Ferroglobe PLC (NASDAQ:GSM) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Unidentified Company Representative: Yes. So the imported Russian aluminum that is coming into Europe, if it is coming into Europe, does it replace our demand going into aluminum? No, it doesn’t. I mean we are currently contracted and we are currently working with our downstream customers. They have made the necessary adjustments, and we’ll operate accordingly. But no, no direct impact for us.

Operator: We will take our final question. And the question comes from the line of Thomas Murphy from Odeon Capital.

Thomas Murphy: Can you hear me?

Beatriz García-Cos: Yes.

Unidentified Company Representative: Loud and clear.

Thomas Murphy: Great. My question is probably directed towards Beatriz. Well, first of all, congratulations on the quarter, very good quarter. Beatriz on the Q2 you had made a statement that, ideally, over time, you’d like gross debt to get down to $200 million, recognizing that the environment has changed a bit since Q2 and still, though, a very strong Q3. Is that still a target? And if yes, ideally, over what time frame would you hope to achieve it? That’s my question.

Beatriz García-Cos: Thank you, Thomas, for your question. I think the first part of the answer to your question is, yes, we reconfirm the target of $200 million of gross debt. That’s what we said. And it is true that the interest rate and environment is changing. But what we are doing is we have continued to build cash, yes, as you saw from some of the results, we are evaluating all the options that we have at the moment to reduce this gross debt. And we continue to think that this could be something that we’re going to be doing, I would say, sooner than later to reach this $200 million of gross debt target. Being said that, let me — just to remind, so our target is to keep the cheap debt that we have in our balance sheet.

Of course, we have, as you know, some government loans that we plan to keep and we’re going to be working to get rid of the expensive debt, right? Well, maybe before was very expensive. I recognize that maybe now is not so expensive, right? But we are working on that. And it could be one of the developments on the — the next quarter or so.

Operator: Thank you. I would like to hand back to the speakers for closing remarks.

Javier López Madrid: Thank you. That concludes our third quarter earnings call. In Q3, we demonstrated our ability to manage through challenging markets to still generate positive operating cash flow and maintaining a strong balance sheet. We will continue to focus on improving our operation efficiency and reduce our leverage. We remain focused on rolling our profitability and generating strong earnings throughout the cycle. Thanks again for your participation and support and have a great day.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Speakers, please standby.