Alicorp S.A.A. (ALICORC1) Q4 FY2025 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and I would like to welcome you to Alicorp's First Quarter 202 Results Call on the 17th of February 2026. [Operator Instructions] So without further ado, I would like to pass the floor to Mr. Roberto Dongo-Soria, Investor Relations at Alicorp. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Rafael. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Alicorp's Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. Speaking to you is Roberto Dongo-Soria, Investor Relations Officer. We are pleased to have you with us today. Presenting today will be Mr. Gonzalo Uribe, Chief Executive Officer; and Luis Banchero, Vice President of Finance and Strategy. Other members of our management team will join us during the Q&A session. Today, we will review the company's results for the fourth quarter 2025 following the release of our financial statements and earnings reported published yesterday. If you haven't had the chance to access these documents, we invite you to visit our corporate website at www.alicorp.com.pe, where you can also find the presentation accompanying today's call. Please note that this conference is intended exclusively for investors and analysts. Therefore, we will not be taking questions from the media. If any members of the press are on the line and wish to follow up, we kindly ask that you contact our team after the call. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that some of the statements made today may be forward-looking. These statements are based on assumptions and factors that may change, and actual results could differ materially from current expectations. We encourage you to review the disclaimer included in the earnings report before making any investment decisions. Now I am pleased to turn the call over to Mr. Gonzalo Uribe, CEO of Alicorp, to begin the presentation. Gonzalo, please go ahead.

Thank you, Roberto. Good morning, and welcome to everyone. It is a real privilege to me to join you today on this first time as a CEO of Alicorp. Throughout my long career leading consumer goods companies and businesses across Latin America, I have really admired Alicorp's unmatched footprint and the strength of its brand portfolio. I am honored to lead the company into this new and exciting chapter. My onboarding has been smooth until now, thanks to the strong support of our Board and the leadership team here in Alicorp. During my first couple of weeks and months, I have focused on visiting our key operations and engaging closely with our teams across the region, our customers, our operations and key stakeholders. Now please let's move on to Slide #5 to comment on recent announcements, really important ones regarding 2 potential acquisitions, starting with the Inka Crops, which we announced publicly last November. Our subsidiary, Alicorp Inversiones has entered into an agreement to acquire 60% of the shares of Inka Crops S.A., as you know, a leading Peruvian company engaged in the production of salty snacks with more than 30 years of experience in the market. This potential transaction marks Alicorp's entry into a totally new category with significant growth potential and opportunities. Inka Crops operates in Peru under 2 really well-established snack brands, Inca Chips and Inca Corn and also exports premium quality products mainly under private label formats. The transaction also includes the acquisition of a 60% stake in Procesadora Tropical S.A., a company engaged in the semi processing and supply of green plantain, cassava and taro, which are key raw materials for Inka Crops' operations in the multiple markets. The acquisition process is currently under review by the Peruvian regulatory entities and final terms are being negotiated as we speak. As in customary in every of these transactions of this nature, we are expecting the closing to take place in the upcoming weeks. Now turning into Slide #6. We will comment on a second set of potential transactions announced early January. Our subsidiaries in Colombia and Ecuador have entered into agreements with Unilever to potentially acquire 100% of its home care businesses in both of these countries. These agreements includes the acquisition of productive assets, brands and personnel. In Colombia, this potential acquisition represents a tremendous opportunity to scale up our local operation where we currently operate an import-based business till now by adding new brands into our portfolio with meaningful market share traction in categories such as detergents and fabrics where we already play in different markets. In Ecuador, the transaction will further strengthen our operations following the acquisition of Jaboneria Wilson, enabling the reinforcement of our manufacturing footprint and expanding our local production capabilities and presence in the market. Both transactions are currently subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions and regulatory approvals in each of the countries. We will provide timely updates on the progress as the process advances. Before moving on, I would like to emphasize that these potential acquisitions truly reflect our disciplined and focused approach to growth. Each of them is aligned with our strategic framework. While we remain committed to rigorous financial and operational criteria, these opportunities reinforce our long-term vision of brand building and strengthening our company and becoming more diversified and more resilient across the region. Now I will hand the call over to Luis Banchero, who will walk you through the operational results of the quarter and share our outlook for 2026.

