Century Aluminum Co Q4 FY2025 Earnings Call

Good afternoon. Thank you for attending the Century Aluminum Company fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call. My name is Matt, and I'll be your moderator for today's call. All lines be needed during the presentation portion of the call if an opportunity for questions and answers at the end. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. I'm going to pass the conference over to our host, Chad Rigg, Vice President, Finance, and Treasurer. Chad, please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the fourth quarter conference call. I'm joined here today by Jesse Gary, Century's President and Chief Executive Officer, and Peter Trypkovsky, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. After our prepared comments, we will take your questions. As a reminder, today's presentation is available on our website at www.centuryaluminum.com. We use our website as a means of disclosing material information about the company and for complying with Regulation F.D. Turning to slide two, please take a moment to review the cautionary statements with respect to forward-looking statements and non-GAAP financial measures in today's discussion. And with that, I'll hand the call to Jesse.

Thanks, Chad. Thanks to everyone for joining. I'll start today with the discussion of Sentry's leading position in the American aluminum market, including exciting developments on our Oklahoma smelter partnership with EGA and the redevelopment of the Haasville site into an AI digital infrastructure campus. I'll then review our Q4 operational performance, including good news on the timing of the restart of Line 2 at Grinder-Tonghi, before concluding my initial remarks with a review of the outstanding global market conditions that we are operating in today. Pete will then walk you through our Q4 results and Q1 outlook before I conclude the call with discussion on the significant tailwinds we see for the company in 2026, including our Mount Holly expansion project. No company is more dedicated to U.S. aluminum production than Century. Century is already the largest producer of aluminum in the United States, smelting nearly 60 percent of the country's primary aluminum, employing more American primary aluminum workers than any other company and thanks to president trump's leadership and the section 232 program we plan to invest billions more in new and expanded production at mount holly and our oklahoma smelter project this has all been enabled by president trump and the administration's policies including the section 232 program which continues to be enforced with no exceptions and no exemptions this sacred program has leveled the playing field for american aluminum producers and workers and now for the first time in a generation is leading to the reshoring of production of this critical mineral and a new modern smelter in oklahoma century is grateful to president trump for his leadership and we intend to continue to invest in america as the largest supplier of this critical mineral in the united states for decades to come to this end century made substantial progress on our new smelter project in 2025, culminating in our recently announced partnership with EGA to build the first new smelter in the U.S. in nearly 50 years. By combining efforts with EGA, we will pair Century's significant operating and supply chain expertise in the U.S. with EGA's world-class expertise in aluminum smelting technology, construction, and operation. As partners in the Oklahoma smelter, EGA will own 60 percent and Century will own 40 percent, and the project will benefit from our previously announced $500 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The project recently retained Bechtel to complete the next stage of engineering work, which should enable a final investment decision in groundbreaking by the end of the year. In addition, the Oklahoma smelter will be the first new smelter built with EGA's state-of-the-art EX smelting technology, which will integrate cutting-edge Industry 4.0 and AI applications into the design and operation of the smelter, and is expected to improve production capacity by over 20 percent from previous technology. This has allowed us to increase the expected size of the smelter to 750,000 metric tons, which alone will more than double total U.S. aluminum production and expand Century's position as the largest American producer. Truly, once built, the Oklahoma smelter will be amongst the most efficient and advanced in the world and the crown jewel of the U.S. industrial base. We were also very pleased earlier this month to announce the sale and redevelopment of the Haasville site into a digital infrastructure campus supporting high-performance computing and artificial intelligence workloads by TerraWolf. This was an excellent result for the site and the community, which will benefit from the significant investment in job creation that will come from the data center development. Under the terms of the transaction, Century received $200 million in cash and a 6.8% interest in the completed data center. We are very glad to retain the stake in the future of the Haasville site, which will allow us to participate in the value creation of a cutting edge AI data center with ready access to 482 megawatts of immediately available power. The speed to power possibilities of the site have driven lots of immediate demand from hyperscalers and should drive desirable lease rates for the site, and Tara Wolf has indicated it could have a data center online by the second half of 2027. We are confident that this equity state should provide returns well in excess of the initial cash payment. Our 6.8% interest does not require any additional funding toward the multi-billion dollar data center build out, and we have the right to put our interest to Tara Wolf on the first anniversary of data center operations commencing, providing a certainty of exit should we so choose. Turning to page four in operations, we saw excellent performance across our smelter assets in the fourth quarter, with Grunertongi quickly and safely restoring stability following the outage of pot lane two, and Mount Holly returning to the strong performance we have come