Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the 1st Quarter 2020 Albemarle Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. Later we will conduct a question and answer session and instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would like to introduce your host for today's conference, Ms.
Meredith Bandy, Vice President of Investor Relations And Sustainability. Ma'am, please go ahead.
All right. Thank you. And welcome to Albemarle's first quarter 2020 earnings conference call. Our earnings were released after the close of market yesterday and you'll find the press release earnings presentation and not GAAP reconciliations posted on our website in the Investors section, www.albemarle.com, Joining me on the call today are Luke Kazam, former Chief Executive Officer Kent Master's current Chief Executive Officer Scott Tozier, Chief Financial Officer. Rafael Crawford, President catalyst, Netha Johnson, President Bromian Specialties and Eric Norris, President lithium, are also available for Q And A.
As a reminder, some of the statements made during this conference call, including our outlook, expected company performance, expected COVID-nineteen impacts and proposed expansion projects may constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Please note the cautionary language about forward looking statements contained in press release, that same language applies to this call. Please also note that some of our comments today refer to financial measures that are not prepared in accordance with GAAP, A reconciliation of these measures to GAAP financial measures can be found in our earnings release and the appendix of our presentation, both of which are on our website. With that, I'll turn the call over to Luke.
Thanks, Meredith, and good morning everybody. I certainly hope everybody's healthy and safe. I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome Kent Masters as Albemarle's new CEO. Since Kent joined the board in 20 team. He's been one of my most trusted advisors and mentors.
Ken has a proven track record in good times and in bad as a successful CEO of a publicly traded company and he thoroughly understands what is expected of a leader in that role. I'm confident that Kent will continue to work with our board and the entire Albemarle team to position the company for future success and to deliver long term value for our customers, our employees, shareholders and other stakeholders. With that I'll turn it over to Kim.
Thank you, Luke. It's good to be here today. I'm excited for the opportunity and I look forward to meeting with members of the investment community virtually and eventually in person when it's safe for us to do so. As Luke mentioned, I joined the board in 2015 with the acquisition of Rockwood, or had been on the board or had been a board member there since 2007. Over the past 5 years, I've worked closely with Luke and was actively involved with my board colleagues in establishing the company's purpose and values, which are core to our identity.
What excites me about Albemarle is the innovation and leadership we bring to our markets and the prospects we have for future growth. We have earned an enviable position in our markets with our strong our actions in light of COVID-nineteen and our capital allocation priorities. Scott will review the first quarter financials provide an update on cost savings and review our outlook. First, I want to emphasize that the safety and welfare of our people is our highest priority. We are taking multiple actions to protect our employees, serve our customers and help fight the spread of COVID 19.
Thankfully, to date, our sites are operating without material impact related to the pandemic. I deeply appreciate the courage and continued support of the frontline essential workers in our communities and our dedicated Albemarle employees who continue to ensure safe operations at our facilities and offices worldwide. Yesterday, we released 1st quarter results, including net income of $107,000,000 or $1.01 per share. Adjusted EBITDA of $196,000,000 was down 13% from prior year. We had previously communicated the outlook for first quarter EBITDA to be down about 25% from prior year.
Ultimately, we beat that outlook due to better sales in bromine and lithium and better than expected cost reductions. Of course there will be impacts to all of our businesses related to COVID-nineteen. The timing, duration and severity of those impacts will vary for each business. Given the degree of uncertainty, we are withdrawing our full year 2020 outlook We plan to reinstate long term guidance as soon as it is practical to do so. In the meantime, we are temporarily introducing quarterly guidance that Scott will walk you through in a few minutes.
We have evaluated our capital allocation prior priorities in light of the current environment and are focusing on we are focusing our efforts on preserving cash and maintaining our dividend. That means taking preemptive measures to bolster our balance sheet and maintain financial flexibility. We are also stepping up and accelerating cost savings initiatives that were already underway and introducing short term cash management plans. We will remain focused on controlling what is within our control. And will continue to act in the best interest of our shareholders, employees, customers and other stakeholders to ensure success in these uncertain times.
Right now, ensuring success means responded to COVID-nineteen in a way that protects our employees, customer suppliers and communities. Our Chinese operations were the first to be impacted by the virus. We have been able to take those early learnings from our teams in China and apply them around the globe. In early March, we created a global cross functional pandemic response team to recommend develop and implement strategies to respond to the pandemic. Alba Miles leadership team meet almost daily to review and take actions on recommendations from that team.
