Ferroglobe PLC

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Ferraglobe's first quarter 2026 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session and instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, this conference call may be recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Alex Wattenen, Ferraglobe's Vice President of Investor Relations, You may begin.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining FerroGlobe's first quarter 2026 conference call. Joining me today are Marco Levy, our chief executive officer, and Beatriz Garcia-Cost, our chief financial officer. Before we get started with prepared remarks, I'm going to read a brief statement. Please turn to slide two at this time. Statements made by management during this conference call that are forward-looking are based on current expectations. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements can be found in Ferroglobe's most recent SEC filings and the exhibits to those filings, which are available at ferroglobe.com. In addition, this discussion includes references to EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted gross debt, adjusted net debt, and adjusted diluted earnings per share, among other non-IFRS measures. Reconciliations of non-IFRS measures may be found in our most recent SEC filings. We'll be participating in the B. Reilly Annual Investor Conference in Los Angeles on May 20th. We hope to see you there. With that, I'll turn the call over to Marco.

Thank you, Alex, and thank you all for joining us today. We appreciate your continued interest in ferroblast. Overall, market conditions for ferroalloys have become more favorable, highlighted by our first quarter silicon-based alloys volumes, which grew 18% sequentially to the highest level in nearly five years. This segment was driven by growth in ferro-silicon in both Europe and North America. Our manganese-based segment was also strong with volumes increasing 6%. The improvement in Europe was helped by recently implemented safeguards. Anti-dumping and countervailing dualities, tariffs, and rising steel production have all strengthened demand for ferro-silicon in the U.S. This creates a more supportive silicon-based alloys market environment across our core regions. While the silicon metal market in Europe remains under continuous attack from China and its proxy, Angola, we are encouraged by recent comments. European Trade Commissioner Miro Sefcovic has reaffirmed a commitment to protecting the silicon metal industry and is actively evaluating measures addressing imports from China and Angola. In the U.S., the silicon metal cases covering Angola and Laos are now final with anti-dumping and anti-circumvention duties of 78.5 and 173.5% respectively, including the general tariff of 10%. The Department of Commerce is expected to set the final rates for Australia and Norway in late June. with the US ITC expected to announce its final decision in late July. These measures are critical to ensuring a level playing field and supporting the long-term health of our industry. Given recent events in Venezuela, we see a compelling opportunity to reopen our operations there. These assets offer strategic proximity to the US market along with access to low-cost energy, raw materials, and attractive logistics. We are actively pushing a potential restart of our operation in Venezuela to take advantage of its geographic proximity to the U.S. At the same time, we are evaluating CAPEX requirements, energy availability, and cost structure to determine the viability of restarting. As a reminder, We have three large ferro-silicon furnaces with a combined capacity of 90,000 tons and the flexibility to convert them to silicon metal when market conditions dictate. In addition, there is also a 30,000-ton manganese alloy furnace originally built as a silicon metal furnace. We are strategically positioning FerroGlobe to scale our platform to increase our capacity utilization. Our core capabilities, large scale electric furnace operations, advantage access to raw materials, and decades of proprietary process expertise are directly applicable to a broader range of critical materials and alloys. This is why we are actively pushing expansion beyond our traditional portfolio. We are building on a proven base, not starting from scratch. Our history of producing materials such as magnesium and ferrochrome, combined with deep expertise in high temperature reduction and related processes, give us a strong technical and operational foundation. This is a natural evolution of our business. The same industrial platform that supports our leadership in silicon metal and ferroalloys can be redeployed to address growing supply gaps in other strategically important materials. As demand accelerates and supply chains realign, this optionality materially extends ferro-growth runway. Our Western asset footprint is a clear competitive advantage. It places us at the center of rising demand fueled by higher defense spending, AI adoption, the energy transition, and the need for secure domestically anchored supply chains. Recent US-EU agreements on critical materials reinforce a clear message. Trusted local production is now a requirement, not a preference. Given that, it is crucial to understand what happened to critical materials production in the West, and how it lost its advantage. It was not that access to mines and critical minerals was lost. Rather, China became the dominant processor of these materials into critical materials. And the market structure shifted to favor price over all other factors. rendering Western production unprofitable. All that is changing now to favor the reliability of a trusted supply chain. Taken together, this positions Ferroglobe to play a larger role in the next phase of industrial and geopolitical realignment, leveraging assets we already own, capabilities we already have, and markets that are moving decisively in our favor. Moving to core shell, we continue