Stepan Company Q1 2026 Earnings Call - Navigating Restructuring and Macro Headwinds with Project Catalyst

Victor, Moderator/Operator, Stepan Company: Good morning, and welcome to the Stepan Company First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Afterward, we will conduct a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You’ll then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. As a reminder, this call is being recorded on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Mr. Ruben Velazquez, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Stepan Company. Mr. Velazquez, please go ahead.

Ruben Velazquez, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Stepan Company: Thanks, Victor. Good morning. Thank you for joining the Stepan Company’s first quarter 2026 financial review. Before we begin, please note that information in this conference call contains forward-looking statements which are not historical facts. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to, prospects for our foreign operations, global and regional economic conditions, and factors detailed in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings. In addition, this conference call will include discussions of Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EBITDA, and Free Cash Flow, which are non-GAAP measures. We provide reconciliations to the comparable GAAP measures in the earnings presentation and press release, which we have made available at www.stepan.com under the Investors section of our website. Whether you are joining us online or over the phone, we encourage you to review the investor slide presentation.

We make these slides available at approximately the same time as when the earnings release is issued, and we hope that you find the information as prospective contained therein helpful. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Luis Rojo, our President and Chief Executive Officer.

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: Thank you, Ruben. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us today to discuss our first quarter 2026 results. I plan to share highlights of the quarter’s performance and provide an update on our key strategic priorities, while Ruben will provide additional details on our financial results. Before reviewing the quarter, I want to recognize our teams around the world for their continued commitment to safety and operational excellence. Safety remains our top priority and the foundation for everything we do at Stepan. That focus was evident as we delivered the strongest safety performance on record during the first quarter of this year. Congratulations, team. Q1 2026 was an important quarter of execution for Stepan.

We advanced our footprint and asset base optimization efforts, delivered net sales growth in a challenging macro environment, and continued to generate strong volume growth across our strategic end markets. Organic net sales were up 4% year-over-year. Organic volume was flat, with double-digit growth in crop productivity, oil field, industrial cleaning, and in our tier 2, tier 3 customer base. This was offset by continued soft demand in European Polymers. Adjusted EBITDA was $50 million, down 14% versus the prior year, reflecting lower Surfactant results due to lower absorption and production timing issues in Asia, competitive pressures in Mexico, the impact of the U.S. cold snap, and continued pressures from elevated oleochemical input costs.

Polymers delivered an 8% increase in Adjusted EBITDA, driven by 5% volume growth in North America and global margin improvement, which was partially offset by continued softness in Europe. Specialty Products delivered volume growth of 30%, reflecting a strong demand and new business with our MCT product line. EBITDA was slightly down due to product mix and lag on raw material prices. We continue to execute Project Catalyst safely, on time, and on budget. These actions demonstrate our disciplined approach to cost optimization while ensuring we maintain the capabilities needed to serve our customers and deliver balanced growth across our higher-value end markets. We remain committed to a balanced approach with capital allocation. During the first quarter, the company paid $8.9 million in dividends to shareholders.

Consistent with our longstanding commitment to shareholder returns, our board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.395 per share. Last year, we increased our dividend for the 58th consecutive year. This track record underscore our confidence in the Stepan cash flow durability and long-term outlook. With that, I will turn the call back to Ruben to walk you through the financial details for the quarter.

Ruben Velazquez, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Stepan Company: Thank you, Luis. My comments will generally follow the slide presentation. As shared in our first quarter 2026 results release, reported net loss for the quarter was $41.4 million, or $1.81 per diluted share, versus reported net income of $19.7 million, or $0.86 per diluted share in the prior year. The current year reported results include a $65.4 million pre-tax restructuring charge, or $51.2 million after tax, related to the previously announced closure of our Fieldsboro, New Jersey site and the decommissioning of select assets at our Millsdale, Illinois and Stalybridge, U.K. facilities. The cash impact associated with this restructuring charge was less than $1 million during the quarter. Slide 3 summarizes our first quarter 2026 performance.