In uncertain times, communication is critical and we are in frequent dialogue with our employees around the world. To help our employees stay safe and healthy, we have implemented protocols, including restricting travel, implementing work from home for non essential personnel, and adjusting shifts, increasing hygiene practices and requiring social distancing for essential workers in our plants. To date, we have had very few confirmed cases. However, availability of testing varies by region A small number of employees have self quarantined due to prior travel, exposure to a COVID positive individual or presenting mild flu, mild cold or flu like symptoms. We are thankful that the number of people directly impacted by COVID-nineteen has been trending down across the globe and we see this as evidence that the precautions we are taking are working.
We are communicating frequently with our customers and suppliers to help us manage supply and demand issues as they arise. To date, our plants have operated with minimal impacts other than in China where we operated at reduced rates for 2 weeks during the first quarter. For the health and welfare of our business partners, we have halted customer visits to our plant sites have implemented plant entry protocols for safe and efficient deliveries. Logistics remain a concern across all of our businesses as trucking and shipping companies struggle with new demand patterns and border requirements. We are working through these challenges to keep our customers supplied.
As the pandemic continues, Albemarle is supporting our communities in the fight against COVID-nineteen. We are providing MASK and PPE to frontline health and relief workers and donations and grants to help fight hunger and improve access to online learning. We are collaborating with universities, local disaster relief funds, trade organizations and other grantors to extend the reach of our efforts. To date, we have distributed more than $1,000,000 to organizations around the globe. Some of our products are also used in the fight against COVID-nineteen.
For example, our flame retardants are used in electrical metal equipment such as ventilators, our hydrobomach acid product as a catalyst in the manufacturer of PET for protective clothing and hospitals. We produce a line of water treatment products and intermediates used in cleaning products and disinfectants and at our plant in Germany, we are producing hand sanitizer for the local community. While these products are not financially significant, To our business, we are proud to do our part to protect against the spread of COVID 19. The extent of the economic impact of the global pandemic remains unclear, but I am confident that the actions we are taking to adapt to current market conditions will position us to our strategy across the cycle. Our first priorities are to fund our dividend and maintain financial flexibility and that is unchanged in the current environment.
2020 is expected to be Albemarle's 26th consecutive year of dividend increases and we remain committed to shareholder returns. We are also committed to maintaining our investment grade credit rating. Execution of our other capital allocation priorities has shifted in this environment. First, all capital projects are being examined for opportunities to preserve cash and spending. Our 2 biggest capital projects Lennagra III and Kemerton are being slow walked to preserve capital in the near term.
We are also reducing sustaining capital spend with an eye to maintaining safety and critical maintenance projects. 2nd, we are taking a disciplined and thoughtful approach to investments including M and A and joint ventures and will continue to act in the best interest of our shareholders. Lastly, while our share repurchase authorization remains in place, there are no buybacks planned in this environment. So with that as a backdrop, I'll turn it over to Scott for more detail.
Thank you, Kent. Apple Mall generated 1st quarter net sales of $739,000,000. A decrease of about 11% compared to the prior year. This reduction was primarily driven by reduced volume and price, in lithium as expected coming into the year and reduced volumes in catalysts due in part to low transportation fuel demand caused by COVID-nineteen. GAAP net income was $107,000,000 or $1.01 per diluted share.
There were very minimal adjustments this quarter with adjusted earnings of $1 per diluted share corporate costs, including SG And A, R&D, and interest and financing expenses, were broadly in line with the prior year period. As Kent stated, adjusted EBITDA was $196,000,000, a decrease of 13% from the prior year, but above the previously communicated outlook. Turning to slide 8, for a look at EBITDA by business segment. Adjusted EBITDA was down $30,000,000 over the prior year. Solid performance in bromine and our FCS businesses and company wide cost savings partially offset top line declines Olytheon and Catalyst.
Lithium's adjusted EBITDA declined by $40,000,000 versus the prior year excluding currency impacts. Pricing and volumes were down about 10% each, offset by product and customer mix, and cost savings initiatives. As you know, in late 2019, we did 1 year price concessions to many of our battery material customers. Also, as expected, customers reduced Q1 2020 shipments as they work Adjusted EBITDA declined $11,000,000, excluding currency impacts. Both FCC and HPC volumes were down this quarter but for different reasons.
The FCC decline was caused by reduced consumption of transportation fuel. Stay at home orders and travel restrictions mean refiners don't have to run as hard to meet reduced demand. HPC volumes were impacted by logistics challenges as the world's cargo fleet and truck transportation adjusted to slowing global demand. Partially offsetting these challenges, the CalAce business benefited from lower raw materials, better product mix and cost reduction efforts. Gromine's adjusted EBITDA was up $5,000,000 excluding currency impacts.
