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“Material progress has been made in implementing trade measures with the US Department of Commerce, imposing strong final anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Russian ferrosilicon imports while continuing to investigate the cases against Brazil, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia. The European Commission initiated its safeguard investigation into the imports of silicon metals, silicon alloys and manganese alloys into the EU. Ferroglobe, being a local producer in both the US and Europe, will be a beneficiary of these trade measures as they will reduce artificially low-priced competitive products in the market, helping the market to stabilize.

“We are issuing adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2025 of $100 million to $170 million. The wide variance in our guidance reflects uncertainties related to trade measures, market conditions and geopolitical factors,” concluded Dr. Levi.

Consolidated Sales

In the fourth quarter of 2024, Ferroglobe reported sales of $367.5 million, a decrease of 15.2% over the prior quarter and a decrease of 2.2% from the comparable prior year period. This decrease compared to the prior quarter was primarily attributable to lower sales volumes in our portfolio of products, partially offset by higher tons sold in manganese-based alloys. Sales of silicon metal, silicon-based alloys and manganese-based alloys declined by $32.2 million, $16.7 million and $11.2 million, respectively, compared with the prior quarter.

For the full year 2024, sales were $1,644 million versus $1,650 million in the prior year, a decrease of 0.4%. This decrease was mainly driven by a 17.6% decrease in silicon-based alloys revenue, partially offset by a 28.4% increase in Manganese-Based Alloys revenues.

Product Category Highlights

Silicon Metal

Silicon metal revenue in the fourth quarter was $161.3 million, a decrease of 16.6% over the prior quarter and a decrease of 3.8% from the year-ago period. The average selling price decreased by 4.7%, and shipments decreased by 12.5% due to lower volumes, mainly in EMEA. Adjusted EBITDA for silicon metal decreased 58.5% to $16.8 million during the fourth quarter, compared with $40.6 million in the prior quarter. The softening in adjusted EBITDA margin in the quarter was mainly driven by lower average selling prices and higher energy costs.

Silicon-Based Alloys

Silicon-based alloy revenue in the fourth quarter was $85.1 million, a decrease of 16.4% over the prior quarter and a decrease of 20.3% from the year-ago period. Shipments decreased by 13.3%, which was attributable to weak demand in the US and Europe, mainly in the auto and construction end markets. Adjusted EBITDA for silicon-based alloys increased to $3.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, an increase of 31.3% compared with $2.4 million in the prior quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin improvement was primarily driven by lower raw material costs.

Manganese-Based Alloys

Manganese-based alloy revenue in the fourth quarter was $78.5 million, a decrease of 12.5% over the prior quarter and an increase of 29.8% from the year-ago period. The average realized selling price decreased by 16.7% and total shipments increased by 5.0%. Adjusted EBITDA for the manganese-based alloys portfolio decreased to $7.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, a decrease of 74.5% compared with $27.9 million in the prior quarter. The decrease in adjusted EBITDA margin was mainly driven by lower selling prices and higher manganese ore costs.

Raw materials and energy consumption for production

Raw materials and energy consumption for production was $250.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2024 versus $255.1 million in the prior quarter, a decrease of 1.7%. As a percentage of sales, raw materials and energy consumption for production was 68.2% in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to 58.8% in the third quarter. The increase in cost as a percentage of sales was driven by higher energy and raw materials costs, including manganese ore.

For the full-year 2024, raw materials and energy consumption for production were $1,027 million, or 62.5% of sales, versus $879 million, or 53.3% of sales in 2023. The increase in these costs as a percent of sales was mainly driven by lower prices and higher energy costs.

Net (Loss) Income Attributable to the Parent

In the fourth quarter of 2024, net loss attributable to the parent was $46.4 million, or $(0.25) per diluted share, compared to a net income attributable to the parent of $18.8 million, or $0.10 per diluted share in the third quarter. This decrease is primarily attributable to $61.3 million recorded in impairment of the Company’s cash-generating units which were not recorded in the prior period. The Company reported adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.03 for the fourth quarter, compared with adjusted earnings per share of $0.11 per share in the prior quarter.

For the full year 2024, net profit attributable to the parent was $5.2 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, compared to $82.7 million, or $0.43 per diluted share for the full year 2023.

Adjusted EBITDA

In the fourth quarter of 2024, adjusted EBITDA was $9.8 million, or 2.7% of sales, a decrease of 11.3% compared to adjusted EBITDA of $60.4 million, or 13.9% of sales, from the third quarter of 2024. This was mainly driven by higher costs and reduced pricing.

For the full year 2024, adjusted EBITDA was $153.8 million, or 9.4% of sales, compared to adjusted EBITDA of $315.2 million, or 19.1% of sales, for the full year 2023. The reduction is largely related to lower average sales prices and an increase in energy costs.

