Ryerson (RYZ) Q1 2026 Earnings Transcript

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DATE

Thursday, May 7, 2026 at 10 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Chief Executive Officer — Edward Lehner
• President and Chief Operating Officer — Richard Marabito
• Chief Financial Officer — Jim Claussen
• Chief Accounting Officer — Molly Kannan
• Senior Vice President, Operations — Richard Manson
• President, North American Operations — Andrew Greiff

TAKEAWAYS

• Total Company Revenue -- $1.57 billion, up 37.9% with 31.2% higher tons shipped and a 5.2% increase in average selling price.
• Same-Store Revenue -- $1.29 billion, with tons shipped up 4.6% and average selling price up 8.9%.
• Sequential Same-Store Revenue Growth -- 17.1% increase, driven by a 13.4% rise in shipments and a 3.2% increase in price from the prior quarter.
• Net Income -- $4.5 million ($0.10 per diluted share); adjusted net income was $13.1 million ($0.30 per diluted share), after excluding transaction costs and impairment charges.
• Adjusted EBITDA Ex-LIFO -- $67.4 million, more than doubling the $32.8 million achieved in the prior-year period.
• Olympic Steel Contribution -- $12.5 million in adjusted EBITDA ex-LIFO for its post-merger 6-week subperiod.
• LIFO Expense -- $10 million, exceeding expectations of $6 million to $8 million, attributed to higher commodity prices.
• Gross Margin -- Same-store gross margin rose by 270 basis points to 18%; same-store gross margin ex-LIFO improved by 150 basis points to 18.8%.
• Warehousing, Delivery, Selling, General and Administrative Expense -- $265.2 million total, $217.6 million on a same-store basis, or $404 per ton ($416 per ton same-store); same-store expense increase of $15.5 million year over year.
• Debt and Leverage -- Total debt reached $908 million and net debt $883 million, up $445 million, driving the leverage ratio to 5.1x from 3.1x in the previous quarter.
• Liquidity -- Global liquidity ended at $618 million, up from $502 million in the previous quarter due to an expanded borrowing base.
• Inventory Days of Supply -- Decreased by 5 days sequentially to 74 days, now within the target range of 70 to 75 days.
• Cash Used in Operations -- $179 million, primarily for working capital requirements of the combined company.
• Dividend and Share Repurchases -- $9.7 million dividend paid ($0.1875 per share); repurchased $1.6 million worth of shares (~74,000 shares).
• Capital Expenditures -- $12 million in the quarter; expected full-year capital expenditures of $75 million ($50 million same-store, $25 million at Olympic Steel).
• Synergy Realization -- $1 million realized in initial 6 weeks, with $4 million to $6 million in savings targeted for the second quarter.
• Annual Synergy Targets -- $40 million in annual run-rate synergies anticipated for year one, tracking toward $120 million within two years.
• Q2 2026 Guidance -- Net income projected between $20 million to $22 million ($0.38–$0.42 per share); adjusted EBITDA ex-LIFO targeted at $88 million to $92 million; LIFO expense expected between $14 million to $16 million.
• Q2 2026 Revenue Outlook -- Projected range of $1.86 billion to $1.93 billion, with tons shipped expected to rise 18%-20% (full-period inclusion of Olympic Steel versus 6 weeks prior); average selling prices up 2%-4% on a same-store basis, and 1%-3% overall.
• Transactional vs. Contract Business Mix -- Ryerson at 52% transactional and 48% contract; Olympic Steel at ~30% transactional, 70% contractual; combined target is to move toward a 60%-40% transactional-contract mix over time.
• Integration Progress -- Two leased facilities exited, generating $1.5 million in anticipated annual savings and progressing on supply chain alignment and procurement harmonization.
• Share Repurchase Program -- Newly authorized $100 million buyback program to be exercised over the next two years as market opportunities arise.

