Mersen S.A. (MRN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the conference call for the Q1 sales results for Mersen. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand over to Luc Themelin, CEO. Over to you.

[Interpreted] Thank you, and hello, everyone. Welcome to this conference call, which has been organized a little earlier than originally planned to discuss Q1 2023 sales. We wanted to bring this forward because of the EUR 100 million capital increase we announced this morning at the same time as our sales. You will find all the information on this operation in the separate release. It's in line with the communication at March 15 on our 2027 road map. You will also find all the information on a dedicated website accessible from the homepage of the group, mersen.com. First of all, a few words to present the highlights of the quarter. We set a new quarterly sales record at more than EUR 300 million. We've never done such a figure. That's the first. So last year's momentum visibly continues. The semiconductor market and in particular, the silicon carbide market on which our 2027 plan is largely performed particularly strongly overall this market came to almost EUR 34 million in Q1 and in the SiC segment, growth more than doubled to 130%. We continue to see very good performance in the process industries for both divisions with double-digit growth. Thanks to this good performance, we confirmed the guidance for 2023 as disclosed last month in March. I'll now hand over to Thomas Baumgartner, CFO, who will go through the Q1 sales in more detail. Tom.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Luc, and hello, everybody. So the first quarter was indeed excellent with organic sales growth of over 18%, in line with the growth rates in Q3 and Q4 2022. We posted a quarter with EUR 302 million in sales, which is a new quarterly record, as Luc said. Currency effects offset each other this quarter with the rise in the U.S. dollar in one direction, offset by the fall in the Chinese renminbi in the other. And if we look at our divisions, both divisions saw strong growth. I'll begin with Advanced Materials, which posted organic growth of 17.5% with sales of EUR 165 million and 3 fast-growing markets. First of all, as Luc said, the silicon carbide semiconductor market we announced that demand was growing strongly as illustrated by the contracts signed with Wolfspeed, and we've reached more than EUR 20 million in this SiC segment this quarter. And I remind you that in 2022 for the whole year, the figure was EUR 52 million. Another very strong market with Aeronautics, which grew strongly with double-digit growth, although without reaching the record levels in 2019. And finally, we saw very strong momentum in process industries as was the case throughout 2022. Another market important is solar. This was stable because if you remember, we decided not to allocate more capacity in China to this market. I remind you that in the materials sector, we mainly supply high value-added purified graphite parts for our Chinese customers into drawing furnaces. So if we move now to the second division, electrical power, which posted sales of EUR 137 million, organic growth there over 19%. Electrical distribution in Europe and U.S. remained very dynamic, buoyed in particular, by price increases. Growth was also sustained for electric vehicles as expected with more than EUR 5 million posted this quarter. However, the rail market was less dynamic. Now if we look at the figures by geography, all the geographical zones saw growth business in Europe was up in both divisions in France. Business was particularly buoyed by aerospace and then by SiC semiconductors in Germany. On the other hand, business in Chemicals was down due to the comparison basis. In Asia, activity progressed in chemicals and semiconductors. However, lower activity in railways in the region was confirmed and I also remind you that in China, the solar market was stable as expected. Finally, in North America, business was very dynamic in both divisions and in a large number of markets, renewable energies, green transport and semiconductors. Electrical distribution also grew strongly, driven by positive price trends. So that good performance allows us to confirm our guidance for the year. And that concludes my comments. And Luc and I are now at your disposal to answer any questions that you might have.

[Operator Instructions] And we have the first question.

[Interpreted] Yes. Can you hear me very well? So my first question was to come back to the growth in sales in electrical power, you have growth of 19% there which is very strong, and the previous quarter was also very good. And you mentioned, there is a price effect which was -- which remains significant. What was the price impacts on that quarter? That's my first question. And the second question as in this segment and throughout the group, there was a question of trying to pass on price rises also in Advanced Materials. So what are your assumptions at present for price rises in 2023 as a whole? As taking into account in your current guidance, so that's the first question regarding prices. My second question is more indirectly about the slowdown that you might expect for the second half? Because if you maintain the current guidance, that means that there will be a slowdown -- significant slowdown in the second half of the year. You mentioned the process industries, which were very strong. Is that where you are at the percentage of caution, you're expecting some slowdowns. Do you have some signs of slowdowns in that sector with perhaps fewer orders coming in. Obviously, bearing in mind that the base effect on the second half will come into play. The second half of last year was very strong. So those are the two first questions I have to begin.

