Arcadium Lithium plc

Good afternoon and welcome to the fourth quarter 2023 earnings release conference call for Arcadium Lithium. Phone lines will be placed on listen only mode throughout the conference. After this week's presentation, there will be a question and answer period. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Daniel Rosen, Investor Relations and Strategy for Arcadium Lithium. Mr. Rosen, you may begin.

Great. Thank you, John, and thanks to everyone for joining. Joining me today are Paul Graves, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Gilberto Antoniazzi, Chief Financial Officer. The slide presentation that accompanies our results, along with our earnings release, can be found in the investor relations section of our website. Prepared remarks from today's discussion will be made available after the call. Following our prepared remarks, Paul and Gilberto will be available to address your questions. Given the number of participants on the call today, we will request a limit of one question and one follow-up per caller. We will be happy to address any additional questions after the call. Before we begin, let me remind you that today's discussion will include forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning specific factors, including but not limited to those factors identified in our Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Information presented represents our best judgment based on today's information. Actual results may vary based upon these risks and uncertainties. Today's discussion will include references to various non-GAAP financial metrics. Definitions of these terms, as well as a reconciliation to the most directly comparable financial measure, calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP, are provided on our investor relations website. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Paul.

Thank you, Dan, and hello, everyone. This is the first earnings call for Arcadium Lithium following the official close of the merger between Libent and Allchem on January the 4th of this year. We're excited to begin operating as Arcadium Lithium. building on the strengths of two highly complementary organizations with a focus on continuing to grow as one of the leading global producers of lithium chemicals. While lithium and energy storage market dynamics have been somewhat volatile since our merger announcement in May of last year, the underlying strategic merits of the transaction remain as strong as ever. As a larger, more diversified, vertically integrated company, we are better positioned than either of the companies alone to meet the growing needs of our customers. And we have even greater flexibility to take advantage of opportunities available to a diversified, integrated lithium chemicals producer across all market cycles. Arcadium lithium is growing its volume significantly as a result of multiple years of expansionary investments. And 2024 is highlighted by an expected 40% increase in lithium carbonate and hydroxide volumes compared to 2023 as a combined company. In addition, Arcadium is expecting to realize $60 to $80 million of total synergies and cost savings in 2024. We will go into further detail on the major components of these cost reductions. but the savings are driven by a combination of positive developments in our initial integration efforts and from accelerating certain actions as a result of the current lithium price environment. These higher volumes and cost savings are reflected in the outlook scenarios we are providing for Arcadium Lithium's first full year, which we are providing in a different format than that provided historically by either Livent or Orcam. The lower price environment is also leading Arcadium to slow the pace of its growth capital spending in 2024 and to extend the timelines for some of its ongoing expansion projects, as we will discuss further. This reduction will not impact our ability to deliver volumes under existing customer commitments. It will provide us with an opportunity to undertake a comprehensive review of the existing expansion plans from Livent and Alchem in order to maximize the capital synergies available from our co-located projects in Argentina and Canada, as well as optimize the operational flexibility of future production. I will now turn the call to Gilberto.