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RISKS

• Leverage ratio increased to 5.1x from 3.1x due to debt to finance the Olympic Steel acquisition and working capital needs, with a stated focus on reducing this level moving forward.
• LIFO expense exceeded expectations at $10 million versus guidance of $6 million to $8 million, driven by higher commodity prices.
• First quarter same-store expenses increased year over year, including higher compensation, merger advisory fees, and rising delivery costs due to increased diesel prices.
• Contract business demand remains subdued, with management stating, "On the contract side, we're still lagging by about 4% to 5%." Recovery is described as uneven.

SUMMARY

Ryerson Holding Corporation (NYSE:RYZ) delivered significant sequential and year-over-year growth in both shipments and average selling prices, driven by strong transactional business and early merger synergies with Olympic Steel. Guidance for the second quarter calls for further revenue and earnings growth, bolstered by full-period Olympic Steel contributions and continued margin expansion. The company emphasized its accelerated progress on integration, operational improvements, and supply chain realignment, while reaffirming its near- and medium-term synergy targets. Management detailed prudent capital allocation, highlighting a new $100 million share repurchase authorization as liquidity improved and the CapEx cycle normalized. Merger-driven debt increased leverage, but the company expects improvement as synergies are captured and EBITDA rises.

• Recent ISM Manufacturing PMI data supports management's claim of improved order activity, marking the longest consecutive period of growth since late 2022.
• Transactional customers showed particular strength, while contract demand remains below prior levels, especially among large OEMs.
• Procurement synergies achieved in the first quarter are expected to result in approximately $15 million in annual savings and management is on track for the $40 million two-year procurement goal.
• Integration is "a structured ongoing effort" with commercial synergies, facility consolidation, and supply chain alignment already yielding measurable cost reductions.
• Management expects the effective tax rate to revert to approximately 25%-26% as first quarter merger-related tax impacts are not recurring.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• MSCI (Metal Service Center Institute): An industry group providing shipment and inventory data benchmarks for service centers.
• LIFO (Last-In, First-Out): An accounting method used to value inventory and calculate cost of goods sold based on the most recent inventory purchased or produced.
• Transactional Business: Customer orders fulfilled on a spot or non-contract basis, often requiring rapid inventory turnover and delivery.
• Contract Business: Sales conducted under multi-period, pre-negotiated terms with original equipment manufacturers or other large clients.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Edward Lehner: Thank you, Justine. Good morning, and thank you all for tuning into WRYZ the RS. I just had to say that, to discuss our first quarter performance, and I am compelled to say again how delighted we are to be working together in common cause with our Olympic teammates. If 1/2 of a quarter is any indication, I can hardly wait to see what we will do together with full quarters. We entered 2026 with order activity at stronger levels than we have seen in quite some time going back to 2022.

We achieved double-digit sequential volume growth, market share gains, solid margin expansion, excellent working capital management and higher adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO, above our targeted range while already hard at work in getting at and to those synergies. The demand and order activity we referenced is corroborated by recent ISM Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index readings, which reported expanding manufacturing activity for the past 4 consecutive months, the longest consecutive growth period since late 2022 or as I have been known to say, PMI don't lie.

Beneath the surface, we note that these early signs of recovery have been unevenly distributed across our customer base as our transactional customers showed particular strength, while many of our large OEMs exhibited ongoing demand stagnation following what had been a prolonged manufacturing contraction with high interest rates and prevailing tariff and geopolitical uncertainty. We would be remiss if we didn't mention the omnipresent AI infrastructure and compute build-out and its outsized impact to PMI and GDP growth as well as our increasing participation in this secular super cycle as an AI infrastructure partner to our customers. This has and continues to be a significant contributor to the improving demand environment noted both year-over-year and sequentially.

The most important question continues to be around the duration of demand conditions amidst supply side disruptions and inflationary wildcards, particularly considering heightened global unrest and whether economic expansion circuit breakers can absorb potential hyper shocks to the system. While industrial metal commodity price bellwethers continue moving higher, most notably aluminum, the real puzzle is how much and at what pace can higher input costs move through the value chain to end customers without triggering the dreaded boomerang effect, whereby we invert from current procyclical conditions to countercyclical conditions earlier than any of us would like.

