Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Reliance Steel & Aluminum Company's Second Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions] It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Ms. Brenda Miyamoto. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you, operator. Good morning and thanks to all of you for joining our conference call to discuss our second quarter 2020 financial results. I'm joined by Jim Hoffman, our President and CEO and Karla Lewis, our Senior Executive Vice President and CFO. Bill Sales, our Executive Vice President of Operations, will also be available during the question-and-answer portion of this call. A recording of this call will be posted on the Investors section of our website at investor.rsac.com. The press release and the information on this call may contain certain forward-looking statements which are based on a number of assumptions that are subject to change and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic conditions on our future operations, which may not be under the company's control, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of the company to be materially different from the results, performance, or other expectations implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, those factors disclosed in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and as updated in the company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 under the caption Risk Factors, disclosure in our press release this morning and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The press release and the information on this call speak only as of today's date and the company disclaims any duty to update the information provided therein and herein. I will now turn the call over to Jim Hoffman, President and CEO of Reliance.

Thanks, Brenda. Good morning, everyone and thank you all for joining us today to discuss our second quarter 2020 financial results. The strength and resiliency of our business model produced solid results during an extraordinary and extremely challenging quarter. Because we support many customers deemed essential businesses, our tons sold declined only 17.5% compared to the first quarter of 2020. We maintained a strong gross profit margin of 30.4% on net sales of $2.02 billion, which combined with reduced operating expenses, resulted in pre-tax income of $102 million and earnings per diluted share of $1.24. We adjusted our working capital in response to reduced activity levels and generated cash flow from operations of $475.7 million. At the outset, I'd like to sincerely thank each and every one of my Reliance colleagues for their flexibility and hard work in a truly extraordinary environment. We are the best of what we do because of you and your effort in this quarter proves it. Our managers in the field did an exceptional job navigating a highly volatile quarter while remaining focused on employee health and safety, including implementing enhanced practices to mitigate COVID-19. We remain dedicated to keeping our employees, customers, suppliers and communities safe, while providing exceptional customer service across our diversified customer base. The combined efforts of all of our employees, including adherence to our new health and safety protocols by our frontline employees resulted in improved safety performance during the quarter and allowed us to continue supporting our valued customers through these extraordinary times. I'd also like to highlight the strength of our gross profit margin during the quarter, which once again exceeded our estimated sustainable range of 28% to 30%. Our strong gross profit margin is the direct result of the exceptional execution of our managers in the field.…

Thanks, Jim and good morning, everyone. Net sales of $2.02 billion for the second quarter of 2020 decreased 30% from the second quarter of 2019 with our tons sold down 19.6% and our average selling price down 11.7%. Compared to the first quarter of 2020, net sales decreased 21.5% with our tons sold down 17.5% and our average selling price per ton sold down 3.5%. I'll now give a bit more color on our shipment trends during the quarter. Our tons sold for our service center businesses, which excludes our toll processing operations, experienced a slight decrease near the end of March. However, in April, our tons shipped declined more significantly down 20% compared to our January and February average tons shipped per day due to business closures across the country. We saw a slight improvement in May as businesses began to reopen. June daily shipments were consistent with May at levels approximately 16% lower than January and February shipment levels. Our toll processing operations followed a slightly different path as approximately 60% of our tolling volume is processed for the automotive market. Our tolling tons per day declined 15% in March compared to January and February and fell a further 52% in April, before bottoming in May at 62% below January and February levels. Our tolling tons per day in June recovered to about 66% of our January and February levels and have continued to improve in July. Our gross profit margin for the second quarter of 2020 was strong at 30.4% and included $5 million of LIFO income. On a non-GAAP FIFO basis which is the best measure of our day-to-day operations. Our gross profit margin of 30.2% increased 140 basis points from 28.8% in the second quarter of 2019. This is a direct result of the outstanding…

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Seth Rosenfeld with Exane BNP Paribas. Please proceed with your question.

Hi. Thank you very much for taking the question today and congrats on the very strong performance in Q2. If I may, I have a couple of questions with regards to the volume outlook [Indecipherable] market share and also how you view inventories across the space. With regards to market share, can you comment to what extent do you think the Reliance business model actually allowed you to take some of market share during the recent months of market volatility? And looking forward, do you view those as being sustainable or more of temporary factor as some of your competitors were perhaps temporarily knocked out of the market? And then, secondly with regards to the inventory outlook, I believe you did comment in your prepared remarks ongoing efforts to right-size inventories, can you just comment a little bit about where you view your own internal inventory levels? Are they at a level that makes you comfortable versus today's demand environment? Or do you view inventories as being either a bit too low with demand recovering or perhaps a bit bloated as you view a more gradual recovery through the course of H2? Thank you very much.