to expect from the plant. I would like to take a specific moment to commend the team at Seabree, who battled through some tough weather in the fourth quarter to conclude a record year for the smelter across a suite of kpis and profitability metrics to be able to achieve record performance after 50 years of operations is a testament to plant management in our entire workforce at seabree congratulations to all at jamalco as everyone knows in late october hurricane melissa made landfall in jamaica as a category 5 hurricane our team did a good job preparing the plant which included exercising their precautionary shutdown procedures ahead of storm. This preparedness paid off as the refinery made it through the storm without significant damage and without suffering a single injury. Following the storm, the plant was able to quickly restart basic operations. Damage to the broader Jamaican grid, however, did create significant instability in the supply of electrical power to the refinery, including lengthy periods where the refinery was without external power at all. This instability in electrical supply led to higher than expected costs in November and December and lower production volumes from a number of outages and a slower return to full capacity. Good news is the refinery is now well on its way to full and stable production. Importantly, at Jamalco, we are also nearing completion of our first major capital improvement project at the plant, with the installation of our new on-site power generation turbine, known as TG4 on track to be completed in April. Once complete, TG4 will enable us to run the refinery with entirely self-generated energy, eliminating expensive purchases from the Jamaican grid and allowing us to run the entire refinery independently. The completion of TG4, which will gradually ramp up over the second quarter, will substantially lower the cost structure of the refinery and is a big part of our overall goal of returning the refinery to the second quartile of the global cost curve. Nice job to the Jamalco team on keeping this project safe and on track despite the hurricane. Turning to Iceland, we have good news to report at Gründer-Tangi, where our global team is working tirelessly to return the smelter to full production much faster than originally anticipated. As we announced in October, the Gründer-Tangi smelter was forced to temporarily stop production in potline 2 following the failure of three of its electrical transformers, and the timeline for restart was dependent on how quickly replacement transformers could be manufactured, shipped, and installed at Grundertonghi. With global supply chains for transformers stressed by the unprecedented demand from global data center construction, we continue to expect it will take until Q4 of this year for the new replacement transformers to be installed. The replacement transformers have all been ordered and are being manufactured now. The good news here is we now expect that we will be able to repair some of the damaged transformers and begin to restart line two at the end of April, about six months sooner than originally anticipated. We still plan to install the new replacement transformers once they are completed, but we are confident that the repaired transformers will allow us to return the line to close to full production in the interim. While we will be conservative in our ramp-up plans and operations to avoid undue stress on the repaired transformers, we expect that line two and Brutertonghi as a whole will return to close to full production by the end of July. This schedule and our anticipated production is included in our full year volume guidance shown on page 12. Finally, our insurers have now confirmed coverage from the event and the subsequent business interruption as we anticipated. We have recently received our first payment under these insurance policies and we expect to receive additional payments under the policies on a lag as the claim is processed month by month through the end of the year. Pete will keep you updated as the cash comes in. If you turn to page five, let's take a minute to review the excellent market conditions that we find ourselves in before I turn it over to Pete. Aluminum prices continue to rise in Q4 and into Q1 as global demand growth, paired with a persistently challenged supply side, drove aluminum prices to a four-year high of $3,325 in January, with spot prices today of approximately $3,100. The concurrent rally in copper and other industrial metals are providing additional support to the aluminum price rally. As you can see on page six, we continue to project global deficits of aluminum units in 2026, driving further contraction of global inventories to another post-financial crisis low and leaving the market exposed to further supply disruptions. A good example of the supply side challenges is the recent confirmation that the 580,000 metric ton Mosul smelter in Mozambique will curtail full operations in March, causing a further drop in global inventories in order to replace those units in the market. The Mosul closure is likely to have the largest impact on the European regional premium as it is one of the largest suppliers of low carbon aluminum to continental Europe. Mosul, like Gründer-Tangi, benefits from tariff-free access to the EU market, but replacement units will likely need to be sourced from tariff countries, putting further upward pressure on the EU duty paid premium and providing a benefit to other European producers like Gründer-Tangi. The European premium has already begun rising following the initial implementation of Europe's carbon border adjustment tax, otherwise known as CBAM. In the U.S., the increasing strength of the U.S. economy, as demonstrated by strong industrial manufacturing activity and end-user demand, and improving building and construction data, has continued to drive the Midwest premium higher in Q4 and into Q1. Power and data infrastructure buildout should continue to drive additional aluminum demand in both the U.S. and globally. Midwest and European spot premiums have climbed to $1.04 per pound and $365 per ton, respectively, as of today. Pete will now take you through our financial performance for Q1 and full year outlook.

