Good morning. My name is Chris, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the NOW, Inc. Second quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Thank you. Mr. Brad Wise, Vice President of Digital Strategy and Investor Relations, you may begin your conference.

Thank you, Chris. Good morning and welcome to NOW, Inc.'s Second quarter 2023 earnings conference call. We appreciate you joining us and thank you for your interest in NOW Inc. With me today is David Cherechinsky, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Mark Johnson, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. We operate primarily under the DistributionNOW and DNOW brands, and you'll hear us refer to DistributionNOW and DNOW, which is our New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol during our conversation this morning. Please note that some of the statements we make during this call, including your responses to your questions, may contain forecasts, projections and estimates, including, but not limited to, comments about our outlook for the company's business. These are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws based on limited information as of today, August 2nd, 2023, which is subject to change, and they are subject to risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially. No one should assume that these forward-looking statements remain valid later in the quarter or later in the year. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason. In addition, this conference call contains time-sensitive information that reflects management's best judgment at the time of the live call. I refer you to our latest forms 10-K and 10-Q that NOW, Inc. has on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed discussion of the major risk factors affecting our business. Further information, as well as supplemental financial and operating reading information may be found within our earnings release or on our website. In an effort to provide investors with additional information relative to our results as determined by U.S. GAAP, you'll note that we also disclose various non-GAAP financial measures, including EBITDA, excluding other costs, sometimes referred to as EBITDA, net income attributable to NOW Inc., excluding other costs and diluted earnings per share attributable to NOW Inc. excluding other costs. Each excludes the impact of certain other costs and therefore have not been calculated in accordance with GAAP. Please refer to a reconciliation on each of these non-GAAP financial measures, to its most comparable GAAP financial measure and the supplemental information available at the end of our earnings release. As of this morning, the Investor Relations section of our website contains a presentation covering our results and key takeaways for the second quarter 2023. A replay of today's call will be available on the site for the next 30 days. We plan to file our 2023 form 10-Q for the second quarter today and it will also be available on our website. Now, let me turn the call over to Dave.

