EcoRodovias Infraestrutura e Logística S.A. (ECOR3) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Interpreted] Good morning and welcome to EcoRodovias second quarter of 2021 earnings conference call. With us here today are Marcello Guidotti, CFO and IRO; Andrea Fernandes, IR Director. This presentation is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] The audio and the slides of this conference call are being broadcast simultaneously at ri.ecorodovias.com.br where you will find the presentation for download from the webcast platform in the Investor Relations section. Before proceeding, we would like to clarify that the forward-looking statements that may be made during this conference call relating to EcoRodovias' business prospects, projections and operational and financial targets are based on the management's beliefs and assumptions as well as on currently available information. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions as they refer to future events and hence, depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors should understand that general economic conditions, industry conditions and other operating factors may affect the future performance of EcoRodovias and lead to results that differ materially from those expressed in such forward looking statements. I will now turn the floor over to Ms. Andrea Fernandes, who will discuss the second quarter of 2021 results. Ms. Andrea, you may proceed.

[Interpreted] Good morning. Welcome to Grupo EcoRodovias' conference call today discussing the earnings of the second quarter of 2021. We thank you all for your interest and participation. The second quarter was marked by some important achievements. We won the bid for the federal concession, BR-153, Tocantins Goiás, to operate it for 35 years, in line with the company's growth strategy. The concession agreement in EcoRodovias' guidelines comply with the best ESG practices. The primary public offering of shares in the amount of BRL 1.7 billion that will be allocated to new investments, maintenance and/or expansion of its subsidiaries and to strengthen its cash position. Signing the agreement of Ecovias dos Imigrantes, which established the assumptions that guide the extension of the concession agreement from June 2026 to March 2033, considering ARTESP's traffic projections and the methodology of marginal cash flows. These achievements confirm the derisking path adopted by the group and the extension of its portfolio. In May, Ecovias dos Imigrantes issued BRL 600 million in debentures for a period of 1 year at the cost of CDI plus 1.05% per year to fulfill obligations within the scope of the economic financial rebalancing agreement and the extension of the concession agreement. In June, Ecosul issued BRL 370 million in debentures for a period of 3 years at the cost of CDI plus 1.65% per year. In the second quarter of 2021, the company made progress in its ESG agenda with the following highlights: the company joined the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development, which brings companies together to promote sustainable development in partnership with governments and the society; enhancing the goals for the company's leaders, including the mitigation of carbon intensity and the improvement of diversity indices; the implementation of safety -- occupational safety committees at all business units. More details are available on Page 2 of the earnings release. Moving on to the operations performance on Slide 2. We can see the evolution of monthly consolidated traffic and comparable traffic during the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same periods in 2020 and 2019. It's important to note that during the month of May and June 2021, comparable traffic presented an increase of 3.6% and 2.7%, respectively, compared to those months in 2019. As regards to the second quarter, we show on Slide 3 the variation in consolidated traffic with an increase of 41.4%. Excluding the start-up operations at Ecovias do Cerrado, comparable traffic presented a 29.1% increase in the quarter due to the flexibilization of social distancing measures adopted by states and cities to fight COVID-19. The highlight is light vehicles with an increase of nearly 50%. As for the group's consolidated financial performance, we present on Slide 4 net revenue, excluding construction revenue, which was up 32.3% this quarter; and net revenue of highway concessions, up 32.4% in the period. Moving on to Slide 5. Adjusted cash costs amounted to BRL 270.8 million. This increase is mostly due to the increase in personnel expenses due to the salary adjustment in March 2021 and the compliance with the law that enabled a reduction in salaries and work hours in the second quarter of 2020, conservation and maintenance expenses due to the rescheduling in the second quarter of 2020, which have been normalized this current quarter, among others. Pro forma EBITDA amounted to BRL 570.5 million in the second quarter, 32.6% higher than in the second quarter of 2020 with margin of 66.6%. The EBITDA of the first half of 2021 amounted to BRL 1.1 billion. On Slide 6, we see the evolution in net income in the second quarter of 2021 of BRL 92 million vis-à-vis the second quarter of 2020. Net income was impacted mainly by the increase in EBITDA in the quarter. As for investments on Slide 7, CapEx in the second quarter of 2021 reached BRL 352 million mainly for investments in road widening at Eco050 and Eco101. On Slide 8, we closed the quarter with net debt of BRL 5.9 billion, a reduction of BRL 1 billion from the previous quarter. This is mainly due to the BRL 1.7 billion in proceeds from the follow-on carried out at the end of June 2021. Leverage measured by the net debt over pro forma EBITDA indicator was 2.6x compared to 3.3x in the first quarter of 2021. Moving on to Slide 9. We closed the quarter with cash balance of BRL 3.4 billion, which represents one time the short-term debt. On Slide 10, we see EcoRodovias' growth drivers. The capitalization of the company in the amount of BRL 1.7 billion as well as partnerships for future bids target projects that generate cash already on D0, the extension of the contract for Ecovias dos Imigrantes, dividend distribution in line with the growth cycle and future cash generation make us comfortable with the company's financial and competitive capacity and will allow us to seek investment opportunities in the Brazilian highway market. on Slides 11 through 16, we present the main ESG indicators, in particular, the enhancement and the inclusion of new ESG goals for the leadership. The company is currently studying federal concession, BR-116/101 Dutra, the São Paulo coast batch by the state of São Paulo government, the federal concessions in Paraná and the Triângulo Mineiro batch in the state of Minas Gerais. Before we close, we would like to inform that we continue to take preventive and mitigative measures to minimize as much as possible the impact of the pandemic on the safety of our employees, our users and service providers and to the continuity of the company's business. This concludes our presentation. We would like to move on to the question-and-answer session. Operator, we are ready for the questions from our analysts and investors. Thank you.