Thank you, Jesse. I will start by outlining our year-end financial results and cash flow. I'll then address the timing of cash flows from the business interruption losses in Iceland, followed by a discussion of proceeds from Hawesville, including our joint venture stake in the new data center project. Finally, I'll provide our Q1 outlook and highlight key expectations for the full year 2026. Let's turn to slide 8 and review our Q4 performance. On a consolidated basis, fourth quarter shipments totaled approximately 140,000 times, a decrease from the prior quarter due to the line loss in Iceland. Net sales for the quarter were $634 million, a $2 million increase sequentially, primarily due to higher realized LME and Midwest Premium, partially offset by lower shipments. For the quarter, we reported net income of $1.8 million, or $0.02 per share. Our adjusted net income was $128 million, or $1.25 per share, excluding exceptional items. Exceptional items mainly comprise of adjustments for share-based compensation, unrealized losses on derivative contracts, business interruption losses in Iceland, and the impact of Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was 171 million dollars primarily attributable to higher lme and regional premiums as well as improved operating expenses and increased volume at mont holly from q3 levels during the quarter we continued to strengthen our balance sheet we ended the period with a cash balance of 134 million dollars as previously communicated the proceeds from the refinancing of senior notes were utilized to fully repay the remaining iceland cash house facility debt in q4 further simplifying our capital structure and reducing net debt to 421 million dollars now let's turn to page nine and provide a breakdown of adjusted EBITDA results from Q3 to Q4. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter increased $70 million to $171 million. Realized LME of $2,615 per ton was up $105 dollars versus prior quarter. Realized U.S. Midwest premium of 80 cents a pound or $1,775 per ton was up $350 and higher European premium was up $35 per ton to $230. Taken together, LME and regional premium pricing contributed an incremental $59 million compared with the prior quarter. Energy costs were flat in Q4, as anticipated. Illumina and our other TRO materials were in line with our previously provided outlook. As mentioned on our last call, improved operational performance at Mont Holly increased volume and lowered operating costs, improving adjusted EBITDA by $10 million and $5 million, respectively, compared to Q3. Now, let's turn to slide 10 for a look at cash flow. We began the quarter with $151 million in cash. During the fourth quarter, we generated operating cash flow of $170 million and received our 45X check for fiscal year 24 in the amount of $75 million, as mentioned on our last call. We continued to accrue 45X tax credits. As of December 31st, we have a receivable of $173 million related to full-year 2023 and 2025 U.S. production. We expect to receive the majority of this credit in cash shortly after our tax filing sometime in Q2. During the fourth quarter, we reduced net debt by $54 million. This reduction was primarily due to the repayment of the outstanding Iceland Cast House notes, partially offset by the mismatch in timing from lost margin at Grundertungi. The Iceland revolver draw reflects increased working capital needs as business interruption losses started to accumulate when the Grundertungi line went down in late October. As Jesse mentioned, we now have confirmation of coverage from our insurers at Grundertungee and we will have received a reimbursement of close to $40 million in Q1. We expect to receive insurance reimbursements on about a one to two-quarter lag from our realized business interruption losses. We funded $34 million of capital expenditures in the quarter that went towards the new power generator and other ongoing investments at Jamalco, the initial payments for new replacement transformers in Iceland, as well as sustaining CapEx at the smelters. We had $15 million in hedge settlements during the quarter. At year end, the company paid $18 million in withholding taxes on share-based compensation. Finally, we had a working capital build this quarter due to the timing of LME-linked alumina shipments. We ended Q4 with $134 million in cash and strong liquidity in place to support our continued focus on restarting idle capacity at Mont Holly to increase U.S. aluminum production by 10%. As Jesse mentioned, we made good progress in Q4 on planning the restart of Line 2 at Grundertunghi, where, amongst other things, we ordered three new transformers to replace the failed units. The cash flow timing mismatch from Grundertunghi restart spend and lost margin in Q4 and the insurance recoveries received in Q1 left us short of our capital allocation targets at year-end. We are on track to exceed those capital allocation targets in Q1, and we would expect to come back to you on our Q1 call with detail on our go-forward capital allocation plans in line with the guidance Jesse shared with you all on our Q3 call. Our year-end cash does not include the $200 million from the recent sale of Hawesville, which closed in February. In addition, we retained a 6.8% non-dilutive stake in the fully completed data center at the site. Based on current lease pricing, Tara Wolf's operating margins for data center co-location facilities and prevailing sector valuation multiples, we believe our 6.8% interest is worth well in excess of our initial cash proceeds. Importantly, Sentry has no obligation to fund development costs at Hawesville. Now let's turn to slide 11 and look ahead to the next 90 days. For Q1, the lagged LME of $2,850 per ton is expected to be up about $230 versus Q4 realized prices. The Q1 lagged U.S. Midwest premium of $2,140 per ton, or about $0.97 per pound, is up $365 per ton versus Q4. The European duty paid premium is expected to be about $315 per ton in Q1, or up about $80. Taken together, the lagged LME and delivery premium changes are expected to have a $70 to $80 million increase to Q1 adjusted EBITDA when compared with Q4 levels. Harshly offsetting improved revenues was a temporary U.S. energy price spike that lasted about two weeks from winter storm fern that impacted prices at SEBRI. This approximate two-week impact had a $20 million adjusted EBITDA headwind at SEBRI. As a reminder, we do have financial hedges that sit below the line and out of adjusted EBITDA that will have a cash settlement. For Q1, we had hedged approximately 25% of our Indiana Hub exposure. Thus, the net cash impact of this two-week impact is approximately $15 million, after considering $5 million of positive hedge settlements. Temperatures have now improved across the Midwest, and energy prices have already returned to historical levels looking at our raw materials we continue to see moderate increases in our coke pitch and caustic prices taken together we see a small headwind of about zero to five million dollars sequentially we expect opx to be a headwind of zero to five million into q1 as we prepare to bring back all of our idle production in q2 volume and sales mix should also improve by $5 million as our new sales contracts begin to reflect an uplist in billet sales as indicated on our last call. All told, at expected realized prices, we expect Q1 adjusted EBITDA in the range of $215 to $235 million. Consistent with prior practice, we also include the estimated hedge and tax impacts to help model our business at the bottom of the page. We expect a 10 to 15 million headwind from real-life hedge settlements and a 0 to 5 million tax expense, both flowing through our Q1 P&L and impacting adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share. Our appendix details the full hedge book and continues to show the vast majority of LME and regional premium volumes are exposed to market prices. Finally, before I hand it back to Jesse, I'd like to walk through our fiscal year 2026 outlook, which is summarized on page 12. We expect to ship approximately 630,000 tons of primary aluminum this year. This reflects the partial impact of restarting the remaining 90 pots at Mount Holly and bringing back Line 2 at Grundertunggi earlier than previously anticipated. Once completed, our total annualized production levels would be closer to 750,000 tons per year. Turning to capital spending, we expect total capex for the year in the range of 115 to 125 million dollars for both sustaining and investment. This includes $45 million to bring back the last 90 pots at Mount Holly. This does not include the investment in transformer replacements at Iceland, as this capital is expected to be largely offset by insurance proceeds net applicable deductibles. Across our portfolio, we are making positive high return investments to improve the performance and profitability of our asset base, including growing production at Mount Holly and continuing to lower the cost structure of our Jamalco investment. Finally, we expect cash interest to decline in 2026, reflecting lower coupon on our senior notes and simplified capital structure.

