Multiplan Empreendimentos Imobiliários S.A. (MULT3) Q3 FY2025 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning. Welcome to the earnings call of the third quarter of 2025 of MultiPlan. We have the Executive Board of the company here. We inform everyone that the presentation is available for download at the IR, Investor Relations website of Multiplan. Before moving forward, anything that is stated during this teleconference regarding the business perspectives of the company projections and operational goals and financial goals are based on beliefs and premises of the Board of Directors of Multiplan as well as information that is currently available to the company. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of performance, and they involve risks and uncertainties. These are related to future events and, therefore, depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors should understand that general economic conditions, industry conditions and other factors, operational factors might affect the forward-looking statements and the results that are materially different from the forward-looking statements. So I'd like to give the floor to Mr. Eduardo Peres, the CEO. He will present the presentation -- he will start the presentation. The floor is yours.

Good morning, everyone. It's with a great satisfaction that we start the earnings call of the third quarter of 2025 of Multiplan. Once again, we had a very solid operational performance with high occupancy rates and sales in constant growth. Such results are backed by decisions that reinforce the long-term vision of this company. And this is what I'd like to talk about today. Not only the quarter but also how we are building the next decade of history of this company. Over the last few years, we worked in a series of expansions. We reviewed our portfolio. We transformed our assets with new value opportunities. On the next 18th, we will launch the first expansion of Parque Shopping Maceió. With 100% of its area being occupied. We will launch the expansion of Morumbi in March of next year and Park Shopping Brasília in November. Now, we have 2 new expansions, 1 in Barigüi Shopping that will add the GLR and another one with 4,000 square meters. Besides these enterprises, we had important movements with the business, with the selling of the Touriste on the side of RibeirãoShopping. We're creating in that region a multiuse complex, with residential buildings, commercial and hospitals, which generates value not only for Multiplan, but all of the community around. This is our initiative and it shows the dynamic way that this company for 50 years, we've innovated. We've grown with adversity. Now looking towards the future, we have 150,000 square meters of ABL for expansion of our shopping malls and 860,000 for multiuse projects. The most surprising. 1.5 million square meters of potential in all of our terrains. All of our malls of our portfolio have a great potential for growth, specifically with the new rules for occupancy of urban areas, and the launch of new directive clients for the cities. I'd like to highlight, The promising area of BarraShoppingSul that has 2 mapped expansions besides the medical center and also 3 towers that are under study. We've observed also another important movement. The return of new international brands of the shopping mall. With the advances of the new phases of Golden Lake, we are projecting the third phase Lake Baikal. It will have 2 buildings, 7 more than what was initially projected. Out of the 1,100 units predicted, the Golden Lake neighborhood is going to have 1,400 units, a considerable increase of efficiency of the project. With this, the additional flow and the primary area of BarraShoppingSul is 8,000 people. I also have to highlight the essential role of digital innovation. The Multi app is adding another 1.5 million active clients. And it's consolidating as a digital full platform. Our relationship program has grown 40% in registered sales in regards to 2024. And the platinum category doubled its base of customers since it was launched. All throughout the trajectory of Multiplan, several shareholders have bet in our company, and we've always been here. We do what we do best. Quality engineering and a mix that dictates the movement of retail. We have to generate long-term value for our shareholders. Also, I'd like to bring your attention to the investment in technology of the company and the condominium. Certainly, we will have a reduction of operational costs for everyone. Following the international trend. The use of artificial intelligence besides being welcomed is irreversible. And we are confident that we are going to close 2025 with a portfolio that is ever more modern. A base of clients that is engaged and a clear vision of the future, that drive of growth, it will not stop. Thank you to all the collaborators and investors, analysts, journalists that follow us. And I wish you a happy new year for everyone. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Fanny Oreng analyst of Santander.

