Cemetir Holding

Good afternoon. This is the Coruscall Conference Operator. Welcome and thank you for joining the Cementier Holding 2021 First Quarter Results Conference Call. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Marco Maria Bianconi, Head of M&A and Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you. Good afternoon and good morning to everybody. Welcome to Chairman T. Holding 2021 first quarter results presentation conference call. You should have received a presentation material, so I'll go through the document. I'm here with Mr. Caltagirone, who is happy to take your question at the end. So the highlights taking page starting with page two. Q1 results were very good. Revenues reached over €300 million, up 12.6%, with volumes up over 17.5%, mainly driven by good performance in Turkey, Belgium and Denmark. EBITDA for the group was up almost 50% to €48.1 million. There was a higher contribution from Belgium, Turkey, Denmark and to a lesser extent, from the Asia Pacific and Egypt regions. EBITDA margin was up almost 400 basis points, and we have to see that the 2020 figures were impacted by COVID-19 figures in March, and there was also a €2.5 million one-off on the comparable figures. EBIT was also very strong at €21 million, up over 300%, from €5.1 million in Q1 of 2020. PBT reached €15.6 million from a loss of €5 million of last year after €5.4 million financial charges. Net financial positions reached €167.8 million, a reduction of €154.5 million year-on-year, including over €11 million of share buyback. This result represents a record historical record for the group for the first quarter. Going quickly through the different geographies, starting with Nordic and Baltic on page 3, Denmark reported good results with both grey and white cement volumes up due to increased market activity. White cement export was slightly down. Overall, RMC volumes were up 11% with prices moderately up. EBITDA was up 8%, driven mainly by the readymix business. In Norway, on the contrary, readymix sales volumes fell by around 3% due to generally lower construction activity and the postponement of some infrastructure projects. In March, there was a significant recovery. We have also to highlight that Norwegian krona appreciated by around 2% versus the Euro. In Sweden, there was a favorable weather and robust construction market underpinning of sales volumes up more than 20% in ready mix and 8% in aggregates with higher prices on average. The Swedish Krona appreciated by 5% versus the Euro. Page 4, Belgium and France accounting for around 20% of Group EBITDA in the quarter. Here, cement and clinker volumes were up 8% with prices up year-on-year. ReadyMix, we had 20% volume growth thanks to some important projects getting underway. Also, aggregate business was relatively strong with volumes up 4.5% and stronger export to France. EBITDA in the period was up over 89% to 9.8 million euro. And this is also due to weak March comparable figures due to the COVID-19 impact. North America, on page 5, United States posted a sustained volume growth, especially in regions like Florida and York, and there was also favorable base effect despite hurricanes and bad weather. There was overall a 4.2% decline in revenue, mainly due to currency translation and some soft pricing. There was a 9% devaluation of the US dollar versus the euro in the period. and the somewhat higher distribution and energy cost. Therefore, the EBITDA declined by 14.9% in the period. Moving to page six, Asia Pacific, accounting for 8% of group EBITDA. China posted very strong demand with wet cement and clinker sales volumes up 60%. Despite the rainy start of the year, EBITDA was up over 44%. The Chinese renminbi in the period devalued by around 1.5% versus the euro. In Malaysia, similar story with cement sales up by 40%, mainly driven by export. Export volume, in fact, increased in a number of countries, Australia, Vietnam, Philippines, and other Southeastern Asian countries. EBITDA was up 50%. Turkey on page 7. Here, rates and volumes increased by around 30%, with domestic sales up 38%, driven mainly by strong demand in the Marmara, Anatolia, and Asian regions. Exports were up 8%, with a more favorable sales mix. Average cement prices in local currency were up, with different trends. Ready mix volumes were sharply up by over 65%, with prices up. There was a 32% Turkish Lira devaluation versus the Euro in the period. Overall, there was a strong improvement in the EBITDA, which turned a profit from last year. Moving to page 8, Egypt, accounting for around 6% of group EBITDA. Here, wet cement domestic volumes were up by 35%. EBITDA was up more than 48%. thanks to higher volumes and prices and lower fuel purchasing cost. Overall, in the period, the Egyptian pound devalued by around 9% versus the Euro. On page 9, you see the reiteration of the four-year guidance, which is unchanged. We expect to reach revenues of around 1.3 billion Euro, down the range between 285 and 295 million Euro. net debt of around 30 million and capex of around 95 million. This clearly excludes any unforeseen event. This ends my short presentation. I leave the floor to our chief executive and chairman, Francesco Caltagirone, for many questions you may have. Thank you.

Excuse me. This is the Coruscant conference operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. The first question is from Matteo Bonizzoni with Kepler. Please go ahead.