Arcelormittal SA

Good afternoon, everyone. This is Daniel Fegler from the Arslan Mittal Investor Relations Team. Thank you very much for joining us on this call today to discuss the third quarter and nine months 2023. Before I hand directly to Mr. Mittal, I would like to refer you to the presentation we published this morning on our website, and in particular, draw your attention to the disclaimers on slide number two of that presentation. I now hand over the call to our Executive Chairman, Mr. Mittal.

Thank you, Daniel. Good day. And thank you for joining us today for this Q3 earnings call. I'm joined today by our chief executive, Adit Mittal, our chief financial officer, Janino Cristino, and our executive vice president, Brad Davey, whose responsibilities include corporate health and safety. Adit and I would not normally be present at the third quarter, But we wanted to speak with you all, given the tragic accident that took place on October 28 at our Kostenko coal mine in Kazakhstan that claimed the lives of 46 of our colleagues. The accident was devastating, especially for the families of the victims and also for colleagues of the deceased who have lost friends and for the communities to which they will never return. It is naturally with these groups, the families, colleagues, and communities where our greatest focus has been since the accident. It goes without saying that it is also a very difficult time for the company. We are a global group, but we are also a community. The pain and the anguish within the company at this terrible accident remains very raw. The outpouring of compassionate support shown by colleagues around the world for our colleagues in Kazakhstan has been a gratifying reminder of the depth of human kindness. You will want to know, how did this accident happen? We are asking ourselves the same questions and we will make sure we get answers. Answers that can help us implement the actions that will enable us to emerge stronger in the future. A full review of our health and safety program, including the progress that has been made in the last two years, as well as the areas that need to be strengthened and improved, is already underway. We will ensure that whatever lessons that can be learned are learned. We will ensure that whatever aspects of our safety processes can be strengthened, will be strengthened. Kazakhstan has played an important role in the group since we acquired in 1995. But over the course of this year, we have been in discussions with the government of Kazakhstan about the future ownership of this asset. Before the recent accident, we had signed a preliminary agreement for the government to take over the operations. We are committed to completing this transaction as soon as possible. It is important for thousands of employees that work in Timirtao and Karganda, as well as their families and communities, that they have certainty and stability about the future. Our Kazakhstan operations have played an important role in this company's history. I sincerely hope they will have a long and successful future. With this, I will hand over now to Aditya. to add some additional details on the steps we are taking from here.

Thank you. As Mr. Mittal already said, 20th of October was the saddest day in the history of our Swarmitto. The families of our 46 colleagues have had their lives devastated. Their grief and loss are shared by all our colleagues and our communities. We know there is no adequate compensation for this loss, but we're doing everything in our power to provide appropriate support. Part of this is ensuring we fulfill our basic civic responsibility to properly look after those who have lost loved ones. Even during the process of transferring ownership to the government of Kazakhstan, we will continue to provide support for our communities as they navigate this tragedy. I'm sure, like me, you want to understand how this happened. We don't have all the answers today. A special commission has been initiated by the government to conduct the first phase investigation. We are cooperating fully to assist in this investigation. The commission is still taking evidence and we expect preliminary findings to be published soon. It is only in Kazakhstan that we own and operate coal mines. Nevertheless, it is only appropriate at a time like this to review safety across the group and make whatever improvements are required to ensure that every single one of our submittal's operations have zero serious accidents. We had already launched a major step change in our safety activities at the start of 2022 when a new strategy focused on the twin pillars of risk management and cultural change was developed for group-wide implementation. You will find more detail on that strategy in the presentation and the earnings release. We can see that in the steel side of the business, the step change is delivering results. Because of the efforts and commitment of our colleagues globally, this year we have had no direct employee fatalities outside of CIS, and while we cannot yet say the same when you include contractors, we are nevertheless 40% better than the World Steel Association record. But this was not enough to stop these accidents happening. Given where we stand today, I cannot conclude that we have every single aspect covered or that our organization is set up optimally to achieve the transformation as swiftly as we must. We need to do much more. The only appropriate course of action is to take a hard look inside our group, identify the gaps that exist, and strengthen our actions, processes, and culture to ensure that an accident of this magnitude never happens again. Therefore, we're also commissioning an independent third-party comprehensive global safety audit whose key recommendations will be published in due course. We know that going forward, we will be judged more on what we do than what we say. We are committed to taking all the steps necessary to learn from this tragedy and show it has never repeated and emerge a better, safer company. Genuino will now make some further remarks.