Cosan S.A. ADS

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for waiting and welcome to COSEN's second quarter 2024 earnings release video conference call. Simultaneous translation is available during the session by clicking on the interpretation button at the bottom of the screen and choosing your preferred language, Portuguese or English. If you're listening to the video conference in English, you have the option to mute the original audio in Portuguese by clicking on Mute Original Audio. The video conference is being recorded and will be available on the company's IR website at cosan.com.br. The presentation is also available for download in English through the chat. During the company's presentation, participants will be on a listen-only mode. The question and answer session will start after the presentation. Please note that the information contained in this presentation and in statements that may be made during the conference call regarding COSAN's business prospects, projections and operating and financial goals constitute the beliefs and assumptions of the company's management, as well as information currently available. Forward-looking considerations are not a guarantee of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, as they refer to future events and, therefore, depend on circumstances that may or may not materialize. Investors should bear in mind that overall economic conditions, market conditions, and other operating factors may affect Kozan's future, performance, and lead to results that differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. I will now turn it over to Mr. Rodrigo Araújo.

Hi, everyone. Welcome to our earnings call for the second quarter of 2024. So starting here with our priorities, management priorities, just like to reinforce what we've been discussing over the last couple of quarters. mainly focused on uh having a lot of capital discipline especially given the the leverage at the whole co-level and the much more challenging interest rate scenarios with higher interest rates for longer time so we're focused on executing the the projects of the of the portfolio on delivering what we set up in the business plans and of course always focused on managing our talents in the group and providing the highest safety standards. With capital discipline of course we're able to support the contracted growth of the portfolio by making sure that we continue to invest in the structural projects of the different businesses. So moving on to the next slide, we have our EBITDA under management moving from 6.2 billion reais last year to 7.1 billion in 2024. We had a negative net result of around 200 million reais in this quarter. And looking at our safety record in this quarter, we had 0.24 LTIF, which is quite close to what we had in the first quarter of 2024. And of course, we're always looking for better results in terms of operational efficiency and safety. But this result shows the track record of evolving safety standards within the group. In terms of dividends and interest on capital received on this quarter, we see a very important result and an important evolution when compared to last year. Of course, we highlight dividends paid by Compass and Move, which, of course, more and more become relevant dividend payers within the portfolio. you see that we had a slight decrease in our corporate net debt and an important increase in terms of our debt service coverage ratio in terms of the last 12 months, moving from 1.1 times to 1.3 times in the second quarter of 24. Moving on to our next slide, we show here the overall results of the different businesses. In Rumo, you see that we had higher transported volumes and important increases in the average tariff, which, of course, translated into more relevant EBITDA for the business in this period, important operational results with market share gains in the Santos port. In Compass, We saw lower volumes in the residential segment given the higher temperatures in the period. Of course, we see on the margin, we see increase in the industrial demand with the industrial activity in Brazil picking up. But overall, we still see lower volumes on an annual basis. So we also saw a lower margin given the distribution mix with the decrease in the residential volumes. We also had the... operational startup of the regas terminal in Santos, here in Sao Paulo, and Edge already providing recurring results, not only with the regas terminal, but also with different sources of supply from the Brazilian pre-salt and also Bolivian gas, and by connecting new consumers to the open market, the open gas market in Brazil. In move, we had stable volumes in the period, but we continue to see relevant margin expansion and the execution of the commercial strategy and procurement intelligence delivering important growth in terms of EBITDA in the period. Hadar had the least revenues in line with the second quarter of 23 and a reduction in EBITDA mainly given the market of the land that we had in the second quarter of 23 that did not occur in the second quarter of 24. We expect to do the annual appraisal closer to the end of the year in 24. In high easing, we started sugarcane crushing in an accelerated phase with 31 million tons in a period, but this did not reflect in higher EBITDA, given the delay in the commercial strategies. So we had a delay in the commercialization of our own sugar and