AMG - AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V. Reports Second Quarter 2021 Results

Coronavirus Update

• AMG regrets to inform you that on July 15, 2021, AMG experienced its first COVID related fatality among its more than 3,000 employees since the beginning of the pandemic. Active cases at AMG have receded to a very low level. We continue to apply all safety measures at our disposal with the highest degree of attention in order to ensure our employees are working in the lowest risk environment possible.
  
  

Strategic Highlights

• The construction of AMG Vanadium’s second spent catalyst recycling facility in Zanesville, Ohio, AMG’s largest capital project, is proceeding as planned.
• In Nuremberg, Germany, AMG Titanium Alloys & Coatings has started the construction of a plant to produce vanadium electrolytes from spent catalysts, targeting the vanadium battery market.
• AMG Engineering is building AMG’s first industrial battery, a Hybrid Lithium Vanadium Redox Flow Battery System for use in one of our operating units to flatten production-driven spikes in electricity demand and thereby reduce CO ₂ emissions and energy costs.
• The new all-solid-state-battery (ASSB) materials pilot plant of AMG Lithium in Frankfurt, Germany, has provided samples to all of the major battery manufacturers working on the emerging transformation to ASSB technology.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue increased by 44% to $298.4 million in the second quarter 2021 from $207.6 million in the second quarter 2020.
• EBITDA was $31.4 million in the second quarter of 2021, over four times higher than second quarter 2020 EBITDA of $7.8 million, marking the fourth straight quarter of sequential improvement.
• Cash from operating activities was $23.0 million in the second quarter of 2021, and $42.9 on a year-to-date basis, more than double the total cash from operating activities for full year 2020.
• Net income attributable to shareholders was $3.6 million in the second quarter of 2021 compared to a net loss of $12.5 million in the second quarter of 2020.
• AMG’s liquidity as of June 30, 2021, was $511 million, with $341 million of unrestricted cash and $170 million of revolving credit availability.
• AMG declares an interim dividend of €0.10 per ordinary share, to be paid in the third quarter of 2021.
• In April 2021, AMG issued 3.1 million new shares, generating $119 million of net proceeds and increasing liquidity to approximately $500 million. With this equity raise, in combination with cash on hand and strong projected cash flow from operations, AMG can fully fund its current strategic projects while maintaining strong liquidity.
  
  

Amsterdam, 28 July 2021 (Regulated Information) --- AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V. (“AMG”, EURONEXT AMSTERDAM: “AMG”) reported second quarter 2021 revenue of $298.4 million, a 44% increase over $207.6 million in the second quarter of 2020. EBITDA for the second quarter of 2021 was $31.4 million, the fourth straight quarter of sequential growth after the pandemic low point of $7.8 million in the second quarter of 2020.

Dr. Heinz Schimmelbusch, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO, said, “With regard to COVID, active cases at AMG have receded to a very low level; however it is with our deepest regret that I have to inform you that AMG experienced its first COVID-related fatality. We continue to apply all safety measures at our disposal with the highest degree of attention in order to ensure our employees are working in the lowest risk environment possible.

“All three of AMG’s segments performed well in the second quarter, and global demand for our products continued to strengthen throughout the first half of 2021.

“Market prices for materials across the Company’s portfolio have continued to increase, most notably for our Clean Energy Materials segment, which has delivered EBITDA growth of more than 22% quarter-over-quarter for each of the last five quarters.

“EBITDA for the AMG Critical Materials Technologies segment was $9.6 million for the quarter, the fourth straight quarter of sequentially increasing EBITDA, while achieving a consistent book to bill ratio despite ongoing weakness of the aerospace sector.

“In 2007 we introduced AMG to the public markets as a producer of “critical” materials. The real meaning of “criticality” has become more apparent over time, and in particular, materials associated with electricity storage are now perceived as especially critical, because increased electricity storage is required in order to enable higher utilization of renewable energy production.

“All of AMG’s strategic projects cluster in our Clean Energy Materials segment and all of these projects are proceeding as planned. Each of these projects is oriented toward growing our production of electricity storage materials or increasing our footprint in the circular economy.

1. AMG Vanadium’s second spent catalyst recycling facility in Zanesville, Ohio, the largest capital project AMG has undertaken to date, is scheduled to come in on time and on budget.
2. AMG Lithium has signed the engineering contracts and has purchased the site and long-lead items for the battery grade lithium hydroxide refinery in Bitterfeld, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany.
3. After extensive tests, a new plant to produce vanadium oxide and vanadium electrolyte materials from spent catalysts is under construction at AMG Titanium Alloys & Coatings in Nuremberg, Germany.
4. AMG Engineering is building AMG’s first industrial battery, a Hybrid Lithium- Vanadium Redox Flow Battery System for use in one of our operating units to flatten production-driven spikes in electricity demand and thereby reduce CO ₂ emissions and energy costs. The market potential for this battery concept is very large.”

