Aurubis Ag Unsp/Adr

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and a warm welcome to the analyst call. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen early mode. The floor will be open for questions following the presentation. Let me now turn the floor over to your host, Elke Brinkmann, Investor Relations.

Good afternoon, and welcome to our call on the results of the first three months of fiscal year 2025-26. We are here with our CEO, Tuva Sark, and our CFO, Steffi Hoffmann, who will walk you through the figures for the first three months of 2025 and 26 and current developments at Aarhus. We will first take you through the presentation and then open the line for your questions. If you would like to ask a question during the Q&A session, please use the nine-star key segment. Before we start, a short reminder of our disclaimer on forward-looking statements. Today's capital market presentation contains forward-looking statements about Aruba's plans and expectations. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ naturally from those anticipated. Let me now turn the floor over to Tugha Saq.

Thank you, Elke. And good morning, good day, good afternoon from Hamburg. Arubis started the new fiscal year with a sound result that was in line with market expectations. Operating EBT was satisfactory at 105 million euros, driven mainly by higher metal prices and consequently a higher metals result. Declining TCRCs, however, partly offset the positive metal result effect. EBITDA was 164 million euros compared to 184 million euros last year, which reflects anticipated higher costs in the overall group. Net cash flow was slightly negative at minus 8 million euros compared to 178 million euros in Q1 of last year. Free cash flow before dividend was minus 103 million euros compared to 39 million euros the year before. Higher working capital at higher metal prices was the main factor in lowering cash flows, and both figures should be viewed as snapshots, as Stefan will explain further later in the presentation. Operating RSE on a rolling four-quarter basis decreased to 7.8%, down from 11.7% the year before, This reflects lower earnings in prior year quarters and higher capital employed from our growth investments. Looking ahead to the remaining quarters of the fiscal year, we expect positive effects on earnings, in particular from higher metal prices and strong demand for copper products. In light of these factors, we raised our full year guidance for operating EBT to between 375 and 475 million euros. The previous range was 300 to 400 million euros. Once again, our production figures show the broad scape of our multi metal competence. I would like to briefly highlight the key drivers. Starting with our input, concentrate throughput went up 5% year over year to 630,000 tons carried by a good operational performance. Copper scrap and blister copper output, on the other hand, went down by 5% to 115,000 tons. This was caused by our input mix in the quarter. Other recycling materials totaled 125,000 tons, slightly above last year. On the output end, the stable performance of our tank houses resulted in 285,000 tons of cathodes produced. Sulfuric acid output increased by 5% to 583,000 tons, right in line with concentrate throughput. Wire rod output remains stable at 201,000 tons, while copper shapes output dipped by 15% to 34,000 tons. Lagging demand, trade barriers, and imports were the main factors here. In contrast, federal products and specialty wire increased slightly to 22,000 tons. Our output of other metals is another indication of the complexity of our heat materials and varies based on the content of those materials. Let me now take you through the market environment. This chart shows the development of four key indicators since September 2023. based on market intelligence. On the downstream side, European spot copper premiums remained widely stable at a high level in fiscal year Q1. Please bear in mind that premiums for annual contracts differ from spot premiums and will become effective only from fiscal year Q2 onwards. Sophoric asset prices showed another increase, a move supported by strong demand, especially from overseas markets. On the upstream side, RCs for recycling materials improved in Q1 of the fiscal year because higher metal prices increased the availability of scrap. We expect that this trend will take effect in our results with a time lag. Spot TCRCs for copper concentrates stayed at low levels in fiscal year Q1, reflecting the tightness in the concentrate market. Our long-term supply contracts and diversified sourcing, however, help us manage this challenging environment. Let me now turn to the price environment for key metals and the US dollar. As all of you have taken notice of in fiscal year Q1, gold and silver prices continue to rise and reached all new time highs. Copper prices also moved up notably as well with an increase to close to $1,000 per ton in December alone, with an increase of $1,000 per ton in December alone. The favorable development of these three metal prices positively contributed to our metal result, as we see later. Compared to Q1 of the last fiscal year, the U.S. dollar depreciated against the Euro. The rubles long dollar position remains unchanged at approximately 530 million U.S. dollars for the fiscal year. 54% of our U.S. dollar exposure is hedged at 1.125. For fiscal year 26-27, around 40% of the exposure is hedged at a rate of 1.188. As a reminder, please note that there is no direct one-to-one correlation between our P&L and the price development shown here. We hedge part of our earnings, and some of the effects are only visible with a time lag. Before we move on the details of our financials, I would like to share an update on our contracting season. Despite the challenges in the concentrate market, we have already secured a very high share of our supply for calendar year 2026. Through long-term contracts that target complex raw materials, we ensure reliable supply to our primary smelters. This also allowed us to close additional long-term contracts, including agreements with new mining projects. At the same time, we also ensure we have the flexibility to obtain additional volumes and steer our market presence as needed. For recycling, the market is still short-term. In nature, invisibility is limited. Copper scrap availability still improved compared to the summer, a development supported by higher metal prices. This, in turn, allowed us to secure a supply of scrap that is enough to cover our needs until the end of the second quarter of 2025-2026, at the very least. In the U.S., we are focused on securing the supply for over-srichment, in line with the plan's ramp-up. Finally, we are expanding our sourcing presence beyond Europe to broaden our supplier base at the same time as well. In the downstream business, we have mostly wrapped up a very successful sales campaign. Demand for our copper product remains high. This is especially true for wire rod, which we largely supply to the energy, infrastructure, and communications sector. We remain on track, moving in the right direction with sustainability. Our Tomorrow Metals commitment fosters customer relationships and helps generate new business. Demand for copper shape and flat roll products lag somewhat behind the high demand for wire rod. This was mostly due to the reasons I already mentioned in detail. Looking at sulfuric acid, we're still seeing stable demand from the European chemical and fertilizer industries. Demand from overseas has also stayed high and is supporting the current market terms. Our acid sales bulk give us good visibility in the summer despite the higher volatility on the spot market. This reinforces our confidence that we will be able to maintain this high level during this fiscal year. And now let me hand over to Steffen Hoffmann, who will take you through the details of our financials.

