Tegma Gestão Logística S.A. (TGMA3) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Foreign Language] Good afternoon. For those who need the simultaneous translation, you can press the globe icon on the lower right side of your Zoom screen and then choose to enter in the English room. After that, select mute original audio. [Foreign Language] Information will be furnished. To listen to the conference in English, we have made a chat link of the English version to port your company. But we'll also be projecting only the Portuguese version. I would like to now pass the word to Nivaldo the CEO of Tegma, who will start the presentation. Nivaldo please go ahead.

Good afternoon. I'm Nivaldo Tuba, CEO of Tegma. In the name of the entire company, I would like to thank you once again for your participation in our teleconference of results. Here I am with Ramon Perez, our Financial Director and IR Director, along with Ian Nunes and Felipe A. Fogaça of the IR area. As is customary, we'll start our presentation on Slide 2, where you can see our disclaimer regarding our prospective declarations. Starting on Slide 3, I will talk about the principal data of the market of the new vehicle market in Brazil. As we can see in the first graph, domestic sales in the first quarter of 2024 were 11% higher than the annual comparison. And according to this behavior is due to the improving economic conditions in the country, pointing out the dropping of unemployment and increase in income as well as the easing of financing conditions for vehicles. It's also valid to say that -- highlight that the biggest internal competition provoked by the Chinese players in the category of electrified vehicles, electric vehicles. Talking about production, we also would like to present a reduction of 1% in the first quarter of 2024. As you can see in the lower left-hand corner. This also happened due to the behavior of exports of vehicles in Brazil, which retracted 28% in the first quarter of '24 as well as the increase of 40% in imports -- in imported vehicles in the period. The behavior of the performance of the exports shown at the side is tied to the sale of vehicles in the principal countries in Latin America as well as the higher competition coming from the Chinese sellers in these markets. On Slide 4, we present the principal indicators, operational indicators in the division of logistics, Automotive Logistics. The number of vehicles transported in the first quarter of 24 was 140,000 units, 1.8% higher than the same period last year. This increase in the volume transported is a reflection of the growth of domestic sales, as we explained in the previous slide. Our market share has been reduced slightly on the annual comparison, reaching 25% in the first quarter of 24%, which was impacted by the performance -- below-normal [ performance ] of our relevant client of our company. I mean that's not shown on the slide, it's worth mentioning that the improvement of the market share in this comparison in the fourth quarter of '24 of 27% -- 0.7% -- percentage points. Finally, the average distance traveled was 6.9% higher on annual comparison due to the increase in the participation of the average distance of domestic travel, basic transport. After these highlights. I'm going to pass it over to our Financial Director, Ramon Perez, who will talk about our results, our cash flow and our other indicators.

Thank you, Nivaldo. Good afternoon to everyone. Before going forward, I would like to inform you that starting in January '24, the company started to adopt the sharing of expenses on the base of the utilized -- effective unitization of shared services to get to comparable -- comparative basis of margins, EBITDA and divisions, the company will bring the numbers from '24, ex -- not including the sharing of expenses. Starting in '25, this adjustment will no longer be necessary seeing that both years will -- that are presented will have adopted the same criteria. Looking at Slide 6, we're going to talk about the results in the logistics -- the Automotive Logistics division. We can see on the graph above that there was a growth of 17% in net revenue of the division in the first quarter of '24, which is explained principally by an increase of 1.8% in the number of vehicles transported and 6.9% in the average distance traveled beyond the readjustments of the tariff -- readjustments in the transportation sector in '23 and '24. Below, we see the evolution of the EBITDA in the first quarter of 2024 in the annual comparison as well as our margins. The reduction in our EBITDA margin from 14.3% to 13.6% in the first quarter of '24 does not consider the sharing of expenses happened due to the increase of administrative expenses, especially expenses with consultancies and legal fees with regard to the gross margin growth in the same period. On Slide 7, we show the results of the Integrated Logistics division. We can see that the net revenue of the division in the first quarter of '24 increased by 7% due to the growth in the operation of the chemical operation, due principally to a new contract of transportation of bicarbonate, which was, as we explained in the third quarter of '23. The operation of electronics has also contributed to the stability of our revenue. We'd like to also mention that in this quarter, the operation in the chemical area conquered a new contract transporting bicarbonate in 2 areas of Sao Paulo as well as storing the bicarbonate in the Santos port. This is a 12-month contract and has a potential of adding 8% to the revenue of the chemical operation considering the revenue base of '23. In the lower graph, we can see that the EBITDA margin represented a retraction of 28.5% to 26.2% in the first quarter of '24, not including the sharing of expenses. This retraction is explained principally by the fall in revenue coming from the storage operation and due to the discontinuation of the operation of one relevant client in that activity. I would like to pass it back over to Nivaldo, who's going to comment about our joint venture, GDL.