Key Figures

Notes:

(1)   EBIT is defined as earnings before interest and income taxes. EBIT excludes restructuring, asset impairment, inventory cost adjustments, environmental provisions, exceptional legal expenses, equity-settled share-based payments, and strategic expenses. Beginning January 1, 2021, AMG has altered its calculation of adjusted EBIT to no longer include the impact of foreign exchange. This alteration was made in consideration of a change in the Company’s hedging policy and to better align the reported adjusted EBITDA with the calculation for our bank covenant calculations. Starting January 2021, the Company is no longer hedging certain intergroup balance sheet exposures which will result in higher volatility in our financial results from foreign exchange which we believe is not representative of our operating performance. Foreign exchange gain in the second quarter of 2021 was $0.9 million. Because of this hedging policy change, we did not retroactively apply this change to the prior year figures, otherwise it would have resulted in an increase to the prior period EBIT of $0.5 million.
(2)   EBITDA is defined as EBIT adjusted for depreciation and amortization.

Operational Review

AMG Clean Energy Materials

AMG Clean Energy Materials’ revenue increased by $37.1 million, or 70%, to $90.1 million, driven mainly by higher sales volumes of vanadium, tantalum and lithium concentrate, as well as higher prices in vanadium and lithium concentrate.

Gross profit before non-recurring items during the quarter increased by $12.1 million compared to the same period in the prior year, largely due to the improving price environment and increasing global demand for our products.

SG&A expenses in the second quarter of 2021 were $9.6 million, $2.3 million higher than the second quarter of 2020 due to higher strategic project costs and increased variable compensation expense.

During the quarter, AMG discovered additional slag quantities at its decommissioned site in New Jersey. This material was primarily located below surface level and was inconsistent with earlier estimates. As such, AMG recorded an adjustment to its environmental provision of $11.7 million associated with these higher quantities, and management does not expect any additional remediation to be required. This adjustment negatively impacted operating loss for the period.

The second quarter 2021 EBITDA increased by $11.3 million, to $12.6 million from $1.3 million in the second quarter of 2020, due to the improved gross profit as noted above.

AMG Critical Minerals

AMG Critical Minerals’ revenue increased by $28.9 million, or 60%, to $76.8 million, driven by higher sales volumes and higher sales prices across all three business units.

Gross profit before non-recurring items increased by 117% in the second quarter due to increased revenue from each business unit.

SG&A expenses in the second quarter of 2021 increased by $1.9 million, to $6.8 million, primarily due to higher personnel costs in the current period.

The second quarter 2021 EBITDA margin was 12.0%, compared to 7.6% in the same period in the prior year, due to increased profitability as noted above.

AMG Critical Materials Technologies

AMG Critical Materials Technologies' second quarter 2021 revenue increased by $24.8 million, or 23% compared to the same period in 2020. This increase was due to higher revenue from engineering and heat treatment services businesses, and higher sales volumes of titanium aluminides and chrome metal, both of which have begun to recover from the second quarter 2020 pandemic low. Consequently, second quarter 2021 gross profit before non-recurring items increased by $8.0 million, or 61%, to $21.1 million.

SG&A expenses increased by $1.9 million, or 12%, in the second quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, due to higher personnel costs and higher professional fees during the quarter.

AMG Critical Materials Technologies’ EBITDA increased to $9.6 million during the quarter, compared to $2.8 million in the second quarter of 2020. This was primarily due to higher profitability related to increased activity in the engineering and heat treatment services businesses, as well as the higher sales volumes of titanium aluminides and chrome metal. Since the second quarter of 2020, AMG Critical Materials Technologies’ EBITDA has experienced sequential growth quarter-over-quarter.

Order backlog was $190.6 million as of June 30, 2021, in line with $190.7 million as of March 31, 2021. The Company signed $57.3 million in new orders during the second quarter of 2021, representing a 0.92x book to bill ratio. The quarter benefited from strong orders of remelting and induction furnaces.

Financial Review

Tax

AMG recorded an income tax benefit of $5.6 million in the second quarter of 2021, compared to a benefit of $0.4 million in the same period in 2020. This variance was mainly driven by movements in the Brazilian real offset partially by higher pre-tax income compared to the prior period. The effects of the Brazilian real caused an $12.4 million non-cash deferred tax benefit in the second quarter of 2021 (2020: $3.3 million expense). Movements in the Brazilian real exchange rate impact the valuation of the Company’s net deferred tax positions related to our operations in Brazil.

AMG paid taxes of $2.5 million in the second quarter of 2021, compared to a tax refund of $2.4 million in the second quarter of 2020 which was largely due to international COVID-19 tax measures that enabled AMG to delay most of its tax payments during the prior year’s quarter and higher taxable income in the current year.

Exceptional Items

AMG’s second quarter 2021 gross profit of $48.5 million includes exceptional items, which are not included in the calculation of EBITDA.

