Monterey Oct 30, 2015 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of Century Aluminum Co earnings conference call or presentation Thursday, October 29, 2015 at 9:00:00pm GMT TEXT version of Transcript ================================================================================ Corporate Participants ================================================================================ * Peter Trpkovski Century Aluminum Company - IR * Mike Bless Century Aluminum Company - President & CEO * Shelly Harrison Century Aluminum Company - SVP, Finance & Treasurer * Rick Dillon Century Aluminum Company - EVP & CFO ================================================================================ Conference Call Participants ================================================================================ * David Gagliano BMO Capital Markets - Analyst * Michael Gambardella JPMorganChase - Analyst * Jeremy Kliewer Deutsche Bank - Analyst * Zach Culpin - Analyst * Paul Massoud Stifel Nicolaus - Analyst ================================================================================ Presentation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [1] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the third-quarter 2015 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions). Also, as a reminder, today's teleconference is being recorded. At this time, I will turn the conference call over to your host, Mr. Peter Trpkovski. Please go ahead, sir. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Trpkovski, Century Aluminum Company - IR [2] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you, Tony. Good afternoon, everyone and welcome to the conference call. Today's presentation is available on our website, www.centuryaluminum.com. We use our website as a means of disclosing material information about the Company and for complying with Regulation FD. I would also like to remind you that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements related to future events and expectations, including our expected future financial performance, results of operations and financial condition. These forward-looking statements involve important known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements. Please review the forward-looking statements disclosure in today's slides and press release for a full discussion of these risks and uncertainties. In addition, we've included some non-GAAP financial measures in our discussion. Reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measures can be found in the appendix to today's presentation and on our website. And I would like to introduce Mike Bless, Century's President and Chief Executive Officer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Bless, Century Aluminum Company - President & CEO [3] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks, Pete and thanks to all of you for joining us, as usual, this afternoon. If we could move to slide 4 please, we will get right to it. Shelly, in just a couple of minutes, is going to give you a full update on the market environment, obviously, a critical issue for this call and otherwise. But just to put the comments I'll make here in context, let me just make a couple of quick observations. The trends that we talked to you about back in July on this same call have continued. If anything, they've become more pronounced as you know. Dynamics in the market outside of China continue to be favorable for this sector. Demand development continues to look good and still we are seeing no new capacity coming on ex-China. And we firmly believe this won't change. The net result currently is a deficit outside of China of about a million tons per year. Of course, all this and more is wiped out with the metal that's currently coming out of China. The issues with regard to China have not abated. Domestic demand is weak. We share the point of view about which you've read, that it's actually meaningfully weaker than has been publicly reported. The capacity is not coming off nearly fast enough. In fact, it's much the opposite as we continue to see uneconomic plants propped up by huge subsidies in various forms. The export of highly subsidized metals to developed markets has continued both directly and via circuitous routes. Products are being shipped to intermediate locations and then backward-integrated, i.e. being melted down into primary metal. There is obviously no economic rationale for that type of activity. Our assessment is that this behavior is not accidental, but a deliberate and decided strategy. And thus, it must be dealt with through various political processes. Some of these are shorter-term oriented with the objective to draw attention to the problem and to stop the most egregious practices. Ultimately, we believe the solution will require government-to-government dialogue and agreements. As you know, this type of thing has happened in the past in this and in other sectors. And we are working aggressively with industry groups and others towards this end. Turning inward, in the meantime, we've set the Company up to ride through what could be a prolonged ugly environment. We will only run each of our operations in a manner that yields nominally a breakeven result even in the current depressed environment. We've got no interest in impairing our liquidity to fund losses. As you know, the Company has a strong capital structure with ample liquidity and low financial leverage with no near-term maturities. The other leg on this stool is our insistence that no operation can or will put the other operations or certainly the total Company at risk. The strategy to accomplish this is relatively straightforward. On the one hand, we will continue to make modest investments at dollar out even