Thank you, Ramon. On Slide 8, we show the financial highlights of GDL. We can see in the first graph that the net revenue in the first quarter of '24 grew by 41% compared on an annual basis, reaching BRL 52 million. This relevant growth is the fruit principally of an increase of 40% in the sale of vehicles imported by Brazil in the first quarter of '24, which reflects in a larger quantity of vehicles, which are stored and nationalized and distributed by GDL. A large part of this performance is due to the aggressive strategy of the Chinese entrants. On the lower graph, we see on the left the evolution of the net revenue of the joint venture, which reached BRL 13 million, an increase of 3.7 percentage points in our net margin. This performance is a reflection of the expansion of our revenue aligned with the operational efficiency and costs and expenses of the company. I'm going to pass it back over to Ramon, who's going to go forward with the presentation of our consolidated results.

Thank you, Nivaldo. Looking at Slide 9, we present the consolidated results. The net revenue of the first quarter of '24 was of BRL 389 million, a growth of 16% on the annual comparison, reflecting a growth in both the divisions in the period. Below, we can see that in the first quarter of '24, the EBITDA margin withdrew by 1%, reflecting an increase in our administrative expenses, specifically expenses with consultancies and lawyers' fees -- legal fees as well as the lowering of margins in the logistics in the Integrated Logistics operation, as mentioned previously. This withdrawal in our margins occurred in spite of the growth of the gross margins in the automotive division. We should remember that consolidated expenses are not affected by the sharing costs. Finally, the net profit of the first quarter was BRL 38 million, 8% above the annual comparison, a reduction of 0.7% in the net margin. This falloff in net margin is a result of the worsening of the consolidated EBITDA margin, an increase in expenses and the beginning of the taxation of the presumed ICMS as mentioned in our earnings release. Looking now at Slide 10, we present on the graph on the left, the cash cycle in March of '24, which was 42 days, one day less than the cash cycle in December of '23. Regarding the CapEx of the company, the total number of investments of the first quarter '24 was BRL 16 million or 4.1% of net revenue. Within the investments of more -- the more relevance in the quarter, we had the acquisition of tractors, truck tractors for the operation of logistics of vehicles as part of the renewal of our own fleet, which totaled BRL 5.9 million. The acquisition of silos for the operation of the chemical storage operation, which cost BRL 3.4 million, an investment of BRL 2.8 million, which is part of the project of implementation of the new ERP of the company. Finally, on the right, we show the cash flow -- free cash flow of the company, which in the first quarter of '24 was BRL 61 million. This generation of cash is principally a consequence of the operational result -- the positive operational results aligned with the liberation of working capital due to the reduction of the amount of accounts receivable in the quarter. On Slide 11, we present details about our capital structure. On the first graph, we have to look at the actual -- the current cash on hand of BRL 300 million, which is significantly higher than the amortizations of the debt -- of the gross debt for the coming years. In the first quarter of '24, we contracted BRL 5.9 million of a new credit line and FINAME BNDES for the acquisition of those truck trailers -- truck tractors as a renewal of part of our fleet for the vehicle logistics operation. In the graph on the right, we can see that the average cost of our debt is CDI plus 1.6% in March of '24. On the graph below that, we can see that our position of net cash in March of '24 was BRL 193 million, an increase compared to December due to the cash -- free cash flow of that period. Finally, on the right, our rating was reaffirmed by Fitch in April this year as A Local with a stable perspective. Looking at Slide 12, we will show the indicators of profitability of the company. The return on capital invested -- invested capital in the first quarter of '24 in gray was 27.3%, practically stable compared to the previous quarter. Also in the case of ROE, we showed -- in orange, we showed stability in relation to the return that was calculated. On the graph below that, we had an EVA in the first quarter of 2024, which was at a level that was close to the previous quarter, basically due to the operational results. On the right, we show the history of dividends and interest on capital paid by the company. On the black line, we indicated the payout of these distributions, which in 2023 was 82%. On the orange line, the dividend yield corresponded to 7.6% for the year. Finally, on the last slide, we see the performance of our stock, of our shares compared to the rest of the Ibovespa Index. Taking as a base to 31st of December of '23, our shares as seen in the first graph showed a performance below that of the stock exchange index overall in February '24. This performance was impacted negatively by macroeconomic questions, which affected principally small cap companies in spite of the resilient -- operational resilience of the company and the tendency for recovery of the automotive market. However, as shown in the graph below, the shares of Tegma as well as it happens with a good part of listed companies in Brazil are being negotiated at multiples slightly below their historic average. With that, I'd like to thank you all for your attention, and we open for the session of questions and answers.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from [indiscernible] Marcelo BTG.

