It is now my pleasure to introduce the management of Rayonier Advanced Materials. Joining us is Scott Sutton, who was appointed President and CEO in early January, and we really appreciate your joining us after such a short time at the company. Scott was Chairman and previously Chairman, President, and CEO of Olin from 2020 to 2024. During his tenure there, he led a significant transformation at the company, enhancing shareholders' long-term value. We are looking forward to Scott doing the same thing here. Rayonier Advanced Materials' focus is on cellulose-based technology used in the production of natural polymers. These high-purity cellulose specialty products are used in multiple end markets, such as liquid crystal displays, filters, textiles, pharmaceutical, food, and for other industrial applications. In addition, Rayonier makes high-yield pulp products used for a variety of specialty paper, including lightweight and multi-ply paperboard.
The company also focuses on strategic investments targeting renewable energy projects and biodegradable ingredients. The company has 67 million shares outstanding, a stock price of around $11.55 for a $774 million market cap. Net debt is $715 million for an enterprise value of $1.5 billion. Now I will let Scott share his view on the company and his future. Scott?
Yeah, I mean, thanks a lot, Rosemarie Morbelli. Look, it's great to be here. It's certainly great to represent the whole RYAM team today. Look, the real purpose of our presentation is to share a little bit more about our forward value creation plans, or at least share more than we said at our recent earnings call earlier this month. Look, I think it's important to do a quick review of who RYAM is because that'll support our discussion around the forward value creation plan. Look, at the highest level, we take in about 5 million tons of trees or timber in the front end of our manufacturing facilities, and we produce about 1 million tons of products, and these aren't just spec products.
They are products that are tuned or set up a special way to carry out the next steps in our customers' process. An acetate-grade cellulose is different than an ethers-grade cellulose. In fact, even some ethers-grade cellulose are different than other ethers-grade cellulose. We have that special capability, and that's really what makes us unique. We do that with 2,300 employees. We have four manufacturing facilities in three different countries. I will say that we have the last two domestic manufacturing facilities of these kind of specialty products in North America, and that's a key point for our forward value creation plans. In fact, if you just went back, you know, five years ago, you'd find that there were six manufacturing sites. Today, there's only two. RYAM has both of them.
I think what that really demonstrates is that the pricing of these products, they don't support reinvestment economics today. That's a clear indicator of that. Look, also, you know, very roughly speaking, we sell about a third of our materials in the Americas, a third in Europe and Africa and other places, and a third in Asia Pacific, and that's another key point for our forward value creation plans. In other words, we have a lot of optionality. Look, I mean, cellulose pulp, it's a huge market, right? I mean, it's roughly 200 million tons a year sold or used, but it has a highly technical or a highly specialized end to it. That's the top of that triangle. It's about 1.4 million tons.
RYAM has about a 30% market share globally in those specialized materials. 60% of our whole enterprise sales go into that segment. If you were to look at volume, only about 30% of our volume goes into that segment. Look, that's another key point for our forward plans. We participate in all those other areas, but we have anywhere from, like, a 1%-3% global market share. Even though that sounds like a non-point, it really is a very important point for our forward value creation plans, and I'll come to that in just a minute. Look, I mean, you know, before I go a little bit deeper into our forward value creation plan, you know, I just wanna remind you of our situation today.
We have a lot of debt. In fact, we maxed out debt. We maxed out our credit card effectively. We ran negative free cash flow last year to the tune of about -$88 million. Obviously, that's a combination that, you know, can't be sustained. You know, the words I use internally, and I've kinda said it externally as well, we kinda ran it into the ditch here. I mean, our number one priority is get it out of the ditch, and we're having a lot of success with that. That's the thing that we have to focus on, you know, in the very near term. You know, we have three priorities here. First one is, you know, we have to deliver positive free cash flow here in 2026.
Not only that, we wanna make sure we exit 2026 with a lot of building momentum so that 2027 looks totally different. I mean, I can assure you that, you know, this is mission-critical. Every RYAM employee is tuned into this, and we're having a lot of success there. The second major priority we have is to recover our leadership in the Cellulose Specialties business. You know, going back to what I said on the very first slide, there's a clear indication that pricing in this area doesn't support reinvestment economics. It doesn't. RYAM clearly has a place to play here. In fact, the world can't live without RYAM. If you take that combination, we should be able to get more value for these products. You know, we've been running a clear initiative around this.
