Earnings Call Transcript
Chemours Co (CC)
Earnings Call Transcript - CC Q4 2023
Operator, Operator
Good morning. My name is Sarah, and I will be your conference operator today. I would like to welcome everyone to The Chemours Company Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2023 Results Conference Call. I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference call over to Brandon Ontjes, Vice President of FP&A and Investor Relations for Chemours. You may begin your conference.
Brandon Ontjes, Vice President, FP&A and Investor Relations
Good morning, everybody. Welcome to The Chemours Company's Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2023 Earnings Conference Call. I'm joined today by Denise Dignam, Chemours' Chief Executive Officer; and Chemours' Interim Chief Financial Officer, Matt Abbott. Before we start, I would like to remind you that comments made on this call as well as in the supplemental information provided in our presentation and on our website contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties as described in Chemours' SEC filings. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are based on certain assumptions and expectations of future events that may not be realized. Actual results may differ, and Chemours undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements as a result of future developments or new information. During the course of the call, we'll refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures that we believe are useful to investors evaluating the company's performance. A reconciliation of non-GAAP terms and adjustments are included in our press release issued yesterday. As a reminder, our press release, 10-K and our supplemental earnings deck have been posted to the Investor Relations section of our website. With that, I will turn the call over to our CEO, Denise Dignam. Denise?
Denise Dignam, CEO
Thank you, and good morning, everyone. I appreciate that you've joined us today. Before I introduce myself, I want to thank all of you for your patience and understanding. We've been working diligently over the past few weeks to get to today. I have great confidence in this company, our values and our people, and I am energized to lead our important work going forward. I acknowledge that we face challenges. At the same time, though, we have opportunities to unlock the potential of Chemours, and we're moving ahead with a sense of focus and urgency to do so. I know our shareholders want to own a company that they can count on for profitability and growth with strong ethics, values and integrity. I share these priorities. So let's talk about how we're going to deliver on them. First, let me give you some perspective on what you can expect of me as CEO of Chemours. Fresh out of Drexel University, I joined DuPont 36 years ago as a design engineer. I worked shifts in our manufacturing operations, the first woman to do so at our Chambers Works site in New Jersey. Here, I learned firsthand about the people and processes that underpin a successful manufacturing operation, how hard the work was, and how skilled you had to be to do it well. We also ingrained in me an appreciation for how much pride there was in driving efficiency and process improvement. In doing the job better, delivering tangible results. In a manufacturing business like Chemours, the safety and well-being of our people come first. It's where integrity starts. I learned this early on, too. Later, I moved into customer-facing roles in sales and in marketing. I learned that customers have choices. I learned how important customer relationships are and how those trusting relationships create real and sustained value. These experiences taught me that you need to do what's right for customers and what's right for employees. These are keys to success. I also established a track record for making quick, bold, and sound moves that drove results, and a reputation for transparency, directness, being hands-on, and using simple language. When I joined Chemours as part of the spin-out in 2015, I was excited to join a new company with really good roots. These were based on our leading technology and our superior manufacturing. When I started at Chemours, I led the North American region for Fluoropolymers as well as having responsibility for our global Nafion and Krytox businesses. This is when I saw the potential for Nafion. At the time, hydrogen was not considered a strategic growth priority. We quickly pivoted to making it one of our growth engines aligned with the growth of hydrogen. Next, I raised my hand to lead operations, then went on to become President of our Advanced Performance Materials segment, where during my tenure, we took down costs by about 10% and doubled margins in the business. About a year ago, I took on the role of President of our Titanium Technologies segment. I launched our transformation plan, and we are well underway to enhancing performance and efficiency. Yes, there's more work to be done on both businesses, but we are headed in the right direction. Let's be clear about where we stand today. We have two dynamics at play within our business that I want to be plain spoken about. One, we operate in certain mature markets where we must maintain the lowest cost position. Two, we operate in markets with great opportunities to grow through technological developments. Now let's focus on how we're going to deliver on our priorities. First, we will relentlessly cut costs out of all of our businesses like what we are doing through our transformation plan. We launched this plan to drive effective resource allocation for higher productivity while reducing costs in the business. Our employees have embraced this challenge and are producing results. We closed the Kuan Yin site, a high-cost asset. We shifted resources to process innovation to deliver greater efficiencies in manufacturing. We put laser focus on our mining operations to maximize