority of that right now. Along the way, we've decided that let's start to optimize to where we get better yields, better efficiencies, automation, et cetera, along the way. But the #1 critical part was to get product to customers. So that's been the primary focus. As we move through the stage of that, then we're moving back into the stage of automation, et cetera, that we just talked about. So, it's a process. It takes time. You had frozen pipes. We've had to replace a lot of pipes, boilers, et cetera. There is a time line on everything that we've done. We have a plan in place. And Mike, as you know, when plants go down, it just takes time to get some of these things fixed as you fix one thing and another thing pops up. And so it's just taking some time. It's a little frustrating by us, but we are starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. And the good thing is, again, the order pattern is extremely strong. And I think when we come out of this, priority #1 is to get product to customers. Priority #2 is let's make sure we don't have the problems again and of course, better efficiency, better yield, better quality, et cetera, which should come along with it in the latter part of the year.

All right. Very helpful. And then I wanted to move on to just understanding some of the impacts of the Iran war on your business. I think, first of all, just from a raw material perspective, I'm a little concerned about the Fuel Specialties business. That business tends to pass through raw material cost on an index and sometimes there's a lag. I guess what are you anticipating in terms of some potential margin pressure impacting the Fuel Specialties business? And I guess with pricing negative in the quarter, should we assume that, that price/mix number turns positive again in the second quarter? Or is that maybe we see that remain negative and not turn positive until the second half?

Yes. Let me take the first part of that, Mike. So Fuel Specialties is a business that operates through or has operated through many different economic cycles. And this, in many ways, is similar to what we've been through before. We've seen some really serious spikes in raw material costs and crude derivatives. And you're absolutely spot on that we have a pass-through mechanism for most of our business, and that does have a time lag. So our expectation is that we'll see some gross margin compression in the second quarter. And that's not to be unexpected. Now depending on how long some of this continues for, we may well be chasing some of those price increases for a quarter or two. If prices stabilize or drop, we'll obviously see the benefits of that in the fullness of time. So again, a little bit like Performance Chemicals, demand is really good. The business is operating at the real top end of where we expect it to be with the seasonal impact of Fuel Specialties in Q2 dropping off a little bit and some timing of gross margins. We expect operating income to be in that sort of low $32 million, $33 million in the second quarter. So a little bit lighter than Q1, but margins potentially a little bit tighter as well.

Yes, Mike, it's interesting. As Ian said, we've been through these cycles before in this business, and we've managed it extremely well. And what you always look for is, is there demand destruction, right? Do you see high crude prices, high jet prices, high diesel gasoline moving up in the marketplace. Will that have demand destruction. We're not seeing it quite yet. It could happen. But typically, what you see is a slight demand destruction, but yet the margin profile still stays pretty steady, and this business just kind of marches along. And I think as Ian and I looked at this and ascertain the situation and all the market information that we're getting, we feel -- still feel very confident that Fuel Specialties will continue on this path.

No, we're -- I mean, the market is surprisingly resilient here. I was surprised to see the unemployment numbers that came out today. So we'll see what happens with demand. I guess the last question that I had is just maybe tying it all together, you mentioned the sequential decline in Fuel Specialties and sequential growth expectations for Performance Chems and for Oilfield. So net-net, is Q2 earnings pretty similar to Q1, a little bit lower than Q1? Maybe just any additional color you can provide there would be helpful.

Yes, I'll let Ian take the first part, and I'll add some clarity to it as well.

Yes. You called it pretty right there, Mike. We're expecting a small drop-off in fuels compared to Q1, seasonally driven. We expect a small increase sequentially in Performance Chemicals and the same in Oilfield. So net-net, you're going to come out with a very similar quarter in terms of EPS, maybe $0.01 or $0.02 higher. We do need to see the impacts of the war coming through. But right now, that's how we see it, very much like it's modeled in your numbers as well, Mike.

Yes. I think, Mike, we looked at your model and your numbers on -- let's talk about oilfields. We haven't touched much on oilfield. Where there's chaos, there's opportunities, right? And I think if you look at the expansion that we did in DRA, this chaos has created a lot of opportunities in DRA. And as Ian said, that will help boost oilfield in Q2 and Q3 moving forward. And so we're seeing more opportunities with higher crude prices. Even if crude prices come down, we still feel like we're in a better position than we have been in the past. And so -- and I think as Ian said, you'll see a similar type -- a little bit of improvement in Q2, and then you'll see the bigger improvements in Q3, Q4.