Adjusted Net Income was $10.3 million or $0.45 per diluted share, down 47% versus Adjusted Net Income of $19.3 million or $0.84 per diluted share in the first quarter of last year. The decrease in adjusted earnings was largely due to lower Surfactant earnings and higher interest expense. Consolidated EBITDA was $49.6 million compared to $57.5 million in the prior year, a 14% decrease. The decline was primarily due to Surfactant earnings, driven by lower absorption and production timing differences in Asia, competitive pressures in Mexico, the severe cold snap in the U.S., and higher oleochemical raw material costs still working through our P&L. This was partially offset by a strong Polymers performance, where Adjusted EBITDA grew 8% versus the prior year.

Cash from operations was $17 million for the quarter, and Free Cash Flow was negative $14 million, driven by higher working capital requirements, which are typical during the first quarter of the year. We remain focused on de-leveraging the balance sheet and maintaining our disciplined capital allocation. Slide four shows the total company pre-tax income bridge for Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2025. Because this is a pre-tax view, the figures shown reflect operating performance before the impact of income taxes. First quarter pre-tax income declined year-over-year, primarily driven by lower Surfactants operating income and lower capitalized interest income. These headwinds were partially offset by improved Polymers performance and favorable effective tax rate. Important to note, the higher interest expense reflects lower capitalized interest income associated with the startup of our Pasadena, Texas site.

Importantly, several of these drivers, including higher depreciation and the decline in capitalized interest associated with Pasadena startup, had no cash impact compared to the first quarter of last year. Slide 5 shows the total company Adjusted EBITDA bridge for the quarter compared to last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $49.6 million, down $8 million versus the prior year. I will cover each segment in more detail. Overall, Surfactants and Specialty Products were down, partially offset by Polymers growth. Unallocated corporate expenses were higher due to normal inflation. Turning to Surfactants on slide 8. Net sales were $454 million, up 8% on an organic basis. Selling prices were up 2%, primarily due to the pass-through of higher raw material costs, improved product and customer mix, as well as pricing actions.

Organic volume was up 2%, driven by double-digit growth within the crop productivity, industrial cleaning, and oilfield end markets. We also grew double digits in our tier 2 and tier 3 customer segments. The Surfactants business achieved volume growth in all global regions except Asia. Foreign currency translation positively impacted net sales by 5%. Surfactants Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter decreased $7 million or 15% versus the prior year, driven by North America and Asia, down $5.6 million. The majority of this decrease was due to lower absorption and production timing differences in Asia. This P&L impact has no effect on Free Cash Flow and represents a one-time event that we expect to recover in future quarters. The cold snap in the U.S. and higher input costs complemented North America, Asia EBITDA reduction.

Latin America performance was negatively impacted by the competitive environment and high raw material prices in Mexico. Europe and Mercosur continue delivering solid performance anchored in our crop productivity franchise. Moving on to slide 7. Polymer net sales were $130 million, an 11% decrease. Selling prices decreased 8%, primarily due to the pass-through of lower raw material costs and competitive pressures. Volume decreased 6% in the quarter. Volume in North America was up 5%, driven by spray foam and commodity Phthalic Anhydride growth. This was more than offset by a double-digit decline in Europe, driven by ongoing global macroeconomic uncertainty and a depressed construction market. Foreign currency translation positively impacted sales by 3% during the quarter.

Polymer Adjusted EBITDA increased 8% versus the prior year, primarily due to North America growth in spray foam and commodity Phthalic Anhydride and global margin improvement. Specialty Products net sales were $21 million, a 24% increase versus 2025, primarily due to higher volume. Volume was up 30%, reflecting continued growth in our MCT product line. Specialty Products Adjusted EBITDA decreased slightly due to product mix and a lag in raw material prices, which we expect to recover in future quarters. Now turning to slide 8. Free Cash Flow generation remains a key focus across the organization. Cash from operations was $17 million in the first quarter, and Free Cash Flow was negative $14 million, reflecting typical first quarter working capital build. Capital expenditures were $31 million in Q1. Now turning to the balance sheet.

