Lojas Quero-Quero S.A. (LJQQ3) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the Quero-Quero Earnings Results Call for the First Quarter '25. Along with us, we have Peter Furukawa, the CEO; and Jean Pablo De Mello, the CFO and IRO. We are going to begin the presentation speaking about our pillars. We will speak about expansion and projects, the first quarter results. And finally, we will go on to the Q&A session. I will now turn the floor over to Peter Furukawa, the CEO.

Good morning, everybody. It is a pleasure to be able to address you once again. Let's speak about the first quarter, as you can see here, we had a growth of 14% in terms of revenue in the first quarter, reaching BRL 765 million. The retail sale had a growth of 15% and same-store sales stands at 12% growth. Once again, this is reasonable growth and somewhat higher than I have heard from the market. We had the 3 categories growing. However, the household appliance category began having higher sales in terms of cooling because of the heat we had. And this, of course, drove growth to 12%. But all categories had reasonable growth. We inaugurated 8 stores during the period for a total of 576 stores. Further ahead, I will refer to this in more detail. When it comes to credit and collection, in terms of default of more than 90 days, we are at 2.8 -- sorry, [ 10.8, ] showing excellence in terms of our credit and collection area because the market is suffering with this. We had a growth of 17% in our credit portfolio, outperforming the retail sector, driven by a greater use of our card, which for us is important in terms of cost, gross profit growth of 8%, EBITDA growth of 20%. We show you some of our leverage and same-store sales, selling and general expenses with a growth of 11% in the first quarter and adjusted net debt standing at BRL 333 million vis-a-vis BRL 303 million this year, we needed, of course, more cash. We carried out investments of BRL 12 million in the first quarter. Our digital sales, which includes all the products sold in the store that are not part of the store assortment. We have platforms where we can sell through the site or other payment means. And they represent 26% of our sales. They have allowed us to ever more optimize our inventory. We have a high-performance culture. We had 40 store managers trained and 356 employer -- employees, I'm sorry, in our Despontes program. We're suffering like all store owners with the turnover. But of course, we have geared an enormous focus on this to optimize the situation. Here, you see our evolution in number of stores. We opened 8 stores. We had 5 closures during the quarter, during the last 3 years. And these are stores where we were not able to come up with the right teams that we wanted. So we ended up closing them. Who knows if one day we will go back to them. It's a very small number of store closures. considering that we have more than 400 stores of Quero-Quero, 576 stores in operation across 485 cities, and we have reformed 8 stores throughout this year. We're focusing a bit more on store renovation this year. We have a store in Rio Grande do Sul, in Santa Catarina, 5 new stores in Paraná and a new store in Mato Grosso do Sul. And 2% of our stores are below 50% and 85% below 5,000 inhabitants. Now this is for the first quarter. I will then take the floor again, and I will be at your disposal to answer any questions you may have. I will now give the floor to our CFO, Jean Pablo De Mello.