And the question comes from the line of Jon Tanwanteng from CJS Securities,.

Patrick, I just want to drill down on the oilfield business, pun intended there. You mentioned you're obviously seeing more opportunities there even with the delays in the expansion in the Middle East. Are those net positive opportunities as you look at the full year? Or is it a net negative just with the disruptions that you're seeing compared to what you thought maybe two or three months ago?

Yes. It's definitely, Jon, net positive. And I think that what we're seeing in the position that we put our product lines in with specific customers, either a, in the Middle East and even a little bit now potentially in Argentina or Venezuela and Mexico as well, where there's heavy crude. We think these are potentially long-term opportunities. So it's -- as I said earlier, there's opportunity in chaos. And because of our technologies, it's provided us a lot of opportunity. And now it's up for us to capture that. So even as the Strait of Hormuz open up, you have the East-West pipeline that we're looking at helping out right now with DRA. Once the strait open up, you'll see fracking pick up again, which will obviously help our business again. And then you're seeing Venezuela coming in with heavy crude that we're looking to trade on their heavy crude. So a lot of this chaos has created a lot of opportunities. And I think if we positioned ourselves properly, we have great technology. Now it's a matter for our group to go ahead and execute. And we're starting to see that happening. That's why we're telling you we'll see a sequential improvement over Q1 in the oilfield, and we should see that throughout the rest of the year.

Got it. And if I could just ask two more on the same topic. Are you seeing any DRA opportunities pushed out of this year as a result of the delays in the conflict, number one? And number two, is there any update on your prior large Latin American client and if -- the higher prices today might spur them to do something sooner rather than later?

Yes. So on DRA, we've seen all opportunities. As a matter of fact, that the plant expansion that we put together is pretty much going to be maxed out in Q2 and Q4. So pure opportunities there. If you look at the Latin America opportunities, and we mentioned a couple, we mentioned Venezuela. I know your specific question is to Mexico. There is activity going in Mexico right now. And obviously, with their heavy crude and where the crude prices are right now and the need for the Gulf Coast refineries to have access to heavy crude there is a lot of activity. Now until Pemex decides how they're going to fix paying vendors, there's going to be that lag still. But we are starting to see increased activity. And the hope is that we'll start seeing something out of there. It will never be the magnitude that we had. The hope is we'll see something coming out of there. But again, there are some opportunities in Venezuela, too, that we're going to start pursuing that hopefully will benefit as well.

Got it. And then one last question just on capital allocation priorities. I see that you bought back a lot of shares. You authorized a new $75 million buyback, which is great. I think in the prior quarter, you had talked about increasing M&A opportunities this year. And I'm wondering if that's changed in your outlook, just given the higher degree of share buybacks. So can you do both with the cash flow and the cash pile that you have?

Yes. I think we can do both. And we tap the brakes a little bit, Jon, until we get Performance Chemicals, right? And we're starting to see a light at the end of that tunnel. And the hope is that after we get through Q2, where we'll see a similar quarter as we saw in Q1 that we start seeing those big improvements that we've anticipated in Q3 and Q4. Once we see that turnaround, and it's in actual numbers, not in just talk, but in actual numbers, I think you'll see us aggressively going after M&A. But we haven't stopped. We just haven't found the right thing, but we are continuously looking. But the hope is the right deal doesn't come around until Q3 when we see those numbers improve.

Is it fair to say that a deal will be dependent on that factory getting -- that facility getting fixed? Or is that just something you're hoping to have as a bogey in terms of...

Yes, it's hoping I have as a bogey.

And the question comes from the line of David Silver from Freedom Capital Markets.

I would like to maybe kind of drill down just a little bit on Fuel Specialties. So according to my records, both the revenues and especially operating income were kind of at all-time highs. And more to the point rather than just isolating one period, I mean, maybe three out of the last four quarters have really been exceptionally strong from a historical perspective. And I know you kind of talk about this as being a very steady business, but 10% volume growth this quarter and just the overall trend kind of points to maybe, I don't know, some share gains or some new products making an impact. But maybe if you could just comment not just on good results, but on record results and kind of consecutive periods of kind of above normal or above trend, I would say, growth and margin performance. So underneath, I mean, underlying this, what might be moving more positively than the historical trends that might indicate?