We ended the quarter with a net debt of $511 million and a leverage ratio of 2.7, which is lower than in Q1 2025. With that, I will turn the call back to Luis to discuss our strategic priorities and our progress on Project Catalyst.

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: Thanks, Ruben. I will provide a brief update on our strategic priorities before turning to the progress we’re making on Project Catalyst. Our strategy continues to be anchored in four key pillars. First, continue focusing on customer-centric innovation to drive top-line growth. Second, our diversification strategy, which is accelerating growth in higher value end markets while extending our reach into a tier two, tier three customer segment. Third, we remain committed to operational excellence across our supply chain operations with a continued emphasis on strengthening the reliability and resiliency of our manufacturing network, including ongoing improvements in our flagship Millsdale site. Finally, we’re strengthening our financial position through a disciplined focus on Free Cash Flow generation, deleveraging the balance sheet, and prudent capital allocation. During the first quarter, we continued to see momentum in our strategic end markets.

We delivered double-digit volume growth within our crop productivity, oilfield, tier two and tier three, and industrial key businesses, and delivered volume growth in all Surfactants regions except Asia. Polymers delivered a strong volume growth in North America. Specialty Products grew volume by 30%, reinforcing the strategic value of our MCT product line. These results validate that our strategy is working, and that our diversified portfolio continues to create value for customers and shareholders, even in a challenging macro environment. We also continue to ramp up our Pasadena Texas facility, which is a critical enabler for strategic growth in specialty alkoxylates. We continue to expect Pasadena to reach approximately 80% utilization on average in 2026, and full utilization in 2027, which will drive supply chain savings and support future volume growth. Let’s move now to slide 10.

Turning to Project Catalyst, I’m pleased to share that we have measurable progress. As a reminder, Project Catalyst is a comprehensive plan designed to further optimize our asset base and create a more productive, agile, and accountable organization to enable growth. The program is expected to deliver approximately $100 million in pre-tax savings over the next two years, with around 60% of the savings expected in 2026. We are on track to deliver the committed savings this year. Project Catalyst is not a short-term cost reduction program alone. It is a strategic transformation designed to enhance the competitive of our cost base while preserving customer service and growth flexibility. During the first quarter, we executed our plans to close our Fieldsboro site and decommissioned selected assets at our Millsdale and Stalybridge facilities.

While these decisions are never easy, they are the right actions to consolidate our network into more competitive and productive assets while responding to the structural changes and market demands we continue to see in the global commodity consumer end market. The program continues to be built around three core value levers. First, footprint optimization, which include the exit of underutilized or higher-cost assets and improve utilization of our most competitive sites, including the ongoing ramp-up of Pasadena. Second, operational efficiency and cost optimization, including procurement savings and productivity improvement across our manufacturing and logistic network. Third, organizational effectiveness, where we are clarifying accountabilities and streamline decision-making and aligning resources more tightly to our growth priorities. Today, we announced that we have entered into an agreement to sell non-productive assets, especially land at our Millsdale site, for $30 million.

These transactions align with our focus on strengthening the balance sheet. We expect the transaction to close in the fall of 2026 after all due diligence and regulatory items are clear. We continue to actively evaluate opportunities to further optimize our asset base, organizational structure, and operating model. These include identifying additional ways to unlock value and monetize non-productive assets. Looking ahead, we’re executing a balanced strategy focused on top-line growth, margin expansion, and disciplined cost out initiatives. While we continue to navigate a dynamic macro environment, a geopolitical environment, including a significant shock in the energy market, global tariffs, raw material volatility, and uneven demand across our end markets, we remain confident in our path forward.

With the continued execution of Project Catalyst, a strong momentum in our strategic end markets, the ramp-up of Pasadena, and a disciplined approach to capital allocation, we believe we are well-positioned to deliver Adjusted EBITDA growth, generate positive Free Cash Flow, and deleverage the balance sheet in 2026. This concludes our prepared remarks. At this time, we would like to turn the call over for questions. Victor, please review the instructions for the questions portions of today’s call.