Good morning, everybody. It is a pleasure to be with you presenting the highlights for the first quarter '25 for Quero-Quero. Let's go through the first slide and speak about the revenues for the company. As we said since 2022, we have a reversal of trend at the end of 2023. This is when we began to see a stabilization in volume, the number of products and tickets sold in the store. Throughout 2024, we saw a price stabilization. We began the year 2024 with a deflation and observed continuous improvement throughout the year in this very important variable. So we get to this first quarter with a growth of 12%. Same-store sales, it's a growth above the second and third quarters of last year, where we had additional demand because of the flooding in Rio Grande do Sul with a growth of 16% in total sales for the company. In '22, '23 and '24, we had a negative same-store sales and have now delivered a 12% growth, once again above our initial expectation. This additional sales came because we were highly effective in the usual end of the year promotions to sell off our inventory and due to a demand for seasonal products because of the higher temperatures. We had a strong growth in the retail, therefore, followed with constant and relevant growth in financial services and credit card. The gross revenue of the company, therefore, had a growth of 14% in the quarter. We go on to the next slide, and we see how this impacts the gross revenue growth. We had a growth of 8% in gross profit for the quarter. Here, we did have some specific impacts in the retail margin that additional sales that came from products on promotions. These are products that have a lower margin. And because of this, our margin is lower vis-a-vis the first quarter '24 in the retail sector with the growth of gross revenue. And in financial services, we have that initial pressure in the cost of capital due to the increase in the Selic rate. At the end of last year, I think all of you saw the change in trend, a moment that has materialized at the present, the growth in Selic. This increases pressure on our margins. And although we gradually transfer that cost as our average portfolio has an average term of 6 months. This effort to increase our profitability will only materialize in the second quarter of this year. It's nothing that has not been expected due to that increase in the Selic rate this year. We go on to the next slide. We see that operating expenses are under control as well as SG&A expenses. When we compare this with the first quarter of last year, there are differences. the previous year during the period, we had an important recognition of fiscal credits. However, when we go on to the next slide, it becomes very clear that upon excluding these nonrecurring events as we usually do, we do have growth in adjusted EBITDA, a growth of practically 20%. Now this is important. You can see the evolution of EBITDA through time and accounting EBITDA amounting to BRL 43 million. Now this shows you not only the sell-in growth and increase in revenue that we had in the last quarters and the leverage potential of the company. It's important to highlight that the first quarter has the lowest sales seasonality and lowest results in the company. Although nominally, the values are low for adjusted EBITDA, we can deliver the same growth vis-a-vis last year. And when we think about this, very pressured by the additional demand in the retail that we hope we continue to see going forward. On the following slide, we show you our adjusted net profit, highly aligned with the last quarter, BRL 13 million vis-a-vis BRL 15.7 million for this year. Once again, this is the quarter with the lowest sales seasonality, consequently lowest in terms of results. And there's an impact here and in financial services as well. the impact of the Selic rate in the cost of debt and financial results. Of course, there will be a reflection of this throughout the year, more strongly in the first and second quarter because of the higher Selic rate. We have higher losses because of the nonrecognition of BRL 14 million of deferred taxes. Now we are entitled to these taxes, and they are not taxed during the quarter, and we're going to wait to carry out the accounting recognition of this during the coming quarters. Once again, the impact is due to the higher interest rate and cost of capital. Now in this slide, you observed the growth of revenue, and this growth of revenue is accompanied with the growth of portfolio, as you saw in financial services. And this is one of the great goals that we were able to achieve to have our default levels under control. In the first quarter, we had BRL 1.4 billion of a credit card referring to the VerdeCard part and a delay of 10.8%, a default of 10.8%. It's highly aligned with the first quarter of '22, '23 and also aligned with the first quarter of '24. One of the company's goals during the last year was to maintain these default levels highly controlled, and we have been able to deliver this, as you can see this on this quarterly chart. The portfolio is growing constantly through time, accompanying the growth of the company as a whole. There are no significant changes in strategy, discontinuation in operations and all of this accompanied by this controlled default levels, standing at levels that we deem to be quite reasonable. The credit portfolio grew 16% vis-a-vis last year, 8%, growing with interest. Now in the next slide, you can see that the growth of the portfolio is due to the growth of the use of the credit card, our VerdeCard. We see that we have ever more activation from clients with VerdeCard, more and more clients using our credit card, consequently increasing the profitability of the company. This third quarter, we had a 24% increase in the volume of transactions using our credit card. And of course, this shows the continuity of growth of the portfolio in the coming months. If we continue to maintain this trend of a greater use of the card, the card, of course, will continue to grow in terms of activation, and we will control the default levels as we have done in previous years. We go on to the next slide. which is the second most important variable that we tend to focus on our cash flow. We're going to speak about our net debt. But since 2023, as you can observe here, we have decided to invest less to decrease our expansion pace. This quarter, we invested 12%, 9% more than the previous year. The first quarter, we inaugurated 8 stores. We have a plan of opening 20 to 30 stores this year. And throughout the years, these stores have shown important growth and significant maturation. The stores that we have been opening through time, especially in the last few years in a very complicated scenario has shown us that we have important results. as the macro scenario improves, these stores will bring additional profitability to the company. We invested BRL 12 million this quarter, aligned with the same quarter in previous years. And in the following slide, we show you that the debt is also fully under control. We ended the quarter with [ 332 ] net debt aligned with the BRL 303 million of the previous year. As we mentioned, there is seasonality. We also have sales seasonality and seasonality in the company's cash flow. And in the first and second quarters, you can observe that in previous quarters, we have an increase in the debt. We have cash burn or cash consumption. And in the fourth quarter, cash generation. And of course, our focus is to maintain this debt under control as in previous years. The strong sales enable us to have greater possibilities to comply with this goal. So we end the quarter with BRL 500 million of net debt and all very aligned with the company history without any differences in the curve with the exception of a higher cost of capital and the increase of Selics that had an impact on the net income of the company. Well, in this slide, therefore, I would like to end my presentation of the results for the first quarter, and I return the floor to Paula, who will manage the question-and-answer session.