[Interpreted] [Operator Instructions] Our first question, Fernanda Recchia, BTG Pactual.

[Interpreted] I have two questions. First, I'd like to explore a little bit more about this change in the sales structure after the follow-on and the group consolidating as the only controller. I'd like to understand what you see there in the long run in terms of management. You've been going through collegiate decisions. Is the idea to have a President of what's going to be like looking forward? You also had [ Jong ] leaving the Board of Directors. I'd like to know how this process to replace his name is. And the second, to talk a little bit about the auctions that Andrea mentioned at her introduction speech about the assets, you have interest in the Dutra, Triângulo Mineiro, Paraná. I'd like to understand how you see the competition for these assets and what your strategy is. Is it the idea to join as a consortium or for 100% of the asset? Just to give more color to it.

[Interpreted] About the shareholder structure, there will be replacements, of course, with Board members leaving and there's no general meeting called yet. We will call a meeting to have this definition, but there's nothing defined yet. About management, we continue as we are. It's a situation that's developing well. And I don't have any others -- and we understand that the company has been well directed. And as soon as we have any updates on the change to the structure, everyone will be informed. About the auctions in general, the program in Minas Gerais, the federal programs are of our interest. As Andrea mentioned, this was also in São Paulo. There's Dutra, Triângulo Mineiro. And the programs in Minas Gerais, [ San Pedro ] concessions interest us. Competition will exist definitely. There will always be competition. These contracts have been enhancing and they're safe with adequate returns. So there will be competition. We participated on 153 with a partner, and we will see if we will remain with this partner. And there are also other alternatives as well. Thank you.

[Interpreted] Our next question, Henrique Simoes, Credit Suisse.

[Interpreted] I'd like to ask you to talk about this drop of margin quarter-on-quarter and the level you expect for the end of -- for the remaining of the year. And if you could confirm when you have to pay the concession for BR-153.

[Interpreted] Henrique, about margin, the margin has been quite stable in this quarter, but it will depend on -- the costs now are also returning to normalcy, but it will depend on traffic. Traffic is behaving well and this -- compared to last year and even 2019. But in July, it remains positive compared to 2019. And the expectation is that the margins will continue to expand. And we have very reasonable levels. There won't be any huge increase, but it's the normalization of everything. We expect the recovery of margins.

[Interpreted] The second question about the concession grant. Is it 153 or 135?

[Interpreted] 153. The concession fee will be paid by STB, parts will go to the treasury and 4x the value. And the reserve accounts that will be used to the balancing project, 1/4 of it goes to the treasure paid by the partner. And they have resources from the equity of shareholders and funding from STB as well. It's a normal structure.

[Interpreted] Our next question, Lucas Barbosa, Santander.

[Interpreted] My question is about the impact and the increase of price of raw materials, the investments to be made in the concessions. If we look, there's very low variation in this quarter. If you could comment more if you think there's any risk of us seeing an impact of inflation on the company's expected CapEx. If you can give us any details, it would be helpful.

