Interconexión Eléctrica S.A. E.S.P. (ISA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone. My name is Mateo Ochoa, and I'm part of the team of Investor Relations. We'd like to thank you all for joining us in the earnings results webcast of the first quarter of 2024 of ISA and its companies. [Operator Instructions] And in the very last part of the event, we'll have -- we'll be answering your questions. Next slide, please. Today, we're with Gabriel Melguizo, Acting President of ISA; Daniel Isaza, VP of Corporate Finance; Patricia Castano, VP of Corporate Strategy; and Sebastián Castañeda, Acting VP of Road Concessions. Today's agenda begins with the highlights of the first quarter explained by Gabriel Melguizo, followed by Daniel Isaza, who will talk about our quarterly financial results. Lastly, we'll go back to Gabriel with closing remarks and then we'll have our Q&A session. Let's begin -- let's go to the next slide, please, and listen to Gabriel.

Thank you, Mateo. Good morning, everyone. And as always, we're very thankful for being with you. Thank you for joining us today. Let's look at the next slide please. The 2030 ISA strategy is based, as you know, on 3 pillars to create sustainable value. Today, we want to focus on 2 of these 3 pillars. And the first I mentioned, our responsibility is to create value for our shareholders. With regards to this pillar, we keep our commitment through sound financial results, executing projects that increase our base of assets and revenue, and the continuous search of new awards. By the end of March 2024, we have 34 projects under construction which, when commissioned, will add up to COP 1.7 trillion to our annual revenue. Our ROAE at the end of the quarter remains healthy at 14% and the net profit reached COP 634 billion. In the last shareholders' assembly, we approved a dividend of COP 1,110 per share. That's 50% of the net profit of 2023, showing this way our engagement to maintain a balance between reinvestments and the distribution of dividends of our shareholders. This is in line with our growth strategy. Within the second dimension, which is to create a positive social and environmental impact, today we'd like to focus on results related to our occupational health and safety program that we'll see ahead. This program is called Connected to Life, and we'll have the opportunity to expand on it ahead. Lastly, to end this slide, I'm very proud to share with you that we held our position in the Standard & Poor's Global Sustainability Yearbook, ranking 15 among 274 companies of the industry globally. As you can see, we still execute responsibly and consistently everything aligned with our 2030 strategy. Next slide, please. Looking closely here, the Connected to Life program, which seeks to enhance in our work the occupational health and safety program, for us really occupational health and safety is of relevance. We have about 5,100 direct employees and more than 17,000 contractors, which provide us services. About 45% of the operating expense of ISA and its companies is personnel expense. During the next 3 years, we'll be executing historical investments. By 2030, we'll have on investments balance, our backlog, of COP 29.4 billion with which taking care of life is exceptionally relevant within our organization, and demands us to focus on looking at the well-being and safety of all those involved in our job. Connected to Life is a priority program for ISA and its goal is to protect life and well-being of the people, giving safe and healthy workspaces. This program was launched in 2023 to enhance the efforts of cultural transformation regarding occupational health and safety, and reducing accident rates at ISA and its companies. Let's look at the next slide please. Okay, here we'll look at the TRIF indicator. It's an index that measures the recordable injuries per million man's hours worked. And it's both for the direct employees and for our contractors. So that's what you can see on the left-hand side. By 2023, we really had a TRIF tolerance with the highest indicator of 5 recordable injuries per million man hours worked. But by the end of the quarter of 2023, we had 3.5 as you can see on the left. This result represents an improvement of 44% compared to the result obtained in 2022 when it was at 5.6 recordable injuries per million man hours worked. Okay, by 2024, our goal is to reduce that indicator to 3 injuries -- recordable injuries per million man hours worked, which is what you can see in the blue line on the left, which is the highest tolerance that we have. In the first quarter of 2024, the result of the TRIF indicator was 1.75. That is way below the tolerance which is excellent. And what's the ideal thing about this indicator is to have it low, of course. And this result was 42% better than the goal and 49% better than the same period of 2023, meaning we've been improving strongly occupational health and safety of everybody that works within and outside of ISA to build networks, roads and telecommunications. Next slide please. At ISA, we keep enhancing our transmission grid, increasing the multiple projects. During this year, we have commissioned, this first quarter in