Astarta Holding PLC (AST) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, everyone. Thank you for your interest in the call. We still see some people joining. So I'll do probably a slow start because we can see more people joining us online. Today, we will be reporting our 9 months results, which were published last night. Given the overall situation in Ukraine and the wartime conditions, we are pleased to report very good results. You can see that our revenues are up by 13% with the biggest contribution coming from sugar production. We also have very positive dynamics in soybean processing, stable sales and revenues in cattle farming and in agriculture. Our profitability is lower on the headlines. But if we look at our gross margin and EBITDA margin, without the impact of IAS 41, it was actually widening margin, thanks to the higher contribution of the soybean segment and due to the timing lag in the agricultural segment as we were still selling the previous year's harvest. Overall, the company reported EUR 130 million EBITDA and a net income of EUR 62 million. Looking at our cash flows and the balance sheet. We still focus on our operating cash flows. We also maintain our capital expenditure program at the maintenance level understandably, but we also had to increase our finance debt, which is partially seasonal and partially because of the situation in Ukraine. But even with this change, our leverage ratios are at very reasonable levels, just above 1. If we look at our results on a segment basis. On agriculture, we reported already our final yields for wheat and rapeseeds, our key winter crops. We are in the process of harvesting sunflower seeds and soybeans, which are near to completion. These numbers are not going to change much. And also yesterday, you might have noticed in our press release, we also disclosed our interim yields in corn and sugar beets, which we are expecting above last year's level. Obviously, everyone is aware that there are logistical difficulties on exports of soft commodities out of Ukraine. The situation was visibly improved since August, the launch of the seaborne grain corridor from the Greater Odesa ports, but the cost of logistics remain quite high, which can be seen in the increase in our selling and distribution expenses. If we are looking at the global situation, there is a favorable global environment for soft commodities. But Ukrainian ex-works prices inched upwards only after the seaborne route was reopened. On the basis of the last several months, we can see a $30 uptick in the local prices. And if the grain corridor stays intact, we can see a further improvement in pricing for the Ukrainian agricultural producers. Sugar was another stable segment for us. We are focused on ensuring food security in the domestic market. But this year, Ukraine is turning from an importer to exporter of sugar. We also exported 11,000 tonnes in the first 9 months since the EU opened free trade with Ukraine. Our margins remain at a reasonable level at 28% on a gross level and 25% at the EBITDA level. We are processing sugar beet as we speak. And as of to date, we already produced around 150,000 tonnes of white sugar. If we look at the bigger picture, in Ukraine, there was an acreage reduction on the sugar beet of 20% due to the military invasion by Russia. Only 23 sugar mills are operating this season. We operate all of our facilities. Ukraine is expected to produce about 1.2 million tonnes of sugar, which roughly is equal to the estimated domestic consumption. But also, we see good opportunities for exports into the EU, given the lower consumption levels in Ukraine. Soybean processing was -- had a stellar performance this year. We see an ample availability of raw materials for processing. We, as a company, also increased acreage under soybeans, and that allowed us to increase our volumes of soybean processed by almost 50% and double our margins -- or even triple our margins from 5% to 20%. Cattle farming, also stable, but also an increase, both in terms of the volume of milk produced. Stable pricing, although somewhat volatile this year because of the macroeconomic situation in Ukraine and also because of the ForEx volatility. 95% of our product is graded extra, and we continue to receive premium on our production. Gross margin improved to 28% and EBITDA margin was respectable 24%. As with 6 months results, we are not able to provide the guidance for this year because of the very fast-moving situation in Ukraine, but we always promise investors that we will still keep an eye on sustainability development of our business and of our country. We have updated the slide on the efforts that we continue during the wartimes. There will be enhanced disclosure on decarbonization. We are looking for cooperation with global soft commodity offtakers, who seek sourcing the ingredients from regenerative farming. And we're working on the green recovery for Ukraine, including our business. Also, we cannot rest until we provide all the necessary support to the people who were displaced by the military hostilities, and that is 7 million people who unfortunately had to leave the country, 10 million internally displaced people. And we concentrate our efforts together with our business partners here on the ground in Ukraine to provide humanitarian support. If you have any contacts for potential partners in these projects, please do contact us. With this, I would like to finish the introductory presentation, and we would be very happy to take your questions.

