ICL Group Ltd (NYSE:ICL) Q2 2023 Earnings Call August 9, 2023 8:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Peggy Reilly Tharp - Vice President of Global Investor Relations

Raviv Zoller - President and CEO

Aviram Lahav - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Alex Jones - BoA

Joel Jackson - BMO

Rahi Parikh - Barclays

Peggy Reilly Tharp

Hello, everyone. I'm Peggy Reilly Tharp, Vice President of Global Investor Relations. I'd like to welcome you and thank you for joining us today for our quarterly earnings call. The event is being webcast live on our website at icl-group.com.

Earlier today, we filed our reports with the securities authorities and the stock exchanges in the U.S. and in Israel. Those reports as well as the press release are available on our website. There will be a replay of the webcast available after the meeting, and a transcript will be available shortly thereafter. The presentation, which will be reviewed today, was also filed with the securities authorities and is available on our website. Please be sure to review the disclaimer on slide two.

Our comments today will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are not guarantees of future performance. The company undertakes no obligation to update any financial information discussed on this call at any time.

We will begin with a presentation by our CEO, Mr. Raviv Zoller; followed by Mr. Aviram Lahav, our CFO. Following the presentation, we will open the line for the Q&A session. Raviv, please.

Raviv Zoller

Thanks, Peggy, and welcome, everyone. Earlier today, we announced our second quarter results, which are compared to an all-time record quarter last year.

As you can see on slide three, second quarter sales of $1.83 billion were in-line with revised expectations, but down as expected, versus an extraordinary second quarter in 2022 when commodity prices peaked. While the year-over-year decline in price has impacted all of our businesses, and we generally saw lower volumes.

Our Potash segment volumes increased in the second quarter, as we sold more products to China, India, and the United States. Lower prices in the second quarter also significantly affected our adjusted EBITDA, which was $441 million. However, we did see some benefit from lower raw material and transportation costs. We continued destocking throughout the second quarter, and proactively adjusted production as needed. Also, we adapted our savings and efficiency plans to react to the challenging near-term macro conditions.