Company News
October 30, 2024
Carpenter Acquires Casper Sleep
Casper Sleep Inc. To Operate As Subsidiary Of Carpenter Co.
Posted on October 29, 2024
RICHMOND, VA – Casper Sleep Inc., which has one of the best-known brands in the bedding category and is recognized as the leader in the bed-in-a-box e-commerce category, has become a subsidiary of Carpenter Co. Carpenter will assist Casper on a comprehensive growth and profitability strategy, as well as the appropriate future channels to market.
For more information, please contact Mike McQuiston, Senior Vice President of Consumer Products for Carpenter Co.
About Carpenter Co.
Founded in 1950, Carpenter Co. is the world’s largest vertically integrated manufacturer of polyurethane foams. Carpenter also serves a diversified global marketplace with polyurethane chemical solutions, polyester fibers, and insulation materials through a network of more than 70 production locations. Our 6,500+ employees across the globe seek to provide the most innovative products and solutions with a focus on enhancing the quality of people’s lives while being a good steward of our resources.
https://carpenter.com/en/casper-sleep-inc-to-operate-as-subsidiary-of-carpenter-co/
October 30, 2024
BASF Results for Q3
BASF Group in third quarter 2024:
EBITDA before special items increased compared with Q3 2023 due to considerably higher earnings of core businesses
- Sales in third quarter 2024: €15.7 billion (prior-year quarter: €15.7 billion)
- EBITDA before special items in third quarter 2024: €1.6 billion (prior-year quarter: €1.5 billion)
Thanks to significantly higher contributions from the core businesses, BASF Group’s EBITDA before special items (income from operations before depreciation, amortization and special items) increased in the third quarter by €77 million to €1.6 billion. “The positive earnings momentum in our core businesses was already visible in the first half of 2024 and continued in the third quarter, driven by higher volumes and margins,” said Dr. Markus Kamieth, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE. This increase was partially offset by a considerable earnings decline in the standalone businesses as well as in Other.
Under its new strategy announced in late September 2024, BASF differentiates between its core businesses (Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions and Nutrition & Care) and the standalone businesses that serve distinct industries. The standalone businesses are reported in the Surface Technologies and Agricultural Solutions segments.
At €15.7 billion, sales were on a level with the prior-year period. Volume growth in almost all segments compared with the third quarter of 2023 had a positive impact on sales performance. Volumes increased in the core businesses as well as in Agricultural Solutions. Only the Surface Technologies segment recorded a decline in volumes in the Catalysts division due to weak demand in the automotive market. Negative currency effects, mainly relating to the Argentine peso and Brazilian real, burdened sales. Lower prices in nearly all segments, particularly for precious and base metals in the Surface Technologies segment, also hindered sales performance.
The EBITDA margin before special items was 10.3 percent, following 9.8 percent in the prior-year quarter. In the core businesses, the EBITDA margin before special items improved by 3.6 percentage points to 13.4 percent in the third quarter of 2024 versus 9.8 percent in the prior-year quarter.
EBITDA amounted to €1.3 billion, following €1.4 billion in the prior-year period. EBITDA included special items in the amount of minus €345 million. Special charges resulted in particular in the Agricultural Solutions division from provisions in connection with the closure of the production plants for glufosinate-ammonium and the associated site closures that were announced in July 2024.
At €250 million, EBIT was €144 million below the figure of the prior-year quarter. Depreciation and amortization amounted to €1 billion, compared with €969 million in the prior-year period.
Net income was €287 million (prior-year quarter: minus €249 million). This significant increase resulted mainly from higher net income from shareholdings, primarily due to special income of €398 million in connection with the transfer of Wintershall Dea assets to Harbour Energy plc. In the prior-year quarter, special items in the amount of minus €291 million arose at Wintershall Dea.
Cash flows from operating activities amounted to €2.1 billion in the third quarter of 2024, €633 million below the figure of the prior-year period. The €674 million higher reduction in trade accounts payable was the primary reason for this decrease. At the same time, cash released from inventories decreased by €339 million compared with the third quarter of 2023. Free cash flow amounted to €569 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared with €1.5 billion in the prior-year period.