Further evidence of this ongoing dynamic is the onset of higher diesel fuel prices, coupled with ongoing tightness in the trucking market, resulting in further inflation of delivery costs industry-wide and the resulting lag effect in these cost increases propagating through the value chain. Looking inside RYZ, in the last 6 weeks of the quarter, we began the vital work of integrating with Olympic Steel, and I could not be more encouraged by how the early stages are progressing. From an organizational standpoint, we moved quickly to establish a unified leadership structure, bringing together talent from both legacy companies to drive alignment, accountability and execution against our synergy targets.

In a few moments, I will hand the call over to our President and Chief Operating Officer, Rick Marabito. But before I do, I would like to take the opportunity to express that it has been a true pleasure to participate in and witness the cross-collaboration of our teams and see the expanded product and service offerings begin to benefit our customers across our larger, more capable enterprise and footprint. We are stacking wins and building synergy momentum, and I am exceedingly confident about the opportunities we have to create value together and creating the industry's best customer experience.

I would like to thank my Ryerson and Olympic teammates for their adaptability, energy and passion during this process and their continued focus on the customer. Their efforts are transforming us into a fully integrated platform of combined strengths, enabling us to capture the full value of our synergies, foster growth and further elevate our offering to customers while further building enterprise value for our shareholders. And with that, I will ask Rick to join us to discuss market conditions and industry trends.

Richard Marabito: Thanks, Eddie, and it's great to be with you all, and good morning to everyone. So turning to the market. The North American service center industry shipping volumes as measured by the MSCI or the Metal Service Center Institute, experienced a seasonally aligned and momentum-driven start to 2026 with improved demand relative to the end of 2025. Ryerson's North American volumes by comparison grew significantly even on a same-store basis, outpacing the industry and realizing market share gains during the quarter with particular strength in carbon products. Our first quarter total company tons shipped increased sequentially by 42.3% or 13.4% on a same-store basis, in line with guidance expectations.

Year-over-year, total company shipments were up 31.2% in the first quarter of 2026. That's 4.6% up on a same-store basis. And as Eddie mentioned, transactional business led the way in growth and coupled with historically low service center industry inventory levels for plate and sheet products relative to shipments, we anticipate healthy transactional activity moving forward. On the other side of the business, activity among our contract customers was steady during the quarter. And thematically, we're seeing data centers and power generation projects continue to drive strong backlogs, and we're also seeing optimism for the future in Class 8 truck trailer as that industry now views 2026 as a supply-driven transition year.

And I would also like to take a moment before I turn the call over to Jim to echo Eddie's comments. and say that it's been a true pleasure joining our organizations together and being part of the collaboration and execution of what is truly a unique opportunity for us to create value for all of our stakeholders. From an operating standpoint, we've been very deliberate about how we're building the combined organization because for us, culture isn't an abstract concept. It's actually the secret sauce, how we align our teams to make decisions, how we serve our customers and how we execute day in and day out.

And for our customers, we've been focusing on expanding capabilities, enhancing our product offerings and leveraging our larger footprint to serve their needs, help solve their problems and enhance the value that they receive from us. We're also very disciplined about synergy attainment, and I echo what Eddie said. I think we're -- as we're 6 weeks into it in the first quarter, we're more confident than ever in terms of the attainment of those synergies. And we're approaching synergies as a structured ongoing effort embedded in our operating model with mechanisms in place to build on those gains over time.

By strengthening the foundation of our business through culture and shared values, synergy execution and a customer-centric focus, we are positioning the company to generate higher, more consistent earnings and drive long-term value for shareholders. So now I'll turn the call over to Jim Claussen to review our performance relative to first quarter guidance, discuss our expectations for second quarter and provide an overview of our synergy attainment progress and capital allocation activities.