assuming these market conditions persist for some period of time. On the other hand, we are reconfiguring the other operations to be viable in the current environment. First, at Grundartangi, we will continue the capacity creep project there that produces good returns even in the current commodity environment. In 2016, this plant will be running at greater than 50,000 metric tons per year above its rated capacity -- that's over 20% above its rated capacity. The plant is running well and continues to improve what's already an excellent production efficiency. And as you know, this plant has a very competitive cost structure. Turning to the Kentucky plants, if you looked at market power prices in the Midwest recently, those dictate that these plants should run in all but the most extreme and protracted scenarios. They are very favorable to power prices. We've developed an operating configuration at these plants that works even in today's metal prices. We will give you our detailed assumptions for our annual plan as usual when we report our fourth-quarter results in February. But we will give you just a sense now of what it's looking like. Based on the operating structures that we've developed for the Kentucky plants and the product premiums as we see them for 2016, these two Kentucky plants will run at a combined EBITDA breakeven even at current commodity prices. And this we are convinced can be sustained for a reasonably prolonged period of time. We've brought down the consolidated company's cost structure and breakeven considerably and Rick will provide you some data on this in just a few moments. Okay, moving along now. As we announced during the third quarter, we are moving to dispose of the West Virginia plant and the related site. This was truly a regrettable decision, but we simply came to the conclusion that the hill here was just too high to climb. Bottom line, we've set the Company up to be strong and sustainable in what could be a prolonged downturn. And we also know well what is required if we were to see a significant additional sustained deterioration in market conditions. Of course, the other key issue facing us now is Mt. Holly. Here the only issue is power. With simply a competitive power price, this plant should always be the last man standing in the US. As a reminder, we've announced already we have successfully procured from a third party all the power required to run this plant. It's a high-quality provider with the power coming from neighboring regions. We propose to pay the standard transmission rate for the local power company to transmit that power from its border to the plant. Regrettably, thus far, the local utility has declined to do this. And thus, we were forced last week, as you saw, to notify our employees that the plant would close at the end of December if we can't find a solution. As a reminder, the present contract was put in place in 2012 -- power contract, of course -- and it expires this December. Let me just remind you for a moment the basis of our decision to purchase our partner's share in this plant at the end of last year. First, Mt. Holly is the newest smelter in the US; thus, the most efficient and productive. As a part owner, we had a high regard for the management team and employees and as we've gotten to know them up close, they have exceeded our expectations. Their skill combined with the modern technology of the plant yields a very low conversion cost facility. In addition, most of the production is in the form of premium products that are sold to an excellent customer base. And lastly, we can say, after the last year of owning the plant outright, that South Carolina is a terrific place to do business in a whole range of ways. For these and other reasons, it would be a real tragedy if the parties were unable to find a solution here. As you would expect, we are looking at all ranges of alternatives and considering every option. It's difficult to predict at this time how this will resolve itself, but given the attractiveness of this plant, we are far, far from ready to even begin giving up. And with that, I will turn it over to Shelly who will take you through a review of the markets. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shelly Harrison, Century Aluminum Company - SVP, Finance & Treasurer [4] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks, Mike. Please move along to slide 5, please. I will provide some comments here on the industry environment. The cash LME price averaged $1590 per tonne in Q3. This reflects an additional $180 decline from Q2 and prices today are well below $1500 per tonne. That's a level we haven't seen since 2009 during the heart of the global financial crisis. Regional premiums continued to fall quarter-over-quarter, but appeared to have found some stability and have even ticked up a bit in the past few weeks, both in the US and in Europe. The Midwest premium is currently sitting at $0.075 per pound and the European duty paid premium is around $160 per tonne. In the Western world, we continue to see good demand growth driven primarily by a robust transportation sector. Aluminum use in Q3 grew by 2.6% in North America and 1.2% in Europe. Chinese aluminum demand continues to soften, along with the broader economy and grew at a rate of 8% in Q3. While there still appears to be good demand growth on a very large base, these levels are well below the low double-digit growth rates we've seen out of China over the last decade. On a global basis, demand growth showed a healthy 4.7% increase in Q3, but the real driver of our market right now is on the supply side. As we discussed last quarter, oversupply coming out of China continues to weigh heavily on the aluminum market. Despite the significant