Bekaert Sa Ord

That full start, but good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for joining today's Q1 2024 trading updates. I'll hand over very shortly to Eve and Tawfiq, but just before that, it's important to take you through the safe harbor statement. Just to remind, this presentation may contain forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Bekaert is providing the information in this presentation as of its date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in it in light of new information, future events or otherwise. Bekaert disclaims any liability for statements made or published by third parties and does not undertake any obligation to correct inaccurate data, information, conclusions or opinions published by third parties in relation to this or any other publication issued by Bekaert. With that, Claire, I'd love to hand over to Yves.

Thank you. Thank you, Paul. So the year started solid for us with the performance in line with our four-year expectation. And today, myself and Daphne will give you some further color on this performance. So on the first quarter, top line, we achieved 1 billion 25 million. This is compared to a very strong QE1-23 down, top line sales of 14%. As you remember, QE1-23 was the last quarter of very high, let's say, input materials, raw materials and energy costs, which we passed through to the market in QE1, as well as pre-stocking and customer stocking both in China and in some other regions of the world. If you make the evolution of quarter four, 23 versus quarter one this year, we have a top line of 5%. So in that context environment, we continue to focus on delivering on our strategy and preparing for the upcoming year and years. First of all, by further ramping up our growth businesses, we keep the pricing discipline in the core businesses and be very selective in the business we are in. We continue to focus on our cost efficiency and optimize our working capital management, and we continue to work on further margin improvement and strong cash flow generation. As mentioned, QI performance for us remains in line with our full year expectations, and we are confident as management to deliver on our full year 2024 guidance and meet current targets at FPN in the capital market day. So some highlights in Q1 on proof points of our strategic evolution in the different business segments we are active in. First of all, in our tire reinforcement, where we gained momentum and traction together with one of our premium customers, Coutier, on bringing a product to the market with 90% recycled materials, including the Bekaert recycled steel gold. In the BBRG area, we have a mooring solution for largest offshore floating solar plant and synthetic mooring expertise for tailwind floating offshore project. So happy to be part of this demonstrated projects for the future. In the area of energy transition, we got qualification of the solar impulse foundation for the current of product as a solution which is contributing to sustainability. On the telecommunication in the U.S., we've been qualified and certified as a buy in America, which gives us further opportunities for growth in energy utilities in the upcoming months and years in the U.S. And then also progressing on how we handle steel circularity in the value chain with our suppliers and our customers. So we continue working on driving our performance while also improving and increasing, let's say, our portfolio towards more sustainable products. And as you see, the 42% of our full product portfolio in the sustainability category continue trying to make it 50-50 in the future by bringing products to the markets which influence the way we live and move. Having said that, I pass now to Tawfiq for more insight in the performance on the top line of our different businesses.

Thank you very much, Yves, and good morning, everyone. So I will just start this part with an overview of the total consolidated sales for Bekaert. So as you see in Q1-24, the consolidated sales topped 1 billion 25 million euros, roughly contracting by 14% compared to Q1 of last year. In the overall context, we are dealing with market conditions which have remained mixed. This is leading to a consolidated organic volume decrease of 5%. And I think it's important to put the volume decrease of 5% in the context of the overall 14% contraction that we are reporting. Specifically about these contractions, they are part of a broader industry challenge, which is reflecting a subdued demand in certain sectors. But the important element there is that we have been dealing with the normalization of some of the input costs as compared to last year. And the reduction that we see this year is actually a reduction of the past on inflation, which contributed to a 70 million euros decrease in sales. So again, the change is largely due to the normalization of cost. as we're seeing a stabilization from the previously high energy and raw material prices. These two elements were particularly pronounced last year in rubber reinforcement and steel wire solutions. And you might remember that, for instance, we have benefited in 2023 from so-called energy surcharges, which have increased our top line, but didn't have any impact in terms of margin. so despite these challenges the sales figures are in line with our expectations so we are not dealing with a surprising situation so to speak and again considering the high base of q1 2023 which included this significant country one of contribution we kind of anticipated this situation so we remain actively focused on addressing this dynamic so we have the right strategic initiatives in place to help us improve the operational efficiency and adapt to this specific, hopefully punctual market conditions. And in 2024, we will remain focused on navigating these challenges and be, again, as usual, very opportunistic in terms of enhancing our overall performance. Now, if we look at the dynamics within the specific business units and starting with RR, so we're reporting a decrease of the top line of 17% compared to the same quarter of last year. But I think it's important to mention that if this quarter compared to Q1 of last year, we're reporting a drop of volume of 6%. This evolution corresponds to an increase of 6% versus Q4 of last year. So the volumes, again, are picking up compared to the last proof point of Q4. Regionally, we see sales volume dropping in China by 5%, 3% in EMEA. But it's also very important to mention that we are seeing a significant boost of the top line by almost 20%. in the southeast region. So, again, a dynamic which is primarily driven by the phase-out of some of the energy surcharges from early 2023 and a stabilization of the wire road prices. Moving to steel wire solution, a 14% contraction in sales versus Q1 of last year. Two main contributors, volume for 5% and a similar decrease in the past on wire road prices. A contraction as well in the range of 4.5% in terms of price and mix. We did see a very strong start in January. However, the segment didn't really show a crystallization of this trend for the balance of the quarter. And we did see as well a demand which is remaining weak in some of our more commoditized areas. Compared to Q4, there's a 5% increase in volume and a 10% increase in revenue. So it's picking up again versus the end of 2023. Regionally, the region which has suffered the most is the north of Latin America with a 19% reduction. mainly compounded by the situation in Ecuador with all the political situation that the country is dealing with. North America and EMEA declining, but in a smaller percentage. And China, a significant growth of almost 7%. Then moving to specialty business, a 5% decrease in consolidated sales, mainly impacted by the pricing pressure that we had to deal with in some specific segments, including construction. But construction did see a volume pickup of almost 7%. primarily in Europe, which has been benefiting from more business at a lower average sales price. So it's helping in terms of absorption and allowing us to crystallize the strategy that we have established in terms of gaining market share. And we see the adoption of the steel fiber reinforced concrete in growth market is progressing with some significant project wins across the world. And the shared of our high-end application, the DRAMIX 4D and 5D, is increasing from 46% last year to 51% this year, which is really a very strong performance. Fiber technology within specialty business there as well, we have a top-line increase, almost 5% in terms of sales. Then moving to BBRG, sales were 15% lower. Primarily driven by almost 20% in decrease. However, we did see a strong positive price and mix effect, which has partially mitigated some of these deviations I have referred to. The issues that we had to deal with are mainly related to punctual phasing issues. of projects in Europe and as well some production challenges in the US in terms of production output. So we continue to benefit from a good momentum in the significant mooring projects which are ongoing and it's clearly something which is enhancing our positioning in the renewable energy solutions for the company. With that, I hand it over to Yves for the outlook.