Thanks, Brad, and good morning, everyone. As we reflect at the halfway point of 2023, I am pleased with our solid execution, driving increased revenues and delivering an expected strong earnings performance for the quarter. We generated significant second quarter free cash flow of $79 million, the best quarterly free cash flow for us in nearly four years. This cash haul accumulates to $116 million in free cash flow for the last 12 months, well above expectations, considering the cash invested to produce the revenue growth during the last year. These achievements fueled further deployment of capital for acquisitions and share repurchases benefiting our shareholders. Second quarter results exceeded our expectations despite the smoky headwinds of devastating Canadian wildfires and lower U.S. land rig and completion activity in the period. As an example, we lost 81 U.S. rigs during the second quarter, more than anticipated, driving a full quarter sequential U.S. rig count decline of 5%, compounding the 24 rig or 2% U.S. rig count reduction experienced in the first quarter. While the market got a little smaller, our piece of that market through the unwavering focus on our customers got a little bigger. We offer unique and innovative supply chain solutions tailored to the specific needs and demands of our largest customers and continue to invest in solutions that help them achieve their operational and financial goals. We are seeing those investments bear fruit as we captured growth across our integrated technology-enabled relationships. We distinguish ourselves with a team of distribution experts, technical professionals and licensed engineers, who provide expertise related to pipe valves, fittings, pumps, compressors and fluid movement packages, fabricated liquid and gas measurement systems, and process and production equipment. The part of our business with the largest sequential growth was our U.S. Process Solutions business, where we provide process equipment solutions to our customers through a range of rental assets, distribute OEM equipment including pumps, generator sets, air compressors, dryers, blowers, mixers and valves, and provide aftermarket services that include rental, machining and repair service from a team of field technicians. We've been able to defy gravity in this market, because of the solutions we offer and the excitement, passion and winning attitude our people have, and it shows with the results produced. I want to thank our employees for enthusiastically taking care of our customers, being loyal to our key suppliers, supporting our communities and each other. Our focus over the last three years has been primarily on growth, higher gross margins and significantly improving earnings, and our results reflect the success of those efforts. We are now leveraging those accomplishments and driving market share gains in a slower North America environment, capitalizing on our competitive strengths and establishing credentials in exciting new markets. There are many competitors in the market that provide similar products to ours, yet our customers trust DNOW to ensure their operations and production goals can be achieved. Our team cherishes these partnerships and is motivated to exceed our customers' expectations. During the quarter, we onboarded a new customer, who recognized the benefits of our alliance-based partnership competencies through the combined value of leveraging our technology, material management and supply chain services solutions. Our program with this customer is in the early stages. As we expand additional locations, this partnership will provide the customer even greater benefits. And now for some financial highlights. Second quarter revenue was $594 million, sequentially higher by 2%, driven by the success of our U.S. segment, up 7% with both U.S. energy and Process Solutions growing. Canadian revenue declined by 20% sequentially as guided during the seasonal breakup, which was aggravated by wildfires that caused mandatory evacuations, disrupting customer operations and resulting in several temporary closures of our branches. On a year-over-year basis, DNOW revenue was up $55 million or 10%. Second quarter gross margins were 22.6%, impacted primarily by higher revenues and lower product margin OCTG tubing pipe sales tied to customer workover rig programs and to a lesser extent from increased bidding as product availability has improved in the market and geographic revenue mix as historically higher gross margin Canadian revenue was lower. For the second quarter, EBITDA was a solid $47 million or 7.9% of revenue. Now, some comments on a regional basis. In the U.S., revenue was $456 million, an increase of $29 million, or 7% sequentially driven primarily by process, production and pump packaged equipment sales in our U.S. Process Solutions business, where sequential sales increased by 20%. U.S. energy revenues increased 2% sequentially, resilient given the market headwinds discussed earlier. Revenue growth was driven by public operating companies focused on oil and NGL production, while activity from independents, private EMPs and gas levered public EMPs softened. U.S. energy supply chain customers delivered growth during the quarter as several increased spending from 1Q levels in support of their annual production goals. Williston Basin and Northern Rockies operators coming off a slow 1Q due to weather impacts contributed to sequential revenue growth. We saw activity improving from 1Q as large independents in the Permian ordered PBF for gathering projects and tank battery construction to support 2023 production plans. Our workover rig materials management program contributed to revenue gains as our customers worked to offset production decline curves and enhanced oil recovery. Our coiled line pipe product sales expanded as we sold products to new Permian and South Louisiana operators. Also, our coiled line pipe offering obtained final AML approval from a large public operator, clearing a key hurdle for future revenue opportunities for use in their gas lift applications. We are seeing increased customer adoption as coiled line pipe provides a safer, cost-effective solution when compared to conventional line pipe by reducing the number of connections and leak points, minimizing emissions tied to aging infrastructure. We continue to leverage the benefits of our supercenter model across the U.S. and Canadian energy and industrial areas, with the dual benefits of increasing our market position and enhancing efficiencies. During the quarter, we renewed and extended several key customer contracts, ensuring continuity of existing operations and future project opportunities. We saw some notable project wins in the midstream sector, providing a variety of pipe valves, fittings, pumps and fabricated equipment to a number of operators. For one of the projects, we provided large bore valves and actuation packages for installation on a natural gas pipeline that will feed Gulf Coast LNG markets. The project will be complemented with a carbon capture and sequestration solution, providing producers with a CO2 offset emission solution. With a large integrated midstream company, we provided valve and actuation products, as well as field service across several upgrades to existing compression stations for the transmission of natural gas on a pipeline project. We also updated one of our MSA agreements with the U.S. midstream operator and are in the process of executing a punchout catalog e-commerce project. We expanded market share with several private midstream companies by providing actuated valves for new compressor station builds. We had a notable win with the midstream operator as part of their natural gas transmission and underground storage project supplying seamless high yield line pipe and weld fittings in addition to several fabrication units from our power service group, combined with a local branch support of PVF and MRO material shorts at the construction site. Our U.S. Process Solutions business expanded