And with that, I'll hand the call back to Jesse. Thanks, Pete. Century has an exciting 2026 ahead of us. Strong demand conditions combined with fundamentally short U.S. and European markets have created large global aluminum deficits and historically low inventory levels. This environment creates a unique opportunity for Century to be able to add production in a market that is otherwise becoming increasingly short. In Europe, our improved restart timeline in Iceland should enable Gründer-Tångi to supply additional metal units into a rising EDPP environment caused by the initial implementation of CBAM and production shortfalls in Mozambique and elsewhere. In the U.S., our Mount Holley restart project is on track to increase U.S. aluminum production by nearly 10% in 2026. The project is progressing on time and on budget, and we expect to begin restarting production in April and to be complete by the end of June. We have already hired over 100 incremental workers who are undergoing training to support the additional production, and preparation in the pot lines and other areas of the plant are well advanced. Combined with our Oklahoma smelter project, no one is investing more in American primary aluminum than Century. We are proud to follow President Trump's lead and to do our part to re-industrialize the U.S. and restore American aluminum expertise and support American workers. It's hard not to peek forward to this summer where, for the first time in over a decade, all of Century's assets will be operating at full production capacity. These units have never been more needed and valuable than in today's resource-constrained world. Our new and existing production will benefit from strong spot aluminum prices flowing through our contractual lags, driving higher realized prices than we have seen at any point in 2025 or year-to-date. At the same time, our total cost structure should be improved as the addition of the TG4 power turbine at Jamalco will be complete, lowering Jamalco energy costs, and U.S. power prices should have returned to normal following winter storm burn. 2026 is setting up to be a historic year of a century and we are laser focused on execution to benefit from the opportunities that are in front of us thanks for your time and we look