Cost savings programs on track
Chief Financial Officer Dr. Dirk Elvermann provided an update on the cost savings programs currently underway: “We are on track to achieve the targeted €2.1 billion annual cost savings by the end of 2026. The implementation of the cost savings programs announced in February 2023 is in full swing.” As of the end of September 2024, BASF has already achieved a cost reduction run rate of around €800 million. The associated one-time costs were around €500 million. By the end of this year, the company expects to achieve a cost reduction run rate of more than €800 million, with associated one-time costs of around €550 million.
BASF is also moving forward as planned with the additional cost savings program launched in 2024 that focuses on improving the competitiveness of the Ludwigshafen site. The units at the site have recently been informed about the contributions they are expected to deliver by the end of 2026.
Changes in BASF reporting
In 2022, the European Union adopted the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Due to the extended sustainability reporting requirements under this Directive, BASF will have two publication dates going forward.
On February 28, 2025, BASF will initially publish the results for the 2024 business year as an online report in unaudited form. This will contain all important financial and non-financial figures for 2024 as well as the outlook for 2025.
The audited BASF Report 2024 will be published on March 21, 2025. It will contain all legally required financial and ESG information and will be provided in the form of an online report and as a clickable PDF. A print version will no longer be provided.
BASF Group’s outlook for 2024 unchanged
BASF’s assumptions for the full year 2024 remain unchanged:
- Growth in gross domestic product: +2.3 percent
- Growth in industrial production: +2.2 percent
- Growth in chemical production: +2.7 percent
- Average euro/dollar exchange rate of $1.10 per euro
- Average annual oil price (Brent crude) of $80 per barrel
The BASF Group’s forecast for the 2024 business year published in the BASF Report 2023 also remains unchanged:
- EBITDA before special items of between €8.0 billion and €8.6 billion
- Free cash flow of between €0.1 billion and €0.6 billion
- CO2 emissions of between 16.7 million metric tons and 17.7 million metric tons
Based on current information, BASF expects to reach the low end of the EBITDA before special items forecast range for the full year 2024. For the fourth quarter of 2024, there are risks from potential declines in prices and lower volume growth than expected. Opportunities may arise from a positive development in demand and margins.
https://www.basf.com/global/en/media/news-releases/2024/10/p-24-308
October 29, 2024
Urethane Highlights from Covestro Call
Covestro AG (CVVTF) Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
Oct. 29, 2024 3:00 PM ETCovestro AG (CVVTF) Stock, COVTY Stock
Covestro AG (OTCPK:CVVTF) Q3 2024 Results Conference Call October 29, 2024 9:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Ronald Koehler – Head of Investor Relations
Christian Baier – CFO & Member of Management Board
Carsten Intveen – Investor Relations Director
Conference Call Participants
Christian Faitz – Kepler Cheuvreux
Geoff Haire – UBS
Chetan Udeshi – JPMorgan
Christian Baier
Thank you, Ronald, and hello, and a warm welcome to our third quarter call. Before coming to the business of the last quarter, let me update you on the status of the announced transaction with ADNOC. The signing of the investment agreement on 1st of October marked the beginning of a multistep takeover process, which we believe is in the best interest of our shareholders, the company and all stakeholders.
Last Friday, ADNOC published the offer document. The publication of the offer document marked the start of the initial acceptance period, which will last until November 27, 2024. A potential additional acceptance period might last from December 3 until December 16, 2024. The Board of Management, together with the Supervisory Board, will issue their recent statement in due course.
But now let us focus on the highlights of the third quarter. We delivered a continued strong volume growth of 6.1% year-on-year. However, lower prices are still affecting sales, which came in at €3.6 billion. In line with our guidance, we achieved an EBITDA of €287 million. Free operating cash flow turned positive with €112 million and was in line with our expectations. As usual, with the Q3 call, we are narrowing our EBITDA guidance range.
Turning back to the business and the volume development in the third quarter of 2024. Year-on-year, the global sales volume continued to increase by 6.1%. This is driven by an improving demand but also constantly delivering on our reliability ambition after the issues in Europe in 2022 and 2023. The volume growth rate has slowed slightly compared to H1 2024 due to a baseline effect as we were able to ramp up production already during H2 2023.
Going through different industries. Construction showed the highest growth rate, with a low teens percent increase and Furniture with a mid-single-digit percent volume increase. Electro developed flattish and Auto exhibited a low single-digit volume reduction.