ethanol volumes. which we expect to compensate over the course of the year. On the other hand, in the mobility segment, we have an expansion of the margins, much healthier margins. So we see the fuel distribution margins in Brazil not only at a higher level, but staying at a much healthier level in this year of 24. Vale contributed with an EBITDA of 800 million reais from the equity pickup method. And in this quarter, we also had the impact coming from the sale of 0.78% of our stake in Vale and the unwinding of the remaining portion of the collar financing structure. So we ended up the period with... a little bit more than 4% stake in Vale, 4.1% stake, and the optionality of the call spread structure with additional 1.4% of optionality in Vale. So we see that the next slide, the EBITDA under management evolved from 6.2 billion to 7.1, and the results were mainly impacted by the factors that I've just described from the several different businesses. So moving on to the next slide before corporate debt profile, you see that, as I mentioned before, we decreased our corporate, our hold call net debt. and increased the, uh, that service coverage ratio from 1.1 times to 1.3 times. And, uh, in terms of the amortization profile in the lower part of the chart, uh, you see that we've, uh, improved the average maturity. So an average duration of 6.4 years, we've reduced the average cost to 1.4, uh, CDI plus 1.4, uh, And we also had a Brazilian domestic debt capital market transaction of 1.4 billion reais that ended the period as additional cash level that we're going to use over the course of the month of August to pay down these two installments in 24 and 25 that we still have. So basically, in terms of liability management, as I've mentioned before, we're going to have no amortization from 24 to 27. where we still have the 27 bonds outstanding. So we were quite active on the first half of this year in terms of liability management as well. Finally, moving on to our cash movement in the period, in terms of sources, as I've mentioned, we had dividends coming from Move and Compass, so around 2 billion highest dividends, mainly Move and Compass. In this period, we had portfolio management, basically the sale of the 0.78% of our value stake. We also had the 1.4 billion of the Brazilian local DCM issue of the ventures in Brazil. mainly used to repay principal and interest. We also distributed dividends to our shareholders and to the preferred shareholders, especially of Compass in Cozumel. So we had our cash balance moving from 2.6 billion to 4 billion. And as a reminder, we have 1.4 billion that we're still going to use in the month of August to conclude the liability managed movement that I've mentioned. So thank you for joining us in our earnings call and we can move on to our Q&A session. Thank you.

We will now begin the Q&A session with Mr. Nelson Gomez, Mr. Rodrigo Araújo and Ms. Ana Perina. To ask questions, please click on the raise hand icon at the bottom of the screen to join the queue. Upon being announced, a request to activate your microphone will appear on the screen. Please unmute your microphone and ask your question. We kindly request that each participant ask a maximum of two questions. If you're listening to the conference call in English, please ask your questions in writing by clicking on the Q&A button. Our first question is from Luis Carvalho, UBS. Please go ahead, Mr. Carvalho. Hello. Hello. Can you hear me? Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Great. Thank you. Thank you for taking my question. And congratulations on reducing the debt this quarter. Rodrigo. Let me take the opportunity of your presence to discuss the liability management at the hold call level. That's probably one of your priorities, given your leverage ratio and the potential to deleverage. So it's probably a great opportunity to create value. You've mentioned it, but if you could give us a bit more color on the priority. So you had the initial filing move for a potential IPO. How do you see these advances and uncertainties when it comes to Compass with the Subida, the Thera? You also touched on Vale. What can we expect in terms of position size without losing representativeness at the board. So if you could give us an overview of what we can expect over the next 12 to 18 months, that would be great. Second question, based on the debt reduction this quarter, doing the math and considering the hold code discount, it looks wide open. So how concerned or are you concerned about that and what could you potentially do to have a fair pricing when it comes to the assets? Thank you. Good morning, Luis. Thanks for the questions. To your first question. And giving you an overview, you know that we've been quite vocal about that. We are highly focused on capital allocation and obviously leverage is a priority in our agenda. It is a point of concern. Since the company's capital framework was adjusted, we've been working on that, looking at interest rates so that we can have interest coverage that is sustainable over time. So, you know, we've been working on that. And I think in terms of liability management and the structure as a whole, we did was what was most urgent. I think the first half of the year was highly active. We unwound Valley Scholar financing completely. We also did some fundraising to address the two amortization towers we had for 24 and 25. So