Colombia, a connection to the photovoltaic park called Porton del Sol, which incorporates clean energies from renewable sources. In Brazil, we made 14 reinforcements of the ISA CTEEP. In Chile, we expanded the substation, Nuevo Pan de Azucar. And in Peru, we put into service the project Puerto Chancay. All of these new projects were energized, excluding the reinforcements and improvement as CTEEP, represented investments close to COP 108 million, and will create about COP 9.6 million in annual revenue. Next slide please. In the first quarter of 2024, we made investments for COP 988 billion, a figure below that of the first quarter of 2023 due to the stage in which the projects are in, as you can see in the graph on the left. Colombia represented 29% of total investments of ISA. It advanced in the construction of projects like Nueva subestacion Carriles, the project La Loma–Sogamoso, the project Copey-Cuestecitas and the project Copey-Fundacion among others. In the quarter, we energized the project Conexion Porton del Sol at the substation Purnio in Colombia. If we look at Brazil, Brazil represented 46% of total investments in the quarter, record of investments with a wide portfolio of projects bidded, reinforcements and improvements. For the first quarter '24, we commissioned 14 reinforcements for the network of ISA CTEEP. Moving towards Chile, this represented 13% of the investments made as follows. In power transmission, it advanced to build 4 expansions of the network of ISA Interchile. And also we had the commissioning of the expansion of the Nuevo Pan de Azucar. In roads in Chile, we continued the execution of Section A of Rutas del Loa project and complementary works of security at the Concession Ruta del Maipo, Ruta de la Araucania and Ruta de los Rios. And lastly, looking at CapEx by country, Peru executed 10% of the investments in reinforcements and expansions and substations related to the projects in construction. Today, we are advancing the construction of 34 projects, which will add about 5,400 kilometers of line to our portfolio and interventions of 407 kilometers of roads, including 246 kilometers of revamping, improvement and maintenance of the Panamericana Este Road in Panama. Once these projects are in commission, these will create revenue -- annual revenue about COP 1.7 trillion. Next slide, please. Okay. If we talk about the projects awarded in the first quarter of '24, we had projects awarded to our portfolio with representation of investments of COP 1.3 trillion. In energy transmission, ISA CTEEP in Brazil was awarded 8 reinforcements to the transmission grid. Along that together, we'll have a CapEx of BRL 58 million, equivalent to COP 44 billion. In Colombia, we were awarded 2 projects by the Mining Energy Planning unit, one transformer at the Primavera Substation, another one at the Sogamoso Substation. These projects awarded added to a CapEx of $38 million, equivalent to about COP 146 billion. In addition, Transelca in Colombia, the Colombian Caribbean, signed a private contract to execute the connection of the voltaics project Guayepo III. In the Este roads, ISA Intervial was awarded the revamping, improvement and maintenance of 246 kilometers of the Panamericana Este Road, which was awarded by the Ministry of Public Works in Panama in January with an investment at $283 million, which is about COP 1.1 trillion. In this project, we've been advancing with the activities prior to the construction. So as you can see, ISA continues expanding its business with the arrival of new projects to our portfolio of assets. Next slide, please. Now let's talk about investments pending to execute. In the first quarter, the balance of our investments pending to execute increased to COP 400 billion compared to 2023. This variation is a net result of the new investments awarded, which add up to COP 1.3 trillion, and the execution of investments of COP 900 billion. Of the investments executed, we have an increase in Brazil, up 41% in dollars compared to the prior quarter. So with the balance of the investments pending to execute, the quarter ends at COP 29.4 trillion. In the green bars, you can see in the middle of the screen is the composition of this figure, where we could highlight COP 19.4 trillion in bids and awards, COP 3.1 trillion in reinforcements and improvements authorized to ISA CTEEP in Brazil, COP 1.5 trillion of capital contributions for partnerships that we do not control or consolidate. These are Conexion in Chile and Consorcio Electrico Yapay in Peru, in charge of the execution of the projects, [indiscernible] in Chile and TOCE/CEPI in Peru. Also these -- in addition to these investments, we have a projection of COP 3.5 trillion in reinforcements and improvements of CTEEP, pending of approval by the regulator, and COP 1.9 billion in the maintenance and plan to optimize our assets. On the right-hand side of the screen in orange, you can see the estimated execution of these investments until 2030. Between '24 and '26, we'll be executing average investments of COP 6 trillion a year. Now let's look at the next slide and give the floor to Daniel Isaza, who will show us the financial results of the quarter.