to develop our partnership to advance the use of silicon in lightweight, high-capacity, and fast-charging batteries for EVs and drones. In March, we co-led a series B round with a $7 million investment, increasing our total to $17 million. and representing an ownership stake of approximately 10%. Corsha started production from its current 60 ampere plant, marking an important milestone, and has already begun selling batteries to robotics and defense customers. In addition, Corsha has signed multi-year sampling and qualification agreements with automotive OEM customers positioning it to participate in the emerging growth area in critical materials. In March, we signed a binding term sheet for a multi-year silicon metal supply agreement with Corsair. Overall, we are operating in an improving environment for ferroalloys, executing on our strategic priorities and positioning the company for sustainable growth across both our core and emerging businesses. Next slide, please. Strong ferro-alloy volume growth in the first quarter drove shipments up 7 percent to 177,000 tons, primarily due to an 18 percent increase in silicon-based alloys. This resulted in a 6 percent increase in quarterly revenue to $348 million. Adjusted EBITDA declined to $3 million, and free cash flow was a negative $60 million. Beatriz will provide more detailed comments in her section. Next slide, please. I will start updating our sermons from silicon metal. The silicon metals market remains under pressure due to continued aggressive pricing by imports, mainly from China and Angola. These dynamics primarily impacted Europe as silicon metal was excluded from recent safeguard protections. As a result, total volumes declined 6% from the fourth quarter, and we decided not to participate at uneconomic prices. We partially mitigated this by converting three silicon metal furnaces to ferro-silicon, allowing us to capitalize on better market conditions in this segment. Two of the furnaces were in Europe and one in the U.S. was converted last year. This strategic shift underscores the value of FerroGlobe's flexible operating model and our ability to respond dynamically to evolving market conditions. Silicon metal volumes declined 2,000 tons to approximately 31,000 tons in the first quarter. North American volumes grew a solid 15%, while EU volumes continued to face predatory import competition, resulting in a 23% decline. In addition to China and Angola, low-priced imports in Q1 came from Malaysia, Kazakhstan, and Laos. is the largest importer of silicon metal to the EU, accounting for more than 50% of total imports. The polysilicon market remains weak, with silicon prices reflecting soft demand and oversupply. The aluminum segment on the other end is showing initial signs of improvement, as some Middle Eastern production is offline due to the Iran conflict. The chemical sector remains soft due to Chinese imports of siloxanes and silicones into Europe and in the US. UX index prices declined 3% in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter, while EU prices declined by 6%. Although we remain cautious about the pace of recovery in Europe pending more decisive trade actions from the European Trade Commission, Recent comments from the Trade Commissioner regarding protecting the EU market are encouraging. In the US, we expect the market conditions to improve in the second half of 2026, bolstered by anti-dumping and countervailing measures. In the medium term, there is a significant growth opportunity for silicon metal in the US. as Tesla aims to build a large, vertically integrated supply chain to produce 100 gigawatts of solar capacity by the end of 2028. Next slide, please. Silicone-based alloys volumes reached their highest levels since the second quarter of 2021, with total shipments increasing 18% to 61,000 tons, driven by 21% growth in Europe. despite the contraction in steep reduction in the first quarter. The North American growth was equally strong at 20%. After a 22% price jump from late October to early December, following the SAFETER announcement, euphoric silicon index prices declined 9% in the first quarter. The reason for the recent price decline is twofold. First, import volumes were high prior to November 7th. leading to elevated inventory levels. Second, the use of low-priced silicon metal by steel producers to replace ferro-silicon is disrupting ferro-silicon market dynamics. Yet, they are still up 9% since the pre-safeguard announcement, and we expect pricing to be positively impacted in the second half due to safeguards as excess inventory is depleted. The U.S. ferro-silicon index was flat in the first quarter. As I mentioned earlier, we converted one silicon furnace in the U.S. and two additional furnaces in Europe, two ferro-silicon to take advantage of shifting demand. Overall, we're optimistic that 2026 will be a strong year for silicon-based alloy volumes for ferroblocks. An additional catalyst for the second half of the year is anticipated from enhanced EU steel safeguards, which are expected to increase EU steel production by 1250 million tons annually, representing approximately 10% growth. These measures are expected to take effect on July 1st, 2026. Next slide, please. Our Q1 manganese shipments posted a strong quarter with a 6% volume increase to 86,000 tons, up from 81,000 tons in the prior quarter, helped by safeguards. Europe accounts for the majority of the manganese sales. Manganese alloy index price surge after safeguards were announced in November and are up 18% since pre-safeguards. year-to-date levels roughly planned. We are constructive about the 2026 manganese outlook and expect to report strong volumes for the remainder of the year. Strength and steel safeguards are another catalyst, as they are expected to be implemented in July and improve yield demand. I would now like to turn the call over to Beatriz Garcia-Cost, our Chief Financial Officer to review the financial results in more detail. Beatriz.