Market demand continued to remain robust, and we delivered sales of $477 million, 10% higher than last year, and earnings per share of $1.25, an increase of 16%.
Operating cash flow was $69 million and free cash flow was $46 million, and we made progress to lower our debt levels by paying down $20 million of debt.
The combination of these dynamics led to higher plant operating costs and delayed shipments, resulting in about $5 million of reduced income in the quarter.
To demonstrate this transition over the past few years, revenue from our consumer-oriented businesses has doubled and today, they comprise 30% of our total sales portfolio.
Sales increased 17% over last year to $1.9 billion.
Operating income was up 13% to $241 million, and our earnings per share grew 26% to $5.02.
Our teams work closely and transparently with our customers to manage through these dynamics, and we were successful in implementing a broad array of strategic pricing actions across our portfolio to offset the $50 million in extra costs we had to absorb.
We demonstrated this in 2021 by deploying $86 million to fund high-return organic projects, as well as to maintain and improve the performance and safety of our facilities.
We acquired Normerica and the Specialty PCC assets, while also returning $82 million to our shareholders through share repurchases and dividends.
Most of these businesses are in our household, personal care, and specialty product line, and they performed very well with sales growth of 21%.
We've also realized significant sales increases in other specialty applications, such as edible oil purification and personal care, which grew by 48% and 80%, respectively, last year.
Metalcasting sales were up 21% in Asia as we expanded our customer base and further penetrated into China with sales of our pre-blended products increasing by 20%.
We continue to demonstrate our value in other countries and specifically in India, where sales of our blended products were up nearly 40% in 2021.
Our PCC business continues to grow geographically with a 22% sales increase in Asia.
We benefited from 280,000 tons of new capacity that came online over the past year.
In addition, we signed two new satellite contracts in 2021, totaling around 70,000 tons, which will be commissioned by the end of this year.
In 2021, we signed long-term contracts worth $100 million through the deployment of our new portfolio of differentiated refractory products and high-performance laser measurement solutions.
Our growth this past year in wastewater remediation was 15%, and we see this trajectory continuing in 2022.
And during the same time frame, we've increased the sales generated from new products by more than 60%.
Sales in the fourth quarter were 10% higher than the prior year and 1% higher sequentially.
Organic growth for the company was 4% versus the prior year, and the acquisition of Normerica contributed the remainder of the growth.
Operating income, excluding special items, was $54.7 million, and operating margin was 11.5%.
The year-over-year operating income bridge on the top right of this slide shows that we experienced $27.4 million of inflationary cost increases versus the prior year, which we offset with $18.6 million of pricing.
As we move through the fourth quarter, inflationary costs accelerated to nearly $10 million, including higher energy costs in Europe and Turkey.
These challenges, including the delayed sales volume and the unexpected spike in energy costs, resulted in approximately $5 million lower operating income than we originally expected for the quarter.
Meanwhile, we continue to control overhead expenses with SG&A as a percentage of sales at 10.8%, 80 basis points below the prior year.
Earnings per share, excluding special items, was $1.25 and represented 16% growth versus the prior year.
Full-year earnings per share was $5.02, a record for the company and represented 26% growth versus the prior year.
Fourth-quarter sales for Performance Materials were $256.2 million, 17% higher than the prior year and 2% higher sequentially.
The acquisition of Normerica contributed 13% growth versus the prior year, and organic sales contributed an additional 4%.
Household, personal care, and specialty product sales were 24% above the prior year and 4% higher sequentially, driven by Normerica and continued strong demand for consumer-oriented products.
Metalcasting sales were 9% higher than the prior year and 16% higher sequentially, driven by strong demand globally, continued penetration of green sand bond technologies in Asia, and the return of volumes from the third quarter seasonal foundry maintenance outages.
Environmental product sales grew 13% versus the prior year on improved demand for environmental mining systems, remediation, and wastewater treatment.
Building Materials sales grew 21% versus the prior year on higher levels of project activity.
Operating income for the segment was $29.1 million and operating margin was 11.4% of sales.
Margin was temporarily impacted this quarter by approximately $3 million of logistics challenges and inflationary cost increases that could not be passed through contractually until January 1 of this year, primarily in Pet Care and our Metalcasting business in China.
And overall, we expect the operating income for this segment to be approximately 20% higher sequentially.
Specialty Minerals sales were $141.5 million in the fourth quarter, 2% higher than the prior year, and 4% lower sequentially.
PCC and Process Mineral sales were both 2% above the prior year.
Segment operating income was $14.5 million and represented 10.2% of sales.
In total, operating income was impacted by $4 million in the quarter, which came from approximately $2 million of unexpected energy inflation and additional $2 million due to the sales and productivity impact resulting from logistics and labor challenges, primarily in our Northeast U.S. plants.
Overall, for the segment, we expect first-quarter operating income to be 20% to 25% higher than the fourth quarter.
Refractory segment sales were $79.2 million in the fourth quarter, 7% higher than the prior year, and 4% higher sequentially on new business volumes and continued strong steel market conditions in North America and Europe.
Segment operating income remained strong at $12.4 million, 12% higher than the prior year, and operating margin was 15.7% of sales.
We expect another strong operating performance from this segment with operating income up 20% on incremental volumes from new business.
We did see a slight moderation in steel utilization rates in North America in the fourth quarter from the mid-80% range to the low 80s.
Full-year cash flow from operations was $232.4 million.
Capital expenditures were $86 million as we invested in high-return growth and productivity projects, as well as sustaining our operations.
Free cash flow was $146.4 million.
The company used a portion of free cash flow to repurchase $75 million of shares, completing the prior-year share repurchase authorization and beginning the new $75 million 1-year share repurchase program that the board of directors authorized in October.
As of the end of the fourth quarter, total liquidity was over $500 million, and our net leverage ratio was 2.1 times EBITDA.
Our capital spend will be in the range of $85 million to $95 million for 2022.
And overall, we expect free cash flow increasing to the $150 million to $160 million range for the full year.
Overall, for the company, we expect a strong performance in the first quarter, with operating income in the range of $63 million to $65 million, 15% to 20% higher than the fourth quarter, and with earnings per share around $1.25.
With sales growth of 10% to 15% expected this year, combined with our distinct operational capabilities, we have all the elements in place to deliver a very strong performance in 2022.

Summary:
Market demand continued to remain robust, and we delivered sales of $477 million, 10% higher than last year, and earnings per share of $1.25, an increase of 16%.
Earnings per share, excluding special items, was $1.25 and represented 16% growth versus the prior year.
Overall, for the company, we expect a strong performance in the first quarter, with operating income in the range of $63 million to $65 million, 15% to 20% higher than the fourth quarter, and with earnings per share around $1.25.