Victor, Moderator/Operator, Stepan Company: Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you’re going to press star 11 on your telephone and wait for a name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. One moment for our first question. Our first question will come from the line of Mike Harrison from Seaport Research Partners. Your line is open.

Mike Harrison, Analyst, Seaport Research Partners: Hi. Good morning.

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: Good morning, Mike.

Mike Harrison, Analyst, Seaport Research Partners: Morning, Mike. I wanted to say congratulations to the team on the safety achievements there. That’s very important. Wanted to maybe just start with a couple of questions about obviously the Iran war is top of mind for investors right now. And I specifically wanted to understand what are you seeing in terms of raw material impacts since the war began? Are you able to push through some higher pricing in response to higher raw material costs? Are there any situations in which you’re encountering shortages or other difficulties in procurement?

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: Great questions, Mike. Look, of course our raw materials depend a lot on the oil supply chain, and we are seeing escalation in raw material inflation. The good news is, as you know, we have a good process. We have a lot of pass-through contracts, and we have a disciplined process of increasing prices as well. What I will say is that in most of the businesses, we have been very successful on passing through the price increases in line with the raw material inflation. That’s working through the system. We see the whole, you know, market going up.

It’s not only us, it’s the whole market going up, which gives us confidence that pricing will be sticky. More in some places than others, for sure. In general, we feel pretty good. The other thing is, of course, raw material availability will continue to be a challenge because there are certain, you know, supply chains that are heavily impacted by the conflict in Iran, and there are some shortages in raw materials. The reality is that we could be growing faster than what we’re growing now, but we don’t have all the raw materials that we need. On the other hand, we have, you know, good contracts with our suppliers. Everybody’s, you know, hands on deck.

I think we’re getting a good fair share of what is needed. But of course, we will continue working with our supplier to ensure that we can grow faster in the current environment.

Mike Harrison, Analyst, Seaport Research Partners: All right. Well, you kind of addressed a little bit my second question, which is related more to the demand impacts of the Iran war across your three segments. It sounds like you’re saying you could have grown a little bit faster if not for maybe some inability to get key raw materials or get supply. I’m curious though, I would think that Stepan is relatively better positioned than some of your smaller or more regional competitors in terms of your ability to get inputs and get raw materials.

Maybe just talk a little bit about how you’re expecting. Obviously consumer demand is or consumer sentiment is a little bit weaker here. Are there situations where you might be able to pick up some market share because competitors simply don’t have supply in certain product lines or certain regions?

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: No. For sure, Mike, you are right that, you know, we have the scale to win, especially in tier two, tier three, which is a key segment that we keep focusing our resources. What I would say is, yeah, we have the opportunity to keep growing in those segments. The consumer is still resilient. The consumer is still spending, and we haven’t seen any demand issues from the consumer side. You have seen other companies reporting Q1 and still volumes and pricing and all of that is still pretty healthy. We feel good about where we are right now. Of course, things are changing. Things are changing, you know, every week and every month.

I will say is, and you know, a lot of people are not providing very long-term guidance because of the volatility and the uncertainty of the current situation. When you think about things like Q2, where we have way more visibility, we feel pretty good about our plan and about, you know, our ability to grow in this environment.

Mike Harrison, Analyst, Seaport Research Partners: All right. Within the Surfactants business, particularly, you listed out a handful of issues that it sounds like were negative to earnings and to margins in the quarter. I was hoping that you could provide a little bit more detail in terms of maybe helping to quantify these impacts and helping understand how those impacts are trending into the second quarter and the rest of the year. You mentioned overhead, higher overhead and some production timing issues in Asia. Is that something that was temporary in nature, or is that something that’s gonna continue to be an issue for the rest of the year?

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: No. Great question, Mike, and it’s temporary, right? I mean, we were clear that some of the items that we saw in Q1 are non-cash and one time in nature, right? For example, we had lower absorption, both in Asia and in North America, especially at the beginning of the quarter with the cold snap in the U.S. We expect, we expect some of that to reverse in the future quarters. If you think about it, you know, we’re happy. Well, not happy. I mean, we are okay with the 8% EBITDA growth in Polymers. We should grow faster, fine.

