OREANDA-NEWS. Ferroglobe PLC, the world’s leading producer of silicon metal, and a leading silicon- and manganese-based specialty alloys producer, announced today results for the first quarter of 2016, the first quarterly results of the newly combined company following the successful completion of the business combination of Grupo FerroAtl?ntica S.A.U. and Globe Specialty Metals, Inc. in December 2015 as wholly owned subsidiaries of the company. 

Ferroglobe reported EBITDA of $21.2 million in a challenging pricing environment due to strong cost control. Excluding business combination-related fair value adjustments, due diligence and transaction costs, Q1 2016 adjusted EBITDA was $33.9 million.

In the first quarter of 2016, Ferroglobe posted a net loss of $(25.7) million, or $(0.15) per share on a fully diluted basis. Excluding business combination-related fair value adjustments, due diligence and transaction costs, the company posted an adjusted net loss of $(6.3) million, or $(0.04) per share, on a fully diluted basis.     

Significant revenue reduction due to lower prices
Net sales in the first quarter totalled $423.5 million, down from pro forma $543 million year over year, due to 12% lower volumes shipped and a decline of 13% in prices across all products.

In the quarter, Ferroglobe realized an average selling price for silicon metal of $1.08 per pound, down 14% from a pro forma average price of $1.26 in the first quarter of 2015 primarily due to pressure from low priced imports.  Overall average selling price for silicon-based alloys dipped to $0.65 per pound, down 16% from $0.77 in the first quarter of 2015. Manganese alloys, new to our product mix, have had a price drop of 23% to an average of $764/MT as compared to the first quarter of 2015.

Since the first quarter the company has observed some spot market prices in the silicon metal sector exceed the index prices by up to 10% due to supply curtailments and increasing demand. In the manganese alloy business there has been an improvement of between 8% and 20% depending on products during 2016 due to strength in the foundry and steel industries.

“Taking advantage of our increased product and geographic diversification we were able to mitigate to some degree the impact of lower prices.  The flow of low-priced silicon metal imports has resulted in sharply declining sales prices since mid-2015, especially as it relates to our indexed business. Given the new industry dynamics, we will consider changes to the way we utilize index pricing in the future,” said CEO Pedro Larrea. “For silicon metal, we expect these low prices to persist for most of the remainder of 2016. However, we also expect some improvement in the market starting to materialize later this year, driven by competitors’ supply starting to come off line especially from the higher quartile of the cost curve and continued demand growth in our core markets, notably in the solar polysilicon sector where prices have increased substantially in the last three months.”  

Focus on aggressive cost reduction and cash generation  
Ferroglobe reported EBITDA of $21.2 million in a challenging pricing environment due to strong cost control. Excluding business combination-related fair value adjustments, due diligence and transaction costs, Q1 2016 adjusted EBITDA was $33.9 million.

Mitigating the price drop to a meaningful degree has been cost reductions of $19.8 million in the quarter on a pro forma basis, including $5 million of synergies already captured in Q1 2016. The company achieved a post-business combination reduction in production costs (measured in $/lb) of approximately 20% in silicon and silicon alloy for the new production footprint versus legacy Globe Specialty Metals assets.

Ferroglobe expects to deliver at least the announced $65 million of annualized run rate synergies by the end of 2016 and to initiate implementation of improved marketing strategies.

Ferroglobe generated free cash-flow1 of $35 million in Q1 2016, including $55 million in working capital2 improvements. The company generated $144 million from improved working capital management over the past 12 months alone, well ahead of its original three-year projection of $100 million. Continued working capital improvements are expected in 2016 and beyond.

Ferroglobe maintains a strong balance sheet, with net debt of $421 million at the end of the first quarter of 2016 compared to $393 million at year-end 2015. The increase is partially attributable to the payment of $32 million to our shareholders on March 14, 2016, to settle transaction-related claims, as well as impact from foreign exchange rates of $16 million.

“As we continue to face the current pricing environment, we will maintain our aggressive stance on reducing working capital and costs, and focus on generating free cash flow. At the same time, consistent with our strategy and as we have done successfully over many years, we plan to take advantage of the current environment and our strong balance sheet to be aggressive in pursuing growth where timely and opportunistic investment can create significant long-term value and high returns for the company and our shareholders,” concluded Larrea.