• Analysts slides 1 – EN – PDF
• Analysts slides 2 (Appendix) - EN - PDF
• Earnings Release - EN - PDF
• Analysts Webcast – 15.30 CET – Link
• Web Q&A – EN– PDF

COVID-19 impacts

• Faced with a significant humanitarian challenge from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company’s first priority has been to take all the necessary actions to safeguard the wellbeing of our people and to provide support to the extent required in the communities in which we operate
• Economic activity and steel market conditions have significantly deteriorated since measures were introduced by governments worldwide to contain the COVID-19 pandemic
• The Company has responded swiftly: aligning production to a lower order book, and taking measures to reduce all costs in line with exceptionally low capacity utilization levels

Highlights of 1Q 2020:

• Health and safety performance: LTIF rate[2] of 1.01x in 1Q 2020
• Improved operating performance in 1Q 2020 reflects the positive market developments prior to the escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic in March; operating loss of $0.4bn (vs. loss of $1.5bn in 4Q 2019); EBITDA increased to $1.0bn (4.5% higher than 4Q 2019)
• Net loss of $1.1bn in 1Q 2020 (adjusted net loss of $0.6bn, excluding impairment and exceptional items)[3]
• Strong cash management during the quarter, including a working capital investment limited to $0.1bn; gross debt of $13.8bn and a marginal increase in net debt to $9.5bn (down $1.7bn vs 1Q 2019)
• Liquidity at the end of 1Q 2020 stood at $9.8bn (consisting of cash and cash equivalents of $4.3bn and $5.5bn of available credit lines[5]); further supplemented by a recently signed new $3bn credit facility[5]

Outlook and guidance:

• The Company has moved swiftly to secure its assets and match production to the evolving orderbook, with steel shipments for 2Q 2020 expected within the range of 13.5Mt to 14.5Mt; the actions taken to reduce all costs in line with reduced operating rates is expected to yield a reduction in fixed costs[10] by 25%-30% in 2Q 2020, essentially maintaining fixed costs per-tonne at the 1Q 2020 level; EBITDA for 2Q 2020 is expected to be within the range of $0.4bn to $0.6bn
• Certain cash needs of the business are now expected to be approximately $3.5bn in 2020 (vs. $4.5bn previous guidance), due to lower planned capex (reduced to $2.4bn from $3.2bn previous guidance) and lower taxes
• Annual working capital needs will be determined by the extent market conditions recover in 2H 2020, but the Company still expects to release the $1bn in working capital previously targeted
• The Company’s $2 billion asset portfolio optimization program continues to progress. Given suitable and viable buyers have expressed serious interest in certain assets, the Company remains confident in completing the program by mid-2021
• While the impacts of COVID-19 have introduced unanticipated challenges, the Company continues to target achievement of its $7bn net debt objective in the near term
• Against the backdrop of significant cost savings measures being taken across the business, the Board determined it both appropriate and prudent to suspend dividend payments until such a time as the operating environment normalizes

Financial highlights (on the basis of IFRS^[1]):

Commenting, Mr. Lakshmi N. Mittal, ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO, said:

"The improved operating performance in the first quarter has been considerably overshadowed by the COVID-19 crisis. Faced with a significant humanitarian challenge, the Company’s first priority has been to take all the necessary actions to safeguard the wellbeing of our people and to provide support to the extent required in the communities in which we operate. But we have also moved decisively to protect the business in the face of the completely unprecedented scenario we are facing where social and economic lockdown has contributed to a significant decline in demand. We moved swiftly to temporary idle furnaces, cutting production across markets and reducing operating and capital costs to match this environment. We have continued to meet remaining customer demand from a reduced level of production and are very thankful to our employees and stakeholders for their support in enabling plants to keep running.

“There are still too many uncertainties to accurately predict what the rest of the year holds. However, it seems likely that over the course of this month countries will start to announce details of their “exit” strategies. Whilst these are likely to be an easing, not an immediate ending of lockdown, construction and manufacturing are expected to be among the first sectors to be permitted to re-start operations and indeed we are seeing signs of customers re-starting production. Rigorous planning to ensure we can meet customer demand whilst protecting the health and safety of our people has been undertaken, leaning on the experience of our plants which have already been on this journey.

“The remainder of this year will be challenging, but I am confident that ArcelorMittal has the experience and inherent resilience, to manage through these difficult times. As a result of the hard work undertaken in recent years to strengthen the balance sheet, we went into the COVID-19 crisis with the lowest net debt since the creation of the Company, which is a matter of considerable comfort.

“I am particularly grateful for the commitment shown by our teams in these recent weeks. Crises do tend to bring out the best in people and we have many examples of this, from our employees working in our plants to produce steels for essential products, to our facilities around the world looking to see how they can support their local communities, to our research and development teams harnessing their skills and expertise in ways quite unconnected with steel-making, for example in the design of 3D printers and ventilators. Together we will continue to navigate these extraordinary times and ensure that ArcelorMittal is able to secure the wellbeing of its people and its position as the world’s leading steel Company.”

First quarter 2020 earnings analyst conference call

ArcelorMittal management (including CEO and CFO) will host a conference call for members of the investment community to present and comment on the three-month period ended March 31, 2020 on: Thursday May 7, 2020 at 9.30am US Eastern time; 14.30pm London time and 15.30pm CET.