[Interpreted] Thank you. If I could answer the first question and Luc, the second question. In the price effect in the release, we mentioned about 5% price increases in the first quarter. A lot of that is following from last year and in both divisions, similar increases in the two divisions. Having said that, what we said was that we were expecting inflation to be somewhere around 4% for the year as a whole as things stand. And we were hoping to offset that inflation by making price rises. So I don't think we've really set a target for this, but the idea was, if possible, to offset the whole impact of inflation over the year through these price rises. I don't know if I have answered your question. So there is not a bigger price effect. So it's pretty much equivalent in the two divisions. Yes, absolutely. We mentioned that for electric distribution there where there were perhaps slightly bigger price increases. But otherwise, those pricing increases do apply to both divisions. Yeah you're quite right assumption for the second half is that there is a base effect. The second half of last year was very strong. So we're not going to be continuing to grow at that sort of pace. But I don't think, no, there are no advanced signs in the process industry. We don't take orders 10 months ahead. They tend to be orders for the coming months or 2 months. But until now, we haven't seen any signs by keeping a close eye on North America where things are going quite strongly. So I think if we do identical figures to last year in the process industries, that will be pretty good. Does that answer your question?

[Interpreted] Yes. That's perfect. I do have other questions, but perhaps I can let other people go first.

[Operator Instructions] And now Jean-Francois Granjon from ODDO BHF.

[Interpreted] Thank you everybody. Just to see whether you have a bit more visibility about the trends in orders. You said for the process industries, it's for the coming months or 2 months. But in the other divisions, do you have some sort of idea of the sort of momentum in order taking.

[Interpreted] It's -- that's the way we do manage the company you will have understood that we have some very long-term orders with some contracts going through to 2027. So in solar, et cetera and so the process industries, as I said earlier, there were taking in orders for the coming months to 2 months. We have order booking in excess of EUR 100 million, which is the average for the past few months. And so I would say the overall momentum is continuing for chemicals, as we said in March. We had pretty much there. We have pretty much the whole year or already in the portfolio. So there, we're working on deals for the beginning of 2024 now. And in Aeronautics, we bring -- we take into orders for the coming quarter or by quarter. So we don't really -- that's why we're quite attentive in fact, to market trends. We have about 3 to 4 months visibility -- forward visibility on average, it can be more variable in certain segments.

[Operator Instructions] Now Thomas [Foreign Language].

[Interpreted] I have a first question about the price effect. You mentioned that 5% for the first quarter. Can you confirm that in that first quarter, there is a positive balance of inflation with prices, increasing more than inflation. That's my first question. And then regarding the solar activity, which you said is stable for that first quarter. I know this is quite recent, but do you have more information. About the new potential projects you had mentioned the U.S. and India. Do you have information about that might make you a bit more optimistic about prospects on that solar market over the medium term. And that's my question.

[Interpreted] I'll answer the first question regarding we don't order today. So I said to you that we have prices which are up 5% against general inflation of about 4%. That gives you an idea. We will come back more precisely to our results to the bridge in June. And for the solar market, there are no concerns there. So for the solar energy, nothing new since March. The projects that have been identified in the U.S. and India and also in France are progressing. But if they are financed, if they do go ahead, some of them in the U.S. and in India certainly will go ahead, but that will have an impact on our sales in 2024 and 2025, given the time it takes for the things to be built things to get into place that's heavy equipment to board. So we're looking perhaps second half of 2024 if people are going quickly, but they are big projects. They are important, as we said last time, several tens of gigawatts selling 50 or 60 gigawatts. The engines have even announced even more ambitious figures. So we'll be keeping a close eye on that. And we have time to try to compile those different prospects.

[Interpreted] Could you just confirm that pipeline in solar energy wasn't necessarily included in the year.

[Interpreted] So for the prospects for 2027, that's about EUR 100 million we did this year. So it looks like we're headed for that sort of figure. And with reasonable growth, I think we'll see what happens, what these different projects can contribute and there may be some additional capacity that might need to be put in. But we're ready. We're going to analyze all of this and see which projects are the most realistic. I don't have any particular comment to make on this. There are really some very ambitious projects where we might have a few doubts, but it's better to have a lot of projects than none at all.

And now Mr. Julien Onillon from Stifel, and over to you.

[Interpreted] Thank you. So I have three additional questions I would like to ask. First of all, on the silicon carbide, that EUR 20 million in the first quarter, which is very strong growth. Is that EUR 20 million likely to increase over the coming quarters to go up to 25% perhaps? Or can we pretty much multiply that by 4 to get the sales for the year. And regarding the more traditional semiconductors, what is the trend? We know there is a market which potentially is perhaps a bit weaker there's a certain number of trends there. So what is the trend at the moment in that first quarter for you? And my third question is more out of curiosity. Why did you choose to increase your capital rather than going through convertible?

