Elkem Asa Ord

A warm welcome to LKM's second quarter results presentation. My name is Adger Lindstein. I'm responsible for investor relations in LKM. To take us through today's agenda, we have, as usual, CEO Helge Aasen and CFO Morten Viga. Helge will cover the highlights and the business update, followed by market update and outlook for the third quarter. Morten will then present the results for the second quarter. We are pleased to welcome... Elke Snikst, CEO Dag Teigland today. Helge will shortly introduce Dag, and he will give a short introduction. We will then open for Q&A after Helge and Morten's presentation. And with that, I hand over to CEO Helge Aasen. Yeah, thank you, Helge.

Welcome and good morning. I'm doing this without the suit today. It's quite warm in here. It's actually my last quarterly presentation before handing over the CEO role to Dag. So it's been a privilege to lead Elkem. I've had this role almost continuously for 17 years and I'm quite proud of what this organization has accomplished. I'm also confident that the company is well positioned now for Continued Value Creation and of course looking forward to support Elkem going forward also in my new role as chair of the board. So going to the highlights this quarter we continue to face quite challenging market conditions and Elkem must continue to deliver on its continuous and various improvement initiatives. The organizational streamlining following the sale of the silicones division has been completed and the cost reductions, I would say, are on track and progressing as planned, actually a little bit ahead of plan. We have also successfully raised 1.8 billion in new equity and refinanced our main bank facilities. and combined with other measures to improve the balance sheet we have achieved a significant net debt reduction and have improved the leverage ratio from five in the first quarter now down to 3.2 at the end of this quarter. In addition we are actively assessing and pursuing and many other strategic options because this is work that has just been kicked off with the new board. Elkem Iceland, which has suffered from weak results actually since 2024, has been reclassified as this continued operation. And in addition to that, we're also looking into other opportunities to extract more value from our various assets. The Silicon Products Division has improved its performance compared with the first quarter and this is partly explained by resuming production at the Rana and Solten facilities. Carbon Solution has sustained good performance despite low demand, soft markets. And as Oddge mentioned, Dag Tegland has been appointed new CEO of Elke and he will take over on August 3rd. And I really look forward to work closely with Dag. I have known him since 1998. Dag is here today and I would like to give the word to him to briefly introduce himself. So please, Dag, the floor is yours. Thank you, Inge.

Good morning, everybody. I'm happy to be here. I hope to have the opportunity to spend more time with investors and analysts later after I start. I'm very appreciative by the trust of the board of directors and of Helge in particular for the confidence of taking over as CEO of Helge. I'll give a very quick introduction of myself. Educated Bachelor of Finance in the US. Worked in the US in Seattle for a few years thereafter in a shipping company. Developed some new business opportunities within distribution and trading. Transitioning back to Europe, I stopped by in Spain, got my MBA degree at IESE. Then two years strategy consultant in Norway before I joined Elkem. And I have to say I was very privileged to work with some of the most, let's say, projects of most strategic importance for Elkem at that time. So working with business development and then moving into more operational positions. And I actually took over the responsibilities of Helge Aasen when Helge moved on. As a commercial director in the biggest division of Elkim at that time, Manganese Chrome, being responsible for sales, marketing, and raw material sourcing. So this is not the first time I take over the responsibilities from Helge. Then we sold the Manganese business to Eramet. I then took over the full profit and loss responsibility for the I moved on outside of Elkem in a new CEO position. After a few years, I went back to the metal industry as CEO of TINFOS. TINFOS group at that time was like a mini Elkem with the manufacturing of ferroalloys, titanium dioxide, high purity pig iron and energy. That company was basically acquired by Eramet and then I joined the main shareholder of Timfoss to build up and develop an investment company. As the CEO, I spent most of my time on industrial holdings, working actively on developing value with this portfolio. Many of these assets were in the metal industry, both in Europe and the US. So I was trying to apply a lot of the principles I picked up from my time at Elkem, in particular in the Elkem business system, to develop the value of these assets. Then, after 12 years, I left Holta Invest. And the last few years, I have been working together with investors on several engagements, in particular within metals and advanced materials. So, you know, looking back, I've had the privilege of working both at an operational level where, let's say, the values are created. and at the strategic level, all the time trying to identify and implement the best structural solutions. And also from an investor point of view, so understanding investors and shareholders. So again, I'm very happy for this opportunity. I consider Elkem to be the most interesting opportunity in this industry right now. I think with the strong culture of continuous improvement, innovation, a strong position, a strong competitive position in the Western world, and with the most recent changes, and not at least with the new ownership structure, I think there are a lot of strategic opportunities to be pursued. So looking very much forward to getting started at the beginning of August and working closely with Helge and the rest of the board. Thank you.