the return on our investments, delivering more ore to our pigment plants through backward integration without increasing capital. You will see the impact of these actions in our results. We achieved approximately $50 million in cost savings in 2023, even in the face of rising input costs. We are on track to cut at least another $125 million in costs from the business in 2024. Let me emphasize, this is not our expected year-over-year improvement in earnings. It is sustainable cost-cutting that is returning TT to a leading cost position. What we are doing in TT is a good example of what you can expect in a second phase of cost-cutting in APM. We're looking carefully at optimizing our product portfolio while driving efficiency and productivity. The second element of our value-creation strategy is investing in high-return, market-driven growth opportunities. This is important in TSS and the APM Performance Solutions portfolio. TSS is uniquely positioned to capture the significant growth opportunity driven by changing regulations that will favor low global warming potential refrigerants and advanced cooling solutions. We have clear investment plans to capture this opportunity, including the expansion at Corpus Christi, as well as investment in next-generation refrigerants and emerging cooling, all of which is currently underway. For APM, we are executing on growth projects to address high-growth potential in applications such as hydrogen production, semiconductors, and electric vehicles. We partnered in 2023 to launch THE Mobility F.C. Membranes Company in order to accelerate the capacity to manufacture fuel cells and humidify our membranes for mobility applications. This joint venture is off to a fantastic start. Now let me introduce Matt Abbott, our Interim CFO. Matt joined Chemours in 2017 from PwC, where he was an audit partner. He started his tenure with Chemours in our internal audit group and later served as Chief Accounting Officer and Controller. In June of last year, Matt was promoted to Chief Enterprise Transformation Officer. We appreciate his leadership as we continue our comprehensive search for a permanent CFO. I'll now turn the call over to Matt.
Matthew Abbott, Interim CFO
Thank you, Denise, and thank you for the introduction. I'm pleased to be here with all of you this morning. Over the next few minutes, I will discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2023 results. First, let me note that in a separate press release issued yesterday, we announced that our Audit Committee has completed its planned procedures with respect to its internal review. Additional information is available in that release as well as in the Form 10-K we filed with the SEC yesterday afternoon. Our focus today, however, is on results and future actions. Turning now to our results. Consolidated fourth quarter 2023 net sales increased 2% year-over-year to $1.4 billion. This growth reflects the following: TT segment sales increased 7%, driven by improved titanium dioxide demand outside of North America. TSS segment sales increased 17%, due to increased demand for our Opteon low global warming potential refrigerants. APM segment sales declined 15%, driven by softness in our economically sensitive advanced materials portfolio, partially offset by double-digit growth in our Performance Solutions portfolio. Fourth quarter net loss on a GAAP basis was $18 million or $0.12 per diluted share. Adjusting primarily for $62 million of after-tax litigation settlement charges, adjusted net income was $46 million. Apologies to everybody for the technical difficulty. Just to make sure that my comments are fully communicated. I'm just going to go back and repeat the section from when I handed it over from Denise. Over the next few minutes, I will discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2023 results. First, let me note that in a separate press release issued yesterday, we announced that our Audit Committee has completed its planned procedures with respect to its internal review. Additional information is available in that press release as well as in the Form 10-K we filed with the SEC yesterday. Our focus on the call today is on results and future actions. Turning now to our results. Consolidated fourth quarter 2023 net sales increased 2% year-over-year to $1.4 billion. This growth reflects the following: TT segment sales increased 7% driven by improved titanium dioxide demand outside of North America. TSS segment sales increased 17% due to increased demand for our Opteon low global warming potential refrigerants, and APM segment sales declined 15% driven by softness in our economically sensitive Advanced Materials portfolio, partially offset by double-digit growth in our Performance Solutions portfolio. Fourth quarter GAAP net loss was $18 million or $0.12 per diluted share, adjusting primarily for $62 million of after-tax litigation settlement charges. Adjusted net income was $46 million, which compares to $480,000 in the prior year quarter. Adjusted net income per diluted share was $0.31 compared to breakeven in the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter increased to $176 million compared to $120 million in the prior year quarter. This increase was primarily driven by favorable demand in TSS, lower input costs across our businesses, and cost savings from the TT Transformation Plan. Now turning to our consolidated annual results. For the full year 2023, consolidated net sales were $6 billion, down 11% from the prior year. This decline was driven by lower year-over-year volumes in TT and in our APM segment's Advanced Materials portfolio, partially offset by stronger volumes and pricing in TSS. For the full year, GAAP net loss was $238 million or $1.60 per diluted share. Adjusting primarily for $639 million of after-tax litigation settlement charges, the full year adjusted net income was $425 million or $2.82 per diluted share, compared to $738 million or $4.66 per diluted share in the prior year. Full year 2023 adjusted EBITDA was $1 billion, down 25% from 2022, attributable to weaker results in TT and APM. Our full-year consolidated adjusted EBITDA figure includes a $40 million charge related to non-cash inventory write-offs for our Kuan Yin facility closure. I want to be clear about what this reflects. In our third quarter results, adjusted EBITDA excluded the impact of a $36 million charge for non-cash inventory write-offs associated with our Kuan Yin facility closure. As you may have seen in our comment letter filings with the SEC, subsequent to the filing of the third quarter Form 10-Q, we agree that it would be appropriate to classify all non-cash inventory write-offs associated with our Kuan Yin facility closure as cost of goods sold. As such, we have now included this $36 million impact in consolidated adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2023. For the full year, non-cash inventory write-offs associated with the Kuan Yin facility closure were $40 million, all of which are reflected in cost of goods sold. Now turning to our business segments and starting with TT. In the fourth quarter, TT net sales increased 7% year-over-year to $651 million. This improvement was driven by a 12% increase in volume on stronger demand in all regions, except for the North American market. Prices overall were down 6% year-over-year. Prices declined for market-exposed channels, which was partially offset by price increases for our contractual volumes. Currency impact was a slight 1% tailwind for the quarter. Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA for TT was $64 million, up 52% versus the prior year quarter, resulting in a 10% adjusted EBITDA margin or 300 basis points higher year-over-year. These increases were primarily driven by the growth in volume and cost savings from our TT transformation plan. Moving now to our TSS segment. For the fourth quarter, TSS delivered a 17% year-over-year increase in net sales to $374 million. This result was driven by broad-based 10% growth in volumes across portfolios, with the exception of legacy refrigerant products, and a 6% increase in price driven by pricing actions across legacy HFCs and in our Foam, Propellents and other products portfolio. Currency impact also provided a 1% tailwind to growth. Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA for TSS reached $124 million, up from $54 million in the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 33%, 16 percentage points higher year-over-year. Now turning to APM. For fourth quarter 2023, net sales for APM were $325 million, 15% lower versus the prior year. This result was attributable to 18% lower volume, partially offset by a 2% increase in price and a 1% currency tailwind. Softness was driven by a 27% net sales decline in our Advanced Materials portfolio, which covers more economically sensitive end markets. This was partially offset by an 11% increase in net sales for our Performance Solutions portfolio. For the quarter, adjusted EBITDA for APM was $40 million, down compared to $61 million in the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 12%, 400 basis points lower year-over-year. The declines were attributable to lower fixed cost absorption given lower volume and an extended outage for maintenance and improvements during the quarter at one of our manufacturing sites, which is now back online. Moving on now to our cash flow and balance sheet statements. In the fourth quarter 2023, we generated $482 million in GAAP operating cash flows, an increase of $321 million compared to the prior year quarter. Fourth quarter CapEx totaled $135 million, up from $67 million in the prior year quarter. This increase in CapEx was driven by increased growth capital investments in our Performance Solutions portfolio in APM. For full year 2023, GAAP operating cash flows were $556 million compared to $755 million in the prior year. The year-over-year change was driven primarily by lower earnings and $66 million of outflows for PFAS litigation settlements, partially offset by working capital. CapEx was $370 million compared to $307 million in the prior year. This was lower than originally projected due to project timing. As of December 31, 2023, Chemours had an unrestricted cash and cash equivalents balance of $1.2 billion. We also maintained $604 million in restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents held in escrow primarily related to Chemours' comprehensive settlement of PFAS-related drinking water claims announced in June of 2023. As we have previously disclosed, Chemours' share of this settlement is $592 million and is already reflected in our restricted cash and cash equivalents balance on the balance sheet as of December 31, 2023. Disbursement of the restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents from escrow is pending the approval for the settlement becoming final in accordance with the terms of the settlement agreement. We also settled PFAS-related claims with the State of Ohio on November 28, with our share of the settlement under the related MOU totaling $55 million. We expect this amount to be paid this year. Our total liquidity was $2.1 billion at year-end. This includes the $852 million available under our undrawn revolving credit facility, net of outstanding letters of credit, but it excludes restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents. Turning to our capital profile. As of December 31, 2023, consolidated gross debt was $4.1 billion. Debt net of our $1.2 billion of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents was $2.9 billion. This resulted in a net leverage ratio of approximately 2.8x on a trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA basis at the end of the year. In 2023, we increased our aggregate borrowings by $400 million by amending and extending our U.S. dollar and euro-denominated term loans, providing additional