to 29% of our U.S. segment in the second quarter due to increased deliveries of LACT units, pressurized vessels, instrument air systems and pump packages as gathering systems, wellsite onshore facility construction and midstream takeaway activity was strong during the quarter. Operator activity drove demand for a number of our fabricated projects and products as oil and gas operators for separation equipment, pipe racks, water transfer and measurement products were strong. In several western U.S. states, we have been focused on growing and diversifying revenue from traditional non-oil and gas markets. We are seeing revenue growth and increased demand for our pump products, mechanical seals and industrial air compressors. During the quarter, outside of oil and gas, we provided the products to the food and beverage, pharmaceutical, municipal water, recreational sports, mining and power generation industries. We supplied water pump skids to a Permian operator for frac water reuse and treated wastewater applications. Overall, this portion of our revenue mix still remains small compared to our core oil and gas business, but we are making progress in expanding our reach while also maintaining our core focus on oil and gas customers. In our FlexFlow business, activity increased for our trailer-mounted jet pump rentals that provide artificial lift solutions for initially completed wells. We completed a new MSA for a key Canadian customer that will further expand existing trailer-mounted rental opportunities on indigenous lands. In Canada, revenue was $66 million for the quarter, a decrease of 20% sequentially amid seasonal breakup and coming off a very strong first quarter that delivered higher than expected revenue from timely project orders. As a result of the wildfires in Alberta and British Columbia, we idled three of our branches due to safety concerns and town evacuation mandates. Most of the EMP companies in these evacuated areas were forced to curtail drilling and construction activities. Highlights during the quarter include revenue tied to an IOC material management program that resulted in historical peak revenues on a per-quarter basis for this IOC. Products provided include PVF and automated valves for a large project tied to LNG gathering infrastructure. We expect continued growth from this operator in the second half of 2023. In Saskatchewan, we expanded market share in the utility sector by onboarding a new gas utilities customer, providing them with a variety of PVF products. During the quarter, we relocated an orbiting branch into our new supercenter location in Edmonton to consolidate locations and improve operational efficiencies. For international, revenue was $72 million, a sequential decrease of $2 million, a little better than guided or up $13 million or 22% on a year-over-year basis. Activity within the UK's brownfield market and export business to West Africa was healthy during the quarter, followed by growth and activity in the Middle East. In the UK, we provided electrical bulks, cables and safety products from our McLean International business to UK onshore and offshore operators, while securing contract extensions with several IOCs based in the UK and the Netherlands. In Ireland, we were successful in opening up new markets, providing instrument and power cable from our McLean International Group for a gas processing facility fed from an offshore natural gas field. In the Middle East, we provide pipe valves and fittings to IOCs, NOCs in a joint venture operation to support oil and gas production projects. We continue to provide tooling and MRO products to several offshore wind operators as aftermarket opportunities expand in the North Sea. Now, I'd like to talk about our decarbonization and energy evolution initiatives. On prior calls, we've highlighted specific project wins in the energy transition space, which we term energy evolution, because it's clear the transition will take longer than originally estimated. In the refining sector, we have provided PVF products as several of our customers expand their operations to produce biofuels. In the upstream oil and gas sector, we have provided PVF to aging infrastructure projects to reduce methane emissions while providing industrial air compressor packages to replace gas pneumatic systems with compressed air systems. In fact, we generated additional revenue this quarter tied to more greenhouse gas capture projects. We see these types of projects continuing. Now, we are starting to see larger, more frequent carbon capture and sequestration opportunities as operators seek to meet their carbon reduction goals by investing in direct air capture projects, gathering and transmission projects, and sequestration projects, mostly driven by our current customers. On the EV side, we see opportunities for denounced products in the mining and harvesting of rare earth minerals like lithium used in the production of EV batteries. This sector can benefit from our pump packages, fabricated process and production packages and PVF. Our goal is simple, for DNOW to be a leader in the energy evolution, as a number of DNOW's current customers are ramping up investment in projects that expand this growing market. During the quarter, we won several carbon capture and sequestration projects and an accompanying midstream valve and actuation project for our PVF offerings. We are excited about what the future holds for our recently acquired EcoVapor business, and during the quarter, we grew a number of their leased units sequentially. We are seeing operators realize the benefit in the reduction in Scope 1 emissions attributed to routine flaring at wellsite onshore facilities due to oxygen contamination of tank vapor gas. EcoVapor continues to add units with their key oil and gas customers in the Rockies, Bakken and Permian basin. In the biogas market, we are gaining momentum with EcoVapor in the landfill gas space. During the quarter, we commissioned several units in the RNG end market and the quoting activity continues to be robust in the second half of the year. Finally, we deployed our EcoVapor emission scout product to an operator in the Bakken, working with a local university and an environmental research center. The goal of this partnership is to educate local operators and industry groups on volumes of gas being flared from wellsite onshore facilities, with a particular emphasis on the lower producing sites, which poses an opportunity to capture additional gas streams while minimizing the region's emission footprint. We are investing in energy evolution as a promising market opportunity, one that has growing demand for many of the products we provide today, and it's primarily driven by our current customers. Moving to our DigitalNOW initiatives. Our digital revenue as a percent of total SAP revenue for the quarter climbed to 48% as a result of the customer and project billing mix on top-line growth. During the quarter, we completed four customer B2B integrations that contributed to the increase. On the e-commerce side, we completed a punchout project with an IOC based in the UK that will streamline and make it more efficient to order products from our McLean International Group for electrical bulks. In terms of capital allocation on the M&A front, we continue to evaluate a number of deals of varying sizes. During the second quarter, as I mentioned in our May earnings call, we acquired two companies in the U.S. that expand our U.S. Process Solutions business and serve industrial and general industry end markets, contributing to our efforts to capture share in markets beyond oil and gas. We continue to be acquisitive, pursuing margin accretive opportunities, including prospects outside of upstream oil and gas, where we occupy a solid footing. During the second quarter, we purchased $8 million worth of shares at an average price of $10.31. Through the end of the second quarter, we have repurchased $51 million worth of shares of the $80 million authorized through December 2024.