forward to taking your questions today if you'd like to ask a question please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad if for any reason you'd like to remove that question please press star followed by two again to ask a question press star one as a reminder if you're using a speaker phone please remember to pick up your handset before asking your question we will pause here briefly as questions registered first questions from the line of nick giles with b reilly your

lines may open yeah thanks very much operator um guys congrats on getting the hospital done deal with a um leading player like terrible that was really good to see um my first question maybe just clarifying one the q1 guide 215 to 235 that does add back the EBITDA that would have been

recognized from Grinder Tangi correct hey Nick it's Pete that's correct similar to how we did on the last call we are adding back the loss margin at Grinder Tangi and including that here in our guide so no further adjustments are required okay great great appreciate that

Maybe a broader question, you know, metal tariffs seem well intact here. Midwest premium remains at record highs, so it's nice if you guys continue to benefit from this. But, you know, investors really have varying views of whether tariffs hold, where MWP goes. So my question is, can you give us a sense of, you know, earnings power, not only in the current environment, but maybe other price environments and what this means for you know your capital allocation approach

yeah thanks nick it's pete again and it's a great question you know as we did on page 11 we gave you what that 215 to 235 million gets you from from a realized price perspective and you may have saw in our appendix on on page 18 we included our sensitivities for the major inputs for our business. But just the quick highlights to point out, again, referencing page 11, if you look at our realized LME in that guide of $2,850 per ton, and you sort of marked it to spot price today, LME is around $3,100 a ton. That's about a $250 per ton increase, and you can use the sensitivity to see what that mark is. And continuing on the revenue side, Midwest you know again we use 97 cents per pound in our guide on a realized basis today it's about 104 cents per pound and that increase will also equate to a uplift in Midwest and and there is a little bit of an uptick in EDPP the European duty paid premium you know we use the 315 for expectation on the guide I think spot price today is around $365 per ton, so that's another $50 per ton. So for the three major revenue components, again, if you took our midpoint of our guide of $225 million, I think that's just a little bit over $50 million of uplift when you mark the three revenue components to spot. And then don't forget, we had the winter storm fern impact in the first quarter. already behind us with temperatures already moderating but as you see here again on page 11 we had an indiana hub perceived repower price of around 69 estimated i think if you look at where we are today it's february 19th we have a good idea where we are in q1 and just assume a forward for the for the balance of of q1 and maybe the forward price looking in the q2 it's about 40 dollars on the screen so that's about a you know 30 improvement in indiana hub power price and that sensitivity is going to be just over 20 million so sorry long-winded answer but just to sum it up for you in revenue and in power combined that's about a 75 million uplift from our midpoint if you're taking the guide of 225 million to spot