Thank you, Gonzalo. The figures we will discuss exclude nonrecurring impacts for each respective period. For further details of these nonrecurring items, please refer to our earnings release and the footnotes throughout this presentation. Additionally, we would like to provide a relevant update regarding our operations in Bolivia. Historically, the results of this geography has been accounted for and reported using the official exchange rate. However, following the implementation of the amendments to International Accounting Standards 21 as of January 1, 2025, and after assessing the exchangeability of the Bolivian currency, we have updated our approach and began using an estimated exchange rate that more appropriately reflects market conditions in the country. This change enhances the quality of our financial information. It is important to note that this adjustment has been applied exclusively to the results of 2025, in line with the effective date of the amendment standard. Accordingly, the information corresponding to 2024 remains unchanged. As expected, the business with the greatest impact from this adjustment is our Consumer Goods Bolivia operation. Nevertheless, given the operations in Bolivia -- given the operation in Bolivia supply products to Peru, certain minor effects have impacted our Consumer Goods Peru and B2B businesses as well. With that, let's move to Slide 8 to review our consolidated gross profit for 2025. Gross profit for the full year 2025 increased 8% compared to the prior year, reaching PEN 3,103 million. This performance was mainly driven by the recovery of our Aquafeed business, complemented by the solid performance of our B2B unit, which delivered sales volume growth of 37% and 17%, respectively. Despite a year marked by an intense competitive environment in Peru across key categories and challenging conditions in Bolivia, these results reflect the disciplined execution and the strength of our portfolio positioning. Inorganic growth was also contributed to our overall annual performance. Excluding the contribution of Refineria del Espino incorporated in September 2024 and Jaboneria Wilson incorporated in October 2025, gross profit increased 3% year-over-year on a full year basis. Regarding the fourth quarter, gross profit totaled PEN 799 million, a 4% year-over-year decline, reflecting a different dynamic compared to the full year performance. The quarterly results was mainly shaped by 3 key factors. First, Aquafeed delivered another solid quarter in 2025, although the comparison was against an already strong performance in the fourth quarter of 2024, resulting in a more moderate year-over-year contribution. Second, our B2B business was impacted by lower palm availability, which reduced extraction levels and export volumes. And third, Bolivia continued to experience a contraction in results in line with trends observed in recent quarters as margins remain pressured by the challenging macroeconomic environment and the higher effective cost of obtaining U.S. dollars, an effect that was not reflected in 2024 figures due to previous portfolio structure. These effects were partially offset by our Consumer Goods Peru business. It is worth noting that Jaboneria Wilson contributed PEN 20 million to the consolidated gross profit. Excluding this effect, gross profit for the quarter would have decreased 6%. Please now let's move to Slide 9. Before turning to our EBITDA performance, I would like to briefly address certain nonrecurring items recognized during the fourth quarter during their -- given their materiality. As part of our annual asset impairment assessment, we recognized 2 nonrecurring impacts. The first relates to the impairment of goodwill, intangibles and PP&E in our Bolivia business, amounting to PEN 191 million. Additionally, we recorded an impairment of PEN 50 million related to idle operations in Peru as a result of operational optimization initiatives we have been implementing over recent years. While these impacts are not part of the operational performance analysis that we will review next as they are considered one-offs, we believe it's important to highlight them to ensure a proper interpretation of our reported financial results. Turning now to our results. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2025 totaled PEN 1,777 million, representing a 10% increase compared to the 2024 while maintaining an adjusted EBITDA margin of 15.1%, in line with prior year. Similarly, to our gross profit, excluding the impact of inorganic growth, adjusted EBITDA increased 2%. Despite the challenges faced in 2025, consolidated results remained solid, reflecting higher gross profit and our continued commitment to strategic investments. These include brand campaigns across our portfolio and initiatives to strengthen our operating model, underscoring a clear strategy supported by our competitive advantages. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter reached PEN 436 million, down 14% year-over-year. This decline was mainly driven by lower gross profit consistent with what we have mentioned for the quarter gross profit performance and other factors impacting between gross profit and EBITDA, such as higher operating expenses primarily related to go-to-market enhancements, key brand campaigns and a higher provision for doubtful commercial accounts associated with a specific client in our Aquafeed business. Now please turn to Slide 11 to review the operational performance of our business units, starting with Consumer Goods Peru and B2B. Adjusted EBITDA for the Consumer Goods Peru business in 2025 totaled PEN 808 million, reflecting a year of decisive actions to protect our competitive positions and drive sustainable growth. Throughout the year, we prioritized volume growth and market share across key categories