Sure. Thanks, Seth. First, on market share, we're not -- we really don't focus on market share. Now, Karla is going to give you some numbers that we have that we get basically from the MSCI. We focus on the bottom line. We care about our employees. We care about the shareholder return and the -- our execution. The market share kind of comes along with that. Now, Karla, you can -- you've got some numbers in front of you to tell you how we're doing against the MSCI.

Yes. I mean, Seth, if you look at the Reliance, our Q2 tons sold compared to Q1, we fell 17.5% and the MSCI industry shipments fell 26.5%. As you are aware and as we mentioned in our comments, our tolling tons which a lot of that goes in automotive are not included in those -- in our numbers, but we do believe the MSCI shipments are pretty heavily weighted towards carbon flat-rolled, which was we believe more impacted during the quarter on their shipments and ours. With that being said though, we also believe from feedback from the field that we did pick up some business. In challenging times, we typically see service center customers who want smaller order quantities. They want them delivered more frequently. Maybe they're concerned about their own credit. They want financially stable suppliers supporting them. So, we do believe we did pick up some orders during this type of environment. And we're hopeful that the great service our people provide them will keep those customers coming back.

And on the inventories; Seth, we -- that's always been a key driver, part of our model. Last year, I said I'm sure that we'd -- I don't think we did a great job on our inventories. So we got a nice head start on getting our inventory in line in the fourth quarter -- third and fourth quarter last year. So we were well-positioned going into this unusual situation we find ourselves. But since then, I'm proud of where we are, where actually our returns are actually better than they there were last year. The folks in the field they get it. They understand cash is king. We do -- we really focus on several things, but that's one of them. Now where we stand right now, we think we're well-positioned, because in my estimation, to get to get America up and going again, they're going to need Reliance and where you need to be there for them. And our relationships with our domestic suppliers are great. Lead times are very manageable. And overall, I'm glad where we are with our inventory. Now, if there is any Reliance folks listening in on the call, I always say we have too much inventory, but we will -- we know where to spend our money, so that's -- we're okay with where we are with our inventory.

Thank you. And if I can just ask one follow-up with regards to that. You commented that obviously you were perhaps from a disappointing level of inventory management in 2019 that must have improved your cost -- your cash performance subsequently as you brought them down to a more manageable level, how does that tie into your expectations for working capital as we look into the second half of the year? Would you expect the recent strong cash performance and working capital to continue on a structural basis? Or as demand is beginning to recover, you might see some need for actually some rebuilding of working capital in the latter two quarters?

Yes. Seth, this is Karla. As we said -- and last year, we had record cash flow for the 2019 year with the strong earnings we had and then also, as Jim mentioned, our efforts to right-size our inventory in '19 which we felt were successful. We'd continue that especially reacting to the fall-off in shipments with COVID-19. We're in good shape, but we are still focused on our inventory. Certain of our businesses where our outlook is not as strong, we are continuing to focus to work those down, so we would expect some inventory relief from, for instance, aerospace and other parts of our business. To the extent non-res we think will be more favorable. We may need to -- we're okay right now with our expectations where our inventory position is. If demand comes back better than we're currently estimating, we may have to rebuild some working capital and we would love to have to do that, because that would be very positive for all of us. But we do -- typically the second half of the year is a little lighter. We don't expect the same level of cash from operations that we had in the second quarter. But at this time, we would expect to still generate cash with a little working capital release going into the second half with normal seasonal trends.

That's perfect. Thank you.

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] It appears there are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the floor back to Jim Hoffman.

All right. Thank you very much.

I'm sorry, sir. We actually do have a question from Tyler Kenyon with Cowen & Company. Please proceed with your question.

Good morning, Jim and Karla and Bill, if you're on. Congratulations on the second quarter. Just wanted to ask maybe if you could give us a sense for how your volumes have trended into July on a daily basis versus January and February levels. And maybe if you could kind of speak to the degree of upside maybe you're experiencing in our toll processing volumes?