Good morning, Eduardo. Good morning, everyone. All the IR team. I have 3 questions, but I think that they're very brief. First of all, thank you for the opening of all the details of potential new projects. And I wanted to hear more about this issue. First, is there any trigger? Is there anything that could generate for you to launch these expansions of shopping malls. What are you waiting for? High occupancy as it happened with BH, Beagá Shopping, it's more macro clear scenario, how can we -- what is the guidance? How can we incorporate this in our projections of Multiplan? So that's the first question in regards to the expansion of the shopping mall. Secondly, in regards to the Golden Lake, also the first 2 phases are well sold. 66%, the other one was 75%. And I want to understand if you have any idea of when you should launch the third phase of Lake Baikal. The third question is in regards to the profitability of the Golden Lake project. We know that in the third quarter, -- the margin is compressed. And so I wanted to hear a bit more about what happened? And what do you expect of profitability in the next phases of this project?

The last one, Golden Lake. So explaining a bit on the margin. We have to foresee that this is a project for development for the next 10, 15 years. 1,400 units saw this increase in numbers that we could get with a new legislation you're going to have an improvement of efficiency of the project that is still not calculated in the bottom line to give you the real numbers. But we're going to discuss this in the future. Now going back to the issue that we had with Lake Troy. I'd like to clear -- clarify one thing. It's the first phase of the enterprise. As any enterprise of this size, the first phase is always the one that sets the tone. It's what you show what you want to do. We had issues with the floods. A lot of the builders had a lot of difficulty, a big one went bankrupt and it generated a loss of efficiency and delays that were very big. We were looking for 30% of margin dropped to 20%. But it's still in the 20%. So for the future, I believe that this margin will increase. The other condominiums will not be as luxurious as these one. We'll now have the amount of details and it will make the construction easier. But the standard is established. The important thing, Fanny, is that winning or losing margins, you are delivering what the buyer of Golden Lake, but the credibility of the company is here on the table. So the city went through a very difficult moment. Porto Alegre decreased in the number of people, many people moved out to another state, but we still bet and we are very confident in the city. As I told you in the initial speech, a lot of the brands that were already at BarraShoppingSul international and national, they're coming back because of Golden Lake. So we are here talking about the development of the region. You have a hotel there now. So you're creating a whole new neighborhood, not just the condominium. Second question that you asked. Lake Baikal, third phase. Lake Baikal, I had mentioned that May of next year, 120 days to detail the projects. I wanted to get it so you can see our direction in May of next year we should be launching. The first one was in regards to the potential that will -- we wanted to show you, and this is an internal discussion. No, everything that we do, everything that we have of potential in the company, we need to share with the investors. So it's difficult to say, Fanny, in which moment we're going to launch this in the future. It's good to know that your space -- that you can double the shopping mall that was born with 2 floors now has 4 floors. So maybe in the future, it's going to have 6. But the important thing is to grow. Like you see BarraShopping. We have an expansion to launch in until October 2026, so 4,000 square meters of GLA. Well, this is an enterprise with BarraShopping, that has 700 stores, but there is demand. There is the search for international brands to get new brands in the shopping malls that are going to grow. We want to get too much area in the market. . This area -- this phase of growth that we've done all the expansion, it's 170,000 ABL. So it's big. So little by little, as you said, depending on the conditions of the market, the economy, we can develop this better. .

Next question is Ygor Altero, he is from XP.

I wanted to see the recycling issue, how do you see the demand by the real estate funds in the discussions? Do you see that increasing? Because even in that scenario of more challenging interest rates, we can see that there is quality, there is the search for that. How do you see these is for your -- demand for your assets, if you can talk about the expectation for the end of the year. And how do you see the impressions for the retail in the fourth quarter? .

