Arcelormittal SA

Thank you for joining the Q2 analyst call of ArcelorMittal. Throughout today's recorded presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, you may press star followed by one on your touch-tone telephone. Please note that the operator will control and unmute your line for your question. Please press the star key followed by zero for operator assistance. I would now like to turn the conference over to Daniel Fairclough, Vice President, Industrial Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Moritz. Good afternoon, everyone. This is Daniel Fairclough from the ArcelorMittal Investor Relations team. Thank you very much for joining us on this call today to discuss our performance for the first half of 2023. I'm joined on this call today by our CEO, Aditya Mittal, our CFO, Germino Cristino, and by Stefan Baez, who is the CEO of our mining segment. Before we begin, I would like to mention a few housekeeping items. As usual, we will not be going through the results presentation that we published this morning on our website, but I do want to draw your attention to the disclaimers on slide number two of that presentation. We will be moving directly to the Q&A session, so if you would like to ask a question, then please do press star one on your telephone keypad to join the queue. And with that, I will hand over to Aditya for opening remarks.

Thank you, Daniel, and welcome, everyone. There is much I could highlight, but I will keep my remarks brief and focused on three key messages. First, our results continue to reflect the structural improvements that we have made to our business. Second, we are making clear progress in our decarbonization agenda. And third, the investments we are making to grow and develop our business are positioning us very well for the future. Just to expand a little on these points. On structural improvement to the business, it is not just about the EBITDA improvement per ton we are making, but also the dramatically different capital cost of our balance sheet and the impact of the strong contribution from our equity investments that drives the structural improvement to our free cash and net income. On DCAP, as a truly global, multi-region steel producer, the scale and breadth of our business gives us many more options. I remain convinced that we can develop the right set of solutions that will allow us to decarbonize our footprint effectively and at a competitive cost. Our DRIEF projects are progressing. We're currently in the process of moving these projects from the pre-feed stage to feed stage, which includes the ordering of long lead time equipment. Our smart carbon technologies are also progressing, and we're strengthening our vertical integration of lower carbon supply chains by securing and developing some of the resources that we will require to decarbonize. From a commercial standpoint, our products and solutions are gaining traction in the marketplace. We were the first to market with our Excarp brand of low-emission steel solutions, and customer interest continues to be very encouraging. This is reflected in the recent announcement that we will be supplying General Motors with our Excarp RRP product. On growth, Our unique asset portfolio positions us very well to benefit from growth in demand for steel. This demand growth will be driven by megatrends such as renewable energy transition, new mobility systems, and developed economies, while in less mature markets, high demand for steel will be driven by population growth and the desire to improve living standards. We will continue to invest in the very best opportunities to capture and benefit from this growth. The investments we have made in recent periods are contributing over and above our expectations. Our hot strip mill in Mexico is delivering enhanced margins. Our newly acquired asset in Brazil is performing well, and the team there has identified synergies more than double the initial estimate. Our HBI asset in Texas achieved record performance in the first half, producing 1 million ton of high-quality HBI in line with its nameplate capacity. We are progressing our strong pipeline of high-return strategic CAPEX projects. This includes our iron ore project in Liberia, which has been redesigned to maximize the potential of our Tier 1 resource. With a greater understanding of the ore body, we are now working on the feasibility of producing DRI-quality concentrate and the potential to take capacity to 30 million tons per annum. Nevertheless, the capex for the 15 million ton concentrator has increased, reflecting the redesign of plant and associated equipment, but with our expectation that this will generate $350 million of EBITDA at conservative long run prices, this remains a very strong project. In terms of the nearer term outlook, inventories in the system remain low, and this provides support for demand. Trends in automotive contrast with those of the construction markets, and we expect apparent demand for flat steel in Europe and North America to be higher this year than in 2022. We're well-placed to generate good levels of free cash, to continue progressing our decarbonization and growth agendas, and our capital returns program. Now allows Genuino to provide some more detail on our financial performance.