Jim Claussen: Thank you, Rick, and good morning, everyone. In the first quarter, we achieved revenue at the top end of our guidance range with same-store volumes increasing as expected and same-store average selling prices exceeding our expectations as aluminum pricing was influenced by geopolitical events. Gross margin expanded as anticipated during the quarter as our contracts began to reset at current market pricing and improved demand conditions supported transactional pricing. Net income for the quarter came in at $4.5 million or $0.10 per diluted share and our adjusted net income for the first quarter, which removes transaction-related expenses and a onetime impairment charge was $13.1 million or $0.30 per diluted share.

Our same-store first quarter adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO generation of $54.9 million exceeded our expectations, while Olympic Steel contributed an additional $12.5 million, which was in range for the business' post-merger 6-week sub period. Altogether, our adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO in the first quarter was $67.4 million. Turning to current expectations. Bookings have remained at healthy levels in recent weeks, and we expect the second quarter to fall in line with typical seasonal demand patterns, producing shipments 1% to 3% higher relative to the first quarter on a same-store basis.

We, therefore, anticipate that total company tons shipped will be 18% to 20% higher compared to the first quarter of 2026, with Olympic Steel included in the entire period compared to only 6 weeks at the end of the prior period. Total company revenues are expected to be in the range of $1.86 billion to $1.93 billion, with same-store average selling prices expected to be up 2% to 4% sequentially and overall average selling prices to be up 1% to 3% quarter-over-quarter as our product mix shifts higher in carbon products with the full quarter inclusion of Olympic Steel and average selling prices for carbon products lower than those for aluminum and stainless.

In all, we anticipate generating net income for the second quarter in the range of $20 million to $22 million or $0.38 to $0.42 per diluted share. We expect our LIFO expense to be between $14 million and $16 million in the second quarter, leading to adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO generation in the range of $88 million to $92 million, with $21 million to $23 million of that attributed to Olympic Steel. Second quarter synergy realization is expected to be in the range of $4 million to $6 million. Turning to our integration with Olympic Steel and our progress on attaining our announced $120 million of annual run rate synergies.

In our first 6 weeks together, before the end of the first quarter, we were able to hit the ground running on many of our strategies and are seeing early encouraging progress across our synergy categories. One of our earliest priorities post close was to begin the alignment of our supply chain networks and realize initial harmonization of purchasing programs, which we are confident will lead to meaningful savings and further projected buildup in the future quarters as contracts cycle through and we continue to align our purchasing efforts.

We expect that in total, the procurement synergies that we executed during the first quarter will generate annual savings of approximately $15 million, and we are on track to meet our anticipated $40 million 2-year procurement target. We realized efficiency savings during the first quarter through the elimination of overlapping corporate subscriptions and fees, and we have more lined up for the second quarter. We anticipate that in total, the merger will realize approximately $5 million in annualized savings from reduced public company costs alone. We exited 2 leased facilities during the quarter, one in Hansville, Alabama and the other in Waterbury, Connecticut.

Those operations moved into other facilities in Alabama and Connecticut, and we expect to realize annual savings of $1.5 million as a result. We are seeing great progress in supply chain mapping and commercial synergies with several actions implemented to leverage our enhanced footprint. For example, our Hickman, Arkansas facility, where we recently had upgraded our Tempur mill, our capabilities are already being leveraged to service current and prospective Olympic customers. We are also exercising Ryerson's strength in Bright Metals to service Olympic accounts through our TSA processing facilities, which would have been brought into the Ryerson family of companies in 2023. In total, we realized about $1 million in savings within the first 6 weeks of integration.

As previously mentioned, we expect realization of approximately $4 million to $6 million in Q2, and we are well on our way to achieving our estimated first year attainment of $40 million in annual run rate synergies. As both Eddie and Rick expressed, we are exceedingly pleased with the collaborative efforts of both teams and are looking forward to providing further updates as we drive towards our 2-year target of $120 million in annual run rate synergies. Turning to our investments in the business. In the first quarter, our capital expenditures totaled $12 million and primarily included investments in repair and maintenance projects at our facilities as well as small capability enhancement projects.