Thank you, Dave, and good morning, everyone. Total second quarter 2023 revenue was $594 million, up $10 million, or 2% from the first quarter of 2023. On a year-over-year basis, second quarter revenue was up $55 million, or 10%. EBITDA excluding other costs or EBITDA for the second quarter was $47 million, or 7.9% of revenue. Year-to-date, 2023 EBITDA was $94 million, or 8% of revenue. The U.S. revenue for the second quarter 2023 totaled $456 million, a $29 million increase, or 7% higher than the first quarter of 2023. Year-over-year U.S. revenue increased $48 million, or 12% from the second quarter of 2022, an increase of 19% or $141 million from the first half of 2022. In Canada, for the second quarter, revenue totaled $66 million, a decrease of $17 million, or 20% from the very strong revenue in the first quarter of 2023, down as guided and year-over-year, Canada's second quarter revenue was down $6 million, or 8%, impacted unfavorably by $3 million, or 4%, from foreign currency changes. International revenue for the second quarter of 2023 was $72 million, down $2 million, or 3% sequentially, and compared to the same period last year, international second quarter revenue was up, increasing $13 million or 22%. Gross margins for the second quarter were 22.6%, which is down sequentially 90 basis points. Some factors contributing to lower margins, as Dave noted earlier, include OCTG tubing margin compression, improved product availability on steel pipe and valves, which contributes to competitive pricing pressures and geographic segment revenue mix on lower Canadian revenue. Warehousing selling and administrative or WSA for the quarter was $98 million, $4 million lower sequentially, partially due to reduced legal expenses of $3 million and a second quarter favorable impact of $1 million asset sale gain. In the second quarter, we reported $6 million of depreciation and amortization expense. In the third quarter of 2023, we expect quarterly depreciation and amortization expense to total $7 million. Moving to operating profit by geographic segments in the second quarter, the U.S. delivered $29 million in operating profit, while the Canadian and international segments delivered operating profit dollars of $3 million and $4 million respectively. Moving to income taxes, the effective tax rate for the three months ended June 30, 2023, was 2.9% on a GAAP basis. I remind you this is the effective tax rate that is calculated from the face of the income statement and is below the typically expected tax rate at these earnings levels due to the income tax expense provision on the income statement, which includes a favorable tax benefit from changes in the tax valuation allowance on our deferred tax assets. As such, this is why, when imputing our non-GAAP tax rate, we exclude such income tax benefits. For modeling purposes, the non-GAAP effective tax rate was approximately 26% for 2Q 2023 and for estimating an effective tax rate for the go-forward quarter and year for modeling net income, excluding other costs could approximate a 28% tax rate, and excludes the favorable impact from changes in the valuation allowance. Net income attributable to NOW, Inc. for the second quarter was $34 million, or $0.31 per fully diluted share. And on a non-GAAP basis, Q2 2023 net income attributable to NOW, Inc. excluding other costs was $27 million or $0.25 per fully diluted share. Moving to the balance sheet at the end of the quarter, we had zero debt and a cash position of $203 million. Cash increased by $35 million in the second quarter, while we completed two acquisitions, invested in the growth of our business and repurchased common stock in the quarter to return value to shareholders. We ended the quarter with total liquidity of $584 million, which comprises our net cash position and $381 million in additional credit facility availability. Our existing $500 million revolving credit facility extends into December 2026, providing DNOW with access to capital for the next three and a half years. Accounts receivable was $417 million, a decrease of $5 million from the first quarter, with inventory at $424 million at the end of the second quarter and a quarterly turn rate of 4.3 times. Accounts payable was $364 million at the end of the second quarter, an increase of $41 million from the first quarter. For the second quarter of 2023, working capital excluding cash as a percentage of our second quarter annualized revenue improved to 15.6%. In the second quarter, we generated $85 million cash flow from operating activities consisting of the second quarter earnings contribution and reduced working capital. In the second quarter, we generated $79 million in free cash flow with capital expenditures for the second quarter of $6 million as we primarily purchased property and rental equipment. For the six months ended June 30, 2023, free cash flow accumulates to $68 million, and for the trailing 12 months, free cash flow has totaled $116 million. We have been targeting $100 million in cash flows from operating activities in 2023 and with our strong performance this quarter, we are raising our expectations to $120 million in cash flows from operating activities this year, and we'll deliver in excess of $100 million in free cash flow in 2023. This demonstrates how our focus on the fundamentals and discipline in managing the business has positioned DNOW to generate cash through the cycles, which bodes well for future growth and capital allocation plans. We continue to execute on our share repurchase program that is authorized through December 31, 2024, with additional repurchases of $8 million in the quarter. As of June 30, 2023, we have repurchased $51 million under our $80 million authorized share repurchase program. Our commitment to growing the company through organic growth in acquisitions remains a key priority, while also having the ability to repurchase shares opportunistically as we use the tools in our broadened capital allocation framework to generate attractive shareholder returns without deviating from our disciplined approach to balance sheet management. We continue to be debt-free, have no interest payments on debt, and keep cash flow generation a priority. And with that, let me turn the call back to Dave.