We think that in 2026 versus 2025, we're gonna lose about 20% of our volume in this space. However, if you look at the other 80% of our business, we know that for 88% of it, we've been successful at lifting price, and that average price across that whole business has been lifted by around 18% so far. We still have 12% of that business to get locked up and put in place, and it's likely gonna take us to the back half of this year. I would say we're being successful at that initiative too. The final priority is really drive EBITDA improvement across every business. We have some things that are going from negative EBITDA to zero.
That's just as important to us right now as the things that are going from quite positive to wildly positive. It all counts the same. Look, I guess what I'm saying here is we're grinding it out in 2026, but we're also gonna be successful at grinding it out. It really is a year of execution for us. All right, I mean, look, let's do take a look at, you know, some of the forward plans here and, you know, the first two columns on this slide, the situation in 2026 priorities. I think I just covered that. The only thing that I really didn't speak to were items number 4 and 5 under that second column. Look, we have priorities for 2026. We have the framework for a forward value creation plan. Both of those things are gonna change.
Those priorities are absolutely gonna go away and be replaced with other priorities. We're gonna keep improving our forward plans. Between that, we have some perpetual programs, and this is really the secret sauce as to why RYAM's gonna be successful. We call the first one the RYAM Uplift program. It's completely focused on delivering a different set of fulfillments to our employees. It's employee-run, and it's in place, but we still got a lot to do to materialize it. We're also implementing a new, we call it Hearts & Minds. We've really reached a safety plateau that's indicative of how good we're able to run the company, and that's getting started as well.
The point of those two things is deliver a different level of fulfillment to the complete team, and by doing that, we can make RYAM thrive, and we can make our whole team thrive as well. Okay? Going to the middle column, I'd really like to reframe how you might think of RYAM. Okay? I know we report in five segments, and that's the way we've classified our business, but I would say forget that going forward. In fact, we're not gonna report those segments anymore. Instead of those five segments, I'd like you to think of RYAM as having maybe 20 different monetization outlets, and they're listed in that middle column.
Going forward, we're gonna think about the business that way, and in fact, we're gonna put the pedal to the metal, and every asset is gonna run wide open all of the time. We're not gonna have to push any volume into any of those areas that are called specialties. We're gonna run a V over V strategy, and by that I mean we're gonna run a value over volume strategy simultaneously with running a volume over value strategy. Not only that, we're gonna do it out of the same assets. The three manufacturing sites that support our cellulose business, there's five different lines across those sites. Every single line can run both the specialties. And it can also run what's the more commodity products.
When we need to run a value initiative where we have a 30% market share, we don't have to push volume into that. We can redirect those same assets to those market spaces where we have 1%-3% globally. We don't set market pricing, but we can put volume into those spaces. Again, we're running value over volume. At the same time, we're running volume over value. If you take anything from my presentation today, take that point, 'cause that's something unique. It's not fully tested yet, but it is also untapped for value as well. That. I'm gonna go to the fourth column now. That fourth column that says strategic plan. I mean, this is our, you know, complete forward value creation model. It really has five parts.
The first one is called sophisticated leadership playbooks, and what we're gonna do is get very situational at looking at what is the real value and use of our products, and let's tailor a pricing program specifically for that. We're starting in 3 or 4 areas. I would expect us to have 10-20 of these playbooks and be able to project what the value of success in those playbooks are. You know, today we're running a playbook, but it's across our whole business. It's a very blunt kind of playbook, right? It's a blunt instrument, like a sledgehammer, because we understand supply-demand, and we know we have a role to play, and we know these products are undervalued, so we're getting that value. Going forward, we'll have something that's a bit more sophisticated than that.
Point two is the dynamic asset allocation operating system. That really goes back to the middle column. You know, think of all those monetization outlets like a NASCAR leaderboard. You know, the cars that are in the race or on the board, the ones that are winning, we're running more volume or more contribution profit from or moving up and down that scale all the time. That's how we're gonna run the business. Third point is new products. I know we've talked a lot about biomaterials maybe over the last couple years. I think biomaterials represent a fifth, maybe 20% of our growth from new products.