flexibility to our capital structure. In terms of capital return to shareholders in 2023, we returned $218 million to shareholders in the form of $149 million of dividends and $69 million of share repurchases. As we look forward, we currently expect our unrestricted cash and cash equivalents balance to decrease by approximately $600 million in the first half of 2024, with the majority of the decrease occurring in the first quarter of 2024. As the 2023 net working capital management actions unwind and we invest in the business. Restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents will decrease when we pay out the PFAS settlement disbursement. Also, corporate expenses for the first quarter of 2024 are expected to be higher by approximately $30 million, primarily due to the costs associated with the internal review process during the quarter. As you saw in our press release yesterday and in our 10-K, an evaluation of our internal controls over financial reporting identified four material weaknesses as of December 31, 2023. These material weaknesses did not result in any material misstatements of our financial statements or disclosures. They did, however, result in some immaterial revisions to certain prior period financial statements, and you can find more details in the footnotes to our Form 10-K. We are already in the process of implementing enhancements to our internal controls. These actions will take time to implement, but we are already moving forward to address the material weaknesses. We are fully committed to actions that will not only address those weaknesses but also strengthen our control environment going forward. Denise, back over to you.
Denise Dignam, CEO
Thank you, Matt, for your incredible partnership at this important moment for Chemours. I am so lucky to have you by my side. Now let's turn to our plans for guidance and our outlook. In the coming months, we'll be speaking about new ways of forecasting our business. For now, we are only providing guidance for the first quarter. We expect about a 10% sequential decline in TT net sales for the first quarter of 2024 due to weaker demand driven by some regional seasonality and a discrete now resolved production challenge, resulting in an expected sequential decline in TT adjusted EBITDA of approximately 15%. As we exit the first quarter, we are seeing positive trends in our order book, up from current levels. For TSS, we anticipate about a 20% sequential growth in both net sales and adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2024, driven by seasonality and demand for Opteon products. This is related to the regulatory transition and continued growth in low global warming potential solutions. This is expected to be partially offset by higher input costs from non-Corpus Christi source materials. We anticipate continued growth in our TSS segment. However, the EPA's one-year extended sell-through date has slowed the transition to Opteon products for stationary applications. For APM, we are projecting a sequential decline of about 10% in net sales for the first quarter of 2024, driven by softness in economically sensitive end markets and the tail impact of the previously mentioned fourth quarter extended outage at one of our large manufacturing sites. Again, this site is now back online and back to full production. We expect APM adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2024 to be down about 20% sequentially. Absent the manufacturing issues that are now resolved, APM would have been relatively flat with the fourth quarter of 2023. APM is nearing cyclical lows. Given where the Advanced Materials portfolio sits in the value chain, we see the business lagging overall market recovery by about 6 to 9 months. Our Performance Solutions portfolio is our growth engine for APM, and I am very confident in its future. However, in the near term, we're seeing some temporary headwinds in our growth path driven by two primary factors. First, we're currently sold out and are working to add PFA capacity, but we require a permit to do so. We've been working diligently with the relevant parties to advance this process and have been doing all the right things, including implementing state-of-the-art emission control technology. We look forward to serving our customers with this essential technology for the semiconductor industry, which is a major policy priority around the world and especially for the U.S. The second reason for near-term weakness is the slower than expected development of the hydrogen market. As anyone following the hydrogen story knows, government funding is not flowing as quickly as anticipated into the market, which is delaying projects. Hydrogen is a global energy and decarbonization policy focus. Therefore, we believe that this remains a growth opportunity and acceleration is a matter of timing. For the first quarter of '24, we expect consolidated net sales to be flat to slightly down sequentially with consolidated adjusted EBITDA down 10% compared with the fourth quarter 2023 results. So I'd like to finish with a short list of things I'm going to do. Change has already begun. We have fundamentally changed how we operate at the top of this organization. We are now business-led rather than corporate-led. This means more decision-making at the business level, and it means lowering corporate costs and embedding resources in the businesses. Closer to our bottom line and closer to our customers. As I mentioned earlier, we are implementing our cost reduction plans, and we are confident that there is more that we can do. At the same time, we are funding high-return projects for the benefit of our customers and shareholders. I'm working with the organization to reinforce our values. Our values are why people choose Chemours. Recent events will only make us stronger. Finally, I am looking forward to meeting with you. So let's start right now. Sarah, can you please open the line for questions?