decline in aluminum prices and premiums over the last several quarters, we are not seeing any significant reduction in supply growth out of China and in Q3, Chinese production was actually up 12% as compared to the same period in 2014. The lack of smelter curtailments in China and continued supply expansion is being driven by what we believe to be unfair trade subsidies. These subsidies are coming in many forms, including land grants, power prices, taxes, interest rates and other state support that result in overcapacity and unfair trade practices, which must be corrected through government action. Western world supply growth was essentially flat in Q3 with some modest curtailments offsetting new capacity from planned project startups. On a worldwide basis, global supply was up just under 7% in the quarter. Overall, the aluminum market is expected to generate a modest surplus this year, which is entirely attributable to excess capacity from China. Excluding China, the aluminum market would be in a deficit of over 1 million tonnes in 2015. Okay, just a couple quick comments on the alumina market before I hand it back to Mike. Alumina prices have traded down sharply over the last several months, yet trailing index price is currently around $250 per tonne. That's down about $100 from the beginning of the year. Rick will talk about this more in a minute, but I wanted to point out here that there will be a lag between the timing of following alumina prices and when that benefit will be reflected in our financial statements. Pricing for Atlantic alumina continues to trade at a discount of $5 to $10 per tonne to the Australian Index price and overall, the global alumina market is expected to be in a surplus position for the balance of 2015. And with that, I'll hand it back to Mike. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Bless, Century Aluminum Company - President & CEO [5] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks, Shelly. If we could turn to slide 6, please, let me just take you through a quick review of the quarter that just ended. First, at the top, you see we had a mixed performance on safety this quarter. First and foremost, I should say how proud we are of the excellent performance at Hawesville given the situation at the plant. Just to review, as you remember, we came out of the labor dispute obviously in June going into the quarter and the difficult situation that came out of that. Then, of course, we had uncertainty and the significant work required to move the plant down to 40% of capacity as we announced a couple weeks ago. And it's in this very difficult environment that the management and employees work to keep themselves and each other safe and they should be absolutely commended for that. Sebree also had a lot going on, especially activities around returning the cast test to more normal operations and so in that context, performance there was terrific as well. Uncharacteristically, we had slightly worse performance quarter-to-quarter from Mt. Holly and Grundartangi on the safety side. Going down the chart here, you can see production at Hawesville, no surprise there, of course, as we were working through the quarter to take the plant down to where it sits today at 40% of capacity. As you see the other plants were flattish quarter-to-quarter. Production efficiencies, again moving down the chart here, as you can see, generally stable. Again, a commendable performance at Hawesville given the situation there and I would say the same about Mt. Holly given the growing uncertainty on the status of the power contract. At the bottom of the page on conversion costs, as you see, Hawesville was essentially no change from a conversion cost standpoint quarter-to-quarter. Let me make a couple comments to put that into context. As you remember, if you go back to Q2, we had very high costs at Hawesville due to the direct cost of the labor dispute. And then in Q3, some of those costs were trailing, plus, of course, we were operating in an environment where we were bringing the production capacity down significantly to the 40% level. That resulted in Q3 costs, as you see here, essentially equal to the cost that we had in Q2. We've now got the cost structure set up for the reduced production level. And thus, the significant unabsorbed fixed costs we saw in Q3 are largely behind us with a small amount that will be trailing in Q4. We also have a very different product mix now. We are now producing only high purity aluminum and molten and this, this produces a much higher weighted average product premium. So we will see some very different results from this plant going forward and Rick will make some comments about the fixed cost absorption during the quarter. At Sebree and Mt. Holly, you see a reasonably consistent performance on the cost side quarter-to-quarter. And now I will hand it over to Rick. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rick Dillon, Century Aluminum Company - EVP & CFO [6] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks, Mike. If we turn to slide 7 of the presentation, I will provide a few additional details on our financial performance in the third quarter. Our net sales were down 13% from second quarter reflecting the unfavorable market conditions we've discussed and lower sales volume at our North American operations. Looking at the market impact, on a two-month lag basis, the average cash LME price was down 5% and the Midwest transaction price was down 15% sequentially. Realized prices in the US were down 12% in the third quarter reflecting this two-month lag pricing. Actual Midwest transaction prices have declined approximately 12% since the end of the second quarter and the balance of this further decline will show up