Improved average realized pricing cost savings and lower minority interest expense more than offset lower volume. The Q1 order book was strong, but logistics challenges prevented us from killing all of those orders during the quarter. Our corporate and other category is driven primarily by our FCS business. FCS EBITDA was up nearly $16,000,000 on higher volumes and product mix. While Q1 results were better than maintaining our strong financial position is a top priority and we remain committed to maintaining our investment grade rating.
We have ample liquidity of about $1,700,000,000 as of quarter end consisting of $553,000,000 of cash including $250,000,000 drawn on a revolver, plus $715,000,000 remaining under our $1,000,000,000 revolver. $200,000,000 available under our delayed draw term loan, which we drew in April and $190,000,000 on other available credit lines. Since quarter close, we have issued additional commercial paper as that market returned to more normal terms and tenders. In terms of debt maturity, we are pretty well termed out. The only short term debt is from commercial paper.
Our revolver is not due until 2024, but we may choose to repay that sooner. Otherwise, the nearest territories the nearest term maturities are $444,000,000 due at the end of 2021. The investment grade Market is open to us and I'm confident we'll be able to repay that or roll it forward. The divestitures of PCS, a portion of our Catalyst business and FCS, are being slowed down due to the COVID-nineteen travel restrictions. The potential buyers remain interested in both transactions or potential liquidity events as we get back to normal.
Turning to slide 10 for more on our cost savings. We have had a strong history of generating operating cash including $359,000,000 generated during the Great Recession in 2009. We expect to continue to generate significant operating cash thanks to industry leading positions in all of our businesses and through active cost management. As communicated during the 4th quarter earnings call, we are accelerating the 2020 sustainable cost savings initiative. These were projects that were already identified and underway when COVID-nineteen hit.
We now expect to achieve cost reductions by the end of 2021. Basically, we're bringing forward about $10,000,000 to $20,000,000 of cost savings into 2020. Based on our current order book and cost reduction actions, we now expect Q2 2020 adjusted EBITDA in the range of $140,000,000 to $190,000,000. Lithium's Q2 twenty twenty EBITDA is expected to be down year over year, but up slightly on a sequential basis. The Q2 order book continues to look solid albeit with some softness in technical grades.
Specialies and technical grades make up about 40% of lithium revenues and have a pretty short supply chain Lads are usually just a few months going into and coming out of a recession. Specialties and technical grade products use usually grow at or above GDP growth rates and are driven by consumer spending and industrial production. The energy storage market makes up about 60% of our lithium sales and has a relatively long supply chain. With a 1 to 2 quarter lag on battery grade sales both in the downturn and in the recovery. Battery grade customers continue to forecast a stable order pattern in the second quarter as captive and battery manufacturers catch up on backlog backlog orders placed prior to COVID-nineteen.
We expect to see the impact of recent OEM automotive shutdowns flow through the supply chain in the second half. By year end, OEM, automotive restarts are expected to be supportive of battery and lithium demand. China OEM production has started back up and some European plants are scheduled to restart production in mid May. Looking beyond Q2 for each of our businesses is difficult and nowhere is that more the case than with lithium. The electric vehicle market that is now the primary growth driver for lithium was not mature enough during the global financial crisis to provide much context for Gromine Q2 order patterns are starting to show the impact from COVID-nineteen.
They are off expectations by about 10% and down sequentially. We're seeing some indications that customers may push order from late May or June into the third quarter. And net net, we expect first half EBITDA to be down year over year with Q2 EBITDA down about 20% from prior year. We do expect softness to continue into Q3 related to slowdowns in automotive, consumer electronics, appliances, and construction. All as a result of the knock on impacts of COVID-nineteen.
Based on our position in the supply chain, we typically see a lag of at least 1 or 2 quarters, and in some cases longer. Our bromine business has been profitable every year for 20 years. In the global financial crisis, bromine's 2009 net sales were down 30% year over year and EBITDA margins fell to 16%. Compared to a more normal margin in the high 20% or low 30% range. Then the business rebounded very strongly in 2010 2011 back to and in some markets above pre recession levels, thanks to pent up demand.
Compared to 2009, Bromine today has a tighter supply demand balance going into the downturn. We've also seen some competitor specific supply disruptions, which somewhat muddied the water and may partially offset some of the demand softness. Bromine is also much more diversified as a business today. It tends to be relatively GDP driven with customers across multiple end user markets. Find returns make up about 50% of sales and are used in electronics, automotive, construction and appliances.
Oilfield represents up to 10% of sales. And other industrial uses include PET and agriculture. This diversity allows us to shift sales across markets into the best performing industry frees. Finally, as you know, our catalyst business includes 2 primary product groups, FCC catalysts and HPC catalysts. Across the cycle, FCC and HPC are fairly similar in size but the HPC business is much lumpier.