You can put your questions into the chat box. Marcin, I've seen you sent me question, but it's not in the chatbox, sorry. Okay, now I can see it. Jakub. What is the situation with gas stocks in Ukraine? Is there enough storage until the end of the sugar campaign? I'll start answering the first question before moving to the next one. Publicly, we've seen that Naftogaz Ukraine, which is a state-owned monopoly, reported that there are enough gas in the storage in Ukraine. But Ukraine still does need financing for a couple billion cubic meters. Also, we are at the beginning of the winter soon. However, autumn was quite warm. I think it was a warm autumn in -- across the whole Europe, and that allowed Ukraine and other countries to save more gas. Also, our sugar processing activities take place now and in the next months, which is well in advance of the peak in demand for gas. So we are pretty much confident that today and in the next months, we are offpeak on gas consumption, and the sugar processing season will be done without major hurdles. Also it should be noted that 1 of our 5 sugar mills is operating on coal. Do you have any information that your competitors have problems with sugar production due to temporary power costs? We -- I think the summary from Ukrsugar, which says that 23 out of 33 sugar mills will be operating in Ukraine, is the answer to your question. But it also, it should be noted that some sugar mills are coal-fired in Ukraine, and that provides some cushion against gas shortages. A question about the recent discounting of gas in Europe. In the short term, it was possible to buy gas even at negative prices. At that time, was ASTARTA active in the market and trying to buy cheaper gas on the market for the sugar campaign? Yes, obviously, situation with the gas in the European market is different from what it was in Ukraine. But this is true, we did buy into the dip in gas prices for sugar making season. There was also a decline in sugar beet prices this year. So we expect our cost per tonne of sugar beet processed to be lower this year. Question about revaluation of biological assets. When estimating current production, do you take prices in Ukraine or would market prices as a benchmark for grain prices? Question whether revaluations of biological assets are not inflated by foreign high prices, while prices at ports are much lower. The revaluation is booked at expected prices minus delivery costs and the cost of production. So what you see in the revaluation as a gain from remeasurement, this is a proxy for the gross margin. So we book our revaluation on the basis of prices which are close to farm gate prices. If okay, I'll switch to the questions by Marcin. Good afternoon. Can you comment how the agricultural produce remeasurement costs are split across segments? Marcin, we do not report publicly the remeasurement costs between the segments. We do report the overall number in our P&L, which we don't split between the segments. It would be simplistic to allocate all of them to the agricultural segments because they do arise in all the segments, including soybeans and sugar making. I suggest that we -- if we want to look at this in more detail, let's schedule a separate call and go through the numbers. But if your question relates to the cost inflation in our remeasurement valuation, then we can say that depending on the crop, costs were up between 15% and 25% in U.S. dollar terms in the calculation. At what level do ASTARTA forecast domestic sugar consumption? I think I answered this question while going through the presentation. As a company, we do not make overall forecast, but Ukrsugar was publishing their estimates at 1.1 million, 1.2 million tonnes. The number will, of course, depend on how many people will return to Ukraine and when. Because you probably heard that the Ukrainian government urged people who are currently overseas to not return until spring because of the situation with heating and electricity. Considering all costs, gas, beets, what is the breakeven sugar price on local market? Well, obviously, costs depend at each sugar mill. Some sugar mills are operating on gas, some sugar mills operate on coal. So we do not have visibility for the whole market, but sugar beet prices were 10% lower this year. Gas was contracted at different price levels by different players. Overall, it's difficult to point at the average figure, but something like maybe $600 is the one to be suggested. Natalia. Do you consider installation of electricity cogeneration unit at company biogas facilities to ensure in-house electricity supply? Yes, Natalia, we are considering our options. Currently, the biogas facility is feeding gas into soybean processing facility, which is working round the clock. And during sugar production season, this gas is also used for our sugar mill. Extending this generation into electricity cogeneration is within our plans, and we are looking potentially at 2 units [ of 2 ]. What is ASTARTA's opinion regarding extension of grain corridor deal? How much ASTARTA's volume was sold via sea since July? And what is the current cost per tonne of shipping by land and sea on average per tonne? I would like to pass these questions to our Commercial Director, Viacheslav Chuk, if the connection allows. If the connection is not good. I'll jump in and answer myself. Please, Viacheslav.

