Corporacion America Airports SA

Good morning and welcome to the Corporación América Airport's fourth quarter 2023 conference call. A slide presentation accompanies today's webcast and is available in the investor section of the Corporación América Airport's website. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the presentation. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Patricio Iñaki-Esnola, Head of Investor Relations. Patricio, please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Speaking during today's call will be Martín Arnequian, our Chief Executive Officer, and Jorge Arruda, our Chief Financial Officer. Before we proceed, I would like to make the following safe harbor statement. Today's call will contain forward-looking statements, and I refer you to the forward-looking statement section of our earnings release and recent filings with the SEC. we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new or changed events or circumstances. Also, please note that throughout this call, we will be discussing compiler figures excluding the contribution from the frame determination of the Natal concession. We are also excluding the non-cash hyperinflation adjustment in Argentina resulting from the application of IFRS rule IAS 29. In this respect, we know that the great majority of Argentine revenues are linked to the U.S. dollar, while approximately half of costs are in Argentine pesos, resulting in a natural hedge against currency devaluation. I will now turn the call over to our CEO, Martin Ermequian.

Thank you, Iñaki. Hello, everyone, and welcome to our fourth quarter 2023 earnings call. We appreciate you joining us today and look forward to providing additional perspective on our strong finish to the year. I will start with some overall comments on our fourth quarter and full year 2023 performance. Jorge will provide additional details on his financial review before we open the call up for questions. I'm delighted to share that we delivered the greatest results in Q4. marking a strong conclusion to an outstanding year. We closed 2023 delivering year-on-year passenger traffic growth in the low teens during Q4 and up in the mid-20s for the full year, with over 81 million passengers traveling across our airports while advancing our strategic goals. As previously reported, a key milestone in the quarter was the successful conclusion of the friendly termination process of the Natal Airport Construction Agreement, which benefited adjusted EBITDA by $166.5 million. The net amount to cap totaled 465 million Brazilian reais. On a comparable basis, excluding the non-cash accounting impacts from the application of Rule IAS 29, we deliver revenue growth in the high teens with sustained expansion in revenue per passengers. When also excluding the contribution from the friendly termination of the Natal concession, adjusted EBITDA increased in the high twenties. Our positive performance was underpinned by strong momentum across all geographic regions. reflecting our unwavering commitment to efficient execution and our ability to leverage the ongoing recovery in travel demand. Our robust balance sheet and healthy maturity profile underscore our commitment to financial strength. Please turn to slide four, as I would like to share a bit more about the business fundamentals underpinning the strong top-line performance we achieved in 2023, starting with passenger traffic. Our airports benefited from the ongoing recovery in travel demand, evident through the higher load factors and the gradual reintroduction of flight routes and frequencies across all the countries in which we operate. Some of the new flights inaugurated in the quarter include Ezeiza JFK, Ezeiza Santo Domingo, Salta Lima, and Montevideo Bariloche, among others. Total traffic for the quarter continued to recover, reaching 99% of pre-pandemic levels, with international passengers exceeding fourth quarter of 2019 levels by 7%. Traffic in Argentina and Uruguay exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time, while Armenia and Ecuador continued to surpass 2019 levels. Now, moving on to some color-blind countries. Armenia remains the leader in the ongoing recovery exceeding pre-pandemic levels for the seventh consecutive quarter. Year-on-year, traffic increased 17% and was up 60% versus fourth quarter 2019, supported by the introduction of new carriers and an increase in flight frequencies at the airport. We are encouraged that this strong performance persisted through February this year with passenger traffic 85.1% above February 2019. Traffic volumes in Argentina increased 19% year-on-year and was 10% above four quarters of 2019 levels, surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time. Domestic passenger traffic, which also benefited from Previaje, the government initiative launched in October to support local tourism, grew 18% year-on-year and surpassed fourth quarter of 2019 levels by 15%. International traffic was up 20% year-on-year, recovering to 99% of fourth quarter of 2019 levels, up from 89% in the previous quarter. We know that while domestic traffic comprises 70% of total traffic in the country, above 90% of passenger use fees are generated by international traffic and fully linked to the US dollar. Next, Ecuador, where we saw a solid performance across both domestic and international traffic. While increased frequencies in both domestic and international routes contributed to 5% year-on-year growth in total volumes and above pre-pandemic levels, domestic traffic in the fourth quarter was affected by the exit of the local carrier. The positive performance continued in February with total traffic 3% above February 2019. Uruguay surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time fueled by the addition of new routes and frequencies. Year-on-year traffic was up 24% and the strong performance continued in the first two months of the year. Passenger traffic in Italy was up 16% year-on-year with international traffic again ahead of pre-pandemic levels, while domestic traffic was at 88% of fourth quarter of 2019 levels. Florence Airport continued to operate above pre-pandemic levels, while some destinations have not yet resumed at Pisa Airport. Traffic at both airports was also impacted by a one-day strike in November. solid performance continued throughout the first month of the year with total traffic 3% above pre-pandemic levels in February. Lastly, traffic in Brazil decelerated to 85% of pre-pandemic levels versus 94% in the previous quarter as market dynamics remained impacted by financial and aircraft constraints at some local airlines together with the rising ticket prices which affected travel demand. This challenging environment in the industry continued in the first two months of the year. Moving on to cargo on slide five. We are encouraged by the ongoing recovery in our cargo business. Cargo volumes and revenues increased by 10% year on year. This solid performance in volumes was driven by strong year on year contributions from Argentina, Ecuador, and Uruguay, coupled with sustained recovery in the other geographies. Notably, cargo revenues exceeded pre-pandemic levels across all countries of operations, except Italy, that is still recovering. I will now hand up the call to Jorge, who will review our financial results. Please, go ahead.