Well, demand for our assets is always big. We can see the deal that was announced. They sold a part of BarraShopping. We had several funds interested, but because of the quality and the return of the prices, we -- well, we bought it and kept it in-house. But we are constantly approached by the market to see if there is an interest in the market. So it's very frequent because of the quality of our assets. Our perspective for the end of the year is good. We can see that the selling started the year in the 2 digits. 7%, 8% growth in sales, occupancy. We have good business, shopping malls. So we're going to have, at the end of the year is good. And at the beginning of the year, very promising. . So the expansion is opening, yes, expansion in Maceió. You have all of that. So you have the expansion of Morumbi in March of next year. That changes -- well, MorumbiShopping, we renewed MorumbiShopping. So you have MorumbiShopping, 2025 and you're going to have in Brasilia, shopping model is renewed with the expansion that is done. It's on the way, the works until the end of next year.

Next question is from Tainan Costa from UBS. [Technical Difficulty] Next question is Andre Mazini, analyst of Citi.

First, about the terrains. I wanted to ask if you foresee a trade-off in having a terrain bank that is big, obviously, you generate cash flow. But on the other hand, there is the growth. How do you do that balance for the cash flow, but it could commit the growth? And when you think about the tiers of the projects, you see from the launch up ahead that would mark the market. And the second is the succession of rights. It was more negative this quarter if it's related to the deliverables of new areas in the shopping mall? Or is there anything related to this? Or was it the tenants? Can you give us a more details on the succession of rights side?

So you commented on the terrains. Well, something that I wanted to leave very clear. We are in a phase that is very important for unlocking the value that we're not going to build to carry the terrains that you're not going to be -- have an enterprise. Well, we did that movement in Ribeirão Preto, we're going to do this in Campo Grande. We are developing a project that is very big on the side of the village as Golden Lake is going to be an important neighborhood, a terrain that changed its capacity of building as well. So all of that will generate more value for the company. We can look at this at the beginning. No. Initially, in the project, we calculate with a project. And everything that is added up is going to be -- there's going to be an addition. The good news is that if you look at our portfolio, all the terrains of all the projects have the potential of real estate development. What I want to say about that? Well, right now, I have approved 2, 3 buildings, Jacarepagua has the potential within the terrain of Jacarepagua of doing 2 buildings and so on. So the company is working with all this value -- unlocking this value that is a benefit for the shopping mall. And then can you mention -- can you measure that? No, because the rules are changing over the years. The terrains in Barra da Tijuca, you could only build 2.5 floors, now with the potential you can get to 12. So everything changes. And about the succession of rights. Well, it's part, Andre, of you qualifying the mix and bringing new operations with the several operations, and this happens. And many times, this math is decreased, it's improved as a transference rate. So that is a part of the business, that is part of the operation, specifically when you want to have a qualified mix. You don't want to have a shopping mall full of stores and you want to have the best operations. And Andre, this reminded me of an example that I already discussed this. VilaOlímpia, it was -- since we were listed, it was the biggest capture of the succession of rights since we launched the project. And not necessarily was a commercial success, that you had there a choice more for the short-term financial than a sustainable mix for the long term, which is what we are looking for every day. Sometimes you see a negative number, but be careful, it doesn't mean that the positive will bring you sustainable growth.

And this is from the analyst, Mario Simplicio.

My question is about the question of development of real estate. You have the multi-use project of VillageMall, but I wanted to understand if the idea at the beginning would be Multiplan to do this with the new Golden Lake and would it be by subcontracted parties? And the expectation of CapEx for the next year, you announced several concessions of BH and BarraShopping. You are finishing the expansions. So I wanted to see if you have space to announce something for next year or the idea is to have something less overloaded on CapEx.

Mario, good question. The project of Village, if we're going to build or not, well, I don't know. We need -- probably we're not going to build, there's going to be a builder. So the builders that are available to build in the southern region, it was much less. So we were obliged to do our own construction to guarantee a margin that was larger of return with the project. Here on the side is we're going to have more people interested in building at prices that make this enterprise viable. I believe that the chance of the values charged per square meter are going to be much higher than the ones that are charged by Golden Lake. So we need to take that into consideration. I think it's important for the region as a whole, it's a project of approximately 70,000 of residential and another 10,000 of offices, commercial. You're talking about 500 apartments, and we're going to generate another 2,000, 3,000 people constantly going to this complex that we have this control, which is [indiscernible] and this is a commercial district that is the most important of Rio de Janeiro. So this is the important thing. This is what we need to understand. The idea is that we're going to approve next year. And in 2027, we're going to launch this project.