Thank you, Mark. Now, switching to our outlook for the third quarter of 2023. In the U.S., we expect revenue to be flat due to U.S. rig count headwinds and project mix as compared to the second quarter. Internationally, we expect project activity to increase in the third quarter, driving modest sequential growth in that segment. And in Canada, given expected seasonality coming out of breakup, we anticipate sequential revenue to be higher. Taken altogether, we expect DNOW's third quarter sequential revenues to increase in the low single-digit percentage range from Q2 '23, approximating year-over-year growth of 5% for DNOW. We expect third quarter EBITDA to approximate 8% of revenues. For the full year 2023, we reaffirm our view that revenue will increase 8% to 12% compared to the full-year 2022 revenue. The U.S. rig count has been declining since the fourth quarter last year and we believe it could bottom during the second half of this year. Before we open it up for questions, I want to close with some comments about the business. DNOW is in a great place with no debt and $203 million of cash on our balance sheet. We continue to expand our core market while we invest and grow in areas where we see opportunities, areas tied to investments in decarbonization and the energy evolution, but also non-oil and gas areas like mining, municipal water, food and beverage and general industry are focal points. I am proud of our DNOW team as strong performance continued in the second quarter, generating $47 million in EBITDA and resulting in our most profitable first half of the year since being a public company. In the second quarter, we produced strong free cash flow of $79 million, completed two acquisitions, and recorded an impressive 22% year-over-year growth in our international segment. I'm excited about the traction we are making, positioning DNOW as a vital energy evolution partner, deploying our full suite of supply chain management services and decarbonization products and technologies, including our EcoVapor offering to provide our customers the innovative emissions management solutions necessary to achieve their sustainability goals. We are focused on executing our strategy and creating shareholder value by growing market share, leveraging our debt-free balance sheet with $584 million of total liquidity, pursuing margin accretive acquisitions and continuing our share repurchase program. With that, let's open the call for questions.

