Unipar Carbocloro S.A. (UNIP6) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, and welcome to the First Quarter 2025 Results Conference Call for Unipar. Present today are Rodrigo Cannaval, CEO; Alexandre Jerussalmy, CFO and Investor Relations Director; and the Investor Relations team. Please be advised that this event is being recorded and translated simultaneously. [Operator Instructions] The presentation is available for download on the platform and on the company's website at ri.unipar.com. [Operator Instructions] Before proceeding, we would like to clarify that any statements made during this conference call regarding Unipar's business prospects, projections and operational and financial targets are simply the company's beliefs and assumptions based on the information currently available to them. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions as they refer to future events and therefore, depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors and analysts should understand that general conditions, industry conditions and other operating factors may affect Unipar's future results and may lead to results that differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. We will now give the floor to Alexandre Jerussalmy, who will begin the presentation. Go ahead, sir.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to our quarterly earnings call for Unipar. Please note that the presentation is available on our Investor Relations website and that the figures presented are adjusted to exclude the effects of the IAS 29 accounting rule for hyperinflationary economies such as Argentina. Starting with Slide 4. Here are some of the challenges faced during the quarter. The petrochemical cycle continues to be low. And in the quarter, we saw a drop of around 10% in the international price benchmark for caustic soda, while the benchmark for PVC remained constant. In March, there was a severe weather event in Argentina with unprecedented rainfall in the Bahia Blanca region, affecting Unipar's operations and especially our supply chain. Another challenge was the Argentinian economy, which continues to suffer from uncertainties and persistent U.S. dollar inflation. Here in Brazil, the PVC market continues to be pressured by a historically high level of PVC imports. And regarding the global instability resulting from the tariff war, which I have no doubt everyone is following, our understanding is that it won't help the recovery of the global petrochemical cycle. Even so, even despite these challenges, we managed to deliver a quarter of solid results, starting with our recurring adjusted EBITDA, which reached BRL 355 million, which represents an increase of 53% compared to the same quarter last year. We achieved an EBITDA margin of 26% versus a margin of 20% in the first quarter of last year. Our net result reached BRL 150 million with a net margin of 11%. And our operating cash generation reached BRL 156 million compared to BRL 25 million in the same period last year. Regarding liquidity management and debt profile, our cash of BRL 1.5 billion covers 36 months of debt principal amortization. Our average debt term is 60 months with 70% of it maturing after 2029, and our leverage was 0.88x in the quarter. At the same time, we have had our largest CapEx cycle in the company's history with our new plant in Camaçari stabilized after a successful ramp-up in the first months of the year. And our technological modernization project in Cubatão is proceeding according to schedule with operations scheduled to begin at the end of 2025. Moving on to the next screen. We reached a consolidated capacity utilization level of 82% in the quarter, in line with previous quarters and consistently above 80%. In Brazil, there was a positive effect of the stabilization of the new Camaçari plant, as we said before. And in Argentina, we had a negative effect from the weather event in Bahia Blanca, which, although it didn't affect the integrity of our assets, caused our plant to shut down for 8 days and our supply chain to have partial deliveries that lasted 4 weeks. According to our calculations, the event represented a loss of approximately 11% in Argentina's utilization rate during the quarter. Regarding the level of self-produced energy in the quarter, our average was 55% versus 66% in the previous quarter. This drop is mainly explained by the curtailment defined by ONS, which amounted to 12% less energy produced in our consumption grid here in Brazil. But in March, we already saw a recovery in the share of self-produced energy, which reached 64% of the total consumed in Brazil. On the next slide, we have the evolution of our adjusted net revenue for the quarter which when compared to the first quarter of 2024 had a positive impact from the recovery in the international price of soda and the devaluation of the Brazilian real. When compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, it had the negative impact of a drop of around 10% in the international soda reference with the international price of PVC remaining constant. The production and sale of chlorinated products is strategic for Unipar because it is not exposed to the effects of the petrochemical cycle and because of our ability to serve the market in a differentiated way with high value-added solutions. With regard to COGS on the next slide, the main challenges this quarter were the increase in the international price of ethylene in the European and North American benchmarks, the lower share of self-produced energy in our energy matrix in Brazil, the very start of operations in Camaçari, which adds CPV to our consolidated figures and persistent U.S. dollar inflation in Argentina. Our COGS for the quarter remained in line with the previous quarter and under control, mainly due to strong discipline in our fixed cost management with positive effects mainly in Argentina and operational excellence in all of Unipar's plants captured through the technical coefficiency obtained. The following screen shows our quarterly EBITDA comparisons. Compared to the same period last year, EBITDA was 53% higher due to higher sales volumes in practically all our business segments, the increase in the international reference price for soda and the positive effect of the devaluation of the real. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, our EBITDA was 4% higher, mainly as a result from the efforts to reduce fixed costs and from commercial initiatives that led our sales volume in Brazil to be in line with the previous quarter and slightly lower in Argentina, minimizing the effects of the weather event there. About our net profit, we achieved a margin of 11% in the quarter with a net income of BRL 150 million. The recurrence of positive net results expresses the resilience of our DRE even in face of a long low petrochemical cycle. This quarter, we have had 20 consecutive quarters of positive net results. They have also enabled us to meet shareholder expectations, which we have done with dividend payouts, the last of which was last month in the amount of BRL 250 million and via an active share buyback program. Our cash balance on the next slide has remained relatively constant from one quarter to the next at a level considered healthy for Unipar's needs. The highlights were operating cash generation of BRL 156 million and CapEx spending in line with the largest CapEx cycle in Unipar's history within an amount that was already expected for the quarter. On the next slide, you can see our cash position, which covers 36 months of debt repayment and our debt profile with 70% of total debt maturing after 2029. 87% of our debt is raised through debentures in the domestic market, and the rest is basically raised through ECA and development banks with very competitive rates. We have maintained active credit lines with commercial banks, which can be accessed at competitive costs should the need arise. And our average debt term is 60 months, which is quite comfortable considering our leverage of 0.88x. We expect this average period to increase as we continue to disburse the BNDES financing for the modernization of the Cubatão plant. And that concludes my comments on the quarter's results. Thank you. And I will now turn the floor over to Cannaval, who will make some comments on our strategic projects and state his final messages. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Thank you, Alexandre, for presenting our results, and thank you all for participating. It's a pleasure to be with you at this event. This is an important moment for us to highlight Unipar's commitment to sustainable growth, technological evolution and social responsibility. I'd like to start by highlighting the inauguration of our factory in Camaçari Bahia. It was a historical milestone for the company. The plant was designed to meet the growing demand for hydrochloric acid, sodium hypochlorite and caustic soda. These are key products for basic sanitation and for the hygiene and cleaning sectors. We have expanded not only our production capacity, but also our commitment to consumer proximity. The plant started implement installing equipment to direct part of its production to agribusiness, a key sector of the Brazilian economy. We are continuing with our structural investments, and I would also highlight the progress of our Cubatão plant modernization project. We're replacing mercury and diaphragm-based technologies with membrane technology, a more efficient and sustainable solution for chlorine and soda production. The project is on schedule for completion in the fourth quarter of this year. And most importantly, it has total focus on safety. This is another important step in our journey towards decarbonization and a focus on operational excellence. In addition to these deliveries, we have other initiatives underway aimed at expanding capacity gaining efficiency and competitiveness. Our focus continues to be on capital allocation discipline and the generation of value for Unipar. To complement this, Jerussalmy explained that this quarter was also marked by a severe weather event that hit Bahia Blanca in Argentina. The torrential rains affected around 70% of the city where we operate, causing disasters and damage to local infrastructure and several companies. I must stress that our plant was not affected, but the disorganization of production chains in the region required our units to be shut down. Our strict crisis management protocols ensured rapid mobilization to ensure the safety of the teams and control of operations and the shutdown process. We also implemented a contingency plan to supply our customers. Besides these operations in our plant, we work to support our teams and their families and their needs as well as the Bahia Blanca community. In partnership with the city and other companies, we donated products to help with hygiene. We promoted health campaigns and psychological support initiatives. And once again, we have demonstrated our commitment to responsible action. Finally, despite this challenging scenario, the results for the quarter show the company's operational strength. We maintained good levels of capacity utilization and generated a solid EBITDA margin. In the coming period, we believe that the global scenario will remain adverse with the continuation of the downward cycle in the chemical industry, exchange rate volatility, inflationary pressures and new tariff dynamics associated with international protectionism. Faced with this scenario, the Brazilian chemical industry, along with our authorities must continue to seek trade defense actions and create policies to boost competitiveness and sustainability, such as Prezi, for example. Our long-term vision remains clear. We will continue with discipline in capital allocation, a focus on operational excellence and social responsibility. I conclude by reinforcing our confidence in Unipar's trajectory. We have robust assets, a committed team and strategic projects well underway. We will remain steadfast in our aim to generate sustainable value for all our stakeholders. Thank you very much. And I will now hand it over to Raquel, who will lead the question-and-answer session.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Nicole Alonso from Santander.