Thank you, Gabriel. Good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to speak to you in this webcast. Next slide, please. Okay. Before we begin to talk about the results of the quarter, I'd like to remind you that since our last webcast, we included for the market an operational report of the adjusted EBITDA, so that the market can really get to better understand the business of ISA with a measure of cost, revenues that's more clear for the operational generation of the flow. So this screen shows the main adjustments made of the EBITDA adjusted. And these are mainly made in the corporations where we use the accounting models which are of intangibles, financial and contractual. This refers to -- everything has to do with constructions and energy transmission in Peru, where we use the model of the intangible asset. We also look and include in the cost of AUM. Everything has to do with maintenance. In roads in Chile and Colombia, we look at the financial yield of the revenue, and we include those of tools and future funds. Also in roads, we moved the preexisting infrastructure liabilities and assets, among others. And we had also adjust all of -- for all of the corporations and it has to do with the IFRS 16 for leases, meaning the cost for lease which IFS are under operating revenues have to do more with operations. This adjusted EBITDA is calculated by the management of ISA based on the non-GAAP premises that you can find in the technical attachment of our income statement published this past Tuesday. Next slide, please. On this slide, which we saw in our last webcast, we tried to make a parallel between 2 graphs, in which the top one shows you the performance of operating revenue without construction of the quarters from the first of '22 to this first quarter of '24. And underneath, you can see are the exchange rate variations most relevant to ISA with 100-base. And this is very important in this webcast because exchange rate has been very important in the performance of the revenue of ISA. You have to consider that about 75% or the revenue of ISA is in currencies other than the Colombian pesos. So the exchange rate is very relevant in the results that we report in Colombian pesos. So there are 2 or 3 things that are interesting to look at this slide. The exchange rate to dollar that's represented on the bottom with the blue line currently is at the levels seen in the first quarter of '22. The peso -- no, the ratio between the Colombian peso and that of Chile has decreased. So the Colombian peso is stronger and that hurts the revenue of the roads business, especially in the first quarter of '24. And that's partly what explains the reduction we see between the last quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year. And we look at the bid and revenue lower when the peso was so devaluated. For instance, in the first quarter of '23, -- compared with the last quarter of last year when the exchange rate was with the peso that was devaluated at historical levels. Next slide, please. On this slide, we have the adjusted EBITDA. I mean, following the methodology that I've shown in the past slides, with the consolidated financial statement. So when you compare the results of the first quarter of '24 and of '23, the most relevant effect has to do with the decrease because of the enhancement of the Colombian peso. So let me give you 2 examples here. The average exchange rate of the first quarter of 2023 was COP 4,779 -- while that of the first quarter of 2024 was COP 3,921. And this is the valuation of the Colombian pesos compared to the dollar of 18%. Something else that's interesting to see is that the ratio of the Colombian and Chilean peso. In the first quarter of '23, the ratio was COP 5.9 for every peso of Chile, while in the first quarter of '24, it was COP 4.1 compared to that of Chile. This is a valuation also of the Colombian peso in this period, up 30%. The adjusted EBITDA of the first quarter of '24 is 11% lower than that in the first quarter of '23 mainly, as I said, because of the conversion which are up 13%. If you eliminate that conversion effect, then you understand the figures. Without that conversion effect, the adjusted EBITDA grew 2% between the quarters that you can compare. And that increase in revenue is mainly driven by the projects of energy which entered operation and the positive effect of contractual escalators. So as of the first quarter of 2024, we have different projects commissioned. In Colombia, Sabanalarga-Bolivar, also smart valves at the Santa Marta substation, the Conexion Parque project, the Nabusimake, also Fundacion [indiscernible] at the Sabanalarga-Bolivar substation. In Brazil, 100% of the Ieitaunas concession, Triangulo Mineiro and 53 reinforcements of the ISA CTEEP network. And in Peru, we have the Coya project, Chincha Nueva and Nazca Nueva referred, so those substations. While in Chile, we have Ruta de los Rios. Also we'd like to underscore the adjusted AOM increased to COP 57 billion because of the new projects that entered operation and the indexation of cost per inflation. Next slide, please. Here on the screen, you have information, a new tool that's also in our income statement. And the spirit here is to just provide you, the market, the best tools to have the best and most complete information about our company. So keeping that in mind, I'm pleased to say that after this report, you will have 2 new tools. One is the results IFRS per business, transmission, roads and telecommunications. And