As a reminder, we anticipated investing approximately $50 million in same-store capital expenditures in '26 with an additional $25 million allocated to Olympic Steel for a total this year of $75 million. Turning to shareholder returns. During the first quarter, Ryerson distributed $9.7 million in the form of dividends or $0.1875 per share distributed to our expanded shareholder base. For the second quarter, we have announced a dividend of the same amount. Additionally, returned $1.6 million to our shareholders during the first quarter by opportunistically repurchasing approximately 74,000 shares from the open market under our share repurchase authorization.

We are also pleased to announce that following the expiration of our previous program on April 30, our Board of Directors has approved a new share repurchase program, which provides us with the authorization to repurchase up to $100 million worth of our shares over the next 2 years. We expect to prudently exercise this authority as opportunities in the market are presented. I will now turn the call over to Molly Kannan to discuss our financial performance highlights for the first quarter.

Molly Kannan: Thanks, Jim, and good morning, everyone. In the first quarter of 2026, Ryerson generated net sales of $1.57 billion, an increase of 37.9% compared to the same quarter of 2025, with tons shipped 31.2% higher and average selling prices 5.2% higher. On a same-store basis, we generated net sales of $1.29 billion with tons shipped 4.6% higher and average selling prices 8.9% higher compared to the same period last year. Compared to the previous quarter, same-store revenues were up 17.1% with shipments 13.4% higher and average selling prices 3.2% higher. Commodity prices rose slightly more than anticipated during the quarter and resulted in a LIFO expense of $10 million compared to our expected expense of $6 million to $8 million.

Same-store gross margin expanded in the second quarter by 270 basis points to 18% and same-store gross margin, excluding LIFO, expanded by 150 basis points to 18.8%. Warehousing, delivery, selling, general and administrative expenses totaled $265.2 million for the first quarter or $217.6 million on a same-store basis, which represents an increase of $15.5 million compared to the first quarter of 2025. On a per ton basis, total company warehousing, selling, general and administrative expenses were $404 per ton in the first quarter or $416 per ton on a same-store basis compared to $404 per ton in the year ago period or $445 in the previous period.

First quarter same-store year-over-year expense increases were driven by higher compensation and benefits expenses, advisory service fees related to the Olympic Steel merger and higher delivery fees driven by increased diesel prices. Our first quarter income taxes came in at $8.2 million, significantly higher than our normal effective tax rate due to $2 million in tax impacts from the merger, which included nondeductible transaction costs and changes to our state rate. We do not expect these impacts to be recurring and our effective rate should therefore return to approximately 25% to 26% in future quarters.

In all, we generated total company net income of $4.5 million or $0.10 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2026 compared to net loss of $5.6 million in the first quarter of 2025. After removing the impacts of both the advisory service fees and the income tax provision related to the merger as well as an asset impairment charge, -- our adjusted net income generation for the quarter was $13.1 million or $0.30 per diluted share. Our total company adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO generation for the first quarter of 2026 was $67.4 million, which more than doubles the $32.8 million generated in the first quarter of 2025.

On a same-store basis, our adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO, increased by $22.1 million year-over-year. We used $179 million in cash from operating activities in the first quarter of 2026, primarily to satisfy the higher working capital requirements of the combined company within the seasonally stronger period. Inventory days of supply decreased by 5 days quarter-over-quarter to 74, which is back within our target range of 70 to 75 days. Our overall cash conversion cycle also remained well managed, coming in at 67 days for the first quarter, which is a day less than the prior quarter and in line with the same quarter of last year.

Our total debt increased to $908 million and net debt to $883 million during the first quarter, an increase of $445 million and $447 million, respectively, as we paid off Olympic Steel debt of approximately $300 million, paid merger-related costs and funded our working capital requirements. As a result of the combined debt base, Ryerson's leverage ratio for the first quarter rose to 5.1x compared to 3.1x for the previous quarter. We expect our leverage ratio to move lower throughout the year as we anticipate that our trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO, should increase with the addition of Olympic Steel contributions as well as with our forecasted first year synergy attainment.

And finally, our global liquidity increased from $502 million at the end of the fourth quarter to $618 million at the end of the first as our borrowing base expanded with our working capital. And with that, I will turn the call back to Eddie to conclude our prepared comments.

Edward Lehner: Thank you, Molly. Throughout our call this morning, as we recounted our accomplishments in the quarter, we pointed to the dedication and commitment of our teammates -- and I would like to close our prepared comments on that high note because after all is said and done, we were well positioned for the first quarter's demand improvement because of the optimizing and refining work we have done internally, incorporating new capabilities from our record investment cycle, honing and bettering our practice of service center fundamentals and modernizing our operating model. And this quarter, the team, our collective RYZ team executed in an exemplary fashion of which we can all be proud. By the way, have we mentioned synergies lately?

Rest assured, there is much more work to do in bringing these home over the next couple of years while building our internal artificial intelligence capabilities as well as serving as a trusted partner to our customers in the AI-related build-out that is still in its early stages. So until next time, let's keep rising and rising toward realizing our maximum potential to the benefit of all RYZ stakeholders. With that, we look forward to your questions. Operator?

Operator: [Operator Instructions] And the first question today comes from Samuel McKinney with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Samuel McKinney: Congrats to you guys, too. You called out particular strength in the transaction business developing over the course of the first quarter, which continues the trend from last year. Could you just talk about the extent to which the divergence between spot and contract tons is continuing? And what do you need to see to really get that contract business moving again?

Edward Lehner: Yes, Sam, it's a really good question. I'll say this. I mean, I was very pleasantly surprised by the increase in transactional business across our entire footprint. I mean, relative to the MSCI, we really put out a really nice print when it came to market share growth. And I think that's a function of the CapEx investments we've made finally coming online, having inventory at the right place, really practicing service center fundamentals in really an exceedingly good way. And then on the contract side, and I'll have Andrew Greiff speak to this. On the contract side, we're still lagging by about 4% to 5%. It's pretty uneven on that program side.

As you know, when you look at residential construction, ag, heavy truck and trailer and consumer durables, they're still lagging some of the other growth areas that you're seeing in the economy. But let me have Andrew give you more color on that.

Andrew Greiff: Yes, Eddie, I think you said it well. We have seen the first quarter, not the improvement that we had thought we'd see from Q4 in the second half of '25. But I will tell you, Sam, that as we came out of the first quarter coming into the second quarter, -- and certainly, the expectations that we're hearing from the industrial OEMs, the expectation is second quarter will improve upon first and then the belief is that the second half is going to be certainly better than the first half. We've seen it in the construction side, certainly with the industrials, a little bit more life in ag.

Clearly, on the data center side, that has continued to stay very strong, impacting our flat roll in pipe and tube. And I think that the second half business, we'll see a nice pickup on the contract side.

Samuel McKinney: Okay. That's helpful. And then the next one, if you could just discuss the capital allocation priorities within the context of instituting that new share repurchase program while the net debt level is approaching $900 million. And I understand the increased same-store earnings and incremental contribution from Olympic will help the ratio, but just trying to better understand the plans for bringing that debt load down.

Edward Lehner: Yes. Sure, Sam. Let me just give you some preamble of that and say that just given our experience in the industry, 255-plus years and the experience of the people in this room, looking at where we are having turned procyclical and getting past the stub period of quarters and being able to project out over 4 quarters as opposed to some of the, I'd say, some of the math that happens when you're only accounting for half a quarter. We see our debt trends improving meaningfully as we go through the balance of the year and even more in terms of what we know is our free cash flow generating ability.

And also, we're past that big part of the CapEx cycle. So CapEx is really normalizing. And we did find an opportunity through the quarter. When the stock was trading under 20, 21 to 20, it's so far below its intrinsic value. And given the liquidity position we have, which is still very, very strong, it made sense to go in and buy back some shares. But let me have Jim Claussen give you a little more color on that.

