Livent Corporation

Good afternoon and welcome to the first quarter 2021 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, Erica. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to LiveIn's first quarter 2021 earnings call. 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. 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 ROEs 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, are provided on our industrial relations website. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Paul.

Thank you, Dan. Good evening, everyone. I have to admit it feels about five minutes since we last did this. Before I begin, I want to once again thank all of our employees for their hard work and their ability to adapt during these challenging times. I also want to acknowledge the reality that the recovery from COVID-19 has been uneven around the world. Alive and we will remain vigilant across our global operations and continue to work closely with local authorities to prioritize safety as we all get through this together. We have a number of important topics to discuss today, including performance in the first quarter, the continued positive trends seen in the market and how we expect them to evolve in 2021 and beyond, and the decision to resume our capacity expansions backed by the recent execution of multi-year customer agreements, support from local stakeholders, and an improving overall market backdrop. So starting with our first quarter results on slide four, we reported revenue of $92 million, adjusted EBITDA of $11 million, and adjusted earnings of $0.02 per diluted share. Revenue increased 12% sequentially, driven by higher volumes, and increased customer demand across most of our products, particularly in hydroxide. This was partially offset by slightly lower pricing, reflecting Livent's annual fixed price contracts that were negotiated in 2020 and reset in the new calendar year. Adjusted EBITDA was nearly double the prior quarter. This profitability improvement was driven by higher volumes and lower operating costs, partially offset by slightly lower pricing. The rapid improvement in published lithium prices we saw at the end of 2020 has continued in 2021. As stated on our last earnings call, we did not expect much pricing benefit in the first quarter, given where prices were previously set with many of our customers and with our available volumes for 2021 largely committed. Much of the pricing upside for Libent will be in the remaining part of 2021, on the subset of our customer contracts that are subject to monthly or quarterly price renegotiation or have a lag from market-linked pricing adjustments. While our 2021 guidance ranges for full-year revenue and adjusted EBITDA remain unchanged from last quarter, we do expect to perform at the higher end of these ranges as market conditions continue to improve. We will adjust our estimates as warranted as we move through the year. The momentum in market pricing that we have seen and expect to continue appears to be rooted in a strong increase in demand that is significantly exceeding supply growth. This reflects what feels like a real and fundamental turning point in our industry, and we expect to benefit from this even more as we approach contracting with customers for 2022. We are already seeing an increased sense of focus and urgency in conversations with both existing and potential customers. The multi-year supply agreements that Liven has executed over the last few years reflect the company's position as a global leader in the lithium industry, with a fully integrated operating model, recognized as a reliable supply partner, with a proven ability to meet continuously tightening quality requirements and a best-in-class sustainability profile. Additionally, our ability 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 in their supply chains. We are one of the few producers of battery-grade hydroxide outside of China today. And as a company that is continually looking to innovate and develop next-generation lithium compounds to advance battery technologies, we want to align ourselves with customers that are leading their own innovation efforts in electrification and appreciate what we can bring to the table. Supported by improved pricing and the execution of recent long-term supply agreements, among other positive factors, Livent has restarted its capacity expansion plans in both the United States and Argentina. I will now turn the call over to Gilberto to go through this in more detail.