also we'll have an operational report of the adjusted EBITDA, meaning following the adjustments that I have explained already for each of the business, and that goes with the EBITDA. The figures you see here are of that adjusted report for the energy power transmission, and you can see here although the valuation of the Colombian peso in the last 12 months, it grew 4% compared to the first quarter of 2023. So throughout this presentation and the report, we will see different variations with and without the conversion to show the results in pesos, yes, but also the performance of the business, isolating the effect of the conversion. So you can see the operation variations per business. For instance, with the power transmission without the effect of conversion, the adjusted EBITDA grew 17%. We'd like to underscore the increase of revenue, which without conversion is explained by, first, the commissioning of new projects; second, contractual escalators; third, the increase of revenue of the RBSE at CTEEP because of re-profiling that was determined in 2021; and fourth, the completion of the application of the resolution, a voluntary decrease of rates in Colombia, which began in September 2023. The AOM adjusted also increased by COP 65 billion because of the new projects that were in commission. Next slide, please. Here, you can see the adjusted EBITDA, but this is of the business of roads. During the first quarter of 2024, it dropped 54% compared to the quarter of last year. In this variation of 18% is because of the effect of conversion comparing the Colombia and Chilean peso. But excluding this conversion, there are 2 events in Colombia that explain the reduction of COP 234 billion. And it's really related to the future funds and the mitigation of risks. What's happening in this picture, when you compare both quarters, is that of the future funds of Costera, which -- that we usually receive in December, but sometimes we receive in February or for the first quarter of the year after, what we're seeing here in this comparison is that in the first quarter of '23, we received COP 90 billion, which have to do with 70% of the future funds of 2022. Those of '23 were also paid in 2023, not in '24. So when you compared one quarter with another, there's a difference that's significant simply because of the moment when the payment of future funds was made. But in time, this is regularized because these are annual payments. Another effect that's relevant in roads is that there is a decrease this quarter compared to that of last year when it comes to the DR8, which has to do with the risk mitigation mechanism of traffic that's packed in the concession. And these are payments made every 5 years after 2023. We made the first one in '23, the next one in 5 years later and then in 10 years. So with this, the reduction is related to that payment that doesn't happen every year. Likewise, revenue decreased because of completion of Ruta del Bosque in February 2023. We're talking about COP 36 billion. And the completion of the application of the MDI in Ruta de la Araucania in Chile, which implied returning COP 38 billion to the Ministry of Public Works. So these 2 effects are compensated with more collection from tools, which add up to COP 95 billion in addition to those that we had as a base in the first quarter of '23. Next slide, please. Now on this slide, we can talk about figures IFRS which decreased 12% compared to the first quarter of '23. And most of this is mainly explained because of the conversion effect. Without keeping in mind this effect, the revenue would have increased 2% because of the income of new projects that were commissioned. The consolidated EBITDA was reduced 16%, mostly 14% is because of the exchange rate effect. The reduction in co-controlled results has to do with the efficiency shown in the first quarter of '23, building the IVAI project in Brazil and the most -- and the increased expense and the depreciation of the projects of energy in Peru in the second quarter of 2023. Next slide, please. Here, we will talk briefly about the debt. By the end of the first quarter of 2024, we are ending with a debt of COP 31 trillion. That's COP 59 billion more or 0.2% more than at the end of '23. The movements of the debt have to do with the net of disbursements of bonds and financial obligations and rises to COP 412 billion. The main movements made in the quarter were in Colombia. We paid a bond of COP 115 billion that expired in February this year and amortized financial obligations of Ruta Costera and InterNexa. In Brazil, we had an increase of the debt of COP 674 billion. That's related to the 15th emission of debentures of BRL 1,300 million. That's about COP 1 trillion. That's at ISA CTEEP. These will be destined to cover the needs of investment of the projects of this portfolio. At CTEEP, we also made or canceled the 5th issue of debentures for BRL 422 billion, which is about COP 325 billion. For the first quarter of '24, the portfolio of ISA had an amortize of BRL 18 million, 9.5 years and the indicator of gross debt over EBITDA closed at 3.5x, slightly increasing compared to the end of '23, which was 3.4x. This indicator maintains the financial flexibility of ISA because it's below the maximum indicators suggested by risk raters, which allow us to leverage our growth and are the new opportunities of growth. So, ladies and gentlemen, with this information, we end the financial issues. And now let's listen to Gabriel Melguizo.