Let’s now look into the different regions. In EMLA, Construction and Furniture are showing continued strong growth based on improved availability of MDI and TDI since the resolved internal availability issues. However, Auto is on a slight decline and Electro on a significant decline. And almost comparable industry picture can be observed in North America. Construction developed positively with a significant increase. Furniture is flat, but like in EMLA, Electro and Auto are showing a slight decline. APAC again, continues with stable to positive growth across all industries, important to Covestro. Construction exhibited significant growth, Furniture and Electro slight growth and Auto was flattish.
Chetan Udeshi
Okay. This is always very complicated, I have to say. Maybe you should probably think about a better way of doing it. Can I ask one thing? I saw Dow mentioned last week that they are doing a strategic review of their polyurethanes assets. And I was just curious from Covestro’s perspective, is that something that Covestro can look at? Is it even practically possible from antitrust point of view? I’m just trying to explore what possibilities we might have for a possible consolidation, if any, in the European polyurethanes market, especially after what Dow said.
The second question, I was just curious and maybe this is just following up on the previous question. You said based on historical cycles, et cetera, you think next year could also be weak for Construction and Auto. And I’m just curious if you can point me to what exactly — or which historical cycles are you referring to?
Christian Baier
Chetan, I’m very happy to comment on maybe just on the last one with respect to Construction and Auto, we said that we have seen on the side of Furniture and Electro which have now stabilized. We have seen slightly longer periods of weakness from that overall perspective. And while this is not an academic read across into Construction and Auto, and there is a little bit of a perspective that this could be somewhat ongoing. That’s what we are properly preparing for, there is no better crystal ball that we have on those.
And certainly, when we look into Construction, especially from a seasonal perspective, we’d rather see that developing from Q2 next year onwards rather than from the beginning of the year. But that’s as far as it goes with respect to our expectations on that.
With respect to the topic of Dow, they have put their European pure assets into a strategic review. We are talking here about 3 MDI assets that they have spread across Europe. We are talking about polyol assets on that perspective. Let’s see what the outcome will be of the review that they are going forward. We certainly, in any of the movements in the overall industry would be open-minded on the various pieces that would be developing and watching that situation closely.
October 29, 2024
Covestro Q3 Results
Increased profits in challenging market environment
- Group sales remain stable at EUR 3.6 billion (+1.0%)
- EBITDA increases to EUR 287 million (+3.6%)
- Net income reaches EUR 33 million
- Free Operating Cash Flow is at EUR 112 million (–63.6%)
- Investment Agreement with ADNOC signed
- Guidance for 2024 fiscal year narrowed within given ranges
In the third quarter of 2024, Covestro continued to increase its volumes sold, particularly in the EMLA and APAC regions. Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, Group sales remained stable at around EUR 3.6 billion, as lower raw material prices led to lower selling price levels (previous year: EUR 3.57 billion). Compared to the third quarter of 2023, the Group’s EBITDA increased by 3.6 percent to EUR 287 million (previous year: €277 million), thus falling within the expected range of EUR 250 million to EUR 350 million. Net income reached EUR 33 million (previous year: EUR –31 million). Free operating cash flow decreased to EUR 112 million (previous year: EUR 308 million), primarily due to lower operating cash flows.
“We concluded the third quarter of the year with higher sales volumes and improved earnings,” said Dr Markus Steilemann, CEO of Covestro. “Nevertheless, the current market environment remains challenging. Our focus is therefore clear: We continue to do our homework, focus on the levers we can control and consistently implement our ‘Sustainable Future’ strategy. In doing so, we not only lay the foundation for future success and sustainable growth, but also make steady progress towards becoming fully circular.”
Guidance for 2024 further narrowed within given ranges
In light of the continued challenging economic environment, Covestro has narrowed its guidance for the 2024 fiscal year regarding expectations for EBITDA and ROCE above WACC.
The Group now anticipates EBITDA between EUR 1.0 billion and EUR 1.25 billion (previously: between EUR 1.0 billion and EUR 1.4 billion). For ROCE above WACC, Covestro now expects a range between –7.0 and –5.0 percentage points (previously: between –7.0 and –4.0 percentage points) for the financial year 2024. Regarding GHG emissions (measured as CO2 equivalents), Covestro continues to expect a figure between 4.4 and 5.0 million metric tons. Covestro also continues to expect a Free Operating Cash Flow between EUR –100 and EUR 100 million.