Yuliya, thank you very much. Good afternoon to all participants. Thank you very much for your time on this call. I would like to answer first question regarding our opinion. ASTARTA, as the market in general, expects the extension of the grain deal. We've heard several official statements from parties of this agreement, mainly Turkey, that they propose to do this from 10 to 12 months. And we see and we've heard some rumors on the market that may be some technical procedures on the corridor could be easened and it could bring even potentially more speed to the flow of the commodities. But anyway, let's wait closer to 20th of November to see the official statements and to fix these official announcements. Thank you. Second question, it was about the volumes. As you all know, in the mid of July, the deal was signed and ASTARTA started to operate via seaports. We've opened several windows. And on mixed basis, till today, we've done almost 180,000 tonnes of volumes. I think that if no conjunctions on the Bosphorus and this could operate further, we would be more interested in increasing these volumes. The third question was regarding cost per tonne of shipping via land and via sea. As it may be seen from statistics, all companies in Ukraine operate both on the western border via land, railroad and try to do volumes via sea corridor. And the price for logistics, I think, tripled since the pre-wartime. We see that to the port of destination where our commodities flow, on some stages, we can see twice and triple prices for the logistics. On the western border is the same due to higher demand and due to very small numbers, bottleneck numbers of connections between the [ euro ]. So the price also for the transshipment and for the logistics almost tripled before -- in comparison before wartime. Thank you.

Thank you, Viacheslav. Next question of Marcin Gatarz. Has all inputs been already secured for '22 harvest and '23 sowing campaign? And what is the current cost inflation in farming? I'll start with the second part of the question. What we have as firm numbers in farming, again, coming back to the revaluation of biological assets, what we have registered is cost inflation between 15% and 25% depending on the spring crop. With regards to winter crops, which are already been harvested, we are harvesting spring crops, and we reported that already harvested our oil seeds. We're in the process of harvesting corn and sugar beet. Sugar beet is already approaching the end, and we have all the inputs to complete harvesting on time. With regards to spring planting, we also see that we already make sufficient stocks of necessary inputs. If we split them into 3 categories: one is seeds, we are 100% self-sufficient in wheat seeds because we produce it in-house. Also with the corn, half of required seeds are produced in-house. You've also seen that we changed our crop mix. So we have lower demand for corn seeds. Our sugar beet seeds are also very -- we're in a good position. With regards to the crop protection and fertilizers, we have already procured about 40% of necessary inputs. But this number is not reflective of anything because we focus on the areas which could be at risk of supply. So we secured them earlier just because of the situation. And we do not consider that other inputs will be in short supply later on as we approach the spring sowing. Jakub. Did I understand correctly that the unit cost of sugar production in 2023 will be lower year-on-year? Yes, this is correct. We don't have the final numbers, of course. But as I mentioned, there was a low price if we take into account devaluation of the local currency for sugar beet, and also we managed to procure gas prices at the dip in the market. [ Rafal ]. Will this plant regulation influence ASTARTA business? Let me open the link.

Yuliya, if you don't mind, I can comment because this question relates to the export. Thank you very much, Rafal, for your question. It's still on the project side, this legislation. However, it doesn't influence ASTARTA because ASTARTA was before big exporter and those [ rule ] mainly [ amplify ] to the newly created exporters. So the number of our export we did in previous times allows us to cover with our previous export the required deposit for such export in the future. Thank you.

I think we covered all the questions in the chatbox, unless anyone wants to raise a hand and ask more. In this case, thank you very much, everyone, for participation. If you have any additional questions, please drop as a line via e-mail or we can set separate calls to explain more things in detail. Have a good afternoon. Bye-bye.