in realized prices in our fourth-quarter results. For Iceland, the all-in two-month lag LME and European duty paid premium decreased approximately 13% in the third quarter, consistent with the decline in realized prices. On a consolidated basis, global shipments were down 1% in the third quarter of 2015 versus the second quarter. Iceland shipments were up 7% in the third quarter inclusive of 4000 tonnes of finished goods that were awaiting shipment in Iceland at the end of the second quarter due to the timing of sales cutoffs. North American shipments were down 5% from the second quarter. The decrease is attributable to the decision to reduce operations at Hawesville resulting in lower shipments of approximately 9500 tonnes. Turning our attention to operating profit, we are reporting an adjusted EBITDA loss this quarter of $25 million, a decrease of $76 million when compared to the $51 million of adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter of 2015. The adjustments include approximately $3 million in costs related to the partial curtailment of Hawesville operations, additional costs in the third quarter directly attributable to the Hawesville labor disruption, which ended late in the second quarter, as well as non-cash adjustments to the carrying value of our inventories, which reflects the further decline in market prices at the end of the quarter. The Hawesville partial curtailment cost of $3 million include liquidated damages under certain take-or-pay raw material contracts and employee severance costs. Lower all-in pricing, including the impact of a declining LME, declining regional premiums and net of the impact of the LME on our power and certain alumina costs, all combined to reduce EBITDA by $67 million during the third quarter of 2015. The impact of lower sales volume on EBITDA at our US operations was offset by increased volume in Iceland. As Shelly noted, we have seen the market prices of alumina decline sharply over the last several months. As we noted on our last call, given the high inventory levels due to reduced production activities, we did not realize favorable alumina pricing in this quarter. As we stated previously, it will take one or two more quarters for us to start realizing the lower prices of alumina currently held in our inventory. Increased operating costs per tonne in Hawesville and lower fixed cost absorption negatively impacted EBITDA by $9 million. In summary, lower market pricing during the quarter and lower fixed cost absorption drove a $76 million decrease in EBITDA resulting in an adjusted loss per share of $0.48, a decrease of $0.73 from the second quarter of 2015. Moving on to liquidity, there are no outstanding borrowings under our revolver other than letters of credit. As noted in our release, at the end of the quarter, our available liquidity was at $223 million consisting of $123 million in cash and $100 million of net availability under our revolving credit facilities. Now let's turn to slide 8. Cash decreased during the quarter by $44 million after consideration of the loss of $25 million on an adjusted EBITDA basis. Capital spending during the quarter was $16 million with year-to-date spending at $48 million. We anticipate annual spending in 2015 of approximately $60 million, consistent with our previous communication. The favorable impact of receivable collections and inventory reductions during the quarter was fully offset by trade payables driven by the timing of payment of alumina receipts. Our preliminary estimate of our consolidated cash flow breakeven for 2016 at current premium levels is at approximately $1525 per metric tonne, which is a direct comparative to the LME. This is excluding Mt. Holly and assumes, as Mike noted, that we have configured our remaining US plants to operate at or near breakeven at the plant level. The consolidated breakeven point represents cash flow after sustaining capital expenditures, cash taxes, interest expense, SG&A expenses and pension contributions -- everything, excluding any discretionary capital spending. We will provide an update on this and more details on our 2016 -- on our next call. With that, I will now turn the call back to Mike. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Bless, Century Aluminum Company - President & CEO [7] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks, Rick. If you could just turn to slide 9, please. I would just like to give you a quick sense of what we will be focusing on here over the next couple of months and then we will get right to your questions. It's obviously critical to keep pushing the ball forward on attacking the significant issues plaguing the sector on an overall basis. The prize to us is obvious given the attractive demand picture in the sector. We are convinced that a fair global market based upon economic realities would be a very attractive environment for primary aluminum producers over the coming years. At Mt. Holly, as I said, the situation is very fluid and thus, it's difficult to predict what turns it might take here over the coming weeks. Again, I want to say we are absolutely committed to finding a solution to maintain operations at this truly, truly excellent plant. Last, we will continue to take actions necessary to set the Company up, as Rick was saying, for a protracted weak environment. We've got no intentions to draw down on our liquidity to fund losses at these plants. We are in a good position based upon current market conditions and even at somewhat lower commodity prices. And lastly, we know well what needs to be done if we were to see further meaningful deterioration that we believe was going to be sustained. And with that, Pete, I think we can move to questions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Trpkovski, Century Aluminum Company - IR [8] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks, Mike. Tony, if you can go ahead and queue up the Q&A session please. ================================================================================ Questions and Answers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [1] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you very much. (Operator Instructions). David Gagliano, BMO Capital Markets. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Gagliano, BMO Capital Markets - Analyst [2] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I actually just wanted to ask a quick question on this free cash flow breakeven number that you just mentioned. I think you said it was -- works out to about $0.69 a pound. So I actually had two questions. One, how long will it take to get to that number? And the second question, I just wanted to clarify, does that include or exclude the premium? I couldn't quite understand what you said there. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Bless, Century Aluminum Company - President & CEO [3] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It includes -- it's an LME equivalent number and the assumption is current premiums, so about $160, both Europe -- or $150, Pete -- Is in there for both Europe and the USA. So it assumes those premiums and thus that $1525, your $0.69 sounds right -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Trpkovski, Century Aluminum Company - IR [4] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Bless, Century Aluminum Company - President & CEO [5] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you -- as a direct LME comparable number. On your second question, the Kentucky plants are largely where they need to be today. As I said, there will be some additional reconfiguration that's taking place in the fourth quarter as well, but we are almost there right now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Gagliano, BMO Capital Markets - Analyst [6] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So beginning of 2016, we should be at (multiple speakers)? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Bless, Century Aluminum Company - President & CEO [7] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Before that, but most definitely. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Gagliano, BMO Capital Markets - Analyst [8] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay. All right, great. That's all I had. Thanks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [9] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Operator Instructions). Michael Gambardella, JPMorgan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Gambardella, JPMorganChase - Analyst [10] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I just had a question on slide 7. What caused the revolver availability to decline from 123,000 to 100,000 over the last quarter? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shelly Harrison, Century Aluminum Company - SVP, Finance & Treasurer [11] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike, there were several things that contributed to that. Obviously, lower prices and premiums will impact our receivables and inventories, as well as lower production will impact that as well. One of the big drivers this quarter though was at the absolute low point in the receivables cycle. Quarter-end was actually the day we get paid on, so that can change from quarter-to-quarter, so that was also a contributing factor this quarter. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Gambardella, JPMorganChase - Analyst [12] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So do you anticipate that to move back up in the fourth quarter? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shelly Harrison, Century Aluminum Company - SVP, Finance & Treasurer [13] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There will be one extra day in the payable cycle the next two quarters, so there's a little bit of movement there. Obviously, a lot of variables go into that. Depends on prices and other things, but just based on the payment cycle, there should be a small improvement. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Gambardella, JPMorganChase - Analyst [14] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And what is the duration on the revolver? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shelly Harrison, Century Aluminum Company - SVP, Finance & Treasurer [15] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The revolver goes through 2018. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Trpkovski, Century Aluminum Company - IR [16] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The US is 2020. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shelly Harrison, Century Aluminum Company - SVP, Finance & Treasurer [17] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry, 2020, 2020. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Gambardella, JPMorganChase - Analyst [18] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2020, you said? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shelly Harrison, Century Aluminum Company - SVP, Finance & Treasurer [19] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2-0-2-0, yes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Gambardella, JPMorganChase - Analyst [20] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay. Thank you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [21] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Operator Instructions). Jeremy Kliewer, Deutsche Bank. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jeremy Kliewer, Deutsche Bank - Analyst [22] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you guys have any update as to the cost reductions you introduced last quarter? You had $40 million to $65 million at the time, but I didn't see any update in this quarter's release? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Bless, Century Aluminum Company - President & CEO [23] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's a good question, thanks. Those are all proceeding exactly -- I guess two parts. Those actions that we had implemented at that time and described to you in the July call with an important addition, I will get to that in a sec, are proceeding exactly as we had expected. Of course, the major change here is we've taken Hawesville down to a lower production level and so that changes the basis of that whole presentation, if you will, or calculation. But all of those actions about which -- those were all implemented and those are either done or in execution phase. So there's been no change there other than, as I said, the change on the configuration of Hawesville. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jeremy Kliewer, Deutsche Bank - Analyst [24] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All right, thank you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [25] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Zach Culpin], please proceed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zach Culpin, - Analyst [26] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With the effect of the different cost reduction actions, what do you estimate your profit and loss breakeven will be by the March or June quarter? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Bless, Century Aluminum Company - President & CEO [27] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rick gave you the EBIT or the EBITDA breakeven. In terms of accounting profit and loss, adding in depreciation, is that what -- what specifically are you asking and then we'll try and answer it best we can. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zach Culpin, - Analyst [28] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For earnings per share, accounting profit and loss. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Bless, Century Aluminum Company - President & CEO [29] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We haven't put that out, John. I think you can work back from EBITDA by -- you know the cost below the EBITDA line, just to go over them for everybody, I guess Shelly or Rick will tell me if I get this wrong. We obviously have interest expense of about $20 million on an annual basis. Depreciation is about $70 million annualized -- thanks, Rick -- $70 million annualized. Taxes are an estimate at these LME levels. You are not paying very many taxes. Shelly, go ahead. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shelly Harrison, Century Aluminum Company - SVP, Finance & Treasurer [30] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Essentially zero in the US and at around breakeven levels, it's not going to be much in Iceland either. So assume zero for taxes. And in Rick's number, that cash covered interest. Really depreciation is going to be the big (multiple speakers) that's not in Rick's number. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Bless, Century Aluminum Company - President & CEO [31] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you. Of course, you give a cash breakeven number. Thank you for that. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zach Culpin, - Analyst [32] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [33] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks. At this time, there are no additional questions in the queue. Please continue. Actually, as I speak, we do have another one coming in from Paul Massoud with Stifel. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paul Massoud, Stifel Nicolaus - Analyst [34] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was just curious, given the elevated run rate at Grundartangi, does that change your maintenance CapEx figures going into next year? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Bless, Century Aluminum Company - President & CEO [35] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No, thanks, Paul, that's a good question. Now that you asked, we'll just -- maintenance CapEx, as we've said before and we've obviously confirmed this in discussions with all the plants recently as you would hope and expect, are relatively low at these plants, especially at Grundartangi, which is our newest plant. And so the answer to your question is no. And I can expand. Maintenance CapEx for 2016, just strictly maintenance if we were to make a decision to stop all discretionary CapEx, you are talking about well under $50 million for the consolidated company. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paul Massoud, Stifel Nicolaus - Analyst [36] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [37] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you. Presenters, there's no additional questions at this time. Please continue. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Bless, Century Aluminum Company - President & CEO [38] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay, well, then we do appreciate everybody's time again and we'll look forward to talking with you over the coming months. Take care. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Operator [39] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude your conference call for today. We do thank you for your participation and for using AT&T's Executive Teleconference. You may now disconnect.
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