Customers order HPCs only every 2 to 5 years when they perform turnarounds at refineries. Therefore, HPC demand is driven by customer turnaround schedules. Whereas SDC demand is driven by transportation fuel consumption and miles driven. In a typical recession, there's very minimal impact to FCCs, whether pricing falls and miles driven goes up, meaning more fuel demand and more catalyst demand. HPCs on the other hand tend to see sharply lower demand when oil pricing contracts.
Refineries run at lower rates and are able to push out turnarounds and conserve cash. In 2000 and 8 and 9 and in 2014 2015, the order price corrected by more than 50% in a matter of months. In both cases, FCC earnings were up slightly, but HPC earnings were down about 30% 2009 50% in 2015. In the current economic environment, we do expect HBCs to be down, especially in the second half. But in this case, FCCs will also be down as widespread stay at home orders and travel restrictions lead to dramatically lower miles driven and transportation fuel consumption.
In Q2, we expect to see a full quarter impact of travel restrictions that began in the first quarter. To date, we've seen minimal changes to the FCC order book for Q2. But based on the experience of prior oil price reductions, we expect to see a shift of HPC orders out of second half and into 2021. The timing and extent of the downturn is unclear and a lot depends on how long travel restrictions are in place how long the oil price remains low and how much crude and refined product inventory is built up when restrictions are lifted. Given the current economic environment, we are executing our and have already activated many of these tactics.
In terms of variable costs, restricted travel due to COVID-nineteen will continue or also with limiting professional services and consultants. On fixed costs, we are reducing capital expenditures and limiting hiring over time and contractors. Senior executives and the board have also agreed to a temporary 20% cut a base type. We're also cutting sustaining and growth capital spending. We will continue to maintain our health safety and environmental standards.
Beyond that, we're taking a critical look at all capital spending across our businesses. The most meaningful capital spend is at our lithium expansion projects, La Negra III and Kemmerton. We are slowing work on these projects to conserve cash and to reassess the demand requirement when the battery industry recovers. We have maintained optionality to defer additional capital or accelerate these projects depending on market conditions. Including cuts to sustaining and major project capital, we now expect our CapEx to be in the range of $850,000,000 to $950,000,000, a 15% reduction from the midpoint of previous guidance.
Working capital averages about 25% of sales. So we'd expect to see some reduction here as revenue declines. We're also actively managing working capital to seek further improvements, including seeking payment term extensions from vendors accelerating collection of pass through receivables and actively reducing inventories. We have begun shutdowns of some catalyst production and have plans in place to slow ban our plants as needed, assuming demand declines as recent customer shutdowns work their way through supply chains. All told, the short term cash management actions detailed here are expected to save the company about $25,000,000 to $40,000,000 for the quarter.
That will be in addition to the CapEx reductions and sustainable cost savings we just discussed. We're working hard to cut costs. But also minimize the impact to our employees. Unfortunately, depending on the length and severity of the downturn, we may idle additional production sites or take more drastic cost actions if necessary. These actions are difficult and not something that we undertake lightly, but they are meaningful to help position Albemarle to be stronger for longer.
I'll turn the call back over to Ken. Thanks, Scott.
Current economic conditions are challenging. Albemarle is an industry leader in all three of our core businesses. We believe in the long term growth prospects in all of these businesses, but our immediate challenge is to manage through crisis. We will act on cost reduction measures quickly to preserve cash and maintain our financial flexibility. We will also be poised to respond to meet customer needs when market returns.
We remain confident in our strategy and we will modify execution of that strategy to further position Albemarle for success
Great.
Have a chance to ask a question as possible. Feel free to get back in the queue for additional follow ups this time allows. Thank you. And Michelle, please proceed with the Q and
Thank Our first question comes from the line of Steve Byrne with Bank of America. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Hi, this is Matt Deo on for Steve.
I wanted to dig into
the guidance a little bit more and see if you could kind of point at the drivers, which would result in either the low end or the high end of the guidance range? It seems like your direct segment commentary points to something like 150,000,000 How do you get to that, $190,000,000 number?
Hey, this is Scott. So I think a couple of key things around uncertainty. One is, in each of our businesses, we've got a pretty good visibility through the end of May beginning of June in terms of our order book and are executing to that. I think the uncertainty comes in each of the businesses as we get through the month of May, particularly with the catalyst in terms of how deep the slowdowns in the refineries will be or if states start to come back on, hopefully the refineries start back up. In bromine, it's going to come down most likely to some logistics issues and questions around quarter books getting filled on time.
And then lithium, we do expect that the auto OEM shutdowns will be impacting us in the second half. Right now, the order books look pretty good through June, but they're starting to starting to soften. So there's some variability there as well. So those are the key drivers for us.
