Boliden AB Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Ola Soedermark - Kepler Cheuvreux - Analyst : Thank you. Is it working?

Question: Ola Soedermark - Kepler Cheuvreux - Analyst : Thank you. Just a question on Aitik and how we should view the mill tonnage during 2025? If it's going to be easier to ramp it up now when the dam project is completed or how we should view it also the seasonally harder Q1?

Question: Ola Soedermark - Kepler Cheuvreux - Analyst : But Q1, should it be better than the fourth quarter because it was quite low?

Question: Ola Soedermark - Kepler Cheuvreux - Analyst : Okay. And then to Garpenberg, the permit, the timing of when you can receive the permit to increase the production there. Is it possible to say? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. FEBRUARY 06, 2025 / 8:30AM, BOL.ST - Q4 2024 Boliden AB Earnings Call

Question: Ola Soedermark - Kepler Cheuvreux - Analyst : Yes. Just the last one on smelters. It was a very good quarter for smelters. And looking into next year or this year, the terms are slightly weaker, but on the other hand, precious metals are very strong. How much of the really good Q4 was related to free metals compared to the quarter before?

Question: Ola Soedermark - Kepler Cheuvreux - Analyst : Thank you.

Question: Liam Fitzpatrick - Deutsche Bank AG - Analyst : Good morning everyone. Two questions for me. Firstly, on the dividend and then a follow-up on Odda. Just on this dividend suspension, I'm sure you've had lots of conversations with your main shareholders. From that, are there many shareholders where you think the suspension could impact their ability to hold the link? And then the second question on Odda. I know you just touched on it. But that EUR150 million uplift, it does make quite a big difference in terms of the years that we're looking at. And looking at the annual figures that you just released today, the profitability for Odda was down quite significantly, and I'm sure there's some impact there in terms of the time and work with the new expansion. So any clarity you can give on kind of the base we should use for that EUR150 million uplift? Thank you.

Question: Ioannis Masvoulas - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : (technical difficulty) for the presentation. A couple of questions from my side. I'll start with Aitik first. Slide 17 of the presentation is striking. But as it shows that the mine has been, in the past, one of the highest -- probably the highest contributor to operating profit as much as one third of the group and now in '24 was essentially the least profitable. Clearly, grades, as you talked about, have had a big effect. And this will take some time to recover to reserve grade levels. But it sounds like there's a lot of progress you can make on throughput via your own actions. '25, it's probably going to be an exciting year. But shall we be baking in 4.5 million tonnes for 2026? Or do you think that's (technical difficulty)

Question: Ioannis Masvoulas - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : Okay, that's very helpful. Thank you. And the second question on the strike effects because it's not entirely clear to me. You suggested that the collective bargaining discussions are still in place. But at the same time, you also said that most of the disruptions related to the industrial actions have already been concluded. How should we think about incremental impact beyond the SEK100 million that you indicated? And can you also talk about which operations you find still have some residual effects? Thank you. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. FEBRUARY 06, 2025 / 8:30AM, BOL.ST - Q4 2024 Boliden AB Earnings Call

Question: Ioannis Masvoulas - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : Okay. That's clear. And just to clarify, on the port and rail strikes, sure we expect an incremental effect around shipments or stockpiling from your side?

Question: Ioannis Masvoulas - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : That's clear. Thank you very much.

Question: Jason Fairclough - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : Good morning guys. Thanks for the presentation. Two, let's say, bigger picture questions from me. One, just on the strategy. So you're starting to move outside the Nordics a little more. You're moving into Portugal, you've got the exploration in Canada. So is this sort of the emergence of a new version of new Boliden? Second question is, I guess, how do we think about vertical integration once you completed this transaction to acquire the Lundin assets? In an ideal world, are you 100% vertically integrated between mining and smelting?

Question: Jason Fairclough - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : If I could be cheeky and just ask one more quick one. In terms of working capital, we've had a couple of years of working capital inflows. Do you think we're normal here? Or is working capital actually too low at the moment?

Question: Jason Fairclough - Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Analyst : Okay, thanks guys, and we'll see you in Barcelona.

Question: Daniel Major - UBS - Analyst : Hi, thanks for the questions. First one, you've obviously given your normalized EBITDA, EBIT contributions from the other expansion. Can you give us any steer on the Q1 or full year contributions in 2025 as a consequence of the ramp-up all else equal? First question there.

Question: Daniel Major - UBS - Analyst : Okay, thanks. And then second question on -- a bit of feedback, on Garpenberg, you're looking to expand the permit above 3.5 million. what sort of level could you get to without putting in significant CapEx? I note you got to like 3.8 million tonnes annualized in Q3?

Question: Daniel Major - UBS - Analyst : Okay, thanks. So look forward to following up at the CMD. And just a final quick one, if I could. Just looking at the smelting business, you and I guess the broader industry is not going to be making the same kind of margins in smelting copper concentrates for the $20 PC. But you've obviously got quite significant scrap exposure that provides you with an alternative income stream. Have you got any comments on the scrap market? Are you seeing any tightening of smelters kind of pivot to more scrap, less concentrate?

Question: Daniel Major - UBS - Analyst : Great, thanks.