The other question about CapEx next year. Mario. So looking up ahead, the projects that are approved, CapEx should be decreased. Same thing this year, should be decreased in regards to the previous year, but there is an opportunity of buying a participation of BarraShopping with conditions that we thought that were very good. So these are things that you cannot predict. But if you look at what we have predicted in terms of expansions, it's less. It should be decreasing in regards to 2025. Specifically, Armando, and because the revamping almost is almost over. So there is works in BarraShopping, Pátio Savassi. But the revamp that we went through, it closed this year.

You see this year here. You see a CapEx that is -- CapEx is much smaller, but it has a big return for the shopping mall. So it's here.

Our next question is from Tainan Costa, analyst of UBS.

Well, I wanted to discuss the issue of tax reform of consumption. We are in the imminence of this transient process that starts in 2026. I want to know how are the preparations? How is the adaptation of contracts? How is the conversation with tenants. Now that we have a more consolidated vision of 1 year since the announcement, how do you foresee the impacts for the company? Do you have a more clear vision that this is a reform that is positive, more neutral, more negative and looking up ahead to the future.

I think that there are many questions that have to be answered, so we can see the end of the tax reform. Our position is positive for the economy. It will unlock a lot of value for the economy. So it's good for the business. specifically in regards to the company, as you know, we have a great deal of the enterprises in real -- well, we work with the [ alocações ] of -- we have different [ alocações ] for a parking lot for -- which is [ Lucrativo ]. Anyway, we're working intensely to adapt. We have a pilot plan. We are going to have to adapt, and we were -- we changed the system, and there is a lot of impacts in the company of all the areas. In all the companies, it's not specific just of our sector. And the company is adapting because it's necessary. I think it's very early. We're going to have to wait for the time to go by because not everything is defined.

Our next question is from Jorel Guilloty from Goldman Sachs.

Two questions. First, the NOI margin, it got, as you've asked, with the release, a new record in the third quarter. You mentioned that -- there were some factors that contributed for such. The net delinquency is negative, the occupancy is high. So I wanted to understand from you, when do you see that NOI margin that is very high? How long will it last in your opinion? Because a few things, they're not sustainable. The delinquency being negative. So is it going to last another quarter, 2, 3 quarters? That's the first question. Second is about the pipeline of this potential movement that you provided with this release. So I wanted to understand if you have any priority for the project. And connected to this, I wanted to understand how do you think about the leverage up ahead? Could you open the table? And I wanted to understand if you believe that you can think that the leverage can be higher up ahead? Or should we keep with the levels thus far? And is the funding that you're going to use that is going to be per debt, per cash flow, per equity? So that would be it.

Thank you for the questions. Several questions in one. So several answers. Okay. Let's start by leverage. Well, we didn't think that we were going to get to this leverage until we had the opportunity of buying 18% of the company. We didn't even know that would be possible, and it was. So it's the ideal leverage that we have for the interest rate? No. No. Can we imagine that, that will increase? No. It's not the idea of the company. The movement of last year of CapEx was very high, but we're investing BRL 3.5 billion to buy the 18% -- 15% of the company, but all of the development that we have here has another -- has many more things to do. So we can seek other sources of finance because a company of this size is not stopping. We're always doing new things. We're always proposing improvements for the shopping mall. This is where we see value. Clearly, this is where the company is differentiated from the rest. Here, we always discuss this at the call that, well, you look at a shopping mall company, it seems like a trap. They get -- people are going to purchase, they get in, they spend. Okay. No, we don't do that. We manage the enterprise. We are seeking what is lacking. We make it profitable. We bring events. This is in the DNA of the company. The company was born. If you look at the past, 40, 50 years ago, my dad purchased the terrains and did the company. And I remembered, well, they're saying, well, you're visionary, you saw where the companies were going to grow. Well, he didn't have the money to buy the good terrains. Now the cities embrace the shopping mall. So the opportunities are very big. I wanted to make clear for everyone that these opportunities are even higher with -- as time goes by because the big cities are changing, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro. So this movement will continue to happen, whether if it's at BarraShopping, Morumbi, Beagá or Barigüi, we can double the size of Barigüi. We can do the expansion. There is no market or space to do it, but you needed to know that we have the potential.