The key issue in Q1 was the surfactant business. When you think about the $7 million reduction in EBITDA in the surfactant business, you can think that we should be able to easily recover at least half of that in the following quarters with all the timing, and production and all of that. That’s why we, you know, we view this $50 million EBITDA as not representative of what is the true performance of the company.

Mike Harrison, Analyst, Seaport Research Partners: All right. I guess just to finish up on that question about the Surfactants and the margin pressure, what about the competitive pressure in Mexico and the higher oleochemical costs? Is that something that should improve as the year goes on, or is that something that could be a lingering headwind?

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: A good point, Mike. Look, when you think about... We talk a lot about CNO in the last few quarters because the reality was that the delta between CNO and PKO, we talk a lot about that in the last few quarters. It was significant. It was something unprecedented. CNO in the $3,000s, while PKO was in the $2,000 per metric ton. The reality is that when you look at the situation now, they are similar. That incentivize and that helps the whole pricing environment.

What I will say is, we still have some of the high CNO raw materials in our P&L, going through our P&L, but the reality is that with all the pricing that we’re executing now, is gonna be more sticky because of the relationship between CNO and PKO. That should help the margin improvement in the Surfactant business in Q2 and going forward.

Mike Harrison, Analyst, Seaport Research Partners: All right. Last question I had is just on the Polymers business. Just curious for a better understanding of what drove the margin improvement there. I know you’re calling out some spray foam volume, and I’m curious if that’s something that’s contributing to better margin and better mix there. Really just trying to get a sense of whether we should expect continued margin expansion year-over-year in that Polymers business as the year goes on.

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: No, look, our Polymers business is heavily influenced by the base that we had in Q1 2025, right? When you think about. You clearly see it in the bridge, right? How our European business is under pressure because construction demand is very soft with everything that is going on in Europe. North America improved, but from a very low base, I would say. Again is decent EBITDA margins, is not the EBITDA margins that we deserve, but we improve in North America versus a very low base in Q1 2025. As you rightly said, I mean, a lot of growth in a strategic priority for us, which is spray foam.

We have talked about that, and we’re growing significantly in that space because really the insulation market is more flattish, with, you know, construction is still weak and, you know, high interest rate and all of that. We are not expecting the insulation market to be significantly up this year. None of our customers are projecting that, we are still improving our business in spray foam, in PA, and making sure that, you know, we come out of this crisis in Europe a little bit stronger in the second half.

Mike Harrison, Analyst, Seaport Research Partners: All right. Very helpful. Thanks very much.

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: Thank you.

Mike Harrison, Analyst, Seaport Research Partners: Thank you, Mike.

Victor, Moderator/Operator, Stepan Company: One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Dave Storms from Stonegate. Your line is open.

Dave Storms, Analyst, Stonegate: Morning, and thank you for taking my questions.

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: Good morning, Dave.

Dave Storms, Analyst, Stonegate: Morning. You mentioned in your prepared remarks that you’re seeing growth in tier two, three customers in Surfactants. Just curious as to maybe, you know, what’s working here? How sustainable is it? Maybe what’s the outlook for that going forward?

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: Oh, look, as we have talked, I mean, we continue to invest in this customer base is a strategic effort for us. We provide not only a product, but we provide a service. We help them with formulate their products. We help them solve their challenges on the formulation side. The reality is that, you know, there are a lot of categories where private label are growing share and some of the value brands are winning versus the branded brand. That’s a dynamic specifically for the U.S. now that I’m talking.

We believe in the current, you know, high inflation, high gas prices and all of that, the relevance and the growth potential on some of those tier two, tier three brands are gonna still there. We are helping them to achieve their targets. It’s a strong business. We’re growing double digits. As I said, it is more than a product. We have other elements that help us win in that space.