We have great innovation, great teams around this, and we have a lot of tweaks that we can do to our existing portfolio to go back and set cellulose up for more uses with our customers, and that's what we're gonna be focused on. Point four, I would expect our idea pipeline, another perpetual program, to exactly offset inflation each year. That's our plan. You know, we have a number of hundreds of projects in our idea pipeline right now, but that didn't come together until, you know, nine weeks ago. So we're rolling on that. I expect it to be successful. Finally, point five, we have to restructure our debt. I'm comfortable with $750 million of debt at a higher EBITDA level. It's not the amount of debt that concerns me.
We pay a lot for that debt right now, and there's likely a 300-400 basis point win there. We have to demonstrate that, look, we say we're gonna deliver earnings, and we do deliver earnings. You should expect that from us over the next three or four quarters. I mean, look, where does that leave us in 2026? We're gonna be positive free cash flow. 2026 EBITDA is gonna be substantially better than 2025. We're gonna have a rough quarter as we finish out this leadership initiative. We forecast zero or near zero EBITDA, and then it rapidly comes out of that. Of course, our people are gonna be more fulfilled, and we're gonna be working safer. That lets us hit 2027 hard.
I would expect those playbooks to be in place, and we're running that dynamic allocation asset model and leap 27 versus 26. That should be our year of largest leap compared to the prior year. Look, I mean, I'ma conclude here, but 2026, I mean, it's a year of turnaround, right? Financials have to have free cash flow greater than zero, EBITDA better than the year before. I think we're on target, on path to do that. More importantly, I would say, you know, our leadership reappears, and it'll be under that all-encompassing unique model that is likely untapped and combines value over volume with volume over value as well. Where does it go after that? You know, we haven't really projected an exact number.
I think if you were to go out to 2028, you'd see us at least doubling EBITDA from where we were in 2025, and we've got some work to do to get above that. That's our target. I'm gonna wrap it up there, Rosemarie. Thank you. Yep.
I was focusing on your doubling the EBITDA from 2025. What was the EBITDA in 2025 and with not zero EBITDA in 2026, but not much. I mean, you are starting at zero if I understood properly.
Yeah.
Where is that coming from?
No, I mean, our EBITDA result in 2025 was about $133 million. You know, when I say double that in a few years, you know, you're in the upper 200s. Still, 2026 should be substantially better than that $133 million. It's just that we're gonna run a near zero result in the first quarter here.
Okay.
Okay.
What type of top line growth do you need in order to get to those numbers?
Yeah. At least for 2026, we don't necessarily need any top line growth to be able to do that. I mean, we're gonna run a year with lower specialty volumes, higher commodity volumes, but substantially more EBITDA. You know, it's not necessarily top line growth. To reach those levels in the outer years, we need some top line growth, but not a lot. You know, even low- to mid-single digits can get us there because we'll be extracting more value.
When you talk about not pushing the specialty side, that is a business with the highest margin, while the other two, I mean, more or less are losing money. I am not sure I can get my arms around, we don't grow specialties, which is a profitable business, and then we grow commodity, which has been losing money.
Yeah.
Can you help me understand?
Sure. Yeah, sure. I mean, we do grow specialties profit. We don't necessarily grow specialties volume, though. Commodities, we actually grow the volume as we run, you know, that leadership, you know, board to fill in, and they yield more contribution profit even though you may be used to a RYAM that has reported the allocation of a lot of fixed cost into that segment. You have to think of. That's why I wanna change how the world thinks about RYAM, right? We have a pool of fixed cost that won't change year to year much because we're gonna offset inflation. Then everything else is a contribution mentality, right?
We're able to run the system and run the assets such that we deliver a maximized contribution profit, and that's what lets us double EBITDA or more.
Okay.
Okay.
All right. Are you still pushing the new the innovation based on, again, you know, I am going back to the way the company used to report, and obviously you are making a lot of changes.
Mm-hmm.
How quickly are we going to see the benefit from all of the changes? I know 2026 is kind of a reset year. You need to change almost the entire strategy philosophy of the company. Not just the top management, but just everybody else below.
Yeah. Well, look, I mean, the most impressive thing with joining RYAM has been the team. I mean, we have doubled down on a different way to run the company really quickly here. I mean, we're essentially bridging a quarter of very limited orders in specialties because we've had to go out and lift price, you know, significantly, almost 20%. What has helped fill in that is running that value over volume strategy where we've been able to run, you know, what we had classified previously as the commodity products and easily place those in markets. That has allowed us to bridge that, which is exactly the type of model that we wanna be able to run in the future. We may not throw the whole specialties business up in the air again, or we may do it again for the nine.