Thank you, Toralf, and a warm welcome from my side too. Let me take you through the financial details of the first three months of 2025-26. and touch on the KPIs in this chart. Revenues increased by 25% to 5.3 billion euro, primarily due to higher precious metal revenues driven by the marked rise in metal prices. Cross-profit was slightly lower at 426 million euro versus 433 million in the prior year quarter. Higher cost of materials more than offset the gross margin increase. Operating EBIT came in at 101 million and operating EBT at 105 million euro, which is 19% below the prior level of 130 million. Compared to the EBITDA, the decrease of the EBT was more pronounced than in the previous year. Personnel expenses increased by 12 million and depreciation rose by 10 million as planned due to strategic projects. The main positive impact on the result was a significantly higher metal result due to increased metal prices, especially for precious metals. Sulphuric acid revenues on par with the high prior year level and sustained higher copper product revenues provided additional support to the result. Marketly, lower treatment and refining charges with higher year-over-year concentrate throughput along with a mild input mix related decline in earnings from the processing of recycling material had a counteracting effect. In addition, anticipated high expenditures for strategic projects had an adverse effect on the result. With an EBITDA slightly below the previous year, the net cash flow was at minus 8 million euro, significantly below the prior year level of plus €178 million due to reporting date-related higher inventories coupled with higher metal prices. Here, I would like to emphasize that this cash flow is a snapshot as of December 31st, 2025, and inventory build-ups will turn into cash flows in future quarters. In contrast, Previous year's Q1 net cash flow was exceptionally high, considering the usual seasonal pattern. Operating ROSI, taking the operating EBIT of the last four quarters into consideration, decreased from 11.7% to 7.8%. This reflects lower earnings in previous quarters and higher capital employed due to continued investments. Looking at quarterly performance, profitability improved significantly in Q1 of 2526 compared to Q4 of 2425. Revenues increased from 4.4 billion euros to 5.3 billion euros. Cross-profit climbed from 380 million euros to 426 million euros, driven by a stronger metal result and good smelter performance in CSP. Operating EBT rose from 68 million to 105 million euros. The previous quarter was still affected by the scheduled major shutdown in peer debt. One-off effects in the MMR segment also weighed on Q4 24-25. Net cash flow declined from 319 million euros in Q4 to minus eight in Q1, mainly due to the buildup of working capital at higher price levels, which will translate into future cash flows as mentioned before. Coming to the gross margin. This slide shows the breakup on a group level. Total gross margin was around 546 million euros, slightly above the prior year level of about 534 million euros. Metal result was the main contributor to the gross margin and accounted for 45%. This is a step up from last year's 36% and reflects higher prices, especially for precious metals. Products and premiums were the second largest contributor and accounted for 33% of the gross margin. This share is broadly in line with the previous year, which underlines the stability of our downstream business. higher earnings from products to come as of Q2 fiscal year. And finally, treatment and refining charges for concentrate and recycling input decreased to 22% of the gross margin, down from 31%. This was mainly driven by the marked decline of concentrate TCRCs, as well as slightly subdued RCs for the recycling materials purchased in the months before. As Torev mentioned earlier, improved availability and higher RST levels will support earnings with some operational time lag, most probably starting in Q2 of the fiscal year. Overall, strong metal prices and solid product demand more than offset headwinds from lower RSTs at the gross margin level. Coming to MMR. In the multi-metal recycling segment, gross margin increased slightly from 171 million to 177 million euros. The main driver here was again a higher metal result that benefited from overall higher metal price levels. The strong increase of the metal result was, however, weakened by lower refining charges for recycling materials sourced in the previous months, coupled with a slight input-mix-related drop in throughput. In contrast, operating EBIT declined from 28 million to 20, and operating EBT fell from 28 to 18 million euros. Higher expected costs and increased depreciation, among others at Aurobis Richmond, outweighed the gross margin uplift. Operating ROSI decreased to 0.4%, down from 5.5%. The central factors here were lower earnings and over 20% higher capital employed, mainly for Richmond. Please keep in mind that the rolling EBIT of the last four quarters includes quarterly EBITs that were impacted by one-off items. Operationally, the segment's performance was mixed. Input mix related effects resulting from scrap availability during summer impacted the throughput of copper scrap and blister copper, which moved down from 92,000 tons to 83,000 tons. Throughput of other recycling materials, however, was stable at 112,000 tons, while cathode output in the segment increased slightly to 134,000 tons. In the next quarters, we continue to focus on stabilizing higher throughput levels while enrichment revenues will gradually start to compensate the operating cost of the plant. And generally in MMR, RCs should pick up. In the customs melting and product segment, gross margin improved slightly from 362 million to 369 million euros. The powerful increase in the metal result was largely offset by the decline in concentrate TCRC. The stable contribution of products and premiums to the segment's gross margin reflects just how robust our downstream business is. Scheduled comprehensive maintenance in Hamburg with an EBIT impact of minus 6 million Euro, general cost inflation, and anticipated cost increases for strategic projects weighed on operating EBIT. It declined from 125 to 122 million euros, while operating EBT decreased from 131 to 113 million euros. Operating ROSI was 17.8% compared to 19.4% in the prior year quarter. was essentially due to lower earnings. As in the MMR segment, the rolling four-quarter EBIT level also took effect here. Concentrate throughput rose from 602,000 tons to 630,000 tons, based on stable operations in Hamburg and Pierdorf. In line with higher concentrate throughput, copper scrap and blister copper input increased to 32,000 tons, and sulfuric acid output went up 5% to 583,000 tons. Cathode output reached 151,000 tons, which was due to temporarily lower current efficiency in PEADAP, is only slightly below the previous year's level. Overall, we are satisfied with the segment's operational performance at the Hamburg and PEADAP plant. We are targeting ongoing high utilization levels to maximize hopper supply to the markets. Let's now take a look at cost development in the group. Total cost amounted to about 464 million euros compared to roughly 441 in the prior year quarter. This 23 million euro increase was significantly driven by higher schedule depreciation in the amount of 10 million for the strategic projects which