That's super helpful. I really appreciate that. Maybe my next question. You're making progress in Oklahoma. Good to hear Bechtel's involved. Obviously, one of the key aspects will be an energy contract. I think in your initial press release, you used the word progressing. I was curious if there's anything you can share on that front. How would you expect that asset to compare to, you know, energy costs in the rest of your portfolio, anything you can add on that process would be really helpful.

Hey, Nick, it's Jesse, and obviously we're super excited about the Oklahoma project, super excited to be joining with EGA in that joint venture, and really I think there's a bright future ahead for that project and what's to come. As we mentioned, we are working on finalizing that power contract with EGA and with PSO, who is the power provider utility in that region, and we've been engaged, making good progress. There's a lot of support from the state, including from Governor Stitt, and so we just really need to do the work there and get where we need to be. In terms of where we end up on the pricing side, I'm not going to give any guidance there, but what I will say is, obviously, for an investment of this size, that power contract needs to be enabling and attractive to make sure that we can get the return on the investment that's required, and that's obviously a key aspect for us and something that we're driving towards with PSO.

About it. Well, Jesse, that's good to hear. Because I have more, but I'll turn it over for now.

Thanks a lot. Thanks, Nick. Thank you for your question. Next question is from the line of Katya Jancic with BMO. Your line is now open.

Hi. Thank you for taking my questions. Maybe starting on the new smelter. So, What are some of the things that we should be looking out for?

Sure, Katya. Thanks. So as I said, working with EGA, and as we recently announced, we've hired Bechtel to do the engineering work there. So next steps are finalize that power contract, work with Bechtel to finish the next stage of engineering work, Michael O' Finalize our cost and CapEx structure. And as you might imagine, there's a number of other work streams there, but those are really the big ones. Finalizing that our contract, working through the final stages of engineering work, making some progress on the financing for the project, and working towards making a final investment decision in Q4 this year.

In regarding financing options, are you in any discussions with potentially with the government to get or do you qualify for any government type of project level finance beyond the DOE money that

you got? There are a number of financing options available to us, Katya, some of which are potentially available from the government. So we're working down all those paths simultaneously to find whatever is the most attractive package, but we are excited about the various different options outstanding. We do think they will be attractive in the end, and we just need to do

the work to bring those to fruition. And we just want a quick one. I don't know if I missed this, but did you tell us what the assumed margin loss in first QE is for the Iceland in the guidance?

Hey, Katia. No, I didn't say the number specifically, but as you recall, and I think what you saw on the cash flow walk, we had lost margin of, you know, 40 to 50 million in the fourth quarter. And, you know, as the prices continue to rise higher, that could have an impact on that number. So no specific guidance on that, but we're just mainly looking at price changes quarter to quarter and just a reminder Katia that we did start to get the insurance proceeds to offset that lack of cash margin in the quarter so we will have the cash in the first quarter sort of lines up nicely with with the q4 loss margin and as i said on the call earlier continue to expect those insurance proceeds to come sort of on a one the two quarter like basis okay thank

you thanks thank you for your question next question is from the line of matthew key with

texas capital your lines now open all right good afternoon and thanks for taking my questions um wanted to touch on the the outage at iceland what what type of capacity utilization should we be expecting over the first half of 26 kind of while we wait for the new transformers I'm just trying to get a sense for shipment cadence out of there.