Okay. And, I guess, on prior calls, you discussed potential for overbuilding in battery cells. Looking demand appeared strong despite what we saw was probably a slowdown in autos in 2Q and beyond. How did this end up playing out Where do you see downstream product inventories? I guess finally at Loop, I want to wish you well.
Always appreciate your candor and Levity you brought to the conversations over the years?
Eric, do you want to take that question?
Go ahead. Sure. So, Matt, let me tell you what we know about battery cell manufacturers. Today, we are seeing and have talked about excess inventories of lithium bearing products in the value chain. That is being worked off.
It's one of the reasons why our first quarter for us was weaker on volumes. We knew that, expected that coming into the quarter. In terms of battery cell manufacture, it's actually the opposite of what you described, the phenomenon we saw during the first quarter, particularly in Europe, was the battery manufacturers having a tough time keeping up with EV demand and production in the months of January February. That's obviously started to change. But it's one reason why the order books continue for the 1st and second quarter.
We believe to remain strong. But with these closures to see it tip down in the second half of the year. It's very hard for us to know what that means in the second half of the year. It's very cloudy, but those are the drivers and phenomenon we're seeing right now.
Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Bob Crude with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. I think, Scott, you might mention that you thought maybe the demand curve on lithium was pushed out a year. So I guess I'm trying to ascertain, is that an issue of it being episodic for these closures? Is it the issue of a recessionary pressure dampening consumer spending. How do you come to that conclusion?
What is sort of the calculus of a 1 year push out for the industry given that I guess a lot of the mandates don't go away and China seems to be cranking back up again.
Yes, it's really based on current the current demand in 2020 and the recessionary impacts and some of the modeling that we've been doing. Be honest, we don't know exactly what that curve looks like. And Eric maybe you can provide a little bit more detail there. But right now, the expectations, even if you look at a source such as IHS would suggest that the growth curve is going to be pushed out by at least 1 year. So Eric, do you want to provide some more information?
Yes, I don't know if I can provide a lot of granularity. Bob, we know that automotive plants collectively are closing some openings are delayed here in the U. S. Tesla's opening is imminent, but has been delayed a few times. There's been openings in Germany.
So far, there will hopefully be more in May. And collectively, if you look at the duration of time that they've been down and look at the supply chain in this 1 to 2 quarter lag, we would expect that the 3rd quarter is going to that the impact of that shutdown is going to impact to the market in the 3rd quarter. It is much, much harder to ascertain what the consumer impact will be and consumer spending will look like. We do know that regulatory factors in Europe and in China play a role in EV adoption, but we don't know what consumer purchasing will look like thereafter So that's why as Scott says, we're only as good as looking at what other people say. And if there are widely divergent views on what might happen, when we say we think it might be pushed out a year, that's sort of a consensus view looking at all the data.
And we're just going to have to as time goes on, scrutinize that and get sharp on understanding it with time. But right now, that's what we've got to work with.
And if I could follow-up, Scott, on
the covenant waiver efforts. Is that are you going to attempt to get a net debt measure and what are the ramifications of seeking that covenant waiver if you do end up violating that covenant?
Yes, Budd. So we're actively in the discussions with the bank, even as we speak. So, it's a little bit early to call exactly what the final outcome will be, but the banks have been very, very supportive of Albemarle given our track record and the capability of our team to deliver. Clearly, a covenant breach is not a good thing. And we're going to take all the action necessary to make sure we don't breach.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of David Begleiter with Deutsche Bank. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Hi, this is David Huang here for Dave. I guess first of all, your key one lithium sales down 18% FX. Can you talk about how much of the decline was pricing versus volume and probably your expectation for lithium pricing for the rest of
the year?
Yes, this is Scott. So the first quarter, lithium was down, as you say, both price and volume were down about 10% by equal. Really as expected on volume. So we're expecting volume to be down coming into the year. Pricing in fact was a little bit better than we expected versus our expectations.
So that was a positive surprise for us. And as you get through the year, our current expectations are still that pricing is going to be down and then we continue as expected on the use of the
And secondly, I guess for the oilfield business, in your bromine segment, given producers are reducing their capital budgets and especially a very weak offshore drilling market, what's your expectation or what type of impact do you expect that to have on your bromine business on the volume side in the medium term?
Yes. Nessa, do you want to take that?
This is Nessa. As you know, our oilfield business is primarily with deep drilling fluids which is impact we see probably really into 2021 more so than 2020. It's about 9% of our business today. So in the medium term, we really see that impact coming to us next year rather than this year.
Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Joel Jackson with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Hi, this is Robin on for Joel. Thanks for taking my question. Your Greenbush JV partners, I would shop in the taken in JV. Would AOB be willing to increase leverage or issue equity or sell assets to buy out all or some of that space? And would you be concerned if that fulfill in stake and definitely know the companies have?