[Operator Instructions] We begin with a question that will be answered by Peter. You mentioned that the promotional sales at the beginning of the year were related to the high temperatures that have given your figures a boost. Which is your outlook for the second quarter where you will no longer have this contribution? What is it that will contribute to your growth?

It's always a pleasure to speak with you. I'm going to respond to this question based on the scenario we found in the first quarter. It wasn't a simple quarter for anybody. I think that few companies might have found this a simple quarter, 300 basis points higher than last year. And this, of course, has a reflection of construction material sector, which is something we work with very heavily. In furniture and construction material, we grew reasonably well, but we had greater growth in home appliances in the cooling part, once again because of the high temperatures. All categories had growth. You're asking about the second quarter. It's a quarter that will continue to be challenging and very difficult. And we had an increase in Selic that is higher than it was in the first quarter. And last year, in the second quarter, we had the benefit not in profit, but in sales of the floods. Remember that we sold BRL 30 million at cost in the months ensuing the flooding in Rio Grande do Sul during the period. So in terms of sales volume, perhaps the quarter will be more challenging. we won't achieve the same margins. Despite this, we have to seek better results than in the second quarter of '24. I think our model has proven to be quite resilient in this first quarter. Theoretically, it should have been much worse than the first quarter of '24 because of that increase in the interest rate and because of the macro environment this year. But our staff is highly creative. They came up with very good promotions, enabling us to gain market share. And the use of our credit card, of course, has a repercussion on our store. We see several of our clients using the card and visiting our store. It's the key to our store, and this has helped us a great deal. There is no difference in the behavior of the states. What we do see is the maturity of the new stores that is happening in our newer states. Because of this, we see a better performance in the stores. It's natural. This is where we have more new stores. In Rio Grande do Sul, we tend to concentrate the older stores. We have greater growth in these new states we have entered once again because this is where stores are maturing more. I think that has answered your question.

The second question is also from Vinicius from Itaú BBA. Regarding the gross margin of retail, which is the margin that came because of the promotions and temperatures? And how can we imagine this margin going forward?

I think the great margin differential when we look at the average margin of the last quarters that was somewhat lower this quarter came from the sales, the promotional sales mentioned by Peter and the additional demand for coolers. Now these are products that have lower margins vis-a-vis the average products in the company. If we exclude this, the margin should be similar to the margins achieved in previous years. We don't expect significant changes in this. Now gross profit, yes, did have a trend for growth in the retail, a positive trend above the previous quarter. Now if we think about retail margins for the coming quarters, everything will depend on that scenario. Well, that scenario of comparison is not easy, of course. But if we consider as an average our margins in the last year or somewhat more, this is what you should expect. A very positive point of this first quarter is that although we had a lower margin, we did have profit, and we brought a higher number of customers into the store. That figure, same-store sales of 12% shows that we gained market in the first quarter. We have mentioned that the market is better vis-a-vis what it was in 2022, 2023. Last year, we did have a growth in same-store sales. And this is the expectation for this year as well as we showed you in the first quarter. And of course, gaining margins is very important.

