Arcelormittal SA

Hi, good afternoon, everyone. This is Daniel Fechler from the ArcelorMittal Investor Relations team. Thank you for joining this call to discuss ArcelorMittal's performance and progress during the third quarter of 2025. Leading today's call will be our Group CFO, Mr. Genuino Cristino. Before we begin, I would like to mention a few housekeeping items. As usual, we will not be going through the results presentation, which was published this morning on our website. However, I do want to draw your attention to the disclaimers on slide number 20 of that presentation. As usual, Jean-Reno will make some opening remarks before we move directly to the Q&A session. So if you would like to ask a question, then do please press star 1 1 on your keypad to join the queue.

Over to you, Jean-Reno. Thanks, Daniel, and welcome, everyone, and thanks for joining today's call.

As usual, I will keep my remarks brief, beginning with safety, a core value for our company. The company is completing the first year of its three-year transformation program, supporting AceloMetal's journey to be a zero-fatality and serious injury company. The first year has focused on building the foundations for improvement across the business, and I'm encouraged by the progress we are making. We are already observing an improvement in the frequency of serious injuries and fatalities compared to last year. But there is more to be done, and there is clear determination across the entire company to implement the bespoke safety roadmaps that have been developed to drive lasting change. Now, I want to focus this quarter on three key points. First and foremost, our results continue to demonstrate structural improvements. Third quarter EBITDA per ton was $111. This is 25% above our historical average margin. To be achieving such improved margins at what we believe to be the bottom of the cycle demonstrates the positive impact that our asset optimization and growth strategy is having. Our strategic projects, together with the impacts of recently completed M&A, will support structurally high margins and returns on capital employed through the cycle. We remain on track to capture 0.7 billion structural EBITDA improvements this year, and the expected medium-term impact of 2.1 billion remains unchanged. My second point is on free cash flow. Our underlying business continues to generate healthy cash flows. Excluding working capital, nine months free cash flow was approximately $0.5 billion positive. Remember this is after having invested close to $1 billion in our strategic growth projects. As we head into year end, I expect that working capital investment will unwind as it normally does. It supports a positive outlook for free cash flow and lower net debt. And then my final point is on the positive outlook for our business. Relative to where we were three months ago, the outlook for our business has clearly improved. We welcome the new trade tool proposed by the European Commission. It will support a more sustainable European steel sector returning the industry to healthier capacity utilization levels. The proposal must now be transposed into legislation as fast as possible, and together with an effective CBA, this can provide a solid foundation for European business to earn its cost of capital, as we have been achieving in other regions. With our advanced product offering and strong market franchises, we are well equipped to seize new structural opportunities and translate them into profitable growth. As a company, AceloMittal is actively enabling the energy transition. We are supplying the steel required for new energy and mobility systems and the steel required for infrastructure development. We are investing in high quality, high margin electrical seals and building a competitive renewable energy portfolio. Putting this all together, Massimo Mittal is in a strong position both operationally and financially. We have a unique diversified asset base across geographies and end markets. We are delivering structurally higher margins supported by an optimized asset portfolio and execution of our strategic growth projects. We have momentum and our growth will continue. We will continue to implement our clearly defined capital return policies. It is working well, allowing us over the past five years to grow our dividend at a compound rate of 16%, as well as repurchase 38% of our equity. Each SLO metal share now represents a greater proportion of our capacity, a bigger share of our leading franchise businesses, a larger stake in our growth project, and a greater ownership of our unique business in India.