Jim Claussen: Yes. I think Eddie really answered the question is as we go forward, certainly going to be prioritization on the leverage ratio. But as we look opportunistically and we understand how the shares can perform, we wanted to make sure that we had the ability to repurchase in certainly a sub book value period, which we saw in the first quarter as we go forward. So we'll be prudent with it. Priority around the leverage ratio continues. As Eddie mentioned, we're through the CapEx cycle. Obviously, we had some merger-related transaction costs in the first quarter that were another drain on cash, and we're past that. So really, I feel really good. We've got the ABL redone.

Liquidity is strong, and we're really just full steam ahead on synergies and growing as R.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] And our next question comes from Katja Jancic with BMO Capital Markets.

Katja Jancic: I might have missed this, but what is currently the split between contract and transactional business on a pro forma basis?

Edward Lehner: This is Eddie. Ryerson is running at about -- and I'm happy to say we're running at about 52% transactional, 48% contract on the Ryerson side. On the Olympics side, and I'll have Rick speak to this. I believe on the Olympics side, it's, say, 30% transactional and 40% program. And maybe, Rick, you can give a little more color on Olympics.

Richard Marabito: Yes. So that's right, 30%, roughly 30% transactional, 70% contractual. And I think getting back to the earlier question about the transactional business, one of the things I do want to stress is a strategic initiative of the combined company. And actually, one of the benefits of the merger is to really build out that transactional business. And with a much bigger footprint, we're able to do that. And I think you know the transactional, the contractual and transactional, it's tongue twister, business is a lot more difficult to do inside of the same facility versus when you have separate assets and separate facilities doing that.

So one of the initiatives going forward, and we're already seeing benefits of this is to move business so we can optimize that transactional business in those locations that are really set up to do same-day, next-day delivery. So I think what you'll see is that mix that we just talked about over time, I think you'll even see us as Ryerson tilt to a higher transactional percentage going forward. But that's where we are to start, and we're excited about the opportunities.

Edward Lehner: And Connie, from just a computational perspective, as we get Olympic hub onto our data warehouse, we'll be able to come up with a much more precise calculation. But if I just put my thunder the sun, I would tell you it's probably about 52% or 42% transactional 58% contract and you look at the combined companies and would expect that to move higher in the quarters and years ahead.

Katja Jancic: Is there an optimal level given that it works on a -- it depends on the footprint and so on. Is there an optimal level of how much in theory transactional sales you could get to?

Edward Lehner: Yes. I mean I believe with transactional value add, especially given the synergy plans that we have that Rick spoke to, where do you run business? If you're running program business and you're running transactional business on the same cut to length line, you have to do different setups, you have to keep different size coils and inventory. And we become adept at being amphibious in that way, but it's certainly not the way we'd like to do it to scale to that 60-40 target. And make no mistake about it, we love the program business -- it's just a different business.

And the greater growth opportunity still in the economy when it comes to industrial metals to really get at that transactional spot bill of material business that really depends on having the inventory on hand and the equipment to run it with a same-day, 1-day or 2-day turnaround time. So I would say our goal is to still get to 60-40, but also optimize the profitability of that program business and continue to grow that as well because in a lot of cases, that same contract customer is also a transactional customer.

Katja Jancic: And I know you're still in the early stages of integration in a way. But so far, it seems like everything is going well. Have you experienced any issues, any early challenges with the integration?

Edward Lehner: Yes. I mean, Rich Manson is heading up our synergy effort for the overall company. So I'll have Rich speak to that. But we couldn't be more delighted with how the organizations are really collaborating really not just at the top, but as we go deeper in the organization, I think the way that the teams are working together has really even exceeded my expectations and my expectations were high going in. But I'll let Rich speak in more detail of the synergy efforts to date.

Richard Manson: Sure. Thanks, D. I would echo your comments that I think as we were working on the due diligence, I think collectively, management was very comfortable around the $40 million savings in year 1 and $120 million after year 2. And I think the best part of this has been is we've engaged lower levels of the organization. We're seeing ideas that we didn't even think of, right? And so I think there's been great cooperation amongst the commercial organizations amongst the operators and do believe that the savings are very achievable and we'll have the numbers that we've laid out.

