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

Coronavirus Update

• Active cases at AMG remain at 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, a $325 million investment and AMG’s largest capital project to date, is proceeding as planned. Commissioning starts in the first quarter of 2022 and the plant is forecast to achieve full run rate capacity in the fourth quarter of 2022.
• Spodumene 1+ will increase Brazil’s spodumene production by 40,000 tons. The project is currently in detailed engineering and commissioning is planned to start in the second quarter of 2023.
• AMG’s Supervisory Board approved the construction of the first module of a battery grade lithium hydroxide upgrader in Bitterfeld, Germany in its meeting on October 27, 2021. The total expenditure of $120 million includes the infrastructure necessary to support the next four modules. Commissioning of the facility will commence in the third quarter of 2023.
• Shell & AMG Recycling B.V. (SARBV) and its local partner, the United Company for Industry (UCI), signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) to jointly explore the feasibility of building a recycling “Supercenter” in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• AMG is building its first lithium vanadium battery (“LIVA”) for industrial power management applications. In order to manage its entrance into this market, AMG acquired Phyr7 GmbH, Heidelberg, a specialist for artificial intelligence-based power management solutions. The first LIVA system will be installed in one of AMG’s German manufacturing plants and is scheduled to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2022.
  
  

Financial Highlights

• Revenue increased by 58% to $311.9 million in the third quarter 2021 from $197.7 million in the third quarter 2020.
• EBITDA was $33.1 million in the third quarter of 2021, more than double the third quarter 2020 EBITDA of $14.1 million, marking the fifth straight quarter of sequential improvement.
• Cash from operating activities was $17.6 million in the third quarter of 2021, and $60.6 million on a year-to-date basis, more than triple the total cash from operating activities for full year 2020.
• AMG’s liquidity as of September 30, 2021, was $489 million, with $319 million of unrestricted cash and $170 million of revolving credit availability.

Amsterdam, 27 October 2021 (Regulated Information) --- AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V. (“AMG”, EURONEXT AMSTERDAM: “AMG”) reported third quarter 2021 revenue of $311.9 million, a 58% increase over $197.7 million in the third quarter of 2020. EBITDA for the third quarter of 2021 was $33.1 million, the fifth straight quarter of sequential growth after the pandemic low point in the second quarter of 2020.

Dr. Heinz Schimmelbusch, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO, said, “With regard to COVID, 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.

“AMG continued to sequentially improve EBITDA in the third quarter despite negative seasonality impacts. All of AMG’s businesses are experiencing ongoing price increase and strong volumes, however the operating environment has grown more challenging, with increases in shipping times and costs and higher energy prices affecting every business unit. AMG passes these cost increases through to its customers where possible, and we will continue to actively manage these cost exposures going forward.

“All segments performed well, most notably our Clean Energy Materials segment where presently our major strategic projects are clustered. This segment continues to deliver strong EBITDA, which increased 44% over the second quarter of 2021, to $18 million, the sixth straight quarter of sequentially increasing EBITDA.

“AMG’s Clean Energy Materials segment strategic projects are proceeding as planned. Each of these projects is oriented toward growing our production of electricity storage materials and/or increasing our footprint in the circular economy, and each of these projects - the second spent catalyst recycling facility, Spodumene 1+, and the battery grade lithium hydroxide upgrader in Germany - will significantly enhance our profitability and contribute to meeting our long-term goals.

“Regarding our project execution capability, the construction of AMG Vanadium’s second spent catalyst recycling facility in Zanesville, Ohio continues to be on time and within budget. As a reminder, we have also met the spodumene production cost and yield in Brazil that was targeted at the time of the project decision. In transitioning into a high growth company through projects of this kind, execution capability is a critical success factor.

“All of these investments are consistent with our CO ₂ reduction strategy. Our Enabling CO ₂ Reduction Portfolio (ECO ₂ RP) in 2021 will substantially outperform our 2020 CO ₂ enabled reduction. In addition, we are preparing comprehensive long-term direct Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO ₂ reduction targets which will be announced at the Annual General Meeting in May of 2022.”

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 European cash pool 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 loss in the third quarter of 2021 was $2.5 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 a decrease to the prior period EBIT of $0.9 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 $48.9 million, or 87%, to $105.3 million, driven mainly by higher sales volumes of lithium concentrate, as well as higher prices in vanadium, tantalum, and lithium concentrate.

Gross profit before non-recurring items during the quarter increased by $16.9 million compared to the same period in the prior year, primarily due to the increased price environment.

SG&A expenses in the third quarter of 2021 were $10.1 million, $2.0 million higher than the third quarter of 2020 due to higher strategic project costs and increased variable compensation expense.

The third quarter 2021 EBITDA increased by $14.8 million, to $18.0 million from $3.3 million in the third quarter of 2020, due to the improved gross profit as noted above.

AMG Critical Minerals

AMG Critical Minerals’ revenue increased by $27.2 million, or 52%, to $79.4 million, driven by higher sales volumes across all three businesses, and improved antimony sales prices.