NOI margin and potential projects. Well, the project we already discussed. NOI margin, the desire was that it would follow with the levels, but we were for this to be continuous. I cannot guarantee this recovery -- negative recovery that we had here. And the work is always in this direction. You always try to get everything that is ours and in every possibility. But it's not always -- we're not always -- it's not always possible to capture 100%. So Jorel, another point, the recurring question. Every call, the same questions are done, but the markets are surprising with new records, new efficiencies of the companies that we bring. Not only in the NOI margin, but also the EBITDA, if we exclude the real estate activity is very high. It grew and it has -- well, it distorts the EBITDA margin, but then it's growing because of the efficiency of the company. The EBITDA margin is 83% in this quarter. And Eduardo said that for as long as this is 84%, it works to keep or to grow. This is a work that has generated the results that has generated higher margins, not only delinquency, but with lower costs, also with higher occupancy, a series of indicators that are helping. Another question that you asked, Eduardo, which is the projects that within the list of projects. So -- we have Jorel, the question, the project with the VillageMall in residential, it should be the next priority.

Yes. We're going to -- with the priority, we can see what we have as project. We are not going to be able to develop everything. There is no capital for this. There is no arm for this. So everything -- so what we're not going to develop, we're going to unlock the value. Selling and the question of the funding, if there is equity, there is no planning. The planning with the cash flow generation, the company is going to opt to deleverage quicker or growing with the projects. Obviously, we have something interesting such as issuing with the debt, BRL 500 million, 10 years, 90% CDI in this third quarter.

Next question is from the analyst, Rafael Rehder from Safra.

I only have one question. I wanted to go back to the M&A point. I wanted to see with you if you have other assets within the portfolio as we have this acquisition with the stake that given this challenging scenario of the interest rates, can you acquire participation with a valuation that is more attractive and seeing if there is a negotiation and with this level of leveraging, would it be more difficult? Would you expect the company to be more leveraged?

So it's very difficult to plan an M&A. I'm going to get some capital to do the purchasing of participation. It can appear, but -- but it might not appear with the capital allocation price. What we do is the capital allocation. So if you ask 6 months ago, if we're going to be interested with the purchasing of Barra, maybe the answer would be no. But it seems interesting as a capital allocation. The asset, as Eduardo commented, the selling of the participation, we didn't have anything left for the market. And this is where we're going to look with pragmatism in the value generation with the best capital allocation, always looking at the long term. With the initial -- well, we're building the next 10 years, not just the next quarter. We're looking at the value generation, and I'm going to fix this. It's not only 10. We're looking at the next 50. But 6 months in Brazil is a long term, 10 is already aligned.

Next question. [indiscernible] from Safari Capital and he's written. Congratulations on the result. Can you give us more color on what is behind the deceleration, sequential deceleration of the ISS and how it has been with the performance in October?