Thank you, Daniel. Okay. Now let me give you some closing remarks. As you have seen, we are committed to the energy transition. We have identified a robust pipeline of opportunities that we will prioritize to advance in our growth with discipline and creating value. That's really the bottom line of what we do. As you could evidence throughout our presentation, when we compare the results of the first quarter of '24 to those of the first quarter of '23, our results decreased due to the strengthening of the Colombian pesos. However, the majority of our businesses are growing in their functional currencies and the return on equity remains at 14%. We also continued to add new wins to our asset portfolio, COP 1.3 trillion, including the Panamericana Road in Panama with estimated of COP 1.3 billion. Investments pending to execute closed the quarter at COP 29.4 trillion, and we have a sound balance sheet and financial flexibility to leverage our commitments of investments with a gross debt EBITDA indicator of 3.5x. Lastly, in 2024, we will pay a dividend of COP 1,110 per share, equivalent to 50% of the net profit of '23, ensuring the balance between reinvestment and distribution to shareholders. Before we end today's talk, I'd like to give you some important message that has to do with Investor Relations. It's basically to take advantage to announce that Jose Ivan Jaramillo Vallejo, who was the Director of Investor Relations, as of May 6 will be the Financial and Administrative Director of the Panama Road project. He will be in charge of coordinating -- everything has to do with Ruta Este and also the human talent and procurement of this project. As of May 6, Mr. Falquez will assume as an interim, our Investor Relations. He has a vast experience in both Colombia and Peru in corporate finance with companies of the energy sector with regional responsibility in Colombia, Peru and Chile. Today, Jaime Falquez is the Director of Financial Resources of ISA. He's responsible for managing ISA and its companies in the capital markets, local and international. Likewise, he's responsible for managing the resources and the regional strategy of corporate resources also. And to enhance the relations that we have with our shareholders, we have Patricia Ospina Campo, a specialist in Investor Relations. She is an engineer from EAI and she has an MBA from Pittsburgh University. In the last 5 years, she led the area of Investor Relations of a company that's listed in the Colombian Stock Exchange. Patricia and Mateo Ochoa, who you know, and under leadership of Jaime, will be in charge of our Investor Relations. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Jose Ivan for his great work in this area. So with this, we end our presentation and we can begin our Q&A session.