Thanks.
Okay. So we, yes, we know that Talison is a good project for us and we're following that process closely and we'll see where it goes. We know that the Chinese government will probably have influence on where that, where that asset ends up. But we're interested in it. We're following it by we're also mindful of the current market environment.
So, there'll be more to come on that, but we're following it very closely.
And just want to follow-up on that. Has there been any progress with, Tianqi lead paying the $100,000,000 that they owe to the Talison JV of the Yes. So
there's plan in place that we've agreed with them or that Talison has agreed with them. And we expect that they'll meet that plan and we have actions that we've put in place to mitigate if for some reason they don't meet the plan.
All right. And our next question comes from the line of Jim Sheehan with SunTrust. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Could you give some more color on your plans to slow walk the lithium project spending Are you pushing out those projects by the same timeline as your expectations for electric vehicle demands or how are you thinking about that?
So, we're slowing the projects. It's a couple of things, but it's about cash management, but it's also about where they are in execution. So we're trying not to cross over a demobilization process. So that is something we could do if we needed to, but that'd be more difficult for us and would change the timeline. So, they're being pushed out, but we both we think both of those projects stay reasonably close to their timeline and it'll change depending on what we see in the market.
So, we've slowed those. We'll have the opportunity to slow down more or speed them up as we go and as we learn more about what the environment looks like economically as a result of this crisis.
Thank you. And on in China, what are you seeing in terms of stimulus spending and other incentives to jump start the electric vehicle sales? Are you
expecting more of an impact from that in the second half?
Yes, this is Eric, Jim. We'd be looking at the same sort of announcements you have, which announced an extension to your extension of the, of the incentives for electric vehicles to consumers in China from where they were due to last or due to last this year. They've been extended. Our expectation, the data we're seeing is that China is improving recovering from its portion of the pandemic. We hope that's sustained, and the belief is by third parties, which we would subscribe to, that their demand will improve.
And how much at this point though is again, just is too hard to call because we cannot speak to the strength of the consumer. We don't understand what regulations are, but in the end, it's the consumer coming forward that'll make the difference.
Thanks a lot.
Thank you. And our next question Partners. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. The EBITDA derived from your all other segment tripled versus the same period last year. Can you speak to what drove that increase and how sustainable or not you think it may be as 2020 progresses?
Hey, Kevin, this is Scott. So Yes, I think what we've seen there's clearly a contract driven business and it all comes down to the timing of the shipments And so throughout 2019, we saw sequential growth in that business quarter to quarter. And our expectation coming into the year that we'd see sequential decline in that business. I'm starting with a higher first out of declining into the the back half. And that's basically the same expectation now.
They did a little bit better on earlier than expected in Q1. Right now, Q3 are holding up and Q4 will be a little bit softer, but it really just comes down to the timing of those shipments in the contracts.
Very good. And then a follow-up, I wanted to ask about logistics. I think you cited it as an issue in the bromine business and also cited some challenges related to logistics as it relates to hydroprocessing catalysts. Can you expand on what those challenges are? And are you seeing any alleviation here today as it relates to the 2nd quarter forecast?
Yes. So the challenges really come down to the disruption of of demand, throughout the logistics change. So when China was down in the first quarter, all of a sudden, a big chunk of the containers, shipping fleet, trucking fleet were basically in the wrong spot to be able to support things. In the rest of the world. And as we move through the crisis, you start to see border closures, you know, restrictions in terms of when ports are going to be operating, all those types of things start to impact us as well.
Things are I'd say marginally better now. Things we're finding ways to manage through that. So for example, We have one product in our FCS business that we have to airship and we have to airship it. We normally airship it into Denmark. That flight has been canceled.
So that cargo flight has been canceled. We now have now going into Belgium and trucking that over to Denmark from there. So we're finding our knowledge in our way through it, but the challenges are still there. So, I mean, I think the waves of demand change is going to continue to be challenging 16 are doing a great job working with our business, our business guys to make sure our customers stay supplied. So I'm really happy for the work that they're putting in.
Appreciate the color and Luke all the best to you.
Hey, thanks, Ken.
Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of PJ Juvekar with Citi. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning. This is Kendall Marthaler on for P. J. Just with the delayed impact of COVID from 1H into 2H, Are there any thoughts on starting to reduce operating rates in the lithium segment now to try and work through that supply outside of obviously the the Wagino shutdown. And just can you give us an update on the inventory situation?
I believe it was kind of thought that the lithium inventory should be worked through by yearend early 2021. How do you see that progressing now?
Eric, do you want to talk a little bit about our shutdown plans, in your business and then our current view on inventory in the supply chain?