our profile is much more suitable to the group's investment cycle. We will have major investments over the next two to three years without any maturities until 27. So in terms of profile, I think we're looking pretty comfortable with what we've done so far. Obviously, if there are any opportunities considering the right costs, prices and maturities, we do have options like bonds outstanding. There are other potential transactions that can be done, but it would be much more strategically. It's about the right timing and opportunities. Now, moving on to your point about our portfolio, what we see are The business is executing on the plan. When we talk about disciplined capital allocation, considering the current interest rates, and that can be reflected on all of the group's companies, everyone has been more disciplined. You've been seeing what companies have been doing in terms of investments and divestments in their portfolio, and that will be an increasingly more natural move if you listen to Rumo's call, you will have heard about that. So it will become even more natural. About Subida Dacera, there are no relevant impacts. And as shareholders, obviously, we're monitoring it because It's a relevant topic, but there are no updates or any points of concern about that. And finally, about Vale, I think that in addition to what I talked in terms of the color unwinding this semester, we adjusted the size of our position. So we sold 0.78 over our stake, which was used to reduce the debt. So we have been focusing on deleveraging the current level, which is close to 4%. 0.1 and 1.4 of the call spread of that future optionality that we will keep. We are not looking at increasing our position. Obviously, we'll continue to monitor things closely and finding the best capital structure and balancing that with our ability to influence. So we're always keeping an eye out for that. But there are no changes on the radar for the short term. So that's the level and we don't expect it to change, especially increase. In terms of the discount at the holdco level, yeah, it does bother us. Obviously, we couldn't be comfortable about that. But on the other hand, we're doing what we know will create value, which is deleverage, transferring that value to equity, executing on projects, making sure that projects are executing on the CapEx and what's been contracted with disciplined capital structure and allocation. That's what we've been working on to close the discount at the holdco level. So we're not comfortable about it, but we are working on what is under our control and what we know are value creation levers. Thanks for the question. Yeah, that was very clear. Thank you. The next question is from Gabriel Barra, Citi. Please go ahead, Mr. Barr. Hi, Nelson. Hi, Rodrigo and Ana. Thanks for taking my questions. I have questions about a couple of topics, and the first one is about Vale. There was a reduction, as you mentioned, You've unwound the color, there's the cold spread and over 4% position at Vale. So how are you thinking looking forward? Considering deleveraging, how should we consider Kozan's investments in Vale? Is it still a company's core asset? I know you can't comment on your exact plans, but if you could give us a bit more color, it would help us understand how the company is deleveraging. Second point is about the debt service coverage ratio. You were talking about 1.5, you're close to 1.3. And the second point I'd like to hear on is a trend. How would you deleverage? How much deleveraging should we expect over the next few years? Thank you for taking my two questions. Thank you, Gabriel. Good morning. Thanks for the questions. I'll start with the first question, which is about Vale. As you said, we have readjusted our position looking at deleveraging COSAN in terms of the portfolio as a whole, and that goes to our investment in Vale, but it also applies to our other major businesses in the portfolio. We don't expect to make any great changes in our portfolio mix, in the verticals and the relevant businesses in the portfolio, but in The specific case of Valley, obviously, we'll be monitoring it very closely. There are many relevant events that are ongoing that have the potential to happen over the next 12 to 18 months. And so we're monitoring that very closely. There are no expectations of any changes, but obviously we are balancing everything. leveraging with the size of our stake so that we can continue to have an influence. So no changes on the horizon, but we will be monitoring it closely. About the interest coverage, obviously we know that the dividends flow is something that happens over the whole year and it's not linear. There will be fluctuations in that number, although We have celebrated the increase to 1.3. You know, the dividend payout cycle is not a linear process, but bringing it to 1.5 times and just to share some of the rationale, 1.5. It's something we believe is enough to cover the debt service. We can cover the hold calls, existence costs, and that's on our agenda. So how can we make the holding company more efficient, more streamlined when it comes to costs? In addition to paying out cause and shareholders, we can organically deleverage over time without necessarily depending on portfolio management. So the 1.5 times is based on that rationale. So having a more sustainable 1.5 would allow us to be more organic. We have no set