Thank you. Our first question is from Nate Jones with Stifel. Your line is open.

Hi, good morning. I wanted to start with the outlook in the U.S. So rig count and drilling and completion activity does appear to be moderating, but on the flip side, oil prices kind of rallied in the quarter stand at $82 on WTI. What is your expectation for activity in the second half and particularly into the fourth quarter as well? Thank you.

In the U.S., we anticipated a leveling off, and while the second quarter was robust and drove our global growth, we observed a 2% decline in rig counts for the first quarter followed by a 5% decline in the second quarter on top of that. Currently, rig counts are decreasing rapidly. We refer to this situation as defying gravity, as rig activity and completion activities are our key revenue sources and serve as indicators for revenue potential. We acknowledge the slowdown but are leveraging our strengths through our supercenter and market share. Even though we foresee further market contraction in the third quarter, we believe we can continue to defy gravity during that time. Our focus remains on utilizing our advantage of being close to customers, maintaining a large and efficient branch network, and emphasizing customer fulfillment, particularly for major clients at our supercenters. This strategy is enabling us to secure projects and manage our product availability effectively, helping to reduce potential revenue declines. We've seen growth in both the first and second quarters, and we project continued growth in the third quarter, except in the U.S. We are optimistic about our market position, despite witnessing a slowdown. Some customers anticipate that rig activity may reach a low point in the third or fourth quarter, but we remain focused on the fundamentals. We have gained market share during this period, and our competitors are predominantly competing on price, which is impacting our gross margin. We expect the market to shrink slightly, but we foresee our efforts making a significant impact and allowing us to capture additional market share.

Okay, thank you for that color. That's very helpful. And then following up on that gross margin commentary, there are a couple of moving pieces. I understand that gross margin is expected to moderate through the year. Maybe you could just help me with what is a sustainable level for gross margins as supply chain and inflation normalize.

Yes. I think given where we're at kind of in the market. So, we're seeing this rig count decline and we're seeing a little more ferocious pricing on bids against our smaller competitors. So, we're feeling some pain there in the gross margin line. I don't think this will be the sustained level of margin like we posted in the second quarter. I think it will get a little better, but that may happen after we see the bottoming of completions activity of rig counts, etc. To your opening comment about oil prices being where they're at today. We see that as encouraging, of course. And we think given that some of the joint contractors and some of the operators saying that the bottoming should happen in the third or fourth quarter. We think that'll accrue well to us going into the new year, and we just don't know exactly how it's going to impact the third and fourth quarter. But I don't think this is the ongoing level of gross margins going forward. But there is going to be a little competitive spirit happening in there in the second half of the year, and we felt it, and it shows in our numbers in the second quarter.

Okay, thank you for taking my questions.

Thanks, Adam.

Thank you. Dave, you talked about Process Solutions revenue. I think it was up about 20% from the first quarter of '23, and it looks like it was up over 50% from the second quarter of 2022. Is the mix of products that you all are supplying to customers meaning that your revenue is becoming a little bit decoupled from the actual rig count and more related to just ongoing projects that your customers are working on?

