Trading Statement

Vesuvius plc, a global leader in molten metal flow engineering and technology, announces the following update covering trading in the period 1 July to 31 October 2023.

Summary

• We maintain our trading expectations for FY 2023 as set out in our half year announcement
• We have performed robustly in the period due to our differentiated offering, market share gains and resilient pricing, despite a weakening of markets relative to H1 2023
• General slowdown in Foundry markets outside of India, most notably in Northern Europe
• Steel markets outside of India are also softer, and we expect this to persist throughout the remainder of Q4
• Good cash flow generation and progress on working capital, with an improvement compared to the position at H1 2023. Leverage ratio at year-end expected at or around 1.0x
• Mid to long-term market fundamentals remain attractive, and our growth initiatives remain on track

Resilient trading in weak end markets

We have seen a gradual deterioration in most Foundry end markets outside of India, particularly in Northern Europe. Steel production levels outside of India have weakened relative to H1 in EMEA, South-East Asia and South America.

Despite this, we continue to perform robustly, with our differentiated solutions supporting both good pricing performance and market share gains. We are particularly pleased with the performance of our India business, which exposes us to one of the fastest growing Steel and Foundry production regions worldwide. We are continuing to gain share in that region enabled by our investments in high quality manufacturing facilities.

Mid to long-term market fundamentals are strong and growth initiatives remain on track

The medium-term fundamentals for the Steel and Foundry markets remain positive and we continue to implement our strategic initiatives. The capacity expansions in our higher-margin Flow Control business are close to completion and will support the growth regions of India, South-East Asia, Turkey, and Middle East and Africa. Capacity expansions in Advanced Refractories in India are also progressing well.

Working capital

Cash generation in the second half of the year to date has been good as we continue to focus on reducing our working capital balances compared to the half year. We are seeing progress across inventory and debtors with both reducing in absolute amounts. As such we expect to see net debt / EBITDA on or around 1.0x at the year end.

Outlook

The resilience of our business gives us confidence that we will continue to meet our full year 2023 expectations despite weaker market conditions relative to the first half of 2023.

CONFERENCE CALL

Patrick André (Chief Executive) and Mark Collis (Chief Financial Officer) will be hosting a conference call for analysts and investors at 08:00 (UK time) today.

A replay of the call will be available for one week on the following numbers:

UK: 0203 608 8021

USA: 1 412 317 0088

South Africa: 010 500 4108

Australia: 073 911 1378

International: +27 10 500 4108

Passcode: 45352

Vesuvius plc, 165 Fleet Street, London EC4A 2AE

Registered in England and Wales No. 8217766