date to get to that, but I don't think we'll be going over that level consistently before the end of 25. So we're working to get there as soon as possible, but there is no set date. It's much more something that we see as sustainable to manage our portfolio going forward. I have been very vocal when it comes to how important it is to deleverage, but it's also important to point out that we don't want to compromise the quality of our portfolio to do that. Obviously, deleveraging is key. Obviously, there's a huge opportunity to transfer value from debt to equities. It is on our radar. It's important to us, but that needs to be done by keeping the same level of quality or improving it. So... We're not just looking at one side of the equation without looking at the whole. Thank you for the questions, Gabriel. That's great, Rodrigo. Thank you. The next question is from Monique Greco from Itaú BBA. Please go ahead, Ms. Greco. Hello, everyone. Good morning, Rodrigo, Ana, Nelson. And thanks for taking my questions. Rodrigo. I have a follow-up question about your comment. For some time, you have been reiterating the importance of making sure you have the right CapEx execution considering a more challenging macro environment, especially considering the interest rate. And now you've just said that you know, we have been seeing some natural movements in terms of managing portfolio at the subsidiary companies. So considering the current investments made by the subsidiary companies and what's on their plan, what would you say are the main challenges to execute on your CapEx? And where do you think there's more room to adjust the investment plans to face this challenging macro scenario the second question is about radar usually there's an assessment in the second quarter and it didn't happen this time around so how are you seeing the current land market both in terms of liquidity and appreciation and also if you could comment on your JV with Novin for the land portfolio management. That would be great. Thank you. Good morning, Monique. Thanks for the questions. I'll start with your first question about our CAPEX execution and discipline and portfolio allocation. And Ana can take your question about radar. About our CAPEX execution, the main point is The challenge in a more complex interest rate scenario and the need for higher returns applies to everyone. Kozan and all the other businesses, obviously those businesses that are going through a more CapEx relevant moment, they have the challenge of return on their projects, but also the CapEx execution challenge. We know that CapEx is never an easy thing in Brazil. so there's the return issue and there's the execution issue which is also very relevant in terms of portfolio management i did touch on that but i think it's important to put it into context if you look at our portfolio we've seen that across all businesses terminals have been sold and partners have changed that rumo there have been strategic decisions at compacts to keep Part of the portfolio divesting, part of the portfolio acquiring what's a strategic divesting where we don't think we're the best shareholders at Raisin. Part of the distribution, distributed generation business has been sold. So it's hard to say where challenges are bigger or smaller. The challenge is everywhere in terms of opportunities to optimize or reduce capex. I think we find that across our portfolio and we'll always be highly disciplined when it comes to looking at that consistently. I don't want to talk about any specific opportunities, but the main point is we will be looking at that consistently, whether it's the growth capex, which we'll do as best as possible so that we can make sure we have the growth we want, capture our portfolio growth as efficiently as possible, but also recurring capex. Can we do it better? Can we do it more? That's a constant challenge. I don't want to speak about any specific cases, but we're very active when it comes to looking at capital allocation and And I'll turn it over to Ana now to talk about radar. Hi, Monique. About radar, we have a recurring process at the company to reassess the portfolio value. So seasonally, there may be times when pricing indicators on the land go up and there are changes to the portfolio, but The most relevant changes we see yearly, where we have the reports from independent consultants validating the portfolio value, happen in the third quarter. And that's when we do the appreciation. Now, ever since we increased our stake in the businesses, we have had significant returns, surfing records. great crops in the last couple of years. Commodities have had historical yields, high prices. So that has already increased the value of the portfolio considerably already. And as you said, as we consolidated our JV with Nuveen and started managing the whole land portfolio, not only where we have a stake, but also the other portfolios, both in Brazil and internationally, where Nuveen has a stake, that opens up our opportunity horizon to maybe recycle the portfolio or increase the value of our portfolio. But like Rodrigo said, and as we have been saying in terms of where the company is right now, Radar is a business where there are opportunities to consistently assess opportunities to recycle the portfolio and to increase returns for the company. Thank you. Thanks, everyone. The next question is from Bruno Montanari from