Welcome to Aperam Q4 Podcast. I'm Tim Di Maulo, Aperam CEO, and I would like to take this Welcome to Aperam Q4 Podcast. I'm Tim Di Maulo, Aperam CEO, and I would like to take this opportunity and wish you all and us all the best for this year. Together with Sudh Sivaji, Aperam CFO, I will discuss our four-quarter performance, current trading, and the outlook into the first quarter. We will host a conference call today at 2:00 P.M. Central European Time, where we will answer your questions. The dial-in details are available on the website and on the last slide of this presentation. The transcript of this podcast is also available on our website. Please take, as always, note of this disclaimer on page two. What to say about 2024? It was another challenging year as the desired recovery did not materialize, but low cycles present opportunity, and it was a transformational year for Aperam. We improved the competitiveness of our footprint and further differentiated our value chain by moving into the U.S. and into the aerospace industry. We achieved our projected sequential EBITDA growth into the fourth quarter despite the challenging European market conditions. The Leadership Journey improvements are paying off now and fortify our cost leadership position in Europe. This is crucial as pricing pressure intensified again during December, but we were able to counter it via a combination of better mix, cost efficiency, and seasonally higher steel volumes in Europe. Brazil delivered solid results in a seasonally softer quarter. The upgraded hot rolling mill is now a valuable and supportive asset. The import market share amounted to 24.8%, and thus in the historical normal ballpark. Incrementally higher volumes put some additional pressure on prices. Phase IV of the Leadership Journey continues as planned, adding the classical cost-cutting program and leveraging the benefit of the assets upgrade to realize EUR 49 million in Q4. We surpassed the original 2024 target gains of EUR 75 million by EUR 20 million. Just a word about our acquisition of Universal Stainless and Alloy Products. It was a very short and efficient process. We informed you on the 17th of October 2024 that we signed an agreement to acquire Universal, and we closed it after only three months on the 23rd of January. We will fully consolidate Universal as of the closing date and will integrate it into our Alloys & Specialty segments. In the ESG space, we are proud to see our comprehensive improvement measures being recognized by independent ESG rating agencies. MSCI, one of the most important ESG ratings in the world, awarded Aperam a AAA rating. This puts Aperam in an industry-leading position in the steel sector. At Morningstar, which owns ESG rating agency Sustainalytics, Aperam came in top three in the steel sector among a total of 158 companies, and we also received the ESG top-rated badge in the steel industry. Last November, TIME released their list of the world's best companies for 2024. The ranking is based on a formula of employee satisfaction survey, revenue growth, and ESG data. We are happy to be included and to be the best steel company in the list. These excellent results confirm our industry-leading position and underline our successful ESG improvement strategy with transparent KPIs that are linked to management compensation. Let's turn now to the market environment. Only seasonal factors support the steel demand in Europe during Q4, as volumes remained at a depressed level and pricing pressure intensified toward the end of the quarter. This reflects the ongoing soft economy development, especially in industry and manufacturing. Inventories declined after the increase of the third quarter, but the demand side requires a comment. Similar to last year, December volumes halved due to year-end effects, and this pushed inventory days up temporarily in the statistics. Given that inventory is well controlled and demand will snap back in January, the data will show a clean value again in January. Sector trend did not change. There was ongoing negative news from the automotive industry in Europe, and a near-term improvement looks rather unlikely. The more pressing issue is on low construction output and interest rate cut that failed so far to refill the pipeline despite household saving in Europe. Consumer goods have gone through a destocking cycle that has ended, but real demand remains soft. Demand in food, health, and catering improved somehow, but there was no significant normalization. Industrial demand is driven dynamically by the global sector energy. The market in Brazil is much better shaped than is in much better shape than Europe. Robust demand almost everywhere with the added benefit of our solid market share. Prices on other ends are linked to the global price environment, and this still leaves much to be desired. Demand from automotive and transport is only slightly impacted by the seasonal development and remains robust. Consumer goods experience ongoing solid demand for white goods, and other consumer items are performing stable. The economy in Brazil is growing, and this has a positive influence for additional new projects in infrastructure and housing. Capital goods have experienced positive effects based on higher demand. As mentioned already, the inputs in Europe were at the normal historical level. While inputs from South Africa and Taiwan decreased, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia filled the gap. I am now to Sudh for the financial review. Thank you, Tim, and a warm welcome