Total Cash, Adjusted Gross Debt and Working Capital

(1) Total cash is comprised of restricted cash, cash and cash equivalents
(2) Adjusted gross debt excludes bank borrowings on factoring program and impact of leasing standard IFRS16 for each of the periods presented
(3) Total working capital comprised of inventories, trade receivables and other receivables minus trade and other payables

The Company’s total cash was $133.3 million as of December 31, 2024, up $12.5 million from $120.8 million as of September 30, 2024.

During the fourth quarter, the Company generated $32.1 million in cash flow from operating activities, used $4.8 million in cash flows from investing activities and used $9.9 million in cash flows from financing activities due to repayments of bank borrowings of $14.8 million, lease payments of $4.5 million, dividend payments of $2.4 million, interest payments of $2.0 million and share repurchases of $1.9 million, partially offset by cash proceeds from promissory notes of $10.3 million and sale-leaseback financing of $6.1 million.

For the full year 2024, the Company generated $243.3 million of operating cash flow and used $66.9 million of cash in investing activities and $175.5 million in financing activities.

Total working capital was $460.8 million on December 31, 2024, down from $528.6 million on September 30, 2024. The $67.8 million decrease in working capital balance during the quarter was due to a $60.6 million decrease in inventories, and a $37.3 million decrease in trade and other receivables, partially offset by a $30.1 million decrease in trade and other payables.

Beatriz García-Cos, Ferroglobe’s Chief Financial Officer, commented, “We achieved many of our targets in 2024, including paying off our senior secured notes and achieving a net cash positive position, which was $38.9 million, at the end of the year. We reduced our total working capital by approximately $50 million during the year and initiated our capital return program consisting of quarterly dividends and share repurchases.”

Capital Returns

During the fourth quarter, Ferroglobe repurchased 481,578 shares at an average price of $4.02 per share and paid a quarterly cash dividend of $0.013 per share on December 20, 2024. Our next cash dividend of $0.014 per share will be paid on March 26, 2025, to shareholders of record as of March 20, 2025.

Conference Call

Ferroglobe invites all interested persons to participate on its conference call at 8:30 AM, Eastern Time on February 20, 2025. The call may also be accessed via an audio webcast.

To join via phone:
Conference call participants should pre-register using this link
https://register.vevent.com/register/BIb6e61c804d2b45609dc3abc37310abd0

Once registered, you will receive the dial-in numbers and a personal PIN, which are required to access the conference call.

To join via webcast:
A simultaneous audio webcast and replay will be accessible here:
https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/frvjkywe

About Ferroglobe

Ferroglobe PLC is a leading global producer of silicon metal, silicon- and manganese-based specialty alloys and ferroalloys, serving a customer base across the globe in dynamic and fast-growing end markets, such as solar, electronics, automotive, consumer products, construction, and energy. The Company is based in London. For more information, visit http://investor.ferroglobe.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of U.S. securities laws. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts but are based on certain assumptions of management and describe the Company’s future plans, strategies and expectations. Forward-looking statements often use forward-looking terminology, including words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “could”, “estimate”, “expect”, “forecast”, “guidance”, “intends”, “likely”, “may”, “plan”, “potential”, “predicts”, “seek”, “target”, “will” and words of similar meaning or the negative thereof.

Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on information currently available to the Company and assumptions that management believe to be reasonable, but are inherently uncertain. As a result, Ferroglobe’s actual results, performance or achievements may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, which are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are, in some cases, beyond the Company’s control.

Forward-looking financial information and other metrics presented herein represent the Company’s goals and are not intended as guidance or projections for the periods referenced herein or any future periods.

All information in this press release is as of the date of its release. Ferroglobe does not undertake any obligation to update publicly any of the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect new information, events or circumstances arising after the date of this press release. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are made only as of the date of this press release.

Non-IFRS Measures

This document may contain summarized, non-audited or non-GAAP financial information. The information contained herein should therefore be considered as a whole and in conjunction with all the public information regarding the Company available, including any other documents released by the Company that may contain more detailed information. Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of sales, working capital as a percentage of sales, adjusted EBITDA margin, working capital, adjusted net profit, adjusted diluted EPS, adjusted gross debt and net cash(debt), are non-IFRS financial metrics that management uses in its decision making. Ferroglobe has included these financial metrics to provide supplemental measures of its performance. The Company believes these metrics are important and useful to investors because they eliminate items that have less bearing on the Company’s current and future operating performance and highlight trends in its core business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS financial measures.

INVESTOR CONTACT:

Alex Rotonen, CFA
Vice President, Investor Relations
Email: investor.relations@ferroglobe.com

MEDIA CONTACT:

Cristina Feliu Roig
Vice President, Communications & Public Affairs
Email: corporate.comms@ferroglobe.com