Livent Corporation

Good afternoon and welcome to the third quarter 2022 earnings release conference call for Livent 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 Livent Corporation. Mr. Rosen, you may begin.

Thank you, Dennis. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Livent's third quarter 2022 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. 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 would request a limit of one question and one follow-up 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, are provided on our Investor Relations website. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Paul.

Thank you, Dan, and good evening, everyone. Liban had another very strong financial performance in the third quarter as the business continues to achieve record levels of profitability. Q3 adjusted EBITDA of $111 million compares to $15 million one year ago and to $95 million last quarter. In what remains a very strong market, Liban has continued to achieve higher realized prices while also delivering increased volumes to customers in the third quarter. As we approach year end, Liven has narrowed the ranges of its full year 2022 financial guidance while increasing projections for adjusted EBITDA at the midpoint. This is underpinned by higher realized pricing in the second half than previously expected. As we will go into in further detail, Liven continues to make considerable progress on its expansion projects and remains on track with all projected timelines and capital plans. Construction of our 5,000 metric ton lithium hydroxide expansion in Bessemer City was completed in the third quarter, and we are now in the early stages of producing and qualifying this product with customers. 2023 will be a landmark year for Liven, as we expect to fully ramp up the Bessemer City hydroxide expansion, complete two phases of lithium carbonate expansion in Argentina, totaling 20,000 metric tons in nameplate capacity, and add a new 15,000 metric ton hydroxide facility in China, all by year end. Given the time required to ramp up the new Argentina expansions, Liven expects to produce roughly 6,000 metric tons of incremental LCE volume in 2023, or roughly 25% annual increase starting in the second quarter. And we expect to further increase our production in 2024 and the years to follow. 2023 will also be a pivotal year for the Damascus project as it begins construction and critical decisions regarding project financing and commercial pathways are made and executed on. All of these capacity expansion efforts continue to progress as expected and as previously communicated. I will now turn the call over to Gilberto to discuss our third quarter performance and our updated 2022 financial guidance.