Albemarle Corporation

Hello and welcome to Albemarle's Q2 2024 earnings call. I will now hand it over to Meredith Bandy, Vice President of Investor Relations and Sustainability.

Thank you and welcome everyone to Albemarle's second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Our earnings were released after the market yesterday and you'll find the press release and earnings presentation posted to our website under the investor section at albemarle.com. Also posted to our website is yesterday's additional press release announcing our initiation of a comprehensive review of our cost and operating structure, which we will also reference during our comments today. Joining me on the call today are Kent Masters, Chief Executive Officer, Neil Chure, Chief Financial Officer, Netha Johnson, President of Specialties, and Eric Norris, President of Energy Storage, 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 strategic initiatives, may constitute forward-looking statements. Please note the cautionary language about forward-looking statements contained in our press release and earnings presentation, which also applies to this call. Please also note that some of our comments today refer to non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations can be found in our earnings materials. And now I'll turn the call over to Kent.

Thank you, Meredith. During the second quarter, Albemarle continued to demonstrate strong operational execution. We recorded net sales of $1.4 billion and sequential increases in adjusted EBITDA and cash from operations, thanks in part to successful project delivery, productivity and restructuring initiatives, and working capital improvements. We continued to capture volumetric growth, driven by our energy storage segment, which was up 37% year over year, highlighting successful project ramps and spodumene sales in that segment. For example, during the quarter, we achieved first commercial sales from May Sean, ahead of our original schedule by approximately six months. During the second quarter, we also delivered more than $150 million in restructuring and productivity improvements, consistent with our efforts to align our operations and cost structure with the current market environment. We are on track to exceed our full year targets on this front by 50%. Looking to the rest of this year, our operational discipline allows us to maintain our full year 2024 outlook considerations. Notably, we expect our $15 per kilogram lithium price scenario to apply even assuming that lower July market pricing persists. This is due to higher volumes, cost out and productivity progress, and contract performance. We've made great progress in strengthening our competitive position and enhancing our financial flexibility. However, industry headwinds that began last year have persisted longer than the sector anticipated, making it clear that we must proactively take additional steps. Building on the actions we announced this past January, we announced yesterday that we are taking a comprehensive review of our cost and operating structure with the goal of maintaining Albemarle's competitive position and driving long-term value. As part of the initial review, we announced the difficult but necessary decision to immediately adjust our operating and capital spending plans at our Kimmerton site in Australia. These actions showcase our deeper focus on cost and operating discipline. There's no question that the global energy transition is underway. However, the pace of the industry changes are dynamic and we must remain agile as well. Later on the call, I will spend some time diving deeper into the cost and asset actions that we continue to take in this environment to maintain our competitiveness. And I will also highlight the strategic advantages that remain proof points of Albemarle's competitive and operational strengths. I'll now hand it over to Neil to talk about our financial results during the quarter.