Transmissora Aliança de Energia Elétrica S.A. (TAEE11) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Interpreted] Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Taesa's Q1 earnings release session. It is a pleasure to have you with us. We will have our Q&A session at the end of the presentation, and you may ask your questions throughout the presentation using the chat. We hope you enjoy your video conference. On Slide 3, we have an update on our commitments and the strategic pillar of sustainability. On March 2025, we released Taesa's '24 Annual Sustainability Report. We took another important step forward in our journey of transparency, accountability and our commitment to governance and sustainability. This year's report was released to the market well ahead of the deadline set by ALL. Strategically, the report was published even before the release of the management proposal for the Annual Shareholders Meeting, integrating sustainability into decision-making and into the company's reference documents for shareholder deliberation. The 2024 report presented significant improvements in both content and structure, expanding its scope and alignment with the expectations of investors, regulators and other stakeholders. For the first time, we reported using the SASB standards framework, enhancing data comparability and relevance for the capital markets. We also enhanced environmental transparency by including specific indicators for projects under development, providing a more comprehensive view of environmental impacts and management throughout the asset life cycle. In line with increasing climate change demand, the report highlights concrete initiatives in climate adaptation and resilience, reinforcing our commitment to climate risk management and the long-term sustainability of our business. We are at a strategic point in our sustainability journey. We have been reviewing these material topics based on the concept of double materiality, which is key for preparing our financial disclosures under the IFRS S1 and S2 standards to be published starting from the fiscal year of 2026 in accordance with CVM Resolution 193. This approach considers 2 complementary dimensions. First, the impacts that Taesa's activities have in society and the environment and the risks and opportunities that sustainability issues post to the company per se. This analysis is key since the mature topics we identify now, we then define the guidelines for our sustainability strategy and reporting in the coming years. The proposed topics will be determined through broad stakeholder engagement, industry data, internal analysis, expert inputs and market research. Our relationship with society plays a critical role in ensuring that this prioritization legitimately and strategically reflects the context in which we operate. By assigning a relevant score to each topic, we collectively contribute to strengthening the sustainability agenda and promoting more balanced and responsible development. Let's move on to the highlights of Q1 2024 on Slide 4, and we will give further details throughout the presentation. We see that our regulatory net revenue was up 3.8% year-on-year due to new sources of revenue in Q1. We have the Novatrans reinforcement that added BRL 6.2 million in revenue and BRL 1.2 million from Pitiguari. In addition, we have our regulatory OpEx in Q1 was down 11% year-on-year, excluding nonrecurring effects from Q1 2024, the drop was 0.7% year-on-year, even with a 5.5% inflation over the last 12 months, which means that our gain in the period was over 6%. Our EBITDA for Q1 totaled BRL 509.6 million, up 6.9% with an EBITDA margin of 85.2%. We had high operational performance with an availability index of 99.96% and variable portion of 1% in the period. We had Taesa's 17th issuance of incentivized green debentures totaling BRL 650 million in January in very competitive IPCA costs according to the reference NTNB 40 was minus 15 bps with a 15-year term and a 3-year grace period on interest payments, which was great for the period. Like I've mentioned, we've had the Novatrans reinforcement at Pitiguari before the regulatory deadline. Other projects are expected to be delivered before the ANEEL deadline, and we will further give you further details later on. We have also announced interest on equity totaling BRL 188 million regarding the result, which is equivalent to 100% of regulatory net income or 53% of the IFRS net income for the quarter. On Slide 5, we have our regulatory results, which directly reflects the cash -- the company's cash generation. Our regulatory net income was down 0.7%, totaling BRL 188 million in Q1, mainly affected by higher EBITDA, driven by the increase in our AP due to the recent entry of projects and OpEx efficiency, which we will further address. This increase was -- was offset by a decline in equity income and financial results. Our equity income dropped BRL 10.1 million, primarily due to a one-off event in Q1 2024 related to the recognition of deferred taxes at one of our affiliates, Tau. The equity method line also was also affected by macroeconomic impacts, both in revenue and negatively in financial expenses. On the macro side, the financial results showed a negative performance of BRL 42.4 million due to a deteriorating macroeconomic environment, an increase in gross debt and a drop in cash position between the periods. Lastly, income and tax contributions declined due to a decrease in pretax income and an