Morgan Stanley. Mr. Montanari, please go ahead. Good morning. I have a couple of follow-up questions, please. One about recycling the portfolio. The largest contribution, will it come from internal decisions from the subsidiary companies, so more dividends coming into the holdco or potential moves carried out through the whole code. So listing new businesses, private placements, and up to what point can Cozan influence the decisions that might be made by the subsidiary companies? And your spread on CDI has decreased slightly with the refinancing. Do you think you've reached the maximum spread compression, or can you work on it and reduce the cost of debt a little bit more? Thank you. Thank you, Bruno. I'll start with the first one, and then I'll talk about the spread. With regards to our portfolio, it's a combination of things. Obviously, I mentioned this in my last answer, but I'd like to reiterate the fact that we want to see businesses grow. We want to capture value that comes from strategic projects. Obviously, we're not going to compromise the quality of our portfolio or the execution of strategic projects. Obviously, as I said, return levels that are required in the current scenario are higher, and that's clear to everyone. Evidently, in terms of moves made at the holdco level we're working towards that but selling large businesses is not something that happens overnight so we're constantly looking at opportunities but it's also important to point out that we want to make sure that we keep the quality of our portfolio so anything that happens at the holdco level will combine deleveraging and high quality across the portfolio. In terms of having an influence on the decisions made by the subsidiary companies, ultimately, what we bring in terms of value creation to the portfolio is bringing in the right challenges, best practices, having a vision of the whole, because we look at the portfolio and we're able to see that we're able to share synergies across the different businesses at different times. So making sure we have the right return levels is key. And That's the contribution we make towards creating value. That doesn't mean we're going to change any decisions. We want to make the decision-making process more robust and have the right challenges. We wouldn't pretend to run the everyday business. We want to make a contribution to the capital education process in terms of the spread and liability management. Clearly, there are consistent opportunities to reduce cost and to bring the average cost down through different operations. What used to be more urgent, as I said at the beginning, we've already done that. So now we need to find timely opportunities in terms of the right time for cost, improving duration, lower costs. But there are opportunities here. to tighten those spreads and we will be making the most of those. Thank you for your questions. Thank you. The next question is from Bruno Amorim from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead, Mr. Amorim. Hello, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I have a follow-up question about capital allocation. You've been talking a lot about focusing on the current portfolio, developing the ongoing projects at the subsidiary companies. What might trigger a change in that behavior? And what would make you more comfortable in terms of the debt service coverage ratio to invest outside your current portfolio? Thank you. Thank you, Bruno. Thanks for your question. I did mention having a coverage level that's closer to 1.5 because that would make us more stable and more organic in terms of indebtedness. An important point I think I should stress is... We give you a summary, but we have lots to do in our pipeline in terms of portfolio. Complex projects, structural projects, and we need to have focus. So in addition to the leveraging benefit, discipline, and capital allocation, we need to have focus. We need to execute on things that we can manage properly. What we can manage and focus on is what is currently in our pipeline by either keeping the same level of quality or improving it. So focusing on doing a few things well is very important. I mean, that's a soft aspect, but it's a key aspect if you want to be successful. Thanks for your question. Thank you. Have a great day. The next question is from Lucas Ferreira from JP Morgan. Please go ahead, Mr. Ferreira. Hi, everyone. Good morning. Rodrigo, I don't know if you'd be able to share it with us because your portfolio is quite complex. covert ratio has some instability in terms of FX. It's being discussed if the PC is bringing the interest rate ups 100, 150 bps and the FX will be net positive in terms of paying out dividends at your subsidiary companies. But are you putting all that into the equation? You know what you have in terms of payables and receivables? How unstable are those variables and would that be helpful or not looking forward to get to that 1.5 times? And my next question is more qualitative. How do you see the business scenario in Brazil and around the world in terms of the economic environment? Is it making the group a bit more cautious or more risk averse? Does that speed up the company's priority to look into potential investments or to work on a specific leverage or coverage target that is a bit higher than expected? Thank you. Thanks, Lucas. Thanks for your questions. I'll start with the interest