A summary of exceptional items included in gross profit in the second quarters of 2021 and 2020 are below:

Exceptional items included in gross profit

AMG had a $1.5 million non-cash expense during the second quarter of 2021 as a result of inventory cost adjustments associated with price movements at the beginning of the second quarter which has been adjusted in EBITDA. During the quarter, the Company incurred expenses for expansion projects which are not yet operational. AMG is adjusting EBITDA for these exceptional charges.

Liquidity

AMG had a net debt position of $219.9 million as of June 30, 2021. This decrease was mainly due to the additional issuance of shares which generated $119 million of net proceeds offset by the significant investment in growth initiatives during the quarter, especially in our vanadium expansion in Ohio.

AMG continued to maintain a strong balance sheet and adequate sources of liquidity during the second quarter. As of June 30, 2021, the Company had $341 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents and $170 million available on its revolving credit facility. As such, AMG had $511 million of total liquidity as of June 30, 2021.

Net Finance Costs

AMG’s second quarter 2021 net finance costs were $4.8 million compared to $6.3 million in the second quarter of 2020. This decline was mainly driven by favorable foreign exchange movements.

AMG capitalized $3.8 million of interest costs in the second quarter of 2021 compared to $3.7 million in the prior year, driven by interest associated with the Company’s tax-exempt municipal bond supporting the vanadium expansion in Ohio.

SG&A

AMG’s second quarter 2021 SG&A expenses were $33.2 million compared to $27.2 million in the second quarter of 2020, with the variance driven largely by strategic project and personnel costs. The prior period personnel cost had been reduced by cost reduction efforts in response to the onset of the pandemic.

Outlook

Given the current market conditions, we reiterate our confidence in being able to exceed $120 million in EBITDA for full year 2021, as we announced in May, and we expect to continue to sequentially improve our EBITDA quarter-over-quarter for the remainder of the year.

*Beginning January 1, 2021, AMG has altered its calculation of adjusted EBITDA to no longer include the impact of foreign exchange. This alteration was made in consideration of a change in the Company’s hedging policy and to better align the reported adjusted EBITDA with the calculation for our bank covenant calculations. Starting January 2021, the Company is no longer hedging certain intergroup balance sheet exposures which will result in higher volatility in our financial results from foreign exchange which we believe is not representative of our ongoing operating performance. Foreign exchange gain in the second quarter of 2021 was $0.9 million. Because of this hedging policy change, we did not retroactively apply this change to the prior year figures, otherwise it would have resulted in an increase to the prior period adjusted EBIT of $0.5 million.

**Amount includes variable compensation expense which settled in shares in 2021.

***Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corporation (“SMC”), AMG’s subsidiary, has completed the removal of low-level radioactive materials, primarily including slag, from the former storage yard of SMC’s decommissioned Newfield, NJ site. During the quarter, AMG discovered additional slag quantities that were primarily located below surface level and were inconsistent with earlier estimates. As such, AMG recorded an adjustment to its environmental provision of
$11.7 million associated with these higher quantities, and management does not expect any additional remediation to be required. This adjustment negatively impacted operating loss for the period.

****The Company is in the ramp-up phase for three significant strategic expansion projects, including AMG Vanadium’s expansion project, the joint venture with Shell, and the lithium expansion in Germany, which incurred project expenses during the quarter but are not yet operational. AMG is adjusting EBITDA for these exceptional charges.

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A b o u t A MG

AMG is a global critical materials company at the forefront of CO2 reduction trends. AMG produces highly engineered specialty metals and mineral products and provides related vacuum furnace systems and services to the transportation, infrastructure, energy, and specialty metals & chemicals end markets.

AMG Clean Energy Materials combines our recycling and mining operations producing materials for infrastructure and energy storage solutions while reducing the CO2 footprint of both suppliers and customers. Clean Energy Materials spans the vanadium, lithium, and tantalum value chains. AMG Critical Materials Technologies combines our leading vacuum furnace technology line with high-purity materials serving global leaders in the aerospace sector. AMG Critical Minerals consists of our mineral processing operations in antimony, graphite, and silicon metal.

With approximately 3,000 employees, AMG operates globally with production facilities in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, China, Mexico, Brazil, India, Sri Lanka, and Mozambique, and has sales and customer service offices in Russia and Japa n ( ww w . a m g - n v . c o m ).

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Di sc la i m er

Certain statements in this press release are not historical facts and are “forward looking.” Forward looking statements include statements concerning AMG’s plans, expectations, projections, objectives, targets, goals, strategies, future events, future revenues or performance, capital expenditures, financing needs, plans and intentions relating to acquisitions, AMG’s competitive strengths and weaknesses, plans or goals relating to forecasted production, reserves, financial position and future operations and development, AMG’s business strategy and the trends AMG anticipates in the industries and the political and legal environment in which it operates and other information that is not historical information. When used in this press release, the words “expects,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “may,” “will,” “should,” and similar expressions, and the negatives thereof, are intended to identify forward looking statements. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and risks exist that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. AMG expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in AMG's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any forward-looking statement is based.

Attachment

• Second Quarter 2021 Earnings Press Release