and brands, particularly in detergents, where a highly competitive environment required us to achieve pricing initiatives to reinforce our leadership. While these actions resulted in temporary margin pressure, this impact was partially offset by strong performance in other categories such as sauces, underscoring the strength and balance of our portfolio. This demonstrates our ability to make disciplined strategic decisions while effectively maintaining overall strong financial results. At the same time, we continue to invest behind our brands to enhance portfolio momentum. A key milestone was the relaunch of our emblematic brand, Alacena in sauces, which delivered a strong consumer response and helped offset part of the impact from detergents. Additionally, campaigns supported leading brands such as Casino and Chocobum in cookies as well as a successful launch in Angel Cereales, reinforcing our innovation pipeline and deepening our connection with consumers. These efforts translated into solid commercial results. In 2025, we grew or maintained market share across most of our prioritized categories compared to 2024. Detergents gained 1.5 percentage points and sauces increased 2.9 percentage points, demonstrating the effectiveness of our strategy and the strength of our brands. Looking ahead, we remain focused on advancing strategic initiatives to further strengthen business fundamentals and sustain profitable growth in the periods ahead. During the fourth quarter, adjusted EBITDA totaled PEN 228 million, remaining broadly in line with the prior year. Our gross profit continued to improve, supported by strong performance in sauces and cookies throughout strategic campaigns behind key brands, which delivered solid volume growth of 8% and 6%, respectively. Detergents also posted a robust 20% year-over-year volume increase in a still competitive environment. These gains were partially offset by higher operating expenses related to ongoing enhancements in our go-to-market model. Overall, the quarter reflects a gradual volume recovery throughout 2025. This gross profit per metric ton reaching PEN 2,440, its highest level in the last 5 quarters, underscoring the resilience and momentum of our portfolio. Moving to our Alicorp Soluciones or B2B business. Adjusted EBITDA for 2025 reached PEN 428 million, up 13% year-over-year, supported by a strong 70% volume growth that outpaced the market. Despite continued competitive pressures in the baking flour category where aggressive pricing actions across the market weighed in on margins, we delivered a solid performance for the year. This performance was driven by our focus on strategic priorities centered on tailored solutions designed to help our customers evolve and transform their businesses. As a result, [ Clean TEX ] in detergents grew 32%, Macbel in sauces increased 70% and Crisol and Tondero in edible oils 109%. In addition, categories such as margarines and pastry flour performed strongly, growing 10% and 11%, respectively, as we continue to roll out our pastry redevelopment program in Peru. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter declined 20% year-over-year, mainly driven by lower gross profit. This was primarily the result of reduced availability of fresh fruit bunches during the quarter, which led to lower crude palm oil production impacting extraction levels and exporting volume. This comparison was especially challenging given the performance had been particularly strong in the same period of 2024 and during the first 3 quarters of 2025. In addition, the highly competitive environment in the baking flour continued to put pressure on the quarterly results. Looking ahead, out-of-home consumption continued to show encouraging signs of recovery. We remain positive on the performance of our B2B business and focus on execution, targeting initiatives to strengthen consumer relationships and reinforce our competitive position. Now please turn to Slide 12 to review the performance of our International business and Aquafeed. Moving to our International business. Jaboneria Wilson began consolidating as part of Alicorp in October 2025, marking an important step in our regional diversification strategy. During the fourth quarter, it contributed 30,000 metric tons in volume and $2 million in adjusted EBITDA, reinforcing our geographic footprint and strengthening our confidence in the long-term growth potential in the region. During 2025, results in Bolivia were impacted by challenging macroeconomic environment with high FX costs putting pressure on margin through both higher cost of import goods and locally sourced inputs linked to international prices. Additionally, it is important to note that 2024 results did not include the FX-related cost of acquiring U.S. dollars. as our portfolio at that time still included our crushing business, which generated U.S. dollars locally. Despite this context, the underlying operating performance for the business remained resilient. We continue to protect our strong market position, maintaining leadership in prioritized categories such as detergents, margins and shortenings while preserving disciplined cost management and solid focus on cash flow generation. Our supply model also has proven effective in mitigating foreign currency exposures and ensuring reliable sourcing of raw materials. As a result, adjusted EBITDA for 2025 totaled USD 10 million, reflecting the combined impact of FX-related pressures in Bolivia, partially offset by broad-based price adjustments across the economy in response to the inflationary environment and currency volatility. Turning to Aquafeed. 