are being executed right now. At about 35% of total cost, personnel cost increased slightly. The main factors here were collective wage increases and expanded staffing levels for our strategic projects. Other operating expenses declined slightly to 21% of total cost with logistics and administration as the main items. Active energy management and hedging help keep energy cost inflation under control and stable at around 7% of total cost. Excluding depreciation, cash costs total 401 million euros compared to 388 million in the prior year. Turning to the cash flow bridge. With the operational performance of the business, operating EBITDA amounted to 164 million euros. Compared to the previous year, the main deviation here is from the buildup of working capital, which was strongly influenced by higher metal prices. Inventories were 495 million euros higher and receivables increased by 176 million euros. factoring was 100 million lower than in last year's Q1. On the other hand, liabilities rose by 404 million euros, partly offsetting the increase. The position other covers valuation changes for financial instruments that we are using for forward sales. In Q1-25-26, the non-cash effect amounted to 110 million euros. Taken together, this resulted in a net cash flow of minus 8 million. Here, I would like to highlight once more that our cash flow is subject to intra-year volatility and that the working capital tends to normalize over the course of the fiscal year. That cash flow at December 31st should be regarded as a snapshot, in particular, because factoring capacities have not been exhausted in Q1. Finally, we spent 91 million euros in cash on investment activities. These were mainly linked to Richmond and the new precious metals refinery in Hamburg. Total free cash flow for the first quarter came in at minus 103 million. Before we move to our outlook and guidance, I would now like to take you through some of our balance sheet KPIs. The equity ratio on an operating basis was 49.9%. A slight decrease was caused by the balance sheet expansion driven by working capital that negatively offset the addition of 81 million euro in earnings to the equity. Let us put the equity ratio into perspective though. The close to 50% level is still very solid and clearly above our larger than 40% target. And in the next orders, we expect to exceed the 50% mark again. The debt coverage defined as net financial liabilities over rolling EBITDA was around 0.6 in Q1. Again, the increase of this KPI was primarily the result of higher working capital. Our debt coverage is still well below the 3.0 ceiling. Capital expenditure was 108 million euros compared to 141 in the prior year quarter. This quarterly decline reflects the progress on completed projects as well as our disciplined approach. When we take the investments made in our strategic projects in recent quarters in account, the operating capital employed was about 4.3 billion euros. This represents an increase from the 3.8 billion euros recorded at the end of Q1 2024-25. Nevertheless, as a bottom line, it's fair to say that Aurobis remains solidly and conservatively financed. Let us now turn to our outlook for the key drivers of our business. Compared to last year's view on the markets, the outlook for our key macro drivers has improved overall. We all have followed the development of the metal prices, and since we last presented this chart, metal prices have reached even higher levels which will positively impact our middle result. Regarding earnings from copper products, we anticipated strong earnings levels already last year. Still, demand presented itself healthier than previously projected, which supports earnings from product sales even further. So both earnings drivers remain a green traffic light, however, even more positive than anticipated before. Furthermore, As I've mentioned earlier, we are seeing a stable, if not slightly increasing, sulfuric acid demand. Our sales book now provides us with visibility into the summer of 26, so we are taking a slightly more positive view than we did at the end of 25, and correspondingly, added a touch of green to the yellow traffic light. For recycling, material availability has improved somewhat, due to higher prices, and we are seeing better market conditions than last summer, paired with improved market visibility. At this stage, we maintain a cautious view, as expressed by the yellow traffic light, but see the potential for an improvement in the coming months. The US dollar-euro exchange rate remains an important factor as well. and we anticipate headwinds from the depreciation of the US dollar versus the euro. Since we are somewhat mitigating the impact through our hedging strategy, we keep the yellow light here. While we are confident that we will be able to supply all our assets with raw materials, we are still seeing tight concentrate markets. Consequently, the red traffic light for concentrate TCRCs remains In particular, since we have seen a visible TCRC decline versus the previous year and the corresponding effect in our gross margin. In summary, these developments provide us with higher confidence regarding the outlook for the business in the remainder of the fiscal year. Based on the improved market outlook that I've just shared with you, we have raised our full year guidance for fiscal year last week. As we have highlighted before, the continuous rise in metal prices will have a strong positive effect on the group's metal result. Moreover, we anticipate that higher earnings from copper products and lower concentrate TCRCs will still be a net positive effect on the EBT. For Richmond, We expect to achieve breakeven on EBITDA level, meaning on EBT level, the contribution will still be a negative item. Finally, due to the recent depreciation of the US dollar versus the euro, we factor in an additional headwind from foreign exchange. Therefore, we now expect operating EBT to be between 375 and 475 million euros, up from 300 to 400 million euros. And we now expect an operating EBITDA where the range has equally been lifted by 75 million euros to be between 655 and 755 million euros. By segment, we project an operating EBT of 320 to 380 million euros for CSP, which is plus 40 million euros. And for MMR, an operating EBT of 115 to 175 million euros, which is plus 35 million euros versus prior guidance. As a result, we upgraded the operating ROSI forecast as well to between 9 to 11% at the group level, which is up by 2 percentage points versus the prior guidance. breaking it down to the segment level. We anticipate ROSI between 13 to 15% for CSB and between eight to 10% for MMR, also here up each by two percentage points as well. Furthermore, we have refined our net cashflow forecast and expect it to be above last year. This means net cashflow should exceed 677 million euros for full year 2526. And finally, we expect free cash flow before dividend to be at least at break even for the full fiscal year. So in other words, we do expect that higher earnings levels will also result in higher cash flows. So the free cash flow guidance is slightly raised to at least free cash flow break even. Having said this, Please bear in mind that in context of raw material shipments at record high metal prices, a certain degree of imprecision around the balance sheet date may be unavoidable. And with this, I'd like to hand it back over to Thorat.