“Overall, global demand is intact but remains at a low level. We continue to face challenges in various industries and regions,” says Christian Baier, CFO of Covestro. “Nonetheless, we were able to slightly increase our EBITDA, indicating that our measures for efficiency and plant reliability are working. However, the economic environment remains challenging, and we have therefore narrowed our guidance for the full year accordingly.”
Investment Agreement with ADNOC supports execution of “Sustainable Future” strategy
As announced in an ad-hoc release on October 1, 2024, Covestro has on that day signed an Investment Agreement with entities of the ADNOC Group, including ADNOC International Limited (“ADNOC International”) and its indirect subsidiary ADNOC International Germany Holding AG (“Bidder”). The agreement stipulates, among other items, that the Bidder will make a public takeover offer for all outstanding shares of Covestro at a price of €62.00 per share. In addition, ADNOC International is committing itself to fully supporting the Company’s “Sustainable Future” strategy and intends to fully support Covestro in further executing on this strategy. To this end, the Bidder shall subscribe to new Covestro shares at the offer price via an increase of the Company’s share capital by 10% under simplified exclusion of subscription upon the completion of the transaction. This will result in an amount of €1.17 billion proceeds at an offer price of €62.00 which Covestro will use to foster the further implementation of its growth strategy.
On October 25, 2024, the Bidder, following approval by BaFin, has published the corresponding offer document in relation to all outstanding Covestro shares at an offer price EUR 62.00 per Covestro share. The Board of Management and the Supervisory Board of Covestro will now carefully review the offer document and issue a reasoned statement pursuant to Section 27 WpÜG in due course. Subject to the review of the offer document, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board assume that they will recommend the acceptance of the offer to the Company’s shareholders.
Further milestones on the road to climate neutrality achieved
In the third quarter of 2024, Covestro further increased the share of renewable energies in its energy mix, thereby achieving another important milestone on the road to operational climate neutrality by 2035. In July 2024, Covestro signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with bp to supply its sites in Spain with solar energy. The contract has a term of ten years and increases the share of renewable energy from less than ten percent to around 30 percent. As a result, a significant share of the electricity consumption of Covestro’s main production site in Tarragona, Spain, is now also covered by renewable sources.
EBITDA in the Performance Materials segment significantly increased
In the Performance Materials segment, Covestro increased its sales by 4.1 percent to EUR 1.78 billion (previous year: EUR 1.71 billion) in the third quarter of 2024. This was primarily driven by higher volumes, especially in the EMLA region. These higher volumes contributed to a significant increase in EBITDA of 47.1 percent to EUR 125 million (previous year: EUR 85 million). Free Operating Cash Flow amounted to EUR 111 million (previous year: EUR 317 million) due to a significantly lower release of funds from working capital compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
In the Solutions & Specialties segment, sales in the third quarter of 2024 decreased by 2.0 percent to EUR 1.77 billion (previous year: EUR 1.81 billion). This was primarily due to a demand-related decline in average selling prices, which higher volumes were unable to offset fully. As a result, the segment’s EBITDA fell 15.4 percent to EUR 208 million (previous year: EUR 246 million). Free Operating Cash Flow was EUR 101 million (previous year: EUR 185 million), primarily due to cash being tied up in working capital, as opposed to a release of funds in the same quarter last year, and lower EBITDA.
Challenging environment weighs on results in the first nine months of 2024
In the first nine months of 2024, Covestro’s sales remained largely stable at EUR 10.8 billion compared to the same period of the previous year (previous year: EUR 11.0 billion). The increase in volumes across the Group did not offset the demand-related decline in average selling prices in the first nine months. That is also reflected in the EBITDA for the first nine months of 2024, which fell by 7.2 percent to EUR 880 million (previous year: EUR 948 million). Net income fell to –€74 million (previous year: –€11 million). Free Operating Cash Flow for the nine-month period amounted to –€164 million (previous year: €159 million).