2025 was a year of strong momentum and value creation. Adjusted EBITDA reached $144 million, reflecting a robust recovery supported by margin expansion and a continued shift towards higher value-added products. This performance highlights the effectiveness of our commercial strategy and the strength of our customer relationship across key markets. Ecuador delivered another outstanding year, sustaining double-digit export growth driven by favorable production conditions, productivity gains and a competitive cost structure. In Chile, salmon export exceeded expectations, contributing positively to the regional results despite emerging trade-related headwinds in North America. Throughout the year, we advanced with our value creation agenda with a focus on innovation and customer-centric solutions, including the successful rollout of our [indiscernible] value proposition and enhanced commercial execution in Central America and new supply agreements in Chile, further strengthening our competitive position. In the fourth quarter, sales volume increased 21% year-over-year, while adjusted EBITDA reached $30 million, representing a 2% decline, mainly due to the moderation of margins as the industry stabilizes and a provision for doubtful commercial accounts. This reflects enhanced credit management practices as our Chilean operation continue to scale, reinforcing a prudent and sustainable financial framework. Now please let's turn to Slide 14, where we will review the leverage, debt and liquidity indicators. As a result of our strong operating performance, we were able to offset M&A and share buyback expenses through the year, resulting in an increase of only 0.1x in our leverage ratio from 1.8x in December 2024 to 1.9x in December 2025. Excluding these effects, our leverage would have been approximately 1.4x. In terms of liquidity, as of December 2025, our available cash position reached PEN 852 million, PEN 1.1 billion lower than the same period last year. This decrease mainly reflects the transactions mentioned before, which were financed primarily with existing cash and organic cash generation rather than additional debt, a clear sign of our solid liquidity profile. Moreover, our cash position covers 1.9x our debt maturities over the next 12 months. And if we include committed credit lines, such coverage increases to 2.7x. Looking ahead, we will remain focused on efficiently working capital management, which should allow us to sustain stable cash flow generation and therefore, maintain a healthy leverage profile while keeping financial flexibility. To close, let's move to Slide 16 to share our expectations for the full year 2026 results. First, let's review the main assumptions underpinning our expectations for business performance. It is important to highlight that this guidance does not reflect the potential impact of the M&A transactions discussed at the beginning of the presentation. As these transactions are completed, we will provide our forward-looking figures accordingly. Overall, the macroeconomic environment in both Peru and Ecuador is expected to remain supportive with fundamentals pointing to the scenario of a moderate growth and price stability. In Peru, the outlook will be primarily shaped by the general election scheduled in April 2026. From our perspective, we do not identify any material risk associated with the electoral process that could affect institutional stability or the normal development of the economy. Against this backdrop, the country's macroeconomic fundamentals remain solid. We expect GDP growth accompanied by inflation levels remaining within the Central Bank target range. Regarding Bolivia, we maintain a cautious stance given the prevailing macroeconomic headwinds. Yet, we are encouraged by the policy direction under the administration of President Rodrigo Paz. In this context, our Peru Consumer Goods business will focus on accelerating growth in strategic categories and brands, seeking to expand its volume platform through selective investments while maintaining our positioning in categories that have experienced a more intense competitive environment in recent periods. Regarding our B2B business, the focus will also be driving growth in core categories through initiatives aimed to fostering the development and professionalization of businesses in Peru, particularly within the Bakery and Food Service segment, while continuing to consolidate our positioning in the Cleaning platform. On the international front, in Bolivia, our priority will be to focus on prioritized categories, strengthening their value positioning through target investments while maintaining financial discipline in a context we will continue to review with caution. In Ecuador, our main priority and primary growth driver will be the integration of Jaboneria Wilson. Finally, in Aquafeed, a favorable market conditions are expected to allow us to further strengthen relationships with key customers through the adaptation of our formulation, leveraging our production capabilities. Considering these factors, we expect low to mid-single-digit growth in revenue and adjusted EBITDA, driven by higher volumes across most of our business units, alongside targeted investments aimed at supporting healthy profitability growth while maintaining strict discipline in expense execution. With respect to leverage, we expect net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio below 2x, supported by the aforementioned improvement in profitability and stable cash flow generation. This expectation incorporates the impacts of potential dividend distribution and the expectation -- the execution of current share buyback programs. In the event that the potential M&A transactions discussed earlier are completed during the year, leverage could temporarily move to an estimated range of 2 to 2.2x net debt to adjusted EBITDA. Finally, regarding investments, we expect CapEx to reach $80 million in 2026. Now we'll open the floor to any questions you may have.

