Livent Corporation

Good evening, and welcome to the fourth quarter 2020 earnings release conference call for LiveIn Corporation. Phone lines will be placed on listen-only mode throughout the conference. After the speaker'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 LiveIn Corporation. Mr. Rosen, you may begin.

Thank you, Rob. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Lavin's fourth quarter 2020 earnings call. Joining me today are Paul Grades, 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. The 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. we would ask that any questions be limited to two per caller. We would 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 release and in our 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 provided on our investor relations website. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Paul.

Thank you, Dan. Good evening, everyone. Before I begin, it's been a year now since we first started having to adapt our operations and practices as a result of COVID-19. And there's no doubt it's had a major impact on Liven and its employees at many levels. So once again, I would like to take a moment to thank all of our employees globally for the way they've adapted their routines and practices, both personally and professionally. to ensure that we keep operating safely in this environment and can continue to meet our customers' needs. These challenges are not easy, and we truly appreciate your commitment and efforts. We have a number of important topics to discuss today, including what we saw in our fourth quarter relative to the rest of 2020 and what it might mean for 2021, the recent positive signs seen in the lithium market and how we expect them to evolve, Our outlook for 2021, both for Livent specifically and for the industry as a whole, and a discussion of how we see 2022 and beyond unfolding. But first, I'd like to highlight the announcement we made today regarding our supply agreement with BMW Group. This is a multi-year agreement under which Livent will deliver both lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate for use in the batteries that will power BMW's electric vehicle fleet. Livens has already begun delivering material for qualification and commercial volumes will commence in 2022. Multi-year, multi-product agreements with premier OEMs such as the BMW Group are a core part of Livens' business model. We believe that they reflect Livens' position as a global leader in the lithium industry with a differentiated product offering, a proven track record and a unique sustainability profile. We also believe that the operational flexibility that allows Livent to deliver multiple lithium products from and to various geographic locations is an important focus for our global customers as they look to build more resiliency into their supply chains in an increasingly complex world. I'd also like to quickly address our recent announcements regarding sustainability. Last week, Livent announced its new sustainability goals as we are five years ahead of scheduling reaching almost all of our previous targets. These new goals were not set in isolation, but in fact reflect the highest priorities of Liven's customers, communities, investors, employees, and other stakeholders, based on extensive and ongoing dialogue we have with all of these groups on this topic. The goals are highlighted by a commitment to carbon neutrality by 2040, with significant carbon intensity reductions across our global operations much sooner than that. They include a path to 100% renewable energy use and a focus of our R&D efforts on supporting new and improved green technologies, processes and products. Additionally, they support an ongoing focus on sustainable water use with a commitment to further water intensity reductions and continued monitoring and disclosure. And of course, we will maintain our focus on uplifting communities and advancing social progress and human rights across our operations and in our own supply chain. We will be sharing further details in our sustainability report to be released later this year and look forward to providing updates on our progress on an annual basis using leading ESG reporting frameworks. Additionally, in the coming weeks, we will be publishing our first allocation and impact report under the green bond framework we established as part of our green convertible issuance in the second quarter of last year. While ambitious, we believe our sustainability goals are both achievable and necessary. And we believe that we have the credibility to set these new goals and be a leader in the process of setting standards that our entire industry is held accountable to. This is something our current and potential customers truly value and are demanding from their own suppliers. Increasingly and appropriately, there is a growing focus in the battery material supply chains on greater transparency from all parties, increased standardization of methodologies and data reporting, and requirements for independent verification of data and disclosure methodologies. Livent has begun the certification process for its operations in Argentina under the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, or IRMA, starting with a self-assessment and progressing to independent third-party verification against stringent and comprehensive standards for mined materials. IRMA provides a credible solution for the growing demand for more socially and environmentally responsible mining standards. Many of the leading automotive OEMs, including BMW, Mercedes, and most recently Ford, have now publicly announced their intention to accelerate the adoption of the EARN standard across their supply chains. And we expect similar demands to spread throughout the energy storage supply chain over time. I'll now turn the call over to Gilberto to discuss our Q4 and 2020 financial results and 2021 outlook.