Thank you, Steffen. Before we come to the final slide of our presentation, I would like to update you on the progress of our strategic project. To sum up, our strategic projects continue moving forward and every day brings us closer to commissioning. By December 31st, around 1.4 billion euros, which is about 80% of the approved investment volume for strategic projects, has been invested. In Hamburg, we successfully installed the converter for complex recycling Hamburg. This is a key project milestone, and commissioning is planned for the first half of this fiscal year, 2025-2026. That puts it in the current quarter. In Pildop, the tankhouse expansion will allow us to process all anodes produced on site. This will increase refined copper capacity by about 50% to around 340,000 tons. Commissioning is also scheduled for fiscal year 2025-26. In Richmond, we achieved a number of milestones that highlight the progress made on Phase 1. The first blister was shipped to Europe, generating the first revenues for the plant. Depreciation started in Q1 2025-26, a signal of the site's technical readiness. The first complex melt was carried out on January 28. Another important step in the ramp up. Looking to the phase two, commissioning is still planned for this fiscal year. Reaching the end of our presentation, on the first quarter of fiscal year 2526, I would like to summarize the key takeaways. We had a sound start to the fiscal year. A higher metal result and strong metal prices drove gross margin expenses despite lower TCRCs. EBITDA of €164 million and operating EBT of €105 million were in line with market expectations and were carried by good operational performance. Net cash flow and free cash flow came in below last year, in particular on account of working capital build-up at higher metal prices. Operating return on capital employed was lowered by high investment and trailing earnings. However, as our projects ramp up, they will support returns over the medium term. The execution of our strategic CapEx program is on track. Complex Recycling Hamburg, the Tankhouse Expansion in Pildorf, Enrichment Phase 2 are all scheduled for commissioning in 2025-26. For the full year 2025-26, we expect higher metal prices and stronger product business, to offset the challenging raw material markets. Therefore, we now expect an operating EBT between 375 and 475 million euros and a free cash flow before dividends to be at least at break-even for the full fiscal year. And with this, I would like to hand back over to Elke Brinkmann.