https://www.covestro.com/press/increased-profits-in-challenging-market-environment
October 27, 2024
Highlights from Olin’s Investors Call
Olin Corporation (OLN) Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
Oct. 25, 2024 12:37 PM ETOlin Corporation (OLN) Stock
Q3: 2024-10-24 Earnings Summary
EPS of -$0.15 misses by $0.18 | Revenue of $1.59B (-4.90% Y/Y) beats by $8.64M
Olin Corporation (NYSE:OLN) Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call October 25, 2024 9:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Steve Keenan – Director of IR
Ken Lane – President and CEO
Todd Slater – CFO
Ken Lane
Thanks, Steve. And good morning, everyone. Olin’s third quarter was significantly impacted by operational disruptions as a result of hurricane Beryl damage. I want to thank our team at the Freeport site for their efforts to restart our assets, which were shut down in early July due to the hurricane. Multiple plants are now returning to normal operations. The Olin team worked through the difficult time safely and expeditiously while facing hurricane related challenges at home and in their communities. Now turning to our third quarter results on Slide 3. The quarter unfolded slightly better than expected for our chemicals businesses, excluding the impact of Hurricane Beryl, which came in at $110 million versus our initial estimate of $100 million during the quarter. We will have some residual hurricane impact in the fourth quarter due to additional downtime and the completion of some less critical infrastructure repairs. Excluding the impacts from Hurricane Beryl, chlor alkali products achieved a solid quarter with sequential improvement. The aftermath of recent hurricanes also drove third quarter demand for bleach and hydrochloric acid higher in support of water treatment and cleaning end uses. During the third quarter, caustic prices increased supported by some demand improvement in export markets as well as continued constraints in supply related to global industry planned and unplanned outages. Epoxy prices and margins continue to slowly improve, though volumes remain weak. We remain focused on delivering cost reductions during a very challenging market environment. Our third quarter epoxy resin volumes were sequentially lower as we started our planned start at Germany turnaround. Third quarter Winchester commercial ammunition volume fell significantly short of our expectations. Due to softness in consumer demand at our customers’ retail outlets, retailers are now slowing their purchases to normalize inventories by year end. This headwind is partially offset by continued strength in defense demand.
Turning to Slide 4. Let’s take a closer look at our chlor alkali and vinyls business. With Hurricane Beryl behind us, our Freeport plants are returning to normal operations. Caustic soda is a strong side of the ECU. And with global industry supplies constrained, Olin will stay focused on our value first commercial model to meet demand. Caustic soda demand continues to be strong with alumina and pulp and paper leading the way. South American demand has been the most robust with two recent world scale pulp and paper plant startups. Index pricing for US Gulf Coast caustic exports finished the third quarter up by over $100 sequentially, a 30% improvement over the second quarter index. North American merchant chlorine demand remains steady with positive trade press outlooks for vinyls and titanium dioxide heading into 2025. We expect agricultural related consumption to pick up seasonally late in fourth quarter. Chlorine into water treatment is expected to slow seasonally and pick up again during the first quarter. Our EDC participation remains disciplined. EDC values are up slightly year-over-year in line with PVC, but we remain diligent to keep our EDC position value driven.
For a look at our epoxy business, let’s turn to Slide 5. During the third quarter, we began our planned Stade, Germany outage, which occurs once every six years and is proceeding on plan and budget for completion in the fourth quarter. As the largest and only integrated producer of epoxy in the European Union, Stade remains an important asset for Olin and that value is expected to increase as we realize contractual cost savings in 2026. Despite improving margins, resin and formulated solution volumes remain challenged in both the US and Europe. The inflow of China subsidized epoxy continues unabated even with local production costs rising in Asia on tightening glycerin feedstocks. In September, the US International Trade Commission announced preliminary countervailing duties for epoxy imports, which only impacted China. We hope the US ITC’s upcoming November antidumping duties will level the playing field across Korea and Taiwan and appropriately value domestic production of these critical materials and stem the flow of unfairly subsidized Asian imports. In parallel, the European Union is also evaluating epoxy antidumping duties with preliminary determinations expected in mid-2025.
Arun Viswanathan
And then if I could just ask a couple of follow-ups on that. So I guess when you think about Epoxy, it sounds like you’re expecting a date in November, where I get maybe an update on the antidumping situation. I guess, what are your expectations for that? And does that maybe drive some optimism about that business for ’25? And I guess when you think about that, if you were to add back some of your impacts, the 135. Is that the only driver that you really see adding back for ’25 or would there be some other potential uplift to ’25 EBITDA?