Gross profit before non-recurring items increased by 25% in the third quarter due to increased revenue from each business unit. On a sequential basis, however, energy and shipping costs were higher in the third quarter of 2021 versus the second quarter of 2021, and were only partially passed on to customers.

SG&A expenses in the third quarter of 2021 increased by $1.3 million, to $6.6 million, primarily due to higher personnel costs in the current period.

The third quarter 2021 EBITDA was in line with the same period in the prior year, due to higher personnel costs offset by the improved gross profit as noted above.

AMG Critical Materials Technologies

AMG Critical Materials Technologies' third quarter 2021 revenue increased by $38.1 million, or 43% compared to the same period in 2020. This increase was due to higher sales volumes of titanium aluminides and chrome metal, and higher chrome pricing. Therefore, third quarter 2021 gross profit before non-recurring items increased by $7.1 million, or 54%, to $20.3 million.

SG&A expenses increased by $0.8 million, or 5%, in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, due to higher personnel costs, offset partially by lower professional fees during the quarter.

AMG Critical Materials Technologies’ EBITDA increased to $8.5 million during the quarter, compared to $4.3 million in the third quarter of 2020. This was primarily due to higher profitability related to the higher sales volumes of titanium aluminides and chrome metal as noted above.

The Company signed $27.9 million in new orders during the third quarter of 2021, representing a 0.50x book to bill ratio. This low ratio was driven mainly by timing and seasonality and is expected to be compensated by higher intake in the fourth quarter resulting in a normalized full year book to bill ratio. Order backlog was $155.1 million as of September 30, 2021, 19% lower than $190.6 million as of June 30, 2021, due largely to the delayed orders noted above as well as product mix impacts. The Company is experiencing higher volumes of smaller orders due to diversifying outside of the aerospace market, which reduces the period ending order backlog but does not indicate lower profitability levels.

Financial Review

Tax

AMG recorded an income tax expense of $9.9 million in the third quarter of 2021, compared to a nominal expense in the same period in 2020. This variance was mainly driven by improvements in operating results coupled with movements in the Brazilian real. The effects of the Brazilian real caused a $7.5 million non-cash deferred tax expense in the third quarter of 2021 (2020: $2.1 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 $4.1 million in the third quarter of 2021, compared to $10.7 million in the third quarter of 2020. The third quarter 2020 payments were primarily a result of final tax payments in Germany related to the highly profitable 2018 tax year.

Profit (loss) for the period

AMG’s third quarter loss for the period of $0.3 million was negatively impacted by two significant non-cash items: (1) The Brazilian real caused a $7.5 million deferred tax expense in the third quarter of 2021. (2) Intergroup balance sheet positions associated with our European cash pooling arrangements incurred $1.8 million of foreign exchange expense (net of tax) during the third quarter of 2021. Excluding these non-cash items would have resulted in profit for the period of $9.0 million for the quarter.

Exceptional Items

AMG’s third quarter 2021 gross profit of $51.1 million includes exceptional items, which are not included in the calculation of EBITDA.

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

Exceptional items included in gross profit

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 $265.3 million as of September 30, 2021. This decrease was mainly due to the issuance of 3.1 million shares for net proceeds of $119 million in April 2021, offset by the significant investment in growth initiatives during the quarter, especially in our vanadium expansion in Ohio, which reduced AMG’s restricted cash balance.

AMG continued to maintain a strong balance sheet and adequate sources of liquidity during the third quarter. As of September 30, 2021, the Company had $319 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents and $170 million available on its revolving credit facility. As such, AMG had $489 million of total liquidity as of September 30, 2021.

Net Finance Costs

AMG’s third quarter 2021 net finance costs were $7.5 million compared to $4.5 million in the third quarter of 2020. This increase was mainly driven by higher foreign exchange losses during the quarter.

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

SG&A

AMG’s third quarter 2021 SG&A expenses were $33.8 million compared to $29.6 million in the third quarter of 2020, with the variance driven largely by increased 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

For 2021, we reiterate our expectation to sequentially improve our EBITDA quarter-over-quarter for the year.

Given the current market conditions, we expect EBITDA to exceed $150 million for full year 2022, and we expect to reach $50 million of quarterly run-rate EBITDA by the end of 2022, as our vanadium expansion project concludes ramp-up.

Net loss to EBITDA reconciliation

(1) See note (1) to the Key Figures table.

(2) Amount includes variable compensation expense which settled in shares in 2021.

(3) The Company is in the ramp-up phase for several strategic expansion projects, including AMG Vanadium’s expansion project, the joint venture with Shell, Hybrid Lithium Vanadium Redox Flow Battery System, 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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About 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 Japan ( w w w .a m g- n v .co m ).

For fu r ther i nfo r m a tion, p l ease c o ntact:
AMG Adv an ced M e tal l u r gical Group N.V. +1 610 9 7 5 49 7 9
M i chele F i s c her
m f is c h er@ a m g -n v . c o m

Disclai 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

• Third Quarter 2021 Earnings PR