Yes. As far as how we're doing now, it's kind of where we expected. Like we said on our script and earnings release, this is fully. We saw a sharp downturn and then May started ramping back up. We were able to manage our way through that, finished the quarter fairly strong compared to the first part of the quarter and then going into where we are right now, we're kind of operating around those same -- around that same level.

Yes, I think, Tyler, we're pretty early into July. For the first two weeks on a daily basis, we have seen tons shipped per day come down a bit. However, the first couple of weeks of July typically do that because of the July 4th holiday. It was on a Saturday this year. So we don't really think that what we've seen there is a good indication for the full month or the quarter yet. But we think generally hanging in with the normal holiday impact that we have is what we've seen so far. And on tolling, Bill can hit that.

Yes. Hey, Tyler, it's Bill. As Karla mentioned earlier, we've seen a rebound on the tolling side. June was up about 66% compared to January and February.

Yes.

And then based on the ramp up, we think we'll see that continue to improve in July.

Yes, it actually -- the -- so in June, we processed about 66% of what our processing levels were in January…

In June, right.

And February. So we were down about 34%. So, we were ramp -- remember, we were -- the ramp started in June, so that was for the whole month of June, so we were at a higher level than the 66% coming into July.

Yes. And that should continue in July from what we're hearing from our customers.

And Tyler, as you all know, that sometimes people think our toll processing is only the automotive industry. It's also clients as well.

Right. Okay, very helpful. Thank you. And then, I was curious if there has been a considerable change just in your value-added processing mix in the second quarter, say, versus the first quarter. And maybe how would you expect that trend moving into the third quarter, given your outlook from various end markets in terms of the trajectory?

Yes. I mean, we're not ready to give the number yet. We're still working on it. As you know in the past, we've gone from a kind of historic 40% of what we sell up towards over 51%. I expect that to go up. I can't give you the number right now because they haven't given it to me yet. But with our game plan and our model and what we've been doing over the last several years, it should go up. We've spent a lot of money to do all of these different activities and processes that our customers have asked us to do. We spent our money wisely, timed it very nicely. Obviously, nobody saw this coming, but our -- the history has been after a dramatic downturn, you pick the year, but after that happens, our customers have come out of it, they come out of it quickly. And they during -- when they're in the doldrums, they don't spend money and they have a hard time getting people to -- the right people to be at work and they downsize and when they come out, they need somebody. They need Reliance to be there for them. And we've spent our money to do that. We've invested money in the new technology is fascinating to me. We continue to do that. And that helps with our SG&A line as well. Because the equipment we've added, it also allows us to do it more efficiently with less people. So saying all that, I would expect that number to continue to go up. That's the plan anyway.

Great. Okay. And that's actually a good segue to another question I had. Just on SG&A progression moving into the third quarter. Should that track your expectations on the -- in terms of the top line trajectory for volume guidance, or would you expect a bit more upside, given you brought back some of the furloughed workforce on the toll processing side? And if you're expecting some stronger value added mix?

That's an interesting question. I can tell you this. We run our company day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month. Always have, always will. The way our SG&A line goes, it has everything to do with the activity. As we said, 65% of our SG&A costs are in people. We now had to ramp up and ramp down the other one when we need to. And we'll just have to see how it goes. We are anticipating a little -- some sluggish activity, if you will, in aerospace and we'll continue to monitor that and operate accordingly. When business starts coming back up, we'll ramp up according to that as well. That's just part of our DNA. That's the way we operate our businesses. And what was the second part of your question? More value add -- was it, I forgot what you asked.

Yes, just the more value-added…

Yes. Well, Yes, I think addressed that. But of course -- That's what America needs. It needs Reliance to be there when they rebuild this thing and the value-added processing that we do will be part of that rebuilding.

And Tyler, I would say we're not anticipating the level of workforce reduction activity in Q3 that we had in Q2 based on our shipment and demand outlook, based on where we are today. So there were some extra costs in Q2, some severance carrying benefits, which we extended to some of the employees that were laid off and also to the reductions in force. So we will not have those extra costs in Q3 or at least not to the same extent as in Q2. So that would bring SG&A down a bit. However, with activity levels back up in particular where you commented on the tolling and the fact that we brought most of those employees back to work, you will see SG&A increase because of that, but we will also have that more than covered by our gross profit that we generate on this tolling tons.

Got it. Thanks very much.

Thanks, Tyler.

Thank you.

Our next question comes from the line of Phil Gibbs with Keybanc Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

Hey, good morning.

Good morning.

