Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Ferroglobe's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later we will conduct a question-and-answer session and instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, this conference call may be recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Beatriz Garcia-Cos Ferroglobe's Chief Financial Officer, you may begin.

Good morning everyone, and thank you for joining Ferroglobe's fourth quarter and full year 2019 conference call. Joining me today are Marco Levi, our Chief Executive Officer; Gaurav Mehta, EVP of Strategy and Investor Relations; and Jorge Lavin, Group Controller. Before we get started with some prepared remarks, I'm going to read a brief statement. Please turn to Slide 1 at this time. The statement made by management during this conference call that are forward-looking are based on current expectations. Risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements can be found in Ferroglobe's most recent SEC filings and the exhibit to those filings, which are available on our webpage, www.ferroglobe.com. In addition, this discussion includes reference to EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, gross debt, net debt and adjusted diluted earnings per share, which are non-IFRS measures. Reconciliation of these non-IFRS measures may be found in our most recent SEC filings. Next slide, please. During today's call, we will first review the highlights for Q4 and full year 2019, as well as our business and operating environment. I then will provide some additional details on our financial performance and key drivers behind our results. I would now like to turn the call over to Marco Levi, our Chief Executive Officer. Next slide, please.

Thank you, Beatriz, and good morning everyone. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Board of Ferroglobe for giving me the exciting opportunity to lead this world-class organization. My initial focus will be to leverage our core competencies to turn our business around. I look forward to meeting you in the investment community over the coming weeks. Before we get into the specifics for the quarter, please allow me to make some broad comments. As you have heard on previous calls, our business has been under pressure for all 2019 and this marks the worst financial year in our history. There were a number of factors which have adversely impacted the company during 2019, led by a steady drop in prices and sharp decline in volumes. What we have been making operational, commercial and financial adjustments throughout the year, the fourth quarter results remain impacted by these same price and volume trends. Additionally, we had some incremental costs associated with the changes previously announced as part of our right-sizing of the operational footprint. This resulted in some of the expenses in addition to some higher production costs as we shut down furnaces and reallocated production. We are closely monitoring the dynamics across our end markets and the behavior of our competitors and believe that much of the action which took place across the industry in late 2019 should set the stage for recovery in 2020. However, this will be gradual. At the onset of 2020 we are dealing with some of the same headwinds that we encountered during the back half of 2019. We remain confident that the operational changes we made strengthen the company's ability to endure this environment. However, our financial results certainly highlight the impact of this downturn. Throughout the year we closed on…

Beginning with Slide 11, sales of $364 million during Q4 were a 4.7% lower than the $381 million of sales in the prior quarter. This decrease in sales was driven by a 3.5% decrease in the average selling price, and 1.2% decrease in shipments. During the quarter, our cost of sales increased by 8%. This is primarily attributable to expenses linked to the plant -- temporary shutdowns of plants, high volumes of silicon metal sales, we have higher production costs relative to other products, and third, inventory write-downs across all product totaling $4.8 million. The increase in other operating expenses of 18% or approximately $8 million was due to a one-time charge for energy related to certain plants that have been idle. The net impact of lower sales and higher costs led to a larger operating loss for the quarter before adjustments of negative $86.1 million, compared to negative $34.9 million during the prior quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was negative $38.1 million, a significant decline from negative $7.2 million in the third quarter. Next slide, the significant drop in adjusted EBITDA quarter-over-quarter is a tribute to a few key factors. Average realized price across all products decreased by 4.5%, resulting in $12.5 million hit to our adjusted EBITDA. And annual employment benefit valuation adjustment result in a $3.6 million [ph] charge and inventory write-downs increased by $2 million over the prior quarter. The 1.2% decline in shipment quarter-over-quarter impact adjusted EBITDA by $2 million. Next slide, for the full year adjusted EBITDA declined from $230 million in 2018 to negative $37 million in 2019. The most significant factor impacting this large swing is pricing. During the year, average realized prices across all products declined by 16.8% negatively impacting adjusted EBITDA by $241 million. The 15% drop in volumes in 2019 negatively…

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Vincent Anderson with Stifel. Your line is now open.

Yes. Thanks. So, first question for Dr. Levi, you have a very strong background in specialty products, however, the products GSM sells would certainly appear quite a bit more commoditized than some of the portfolios you've managed in the past. I hear that you're focused on costs in the near term, but specifically, what are your plans for addressing the competitiveness of GSM's assets over the long term given your background?

Yes, you're right. My background is -- has touched a lot of businesses, some more -- much more commoditized than others. And the point is always to use the experience that they have material in the past since stripping out cost and bringing business back up to speed and applying it to a company like Ferroglobe which is mostly commodity focused. The -- it's too -- it is rather premature to explain to you what and when I do to turn around the Company, but I will do my best not only focusing on cost, but also focusing on the way we price and we go to market to improve the overall results of the Company.

Thank you. And then just a quick update, I believe we were expecting decision on whether or not your prepayment of the Spanish project debt related to the UMG facility, whether that would be accelerated, was there an update on that?

Well, the project is still alive and we will -- we are planning to satisfy our obligations during this year.

Okay. So, does that -- would that entail capital expenditures related to the project in order to forgo the mandatory prepayment?