Thank you, Toros and Steffen. Before we open the line for your questions, I would like to provide you with an outlook on the next event. Next week and Thursday, February 12th, we look forward to welcoming many of our shareholders at our annual general meeting. And on May 11th, we will publish our half-year results for 2025-2026. With that said, I hand over to the operator for the first question.

Thank you very much. Dear ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, please dial in into the conference call and then press 9 and the star key. I repeat, the combination to state a question is 9 star. If you wish to cancel your question again, please press 3 and then the star key. But for now, please press 9 star. The first questions are already incoming. The first one is from Adaha Ikoku of Morgan Stanley.

Please, over to you. Thank you very much for the presentation this afternoon. I've got a question on your free metal hedging. Throughout the Capital Markets Day, you outlined that given the elevated metal prices, you would keep your remaining open position that you had for the rest of this year unhedged. Is there any more color you could give us now on where this hedged versus unhedged exposure is for the rest of the year? Thank you.

Yeah, thanks, Adana, for the question. I mean, as we now have three months, let's say, advanced in the fiscal year, we've also advanced a bit on our hedging position. I think what I can share here is that for copper, we are hedged for this fiscal year at around 60%. And for gold, silver, talking about the main pieces on precious metals, we are hatched at around 70% for this fiscal year.

That's really helpful. Thank you.

Perfect. Thank you very much. The next question is from Bastian Sinagowitz of Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks. Good afternoon, and also thanks for taking my questions. Maybe starting with also with the metal prices, I guess we've seen an amazing volatility there. Given the higher value in metals, do you see that your metal terms are changing for the procurement of raw materials, or do you still see a pretty stable content in free metals in terms? That's my first question.

Yes, hello, Bastian. No, we don't see any major change in our contract terms because of higher metal prices.

Okay. Okay, great. And then just moving on to Richmond, as you touched on that in the presentation, but just on the current weather situation in, I guess, in the region, has this become effective for the supply of the business? I guess you said that you are relatively well supplied for scrap overall for the upcoming quarter. I just wanted to understand how far maybe the weather is causing any effects here upstream or downstream, and then also have you advanced on the next possible steps for U.S. footprint. If you could give us an update there, that would be great.

Yes, Bastian. On Richmond, the weather conditions U.S. don't have any major effect on our supply situation. We are currently well supplied with materials for our ramp up for, I would say until summer of this year. We also have the different materials available, so no impact of the weather on our tonnage or mixed situation when it comes to recycling materials for Richmond. Next steps, we are still in the evaluation phase. We are also in contact with the U.S. government for potential funding, but we stick to our milestone first. We want to get phase two up and running. in the course of this fiscal year, and then we will make a decision on further expansion in the next fiscal year.

Got you. Okay, great. And then lastly on, I guess, the European market, what are you making out of the European plans for securing access to critical raw materials? I guess we have had a bit of noise on that front in the last couple of days. So what does this mean for you, and are there any implications to you on the project pipeline as well?

Of course, we welcome this, you know, this attention to critical materials in Europe. We hope that also new mining projects will be started in Europe in order to increase the independence of Europe in the magnitude or in the direction of raw materials. Short term, we don't expect any major effect because it takes a while until these mining projects get started or help us supply more concentrates out of mines. But mid to long term, we see a positive effect for us. We also hope that with this critical raw materials act that also there will be more focus on the support for the competitiveness of European raw material companies who use raw materials and who produce metals. So we expect more support from the government here. So we see this positive. Okay. Thank you. Thanks.

I'll get back into the queue.

Thank you very much also from my side. Dear ladies and gentlemen, just a little reminder to ask a question, please press 9 and the star key. Moving on, the next question is from Maxime Kogge of ODDO-BHF.

Please, OD. Yeah, good afternoon. So first question is on the consolidation wave that we are, Seeing on the mining side, so now there are talks between Glencoe and Rio. There has been already talks concluding into a merger between Anglo and Tech. What's your take on that? Because I guess that from the smelting point of view, it's not necessarily great to have this consolidation. You prefer to speak to Rio and to Glencoe separately than to a global player, and would you see the need as well to consolidate on the smelting side to somehow mirror this consolidation on the mining side.

Yeah, thank you for that strategic question. Of course, we, you know, we monitor these mergers quite intensively. We don't see a big negative effect. We rather see a neutral effect on us because our contacts are in most cases directly with the mines. And we have long-term relationships, as you know, with many different mines. So we continue to expect that these long-term relationships and long-term contract agreements will continue. Consolidation talks on the smelting side, we don't see right now. You know, we have a good market position in Europe. We're building up a good market position in the U.S. with our focus on Europe and the U.S. and our, you know, as is market position in Europe and our to be built market position in the U.S., we feel strong enough to stay independent and not have any further consolidation. So no consolidation plans from our side on the smelting side.

Okay. And just a second and last question is on the wire road. So this is really the product that is in hot demand right now. So I guess that you're basically at full capacity there in Europe. So would you see a case for expanding your capacity there? The current program doesn't plan any peak capacity increase in Europe. Is this a segment where you would perhaps be more inclined to envisage such a thing?

As you rightfully said, there is strong demand for wire rot. We see that across industries. We are almost at our capacity where we still have a capacity limit, where we still have some capacity left. First, we want to, you know, use or expand, materialize this excess capacity that we have. And then the second step, we would think about further expansion. But right now, there are no concrete plans. Okay, thank you.

Thank you very much. The next question is from Daniel Major of UPS. Please go ahead.

Over to you. Thanks so much for the questions. Just first a couple of follow-ups on the existing questions. You mentioned 60% of copper and 70% of precious were hedged for this year. What sort of levels?

Yeah, Daniel, I think that's the $1 billion question, right? So I think what I can share is that the guidance increase of the 75 million, which is basically linked to more positive view on metals, a very positive view as well on our copper products, a bit more cautious view on enrichment. and obviously also an update on the foreign exchange. Those comments that we were making were based on, let's say, on data points and on market information from the beginning of this calendar year. So that gives you a rough impression where the metal prices were there. And obviously, we do not know where the next months will go to. But as I said, in the midpoint of the guidance, grounds on premises of early calendar year 26.