The third question also from Vinicius for Peter, which is the competitive situation, the price positioning and what is happening with competition? And what is happening because of the higher interest rates?

Well, Vinicius, I see that competition is suffering much more than we are. Some are seeking us out to see if we're interested in their companies as you travel through the hinterlands, you see that the inventory level of these stores has been decreased considerably, and we're trying to gain that market share. This is an important moment for us. I'm not aware of the growth levels of our competitors, but they're not the same growth levels we have. Our model is quite resilient. We have a very good team. throughout the company as a whole. The result of all of the company areas have worked hard so that we can gain market share. This is an important focus for us and the credit card helps us in this area. Now with the interest rates at the level that they are, this will pressure the local competitors even more. Some do have a possibility to get through this, but others, we observe a high level of concern and some are trying to simply leave the market. This is what I can tell you at present.

The next question is also for Peter. Which are the value drivers of the company in this scenario? Does it increase the company's appetite?

Who is that question from?

From Felipe.

Expansion is very important for us. We are at a lower level of expansion than what we could do, of course, now we can always go back to expanding more. Now we have done that because we believe that this level of interest rate is truly challenging and any expansion will consume cash. So we're proceeding in a more conservative way. We're thinking of opening 20 to 30 stores, as Jean mentioned. And we have been quite successful in the store openings in the last 24, 30 months with better results than previous openings. We're not going to stop inaugurating stores, but we're going to maintain the pace we have had in the last 2 years. Another additional point -- of course, if the economy has a turnaround in the coming years, we will go back to a greater expansion. We are cherry picking at this moment, the low-hanging fruits we have already taken and reinforced.

Now to speak about the same topic, this is for Peter from [indiscernible]. Wouldn't it be better to move towards opening new stores in the state of Sao Paulo instead of opening stores that are so close in Rio Grande do Sul?

Point taken, we're trying to open stores where we are stronger, where we are better known. Logistically, this allows us a greater profitability. That is why we open in some locations in Rio Grande do Sul. You're concerned with cannibalizing. We have very little cannibalizing. When we open in neighboring cities with 10,000 to 15,000 inhabitants, they don't compete with locations with 40,000 inhabitants. We don't want to go beyond our borders. We have the borders today, and we want to remain within these borders at present. Once again, if the interest rates drop, if economy resumes, we obviously will look for more opportunities outside of our border, but it's better to work within our borders to maximize our results and minimize cash burn.

Well, with that, we would like to end the question-and-answer session, and I return the floor to Jean for the closing remarks.

Well, we would simply like to thank all of you for your attendance. Our IR team is at your full disposal. We have a quarter that shows the continuity of sales and growth, which is very important in a still very challenging macro scenario, but our segment will continue to grow as we have shown you in previous quarters. We're going to continue on with that focus, maintaining a controlled default. We will continue to invest in the expansion, maintaining our debt under control, and we hope to have better results this year than we had last year. Thank you all for your attendance, and I will give the floor to Peter.

Once again, thank you for your interest. At the conferences we have, I meet with many of you. It's always so good to converse and hear and receive questions from groups like you. This year began in a challenging way. The rest of the year will also be challenging at my end, I'm very proud to see the discipline and the dedication of the team that focuses on growth. This is not a growth that I have heard about in the market. It's thanks to that greater sacrifice made by the personnel at Quero-Quero and discipline in execution. We still have a great deal to do. Our market share still has to be achieved. It's an enormous market share that we can achieve, and we are going to do our utmost always with an eye on our cash flow. It's wonderful to be part of Quero-Quero of this team, and we're going to continue having a difficult year, but performing at our very best. Thank you very much, and that is all for today.