We have 3 questions. If you can tell us how much of your CapEx for the quarter was related to maintenance and how much of it was due to the modernization process in Cubatão? My second question is, what is your schedule to spend the financing of Cubatão? And how do you expect SG&A will be from now on?

Thank you, Nicole. So let's start with G&A, and then I'll answer your other questions. We implemented a number of efforts and initiatives in the company in Brazil and in Argentina related to reducing fixed costs. So you have seen that we've fortunately captured some of the results from these initiatives. From now on, we expect to truly have a continuation of this SG&A level. Of course, it all depends on the circumstances. There are many factors that affect this, but this was an SG&A result that had many initiatives in its background, and this made a big difference. Concerning CapEx, what we saw was a quarter in which the Cubatão CapEx was predominant. This is our project to replace our mercury and diaphragm technologies be replaced by a membrane. So the CapEx amount was related to this project. And in maintenance, we had BRL 23 million in maintenance and sustaining for the units this quarter. And sorry, Nicole, can you repeat your last question? Or was that all?

The last question was about your disbursement schedule for Cubatão.

Right. So about that, we have a phaseout project in Cubatão, and there's a line with BNDES that has already been contracted. We had additional disbursements in April. So in the contracted line, we have disbursed BRL 100 million. And in the next months, we expect to catch up. A part of the expenses made will be represented as disbursements. And from then on, we will have a disbursement at the same pace as our CapEx. So this is not a concern for us.

The next question will be asked by Regis Cardoso from XP Investments.

I have a couple of questions to ask. And there was a reduction in the prices of caustic soda, but your EBITDA, especially your EBITDA margin still went up. So I'd just like to ask if that is sustainable and if this will have any implications for future projections. So I'd like to ask about our gross margins and these references that we follow in the U.S. to understand the trends. But the second question I have for you is G&A specifically. It was much lower than I expected due to a seasonal effect, but it's below what we had in 2024 in the fourth quarter. So I don't know if the comparison I was using was not good or if you truly made an effort to reduce expenses or if it's the opposite.

So starting with G&A, and then I'll answer about price and sustainability and gross and operational margins. So in G&A, as I was explaining to Nicole, we had a number of initiatives that started being implemented last year. I can give you an example. One of them was an organizational restructuring process. And especially last year, since the peso to dollar exchange rate favored the peso, this changed our fixed costs, especially in Argentina. So we reduced our personnel in Argentina. We had some reductions in Brazil as well, and we had reorganized the company. Some of the activities were done in Brazil. So this is just one example. There are others involving insurance, the insurance package, asset risks and other measures, which really explain our reduction in G&A. So there's a component that is a bit more seasonal in the beginning of the year, and this benefits us, but there's also a factor that is recurring. So that's why as I explained to Nicole, we hope to continue capturing gains from this reduction in fixed costs. But of course, it will depend on some other circumstances and elements, which may pressure our fixed costs. About price dynamics. there was a reduction in soda prices. And on the other hand, we had a currency exchange effect. If you look at the first and fourth quarters, you can see that the average rate was in line. But throughout the quarter, we were able to capture a number of exchange volatility events, and that favored our results for the quarter. So that can happen. Of course, looking ahead, we don't expect to recover the petrochemical cycle on the short term. We will still have soda and PVC prices pressured due to the petrochemical cycle, and global instabilities from the trade war will not help us in recovering in the petrochemical cycle. But at Unipar, as I'll show, we are able to capture some market opportunities, and the company has shown resilience throughout the last quarters related to this low part of the cycle. So a part of it can be seen in our gross margins and a part of it can be seen in our EBITDA margins, and around 80% of our sales and revenue is due to the chlorine category. This group of products is not exposed to the petrochemical cycle. So we are happy to say that we have been working on this throughout the years, and we are capable of offering very good solutions for our clients. And of course, this is reflected in our price. So this explains why our results are often more resilient than the international benchmarks during a global low cycle.

[Operator Instructions] We received one question from [indiscernible]. Could you inform us about the development of Unipar's studies and projects for the use of hydrochloric acid to replace sulfuric acid in the sugar alcohol industry as reported in Exame magazine on May 24, 2023?

