BLSFF - BlueScope Steel Limited (BLSFF) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
2024-02-19 12:26:07 ET
BlueScope Steel Limited (BLSFF)
Q2 2024 Results Conference Call
February 18, 2024 06:00 PM ET
Company Participants
Mark Vassella - CEO
David Fallu - CFO
Conference Call Participants
Simon Thackray - Jefferies
Lee Power - UBS
Rohan Gallagher - Jarden Group
Peter Steyn - Macquarie
Paul Young - Goldman Sachs
Lyndon Fagan - JPMorgan
Daniel Kang - CLSA
Paul McTaggart - Citigroup
Chen Jiang - Bank of America
Presentation
Mark Vassella
Good morning, and welcome to the BlueScope First Half FY '24 Financial Results Presentation. I'm Mark Vassella, and I'm joined this morning by David Fallu for his first results presentation as BlueScope CFO. Welcome, David.
In a moment, we'll take you through the results before we take your questions. David and I are joining you today from Melbourne, part of the Eastern Kulin Nation, and I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Wurundjeri peoples. We pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging and to all First Nations peoples joining us today.
Before we get into the details, I'd like to take a step back and put the first half FY '24 result into the context of BlueScope's business model. The last decade has seen us take action to drive resilience in our business model, resilience that allows us to deliver results through all points of the cycle. As we know, recent years have been marked by cyclically higher demand levels and spreads resulting in very strong results. Current volatility is showing softer conditions. However, it is also helping prove the resilience that we know exists in the business. That resilience is underpinned by our diversification, with quality steelmaking businesses and a suite of margin-enhancing premium branded products in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and throughout Asia.
Our footprint of quality assets and the strength of our balance sheet are the key enablers for our through-cycle performance, all supported by our 16,500 strong dedicated team. On bench strength in the organization, recent changes at the ELT are setting us up well to continue to deliver on our strategy with high-quality executives such as David and Sam Charmand joining us. Our next-generation leaders in Tania, Kristie and Peter are relishing their new roles. And Mark Scicluna, who you met at the last half, has joined Kristie as CFO in America. I'm very fortunate to be surrounded by such management talent and depth.
What is exciting and quite unique is the scale of the growth opportunities available to BlueScope within its core business. We're progressing a range of projects in this space to drive improved margins, volumes and resilience, all leveraging our core capabilities. And we're securing our longer-term future with our comprehensive decarbonization program and broader approach to sustainability, all in pursuit of our purpose and our bond.
Getting into the detail, BlueScope again performed well in the first half of FY '24 against what was a volatile backdrop. As I just noted, the result demonstrates the through-cycle resilience of our diversified business model, which also saw us retain a strong balance sheet and continue to deliver returns to shareholders. Aligned with our strategy of transform, grow and deliver, first half FY '24 saw key projects executed across the footprint that secure our long-term sustainable earnings and growth. These include the North Star ramp-up and debottlenecking, integration of the new U.S. recycling and coil painting businesses, the Port Kembla reline and Western Sydney metal coating line, all of which underpin our future resilience and success....
BlueScope Steel Limited (BLSFF) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript