Q1 2020 Highlights
(unless other noted, all financial amounts in this news release are expressed in U.S. dollars)

• $90.7 million in revenue
• Net income of $0.5 million, or $0.01 per share
• Adjusted Net Income⁽¹⁾ of $0.9 million, or $0.02 per share
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $9.6 million
• Quarter-end closes with $74.8 million of net cash after paying $2.8 million in dividends to the shareholders, $2.3 million to non-controlling interest partners and re-purchasing $1.0 million of stock under its Normal Course Issuer Bid Program.
• A quarterly dividend of Cdn$0.10 per common share was declared on May 12, 2020 for shareholders of record at June 17, 2020, with a payment date of June 26, 2020.

TORONTO, May 14, 2020 /CNW/ - Neo Performance Materials Inc. ("Neo", the "Company") (TSX:NEO) released its first quarter 2020 financial results. The financial statements and management's discussion and analysis ("MD&A") of these results can be viewed on Neo's web site at www.neomaterials.com and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

HIGHLIGHTS OF Q1 2020 CONSOLIDATED PERFORMANCE

For the three months ended March 31, 2020, consolidated revenue was $90.7 million compared to $108.5 million in 2019; a decrease of $17.8 million or 16.4%.  Net income totaled $0.5 million, or $0.01 per share.  Adjusted Net Income⁽¹⁾ totaled $0.9 million, or $0.02 per share.

As of March 31, 2020, Neo had cash and cash equivalents of $76.0 million plus restricted cash of $4.0 million, compared to $84.7 million plus $4.2 million as at December 31, 2019.  Neo paid $2.8 million in dividends to its shareholders  and $2.3 million to its non-controlling interest and purchased $1.0 million of its shares under the Normal Course Issuer Bid program in the three months ended March 31, 2020.  In addition, Neo has approximately $6.0 million available under its credit facilities with $1.2 million drawn.

SELECTED FINANCIAL RESULTS

Revenues in the quarter of $90.7 million were 16.4% lower than in the same period of 2019.  The Magnequench segment led the decline in revenues as volumes were adversely affected by slower economic activity in various regions globally, but most notably in China largely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The C&O segment continued to see year-over-year growth in environmental automotive catalyst sales, despite the general economic slowdown in China and in automotive markets. This was offset by lower spot sales and lower prices generally in the separation business.  The revenue decline in the Rare Metals segment was driven by the decline in pricing for tantalum-based products and lower volume in gallium-based products.

Adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended March 31, 2020 was $9.6 million; a decrease of $6.8 million compared to the same period in 2019.  This decline was predominantly due to lower year-over-year spot sales, as well as to the general economic slowdown in China and other markets.

"The Neo team took active measures early in the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic to help protect the health and safety of our employees and keep our operations running.  We are maintaining strict health and safety protocols at all of our facilities around the world," said Geoff Bedford, Neo's Chief Executive Officer.  "These precautions include temperature screening, use of enhanced personal protection equipment, social distancing, plant disinfectant protocols, and remote working for office employees. I am very proud of how hard everyone has worked to protect one another from this virus while we continue to deliver advanced material products to our customers."

"Our customers' operations are being impacted by the pandemic and by the steps that various governments are taking to limit its spread," Mr. Bedford added.  "While the near-term outlook for many of our markets remains unclear, with our strong balance sheet we are well-positioned to navigate through this uncertainty."

MAGNEQUENCH SEGMENT RESULTS

Volumes in the quarter decreased 12.0% compared to the first quarter of 2019.  Revenues were down $9.0 million, due to lower volumes and lower material input commodity prices, and impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Neo passes through these material input cost changes to most of its customers on a lagged basis.  Volumes in the Magnequench segment decreased, mostly in its legacy and longer running programs, due to the slowdown in auto sales, slower economic performance in certain sectors, and impacts of the pandemic.

Adjusted EBITDA was $7.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020, compared to $10.9 million in the same period of 2019.  Adjusted EBITDA was affected by lower volumes (both in margin and overhead absorption), changes in foreign exchange rates, and by timing impacts from Neo's input cost pass-through mechanics. This pass-through mechanic, which updates selling prices on a lagged basis (generally monthly and quarterly) is a key feature of Neo's strategic focus on value-add margins.

CHEMICALS AND OXIDES ("C&O") SEGMENT RESULTS

In the three months ended March 31, 2020, environmental auto catalyst volumes continued to show growth year-over-year, despite general slowdown in the automotive market.  Diesel catalyst sales showed growth year-over-year, as the previous two-year decline of legacy diesel product usage has largely ended while newer formulations of diesel catalyst products are driving new growth for the segment.  For the three months ended March 31, 2020, C&O's rare earth separation business was adversely impacted by the continuing decline of rare earth commodity prices which resulted in higher cost inventory relative to current selling prices.  C&O also benefited from the timing of some high-value spot sales orders in the prior-year period, which did not repeat in three months ended March 31, 2020.

RARE METALS SEGMENT RESULTS

Rare Metal's operating loss of $0.2 million in the three months ended March 31, 2020 was driven predominantly by the selling of higher-cost historical inventory on hand for tantalum-based products. The Rare Metals segment had considerable material in the production system, so when material prices change, there is a lead-lag impact into current period results as the operation is processing and selling material on hand purchased in a prior period. The majority of the higher-cost historical raw material has been used in production with a small amount remaining at the end of the quarter. In addition, the Rare Metals segment was impacted by a general slowdown in gallium trichloride volumes and by compressed margins.

CONFERENCE CALL ON THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2020 AT 10 AM EASTERN

Management will host a teleconference call on Thursday, May 14, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) to discuss the first quarter 2020 results.  Interested parties may access the teleconference by calling (647) 427-7450 (local) or  (888) 231-8191 (toll-free long distance) or by visiting http://cnw.en.mediaroom.com/events.  A recording of the teleconference may be accessed by calling (416) 849-0833 (local) or (855) 859-2056 (toll-free long distance), and entering pass code 5625619# until June 14, 2020 or by visiting http://cnw.en.mediaroom.com/events.

NON-IFRS MEASURES

This news release refers to certain non-IFRS financial measures such as "Adjusted Net Income", "EBITDA", "Adjusted EBITDA", and "Adjusted EBITDA Margin".  These measures are not recognized measures under IFRS, do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS, and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, these measures are provided as additional information to complement IFRS financial measures by providing further understanding of Neo's results of operations from management's perspective. Neo's definitions of non-IFRS measures used in this news release may not be the same as the definitions for such measures used by other companies in their reporting.  Non-IFRS measures have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of Neo's financial information reported under IFRS.  Neo uses non-IFRS financial measures to provide investors with supplemental measures of its base-line operating performance and to eliminate items that have less bearing on operating performance or operating conditions and thus highlight trends in its core business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS financial measures.  Neo believes that securities analysts, investors and other interested parties frequently use non-IFRS financial measures in the evaluation of issuers.  Neo's management also uses non-IFRS financial measures in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period.  For the operating segments, Neo also uses "OIBDA" and "Adjusted OIBDA", which reconciles to operating income. Neo uses Adjusted OIBDA and Adjusted EBITDA interchangeably as the use of adjustments in each measure provides the same calculated outcome of operating performance. For definitions of how Neo defines such financial measures, please see the "Non-IFRS Financial Measures" section of Neo's management's discussion and analysis filing for the three months ended March 31, 2020, available on Neo's web site at www.neomaterials.com and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

TABLE 5: CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION

TABLE 6: CONSOLIDATED RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Comparison of the three months ended March 31, 2020 to the three months ended March 31, 2019:

TABLE 7: RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME TO EBITDA, ADJUSTED EBITDA AND FREE CASH FLOW

TABLE 8: RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME TO ADJUSTED NET INCOME

About Neo Performance Materials

Neo manufactures the building blocks of many modern technologies that enhance efficiency and sustainability.  Neo's advanced industrial materials - magnetic powders and magnets, specialty chemicals, metals, and alloys - are critical to the performance of many everyday products and emerging technologies. Neo's products help to deliver the technologies of tomorrow to consumers today.  The business of Neo is organized along three segments: Magnequench, Chemicals & Oxides and Rare Metals. Neo is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; with corporate offices in Greenwood Village, Colorado, US; Singapore; and Beijing, China. Neo operates globally with sales and production across 10 countries, being Japan, China, Thailand, Estonia, Singapore, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, United States, and South Korea. For more information, please visit www.neomaterials.com.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws in Canada. Forward-looking information may relate to future events or future performance of Neo. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, with respect to Neo's objectives and goals, as well as statements with respect to its beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations, anticipations, estimates, and intentions, are forward-looking information. Specific forward-looking statements in this discussion include, but are not limited to, the following: expectations regarding certain of Neo's future results and information, including, among other things, revenue, expenses, sales growth, capital expenditures, and operations; statements with respect to current and future market trends that may directly or indirectly impact sales and revenue of Neo; expected use of cash balances; continuation of prudent management of working capital; source of funds for ongoing business requirements and capital investments; expectations regarding sufficiency of the allowance for uncollectible accounts and inventory provisions; analysis regarding sensitivity of the business to changes in exchange rates; impact of recently adopted accounting pronouncements; risk factors relating to intellectual property protection and intellectual property litigation; risk factors relating to national or international economies (including the impact of COVID-19), and other risks present in the jurisdictions in which Neo, its customers, its suppliers, and/or its logistics partners operate, and; expectations concerning any remediation efforts to Neo's design of its internal controls over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "continues", "forecasts", "projects", "predicts", "intends", "anticipates" or "believes", or variations of, or the negatives of, such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. This information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Neo believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information included in this discussion and analysis should not be unduly relied upon. For more information on Neo, investors should review Neo's continuous disclosure filings that are available under Neo's profile at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE Neo Performance Materials, Inc.

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