Okay. So, if prices persisted to this level, you'd be in the range. Is that a fair assessment?

Can you repeat?

If prices were the same for the rest of the year, you would be within the range. It's not upside risk, it's spot pricing. Is that the right way of thinking about it?

That's correct. If prices would stay on those levels of early beginning of January, then we would see ourselves at the midpoint of the range. And if prices would be significantly higher than that or significantly lower than that, then it could be the one or the other.

Okay, thanks. Second question follows on from Bastien's question a little bit, but specifically on scrap export restrictions from Europe. Is there any update on timeline or, you know, kind of parameters around that?

No, Daniel, there's unfortunately no update on the timeline. We are in close contact with the political authorities here. They are willing to do something, but we have no concrete timeline.

Yeah, next question, just going back to your slide with the variables, so slide number five, pick up in spot refining charges and sulfuric. In terms of the scrap market, you mentioned improving availability because of the higher price environment. Do you think that's sustainable, or is this just, you know, a desocking of available inventory of low-quality scrap because of the high pricing environment, and that will normalize, or is this a sustainable improvement in scrap availability?

I mean, Daniel, let's say we all know that on the scrap side – The visibility is limited, so kind of it's the next three months, but we do think that for now it's, let's say for the next few months, it is sustainable for the next few months. We count on higher RCs starting now with our next Q2. We see it coming. Let's say new material that's going in is coming in with better RCs than the material we were putting in the smelters in Q1, having been sourced earlier in the mid of 25 or in the fall of 25. So for the foreseeable few months, we think it's sustainable, and obviously it will be a function of copper price developments going forward.

And then kind of similar question on the sulfuric market. It's not a market I know very well at all. What's the dynamics that have driven the recovery? And again, what's the outlook as you see it in the near term?

I mean, also here, Daniel, let's say visibility is a bit limited, but as I can say that way, We see it at the time of the CMD or when we did the full year disclosure end of last year, we were giving the sulfuric acid market a yellow traffic light, yellow meaning same level as the very good level last year. And now we added some shade of green to it, meaning it's a bit better than that. And we think this is market-driven in some of the sub-segments, basically in the overseas, from our perspective in the overseas sub-segments of the sulfuric acid prices. So here it's a slight further improvement on real good levels that we see.

And then final one, you have to highlight the positive contribution from the strength products, which is predominantly wire rod. Is there any improvement in other end markets you're seeing coming through? I noticed you had a sequential year on year decline in flat products, but is there any signs of life in the other segments outside of wire rod?

Well, you know, as you know, automotive is still at a low level. We see no major improvement there, but we see slight increases on the construction and infrastructure industry. So we see slight pickup here, but no major pickups yet.

Great. Thanks. I'll get back to you.

Perfect. Thanks a lot. At the moment, there are no more questions in the queue. So, ladies and gentlemen, final call. Please press 9 star now to enter the queue. All right. There is a follow-up from from Deutsche Bank. Please, over to you.

Yeah, thanks for taking my quick follow-up. Just on Richmond. I think your overall commentary there on the ramp up sounded quite positive, but you said in the guidance mix, you basically marked it down a little. I guess Richmond is one area where at least on pretext level, I guess the ethics should actually work in your favor. So what's been driving the markdown?

Yeah, Bastian, you know, at the CMD, I think we had a chart that indicated that EBITDA would be A positive level, I think, from the scale one could derive that it was, let's say, a plus 20 million EBITDA figure. And as Torel has said, we feel well with what we have on stock. We feel well also with the commercial terms. I mean, what we talked about, RC is improving now in Europe. We see similar things in the U.S. So the reason why we scaled it down a bit by the 20 million euros roughly that I said is basically a few weeks slower ramp up than we thought last fall. But, I mean, here you see we are very granular. It's just a few weeks. We are happy that we had the first revenues in Q1. We are happy that we have the depreciation, which is a sign that the system is up and running. But it's really granular. Perhaps at the end of the year, we are missing very few weeks of revenues, and that would be it.

Got you. Okay. Thanks for giving us that detail.

Thank you very much. So at the moment, no more questions in the queue. So with that, I would like to close the Q&A session and I'm handing the floor back over to the host.

Yes, thank you. The IR team will, of course, be happy to answer any further questions you may have. We would now like to close today's conference call and thank you for your attention. We wish you a pleasant rest of the day. Thank you and goodbye.