[Operator Instructions] We already have some questions in the queue. The first one is from Silvana Romero from Rabo Finance. Hello, Silvana, we cannot hear you. Okay, we may come back to you later then. Our next question is from Alonso Aramburu from BTG Pactual.

I wanted to ask if you can give us some additional color about the consumer goods category in Peru and the detergent segment. Clearly, it's been a difficult year with not a lot of growth. What are your expectations in this category specifically for 2026?

Great. Great question. I will pass it to Alvaro Rojas, who is in charge of our marketing division here in Peru.

Thank you for the question. It's been a challenging year for detergents in 2025. However, we feel that we've taken strategic decisions that help us consolidate our brands, and we see a very promising future for the category. We've grown 2 digits in volume and in sales this year across the board, all our brands. So the investment that we made in the first half of this year has started to pay off in the second half, and we are confident that this is going to improve going forward.

We have received a text question from [indiscernible]. Congratulations on the acquisitions. Following the Unilever transaction, should we expect Colombia to become a core market? Will there be a buildup of operations in the country?

Okay. So thank you, [ Lucas ], for the question. And definitely, as I mentioned during the call, in Colombia, the transaction represents a very important opportunity for us, for Alicorp to build and scale local capabilities in a category, home care, where we currently operate in different markets, mainly here in Peru, Bolivia and also in Ecuador. So we are extending our footprint. So that represents a tremendous opportunity and a great asset. The acquisition, if approved, will provide a different operating model with scale that we will definitely consolidate our presence in Colombia with that business, but also with the Alicorp portfolio that we have as an import-based model, right? So definitely, we are interested in this market. It's a market that is scalable. It's big for the Andean region and has promising consumption levels. So it's a good opportunity for us to continue to extend regionally, and it's part of our strategy going forward.

[Operator Instructions] Okay. So we have received a text question from [indiscernible]. Can you comment on the market share of the companies you are acquiring in Colombia and Ecuador? Also, I have a strategic question. Which are the new categories the company will look for long-term growth?

Okay. So as mentioned in the terms of Colombia and Ecuador, through the potential acquisition of the home care business from Unilever, we're in the middle of the process with the regulatory entities. So we're expecting approval in the next couple of months, different time lines for each of the markets. But what we can tell you is definitely in the home care categories, both in Colombia and Ecuador, the brands are leading brands with a very strong equity in each one of the markets. They are iconic brands in the detergent and also in the home care categories. And relating to Colombia, we have Fab as a very iconic brand that has been in the market for a couple of years, leading the market; 3D, another very important market; Aromatel; and Coco Varela, which are very, very important markets for that country. And definitely, they are leading markets -- leading brands, right? In Ecuador, there's Deja and Aromatel, another 2 leading brands. So they have very strong positions, very strong equities and with a very strong presence across the multiple channels in these 2 markets. And telling about the new categories, I think, as you heard, we are definitely with the Inka Crop transaction, starting to play in a very significant, relevant and growing category, that is the snacks category, complementing our portfolio, basically in Peru, but also in international markets. And hopefully, we'll have more to come.

[Operator Instructions] Okay. Looks like we have no further questions from the audience. So I would like to pass the line back to the Alicorp's team for their closing remarks.

Thank you, Rafael. In closing, so definitely, as you heard, 2025 was a defining year, marked by intense competitive dynamics in Peru in certain categories and some macroeconomic headwinds in Bolivia. Despite these challenges, which are part of the consumer goods dynamics, we navigated the environment with unwavering discipline, leveraging our brand equity, strategic pillars and consumer pull. While the context required tactical pivots, it ultimately underscored the resilience of our business model. Importantly, we maintain the agility to prioritize strategic investments and allocate resources to the initiatives most critical to our mid- and long-term performance, which is very important for us. By preserving our business fundamentals, we continue to deliver sustainable value for our shareholders while reinforcing our growth platforms for the upcoming years. Looking ahead, we remain confident that our strategy positions us really well to face the challenges ahead and to capture opportunities across the geographies and categories where we operate, supported by our strong portfolio of brands, our undisputable go-to-market capabilities and a continued focus on profitability, cash generation and extraordinary disciplined execution. Thank you once more -- once again for your time and attention during this call and during the year. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach us whenever you want. Have a great day and see you in the next call.

Thank you. We are now closing all the lines. Goodbye.