Constellium SE (NYSE:CSTM) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Josh Sullivan: Great. Thank you for the time.

Jean-Marc Germain: Thanks, Josh.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] And our next question goes to Sean Wondrack of Deutsche Bank. Sean, please go ahead. Your line is open.

SeanWondrack: Hi, Jean-Marc and Jack, congratulations on hitting this leverage target. I know you’ve been gunning for it for a while, and it’s great to see you guys have reached it now.

Jean-Marc Germain: Thank you, Sean. We’re very happy we have.

SeanWondrack: So I guess, just to that point, right, when I look at your ratings relative to kind of your leverage and your guidance and even your leverage target, there seems to be a bit of a mismatch there. So I was curious how your conversations have been with the rating agencies? And any comments you could make there, please?

Jack Guo: Yes. So Sean, it’s a good comment and observation, and thank you for that. Yes. I mean, I think we – the conversations have been quite constructive. We do have positive outlooks from both S&P and Moody’s, if I’m not mistaken. And we think there are some opportunities for an upgrade sometime next year.

SeanWondrack: That’s good to hear. And just in terms of the near-term sort of outlook for capital allocation, I realize going forward at some point, it’s going to become more balanced between debt and equity. But do you think it’s possible we could see leverage continue to creep down from 2.5 turns right now?

Jean-Marc Germain: Yes, Sean. I mean as we said, this company naturally delevers, right? We generate free cash flow, quite significantly free cash flow, and we can have a very balanced capital allocation policy that allows us to seize a few more opportunities through capital expenditures for organic growth and continue to reduce our net and gross debt and return money to shareholders. So we do see a natural path to continue deleveraging. And that’s why we want to stay in our range of 2.5 to 1.5, right?

SeanWondrack: That’s great. Thank you very much. Good luck.

Jean-Marc Germain: Thanks, Sean.

Jack Guo: Thank you, Sean.

Operator: Thank you. We have no further questions. And I’ll now hand back to Jean-Marc Germain, CEO, for any closing comments.

Jean-Marc Germain: Thank you, Nadia, and thank you, everyone, for attending the call. In conclusion, I just want to say, if I step back, I look at Constellium and our portfolio of markets, we have two markets really that are clicking, it’s aerospace and mainly in Europe, it’s automotive and mainly in North America. And despite an environment which is a little bit subdued on the market side, you can see that our company is having its best year ever, its best third quarter ever. We are looking at going forward that Cansheet stabilizing and we are very proud of the performance we have registered in Q3 and throughout this year, and we look to the future with great confidence. And I look forward to update you on our progress in February and talk about a balanced capital allocation model. Thank you very much, everyone. Have a good day. Bye-bye.

Operator: Thank you. This now concludes today’s call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

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