Operator, Operator
Your first question comes from the line of John McNulty with BMO Capital Markets.
John McNulty, Analyst
Congratulations on the new role. I'm sure it's not how you envisioned getting it, but glad to have a steady hand at the wheel. So maybe the first question is just on that and the accounting issues and what it means for Chemours from a management perspective. So Chemours had a number of senior leaders leave over the last couple of years, even before the new CEO change and CFO departure as well. So a lot of talent at the firm has left. So I guess, can you speak to the measures that you're going to be taking and the firm is going to be taking to strengthen the bench so that Chemours can get the most out of its industry-leading platforms going forward?
Denise Dignam, CEO
I understand your question. I want to emphasize that our first quarter has many variables, and it shouldn't be seen as a reflection of our future performance. It's important to keep that in mind as we discuss this further. There are various perspectives on your inquiry. To clarify, we do not have an attrition issue within the company. We have leaders at various levels, and there is significant experience throughout the organization that manages day-to-day operations. However, we aim to establish more stability within the executive leadership team. I want to reassure you that I feel confident about our position. There is trust from our customers, and our employees and leadership are secure in their understanding of our businesses. We have a longstanding history in these sectors. Thanks to our succession planning, we have been able to quickly fill many key roles from within, which has contributed to stability. As an example, we recently conducted a survey in our transformation team, and over the past month, confidence levels have increased. I realize this may not be visible to you, but there is significant stability within the organization. We also want diverse perspectives on the executive team. Therefore, we are currently conducting thorough searches for the CFO and the TT President positions. I want to stress that while we prefer to avoid disruption, I believe change can be beneficial, and I anticipate positive outcomes from these adjustments.
John McNulty, Analyst
Got it. And very helpful answer. Maybe we can dig into as just a follow-up with the second question, just dig into one of the core businesses. So let's talk about the TT segment. TiO2 normally seasonally picks up now. It looks like a lot of the industry destocking is done. And you guys actually have your own restructuring that looks like it's bearing some fruit. So I guess I'm a bit surprised to see the weak start in terms of EBITDA for the first quarter. So can you help us to think about the dynamics here? It sounds like there was a plant issue, so maybe that's a large part of it, but how we should be thinking about that? And how are you thinking about the TiO2 business as it pushes higher throughout 2024?
Denise Dignam, CEO
Absolutely. As you know, I’ve spent the last year in the TT business, where we have strong customer relationships, solid assets, and highly capable people. The fundamentals of this business are robust. It’s important to note that this is a cyclical business, and we're currently at a cyclical low, which can create some noise. In the first quarter, we made some strategic decisions, including moving a planned maintenance activity from the second quarter to the first quarter. This involved equipment we typically replace every one to two years. We noticed the equipment was wearing out faster, and we wanted to be prepared for when the market rebounds, so we made the decision to advance that maintenance. Even though our finished product inventory was low, I believe it was the right choice. We are seeing a stronger second quarter, with improving order velocity, and we’re anticipating a 15% increase in volume for Q2. Additionally, I want to emphasize our cost transformation in TT. We are well positioned and the efforts we've made allow us substantial flexibility to pursue the volume we desire whenever we choose.
