Elkem Asa Ord (ELKEF) Q1 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Welcome to LKM's first quarter results presentation. My name is Ogge Lindgstad, and I'm responsible for investor relations in LKM. As you can see, today's main agenda item consists of a market update with outlook for the second quarter and the presentation of the first quarter results. CEO Helge Aasen will take us through the first part, and CFO Morten Viga will present the financial results for the first quarter. After these presentations, we will open for Q&A. So with that, I leave the word to CEO Helge Olsson. Thank you, and good morning, everyone. As you're all aware of, the markets are turbulent for the time being, caused by global trade tensions. So this creates quite significant uncertainty also for us. It affects trades flows and market demand and are having an impact on Elkem's results. The first quarter EBTA ended up at 898 million NOK, which gave an EBTA margin of 11%. The silicones division benefited from improved cost positions. And that's particularly the case in China. The results improved significantly compared to first quarter last year. But compared to the previous quarter, the results were hampered by Chinese New Year and also maintenance stop. The strategic review of the silicone division is underway and the target is to conclude the process by year end. The division is reclassified in the accounts, and if you look at the Elkem group excluding silicones, the operating income was 4.3 billion NOK in the quarter, with an EVPA of close to 700 million, which represents a margin of 16%. Silicon products was also impacted by weak market conditions, including maintenance stops at several sites in Norway. In addition, we have had a power curtailment on Iceland, resulting in reduced capacity utilization at that site. Carbon Solutions delivered stable result...