Dave Storms, Analyst, Stonegate: Understood. Very helpful. Thank you. Another one for me, and I know we’ve spent a decent amount of time already talking about the Iran War, but just trying to get my arms around maybe any impacts that might have on ag specifically. I know this time of year is when we start thinking about that a little more. Are you seeing any significant second order effects from the Iran War as it pertains to the ag line?

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: Not really. As we said in our remarks, I mean, we’re growing double digits, and crop productivity continues to be one of our key strategic areas. We don’t see any impact. Now, of course, you know, the planting season, for example, in the U.S. is mostly done and executed, and everything that we have to sell, we sold it for the planting season. We need to see how things evolve for 2027. For example, Brazil, which the season start now, is going well. We had great results in Mercosur. So far, we continue to see strong growth on our innovation program.

Our new product launches, with the big ag companies is working and is delivering the growth, I mean, very strong growth. Double digits is very strong in this space.

Dave Storms, Analyst, Stonegate: Understood. Thank you. Maybe one more for me. Great to see that Project Catalyst is still on track. I know you gave us a nice breakdown of maybe the cadence, for, you know, 2026 versus 2027. Are there any nuances that we should be aware of, on a quarterly cadence, or maybe it’s more just a linear, step up as we go through the year? Any thoughts there?

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: No, a great, great question, Dave, because the reality is that we’re gonna start to see the majority of the savings of the Project Catalyst now in Q2, right? We made the top decisions on the footprint side, and we executed all of them basically at the end of March, beginning of April. You are gonna see the majority of the savings ramping up in Q2 versus Q1. We feel good about Q2 because again, a lot of the Catalyst savings start now.

As you know, the 60%, we were very clear that the 60% that we’re delivering this year, some of that is to cover inflationary pressures and, you know, and all of that, but the majority of the savings start now.

Dave Storms, Analyst, Stonegate: Understood. Thank you for taking my questions.

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: Thank you, Dave.

Victor, Moderator/Operator, Stepan Company: Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from the line of David Silver from Freedom Capital Markets. Your line is open.

David Silver, Analyst, Freedom Capital Markets: Yeah. Hi. Thank you.

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: Welcome back, David.

David Silver, Analyst, Freedom Capital Markets: Yeah. Hey, gentlemen. How are you doing? I did wanna follow up on some of Mike’s earlier questions. Maybe I would like to focus on the demand side. You know, apart from the very near term kind of Persian Gulf-related issues, you know, the consumer generally has been under some pressure. From your order book, could you maybe just talk about, you know, the health or the trend in demand for your traditional, you know, book of business? In other words, you know, you’ve invested a lot in upgrading your product mix, 1,4-Dioxane-free, et cetera. Are you seeing the uptake on those products that you anticipated or are we seeing on the other hand, you know, maybe a trading down phenomenon from, you know, cost-conscious consumers?

Maybe just, you know, how you’re looking at the demand side for your traditional portfolio of products and, you know, particularly for the value-added component of your business mix. You know, are you seeing the expected demand or are things gonna be deferred maybe till after geopolitical issues settle down? Thank you.

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: No. Great, great questions, David. Look, as we said, one, the consumer is still resilient, so the consumer is still spending money. All the data that you see in all our categories, the consumer is still spending the data. Now, we have seen some trade-down, right? That’s why I made the comment that in some categories we see private label growing a little bit faster than the branded products, that’s actually okay for us. I mean, we Again, we serve a lot of the tier two, tier three consumers. We serve a lot of value businesses as well and we don’t see this as a negative for Stepan Company.

The reality is that the consumer will continue to make choices, and when you think about that relationship between branded products and private label, there is still a big opportunity for the private label and lower priced brands to grow. That’s the reality in many of our categories. I feel good about what we see out there because, again, the consumer is making some choices, but it’s not something radical and at the end it’s not hurting Stepan portfolio.

David Silver, Analyst, Freedom Capital Markets: Okay. Thank you for that. I did wanna hone in on one of your, you know, more modest portions of your business, but one with growth. There was a question, you know, about your ag business, but I would like to ask you about, you know, surfactants or whatnot for oil field. If anything, I mean, my sense is that there should be a very strong demand outlook for that portion of your business, you know, let’s say, going forward, certainly domestically.