This project developed an option for the sugar or the cane ethanol industry. But from a financial perspective, it depends on the price of sulfuric acid. In 2023, there was nearly a crisis and the exchange rate was also high. And this made it competitive for hydrochloric acid. The main -- with the current prices for sulfuric acid, this alternative is not feasible. But at the end of the day, this development made Unipar develop an alternative for our clients, which can manage costs in different commodity prices. So I'd say that, that was the major development that we had.

We received a question from Pedro Mello from Meta Asset about self-production. Will it have a high percentage? Was this curtailment a one-off?

Pedro, thank you for your question. So about curtailment, what we saw in the quarter was a bit higher than what we saw in previous quarters. There was an apparent decision from ONS, which made us have a significant reduction in our level of self-production in Brazil. And what we expect is to no longer have the same curtailment level. We still expect some curtailment in the next quarters, but not at the current level. With our energy generation units performing better and better in Bahia and in Minas Gerais, our projection is that at the end of the year, when we conclude the Cubatão project, which will have a reduction of energy consumption about 20% versus what we currently consume, we will reach about 80% of energy produced by the Brazilian grid, and the remaining 20% is already clean energy contracted from a national player from a renewable source. So at the end of the year, we would have a matrix that would be self-produced 80% and 20% from this source. This is our expectation until the end of the year.

We will now collect questions from the Q&A. We received a question from Leticia Pinaffi, Itaú BBA. She asks, what are the electrolysis technologies of other plants? Do you foresee CapEx to change the technologies in other units?

Leticia, thank you for that question. With the investments we're making in Cubatão, we will have 100% of membrane technology in Brazil, and these are more efficient technologies. In Argentina, we have membrane and mercury, and we have the right to use it until 2030. And by 2030, we need to make decisions on CapEx to exhaust this mercury technology in Argentina.

Here's a question from [ Osvaldo Matias ]. He is asking if Unipar has any diversification strategy to try to reduce its reliance on international prices.

[ Osvaldo], thank you for that question. Yes, one example was this Camaçari plant. In Camaçari, what we have is basically chlorine and soda production. We don't produce PVC there. And this decision is based on the fact that we want to explore the chlorine byproducts market in the Northeast. And we know that this is an industry that is not subject to the ups and downs of the global petrochemical cycle. In Santo Andre, for example, where we produce PVC, we already have some flexibility about the use of chlorine. A part of it produced in electrolysis is used for chlorine byproducts and a part of it is used for PVC, but we have a flexibility between these 2 products, and we expect to have more flexibility. And that's based on what you mentioned in your question, which is a way of becoming more resilient and less sensitive to the ups and downs of the petrochemical cycle and its uncertainties.

We have one more question from Pedro Mello from Meta. He's asking about the occupancy rate in Argentina in the second half of the year after the situation in March. Will they be -- are they similar to the fourth quarter of 2024?

Thank you for that question, Pedro. This weather incident in Argentina in March has impacted the April figures. So there was a shortage of supplies in Argentina. We went back to 100% production on Friday. And from now on, we believe we will run full steam for the next cycles and the next quarters.

As there are no further questions, we will give the floor to Jerussalmy for his closing remarks.

Thank you, Raquel. Thank you, everyone. This concludes our earnings call. From our understanding, this was a very good quarter for Unipar when we compare this quarter's results to the previous quarter and the recurring results without including these extraordinary items, we have a better EBITDA this quarter in value and in margins. We were able to navigate and face all the challenges that we had this quarter, and there were many from the low petrochemical cycle; the weather event in Argentina, and we hope that this won't be repeated because it was very severe; uncertainties in the Argentinian economy; pressures in importing PVC in Brazil. So facing all of these challenges, the company has demonstrated once again its resilience, its capacity to overcome. And so we're very happy with our results. From the capital allocation perspective, our liquidity and debt management has been very responsible, very serene, and we're trying to find market windows whenever we can in order to improve our indebtedness profile or extend terms. These are the measures that we are proactively making use of financially. When it comes to resource allocation, the company has made a very selective decision on how to do it in CapEx and in our strategic position. So all the projects that we are analyzing and that we have been pursuing, the main one was Cubatão. You can be sure that we analyzed our investments, the profitability, and these were a part of a very careful decision that we made internally. Thank you very much once again. And I'd like to invite you to join us on this call again, and the entire Unipar team is working to have a positive quarter once again. Thank you, and have a good weekend. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]