extemporaneous adjustment relating to the write-off of tax liabilities. As you can see, our EBITDA delivered a strong performance totaling BRL 509.6 million with an 85.2% margin, which we will break down further on Slide 6. As we can see, EBITDA was up 6.9% year-on-year, driven by an increase in RAP of BRL 10.1 million, driven by the 3.9% IPCA adjustment applied to the RAPs in the '24, '25 cycle in addition to the entry into operation of the Novatrans and Pig reinforcement at the end of the year. It's important to note that the IGPM index, which adjusts to 2/3 of our RAPs was negative in the same cycle. The variable portion showed a positive variation, mainly due to nonrecurring events in Q1 2024, such as the situation in Janauba, which we highlighted at the time. OpEx was a key highlight, which improved by BRL 10.7 million year-on-year, especially -- particularly due to a drop in personnel costs, mainly due to higher profit sharing payments in Q1 2024 versus the provision, along with the organizational structure optimization and a higher number of vacant positions. Third-party services were down 13% due to lower expenses with cleaning and maintenance services. We present now adjusted EBITDA, which is a pro forma view that excludes the nonrecurring events previously mentioned and detailed in the earnings release. This view is relevant to highlight performance on a recurring basis and help investors better understand our future expectations regarding operational results. Recurring EBITDA remained unchanged in Q1 2025 at BRL 509.6 million. When compared to the adjusted or recurring EBITDA of Q1 '24, it was a positive year-on-year growth of 2.1%. Thus, the EBITDA margin of 85.2% in Q1 was higher than that of Q1 2024. We once highlight we want the company's ongoing efforts to optimize costs with a strong focus on different operational efficiency initiatives. On a recurring basis, our OpEx remained virtually flat despite an inflationary environment of 5.5% over the last 12 months. This represents a real gain of over 6% in the period. On Slide 7, we highlight the operational performance of the company's transmission lines. As we've shown, we have kept a high availability rate of 99.96%, which is higher than that of Q1 '24. As previously mentioned, in Q1 '24, there was a slight decline due to a high-impact event in Janauba in the quarter, which also affected the variable portion for the period. We can see that the variable portion this quarter was lower than that of Q1 2024, totaling just 1% of the AP for the period. It is important to note that we separate the VP actually incurred in the current period from provisions and reversals related to previous periods, as shown in the chart on the left -- on the right. We can see that the current period variable portion was even more efficient, standing at 0.94%. On Slide 8, we present the net income under IFRS. It is important to note that this is an accounting figure and does not directly reflect the company's cash generation. The underlying concept of this accounting treatment is the concession contract asset, which follows the accounting process outlined in CPC 47. IFRS net income was down 2.5% in Q1, totaling BRL 365.2 million. Some of the effects already explained in the regulatory result on the previous slide also affected the IFRS result, such as the variation in VP and nonrecurring expenses from Q1 '24. However, the key drivers were a BRL 107 million drop in infrastructure implementation margin due to delays in the environmental license for the ANA project caused by the shutdown of the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources IBAMA last year. This delay not only affected the delivery schedule, but also led to a revision of the project's Capex directly impacting its construction margin. We had an increase of BRL 37.9 million in net financial expenses, which were also covered under the regulatory result. On the positive side, -- we -- in monetary restatement revenue, it was up BRL 96.6 million versus the contractual asset. This was mainly due to the recovery of the IGPM index, which posted 2.29% in Q1 versus just 0.29% in Q1 2024. Note that we applied the index with a 1-month lag for accounting purposes. Now we check the status of our ongoing projects on Slide 9. We energized 2 reinforcement projects for Novatrans between the end of last year and early this year, 3 to 6 months ahead of ANEEL's deadline. These projects were received -- received total authorized RAP of BRL 38.9 million. Since most of these reinforcements are valued at original book value, the RAP expected to be recognized in the company's results is about BRL 35 million. The difference represents advanced revenue that will be returned starting from the next tariff review cycle or the reinforcement scheduled for 2029. In addition, we delivered the first phase of the Pitiguari project at the end of last year, equivalent to 20% of the total project, 26 years a month ahead of the regulatory deadline. The second phase of Pitiguari is progressing well, both in the substation and in this transmission line, and we are nearing project completion. The Jura project, which consists of a substation and a section in the central region of Sao Paulo State has all suppliers already selected and the B design is expected to be submitted to ONS by midyear. Tangara is showing good progress, particularly in substations, and we expect delivery of the synchronous condenser soon. For Saira, work on the substation is also