Ken Lane
Well, obviously, one of the uplifts is going to — we’re not planning on having another Hurricane Beryl, which is certainly a good thing. Yes, we are expecting the US government, the ITC to make an announcement here in early November. It’s the government, I don’t want to get too optimistic or too pessimistic. We’ve done all that we can to make the case that this is unfair trade that’s going on. And hopefully, you had a chance to take a look at the op ed that I had written a week or so ago, but we’re doing all that we can to support the case. We’ll see where the ITC ends up. We have been marginally successful throughout the year of steadily increasing pricing. However, I’ll tell you that it’s still in the face of a very strong volume that’s continuing to come in from Asia and that’s still very concerning. But hopefully, we’re going to get some favorable outcome here in early November. But it’s — right now, I can’t give you a guess whether it’s going to be positive or not.
Aleksey Yefremov
And then in epoxy, you were $200 per ton price increase. Can you tell us how successful it was so far and what do you expect from that in Q4 and Q1?
Ken Lane
So we announced that for October 1st and we are optimistic we are seeing some traction on that price increase in Q4. I mentioned it a minute ago, we’re still seeing the volume coming in from Asia. So I think some people are starting to maybe react a little bit to concerns around what may happen with tariffs. But we have seen some success in implementing that price increase. It’s really too early to say for the quarter. But I do think we’re going to see some price gains in epoxy resins in Q4. But it did not make up anywhere close to where we need to be to get back to a reasonable level of margin there.
Steve Byrne
And maybe just one more portfolio related question, and that is, in a year from now when the contract with Dow and have you given more thought and have a conceptual interest in what to do with that chlorine capacity and low cost ethylene. Do you have some thoughts on that?
Ken Lane
Steve, yes, as you can imagine, when we’re working through the strategy that we’re thinking about for the company longer term and the Investor Day that’s coming up, you can imagine that, that’s going to be a topic that we will talk about is our portfolio, not just in terms of businesses but also assets going forward. So we’ll be able to share more with that — more with you on that at the Investor Day in December.
Mike Leithead
And then second, Dow initiated a strategic review yesterday of some of their European assets, and I believe that includes their Stade data complex. I guess, one, are there any Dow assets there that would be of interest and fit to Olin? And two, if they decide another outcome there, how, if at all, does that impact your Stade operations?
Ken Lane
Mike, I really don’t know enough. I saw the announcement just like you did but I don’t know enough about what they’re doing to make any comment there. Stade is a site that has been really challenged for us in our portfolio and we’ve been able to work through that without to get to an agreement that at least helps to improve the viability of that site for Olin. That really doesn’t kick in until 2026. As you can imagine, we’re constantly talking to Dow because we’ve got such a strong relationship with them in terms of interdependency and we’ll continue to have discussions with them. But I don’t have anything that I can comment on. I just don’t know enough about what they’re doing.
John Roberts
And then why do you think the higher glittering costs in China aren’t having any impact on pricing?
Ken Lane
Can you repeat that?
John Roberts
We have higher glittering costs to the Chinese exporters, it doesn’t seem to be having any impact on pricing…
Ken Lane
Well, I think that’s exactly supporting our case for the tariffs. They continue to they continue to produce the low cost and push that volume into the market, which is then allowing other Epoxy resin producers to export below cost. And that’s exactly the case that we’re making to the US ITC and to the EU.
John Roberts
Why don’t you think the pricing is even lower then if glistering costs don’t matter?
Ken Lane
I think it’s related to the amount of supply that they brought on. So they want to operate their assets. They’ve added a lot of capacity and they want to run those assets and they’re willing to do it at a loss. That’s all I can tell you.
David Begleiter
Staying on epoxy. How do imports in ’24 into the US compare versus ’23?
Ken Lane
Well we’re still seeing significantly higher import volumes and that has really been unabated. So we’re not seeing any in that tide. It’s continued to grow. And as I just mentioned to John, as they add capacity, they’re going to continue to push that volume into the market. We’re not seeing that slow down at all.
David Begleiter
But do you have a number for the increase year-over-year?
Ken Lane
I don’t, Dave, but I know that it has increased, but I don’t have a percentage.
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