Good morning. My name is Natalia and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Valmont Industries, Inc., Fourth Quarter 2017 Earnings Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Renee Campbell, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Natalia. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Valmont Industries' Fourth Quarter 2017 Earnings Conference Call. We apologize for the technical delay this morning. With me today are Steve Kaniewski, President and Chief Executive Officer; Mark Jaksich, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Tim Francis, Vice President and Corporate Controller; and Jeff Laudin, Manager of Investor Relations. Before we begin, please note this conference call is subject to our disclosure on forward-looking statements, which applies to today's discussion and will be read in full at the end of this call. The instructions for accessing a replay of this call are included in our press release which can be found on the Investor Relations page on our website. I would now like to turn the call over to our President and Chief Executive Officer, Steve Kaniewski.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I presume you have all read the press release and reviewed the earnings slide deck on our website. Before I begin my prepared remarks, I would like to take a moment to thank my predecessor Mogens Bay. Mogens was Chief Executive of Valmont for 24 years. Through many cycles in the business, Valmont performed well and experienced nearly 15% total shareholder return. He kept the Company focused on healthy return on invested capital and focused the business on markets, where we could participate with vigor. Mogens will remain as Executive Chairman of the Board, and on behalf of Valmont’s employees, shareholders, and stakeholders we thank you. With that, today I will provide an overview of fourth quarter and full-year 2017 results, and Mark will provide an overview of the financial results, followed by an outlook for 2018. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that we would be hosting an Investor Day for members of the Institutional Investment Community on Tuesday, March 6 in New York. Our Senior Leadership Team including segment presidents will provide an in-depth overview of the business and drivers, as well as growth strategy, outlook, and capital allocation plans. Live audio webcast and presentation of the event will be available on the Investor Relations page of our website. With that, I will begin with fourth quarter highlights. Revenue was $715 million, an increase of 6% over last year. We saw sales growth in our Utility, Irrigation, and Coatings businesses. Flat revenues in our Engineered Support Structures, and lower sales in the grinding media business, which is in the process of being divested. Operating income results were mixed. We had improved profitability in our Irrigation and Utility businesses and the Coatings business is rebounding nicely. The…

Thank you, Steve, and good morning, everyone. Before discussing the fourth quarter results, I'd like to touch on the Q4 transition effects from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act or TCJA. As a result, we recorded tax expense of $41.9 million or a $1.84 per diluted share this quarter consisting of first, $20.4 million of expense associated with remeasurement of net U.S. deferred tax assets, and a 21% federal rate as compared with the prior 35% rate. And secondly, $21.5 million of expense to taxes of unremitted earnings and foreign subsidiaries, including anticipated withholding taxes on foreign dividends. As previously disclosed, we estimate that the effects of TCJA will result in our global future tax rate to be around 25% taking into account the lower U.S. marginal rates net of the effects such as the elimination of the manufacturers’ deduction and limitations on deductibility of compensation. It’s important to note that 2017 Q4 adjustments and estimated future effects of the TCJA were based on the enacted law that are subject to IRS and Treasury Department final regulations. We will keep you updated during 2018 as these details become clear. My comments on the fourth quarter and total year revert to adjusted results, which are detailed in the Reg G disclosure at the end of the press release. Earnings per share for the quarter were $1.67, up 4% from $1.61 in 2016. As Steve mentioned earlier, we realigned our segments in the fourth quarter. The tables included in the press release and slide deck provided results for all periods in the new segment reporting format. The 6% sales increase over 2016 was mainly due to higher pricing in improved sales mix of 4% in part due to pricing actions in light of higher raw material costs and currency translation of about…

Thank you, Mark. Looking ahead to 2018, we expect to see positive sales and earnings growth during the year. As we called out in the press release, we have initiated the restructuring program in 2018. The program is a result of efforts to drive continued productivity improvements despite increases in volume, simplifying our operating structure and continued shared service efforts. While it may touch select sites across the company, the majority will be incurred in the global ESS segment as we continue to realign our business to meet the marketplace. We expect a positive result of these actions to build as the year progresses. Turning to the segments, our outlook in Engineered Support Structures has meant. We anticipate some global growth including markets in France, Australia and India. In North America uncertainty and an infrastructure bill, softening non-residential construction, and an inflationary raw material environment have muted our expectations. In response, we have stepped up our market growth initiatives and have been aggressive in announcing price increases designed to recover raw material inflation. In China, telecom demand in particular will remain challenge during the first half of the year. In Utility, we are seeing an increased momentum in the market related to ongoing investments in grid hardening and connecting renewable energy sources. Lead times are extending, reflecting increased demand and tightening capacity. We are also expecting non-traditional growth through new products and we will expand more on these opportunities at our Investor Day. Our Offshore Structures business is in the transition as we move to reduce our exposure to oil and gas investments. We view the Utility segment as being in a better position to define and develop growth opportunities in wind and around the utility structures for the European markets. In our Coatings business, we expect growth in line…

Thank you, Steve. Natalia, you may now open up the call for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Brent Thielman with D. A. Davidson.

Hi, thank you. Good morning.

Good morning.

Hey Mark, that the free cash flow, obviously were lighter than we expected and what you tend to see in the fourth quarter. You talked about some of the factors there. Could we see some catch up here in the first half of 2018 or should sort of follow the typical seasonality you can see there?

No, I would say, we would Brent. In fourth quarter, we did have a bit of a spike in receivables, but that wasn't anything particularly unusual. I think it was just a timing as far as receipts. I think subsequent to the end of the year, we have seen a drop in receivables. So I would expect that to normalize as the years goes along.

Okay. And then on ESS, I guess you're offering what I would characterize as the less enthusiastic view of the non-res market in North America just compared to sort other companies we cover in that space. Can you just talk about maybe some of the challenges you see there, the slower growth, is it mostly on the commercial side or kind of a lack of follow through on the state and local side? Just kind of help us frame up the outlook there?

Yes, Brent, it's both of those factors. So the commercial side of the business has been softening from our perspective both the channel partners that we have in this space as well as our own direct sales. We tend to see that occurring. And then the DOT work that is out there is still pretty patchy as people wait to see there's constant rhetoric about every couple weeks about an infrastructure bill and every time they bring that up, people kind of just want to sit on their hands. So until a little more clarity develops around that I think we will still see markets kind of where they're at, which is not particularly robust. And then you have the cost inflation on top of that that some people will sit on the sidelines to see if that will abate to some degree.

Next question please, Natalia. End of Q&A

[Operator Instructions] There are no further questions. Are there any closing remarks?

No. Thank you. This concludes our call and we thank you for joining us today. This message will be available for playback on our website or by phone for the next week. We look forward to speaking to you again next quarter. Natalia will now read the forward-looking statements.