advancing, including the HVDC component, which has been cleared for shipment from Sweden to Brazil. It's worth highlighting that we expect delivery time for Pitiguari Sara and Tangara over 2 years ahead of deadline. We've addressed the challenges in Ananai related to environmental license delays due to Obama shutdown and have now begun more intensive work in Ponta Grossa assist section. In terms of Capex in Q1, we invested about BRL 300 million, which shows that Capex will accelerate in the coming quarters to reach the full year guidance of BRL 1.6 billion to BRL 1.8 billion for the 5 ongoing projects and reinforcement. As we've shown, we see no changes in the project Capex curve since March when we disclosed our Q4 2024 results. Our projection remains between BRL 400 million and BRL 600 million for 2026 and between BRL 100 million and BRL 200 million for 2027. This Capex curve reflects our best estimate as of today and may be subject to change based on future developments. Now on the left, you can see the recent trend in net debt and leverage levels measured by net debt over regulatory EBITDA using proportional consolidation. At the end of Q1 2025, total net debt for the company, including all holdings, was BRL 11.1 billion, and our leverage stood at 4.1, slightly higher than that of Q4. The average real cost of debt is 5.48%, affected by the recent increase in CDA and the leverage average debt maturity is 4.7 years. Our cash position at the end of the quarter was BRL 1.2 billion. The debt indexation mix was -- stands at 66% to IPCA, 32% of CDI and 2% of IGPM. Our corporate credit rating on the national scale assigned by Moody's and Fitch remains at the highest level, AAA. On Slide 11, it is worth mentioning that yesterday, we announced a dividend distribution based on the regulatory net results for the quarter. The Board of Directors approved the distribution of BRL 188.3 million in interest on equity with a record date of May 12, which corresponds to BRL 0.55 per unit. When added to the other dividends already distributed were announced in 2025, total declared distribution so far totaled BRL 2.09 per unit or BRL 720 million. It's worth noting that BRL 302 million was approved last week by the shareholders' meeting, and this amount will be paid in 2 installments, one at the end of May in 3 weeks and another in November 2025. So now our presentation came to an end, and we will move on to the Q&A session. Thank you so much.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Cristiano. Now we will start our Q&A session, which will be a live session, and we will have our Executive Board to address the questions. [Operator Instructions] Thank you so much for your participation on our video conference regarding the Q1 2025 earnings release. We have over 320 people with us, and it's a great honor for us to present the great results that we've produced and address any and all questions you may have. We have here Rinaldo Pecchio, our CEO; Catia Pereira, our Chief IR Officer; Fabio Fernandes, the Chief Business Officer; Luis Alvaro, our Chief Technical Officer. We have also Juliana here Castelli, who is our IR coordinator. We have received already some questions. Feel free to ask any questions you may have. But before we get to the Q&A, I would like Pecchio to give us his initial remarks.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Cristiano. This is a very important moment for the company. We are here every quarter to explain how the situation is, what we see in the future, what we have in the pipeline. I think it's really important to point out some great results we have produced considering the macroeconomic situation. There are some issues regarding interest rate that increased our financial expenses. But I think that we've been able to really express how efficient we have been. It was a very positive quarter with regards to these results that we've produced. We had a performance below inflation that is really the -- it shows the effort of everyone, the great job of this team -- so organizational structure, our technical team trying to find different solutions, reviewing some of the plans. So we have worked really hard to achieve those results. And this is not the end of the road, of course. I think the outlook is very promising, but it's very important to say that we still have a long way to go. We do have some technical indicators to share. We had the VP and the availability rate showing that we've been very consistent, and we've been delivering strong results in terms of efficiency and financial indicators. Our ongoing projects have been progressing well according to our planning. We have adjusted some details, but we have always been able to deliver before ANEEL's deadline. Over the last 5 years, we had over BRL 1 billion of new revenues, and we have about BRL 400 million to add in the future. So we should produce even better results. Lastly, we are going to pay BRL 188 million, which is equivalent to 100% of our regulatory net income and it's really in line with our financial plan and our financial discipline to monitor any and all opportunities we have. When we have adjusted the rule from IFRS to regulatory net income, we have defined the guideline, and we've been really delivering according to the plan. We Executive Board working together with the company's Board of Directors have been working with all these view in mind. I am sure that we will have other questions, and then I will be here for my final remarks.