rates and being sensitive to it. I'm not going to share a guidance when it comes to that, but obviously the potential interest rate increase makes everything more challenging. It does make the scenario more challenging, you know, that we swap our debt to interest. Floating CDI, there are specific things like the perpetual bonds. We don't swap the principles. So I'm not talking about the debt level because the spot FX affects the debt level. But in terms of interest rates, we do swap substantially looking forward. But yes, you are right. FX going down, but interest rates do make it more challenging. So focusing on good capital allocation and deleveraging also has to do with that so that we can have a lower debt level that makes the interest rate cycle less painful. So that's another perspective. As for the business environment and the economy as a whole, obviously, if we go back two years, Money was extremely cheap all over the world. And now it's a much more challenging environment. Interest rates have gone up across the board, especially in Brazil. And in the short to the midterm, we don't see it going back anywhere close to the interest rates we had in 2022. So we're going to have to coexist with this new environment. And you're right. We have to be more disciplined. I'll say disciplined instead of cautious. Because sometimes in this kind of environment, you have to be a bit more aggressive. But we have to have more discipline because interest rates won't be going down. So we need to learn in a world where capital allocation is the name of the game. That's why we have a very solid message, and that's why we keep repeating that that's what we'll be focusing on. Thank you for your questions. Thank you. The next question is from Pedro Suarez, BTG Pactual. Please go ahead, Mr. Suarez. Good morning, everyone. Good morning, Rodrigo. Rodrigo? I've got an objective question. We have discussed a potential restructuring of preferred shares connected to Vale's funding. I think you mentioned that that is a possibility. Could you share with us whether it would make sense to consider that option again in terms of the timing to maybe speed up the hold calls ability to deleverage by increasing dividends through Compass and Raisin. Thank you. Thanks, Pedro. Good morning and thanks for your question. It's important to stress that any changes to preferred shares can only happen after the fourth year of the structure. So that's not something we'd be able to do in the short term. On the other hand, it doesn't mean that we'd be interested in doing that now. It's always important to point out that the structure of preferred shared holders was a structure with an equity characteristic that is served by the business dividend flow. So looking at the capital structure as a whole, And this is a key point to share with you. We want to have flexibility. We're looking at lower costs. shorter maturities, but also flexibility. I talked about the outstanding bond 27. We have other structures in addition to the bond 27 that are outstanding because we want to have flexibility. If there is a liquidity event in the company, we need to have room to pay for it. So it's a combination of things, an ability to deleverage, but we don't want to be completely tied down without prepaying structures. So in summary, the preferred share structure has a very competitive cost in our portfolio. So it's not on our radar to make any changes to that structure. Thank you for your question. Thank you. The next question is from Gustavo Sadka. From Bradesco. Please go ahead, Mr. Saitka. Hello. Good morning, Rodrigo. Good morning, Ana. My question is about the discount at the holdco level. One of the ways of looking at it is either the discount a high or where you don't have mark to market, they haven't been embraced at COSEN. And piggybacking on the question about the macroeconomic scenario, because it's a more challenging scenario, can we consider other mark to market options in addition to the private placement as Compact has done in the past or selling? stake in these businesses, could that be a mark-to-market option? Thank you. Thanks, Gustavo. Good morning. Thank you for your question. We're always considering options, and those options do exist. Obviously, there's nothing in the pipeline right now, but we're always looking into it. Let me just separate what you said about the capital market. We know the huge challenge in the Brazilian capital market. It's not necessarily the same thing in the American market. It's a much more thriving market and much more functional than the Brazilian market as a whole. But generally speaking, we consider all kinds of opportunities. There's nothing we don't look into, we don't assess, we don't consider. There are no short-term events. Let me just make that clear, but it is something we do look into. Yes, thank you for your question. This concludes the Q&A session. I will now turn it over to the manager for their closing remarks. Thanks everyone for joining us on our earnings release conference call. The IR team is available to answer any remaining questions and I'll see you in the third quarter earnings release conference call. Thank you and have a great day. COSEN's second quarter 2024 financial information video conference is now concluded. For further questions, please contact the Investor Relations Department. Thank you for joining us and have a great day.