Well, of course, I think your question was relatively we're going to be incorrect in additional CapEx in 2020 related to this project, right?

Yes.

So, well, I cannot disclose what we're going be doing in 2020, but as Marco said, we're going to be on honoring this project from the debt perspective and allow me to do not elaborate on what we're going to be doing from a CapEx perspective on this project.

Okay, thank you. And then just one final one, I think, the parent company Grupo Villar Mir recently monetized additional assets. I was hoping that you would be permitted to provide at least a high-level update on Grupo Villar Mir balance sheet health and then any update on it's commitment to maintain GSM as a publicly traded stock.

Grupo Villar Mir is our major shareholder, but we are totally focused on Ferroglobe and turning around this Company. So, we are not prepared to disclose any information about Grupo Villar Mir at this stage.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Nick Jarmoszuk with Stifel. Your line is now open.

Hi, good morning, afternoon. I was wondering if you could share what the current cash balance is and total liquidity is?

Yes, thank you for your question. I think, as mentioned on the key highlights, our cash balance as of December is $128 million. This includes -- is made of two things, $99.2 million relates to cash and cash equivalents, and $28.3 million related to non-current restricted cash and cash equivalents. These $99.2 million includes $38.7 million related to the cash that is on our SPV related to the securitization program.

I was hoping you provide what the balances as of today or even as of the end of February.

Sorry, I cannot disclose this information as of today.

Okay.

The only thing that is mentioned across the presentation you saw that when we closed the SPV on February 6 has been an additional release of $31.5 million, so less.

Okay. Could you discuss with the contracting environment looks like for 2020 and how we should think about how many contracts you're looking on a year-over-year basis?

While there are no major changes in our contracts between 2019 and 2020 as far as I could see in the last six weeks of my tenure. Of course, a high percentage of our business is related to contract, but I must say that we are also focused in capturing the advantages coming from spot sales that they're maturing -- seem to be maturing in the first part of this year.

And how should we think about, what percentage of the book is related to spot?

To give you a -- I can give you a range, I would say, 70/30 range for the overall mix between contract and spot.

Okay. And then, could you give us a sense where sustaining CapEx is going to be for 2020 as well?

Yes the, CapEx, we are going to keep the CapEx more or less at the same level. We have done through analysis to make sure that we satisfy our EH&S requirements to -- at all our operations. Somebody mentioned my previous experience, I have 22 year experience with Dow running operations and here safety first is the motto that I intend to expect also running Ferroglobe. So, CapEx is enough to maintain our -- all our operation running in a safe mode.

Okay. That's all I had. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. And our next question comes from Dan Klein with Kem [ph]. Your line is now open.

Yes. Hi. I was wondering if the power pricing in France had alleviated and if that was due to any one-time factors.

Well, can you repeat your question please?

So, what are the factors that increase cost was the price of power in France.

Okay. Yes.

Yes. Thank you.

Yes, well, in France, we -- as you know, we have a lot of our operations and the point is that is our contractual tariffs in France have a peak in the first part of the year and in winter basically. So, this is the reason why we have to pay more for energy in France in quarter four.

Okay. So, you would not see that -- you've not seen that continuing in Q1 of this year.

Well, they've continued in Q1 of this year, because in winter, the energy costs in France is higher than in the two central quarters of the year. This is the way energy price is structured in France.

Okay. And the problem with the electrodes in France, is that fully repaired?

Is completely sorted out. Yes.

Okay.

We are not now incur into the same problem again.

And roughly, what were the non-recurring costs associated with the electrode problem.

Well, I don't think we have the breakdown exactly related to the electrodes as specific, I think what I can guide you through the non-recurring items adjustment into our EBITDA. And as we discussed was $9 million related to the energy cost in France, basically this is the main adjustment to our EBITDA. But we don't have the specific breakdown related to the electrodes.

Okay, got it. And two more quick questions. CapEx, you said it is similar to where it is now, do you mean the run rate, which is roughly $20 million or do you mean for 2019, which is a little higher?

2019 level.

Okay, 2019. And so, just looking at the spot prices that we see on Bloomberg, it looks like ferrosilicon and silicon metal have increased very meaningfully since the beginning of the year. And where -- did that have any impact in your contracted prices or did that all happen later? And do your contract prices have some sort of escalator to capture that? And how do you intend to benefit from, hopefully, this continuation of significantly higher pricing on the spot market?

Yes. I can tell you, there is always a price lag both when the prices go up and the price go down. In ferrosilicon, there are about two months price lag, in silicon, it's about three months lag.

Okay. So, the price increase that started, it started I guess in Q4, but then gained momentum in Q1. So, you'll see it more in -- a little bit in Q1...

Yes. That would be much more in Q2. Yes.

Okay. All right, that's it from me. Thank you. A – Marco Levi: Thank you.

Thank you. And I'm showing no further questions in the queue at this time. I'd like to turn the call back to Marco Levi for any closing remarks.

Thank you. That concludes our fourth quarter and full year 2019 earnings call. As I mentioned, at the beginning of the call, we see some positive developments and meaningful market trends to monitor. This past year result are not acceptable. And I am focused on areas of improvement to turnaround our performance. We will be communicating our new strategic plan to all stakeholders in due course. Thanks again for your participation. We look forward to hearing from you on the next call. Have a great day.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.