Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Oil-Dri Third Quarter Fiscal 2025 Earnings Discussion via Webcast. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Dan Jaffee, President and CEO of Oil-Dri. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and welcome, everybody. Before we get started, I'd like to introduce all the people that are on the call with us today. Susan Kreh, our CFO and CIO; Aaron Christiansen, Vice President of Operations; Chris Lamson, Group VP of Retail and Wholesale; Wade Robey, Vice President of Agriculture and President of Amlan International; Laura Scheland, Vice President and General Manager of the Consumer Products Division; Bruce Patsey, Vice President of our Fluids Purification Division; Tony Parker, Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary; and of course, Leslie Garber, our Director of Investor Relations, who will walk us through the safe harbor.

Thank you, Dan, and welcome, everyone. On today's call, comments may contain forward-looking statements regarding the company's performance in future periods. Actual results in those periods may materially differ. In our press release and in our SEC filings, we highlight a number of important risk factors, trends and uncertainties that may affect our future performance. We ask that you review and consider those factors in evaluating the company's comments and in evaluating any investment in Oil-Dri stock. Thank you for joining us. Turning it back over to you, Dan.

Great. Thanks, Leslie. And before Susan walks us through some of the quantitative highlights, I just want to give some qualitative, and there's going to be some quantum here as well. Those of you who know me well know I keep my spreadsheets going back to the beginning of time. And on an apples-to-apples basis, this quarter was a really big apple. It was a really big apple. We made $11.644 million of net income. We've had 85 fiscal years, so 84 previous. And that $11.6 million was greater than all but 8 of our 84 prior fiscal years. And then through 9 months, we are now ahead of all 84 of our past fiscal year. So we are playing with the house's money in the fourth quarter. So it feels really, really good. But most importantly, about all this is we've been reinvesting it in our business as we told our customers we would. So I want to make sure I thank our customer partners for embracing our capital replacement program. It was costing us twice as much to replace the capital as it was when we put it into service, and we're depreciating it. So to give you some metrics around that. We're probably going to spend around $32 million this year in capital and probably spend another $32 million next year. So if you look at the 5-year period from F'22 to F'26, which will end a year from this July, we will spend close to $143 million on capital. And if you look at the 5 prior fiscal years, so F'17 to F'21, we only spent $78 million. So we spent an extra $65 million or almost $14 million, $13 million -- $13 million more a year to put plow back in our business so that…

Thank you, Dan. And in order to preserve the most time for questions, I'll highlight a few financial matters and then address any of your other questions in the Q&A portion of the call. As Dan highlighted in his opening remarks, coming off another quarter of strong and record financial performance, our Board of Directors and our management team feel confident about our strong financial position and about Oil-Dri's future. And that confidence has been reflected in the announcement of a significant double-digit increase to our quarterly dividend. As a team, we continue to work together to strengthen our balance sheet and to demonstrate our ability to generate cash flow, which is the lifeblood for funding our growth and providing returns to our stakeholders. Year-to-date, as of April 30, Oil-Dri's net cash provided by operating activities was $55 million, which was an increase of 49% compared to the net cash provided by operating activities during the first 9 months of fiscal year 2024. Our belief in the sustainability of that cash flow generation inspired us to raise the dividend 16%, an increase much larger than our normal annual increase. We understand that the sustainability and predictability of our dividend is important to our long-term shareholders, and that was reflected in the increase. Going forward, we will continue to take a long-term disciplined approach to capital deployment to balance shareholder returns with reinvestment in the business and potential M&A opportunities. We continue to assess our capital allocation in the following order of priority. First of all, investment in our business for long-term sustainability. We have a fixed asset-intensive business model that requires significant capital investment in our manufacturing facilities, along with investment in expensive mobile equipment in our mining operations. You see this in the cash flows from investing activities section…

All right. Thank you. And for our investors, if you're ever -- thank you for the effective tax rate thing, but if you're ever suffering from insomnia, just ask Susan to walk you through our international taxes. And I guarantee you I'm just teasing you, Susan, but you know I love international tax. I'm going to turn it over to Chris Lamson for an Ultra Pet acquisition update, obviously.

Great. Thanks, Dan. So hey, at the end of Q3, we've now completed our first year of ownership of Ultra Pet, which made it seem like a good time. I think it was last -- it was at the end of Q1, but we thought this would be another good time to share an update regarding the acquisition. As Susan mentioned, we're right on our acquisition economics. We're obviously very pleased with that. That is we're right on the model we use to value the business. We're experiencing stronger-than-expected cost synergies, primarily in the logistics and administrative areas. One example, we've been able to close what were pretty expensive third-party warehouses and roll these into our existing Oil-Dri facilities from a distribution perspective faster and more efficiently than expected. Susan again alluded to this, it's a win-win as customers are enjoying the efficiencies of what are fairly light crystals writing on the same trucks as our heavier clay litters. Conversely, the Ultra legacy business, the existing retailers we got as part of the business, been a little softer from a top line perspective, but then partially offsetting that has been the distribution drive that we made right after buying the business was really successful and also in line with our acquisition model. We've gotten a few questions back through Leslie over time as to the tariff situation. Silica gel comes out of China, so I thought I'd provide a little update on that. I think first, though, setting context, as much as crystals are a focus, given the growth opportunities we see, they only represent about 10% of our total litter business and less than 5% of Oil-Dri's total business from a top line perspective. So important to realize that overall exposure here is limited in the crystals business and…