Yes. Good question, David. I'll take that. Some of it has been market changes, market improvements, volume gains, price mix. There's been a little bit of variable in your question. The other that we've seen is that we've started to grow a lot of business in adjacent markets that are outside of fuels. And so when you're looking at polyethylene plants, polypropylene, et cetera. So we've moved into other market segments that are an offshoot of fuel specialties. So that's been a beneficial gain and nice margins in that area. So they've done a really good job of putting together a strategy and a plan in place and sticking to it. And as you know, that business is always extremely steady. I've been involved in that business from day 1. It was my business prior to being CEO of this company. So I know this business extremely well. They've done a really good job running this business. They've created themselves opportunities. We've got a good product pipeline. And that's why we feel confident that we can continue to either, a, grow or sustain moving forward this year and beyond. So it's a little bit of everything, which you'd like to see. You don't want to see one thing create all the positive. It's a little bit of everything that's created the positive. Now you are going into a second quarter, you always see a drop-off because of seasonality. And so you just have to remember that. But again, I think the sequential improvement has been very impressive, as you said.

And if you don't mind, I'm just going to follow up. But again, from the perspective of very strong results, I mean, near term, I guess, the diesel markets have been rattled a bit on the cost and maybe availability side and various airlines are balking, I guess, or having trouble operating in the current environment. So I mean, just from your perspective, I know diesel and jet are important to your fuel specialties. But how would you say -- what has been the strategy or the plan to kind of continue to operate or perform so well despite kind of objectively some meaningful near-term disruptions?

Yes. Dave, I think it's diversification of portfolio within Fuel Specialties. Again, we treat marine, bunker, jet, gasoline, diesel. We've gone to adjacent markets outside of core fuels and heavy fuels. So it's the creativity within the organization and the diversification of the portfolio, which will help us sustain kind of where we are today. Now we are watching heavily what's going on with fuels. And as you said, you see Spirit Airlines go down and others blaming it on fuel costs. Why they weren't hedging fuel costs is beyond me. But my only point there is we are watching demand destruction and see if it hits us. It has not as of yet. The consumer is extremely strong still. Usage is still strong, but we are watching it closely. But again, the diversification within the portfolio has always helped us overcome these chaotic markets.

Okay. And then just one more kind of maybe bigger picture question. But when I think of the disruptions from the Persian Gulf and one or two other areas, I mean, I do think -- and you touched on this earlier, but I do think oilfield in particular, but probably multiple areas do have objectively, they're going to have greater opportunities regardless of when and how the Persian Gulf situation plays out. I mean people are just going to want to source differently. And from your perspective, I mean, I think you have multiple areas that could benefit, which you did discuss, but I'd like to maybe ask you about the resourcing. In other words, what would you have to do in oilfield, for example, to take advantage of what we're seeing on a daily basis, which is a much greater interest in U.S. petroleum and petroleum products exports. And there probably are some other businesses I'm just wondering, do you have spare capacity now? Or do you need to really increase maybe either investments in capacity or investments in talent to kind of take full advantage?

I think we're properly positioned. And I think security of supply is big on everybody's mind, and we're well positioned for security supply. I think during chaotic times like this, innovation is going to be on the forefront of everybody. If you're looking at similar technologies that come out of the Gulf based off of raw material, can you do something different in other markets that are sustainable long term with technology. Those are things that we're looking at and consistently and constantly bringing to the market. So I think if you really look at when these market dynamics change like they are today, innovation, security of supply is on everybody's mind. And that's going to be our focus during these times, but as well as sustainability when things come back to normal if and when they do. And that's the key for our group is to make sure that what we do today brings us sustainability in the following years moving forward.

Dear speakers, there are no further questions for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Patrick Williams for any closing remarks.

Thank you all for joining us today, and thanks to all our shareholders, customers and Innospec employees for your interest and support. In the first -- sorry, if you have any further questions about Innospec on matters discussed today, please give us a call. We look forward to meeting up with you again to discuss the second quarter 2026 results in August. Have a great day.