Magna International Inc. (NYSE:MGA) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Colin Langan : Yes, thanks for taking my questions. Just wanted to follow-up on input costs. You noted it was $150 million for this year. Any color on what percent recoveries you’re kind of assuming in that, so we can kind of gauge the sort of expectations there? And you said you ended at $530 million for ’22. Is the long-term plan to get 100% of that? Any color on that? And of that, when you negotiated last year, is all of that locked in? Or do you have to renegotiate if costs don’t come down versus ?

Swamy Kotagiri : Good morning. As I said in my previous comments and to a previous question, some of this settlement, right, are long term that went to changes in Page 5 going forward programs being indexed, which takes a bit of volatility and so on. And some of it is just addressing the amount specific to the year of ’22. But it does give us a framework and a precedent. So it’s a combination of addressing both together. We won’t get into the specifics of customers and how and what. I can definitely say that we have started the discussions in Q4. The customers know where we stand. Obviously, we want the economics to reflect the currency in terms of where the market is. So it’s a combination of those. Like Pat mentioned, there’s a lot of these discussions ongoing.

And then we’re going to use what we had in ’22, but the discussions on ’22, even or pre-’23, I would say it’s not even though, right? So we continue to pursue recoveries on all aspects, not just for ’23, but some elements of ’22.

Colin Langan : I guess just put it another way, I mean, are you thinking of this as this is your portion of the costs that you’re going to have to find ways of coming out over time? Or you’re thinking customers, eventually, you’ll be able to get this through customers in some period? As I think other slides have talked about a number of this is just a responsibility at this point.

Swamy Kotagiri : Some of it is — it’s both, right? There are some which are index fund, which are I talked about the production volatility and scheduling. We definitely want we partners in helping. And as we said, we did not cause any disruptions, but I can’t say the cost. So we have to work together to figure out how to reduce that volatility, so we can address the cost base and health efficiency overall. But on the other hand, we are not saying it’s just everything outside. In my prepared comments, I did talk about continuous improvements in setting — resetting, I would say, the cost base, but that can be done only to work together. So it’s kind of a bilateral but there are some issues which we continue to push in terms of recoveries is wafer energy or commodity costs.

Colin Langan : Got it. And just if I go to the slides last year, you targeted a pretty impressive $6 billion in free cash flow from ’22 to ’24. If I look at the slides this year, the same period looks like it’s adding up to something less than $2 billion. I mean what are the main drivers here? Is it just — obviously, CapEx has stepped up. And kind of why is that, it’s only been a year? And then I assume a lot of it’s the margin weakness. Anything else from a working capital perspective that’s sort of impacting that number that we should be considering?

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