Thank you, Gabriel, and thank you, Daniel. So let's begin the Q&A session, and we'll begin with a question made by Ana Maria Guasca from Davivienda and [ Florencia ] related to how is the process of the new election of the CEO.

Thank you, Mateo. I think that question, I can answer it. Who was asking it? Ana?

Ana Maria and Florencia.

Okay. According to the code of good corporate governance and our bylaws, the election of the CEO is made by the Board of Directors through a selection planed and managed by the organizational talent committee and with a headhunter advisory service. We have been advancing choosing -- trying to find the best CEO through Korn Ferry, as established in the bylaws and the policies of the corporate governance.

Thank you, Gabriel. Okay. Now let's -- we have a second question in which it's also made by Florencia. How comfortable do you feel in Peru after the downgrade of S&P? Okay. This question will be given to Daniel Isaza.

I would like to begin by saying that at ISA, we invest in critical segments of electrical infrastructure, strategic operators with long-term vision. And specially in Peru, our position is sound in energy transportation. We have more than 70% of market share in a business also that has revenue in dollars on long-term basis with good price levels. So we feel peace of mind and we have a firm engagement with our operations in Peru where we're still investing. Last year, we were awarded the biggest energy transmission project along with our friends of the Group of Energia [indiscernible]. And we're very happy to have that project in our portfolio and to begin to develop that infrastructure that will enhance the infrastructure of Peru. As to what Standard & Poor's rated us in Peru, I would say that Peru is still a country with a degree of investment. There are signs of the raters in terms of the political challenges and complexities that country can have because of -- when it comes to fiscal deficit and expenses. Also it's noted that the level of leverage in Peru and debt of Peru is still seen below 30% of the GDP for the next years. And that figure is low in the region. And it really positions pretty well to face the challenges it has ahead. This end-to-end ISA has a commitment that's strong. And it's -- Peru is one of its main geographies, we're investing there, and we will continue to do so.

Thank you, Daniel. We have another question. Is there any progress made in the regulatory system of Colombia?

Thank you, Mateo. Gabriel Melguizo can provide us the best answer to this question.

Okay. So far, the regulator has issued 3 projects. The last one was issued in 2016. And what does it say? To change from new reposition to depreciated position; secondly, to change the parameters that are part of the methodology to determine the revenue. And parallel, the CREG issued 001 and 007 regulations that established how to estimate the cost of transmissions. But we still have not determined that cost. We have to wait for the definite resolution. When will this be made? According to the agenda of 2024, it's possible that in the third quarter of this year we have the fourth resolution project. It's the resolution of the methodology. The definite methodology is not in the 2024 agenda. It might be in '25, and it will be applied in '26 or early 2027, depending on the times required to disclose the information among the companies and to meet the resolutions. That's an overall answer for this question.

Thank you, Gabriel. Now we have another question in which they need more information about the project of Panamericana Este in Panama. Did you begin construction already?

Mateo, thank you for your question. My name is Sebastián Castañeda. As you know well, the project of Panamericana is the revamping improvement and maintenance of the Panamericana Road. The project includes more than 246 kilometers that joins Panama City with Yaviza in the province of El Darien. The concession is for 18.5 years and it's divided into 5 stages. We have preconstruction, construction, operation and maintenance and reinvestment. The contract was formalized by Contraloria on April 9 and on April 10, we received from the Ministry of Public Works the order to proceed, which gave way to the first phase, the pre-initiation. And now we're undergoing the proceedings of this phase. And we expect to begin the preconstruction phase in June. That stage lasts about one year. And there, we began the operation and maintenance activities of the existing infrastructure. We've been advancing creating the leadership team of Ruta del Este, which is the name of the new corporation that we have in Panama. Likewise, we awarded the engineering process before beginning the preoperational stage. And we've been going through the technical and administrative processes to pull this important project through.

Sebastián, thank you for your answer. Let's continue with the question from Andres Duarte from Corficolombiana. He asked how long will you maintain the formal [indiscernible] program. For this question, we can have Daniel Isaza, Financial VP, to answer it.

Thank you for your question. The program, which we began January 15 this year, was a pilot for 3 months initially until April 15, and we made different analysis, and we concluded that it had interesting results. And it really was worth extending at least 3 more months. So currently, we have contracts with 2 brokers that are part of program [indiscernible] until July 15. The idea of doing this in 3-month periods is to be able to have a good look at what's happening in the market and to see what parameters and conditions of this program can be improved to keep it in the market. The initial results are good. I believe that ahead, we have a couple of questions about MCI and liquidity, and I can give you more information about that program with regards to the volumes that are important in this indicator.

