Cementos Pacasmayo S.A.A.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Yosh Pimentos Pacasmayo's second quarter 2021 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on a listen-only mode, and the floor will be open for your questions and comments following the presentation. If you should require assistance throughout the conference, please press star zero to reach a live operator. At this time, it is my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Claudia Bustamante. Ma'am, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Ferreiros. Good morning, everyone. Joining me on the call today is Mr. Humberto Nadal, our Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Manuel Ferreiros, our Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Nadal will begin our call with an overview of the quarter, focusing primarily on our strategic outlook for the short and medium term. Mr. Ferreiros will then follow with additional commentary on our financial results. We'll then turn the call over to your questions. Please note that this call will include certain forward-looking statements. These statements relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, trends, and other matters that are not historical facts and are therefore subject to risk and uncertainties that might affect future events or results. Descriptions of these risks are set forth in the company's regulatory filings. With that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Mr. Humberto Nahal.

Thank you, Claudia. Welcome, everyone, to today's conference call, and thank you for joining us. This quarter's immense sales volume continues strong despite political uncertainty proving the resiliency once again. After a very tight run of presidential elections on June 6th, yesterday, Mr. Castillo was proclaimed the next president of the country. There are claims of fraud from Jacob O'Himory and his supporters, which have brought people to the streets to protest against the way the elections were conducted. On the other hand, Mr. Castillo has shown weak signals of moderation and radicalization, so there is still no clarity on how the next government will conduct itself. Despite this uncertainty, we are confident that cement sales will continue strong this year, mainly because our current customer base is not very dependent on macro factors. On the one hand, the self-construction segment continues to be our most relevant source of income, and it has historically had very little correlation with high-level macro factors, at least in the short term. On the other hand, The demand coming from the public sector is basically related to the government-to-government agreement between Peru and the U.K. for the construction of El Norte after El Nino, and some from the government budgets that were put in place to offset the effects of COVID-19. We strongly affirm the belief that neither one of these budgets should be affected by a change in government, as they are way underway and have designated finances. Although CESOS may not be and continues to be the main driver of our growth, we are very pleased with the results of concrete and precast. As you mentioned last quarter, sales of live precast materials such as precast blocks have substantially increased in the past year. Although this has more percentage of our sales, we believe its performance illustrates how successful our strategy to transform our sales and provide the construction solutions the market needs. We have generated a new customer base, mainly expanding the sales of precast blocks to housing projects. We believe this strategy will bring significant increase in sales volume, taking us one step closer to our long-term goals. This quarter, we are also very proud to obtain a silver F in the brand experience category for ConsulateExperto.pe, an online platform created to redesign the former's experience with training and tools that help them be much more efficient. As you have mentioned in previous quarters, we are convinced that our solid results in these trying times come from the fact that we have been able to reinvent ourselves. be one step ahead in terms of digitalization and of course a distinction of how we can provide the best of our experience to all of our customers. This award is a clear recognition of these efforts. Although these are definitely important and absolutely necessary for business continuity, solid results would not be possible if we did not look at our business in an integrated manner. In this quarter, we have obtained two additional recommendations that are very relevant in terms of sustainability and business continuity. This year, we have improved 37 positions in the America of Talent of Peru, which aims to identify the 100 most attractive companies to work in our country. We believe we saw significant progress, which shows our commitment to enhance human capital management, and we will strive to continue improving in this ranking every year. Finally, and very importantly, this year we have once again obtained the award for Social Responsible Companies, DDSR, for Spanish Aviation. So now we are obtaining the award every year since creation 10 years ago, For its addition, there is an evaluation of ESG parameters through specific indicators that are internationally aligned with the Global Reporting Initiative and Sustainable Development Goals proposed by the United Nations. We are particularly proud this year to be able to obtain a special recognition in the ethics and integrity categories, which are very important for us. Although 2021 is proving to be one time and a very challenging year, we have continued to deliver substantial increases in cement, concrete, and brick achievements. that comes as a result of our constant and permanent effort to innovate, expand our market, satisfy new niches, and always remember to be absolutely client-focused. I will now turn the call over to Manuel from Morita Markets of Financial Stocks.