So until that line two comes back up, Nick, you're looking right now, line one is producing about a third of the overall Gründer-Tange volume. So if you just take our normal run rate of 315 to 320,000, take that as a third. That's about what we're getting out of Iceland until line two is back up and running. And then also just keep in mind in Q2 we're going to be restarting those additional Mount Holly tons. And so those will come on over the course of that quarter, returning that plant to full production. So really, if you take both Grunertangi and Mount Holly, take yourself to with respect to Mount Holly into June, with respect to Grunertangi into July, you know, should be entering august running at full production 100 utilization capacity across the

smelter got it okay that's that's helpful um and just in regards to the sale of hallsville and and the put option on that data center ownership do you expect to utilize that ownership um or that production for the ownership to fund the new smelter or should we be thinking that thinking of that as more of a long-term investment for the company um you know based on the timing of when those both of those projects are expected to come online I imagine to be pretty tight window there

but I just wanted to get your thoughts on that yeah Matt I think that it does provide a great liquidity option for us and and certainty that we will be able to exit should we so choose but as you as you can see and even just using the walk that he just did marking our current outlook to spot, we will be generating significant EBITDA and cash flow just from the regular operation of the business that should be more than sufficient to cover any financing needs that we need for the new Oklahoma smelter over this time period. So we will just continue then to maximize the value of that hospital stake in whatever format it needs to be. But the put option is nice because it does give us certainty of exit should we so wish we actually you know are very hopeful that that stake is going to be quite valuable um and we will you know continue to either hold that if that's what makes the most sense or we can look to sell and or exit to a third party as well if that happens to me it would make sense so we'll just value maximize there uh over time um but we're excited to own it i think it's a great uh way for us to stay a participant at hawsville um and also should hopefully create a lot of value for shareholders got it um well

i appreciate the time and best of luck moving forward thanks thanks matt thank you for your

question the next question is a follow-up from nick dials your lines now open hey guys thanks

for taking my follow-up um just just see on the point of you know when you start to annualize the Q1 guide, it is a significant amount of EBITDA in cash flow. I know there's a lot of noise in the cash flow statement this year with all that's happening, but you're not really going to be spending a lot of the cash in Oklahoma until I assume 2027 at the earliest. So what do you plan to do with the cash in the meantime? Would you be willing to pay down incremental rental debt between now and then, would shareholder returns be on the table? Just appreciate any commentary around timing.

Sure, Nick, thanks. Great question. And obviously, on slide 22 of the appendix, we do have our capital allocation slide, and you have our capital allocation targets. Now, as Pete mentioned in Q1, we should achieve those targets. And as you just said, we should be generating significant cash flow. So we always have the capability to pay down debt. We'll run down and continue to fund our organic CapEx as we have those opportunities. Good examples there are Mount Holly Restart or TG4 at Jamalco. And we'll continue to be opportunistic when looking at M&A. And then, if we do have cash left over, we will look at returns to shareholders, and as I laid out on our Q3 call, to give you some idea of the type of returns that we might be looking at.

That's good to hear. Maybe just one more while I have you. I'm sure it's more obvious to others than it is to me, but can you just talk about the logical Illumina supply for Oklahoma or just kind of you know what remind us what type of excess capacity you have at your disposal and you know we can make our assumptions about where that would go

sure as you know our current book consists of our own production out of Jamalco which is a great refinery great quality of Illumina and so that would be one source that's available we're also of the largest customer of the Gramercy refinery in Louisiana, and we have a number of third-party contracts that we source Illumina from. So all of those are potential sources for the new smelter, and we'll work with EGA to determine the best source for the new EX technology there and make sure we're running Illumina sources through that maximize the value of that really high caliber technology we're installing in Oklahoma but basically answer your question Nick I think there's a number of sources that should be available including sources within our own control great well guys again I appreciate

the update and keep up the good work thanks Nick thank you for your question there are currently

no further questions registered so as a reminder it is star one on your telephone keypad there are additional questions waiting at this time so i'll pass the call back to the management team for any

closing remarks thanks everyone for joining super excited about what 2026 holds for century and look forward to talking to you all again on the q1 call thanks a lot bye that concludes the conference

Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.