You know, for 2027. More than likely, we'll have a lot of it that will go out for a price increase based on these playbooks. You know, we'll be better prepared to run the assets in a different way. The team has responded very well, and it's what is allowing us to actually bridge a zero EBITDA quarter when we have no more access to debt and just finished a wildly free cash flow negative year and get to the other side of that and produce a complete year that is substantially better than the prior year. It's a drastic change, though.
Yeah.
You're right.
The 20% price increase you just mentioned, is that before the situation in Iran and the higher price of oil? Where do you stand on that? What can you do to offset it?
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's right. I mean, we had put most of that in place, you know, before the situation in Iran, you know, it has happened. The impact on that to us, while, you know, it's partially unknown, it's also highly mitigated as well. I mean, we're almost self-sufficient on energy at our facilities, right? The other 4 million tons of wood is, you know, used to produce steam and electricity, and we even put electricity back out on the grid as well. In those places where we do buy gas, Europe, we're fully hedged for the whole year before the, you know, Iran issue, and we haven't seen the bump in the U.S. Where we are seeing some issues is raw material chemicals inflation.
It's not our largest expenditure, but we are seeing some inflation there that we'll have to manage and, you know, you see a lot of surcharges on shipping of things as well, and we're passing surcharges on to our customers.
You have a facility in Europe. You also have one in Canada.
Mm-hmm.
Have tariffs affected whatever pulp is coming out of Canada?
Yeah, I mean, there was sort of a neutral effect from the tariffs as they existed, you know, before. Some of those materials that were going to China, in fact, were subject to counter-tariffs by China. That was a negative. On the other hand, some of the paperboard imports coming in from Europe that went into the U.S., which is the main market for that facility in Canada, you know, also helped us. It's kind of been a wash.
Okay.
Yeah.
Are there any questions from the audience?
Over here.
Yes.
Yeah.
Scott, why'd you take this job? If there's one attribute that you're bringing that the previous management couldn't do, what is that? 'Cause, you know, I look back, you were at Celanese, you left, it tanked. You went to Olin, it went up. You left, it tanked. Are we supposed to expect the same thing here from RYAM?
Well, I would definitely expect it to go up. I mean, yeah, I mean, the reason that I came to RYAM of course is that, you know, you can see that there's really an untapped opportunity to run this business a bit different. I mean, RYAM has great leadership positions. They have a great team. We're just really missing an execution model that builds on what we already have and takes advantage of those leadership positions. What I saw at RYAM was the ability to really lift value, and, you know, that's the way we've set it up. That's even the way we set up my package.
The challenge, though, in fairness, the challenge at RYAM that is a little different than those other situations is, you know, we are down in the ditch, and we're having to get unstuck from that, and that's taking a lot of energy, and we just have to be careful that we don't do things that are suboptimal for the forward plan to get out of the ditch. You know, it is a fine line that we're having to walk, but I came for the opportunity because it's great to be able to triple something.
We are running out of time, but I still have one question. Oh, just one second, Keith. Thanks. You are in the ditch, and you need to take the debt down, while you wait for EBITDA to grow.
Yeah.
Do you have any assets that you can sell in order to get cash and get out faster?
Yeah. Well, I mean, considering that, you know, our forecast is to be near zero in first quarter and substantially positive in the second quarter, look, it's imminent, right? I mean, the one thing that we've arranged is, you know, to have enough liquidity to make it through this bridge, so that's already been taken care of. We don't face a liquidity risk here. We're gonna make that. Yep.
Go ahead, Keith. Make it quick.
Yes. Thanks. Real quick. You know, obviously the private debt markets are what they are, and the difference between refinancing at zero free cash and substantial free cash, which you see would be substantial. Does that imply that the timing of this refinancing for you would actually be 2027?
Yeah.
Is that kind of what you're thinking?
Yeah. No, that's exactly right. I mean, if I didn't say that, yeah, I probably missed that point. I should have said that. Our target is to refinance in 2027.
Right.
Hopefully earlier rather than later.
Understood. You think where things are today, that'd be a 300 basis points improvement.
Mm-hmm
If you could get there. Right now, if you were to refinance, you're probably not seeing that.
Yeah. Right.
That's understandable.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Thank you.
That's our target. Okay.
Well, Scott, thank you very much.
Yeah.
We appreciate you coming in so soon after.
Sure
your position.
Okay. All right. Thanks.