Daniel, thank you. And I think that we could tie that question to the next one. We're asked if it's possible to give us more information about ISA leaving the MCI and a new reclassification of Colombia in the Frontier boundary classification.

That question is quite interesting. You have observed that there's been a very positive reaction in the Colombian market and in Latin America in general in the past 12 months, but more in the past 6 months. And that has gone hand-in-hand with more volumes in the negotiations. To ISA, we -- this is an indicator of the volume indicator of the negotiation and the MCI. And what they look at is the ATVR, the annual trading volume ratio, which is an index of negotiation of the trading volume. In the 12-month indicator, we moved from a minimum level close to 11% in June 2023, August 2023, to an indicator close to 12%. And in the 3-month indicator, we have moved also June, July 2023 from an indicator of 9% to one today of 15.5%. So there has been a very strong increase in the negotiation volumes of ISA. So a substantial improvement of this indicator, which looks -- which MCI looks at to maintain a stock with an emerging market. So the risk that was discussed so much last year, the end of the year, has decreased substantially because the volumes have increased. An additional comment about this increase of volumes. We've tried to measure, and this has been complicated, yes. But we made a major effort to see the impact of the program for [indiscernible] using different methodologies. And we've seen the ATVR indicator in 12 months. The improvement can be 0.4% points. Without the program, the volume could have been up 11.6% versus 12% that we had with the program. And it's more seen in the last 3 months to which MCI looked at for the analysis of the emerging markets. And there, as of March, without the program, the liquidity of ATVR was 12.9%. And what we gained or obtained was 15.5%. So it's a substantial improvement of that indicator. So in short, the risk has dropped to substantially the volumes have climbed, and we can see it with the liquidity indicators of MCI.

Thank you, Daniel. And I think we can continue with another question. Andres Duarte asked from Corficolombiana, could you please show us the EBITDA per revenue per denomination per currency?

Okay. In terms of the composition of the EBITDA and talking about the first quarter of '24, we already talked about the effect of the exchange rate and the results of ISA. And I said that about 75% of our revenue is generated in currencies other than the Colombian pesos. If you look at the first quarter of '24, we're talking in pesos 27%. We have an exposure of 41% to the real of Brazil because it's 100% of CTEEP although on the income statement, you can see the adjustment of the minority interest of CTEEP. We have -- 22% of the EBITDA comes in dollars and 10% of the EBITDA is in Chilean pesos, and this is mainly related to the roads business.

Thank you, Daniel. Let's continue with another question. Ricardo asks, do you have an answer about the remuneration of the Betania project in Colombia?

I'm Gabriel, Mateo, and I can answer your question. The Betania substation is asset that was owned by ISA until 2019, and it was sold that year to another carrier here in Colombia.

Thank you, Gabriel. Let's continue with another question. Give me a second. Let's see who's asking this question. It says Andres David. Besides the expansion in the countries Panama, Colombia, Chile and Brazil, are you exploring projects in other countries in South or Central America?

Mateo, Gabriel Melguizo again. I think I can answer this question. Andres David, we are not looking at investments in countries other than what you've mentioned. Right now, they're part of our strategy. What I can say is that there's almost a new geography, which is Panama, where their already with roads, and you know that we're working with the Columbia-Panama interconnection project. And we're looking at the power transmission, also projects in Colombia-Panama. So no, we're not looking at any new geographies. For now, we are set -- we will do so in the future for a new strategic period.

Thank you, Gabriel. Okay. Let's continue with another question also from Andres Duarte from Corficolombiana. What are your expectations to resort to the capitals market in 2024? Daniel, you can answer that please.