[Interpreted] Thank you. So I have a question from Luiza Candia, the sell-side analyst, and I will ask Fabio to answer. Fabio, she is asking, I would like to understand the outlook for the company for the next transmission public sale, if you aim at participating and what do you expect in terms of competition?

[Interpreted] Good morning. Thank you so much for being here. Luiza, thank you for your question. Well, yes, what I can say is that Taesa is always tracking whatever opportunities we may have in the market, either if it's a greenfield project, but anything that will really allow for greater returns for our shareholders. We have our public sale now in October for 11 lots. It will range from BRL 100 million to more than about BRL 200 million, and we will further analyze how the options we have are in line with our geographic distribution so that we can increase our efficiency. Like Pecchio mentioned, efficiency gains are something we've been working for. So we will consider the projects that will give us the edge. We have our implementation team running any and all analysis needed for us to further understand the slots where we have a SWAT matrix and study for each of them for us to better position ourselves. In terms of competitivity, like I said, we're going to have a wide range of slots. So we should have many competitors interested we always need to consider any and all players, but we understand that we should have different players interested in bidding. We have a very predictable market. So when we think about a volatile market, it's a great opportunity for investment. But again, Luiza, thank you so much. I hope I've been clear, and I wish everyone a good day.

[Interpreted] Well, thank you, Fabio. So we have now Paulo an investor said, great results. So my concern is regarding the debt that has been increasing and the concessions that are coming to an end soon. What is the strategy for the company to decrease the debt levels and acquire new concessions for an RAP that is growing year-on-year.

[Interpreted] Well, with regards to our debt situation, in this first quarter, we have a leverage level of slightly above 4. We have 5 greenfield ongoing projects, plus 5 reinforcement -- large reinforcements also happening in the company. So this increase is a natural even expected. But on the other hand, the projects will reflect in an increase of our AP from BRL 400 million to BRL 600 million, which will allow for a deleveraging. So we will probably go back to the levels we had before. This is not a concern for us. We are following our schedule. And according to our pipeline, we are looking into deleverage in the future. When we think about our net situation, when the company is focusing on efficiency, we are, of course, hoping for higher EBITDA. So this is also something we're working in terms of gaining efficiency and generating more operational cash for the company. When we talk about public sales, for us to participate of a public sales, if it's a greenfield, then we are going to and have expenses from 18 to 24 months as of the winning of a public sale. And this will be really in line with the moment when we start deleveraging because we will have delivered the ongoing projects right now. So all that to say that we've been really aligned to our strategic planning. And whenever our concessions come to an end, when we are planning our debt, we see the curves of any concessions we have within our portfolio. So we see no additional risk or uncertainty toward participating of public sales.

[Interpreted] Well, the next question has to do with that considering the change of dividends regarding regulatory net income. And they asked us if we intend to be more conservative to amortize debt over the following years. But we do believe that our cash generation allows for paying the payout -- the current payout.

[Interpreted] Yes. I think last year, we have changed the dividend policy regarding net regulatory income. So we do understand that our dividend distribution, we are declaring 100%, right? -- is compatible to the company's cash generation, and it has no impact on our participation in future public sales or auctions.

[Interpreted] So we have a question that is a more technical question. We have an investor. It is a long question, but I'll try to simplify it. How does the company see the simplification of the dividend policy? How does the company see the flexibilization of the systems of protection of the transmission system according to everything we've done.

[Interpreted] Well, thank you, a very technical question. We have ONS with some rules that want reinforcement of the infrastructure -- existing infrastructure. Well, from a practical standpoint, we see higher energy transmitted in our transmission lines. And this is regulated by ONS and also through the contract of service rendering. We are really ahead of schedule in terms of implementation of this protection study. We have run all the tests needed to minimize the risks in terms of implementation. And when we have this protection system, Taesa together with ONS supervises this process. So we do understand that it is an operating measure. But when we have the reliability -- the technical reliability study allows for us, which are the transmission lines to implement the system, but maintaining the reliability of our technical systems.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Luis. So now we have Roger , an investor, and I'm going to ask you. Congratulations on your results. With regards to the efforts and improvements, does the company intend to intensify attention in this aspect to renew the RAPs that will mature in 2030?