Thanks, Chris. [Operator Instructions] So our first question comes from John Bair from Ascend Wealth Advisors . He and Ethan Star, a private investor, are both interested in Amlan. And so I'm going to read the first question. Although Animal Health and Nutrition revenues for the 9 months year-over-year were up this past quarter, they were flat year-over-year as stated in the press release. Was this quarter's result due to seasonality or changes in customer order patterns? Any hesitation by customers outside the U.S. due to tariff controversy? And what will it take to get sales back on the growth trajectory? So Wade, I'm going to turn that over to you, please.

Yes. Thank you, Leslie, and thank you, John, for the question, and good morning, everyone. As you know, the performance for the third quarter was flat as we compare it to the previous year. But actually, as we look at the year-to-date, we're on very good growth and meeting our expectations and targets that we've set for the year. So why is that? As you know, we have quite a bit of volatility currently being caused by the tariff situation. This really exacerbates a previous situation we had where because of the -- some of the challenges we were seeing on logistics and delivering to our international markets, we are seeing longer transit times. So the combination of those has caused increased volatility as we look month-over-month or as we compare on a quarter basis. So that we expect to work its way out. It actually has caused us or allowed us to work even more closely with our distribution partners, forming stronger relationships, helping them manage their inventory, so we don't have product shortages and that we meet our customer needs for our products. So overall, we're very pleased with the performance year-to-date and expecting to finish the year on track, but it has caused, as you know, some month-to-month or quarter volatility that was unexpected.

Great. Thank you, Wade. The next question comes from Robert Smith from the Center for Performance Investing. He asks, -- the U.S. renewable diesel production was down 12% in the first quarter of calendar 2025, yet you were up 13%. While not fully comparable in fiscal year month, it was significant outperformance. Please explain. So I'm going to turn that over to Bruce Patsey.

Yes, Robert, thanks for the question. And yes, the market was down slightly in the first quarter of this year. But in fiscal '25, new plants came online in the renewable diesel sector, and Oil-Dri was able to secure a lot of that new business that we didn't have the prior year. So even though the whole market was down slightly in the first quarter, we saw a gain in our business as we had new business and working with new plants. In addition, we saw an increase in some of our vegetable oil business as we picked up a few new customers in that segment as well. So overall, we're very strong, and we're looking forward to a good fourth quarter coming up.

Our next question comes from Ethan Star. He asks, noting that you recently lost what appears to be a significant private label clay cat litter account, what are the prospects for growing private label clay cat litter distribution and sales? I'm going to have Laura Scheland answer that.

Thanks for the question. We're continuing to see a lot of momentum in the private label clay cat litter, particularly for lightweight litter. And despite the loss of an account, we continue to have commanding share of private label lightweight. As we've mentioned during past calls and the stockholder meetings, our strategy has been to grow the lightweight segment, and we're very pleased to see that these efforts are paying off and the lightweight segment is growing more than the litter category, which poises us for long-term success as the lightweight litter pie grows, our sales grow as well. As more consumers move to the lightweight litter segment, the opportunity for private label lightweight is growing. We've made great progress on private label lightweight accounts over recent years, but still have about 4 to 5 national retailers who don't carry us that we are targeting. We are leveraging existing relationships and are in active conversations with a couple of them and are very excited about the prospects. In addition, we've continued to develop the best-performing products to offer consumers the best value and have evidence of the superior performance and quality of our products versus other private label lightweight offerings and are actively using this evidence and data in our selling efforts with customers. So net-net, we remain very optimistic and excited about the momentum of the growing lightweight litter segment and our prospects to grow in the private label lightweight business along as well.

Great answer, Laura. I just want to add because lightweight is so near and dear to my heart that my belief is if it's a great lightweight litter, then it conforms to our patents. And if it doesn't conform to our patents, it's not a great lightweight litter because that's what we did. When we invented this category and we launched lightweight litter, we pretty much patented everything we thought that would make an effective lightweight litter. So what you're seeing, we're not going to get into the details, but we can see what customers are saying about this product that they replaced us with. And the reviews are not friendly. And I would guess that their sales are declining. So we're going to play the long game like we always did. Sometimes when something is too good to be true, it's because it really isn't, and they obviously got a lower price, but I'm confident that over time, the consumers will get to vote, and my bet is we will be back in. But we'll see. And sometimes you got to take a step back to go 2 steps forward.

