. Imerys sales declined by 9% in the first nine months of 2023 (year-on-year and like-for-like), mainly due to lower volumes in Americas and EMEA. We forecast demand to remain subdued in the next 12 months as the operating environment remains challenging, especially in the construction end-market--about 40% of the company?s sales. We project that S&P Global Ratings-adjusted funds from operations (FFO) to debt will remain 24%-28% in 2023-2024, comfortably above our 20% downside trigger and commensurate with the current rating. We do not include proceeds from the disposal of the paper business, now highly unlikely, in our current base case. On Jan. 31, 2023, Imerys completed the disposal of HTS to Platinum Equity, for an enterprise value of €930