Thank you for the question. Very interesting, selling with the same stores. So it's very difficult for you to want to understand ISS in a simple way because it's a store per store that composes this index. So to try and simplify, we can see it in 2 ways. First, you have a basis for comparison that is very high, which was the performance of the shopping malls in Rio Grande do Sul last year. Post flood, we had a growth of sales that was very high in certain sectors, for example, electronics, people buying products that were lost during the floods. So when you compare this last year and this year, it plays negatively against the portfolio. That's the first point. And then you have a few operations that by a lot of specificities, each operation is doing well as other performed very well. So when I look at the indicator, I look at it always conjugated with the other indicators. I don't look at the selling with the same stores without looking at the occupancy rate. So if you can look -- we look at all the indicators together. So it makes sense to have this ungluing from one side to another. And then your question, we don't have in October, obviously, yet, the data because the month is not closed, but the reading until the 26th, they were selling -- sales that were growing at a rhythm of 8%. So we are showing a higher acceleration. And another point that always comes to mind is to look at the records, is to look at the company, looking at the company being listed since 2007. We -- the sales have been growing every quarter, of course, at the exception of the pandemic, they're closed. So the watermark as the market has likes to call it, is very high, and it's going over. So every quarter, even though it seems that it grew less, they're growing more. It's a new record because it's not less than the previous quarter. It's only larger. So when you see that in the accrued with the assets, we almost doubled the sales. In 10 years, the portfolio grew almost double the sales of the portfolio as a whole. So it shows the capacity of continuing to grow not only in the quarter, not only in the short term, but on the long term. And this is what we realize all the time.

Next question, Jonathan Koutras from JPMorgan.

So the first question is still about the VillageMall. So you have approved and you launched in 2007, but do you have a size that we can foresee that can help us with the modeling here? I imagine that the idea is to expand in phases because of the size of the project. And the second question, the leasing spread in 3 points in real terms in occupancy, it's relatively stable and healthy. So I wanted to confirm if there is a space to access in real terms going with the mid-single digits in the next quarters and the strong sales?

Jonathan, look, in regards to the project with the Village, the good news is that we are giving the final touches to get in with the projects with the Mayor's office and having the approval for next year. So it is a diamond that we're elapidating, and it's time for it to become a jewel. It's very difficult to precise how much it would be [ vis-a-vis ], how much we're going to have of the rental in the tower. So the important thing is that, that will generate value. Second question is about -- it wasn't clear if you can clarify it. I didn't understand the question.

Sure. Do you see space with the 3 percentage points in real terms of growth?

Yes. We've presented the same-store rent real growth every quarter. We still see the opportunity of continuing to grow not only by the contracts that allow us, but by the new occupancy, by the new tenants, you have a [ GBDI ] that is a bit lower, and this is going to continue to grow really as the records have shown. So enriching the answer of Armando well, if you stop to think all of this is just possible. You can only grow if we sell more for as better -- as good as the contract is, the more committed the tenant is, we're not going to continue if that point is not corresponding to what they are expecting. And we have delivered a selling that is much higher, the company growing in general terms of sales, same-store rent of income, all of this is a consequence of the investments that we're doing in revamping and the expansion of the enterprises. So the idea is to continue to improve the assets.

Next question is from [indiscernible] and it's written and he's asking. Beforehand, congratulations on the result. So I have a question on the profile of cash generation of Golden Lake. Given the cash generation of the business of incorporation and consumption of and transfers for the banks when the flow is positive for the company. So this positive effect went through the result of the company in the third quarter or it should go over the next quarters?

Thank you for your question. This effect will go through the next quarters as the units are being delivered. So we're looking for financing. And with the cash flow still not a big deal of the apartments that are going to be delivered in this phase.

Thank you for all the questions and interest. We're going to close the Q&A session, and we invite that the participants who have questions, they can get into contact via the Investor Relations department. I will give the floor to Mr. Eduardo Peres to close the session. The floor is yours.

I would like to thank you for all of you that are hearing us, investors shareholders, specifically our collaborators that deliver the work and the day-to-day of the company that has a continuous focus in continuing to improve the assets every day. And this is a tiring work, but this is very profitable and very pleasant. Thank you very much. Have a nice Christmas break and see you next time.

Thank you. The earnings call of the results of the third quarter of 2025 of Multiplan is closed.