I wanted to address 2 questions. First of all, if you could give us a little detail about the contract, which was discontinued with the logistics -- Integrated Logistics that you mentioned in the report? And on the other side, I would like to see if you have seen any impact on your operations with regard to Rio Grande do Sul because of the rain situation there? These 2 questions.

Thank you for the questions. As far as the discontinuation of that contract, it was a Burger King client who decided to make a new bid in the market and change the logistics operator. And the second question, which is a very up-to-date question, is the question of the impact of the rain in Rio Grande do Sul and how that will affect our operations. Our first and principal concern is with our people. We have there approximately 300 employees -- direct employees, distributed 250 in Gravatai, where we have the operation with GM and about 50 in the city of Guaiba, where we have an operation for the receipt of imported vehicles from Argentina. The unit in Gravatai, which has the biggest operational representativeness for us, did not suffer any major damage as the GM factory continues operating, except for a few sectors where the employees have had difficulty in traveling. However, the entire vehicle operations starting from that vehicle is still being done, continues to be done because they get on to BR-101, which is still free for transportation, undamaged. Guaiba is a little more difficult because the water really took care -- took over the area with the access to the city. And we believe that in the next few days, that operations there should return to normal with the receipt of vehicles from Argentina. However, these vehicles that are coming from Argentina going to Guaiba, we are offering to the company that do import there. Our installations in Gravatai to be able to store vehicles in Gravatai, and from there, they will be distributed. So summarizing our big volume from Gravatai, the situation is practically normal. Our small volume receiving [ imported cargo ] from Argentina in the Guaiba unit suffered difficulties. As far as our people, we have no problem, no major problem. All of them are housed -- correctly housed, and we're giving all necessary support to help those families.

[Operator Instructions] The first question from [ Felipe Pinheiro ] from Apollo.

It was in the results, you talked about the expenses with consultancies and legal fees. Can you comment a little bit more about these expenses? And what we should expect on those lines for the rest of the year?

I'm going to pass that question to Ramon. I'm going to take advantage and read the second answer -- the second question from [indiscernible] as well, which is very similar. The increase of administrative expenses in the quarter, can it be considered nonrecurring? Or will it be close to this level in approximate -- in the next period -- in the coming periods? These 2 questions, I'll pass over to Ramon.

Thank you for the questions. In relation to our expenses, the most higher expenses. We did have 2 quarters -- 2 consecutive quarters, in the fourth quarter and this first quarter with expenses of close to BRL 30 million. This difference in relation to the previous level of the first quarter of '23, which is closer to BRL 25 million. As we mentioned, it's tied to expenses with consultancies -- principally consultancy -- the majority is consultancies and legal fees. These consultancies and legal fees are connected with the accompaniment of our legal processes related to the competitive questions with the company, in fact, with the entire industry, and in fact, the transfer -- the vehicle transport industry suffers and from which we are part of, and we've been communicating this over time. There has been exactly this concentration in these last 2 quarters. If we look at the variation about the lines of expenses in the first quarter, people expenses didn't really vary at the same level. For example, our expenses with people grew by 7%. Beyond that, in this quarter, specifically, we had several other small events, which end up helping -- which impacted this line -- but we're small, but also contributed to the increase in those expenses. We had bigger provisions for judicial settlements, bigger expenses with consultancies and several expenses tied to marketing strategies, participation in logistics events, all of this in comparison with the first quarter of '23. In relation to the future, the coming -- whether this will be recurring or not. What we can say is that we have -- do not have at this time any expectation that these expenses will repeat consistently at these levels in the coming quarters. However, we have these cases underway, which are being accompanied by our lawyers and eventually, we may have some type of click upwards, click in these expenses. How we do not treat it as nonrecurring, we have not placed it in our results as nonrecurring, excluding these values. And we have no expectation that they will continue to repeat consistently over the next quarters.

The next question is from [indiscernible].

Congratulations on your results. I've seen that your margins in Integrated Logistics have been reduced by the loss of one important client. I would like to understand the evolution of this gross margin, the EBITDA margin going forward, especially the EBIT margin, which fell considerably. According to my numbers, it arrived at 9%, a little bit less than half of what it was last year. Is it possible to open who was the client that was lost?

I'm going to pass this over to Nivaldo.

Look, as we mentioned, it was Burger King, the client that we lost, who did a new process of bidding process, and we lost. Unfortunately. The question of the margins, you're correct. These margins are influenced by the loss of this client and by 2 other factors. Unilever, with whom we have been negotiating a readjustment in our tariffs. So we passed almost 2 years -- 2 months, almost 3 months with our prices without readjustment. This new price is now in effect. And so this did affect our margins and the volume of transportation that we do for Electrolux. The number of trips was reduced compared to the base that we had as the ideal. So I can point out that in the month of April, this volume of transports, which had been going at 1,500 or 1,600 trips a month, arrived at the level of 2,000. So there has been a recovery. So with this conjunction of the recovery of the volume of trips for Electrolux and the renegotiation of the contract of Unilever, we'll improve our margins going forward.