Operator, Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Mike Leithead with Barclays.
Michael Leithead, Analyst
And again, Denise, congrats on the new role and look forward to working with you going forward. Maybe two questions on APM, just around some of the hydrogen comments you made. I guess, first, is the weakness largely a function of electrolyzer orders being slower than you thought? Is that sort of the right external metric to sort of gauge the business' volume for us? And then second, can you just remind us how big hydrogen currently is for that business right now?
Denise Dignam, CEO
I look forward to working with you as well. So looking at APM, the hydrogen comments, you're spot on. It's related to electrolyzers. And maybe a bit of color here as well is that the supply chain isn't full. So when that funding happens, we fully expect that the orders are going to follow accordingly. Relative to how big the size of the business is, I don't want to disclose specific figures, but what I will say is we have double-digit growth, and we are sold out for the year.
Michael Leithead, Analyst
And maybe just one more circling back to TT. Just given some of the volatility of the past 12 to 18 months as you're sort of repositioning everything or thinking about Chemours going forward. Do you think there needs to be any change to your go-to-market or value stabilization strategy? Or is the TT transformation largely one focused on cost, as you see it today?
Denise Dignam, CEO
I want to express that I prefer to communicate in straightforward terms. I find the branding somewhat confusing; what we're really focusing on is pricing and contract strategy, which is central to our overall approach. We are confident in this work, and it will be an ongoing effort. However, it's essential to understand that this is not a standalone strategy but rather a component of a broader strategy. Additionally, we must continue to enhance our supply reliability and ensure our quality remains unmatched. Our commercial relationships are also crucial to our strategy. Furthermore, the TT transformation plays a significant role in our approach. Our goal is to maintain the lowest costs, as I mentioned before, and to be prepared to take the necessary actions to achieve that goal.
Operator, Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Josh Spector with UBS.
Joshua Spector, Analyst
I wanted to ask on TSS. I mean you made some comments about some of the EPA delays. I think it’s been pretty well publicized about some refrigerant inventory in the chain. So just curious how you see 2024 playing out with all the moving pieces? And I guess specifically starting on the first quarter, sequentially, you're up, but your sales are down 10% year-on-year. So trying to think about how that plays between price and volume and again, how the industry develops over this year.
Denise Dignam, CEO
Yes, for Q1, you're right that we experienced a decline compared to last year. However, I want to emphasize that the Opteon transition is occurring, even if the sell-through timeline has been pushed back by a year. It might not be as strong as we had hoped. Additionally, looking at auto builds, IHS is forecasting a 2% decline year-on-year, which aligns with what we're observing. This is largely due to market conditions relative to OEM demand. As you pointed out, we're also facing excess HFC inventories, which could benefit us if we see a hot spring, as that might lead to an improved inventory turnover and positively affect the quarter. While I'm not providing full-year guidance, I want to highlight that our long-term growth expectations for TSS remain unchanged. We have great confidence in this business and are investing for growth this year as well, including a 40% expansion in Corpus Christi and investments in R&D for next-generation refrigeration and immersion cooling. The growth prospects for TSS look promising.
Joshua Spector, Analyst
I would like to ask about margins. It's a bit challenging without guidance, but looking at your first quarter, the margins are at 33%, which is similar to what your guidance suggests for the fourth quarter. Typically, there's a stronger performance in the first half compared to the second half. Should we expect margins to improve in the second quarter? Or are we seeing the effects of higher costs and other one-time items this year, resulting in a normal lower margin phase in the second half? I'm curious how to think about these factors and what you would consider the normal margin for this business over the year.
Denise Dignam, CEO
I want to emphasize that our long-term growth expectations remain the same. We are at full capacity for Opteon and are investing in a 40% increase in capacity that will begin to be available in 2025. In the meantime, we are sourcing non-Corpus products, which come with slightly lower margins. Our Corpus Christi facility uses state-of-the-art and proprietary technology to keep costs low. Therefore, when we aren’t utilizing the Corpus Christi material, our joint venture experiences a slight margin hit. Additionally, we are increasing our investment in R&D because we recognize the potential in this business.
Operator, Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Duffy Fischer with Goldman Sachs.