A question just generally speaking on the non-residential construction market, I know that market is very key to you all. Curious in terms of how you saw the quarter progress, we're still low points. And also where we are now in terms of what you see. I mean a lot of mixed things in terms of public staying strong, but perhaps new projects on the private side, people taking a pause due to the issues obviously we all know of.

Yes, Phil, you know our company very well. Our sweet spot is in these smaller projects that are four stories and below. And what's -- to answer your question how it went early on when the COVID hit, it kind of froze the market and froze a lot of projects. We didn't have a lot of cancellations though. We had a lot of people just deferring to later date. Thank goodness that they cranked back up, which is good. We are there for them. And the value added play in that market is a really strong one for us. So that was good. The hot markets, right now, is I'm sure at your home too, my wife has no problem spending money online and Amazon guy shows up at our doors seems like every day. So that was distribution centers that are out there are -- that's a good market for us. And there is plenty of those out there in the middle of being built and plenty on the books. And we are a strong participant there. As I've said in the past, our sweet spot -- the demographics help our sweet spot. Assisted-living facilities, schools, data centers, those are all strong markets for us and those have been carrying weight for us. And I just anticipate that to continue to go. I know that I have listened, but have heard on -- heard some other of our good steel partners out there have reported that they're doing well in the non-resident and we can -- we'll follow that, which is good for us. And also there is some -- as we mentioned, there is some infrastructure type spend that we put in on non-residential, for instance, bridges and what have you. Again, I've said in the past, girl fashion real, infrastructure spend bill would be a good thing for the country and a really good thing for Reliance. So we were cautiously optimistic about our -- the trend there.

Thanks. And Bill, on the semi side, what's the vibes out there? I know it's been good and -- but it also can be very erratic per your own historical observations.

Yes. It can start and stop quickly. But as we mentioned, it's been a bright spot for us. And we -- the outlook for the balance of the year is still very positive. So we think that market is going to continue to be a good one for us.

[Indiscernible] for Bill, I know you all mentioned that you took a couple of facilities out in what it sound -- what sounded like Europe for the aerospace side.

Yes.

How are you all I guess planning for the next year or two or three based on what the indications you're getting from the mills and the OEMs at this point?

Yes. Well, as Jim said earlier, we kind of run our business day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month. But that whole aerospace, particularly commercial aerospace is a very fluid situation. Our guys have done a great job of looking at where the demand level is, where we think it's going to be, and really attacking both the expense side and inventory. But it's going to be a challenge. We know it's going to be a challenge for the balance of the year and in probably the next year. And we're really just trying to stay abreast of where the market is headed, where the demand is going to be, and make those adjustments as we need to. Yes, the other part of is that [indiscernible]. Yes, the other part -- the other part of that is the bright spot in our aerospace business is the military and defense side. And so that we continue to see strength there and we think the second half there, we're going to continue to see strength. So that's the good news. So that will partially offset some of what we're going to see from a negative standpoint on the commercial aerospace side.

Just sticking to that, just, Jim, out of curiosity, what's been the company policy in terms of business travel given everything that's been going on now?

Yes, we had zero business travel for -- oh gosh, I think we lifted the business travel July 1. But that's pretty strict. It has to go way up the food chain to get that approved. And --

Well, all domestic only.

Yes, there we are. There is no international travel at all. And we have the technology today. We've gone pretty good at it. So you really -- we really don't need that. But when needed, we'll -- we've approved a couple of trips that actually need somebody to be on-site to help a customer out or to help somebody through a situation. But basically, it's not wide open, I can tell you that. And as far as the local driving type travel, once again it's on an as-needed basis. We've got a lot of really strict rules and regulations about coming and going in our operations. I'm real proud of the fact that we jumped on that very quickly. We're using technology to help us with that. We're following a lot of CDC rules, but we also have stricter rules to keep our people safe and healthy. And just in general, we're all very aware of what's going on out there and will continue to be extremely diligent when it comes to keeping our folks and our communities as safe as possible.

Okay. Good job managing through some weird times. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We got a good model and good execution out there.

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] It appears there are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the floor back to Jim Hoffman for closing comments.

All right. Hey, thank you very much for your time today and attention. Before I conclude, I'd like to remind you all that on August 5 we plan to present at the Jefferies Industrial Conference, which will be held virtually and will be webcast live over the Internet. Thanks again for your continued support and commitment to Reliance, and I hope you all stay safe and healthy. Thank you.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.