We have another question from John Bair. He asks, natural gas is a key production input cost. We know you partially lock in forward supply contracts for those needs. Natural gas prices are widely considered to be headed higher in the second half of 2025 and in 2026 due to increased demand for LNG exports, summer cooling demands and data center power demand. Are there any alternatives available to Oil-Dri to power your kilns or otherwise reduce your operating costs at the plant level? I'm going to turn this over to Aaron Christiansen.

John, that's a great question. I'm happy to answer it. I'll take it in a number of different ways. First, as you stated in your question, a reminder that we make partial purchases to secure a chunk of our natural gas needs. In a rising market, it helps sort of prove the value of long-term dollar cost averaging of the natural gas we purchase. Taking the question another way, in the past, we have explored alternative fuels, fuel oil and even coal. At present, liquid natural gas is still the most cost-effective and efficient fuel source. Taking the question another way, Oil-Dri has explored alternative drying technologies, different types of dryers and even completely different alternatives like microwave technology that are available. Unfortunately, at present, most alternatives to traditional drying technology come with other pitfalls, high cost of capital, maintenance cost, rate and reliability issues potentially all come with pitfalls. At present, we've been unsuccessful finding an alternative that we really believe in. Now that being said, our job every day is to get better than we were yesterday. We're constantly looking at ways to optimize fuel consumption, improve moisture control and management, some unique ways to manage optimal combustion on our dryers, continually looking at creative ways to get better, including even pre-drying. And then I'll close with taking an opportunity to just not within your question, but maybe to remind the audience, Oil-Dri has shifted more than half of our warehouse forklift fleet to the use of electric away from propane or natural gas-powered forklifts, and that has been -- for several reasons, has really been a highly beneficial shift in approach. I hope I've answered your question, John.

Okay. We'll take another question from Ethan Star. Are you gaining new distribution of the Ultra Pet crystal cat litter? If so, how many doors are they in? And how is retail sell-through? Chris Lamson, I'm going to turn that over to you.

Sure. Thanks, Leslie, and thanks, Ethan. I answered this partially in my earlier comments, so I'll be a little brief here. In short, we're up significantly in terms of what we call points of distribution year-over-year, which is number of doors, to your point, Ethan, times number of items. In fact, year-over-year from a brick-and-mortar branded perspective, we added more points of distribution than we had when we acquired the business. Now recall, Ultra Pet also had a sizable online business and a private label business. But branded year-over-year between Cat's Pride and Ultra Pet, we added more points of distribution than we already had. We went right into selling season. It's been quiet since we built that distribution. We're back into selling season. And I outlined our plans to sell more branded business, but also now add private label points of distribution going into this next selling season, which really culminates with some customers and shipments in the fall and some customers with shipments in the early winter. So we'll be back with results as that stuff starts shipping and tell you about the progress, we've been able to make then. Thank you.

Great. Thanks, Chris. Our next question is from Robert Smith. He asks, is artificial intelligence playing any role yet in controlling expenses or in targeting advertising? I'm going to have Susan Kreh address that.

Yes. Thanks for the question. This is one that's near and dear to my heart. We do have a 5-year road map with artificial intelligence on it. I would say today, we're at the beginning of this journey. Today, we use it primarily to supplement our teammates and provide technology that makes them more efficient. So think about applications in customer service and in accounts payable. But we definitely do have items on the road map to get to your point here, Robert, where we will be taking a look at using them to control expenses. And hopefully, my boss will find that more exciting than international taxing strategies. But yes.

I will. It's a low bar. Well, thank you. We're running out of time, and we did have one more question that actually is a great dovetail into my closing comments. And so Samuel [Yake], I hope I pronounced your name right, but he said, Wall Street often gets caught up in short-term performance. It will be nice to hear your thought on what Oil-Dri will look like in 10 years. And the reason why that's such a great question, Samuel, is because we do believe we have the best hybrid capital structure. We're both a public company. You get total transparency, and a lot of people have made a lot of money betting on and holding Oil-Dri shares over the years. As Susan said, we've raised our dividend 22 years in a row, with big increase this year of 16%. Lately, you've seen a great run-up in the value of the company, rightly so, as we have created more earnings and grown the top line. But we always have played for the long haul. And Chris mentioned that our mascot is the tortoise. It is because the tortoise always wins the race. And I have to remind investors because sometimes they get a little frustrated, they're like, well, what do you mean a tortoise, tortoises go slow. And my take on that is the tortoise went as fast as he could go without jeopardizing the future. He wasn't going to do anything in the short run to jeopardize his future outcome. He just had stubby little legs in a shell, but he wasn't lazy. He wasn't going slow because he was lazy. We are not lazy. We will go as fast as an organization as we can without doing anything to jeopardize -- intentionally jeopardize the future. We're obviously…

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's presentation. We thank you for your participation. You may all disconnect and have a wonderful day.