We received also a request for an audio question. I'm going to open up for [ Pedro Pimenta ].

Nivaldo, Ramon, Ian and Felipe, congratulations on your results. Continuing on this point, on the closing of this -- with Burger King. I wanted to understand if there's any type of fine or penalty which you could see in the coming months or not? And how does that process to rebuild your base without them? And the second question is if you can also talk a little bit about how do you see the market -- the vehicle market, looking at the question in the south also, it would be interesting to take a look at the second quarter -- as we look for the second quarter.

Pedro, the question of Burger King [ damage ], there is no fine. We were communicating within the contract of terms. So obviously, this created a certain space, unused capacity in our warehouse, and we're looking for the reuse of that space by other clients. In the automotive market, specifically of new cars, we had in the first quarter, up until April, facts, which declared a growth above that, which we expected. The market grew more than expected. There was an evolution, a very important evolution, especially with Volkswagen, with Polo the most sold car in the quarter, which had agreed to relevance in the month of April. And we continue optimistic. We continue working with volumes. Thinking about volume is just a little bit above those, which we planned in our budget, based on the numbers of informed by the regulatory agencies and the market. Of course, the question from this regarding the south, it will affect the market. We don't know exactly how much will be this effect or how much this will impact problems for Tegma. I can tell you what I had said at the beginning, our principal business unit there is Gravatai, which did not suffer. So we continue operating normally there. We are having a small stop in Guaiba with response for a much smaller part of the market than Gravatai does.

Go to the next question here in the Q&A from [ Juliana Damasceno] of Citibank.

What's the strategy for the company about the cash position? On your radar, is there any M&A in this quarter or in this first half of the year?

I'm going to pass it over to Ramon.

Thank you for the question, Juliana. In relation to the strategy, about our cash position, I think that the distribution of dividends, which was recently done, illustrates our intention, our desire to continue implementing a policy of -- an aggressive policy of distribution of cash if we don't have the utilization for CapEx, a better utilization of cash for our operations. And we have a policy, an indicative policy to share at least 50% -- to have 50% payout. However, in fact, as we have mentioned in several -- for several quarters now, the company is desirous of implementing a strategy of growth -- inorganic growth. We have, yes, on the radar several possibilities, several targets that -- for M&A. And we have already shared this with the market our desire to increase our portfolio -- our business portfolio in Integrated Logistics, improving the balance of our portfolio, the equilibrium between the automotive industry's results, where we are doing very well. Thank you. We have a great deal of interest in maintaining that in that sector. We want to make that very clear. But we want to grow in Integrated Logistics. We want to use our expertise, which is use our capacity for leveraging. I want to make it clear also that there's nothing that is connected. There's nothing firm -- there's no signed agreements. There's nothing firm. Otherwise, we would have obviously communicated to the market, but it is part of our strategy to look for M&A operations to help our revenue to grow in our Integrated Logistics operation.

Thank you, Ramon. I'm going to read one last question, which we received from Andre [ Pracht ]. Can you give us a panorama of the performance of this automotive sector in the second quarter? I'm going to pass this over to Nivaldo.

Pracht, thank you for the question. We're optimistic for the second quarter. And although we have a fact of a new variable in this scenario, which is the situation in the south, in Rio Grande do Sul. I can talk -- I can tell very certainly how April was, where we had a continuation of the tendency, our increase in domestic sales growth of 12% in the daily sales on a comparison basis, and it's very important to mention that of the 5 major car builders in Brazil, only Volkswagen did not lose market share in this period. On the contrary, they gained 2 percentage points. The other big players, Fiat, GM, Toyota and Hyundai, lost together more than 6 percentage points of participation. Coincidentally, the same percentage, which the 3 new brands, BYD, [indiscernible] Chery and Great Wall. So there's being a musical chairs, with the exception of Volkswagen, brands are being substituted there. We understand that this could be a tendency, a trend for the month of May and June, discounting this variable of the factor, the meteorological factor that have in Rio Grande do Sul, which could bring some difficulty to the sector.

I don't think we have any more questions here. [Operator Instructions] Otherwise, we'll go ahead and pass it over to Nivaldo to make his final comments.

Well, once again, thank you very much for your participation. Thank you for your attention. Thank you for the questions. I would like to ratify our solidarity of Tegma together with the people of Rio Grande do Sul. It's a very difficult moment for the people there, independent of any operation, having difficulties there. Our major concern or principal concern is with our people. And that's the message that our people are good, are in good shape. And as soon as possible, our operations will be returning to normal. Thank you very much. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]