Operator: And the next question will come from Alan Weber with Robotti & Company.

Alan Weber: So when you look at the presentation, can you talk about the third and fourth quarter, not specific estimates, but how you're thinking about them? And I ask that because your first quarter EBITDA is basically what last year's third and fourth was combined and your fourth quarter -- your second quarter EBITDA, your projection of $90 million is $25 million or so higher than the third and fourth combined. So just curious how you really think about the third and fourth quarter in terms of EBITDA.

Edward Lehner: Yes. I mean not wanting to get too far over our skis. I'll say this. Some of the good news that we see that's some of the good news we see that's really been building, especially given our book of business around contract pricing lags and really even looking at April activity and May activity so far, I would tell you that May activity, even though it's early in the month, is over year-to-date activity when we look at quote activity and order activity. So that's really positive. April trended really nicely, which is really positive.

We've learned, Alan, not to get too far ahead of ourselves just because there still is a reasonable amount of uncertainty just in the global economy, as you well know. But I think the second half of the year, I'd be very surprised that the second half of this year wasn't better than the second half of last year. But I'll have Rick append to that.

Richard Marabito: Yes. Alan, thanks for joining us. I think the second half, what I can comment on is the things that we can control. Obviously, there's a lot of variables out there in the marketplace. And those are the things I think Eddie is really referring to that make it difficult. But what I do know is inside of Ryerson, we are absolutely confident that we'll keep making internal improvements. You're going to see the ramp-up of those synergies. We talked about next quarter having around a $5 million synergy benefit. Obviously, we're very comfortable to get to the $40 million. So I think one thing is sort of our own internal efforts, you're going to see improved results.

So we're excited about that. I think second of all, you look at the business and one of the benefits of merging talking about that mix now where we're over 50% transactional for that really buoyed first quarter. And so as I look to the second half, the opportunity is really if we start to see some demand recovery in the big OEMs in the United States and our contract business. While it was fine in the quarter, I think there's a lot of room for growth in some of the industries that we talked about, ag and some construction business.

I think if we see an improvement there, yes, we're -- we'd be pretty excited and pretty optimistic about the second half. So I think that's the real opportunity is the demand side of the equation and specifically from the big OEMs on the contract side. And pricing trends are positive.

Edward Lehner: Yes, Alan, I would just say pricing can be a real tempest, but pricing trends are really favorable right now, both -- I mean, across the board in carbon and aluminum and nickel has picked up in the last 30 days. And so looking -- as you try to see through pricing going through Q2 into Q3, there would have to be a significant reversion or inversion to really stop that momentum that seems to be building on the price side.

Alan Weber: Okay. Because actually, the numbers that I mentioned, obviously don't really include the synergies for this year from the merger, which you're expecting most of those to take place in the second half also.

Edward Lehner: Yes, that's right. So being as transparent as we can be, $1 million having found its way into the financial statements in Q1, a $5 million midpoint of synergies getting into the financials in Q2. And then, yes, we'd expect to build momentum through the balance of the year in Q3 and Q4. And at this time, there are no further questions.

Operator: I'll now turn the conference back over to you for any additional remarks.

Justine Carlson: There is a question on the web. Thanks for sending that in. It's our expectations in the second half for synergy attainment compared to $40 million.

Edward Lehner: Yes. I mean I think Rich spoke very well to that, and we feel that we're tracking on pace to hit our annual run rate synergies and expect those to continue to propagate and get into the financial statements as we move through the balance of the year as we've discussed on our call so far this morning. Well, we want to thank everybody for tuning in to WRYZ. And I'll eventually outgrow that, by the way. I want to thank everybody for tuning in to the earnings call. We look forward to being with you on our Q2 earnings call later this summer. Thanks.

Operator: Thank you. That does conclude today's conference. We do thank you for your participation. Have an excellent day.

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