Ascent Industries Co. engages in the development, production, and distribution of specialty chemical solutions. It offers surfactants, defoamers, lubricating agents, flame retardants, ...
Ascent Industries Co., formerly known as Synalloy Corporation, was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois. The company operates as a partnership of specialty chemical companies, focusing on innovative formulations and high-quality chemical solutions. Its product portfolio includes surfactants, defoamers, lubricating agents, flame retardants, and specialty intermediates in ...Ascent Industries Co., formerly known as Synalloy Corporation, was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois. The company operates as a partnership of specialty chemical companies, focusing on innovative formulations and high-quality chemical solutions. Its product portfolio includes surfactants, defoamers, lubricating agents, flame retardants, and specialty intermediates in both petroleum-based and bio-based formulations. Ascent provides custom manufacturing services encompassing product development, process optimization, scale-up, and commercial production. The company serves a wide range of industries, including oil and gas, household, industrial and institutional, personal care, coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers, pulp and paper, textile, automotive, agricultural, water treatment, and construction. Ascent emphasizes obsessive innovation and continuous improvement, with a commitment to growth through investment in production capabilities. The company has a relatively small employee base of about 197 full-time employees, but its LinkedIn page suggests a larger size (501-1000), which may include subsidiaries or contractors. Financially, Ascent has shown mixed performance, with negative net income and operating cash flow in the trailing twelve months, but maintains a strong liquidity position with a current ratio above 4. The company's market capitalization is around $141 million, and it trades on NASDAQ. Under the leadership of CEO J. Bryan Kitchen, who brings nearly two decades of senior leadership in the chemicals industry, Ascent is focused on enhancing its product offerings and operational efficiency. The company also has a new executive team, including CFO Ryan Kavalauskas and General Counsel Kimberly Portnoy. Ascent's history includes a rebranding from Synalloy Corporation in August 2022, reflecting its strategic focus on specialty chemicals. With over 75 years of experience, the company continues to serve its customers with tailored chemical solutions and custom manufacturing expertise.
YoYYoY means Year-over-Year. It compares the latest annual value with the previous annual value to show long-term trend strength.
QoQQoQ means Quarter-over-Quarter. It compares the latest quarter with the immediately previous quarter to show short-term momentum changes.
RevenueThe total money that came through the front door from selling things, before paying a single bill. Think of it as the grand total of every credit card swipe from customers. (YoY compares this year to last year's performance, while QoQ compares the current three months to the previous three).
$74.9M
-57.9%
+32.2%
Net IncomeThe absolute bottom line. If the company paid every single supplier, employee, banker, and tax collector, this is the actual money left in their pocket at the end of the day.
$-5.6M
+58.9%
+133.8%
Gross MarginThe basic markup. If they sell a $100 pair of sneakers, this percentage tells you how much of that price tag is profit right after paying for the rubber and shoelaces, but before paying for things like store rent or TV commercials.
+22.6%
+81.9%
+53.8%
Operating MarginThe 'day job' efficiency score. Out of every dollar a customer spends, this shows how many cents the company keeps after making the product AND paying for all the everyday corporate overhead (like salaries, marketing, and keeping the lights on).
-9.0%
-212.5%
+91.7%
Net MarginThe final take-home percentage. When you strip away every conceivable cost, tax, and interest payment, this is the exact number of cents the company truly gets to keep from every dollar in sales.
-7.5%
+2.5%
+125.6%
Free Cash FlowThe holy grail of corporate cash. It's the spendable, physical money left over after the business pays for its daily operations AND buys the big, expensive upgrades (like new factories or servers) it needs to survive. This is the 'free' money they can use to pay dividends or buy back stock.
$-2.1M
-116.1%
+47.9%
FCF MarginThe ultimate cash conversion rate. It shows how good the company is at turning regular sales directly into cold, hard, spendable cash. A high percentage means the business is an absolute cash-printing machine.
-2.8%
-138.3%
+60.6%
Debt / EquityThe financial risk gauge. It compares how much of the company's empire was built using borrowed money (loans) versus the owners' own money (shareholders). A high number means they are heavily leveraged and playing a riskier game; a low number means they are playing it safe.
15.8%
-55.5%
+7.5%
Current RatioThe 12-month survival check. It simply compares the cash they have right now (plus things they can quickly turn into cash) against the immediate bills they absolutely must pay this year. A score above 1 means they have enough in the wallet to cover the upcoming bills without panicking.
6.72x
+80.2%
-50.1%
Total AssetsThe absolute size of the company's empire. It bundles together absolutely everything of value they own—from the cash in the register and the inventory in the warehouse, to the software patents in the vault and the factories on the ground.
Operator: Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Ascent Industries Co.'s Second Quarter 2026 Earnings 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; Vice President of Finance, Kenny Herring. Please go ahead.
Kenneth Wayne Herring Jr.: Thanks, Bonnie, and good afternoon, everyone. Before we continue, I would like to remind all participants that the discussion today may contain certain forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the federal securities laws. These statements are based on information currently available to us and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Ascent advises all of those listening to the call today to review the latest 10-Q and 10-K posted on its website for a summary of these risks and uncertainties. Ascent does not undertake the responsibility to update any forward-looking statements. Further, the discussion today may include non-GAAP measures. In accordance with Regulation G, the company has reconciled these amounts back to the closest GAAP-based measurement. The reconciliations can be found in the earnings press release issued earlier today, and posted on the Investors section of the company's website at ascentco.com. Please note that this call is available for replay via webcast link that is also posted on the Investors section of the company's website. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Bryan Kitchen, Ascents' CEO, to discuss second quarter results.
J. Kitchen: Thanks, Kenny, and good afternoon, everyone. We are pleased with the progress we saw in the second quarter, not because of any single performance metric but because the improvement was broad-based. Ryan will discuss the financial results in greater detail, but the headlines are straightforward. Sequentially and on a year-over-year basis, volume, average selling price, revenue, gross profit and adjusted EBITDA all improved. On a trailing 12-month basis, the company saw record highs for volume, net sales, gross profit and adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations. To us, that's meaningful evidence that the strategy that we've been executing over the past 2 years is working. Excluding the sales from the Midwest Graphic Sales acquisition during the quarter, the legacy business delivered approximately 28% growth versus the prior year, substantially outpacing the broader specialty chemicals market. On that same basis, June was our strongest chemical sales month since March of 2023, and Q2 was our strongest sales quarter since the third quarter of 2022. Including the acquisition, net sales increased 37% versus the prior year, building on the strong momentum already established within the legacy business. Collectively, these results demonstrate that we're building a better business, not just a bigger one. To us, a higher-quality …