[Interpreted] Right. If we begin with the business for the silicon carbide by 20 million, yes, we do have limited capacity for that first quarter. But obviously, demand for the second half of the year is likely to accelerate, but not at ridiculous rates. So we might get to [ EUR 24 million ] -- that might be for most '24, '25. On the more conventional, it's -- there's growth at under 10% -- but I would say we're less directly affected by demand. If you do see some drops in sales in companies that deliver wafers because that demand is weaker. We're more linked to the investments, which continue to be strong, then we have our own line. We have quite a few contracts with [ OEM's ] to make more products, in particular, in Korea, we mentioned with the new plant. Also in China, and so there is a slowdown. We did more growth on these projects last year, but they are still there. And for the increasing capital is true, we did have a certain number of possible options. I remind you that if we're doing this financing operation is to give us more strategic and financial flexibility in terms of flexibility. We do have the debt ratio aspect and then the liquidity aspect and the increase in capital perhaps provides a more effective response to the debt ratio side of things than convertible. It's a way of getting our shareholders to take part and it's a long-term approach. So given the state of the market today and the possibly having a reasonable discount and a share price, which also seems quite reasonable if we compare -- if we look over the past 6 months. I'm not necessarily talking there about the last 3 weeks. But if we look back over a longer period of time, this seems to be the right moment to do an increase in capital.

[Interpreted] Thank you.

[Interpreted] I don't know if I have answered your question.

[Interpreted] Yes you do. Perfect. Thank you.

And the next question from [ Mario ] capital.

[Interpreted] I arrived a little bit late in the call, but my question was about that contract with Wolfspeed that you announced. Could you go a bit through the structure of the CapEx associated with that contract. That's the first point. And then in terms of the structure of the contract -- the exclusivity over that 5-year period and beyond. So those are my questions about the Wolfspeed contract.

[Interpreted] So you arrived late, but we haven't talked about Wolfspeed, so you missed nothing, don't worry. So that works out perfectly. Yes. So it's a big investment, which was EUR 120 million in CapEx, not dedicated, so it's still our equipment, but that does represent EUR 120 million in CapEx to be able to deliver the quantities they went through to 2027. After that, when you're talking about exclusivity, we have an obligation, obviously, to allocate the capacity linked EUR 120 million to them. But exclusivity is different, but there isn't -- there aren't any machines or equipment with a Wolfspeed label, and it's all part of our overall capacity. And the other SiC players represent sales and the management investments, which isn't very far from Wolfspeed. So it's Wolfspeed having 60% market share. That seems quite reasonable. And just to add to that is that investment -- sorry, I didn't hear. We're going to root locally to see if we can get financing, but as things went very quickly, on this, we're rolling out our plan to do that, but we will see locally if there are possibilities. From our point of view, Wolfspeed is advancing some cash, so they are helping us financially. But I don't believe very strongly in this my personal feeling is that here, we're dealing with much bigger well-known companies like Wolfspeed or intel or big companies like that.

[Operator Instructions] And now Jean-Francois Granjon from ODDO BHF over to you.

[Interpreted] I'm coming back to the semiconductors because given the strong growth in the SiC and good growth rate in the more classical semiconductors. Ultimately, if I extrapolate those figures, our objectives of EUR 150 million to EUR 160 million seems reasonable to you compared with last year? And could we have a little idea about the breakdown of your CapEx between the different investments. And we've understood the rationale behind the capital increase. And -- what about that question of not exceeding the leverage levels that -- so what will the maximum level be that you can allow in that respect?

[Interpreted] I'll try to answer your question as I'm not sure I'm going to manage. I don't remember exactly the precise sales targets for the SiC and silicon I have more of an idea of that 4 to 5 years, because for this '24, '25 and '26, where really this takes on bigger proportions. But in fact, with the increase in silicon this year is not all that big. We did mention this. It's SiC, which is really driving this. And here, we have a year where we're doing the maximum with the capacity we have to deliver 2 to 3 big clients, and we know it is going -- we are going to be stretched, so it's more in the allocation of our capacities between those 3 big clients, which is perhaps more objectively, we could have done more if the clients had warned us a bit earlier. Now we're trying to keep up with the demand for quarter 4 2024. So I haven't answered your question at all, in fact, in terms of the figures, but you have nature of my feeling. And for the CapEx, I can't give you a precise answer. There's EUR 150 million to EUR 200 million in CapEx, as we said, but if we compare this with the -- so the additional amount here is a lot in relation to the figure of EUR 80 million or EUR 90 million is a lot in SiC and EUR 15 million to EUR 20 million. We're going to spend about EUR 30 million in Colombia to continue increasing the production. So that's what I can see. But for the delta really is made up mainly of SiC. And regarding the leverage, yes, you have that first question, what was that? yes, on the leverage. Can you hear me?

[Interpreted] The third question was about the leverage.

[Interpreted] The target policy has been 1.5 and 2.5. So we're aiming to be somewhere around 2.5. And we said that, that would be at its highest end of 2023 through the end of 2024, given our investments. That's why we're doing an increase in capital at this moment to be near the higher end of the range without going over. We can go further. We have covenants at 3.5. But for us, it really is important to keep that flexibility.

And Mr. Stephen Benhamou from BNP Paribas.

[Interpreted] Hello. My questions have already been asked. So thank you very much.

[Operator Instructions] So there are no more questions. And therefore, I will hand back over to Themelin, over to you.

[Interpreted] Well, we will be delighted to see you in July for the half year results. And thank you once again for your attention, and we wish you a good day.

Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for taking part in today's conference call, and you can now hang up. [Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]