to everyone. Let us start with Adjusted EBITDA. We guided for higher EBITDA compared to Q3 2024. We confirmed that in our update on 7th January, and today we can report Adjusted EBITDA of EUR 116 million. The seasonality was slightly positive for steel shipments in Q4, and we had a small benefit from valuation effects. The driving factor, however, was our differentiated value chain with alloys reaching a new quarterly record and Recycling & Renewables confirming the seasonal pattern with a strong Q4. In a challenging market with intensifying price pressure in stainless, we realized an above-normal EBITDA per ton of EUR 287, which exemplifies the improvement through the Leadership Journey. The tax line contains a EUR 24 million impact from deferred tax asset changes. Earnings per share for the quarter amounted to EUR 17. The Clean EPS without special effects came in at EUR 33. Our cash flow statement reflects a big swing in working capital that we have flagged since reporting Q1 results last year. After deducting EUR 36 million dividend payments and EUR 27 million CapEx, net debt declined by EUR 101 million- EUR 544 million. This is better than guidance, and the resulting net debt to EBITDA ratio at 1.5x, almost half since Q1, and we made the balance sheet just in time ready to assume Universal in Q1. You are aware of Universal's enterprise value of EUR 537 million will be added to Aperam's balance sheet. In addition, we expect some seasonally higher working capital and also the regular Q1 increase in CapEx as we pay out calendar commitments on past projects. Starting the year with a net financial debt of more than EUR 1 billion makes deleveraging the key priority within our capital allocation policy until our leverage ratio has normalized again. Our dividend remains unchanged in line with the financial policy of keeping net financial debt below EBITDA over the cycle and reflecting our focus on these deleveraging priorities. Moving to the next slide, our four segments performed in line with the update we published at the beginning of January. We already mentioned that the pricing pressure for stainless steel in Europe, and the seasonality. Recycling & Renewables had the usual strong fourth quarter performance with an Adjusted EBITDA of EUR 41 million. Recycling's external volumes were slightly lower, but pricing was favorable, while BioEnergia approved the value of the forests where we are ramping up new business streams. The segment also benefited from some positive valuation effects in Q4. For Q1, we expect a normal result in line with the recurring underlying earnings power of about EUR 20 million EBITDA per quarter for the recycling and renewable segment. Stainless & Electrical achieved adjusted EBITDA of EUR 42 million. The positive seasonality in Europe matched a rather mild seasonal downturn in Brazil. Although EBITDA was somewhat strained, in the end, even in difficult times, an adequate result was achieved. It might be good to remember that a soft Brazilian real versus the US dollar tends to be good for the local cost line of our business in Brazil, as revenues and raw material costs are dollar-driven. The Leadership Journey supported earnings via a mixed improvement, while pricing pressure in standard products, higher costs, and negative valuation effects resulted in a lower EBITDA. I would also like to remind you that the Brazilian business suffered a EUR 40 million hit due to the ramp-up difficulties in H1 2024. The outlook for Q1 is determined by three main factors on top of an unchanged challenging economic outlook. Firstly, Q1 is a seasonal tough quarter in Brazil with a corresponding lower EBITDA contribution. Secondly, the price pressure in Europe that started in December will fully materialize in the P&L, and thirdly, we expect a temporarily softer mix. As a consequence, we expect the segment to remain profitable, but with another step down in profitability. Services & S olutions with EUR 4 million Adjusted EBITDA was in line with last quarter. The segment has the highest spot market influence, and the pressure is directly reflected in its results. S&S has a rather quick adjustment cycle, but also enables us, just like in Q4, to deliver best-in-class speed on cash flow release on net working capital in down cycles as it is closer to the market. So while the market remains difficult in Q1, a slightly improved outlook is possible on the back of higher volumes and slightly lower costs. Alloys & Specialties reported a new quarterly record EBITDA of EUR 27 million. The result in Q4 was driven by the ongoing positive development in key markets, seasonally higher volumes, a better mix, and a small tailwind from valuation effects. As promised, Q4 EBITDA plugged the remaining gap to achieve the guided EUR 80 million EBITDA, making it the best ever year of Aperam's alloys business. For 2025, we've already guided that Alloys & Specialties should be a EUR 100 million EBITDA segment based on the full order book, the additional capacity available through Gueugnon, and the ramp-up of our Indian business. We expect Q1 to be consistent with this target on a like-for-like basis. Of course, Universal will now additionally be included from 23rd January onwards, which should add another EUR 9 million-EUR 11 million EBITDA on top. The ongoing temporary aerospace supply chain destocking is also a factor to consider here. Others & Eliminations recorded a positive EUR 2 million result. This includes some intercompany settlements and profit eliminations, which have to be done especially