Could you just maybe talk about, you know, your positioning there and what are the opportunities, let’s say, over the medium term to, you know, benefit from what I believe is probably gonna be a pretty strong, you know, level of demand for drilling activity and things where your oilfield products might be positioned to participate?

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: Yeah, for sure. That’s why, that’s why, David, we keep calling, all of those are our strategic priorities, right? Crop productivity, oilfield, tier two, tier three, right? Then within tier two, tier three, it’s not only the low 1,4-dioxane, it’s also, you know, sulfate-free with AOS and with other products that we have. We have a broad portfolio that can complement the consumer piece. Going back to your question on oilfield, yes, we feel good. I mean, we’re growing double digits. As you know, our oilfield business is not that big, so the opportunities for growth are still significant for us. And we are happy with the double-digit growth that we’re delivering.

The reality is that the focus, for example, in the U.S., which is our biggest oilfield business globally, at the end it’s not about more drilling, right? I mean, you don’t see more drilling. You don’t see more fracking going on. What you can see is the use of more surfactants to make sure that you improve the yield of the current well, right? That’s an ongoing dynamic because you need to make sure that the current wells are more productive, and for that, you need the right chemistry with the right surfactants to improve the productivity of the well.

Again, we don’t see more drilling or more wells or more fracking in the U.S. in terms of more or new ones, we see, let’s get more out of what we have, and that’s where we play a role. We feel good about this business.

David Silver, Analyst, Freedom Capital Markets: Okay.

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: We will continue investing and growing in this business. Of course, there is a lot of import dynamic that in the current environment are tougher and that, you know, favor the people that have local production in the U.S. like us.

David Silver, Analyst, Freedom Capital Markets: Right. Okay, thank you. One last one for me, and it would have to do with your capital spending projections for this year. I am looking in the appendix, and the midpoint of your 2026 forecast for CapEx is $100. Can you remind me just what the sustaining portion of that might be? More to the point, you know, where is Stepan devoting discretionary CapEx this year? In other words, you know, beyond sustaining CapEx, where, you know, what’s in the budget for this year? Where is that incremental CapEx gonna be focused? Thank you.

Ruben Velazquez, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Stepan Company: Thanks, David. This is Ruben. Let me take that one. You’re right. I mean, we in the slides, we mentioned our range for CapEx, which is, you know, $105-$115. You know, we continue to invest in CapEx. It’s something that, you know, it’s a priority for the company. Of course, we are fully committed to make sure that our operations are operating safely. Of course, a lot of these CapEx is to make sure that our operations are, you know, are well managed, and that we have all of the resources and the facilities to operate in a safely way. A lot of these goes of course into our surfactant operations and manufacturing.

We continue to invest in CapEx. You have seen that in the last few years, we have been, you know, in the range of above $100 million and we will continue to prioritize our investments into that. There is some of this CapEx that is towards growth, of course. I would say a significant portion of it is targeting, you know, operating safely and making sure that, you know, that we have the capabilities needed in our plants and in our supply chain.

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: Let me add, David, as we have talked in the past, when you think about it, you know, 75%-80% is just for base reliability and infrastructure. We have growth, we have IT, we have other investments in our total CapEx forecast. We will continue if we see the returns of those projects. Call the normal CapEx for the company without any other major growth item is around $100 million or less.

David Silver, Analyst, Freedom Capital Markets: Okay. All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate all the color.

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: Thank you, David.

Ruben Velazquez, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Stepan Company: Thank you.

Victor, Moderator/Operator, Stepan Company: This concludes the question and answer session. I would now like to turn it back over to Luis for closing remarks.

Luis Rojo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Stepan Company: Thank you very much for joining us on today’s call. We appreciate your interest and ownership in the Stepan Company. Have a great day.

Victor, Moderator/Operator, Stepan Company: Thank you for your participation in today’s conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.