Yes. So we Ken, we entered the year, as you know, with our capacity fully committed under contract, 90% plus of our battery grade materials are under contract. And as we go through this year, we obviously have the uncertainty associated with what might happen in the second half, but our intent is to keep our plants running, to keep our customers supplied. We are seeing some indications that they a few customers that they're going to want to reduce their forecast. Those will be commercial discussions we have with them.
There are other opportunities we have to place that volume if we have to, but our intent is to and our hope is our customers want our contracts. So at the moment, we don't we're operating on a place the volume per plan, mode. There are, there is a playbook we have that in the event there is a worst case sort of recession coming, there's certainly is a playbook we have around what we need to do around how we'd run our plants. But we do not have any well beyond what we've already announced have further intent to close any clients at this point in time until we see how this second half demand plays out. I think that was your first question.
2nd question was inventory, correct, Kendall. So inventory has been drawn down some extent with the customers we serve. We know that because they've reduced their volumes in the first half as expected. The challenge we have is not knowing what's happening elsewhere. Of course, China had a very weak first quarter, itself because of the pandemic.
Now, automotive plants in Europe and the U. S. Have been are closing, which as I said earlier could have a third quarter impact And there's been numerous supply disruptions amongst our competitors, some of which is related to COVID-nineteen and some of which frankly has been related to their own liquidity challenges. So when you put all that together, it's very hard for me to comment on what inventory looks like and how much it has been drawn down across the channel. Across the whole industry.
So I'll just have to sort of let you know as we go through maybe next quarter or 2, we'll get better clarity on that, but right now it's quite muddy.
Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Matthew Skowronski with UBS. Your line is open. Please go ahead. Good
morning. Following up at Jim's question, you cut CapEx for this year and obviously these are very challenging times to predict But as of right now, what's your base case for CapEx for 20212022 given you're slowing down projects? And then kind of alongside that, what is the minimum amount of CapEx you would be willing to go down to if these trends continue?
Yes, this is Scott. Let
me start, Scott, and you can look further out. So, I mean, we look at it in 2 different buckets. So, we've got, well, sustaining capital, so capital in our plants. So, but from a safety standpoint, from a maintenance perspective, and then growth project. I'm going to more or less talking about La Negra and Kemerton at this point.
So, there's another leg that we can go down, but from an execution standpoint, it makes that more difficult And we don't really want to cross that, but if things get difficult, we have that lever. Operationally, we've, for this year, we've kind of narrowed it to the point where we can. There will be other as we shut down, we'll be able to cut capital if we have to shut down lines But we've kind of narrowed down to what we believe we have to do from a health and safety and from maintaining our assets perspective plus a little bit of buffer. We're not getting we're not to the bone, but we're close on that for this year. And then as we look out, we would depending on what happens, we would go back to what to what our previous level of spend would be and increase a little bit in the sustaining part, some growth smaller growth project with nice returns in the plants and then go back to the big projects what's necessary to execute those.
That's helpful. Thank you. And then with regards to FCC sales, can you just remind us how those are split geographically And if you're seeing any regions start to pick up, besides presumably Asia, and then thank you for everything, Luke, over the past couple best wishes for the future.
Hey, thanks a lot, Matt.
Hey, Matt. This is Rafael. Let me give you a little perspective on FCC. So geographically, the strengths for our business are in North America Europe. Europe is a smaller market for FCC, but we're relatively strong in Europe.
And our largest market is in Asia. And India. So that's where we have our pockets of strength and from a product standpoint, we're very strong in bottoms cracking and in propylene yield. So as you look at the impact of the pandemic and where we see recovery, for the first time, last week, global the inventory of gasoline in the United States went down from a record high of about 263,000,000 barrels of gasoline inventory 2 weeks ago. So I think we started to see an inflection in North America.
As you see states open up, it's going to start to improve from a bottoming out in North America. Asia has been recovering. So China has been recovering. There's still mandatory shutdowns in a lot of mandatory state home orders and reduced travel in a lot of Southeast Asia. So that has an impact on our business as well as in Europe.
I would say that from a global perspective, I think we're near the bottom or at the bottom of the demand picture and we should start to see a recovery from here on out, but there's a lot of uncertainty as to whether there's a second wave of outbreak of COVID how fast it comes back.
All
that being said, I think we're positioned pretty well as an FCC business in the right market with the right technologies
Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Mike Sison with Wells Fargo. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning, everyone. In 2019, there was an inventory build for lithium, and I recall it somewhere in that fifty $1000 to $75,000 and then it shrank towards the end of the year. And you guys have tended to have a good feel for those levels. Do you think that inventory build builds back? And then at the end of the day, is the volume of lithium demand going to be down this year?