at year-end. It's normal here to expect a high single-digit euro figure per quarter, but the high level of integration between different Aperam businesses like recycling, charcoal, stainless mills, and distribution compared to competition allows us to make strategic decisions on managing just-in-time inventory between segments, and this is then reflected in elimination. Moving to the next slide, our Leadership Journey transforms Aperam and aids in building a differentiated value chain. We're now in Phase IV of this successful journey, and after a slow start, we realized EUR 49 million in Q4. We have thus exceeded the 2024 target of EUR 75 million by EUR 20 million. Why did it suddenly materialize? Let me remind you of the booster component, a classic cost-cutting program contained in 2024 and 2025. Previously, we shared with you that we reached an agreement, and we are now in a position to realize the gains. This is a crucial step in strengthening Aperam's competitive position in Europe. Furthermore, the new hot-rolling mill in Brazil is finally fully up and running, and we are getting the benefit from this investment. With this development, we are cementing our cost leadership in Europe and in Brazil. You know that the goal of the Leadership Journey is to achieve an EBITDA improvement of EUR 300 million in a normalized economic environment. It's obvious from Q4 results that we are far away from that normalized situation at the moment, but the relevant improvements are put in place, and the progress also becomes on a relative basis within Europe. We realized an EBITDA per ton of EUR 287 in Q4, which is much higher compared to previous cyclical lows. This is also the point where we would like you to remind of the additional $30 million synergies that we expect from our Universal transaction going forward. As the transformation materializes and the resilience increases, Aperam should generate on an average EUR 100 million-EUR 120 million Adjusted EBITDA per quarter, even in difficult times. On this basis, Aperam is fully self-financing, able to deleverage the balance sheet and pay an attractive progressive dividend to our shareholders on a recurring basis. In case that the economy normalizes, we will then realize the full upside potential as shared with you in the 2025 strategy. I hand over back to Tim now for the outlook. Thank you, Sudh. Looking ahead in 2025, the situation in Europe remains unclear, with Germany and France both in political turmoil. On the positive side, the new European Commission seems to have found renewed interest in supporting industrial competitiveness again. However, 2025 could be simply a continuation of 2024. Without a sustained recovery, we are forced to rely on more self-help. The Leadership Journey and our investment in the differentiated value chain have been instrumental to our success. We have clearly leveraged this period to enhance our competitive standing. We expect higher shipment for Q1 based on the seasonal stronger business in Europe that outweighs the seasonal trough in Brazil. The pricing pressure continued in Europe, which will be visible in results together with the negative inventory's valuation. In total, Adjusted EBITDA will be lower compared to Q4. Universal will be consolidated as of the 23rd of January and should contribute EBITDA in the range of EUR 9 million-EUR 11 million, but this will only partially compensate for the decrease we expect in the first quarter. Sudh spoke already about the cash flow and net financial debt. Net financial debt will increase anyway due to the seasonally higher working capital, and in addition, the financing of Universal will increase, as planned, our net debt significantly. As said already, deleveraging to normalize gearing is our prime capital allocation objective. In terms of CapEx, we will therefore invest very consciously only into maintenance, into Universal, and into productivity at our alloys business. Our budget for 2025 amounts to EUR 200 million. To all yield investors, to all our yield investors, I would like to remind that upon announcing the Universal acquisition, we already confirmed to maintain our progressive dividend policy. This means that we intend a distribution of EUR 2 per share this year. As you know already, volatile commodities prices could still change the above EBITDA and net working capital indication. We will only be able to provide guidance once the raw material market prices are known. It is now a well-established routine to provide an update shortly after the end of the quarter. Current trading in Europe and Brazil, as well as the Universal acquisition, leaves much to be discussed. We are back on the road next Monday in Milan and on Tuesday in Frankfurt, and hope to meet many of you in person. Please contact our investor relations department with any feedback or if you require corporate access. We are bit by bit transforming the company and as we tap new earnings streams which are independent from the stainless steel cycle. Just now, we are starting to realize the fantastic and unique opportunity to establish a strong U.S. manufacturing footprint and to enter in the United States aerospace market through a 100% synergistic combination. Our journey continues as we are committed to establish Aperam as the leading value creator in the circular economy of infinite world-changing materials. Thank you very much for listening to Aperam Q4 Management Podcast. We wish you a pleasant day and look forward to your question in our conference call at 2:00 P.M. Central European.