[Interpreted] Well, thank you for these questions. Yes, in Taesa, we are looking into the reinforcement and improvements that we have ahead, small or larger. We have a study to map out any opportunities based on our installations in addition to a study of our transmission lines. Of course, that we need to have the highest reliability as possible following all the rules applicable. But we do have a team here that will study any and all opportunities of reinforcement and improvements. And this is a key driver for us to increase our revenue over the next years.

[Interpreted] Thank you, Luis. So we have 2 questions here that are really similar about regulation. We have Roger and Gustavo Faria that is a sell-side analyst. So talking about the concessions that mature in 2030, what do we think about a renewal that would allow for gains from 15% to 20% of the original RAP. And then there is a question talking about what's the timing that you expect of ANEEL to define a better methodology to verify these assets?

[Interpreted] Well, excellent question, a very current topic. This has been in our agenda, in our pipeline when we talk to our Board, -- but there is an evolution related to this topic, and we don't have all the assumptions that we need to really understand what the situation will be like. What I can say is that when we are considering that we have to consider renewing concessions and new biding and we need always to be as efficient as possible in both situations. Today, it's very complicated to say the percentage of revenue. But in any of these situations, we are going to have a level of revenue that is going to be smaller. And this is going to be a different company in terms of revenue. But we have been working to have our further negotiations with ANEEL and we've been working together with some peers to just work on that. So I would say that the second half of 2025 will be about discussing our regulatory agenda so that we can address some of these issues. It's important to bear in mind that whenever we talk about concession renewal, we are talking about July 2027. So up to that moment, we have to consider any and all aspects. But right now, it's too early to say which assumptions we are going to consider, either from a renewal or a remainder amount. We have been focusing on that. And over the next quarters, we will probably have more information to share. But be sure that we will come back to this topic. Right now, I'm sorry, I don't have a complete answer, but be sure that, again, we will be discussing that internally and externally with the market. I think that the second half of the year will be key for us to further work on these issues.

[Interpreted] Thank you, P. So now we have a question. Do we have a provision or do we expect any forecast regarding the debenture issuance or raising funds in any way?

[Interpreted] Well, thank you, Roger. So we intend to fund and in all of our demands through the capital markets. We have good demand here. So the last issuance totaling BRL 650 million was even under the NTNB with a very competitive cost. So we are going to go through capital markets to fund our projects. In addition to capital markets, there are other sources of financing that will allow us to have a solid portfolio. So if the market is not really -- has no demand on that, we will go through other options. But our first would be the capital markets. Again, we had a confirmation of our AAA rate at the end of the year. So whenever we need to fund our growth with new projects, that's what we do. We first go to the market.

[Interpreted]Well, just to pick back on that, Catia. So when we have a change from the IGPM to IPCA, could it future affect our APs and our revenues?

[Interpreted] Well, it does not worsen our revenues. IGPM is a bit more volatile than the IPCA. I think that IPCA is a bit more predictable. But if we analyze historical data, they produce similar results. But I think the IGPM from the IGPM allows for greater visibility and predictability.

[Interpreted] We also have a few questions here, but that really have to do with what we have already answered. We don't have any new questions. We have, again, over 320 people here. We were able to address all the major topics that are key for the company. But before we end our conference, I'm going to turn over to Pecchio for his final remarks.

[Interpreted] Once again, thank you so much for your interest in our company. I'd like to thank all partners of this company that helped us to produce this great quarterly results. I'm a very optimistic person. I think we have a very promising outlook. We will continue seeking increasing efficiency, increased efficiency. Of course, that we have some challenges ahead, especially when we talk about financial expenses, but our discipline helps us to continue with good dividend distribution and also a good mapping out of the opportunities that we have to grow, public sales or auctions, but I think that overall, the outlook is promising. We have been always revisiting our value generation, how we are adding value to shareholders and to the market. And it's great to see that a company like that has so many people gearing efforts into producing good results. Lastly, when we talk about reinforcements and improvements, this is something we have been focusing on, maybe now more than we have over the last years, but we see that as a good opportunity to continue growing. This can help us as a future important source of revenue. So I think these were the final remarks that I had for you. And once again, I would like to thank all our Executive Board here. And if you have any other questions, just reach out to our Investor Relations channel. Thank you so much. Thank you again for being here with us. [Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]