I think what we're observing in Process Solutions is that a few smaller acquisitions have contributed positively. Year-over-year, these acquisitions likely added around $14 million in revenues for the second quarter, while sequentially it was about $3 million, which is a minor impact. However, we're seeing significant progress as Process Solutions is starting to thrive. In mid-2019, we acquired a fabrication company in Houston, and we're currently facing demand that exceeds our capacity, leading to denials of orders from large clients. Our order book has reached a substantial level, and we're reaping the rewards from that. Process Solutions tends to show growth at a later stage in the cycle compared to our energy branch business, which has seen slower growth over the past few quarters. The numbers indicate that growth in Process Solutions will extend beyond that of the energy branch. We're also involved in large projects for our major clients that overlap with both our energy center and Process Solutions businesses, which is filling our capacity. Brad, do you have anything to add?

Thanks, Dave. Jeff, I want to make some comments regarding our facilities in Casper and the Houston area. As the number of rigs increases, we typically provide more separation equipment in the upper upstream related to the tank battery facility. As Dave mentioned, there's a lagging effect. With the production ramping up, which we really started seeing last year with the rig increase, we then observe the midstream build-out. We're benefiting from this midstream expansion in our Process Solutions business, along with our energy and valve and actuation businesses. I believe midstream grew sequentially in the quarter, particularly with LACT units and various measurement equipment that we supply not only to integrated midstream providers but also to more regional and private companies. There may be a slight delay in timing, but on the gathering and transmission side, there is currently very strong activity, and we don't foresee the midstream activity slowing down, at least for the second half of this year.

Dave, you talked about decarbonization and the energy evolution, and where now it's positioned with existing customers. Can you share any color or your thoughts on where you think that market could go over the next couple of years as companies start breaking ground on the projects that they have on the drawing boards?

I'll start with an answer, Jeff. We've been pursuing this market for about 18 months now and have established a department focused on it. In the early stages of our energy evolution, we attended conferences, engaged with customers, and moved beyond just discussing and budgeting to actually beginning to receive purchase orders. We’re starting to see significant growth, but we are still uncertain about the full potential. We believe it could be substantial for us. For example, we've received orders ranging from $400,000 to $800,000 in the past year, and now we're starting to see larger orders of $5 million, $6 million, and $7 million, with the expectation that more will follow. We are also seeing major projects where we are mainly sourcing from the same suppliers and providing similar products to our existing customers, which makes this a natural area for us to grow. While it's challenging to predict how much it will expand, we are excited about it as a promising addition to our core business.

Excuse me. Lastly, I guess you talked about EcoVapor in the increase since you all announced that acquisition. Are you having any trouble keeping up with demand for that product? And are you seeing more inquiries or applications from customers than you might have thought about when you made the acquisition?

Yes, Jeff. This is Brad. I'll take that one. Maybe, Dave or Mark got a comment on top. But at the moment, we're keeping up with demand. We're leveraging our fabrication business internally to build some units for EcoVapor, where prior to the acquisition, they had outsourced those. If you look at the dual value proposition that EcoVapor provides in the oil and gas sector, as Dave mentioned, our leases have grown. We also have sold units to oil and gas operators. We expect that to continue to expand even with gas at a sub-three level just because of the Scope 1 reduction that a lot of those oil and gas operators can leverage and report through their sustainability efforts. As gas prices increase over time, that gas that's captured, the operators can sell that back and generate some revenue. In the renewable natural gas market, for landfill gas, the dairy and swine farms, where we're collecting methane, we have a fairly active business development effort to really expand that effort within RNG. We commissioned a number of units during the quarter in RNG. They tend to be larger units than in the oil and gas phase, and we typically sell those units instead of lease them. So, there's really no CapEx associated with that growth in that sector. We love that market. We see that expanding and if we have trouble keeping up with demand, that would be a good problem to have there. But at this time, we're not.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dave. The North America guidance was really encouraging, given what's happening in the rig count, could you provide any color about just how July's look to get increasing comfort with that outlook?