Patrick Fischer, Analyst
You talked about leverage being 2.8x now and talked about cash flow being negative $400 million in the quarter and your guide is below last year's EBITDA. So how high do you see that leverage number creeping up this year? And would you have a goal of paying down some debt once you get on the other side of this?
Matthew Abbott, Interim CFO
Duffy, this is Matt. I think, as you know, right, we typically try to target around 3x net leverage as a target over the medium term. You're right. Certainly, that could move around this year subject to the cash flows through the year. On a near-term basis, as I described, we do expect a usage of cash in the first half of the year, so it will be north of 3 as we go through the midpoint of the year. But typically, seasonality, we see cash coming the other way in the second half of the year.
Patrick Fischer, Analyst
What are your expectations for portal sales compared to contract sales this year versus last year? Does that split see significant changes? Also, considering the peer numbers that have already been released, your volumes are noticeably different from theirs. Do you think you are structurally losing market share to them in order to maintain pricing? What is the difference in volume between you and your peers?
Denise Dignam, CEO
Maybe I just want to put a point on where Matt ended first, in that when we think about where we are in the cycle, TT is at a cyclical low. As that business rebounds with the market recovery, there’s a huge cash generation capability in TT. Going to how we're performing versus peers, I really don't want to get into what peers are predicting and what we're predicting. What I'm going to say is I have super confidence in our commercial strategy and the decisions that we made. As I said, we made decisions in the first quarter that were really for longer-term strategic reasons for the year so that we are ready for the rebound.
Operator, Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Hassan Ahmed with Alembic Global Advisors.
Hassan Ahmed, Analyst
Congratulations on the new role. A macro and a micro question, right? On the macro side of things, just strategically, as you sit there and take a look at the portfolio as it sits, I mean clearly you guys aren't getting a multiple, right? And some people will sit there and think about maybe a cyclical part of a segment sitting there maybe holding back our portfolio, right? Maybe holding back your multiple. I mean, how are you strategically thinking differently from the past regime? And then I'll get into the micro.
Denise Dignam, CEO
From a strategic standpoint, I just want to be really simple about it. There are two new priorities. First, we have to reduce costs. We have to get costs out. We are well on our way in TT. We're working on the next phase in APM, and we're looking at our overall cost structure at a corporate level. That's priority number one. Priority number two is that we're going to invest in these major attractive growth opportunities we have in the company. So those are really the two priorities. I would say there's also a priority on executing. We're going to be business-led. I don't know if you'd say that's a difference, but that's how we're going to behave.
Hassan Ahmed, Analyst
Fair enough. And on the micro side of things, if I may ask a question around TT. You guided to Q1 revenues being down 10%. One of your larger competitors was talking about volumes being up 12% to 16% sequentially and pricing being flat. So the first part of that question is, are you guys losing market share that warrants the guidance that you gave? Or are you seeing something that you're seeing a bit later on, since your large competitor sort of gave that guidance, maybe the market is weakening or strengthening thereafter? And part and parcel with that, also about your guidance was the $30 million corporate uptick in terms of headwinds on the corporate side of things.
Denise Dignam, CEO
I'll address the more straightforward question first. The $30 million represents our cost estimate for the internal investigation in the first quarter. It's a one-time expense. I won't comment on what our competitors are forecasting, but I’ll share our thoughts. We made decisions in the first quarter regarding volume that will prepare us for the year. Our transformation plan aims to make us the lowest-cost producer, which allows us to operate in the markets we choose. As we noted, the bottom of the cycle can be unpredictable. We have flexibility in our distribution channels to adapt whether we are in a downturn or an upswing. We are continuing to follow our strategy concerning our contracts and the percentage we aim for with our contract customers. As mentioned earlier, we anticipate a volume increase of around 15% as we move into the second quarter.
Operator, Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Arun Viswanathan with RBC Capital Markets.
Unidentified Analyst, Analyst
This is Adam on for Arun. Congratulations on the new role, Denise. If we can look back at TT again for a moment, I'm thinking about the $125 million cost savings you called out for '24. I was wondering if you guys might be able to give any kind of color around the cadence for some of those benefits and how that might look through the rest of the year?
Denise Dignam, CEO
Yes, the way you can think about that is just ratable through the year.
