Astarta Holding PLC (AST) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, everyone. Thank you very much for joining the call regarding Astarta's 6 months results. We started with an overview of our P&L. On the revenue side, we have decreased in agriculture and sugar production, and this is on the basis of lower harvest of last year. We are still in the process of selling last year's harvest. And this year's harvesting campaign is much later in the year. Stable volumes and revenues in soybean processing as well as in cattle farming. Gross margin retained at 40% at the level of last year, but we have positive development on the selling and distribution costs, and that allowed us to earn a higher EBITDA margin under IFRS. If we exclude biological assets remeasurement, our EBITDA margin is slightly higher than last year, 29%. Going into the summary cash flows. The focus this year are investment projects that we initiated on the soybean protein concentrate. We have a big investment in the soybean crushing segment. We started works on a new multi-seed crusher in the Western area of our operations. And that was the reason why we have higher investment cash flows, while operating cash flows also remain at reasonable levels, together with the leverage, which is still at 1x EBITDA net debt. In the agricultural segment, we have positive pricing dynamics on corn and oilseeds side. There is a new key crop in our table related to soybeans. This is related to us building our procurement network for soybeans as we prepare to launch soybean concentrate and the new multi-seed crusher in the next 2 years. So we not only increase production of oilseeds ourselves, but also building procurement volumes for further processing. With regards to grains, we have lower volumes because last year's harvest was lower, and we accelerated our sales at the end of last year. But lower exports also can be seen in the lower selling and distribution expense. In terms of yields, we already report final yields for winter wheat and rapeseeds. They are at last year's level on wheat and lower on rapeseeds. For the late crops, the harvesting is starting now because of the later season this year. We also started preparing for winter planting season as well. The pricing situation remains positive for Ukrainian agricultural producers as global and domestic export prices continue to converge. This is related again to the lower harvest last year, but also lower volumes which go through seaborne routes and Odesa-based ports lead to lower logistics costs, which are favorable not for agriculture, but also for our sugar segment. In sugar, we see a decline in the sugar prices, which led to lower revenues, but margins remain at good levels at 27% on a gross margin basis and 18% in EBITDA. We are one of the key exporters in the countries, and our key markets are in the Middle East and in smaller markets of Eastern Europe outside the EU like Macedonia. This year, planting under sugar beet is down by 1/5. The industry continues to export actively despite the lower volumes welcome in the EU markets. The automotive trading regime finished on the 5th of June, but we are expecting a more positive picture from next year when the quota for sugar will be approved in the EU in September. There were recent reports that Europe might import about 1.4 million tonnes of sugar this year. And there could be positive upside on the quota for sugar in September, but we'll have to wait for a few weeks to see more visibility on this issue. However, MENA markets, including Turkey, continue to be the key volume absorbers of Ukrainian exports, which is also the trend to continue for next year. Ukrainian and global prices converged to around $510 per tonne. And this pricing is -- the convergence of the pricing is also a positive development for the Ukrainian producers. Soybean processing volumes of crushing remains stable. There was a good uplift in the oil price, but the main product, which is soybean meal, pricing is down, and that led to lower margins, crushing margin as well as EBITDA margin, which is down to 13%. We see increased acreage unto soybeans in Ukraine for this year, but the harvest is still to be seen. Cattle farming is also stable, growth in milk production. The company continues to earn premium pricing for the high quality of milk it produces. Industrial milk producers continue to win market share from small households. Overall head count in dairy cows is down, but industrial milk production is up, and our share is growing currently at least at 3%. These are the results for the first 6 months in a nutshell, and we would go into the Q&A.

Just a few seconds as the questions will come through. We would like them to be seen in the box. Marcin? First question from Marcin. One second. With such low soybean segment performance, does Astarta still consider its CapEx pipeline as viable? I will start to answer this question, but also, we'll pass for more details to the Commercial Director. The first project that we initiated and we are more than in the middle of implementing it in the soybean concentrate is targeted at a new value-added product. So in addition to meal and oil, we will target a higher margin and custom-tailored concentrate and will target premium markets of aquaculture. So we are here for the long term. And strategically, we are going to the new niche of the market.

Thank you very much, Yuliya. I would also add that different -- on the cost side and on the revenue side, it's hard to judge the project within the just 6 months performance. So when we are making the project, we are considering an average result of the segment for the last 5, 10 years. So it seems to us that between -- inside of this period, some fluctuation of margins could appear.

I will also add something that we don't put in our presentation, but you might appreciate that European soybean market and the product ratio will be significantly changed because of the new regulation which comes from 1st of January related to deforestation. So we see there will be high compliance risk for the major importers into the EU. European consumption is covered by local production by only 4%, which means 96% of soybean products are imported primarily from U.S., Brazil and also from Ukraine. Ukraine is the closest market. Ukraine has similar agricultural requirements, which are very close to European ones as opposed to American ones. And the country has been assigned a low risk rating under EUDR. So we believe that we will be even in a better competitive position vis-à-vis Brazilian and other exporters who have higher deforestation risks. Next question. With global sugar price as of now, is exports to Africa and Middle East profitable still? I'll pass the floor to Viacheslav again.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much for the question. I would say -- I would repeat maybe the -- Yuliya's words, but the reality is that the logistic cost decreased as it reflected also the price decrease on the global market. But still, we are on the positive side on the main regions, considering our logistic advantages which we made during these 2 years.

I will also add that according to the most recent report by the Ukrainian sugar association, they expect exports to be at least 1/3 of Ukrainian production. So overall, the industry reduced acreage on the sugar beets by 1/5, but the export potential is still considered to be quite strong. Which quarter of 2026 is the SPC expected to be commissioned? You said both the new crusher and the SPC are to be commissioned in the next 2 years. Does that mean that multi-seed crusher is expected to be operational in 2027? Yes, the SPC should be launched in the first half of next year. We plan to launch it in the second quarter as close to the new processing season as possible. And the multi-seed crusher is expected to become operational in 2027 with, hopefully, just a 1 year distance or lag between the 2 facilities. I don't see any more questions coming into the Q&A box. Perhaps there is still a [ summer little season ], but we look forward your questions one-on-one or via email. Please don't hesitate to have any follow-up with us. Thank you very much, and have a nice weekend.