Yes. July is going to be the shortest month due to the July 4th holiday and fewer business days. August is the significant month, making it challenging to get a clear read during the quarter. However, the start has been promising, and we feel positive about our revenue projections. August will be a critical test as it is the largest month of the quarter, and we typically finish strong in September as customers aim to close out their activities before the quarter ends. The timing of certain projects is crucial, as some of our larger projects may extend into the fourth quarter, which could help our fourth-quarter performance but impact third-quarter results. Overall, things appear strong, although visibility beyond this point is a bit unclear. In the U.S., particularly within our power service group, we have some capacity constraints that are challenging because we are having to decline some orders. However, this constraint also allows us to optimize our locations and generate healthy earnings. We're confident in our current position. Given recent market trends over the last few quarters, we believe we are well-positioned in the market. We feel equipped with the right team and by observing our competitors, we can affirm that our model is effective and that we will capitalize on it.

No, it's definitely an interesting departure from history.

Yes, for sure.

Maybe, a little bit on the cash flow outlook. Continuing to generate more than I think most expected this year, would you attribute this last upside to ongoing working capital efficiencies? Or is there another driver you can call out?

Well, there are a few things. Our accounts payable grew in the second quarter alongside our earnings. We made a deliberate choice to increase it, which was beneficial for us. Our days sales outstanding improved, and our inventory increased. We believe there's an opportunity to reduce that in the upcoming quarters, and we will be focused on that. Our days sales outstanding also showed some improvement. Consistent earnings and a strong organizational emphasis on generating free cash flow across the company should lead to better days sales outstanding and inventory by the end of the year. The inventory reduction is intended to maintain free cash flow as a key aspect of our balance sheet management during this time. As mentioned, we generated $68 million in the first half, and we anticipate the third quarter to be less favorable. We do not expect to generate much cash in the third quarter but believe we will exceed $100 million in free cash flow for the year, with most of that occurring in the fourth quarter.

Okay. And then I think I caught that digital was 48% of revenue in the second quarter, which is a pretty big bump from the first quarter. I wanted to make sure I caught that right and just maybe drivers and implications for margins longer term.

Well, I think the biggest, and Brad can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the biggest impact was some of our largest digital customers simply bought more. So, it helped the mix in terms of measuring how much of our activity was digital. I think that was the main driver. Plus, we're focused on onboarding more customers. We have a long list of customers who want to be added to our digital processes. It helps them manage their payables and process payables invoices, etc. It helps us manage the process as well. And we actually have a backlog there. So, we've onboarded some more customers; that's a key focal point. Did I miss anything, Brad?

No, I think that captures it. We've, for the past several quarters, been really focused on integrating large punchout customers that centralize buying through our platform. We're working with each customer individually to identify workflows and efficiencies, doing some e-business integration; it takes both parties. Those projects do take time to complete, but once they're complete, they become highly sticky relationships and then it certainly drives efficiencies across both systems.

Thank you.

Thank you. Dave, just to follow up on your comments on EV and mining, are you seeing that as a sizable opportunity for some of your valves and pumps that move water and can handle wastewater?

Yes, Jeff, this is Brad. That's exactly right. Mining has always been one of those markets we've participated in, though to a smaller extent. We sell many pump and air compressor units from our Process Solutions group. Occasionally, we also provide some PVF related to expenditures in areas like soda ash mining and gold mining. Recently, with the increasing growth in EVs, there are rising domestic lithium mining opportunities. For example, ExxonMobil is exploring investments in Arkansas for lithium extraction from brine water. These opportunities could potentially connect us with existing customers, and we already have the products available in our portfolio. It's just a matter of when those projects come to fruition. I believe we could capture additional revenue by investing in the mining sector.

Great. Thank you very much, Brad.

Thank you, everyone, for your questions today and your interest in NOW, Inc. We look forward to talking to everyone on our third quarter 2023 earnings conference call in November. Have a nice day, and I'll turn it back to the operator to conclude our call.

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.