Look, ISA historically has resorted to the capitals market successfully. And ISA also has the advantage of doing it 2 ways, either in Colombia or issuing ISA stocks. But it can also issue stocks of CTEEP, which has a big liquidity. When it comes to the execution of our backlog, which Gabriel said it's COP 29 billion, we will see an increase of the levels of debt in the next 3 years. This quarter, we are ending at 3.5x the gross debt over the EBITDA, and this indicator in time will increase probably close to the limit suggested for the investment degree 4, 4.5x EBITDA. And as we keep seeing opportunities of growth like we see throughout the region, it's possible that we will resort to the capital market to aid our growth. In 2024, I don't think it's possible because of the leverage we currently have. Surely, it will be more profitable for our shareholders to resort to the capital market of debt, not of stocks, but of debt. And ahead in the future, I think ISA undoubtedly will seek other options of capital to expand its liabilities and equity in an efficient and competitive fashion, but also to be able to take advantage of the opportunities to grow in the region.

Thank you, Daniel. And now let's continue with another question on Jorge Diego. He asked if the event is taped. And as a shareholder, he can -- if he can see it later. Yes, Jorge, you will have a copy of these presentations, the reports and all the material we use today for this webcast. Let's continue with another question from Florencia of [ Metlife ]. What's the update of Kimal Lo Aguirre and when can we see its commissioning?

Gabriel Melguizo is answering. This project has several names. The full name is Kimal Lo Aguirre. And this project is of direct current, and it's the latest technology. It's set in Chile and the intention is to use nonconventional renewable energy from the North to Central Chile. That project, as you know, is made in a consortium with 2 other companies, with the incumbent in Chile, which is Transelec and one of the largest companies is the China Power Grid. This project is on a long-term basis, and it will be commissioned in 2030. These projects almost always take this time globally because of the many permits that are required initially. And we're in that stage. We presented our environmental impact report, and we are waiting for the approval of this study to be able -- which is pivotal to move on, but we need the provisioning. We need to hire the companies that will be our suppliers of the equipment for construction. But we have already presented the environmental impact study, which is paramount for this project. That's where we are. We're doing well. Right now, we don't foresee any delays in the project, and we will keep you informing you about this in following webcast.

Thank you, Gabriel, for your answer. Let's continue with a question from Simone Diaz. What's your outlook with regards to the bids of transmission in Colombia?

Thank you, Mateo. Firstly, I'd like to say that the volume of bids in Colombia began in recent months after a period in which it was stagnant. And we can see that it's taking a good pace in accordance with what the country needs to enhance its grid. ISA sees, with a lot of interest, all of the bids that are being launched by the national grid because we, by law, have to be part of it and it's of interest to grow in Colombia. We are presenting -- we are being part of all of the bids, of course looking at their competitiveness. So that's my answer.

Thank you, Gabriel. Let's move on with another question from Stephania. She asked, do you think about -- of an ADR thinking about the issue? Or are you looking at Law 226? Daniel, could you answer please?

Sure. Well, the issues of stocks of a company applied by Law [indiscernible] like ISA, it's really when there's a generation of stocks, and you create a capitalization. It's just underwriting new stocks. So that law has nothing to do with it. As to your question of the ADR, ISA today has a Level 1 ADR registered, and we made an analysis, and the chance or the possibility we've seen so far is to make an ADR Level 3. So when we need to expand capital, that would be an alternative that these companies have. Today, ISA, since it's part of Ecopetrol, it really has implemented a control system to meet the SOX Law or Act, which is the requirement to be part at the Level 3 ADR. So with that outlook of control -- of the internal control of the company, we've made major progress. So that's something we would be analyzing and could be interesting.

Thank you, Daniel. We have a last question from Florencia. She asked to clarify if we expect to be in the market of dollars -- of bonds and dollars or what?

To clarify this question, in terms of issuance in the capitals market of debt, we do not foresee to do it in dollars this year. Probably like we did in 2023, what we'll do is to do it in the local market in Colombian pesos of ISA.

Thank you, Daniel. To all of you who have joined us, Gabriel Melguizo, and all the VPs, and Jose Ivan Jaramillo Vallejo, who today begins a new professional challenge and who we would like to thank for leading this area, we end today's webcast of the first quarter of 2024. Thank you all.