Albemarle Corporation

Hello everyone and welcome to the Q2 2022 Albemarle Corporation earnings conference call. My name is Nadia and I'll be coordinating the call today. If you would like to ask a question at the end of the presentation please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. Please note we will take one question and one follow-up. I will now hand over to your host Meredith Bandy, Vice President of Investor Relations and Sustainability to begin. Meredith please go ahead.

Thank you, Nadia. Welcome, everyone, to Albemarle's second quarter 2022 earnings conference call. Our earnings were released after the close of market yesterday, and you'll find our press release and earnings presentation posted to our website under the Investors section at albemarle.com. Joining me on the call today are Kent Masters, Chief Executive Officer, and Scott Tozier, Chief Financial Officer, Raphael Crawford, President Catalyst, Netha Johnson, President Brumine, and Eric Norris, President Lithium, are also available for Q&A. As a reminder, some of the statements made during this call, including our outlook, guidance, expected company performance, and timing of expansion projects, may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Please note the cautionary language about forward-looking statements contained in our press release and earnings presentation. That same language applies to this call. Please also note that some of our comments today refer to non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation to GAAP financial measures can be found in our earnings release in the appendix of these slides. And now I'll turn the call over to Kent.

Thanks, Meredith, and thank you all for joining us today. On today's call, I will highlight our second quarter results and achievements. Scott will provide more details on our financial results, outlook, balance sheet, and capital allocation. I will then close our prepared remarks with an update on our operating model and strategic growth projects aimed at further strengthening our long-term financial performance and sustainable competitive advantages. Albemarle's leadership positions in lithium and bromine, coupled with our team's ability to execute through the current inflationary environment, led to another quarter of strong results. In the second quarter, we generated net sales of $1.5 billion nearly double the prior year. Second quarter adjusted EBITDA of $610 million was over three times the prior year, continuing the trend of EBITDA significantly outpacing sales growth. The supply-demand balances remain tight in the markets we serve. Strong market prices and our continued success in contract renegotiation drove the tremendous strength we are experiencing in our lithium business. As a result, we are again raising our 2022 outlook and now expect to be free cash flow positive for the year. Scott will review the key elements of that outlook later on in the call. We are also successfully executing our growth strategy. Our Kimmerton One lithium conversion plant in Western Australia achieved first product in July. I want to especially congratulate our teams in Western Australia for their hard work and dedication in achieving this goal. And lastly, we made a major announcement regarding plans to build an integrated lithium mega-site in the United States. This will support our Western expansion and the development of the battery materials supply chain in North America. Now I'll turn the call over to Scott to walk through our financials.