Unidentified Analyst, Analyst
And thinking of maybe timing of recovery, I know you called out that second quarter order rates are looking really positive. And thinking about further out of the curve. I know you're not giving full year guidance at this time. But how are you guys thinking about timing of potentially returning to mid-cycle getting back to that $1.4 billion EBITDA level? Do you see that as feasible in the next couple of years? And what are your thoughts around that?
Denise Dignam, CEO
Yes, the way of looking at it now is that we're restocking. We're restocking the supply chain. It's very hard to predict exactly when we know the recovery is going to happen. One of you can think about one of the key indicators is going to be around interest rate changes that might happen around the world and in particular, in the U.S. That's going to be, I would say, a key indicator for ramp-up.
Operator, Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Jeff Zekauskas with JPMorgan.
Jeffrey Zekauskas, Analyst
Lomon has added a few hundred thousand tons of chloride-based TiO2 capacity. Do you think that that's going to the overall Asian markets? Or will it stay in China? Or how do you see the industry being affected by a new chloride-based TiO2 competitor in size?
Denise Dignam, CEO
It's true. We see in the numbers, the exports from China are increasing. One of the things to note is the weakness of the domestic market. And I think that gives customers pause, relative to long-term reliability and stability of supply. That is still a very, very key value proposition, which is the trust and confidence of customers that you're going to be able to service them day in and day out, reliably with high quality. The other aspect that you have to consider in mature product lines such as titanium dioxide is that you need to be able to compete in all market scenarios. And that really part of the TT transformation plan is continuing to drive towards becoming the lowest-cost producer.
Jeffrey Zekauskas, Analyst
For my follow-up, can you clarify your guidance? Are your TiO2 volumes expected to decrease by 10% sequentially in the first quarter and then increase by 15% sequentially in the second quarter? Is that a rough interpretation of your guidance?
Denise Dignam, CEO
Yes. Specifically, I was talking about volume. So volume increased first quarter to second quarter on the order of 15%.
Operator, Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Vincent Andrews with Morgan Stanley.
Vincent Andrews, Analyst
I wanted to get a little more detail on the $125 million of cost out, and I can ask it two ways. One, if you could just sort of help us understand the buckets of where that's coming from? And then secondly, Denise, as you run the overall organization now, I've watched over the years, lots of chemical companies focused on taking costs out, and they're able to do it. But one of the unfortunate collateral consequences sometimes is that that incremental focus within the organization on costs can ultimately lead to maybe less top-line performance than otherwise might have been the case, whether it's not getting as much growth or just distraction in the organization. So how are you managing this aggressive cost move within the TT segment, in particular, to make sure the organization really keeps its eye on the ball?
Denise Dignam, CEO
First of all, as far as the buckets and it might get a little bit at the second part of your question. To talk about the buckets for the transformation. One obvious big one was the shutdown of the Kuan Yin facility because it really was a high-cost plan, and it really did not add value to the business. When you think about what are all the other buckets. So we did do an organization redesign, and we looked at what our strategic intent was and where we need to have resources. So there was a little leaning out of the organization. But when you go beyond that, it's really about productivity and efficiency, which actually drives huge confidence in people. So one big area that we focused on was in mining. We bought these mines, and we were not getting what we should be getting out of those mines. Actually, we added some cost to ultimately achieve lower cost. We added more focused leadership over mining to bring it more into the center of the TT strategy. From 2022 to now, we've increased the volume out of those mines by over 70%, and we're still working on more. The other thing we've done is — and I really do think it’s in our roots. We're technology people, scientists, engineers. It's really about getting back to process technology. How do you have better yields? How do you reduce energy costs? Those are the kinds of things where you want to be really crisp. To me, that brings a lot of energy to the team because they're performing really well. This would not be successful if it was burning the furniture. This has to be strategic and has to be led throughout the whole organization. The frontline folks are critically important to the success of the TT transformation plan. And it's why we run a very comprehensive change management program. We send quick surveys every two weeks to have people tell us how they're feeling. Do they have the capability? Do they have the capacity? I am super confident in where we are and that this is only going to make us stronger. As for your question about the North American market, I would say the North America market has started off slow in the first quarter, but we are seeing improvements going into the second quarter in all regions.
Operator, Operator
We have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. Thank you for joining the Chemours fourth quarter and year-end 2023 Results Conference Call. You may now disconnect your lines.