[Interpreted] Lucas, thank you for the question. We are reviewing now our budget. We're anticipating this review. And CapEx as well, definitely during this year, there is an impact. But our contracts overall are all corrected by the IPCA index. So the increase we saw now will have an impact, but not in this broader segment. That is already inflated. And since it's long-term flows in 2, 3 years, inflation ends up being offered with these increases of these -- of the value of the amount of these raw materials. So inflation and our CapEx for the long term is normalized. We -- but we are updating it, and it's virtually nominal, and we will decide this. But we don't expect or foresee any major impact.

[Interpreted] Next question, Andressa Varotto, UBS Bank.

[Interpreted] I'd just like to explore a little bit more about the review of the methodology to account for the concession fee for 135, if there's been any impact on the financial results of this quarter and if you can expect any impact due to this change.

[Interpreted] Andressa, thank you. It was a review of the discount rates for the concession fee. It stayed close to the concession. So there was an impact in the positive financial results of this quarter and also reflected in the balance sheet under concession fee and the obligations with the concession authority. From now on, it changes a little bit, the economic aspects of this concession. But at the end of the day, what matters is that cash to be paid, the conditions are the same. It's a contractual cash. There was a change of representation in the accounting. Applying this discount rates to the concession fee, there was an impact, but it was an adjustment for the balance sheet. The cash that we have to pay is exactly the same, and it will remain the same.

[Interpreted] Next question, Victor Mizusaki, Bradesco BBI.

[Interpreted] Two questions. First, about new projects, you mentioned Dutra. They had their studies approved by the TCU, but you also had the 381/262 approval. So I'd like to know since we're considering a project that includes the state of Minas Gerais and the state of Espírito Santo, if this project makes sense in EcoRodovias' portfolio. And the second question about the fair flow that will be implemented at Dutra, if you have the opportunity to also implement this in the other highway concessions of the groups.

[Interpreted] The federal program in general interests us. So every auction in the federal level will be followed by us closely. 381 will happen. It's been approved. We already had studied it. So we'll go back to it and see whether it makes sense. It's a project in regions supported in our portfolio, but it's a large complex product with a very relevant contract. If you can please repeat your second question. We had an audio issue.

[Interpreted] The second is about the free flow that the federal government is implementing on Dutra. But if you see it as an opportunity for the group to try and bring this technology to the other highways on EcoRodovias' portfolio.

[Interpreted] Dutra has this free flow in the São Paulo coast as well. We have 2 pilot projects of free flow in the group, authorized at Ecopistas and Ecoponte. And I believe it's a technology that's here to stay. So I would say, yes. How, when, to what extent, where it will be defined, but I believe it's a technology that exists around the world and can be used here in Brazil now. So I think yes, there's a possibility. We have a number of internal studies. And I believe so, yes. It's a good opportunity for everyone.

[Interpreted] Next question will be in English. Stephen Trent from Citi.

A question for me on leverage. So as you think about investing in these other concession assets. What's your long-term view on what could be a reasonable target leverage for the company? And do you see opportunities to obtain longer-tenured debt at fixed interest rates, considering what's happening with [ selling crates ] in Brazil?

[Interpreted] He was asking the company. The company has a target leverage that is considered optimum and whether we consider to capture longer-tenured debt at fixed interest rates. About the leverage targets, the company definitely monitors the financial situation in a reasonable debt target for the long term. Of course, during growth phases, increasing investments in some specific points, the target may increase a little bit, but we consider that a normalized long-term target of 3.54 net debt-to-EBITDA is normal. About the second question, definitely, considering we negotiated and selected the liabilities that Ecovias helped us be able to tap into longer-tenured debt lines. And about the fixed interest rate, we need to see if it's a possibility in the market. It's an opportunity, but the company continues to watch the debt linked to the inflation and considering its assets affected by inflation.

[Interpreted] [Operator Instructions] As there are no further questions, we now close the question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the floor to Ms. Andrea Fernandes and Marcello Guidotti for their final remarks.

[Interpreted] We thank you very much for your participation. Myself and my team are available for any doubts that you may have. Thank you.

[Interpreted] EcoRodovias' conference call is now closed. Thank you very much for your participation and we wish you a very good day. [Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]