SunCoke Raises Full-Year Outlook as Industrial Services Hits Record
SunCoke Energy posted a sequential swing to $15.6 million in net income and lifted its full-year Adjusted EBITDA guidance for the second straight quarter.
SunCoke Energy (SXC), the coke-making and industrial services company, raised its full-year 2026 Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA guidance to a range of $250 million to $265 million, up from $230 million to $250 million. It was the second consecutive increase to the outlook, following an original guide of $230 million to $250 million issued at the fourth quarter of 2025 and reaffirmed as recently as the first quarter of 2026.
The upgrade came alongside a sequential turnaround in profitability. SunCoke reported net income of $15.6 million, or $13.1 million attributable to the company and $0.15 a diluted share, in the second quarter, reversing a $3.4 million net loss in the first quarter that had translated to a $4.4 million loss attributable to SunCoke and a $0.05 loss a share. The swing followed a much steeper $85.6 million net loss attributable to SunCoke in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA reached $69.6 million in the quarter, up 27% from $56.5 million in the first quarter of 2026 and up 60% from $43.6 million in the second quarter of 2025. The acceleration marked a reversal from the first quarter, when Adjusted EBITDA had actually declined from a year earlier, to $56.5 million from $59.8 million.
Industrial Services drove much of the improvement, with segment Adjusted EBITDA climbing to $34.4 million, a new high for the business and its fifth straight quarter of sequential growth since the Phoenix acquisition, from $26.2 million in the first quarter, $22.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, $18.2 million in the third quarter of 2025 and $7.7 million in the second quarter of 2025. Management called it the segment's best quarter to date. SunCoke raised its full-year Industrial Services Adjusted EBITDA guidance to $110 million to $115 million from an original $90 million to $100 million.
Domestic Coke also strengthened even as tonnage volumes fell. Adjusted EBITDA per ton rose to $48.41 from $41.92 in the first quarter and $42.95 a year earlier, a gain of $5.46 from the prior-year period, reflecting improved coal-to-coke yields despite sales volumes dropping to 878,000 tons from 943,000 tons because of the Haverhill I shutdown. Capacity utilization rose to 100% from 95% a year earlier, and to 97% from 93% on a year-to-date basis. The segment benefited from the May 2026 return to service of the Middletown cokemaking facility's turbine, which had depressed energy revenue and EBITDA in comparisons against the first quarter of 2026 and the second quarter of 2025. SunCoke raised its full-year Domestic Coke Adjusted EBITDA guidance to $172 million to $178 million from $162 million to $168 million, and its per-ton guidance to $51 to $52 from $48 to $50.
Not every line moved in the company's favor. Corporate and Other Adjusted EBITDA expense widened to $7.3 million from $4.6 million a year earlier on higher employee-related costs. Cash and cash equivalents fell to $42.7 million from $104.4 million at the end of the first quarter and $88.7 million at year-end 2025, a decline attributed in part to roughly $65 million of cash receipts delayed past quarter-end into July. Net cash used in financing activities for the six months ended June 30 widened to $61.9 million from $29.5 million a year earlier, driven by $218.0 million of revolver repayments against $185.5 million of draws, compared with no revolver activity in the prior-year period.
SunCoke newly disclosed gross leverage of 2.73x and net leverage of 2.55x in its investor presentation, a metric not broken out in the same form in the prior two quarters. Alongside the EBITDA increase, the company for the first time quantified full-year free cash flow guidance at $150 million to $160 million.
The board maintained the quarterly dividend at $0.12 a share, the 28th consecutive quarter of the payout, up from the 27th consecutive quarter declared in the first quarter of 2026.