And by how much?
Mike, hi, it's, good morning. It's Eric here. So With regard to inventory, I don't know that I have much to add versus the earlier question. We did have if you include all forms of lithium, somewhere between and refinery with maybe 3 to 4 months, if you add in spodumene, maybe 6 months of inventory as we are exiting last year. As you know, and as discussed regarding our results, our customers, and we expected this, drew down from our purchases that they'd otherwise have in the beginning of the year, their inventories.
And it was particularly in Europe a reasonably strong first quarter despite the onset of the pandemic. Outside of China. So there has been in a small part of the world some inventory reduction, but what I can't account for is what's happened elsewhere. China demand was not strong at all in the first quarter. It is the largest lithium market.
However, producers to that market many of our competitors weren't able to produce either. So the relative balance of the 2 and how that changed in a 3 month period, too hard to say. Really too hard to say right now. So that's what I'd have to leave it at. Was there a second part to your question that I missed?
Yes. And just a quick follow-up, if you think about the long term, kind of the 2025, forecast for EV adoption, how has that changed, do you think, with, oil prices being low and kind of the impact on automakers and their ability to ramp up those cars? And then, look, I just wanted to wish you the best. It's, I hope you have a lot of, that fits the cash over the next couple of days.
Well, I don't forget if you owe me that dinner and the wine over that day, you lost football games with Nice Mind.
I'll get down there.
So, on demand, I think it's like we said, we know that we're going to see a weaker second half. We don't know how weak Mike, so I really can't tell you how what this coming year's demand is going to look like versus last year's at this point in time. What I can tell you on EV specifically is that what we look at for EV adoption is not necessarily oil price. That's an older convention or rule of thumb that just does not seem relevant in the world where whole regions and countries are putting in regulations in place that are driving things towards electric vehicles. So that is that's what we look for and we see that sustained.
We see that increasing in the case of China. There's a possibility those regulations are sustained or potentially increase under the Green Deal initiatives in Europe. We'll have to watch and see. But all that being said, as we said earlier, the reasons we think and we rely on 3rd party research for this that the EV curve has been shifted out perhaps by as much a year or more is that the consumer spending is going to be nicked significantly during this recession. We just don't know what that impact looks like.
So we like you're going to rely on experts who provide those forecasts and as we get more information, we'll provide more.
Thank
you. Our next question comes from the line of Colin Rusch with Oppenheimer. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Thanks so much guys.
Can you talk a little bit about the technology roadmaps for your cathode customers and whether those are accelerating or changing at all? We know you've got some targets out there, but are they taking this downtime to look at accelerating some of those roadmaps?
I don't, Colin, good morning. I don't think there's any material change to those roadmaps. So just at a high level what those are is as chemistry has moved to higher levels of nickel, NMC 622 or higher in the NMC chemistry area or NCA, those are the preferred chemistries for energy density, therefore lower costs ultimately in higher range for EVs. As all of these electric vehicle manufacturers, particularly in Europe, given the regulations I just referenced earlier that are driving this adoption, roll out their plans They're moving to those chemistries. Those are oriented towards hydroxide.
There's some salt and pepper ingredients that are used on the anode side of things. For pre lithiation and other things that are starting to develop as well. So, some interesting technology developments. That's where we see the future. We're going to continue to see a core of chemistries used to support consumer electronics products, power tools and lower range, lower value EVs, which will be predominantly based in China and those will be carbonate based chemistries.
They can be lithium ion phosphate or NMC variety sales that have lower levels of nickel and are therefore more economically produced with carbonate. And that's pretty much the story as it's been. It hasn't changed a lot just given what's gone with the pandemic, most automotive and battery manufacturers are just dealing with the pandemic at the time being rather than accelerating there. Technology programs.
All right. That's helpful. And then in terms of some of the health measures that you guys are implementing in your facilities, are there permanent changes to the cost structure on production and processing that you can speak to at this point?
I wouldn't I mean, what we've done from a health standpoint, I don't think we'll change our long term cost structure. So they'll that will move back. There are things that we're learning and that will inform some decisions as we go forward. But so far, we've We've done that in response to the pandemic and continue to operate in a difficult environment. We've done fairly well with that, but we'll go back to the way we were operating as soon as that's possible.
But some of the things that we've learned will probably apply that may affect that, but we're not in that spot today.
Great. Thanks so much guys.
Thank you. And that does conclude today's Q and A session. I would now like to turn the conference back over to Ms. Meredith Vanke for any further remarks.
Right. Thanks everyone for your questions and your participation in today's conference call. As always, we do appreciate your interest in Albemarle. And this concludes our first quarter conference call. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in today's conference. This does conclude program, and you may all disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.