The dial in numbers are:

To listen to the earnings release webcast recording, please visit the results section on our website once the event has finished. Click here.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document may contain forward-looking information and statements about ArcelorMittal and its subsidiaries. These statements include financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives and expectations with respect to future operations, products and services, and statements regarding future performance. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the words “believe”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “target” or similar expressions. Although ArcelorMittal’s management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors and holders of ArcelorMittal’s securities are cautioned that forward-looking information and statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of ArcelorMittal, that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include those discussed or identified in the filings with the Luxembourg Stock Market Authority for the Financial Markets (Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier) and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) made or to be made by ArcelorMittal, including ArcelorMittal’s latest Annual Report on Form 20-F on file with the SEC. ArcelorMittal undertakes no obligation to publicly update its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Footnotes

[1] The financial information in this press release has been prepared consistently with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (“IASB”) and as adopted by the European Union. The interim financial information included in this announcement has also been also prepared in accordance with IFRS applicable to interim periods, however this announcement does not contain sufficient information to constitute an interim financial report as defined in International Accounting Standard 34, “Interim Financial Reporting”. The numbers in this press release have not been audited. The financial information and certain other information presented in a number of tables in this press release have been rounded to the nearest whole number or the nearest decimal. Therefore, the sum of the numbers in a column may not conform exactly to the total figure given for that column. In addition, certain percentages
presented in the tables in this press release reflect calculations based upon the underlying information prior to rounding and, accordingly, may not conform exactly to the percentages that would be derived if the relevant calculations were based upon the rounded numbers. This press release also includes certain non-GAAP financial/alternative performance measures.
ArcelorMittal presents EBITDA, and EBITDA/tonne, which are non-GAAP financial/alternative performance measures and calculated as shown in the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations, as additional measures to enhance the understanding of operating performance. ArcelorMittal believes such indicators are relevant to describe trends relating to cash generating activity and provides management and investors with additional information for comparison of the Company’s operating results to the operating results of other companies. Segment information presented in this press release are prior to inter-segment eliminations and certain adjustments made to operating result of the segments to reflect corporate costs, income from non-steel operations (e.g., logistics and shipping services) and the elimination of stock margins between the segments. ArcelorMittal also presents net debt and change in working capital as additional measures to enhance the understanding of its financial position, changes to its capital structure and its credit assessment.
ArcelorMittal also presents Adjusted net (loss) / income as it believes it is a useful measure for the underlying business performance excluding impairment and exceptional items. ArcelorMittal also presents free cash flow (FCF), which is a non-GAAP financial/alternative performance measure calculated as shown in the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows, because it believes it is a useful supplemental measure for evaluating the strength of its cash generating capacity. The Company also presents the ratio of net debt to EBITDA for the last twelve month period, which investors may find useful in understanding the Company's ability to service its debt. The Company’s guidance as to the EBITDA range for 2020 is based on the same accounting policies as those applied in the Company’s financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS. Non-GAAP financial/alternative performance measures should be read in conjunction with, and not as an alternative for, ArcelorMittal's financial information prepared in accordance with IFRS. Such non-GAAP/alternative performance measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures applied by other companies.

[2] Excluding the impact of ArcelorMittal Italia, the LTIF was 0.72x for 1Q 2020 as compared to 0.84x for 4Q 2019 and 0.66x for 1Q 2019.

[3] Impairment charges for 1Q 2020 were $92 million and relate to the permanent coke plant closure in Florange, France, at the end of April 2020. Impairment charges for 4Q 2019 were $830 million and related to impairment of the fixed assets of ArcelorMittal USA ($0.7 billion) following impairment assessments performed during the quarter, resulting from a further decrease in the near-term average selling price assumption and $0.1 billion in South Africa (primarily related to the fixed assets of Newcastle Works in South Africa following lower domestic volumes). Impairment charges for 1Q 2019 were $150 million related to the remedy asset sales for the ArcelorMittal Italia acquisition. Exceptional items of $457 million for 1Q 2020 primarily include inventory related charges in NAFTA and Europe due to a weaker steel pricing outlook driven by COVID-19 impacts. Exceptional items of $828 million for 4Q 2019, primarily included inventory related charges in NAFTA and Europe following a period of exceptionally weak steel pricing.

[5] On December 19, 2018, ArcelorMittal signed a $5,500,000,000 Revolving Credit Facility, with a five-year maturity plus two one-year extension options. During the fourth quarter of 2019, ArcelorMittal executed the option to extend the facility to December 19, 2024. The extension was completed for $5.4 billion of the available amount, with the remaining $0.1 billion remaining with a maturity of December 19, 2023 as of March 31, 2020. The facility may be further extended for an additional year in December 2020. As of March 31, 2020, the $5.5 billion revolving credit facility was fully available. On May 5, 2020, ArcelorMittal and a syndicate of banks signed a credit facility with tranches of $0.7 billion and €2.1 billion (the “New Credit Facility”). The Credit Facility further enhances the Company's already strong liquidity position of $9.8 billion as of March 31, 2020, including a $5.5 billion revolving credit facility, which remains undrawn and is available until December 2024. The New Credit Facility has a maturity of 12 months and can be used for general corporate purposes. While the Company has no immediate need to draw on this New Credit Facility, it provides additional financial flexibility in the current extraordinary circumstances.

[10] The Company is temporarily reducing fixed cost in line with lower production rates. As a result, 2Q 2020 fixed cost are expected to be 25-30% below 1Q 2020 levels. The steps taken by the Company include: a) temporary labour cost savings: Page 21 senior management / Board of Directors salary reduction; utilizing available economic unemployment schemes; temporary layoffs; federal and state subsidy/grants; salary cuts; reduction/elimination of contractors, overtime reduction etc. b) reduction in repairs and maintenance (R&M) expenses: spend expected to be lower due to lower operating rates; and c) reduced SG&A expenses: Fixed cost savings achieved from countries in which we operate where the currency has depreciated, as well as reduced SG&A expenses such as IT, travel, sales and marketing expenses, consultancy fees etc.