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Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for holding. At this time, we would like to welcome everyone to CSN's conference call to present results for the first quarter 2020. Today, we have with us the company's executive officers. We would like to inform you that this event is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] We have a simultaneous webcast that may be accessed through CSN's Investor Relations website at csn.com.br/ri (sic) [ csn.com.br/ir ], where the presentation is also available. The replay of this event will be available soon after the closing for 1 week period. Once again, you can watch the presentation at your own convenience. Before proceeding, we would like to say that forward-looking statements herein are near expectations or trends and are based on the current assumptions and opinions of the company's management. These future results, performance and events may differ materially from those expressed herein. They do not constitute projection. In fact, actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements as a result of several factors, such as general and economic conditions in Brazil and other countries, interest rates and exchange rate levels, future rescheduling or prepayment of debt denominated in foreign currency, protections measured in the U.S.A, Brazil and other countries, change in laws and regulations, and general competitive factors globally, regionally or nationally. We would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Marcelo Cunha Ribeiro, the IRO, who will present the company's operating and financial highlights for the period. You have the floor, Mr. Ribeiro.
Good afternoon to all of you, and thank you for participating in our results conference call for the first quarter '20. We're going to have a brief presentation followed by the comments of our Chairman, CEO, Benjamin Steinbruch. We begin with an update to the market on the efforts that the company has adopted in the efforts against COVID-19. Of course, this is inevitable as it affects all of us. As part of this activity, CSN has businesses that are deemed to be essential, such as mining and steel production. And because of this, we have maintained our activities without interruption. Our operation lines are operating at full steam, but with a certain care with the priority for the health of our employees. And that is why we have put in place the best practices such as distancing, awareness on the use of individual protection equipment, sanitizers, the use of masks, once again distancing at the work station, changes in shifts and transportation. And all of these measures have been quite successful in containing the advance of infection in our workplace. At the present, we have very few cases to report and luckily enough none of these cases is serious, and most of the employees have already recovered. Now besides this internal focus on our employee's health, the company has carried out activities to support the communities where we operate, especially in Rio De Janeiro and Volta Redonda. One of the most important is the donation of 500,000 fabric masks to the Health Secretaria de Saúde municipality, the donation of 50,000 food baskets for the community for needy people that have been impacted by the pandemic and for employees themselves. And finally, an important measure, the City Hall of Volta Redonda saw contributions from -- for the Campaign Hospital for medium complexity patients. We then go on to the highlight of the first quarter on Page #2 to comment on our 3 strategic pillars. The improvement of operational results, maintaining liquidity and acceleration of deleveraging. This was a different quarter, of course. In the steel production, we had a quarter of only 2 months, and in mining the severe impact of rainfall. But despite this, we obtained good results in terms of EBITDA and a strong operational cash generation. When it comes to liquidity, we were able to take advantage of the capital market window issuing $1 billion to extend our debt and to increase our liquidity so as to comply with our short-term debt. Finally, when it comes to leveraging, of course, at this point in time, we have had a one-off increase in indebtedness. Net debt EBITDA for this will be covered with an increase in revenues from exports. We, of course, are net exporters. These are the highlights for the period. Please go on to Page #5 to speak about our consolidated EBITDA. It was BRL 1.3 billion, about 15% below the fourth quarter '19 EBITDA with a different performance for each of the sectors. First, we have the steel segment with a positive performance and a growth in volumes, even in this pandemic event and increase in prices and recover our cost productivity. EBITDA grew almost 70%. The great impact comes from mining because of volumes, and we will speak about the causes in detail and how these impacts will be mitigated going forward. The third segment is cement with a good performance, a growth of BRL 4 million in EBITDA with better volumes, margin recovery, more normal costs and resilient civil construction. And cement has offered positive results despite the difficult environment. When it comes to exchange volumes, price and cost, the great impact was on volume for the quarter and the impact focuses on mining impacted by the rainfall in January and February. And in March, a delay in some new sources, and there was a delay in the licensing that had already been obtained. In terms of the exchange rates, very little effect because this happened at the end of the quarter and the increase of cost of the steel mills were offset with the revenues in mining. Besides this, we had good impact on prices in the steel prices, cement and iron ore as well, the price index had a good performance as well as our price realization. We had a good cost evolution, especially in steel, but also in cement and expenses helped us with a significant reduction. This allowed us to get to the EBITDA of BRL 1.3 billion. On Page #6, we will speak about impact on cash generation. We begin with the CapEx where we already show you a figure of BRL 354 million for the quarter, more normal vis-à-vis the previous quarter, a year marked by strong investments in steel because of the -- of blast furnace 3. And going forward, what we expect is to have investments as a priority in operational safety and maintenance. In this environment of uncertainty, we're reducing our expectations for investment. We had expected to invest BRL 1.8 billion. This has been reduced to BRL 1.1 billion. And we're postponing some great projects and only working with sustaining projects. In the financial cycle, we have to work hard to generate good inventory levels that begin to grow because of an uncertain demand, support to clients and management along with suppliers that we're supporting phase by phase. Thus, we were able to significantly mitigate variations, and we get to BRL 1.3 billion EBITDA and BRL 500 million in operational cash. We go on to Page #7. And we see that this cash flow is still not sufficient to ensure a reduction of indebtedness. In this quarter, specifically, we have a strong evolution in debt, which is very natural as 70% of our debt is in dollars and we're net exporters. Additionally to this, the exchange rate change happened at the end of the quarter and the net-debt ratio on EBITDA that reflects an average exchange rate is distorted. If we look at the net debt EBITDA, based on the average exchange rate, it was 3.8 and 4.1 and now 4.8 as we have said with each of the periods. Now this indicator that has risen has a onetime effect, so with a significant growth of revenue will conduct some normalcy. We benefit from greater revenue in reais, and we have a positive dollar sensitivity. Every USD 0.20 decreases the net-debt-EBITDA ratio by 0.15%, and so we maintain our goal of getting to 3x net debt EBITDA at the end of next year. We begin with BRL 32 million (sic) [ BRL 32 billion ], BRL 33 million (sic) [ BRL 33 billion ] of net debt to get to the new target of relative indebtedness of BRL 23 billion. And for this, we have to generate cash from our operations, but continue with our divestment program, maintaining the initiatives that are underway. And this will enable us to reduce the debt by BRL 10 million -- BRL 10 billion, excuse me, for the end of 2021. On Page #8, we speak about our liquidity and our amortization schedule, highlighting the most relevant actions, which was the issuance of $1 billion new bonds with maturity in 2028. And we have gone from 35 months to 45 months in terms of lengthening of the debt. This was essential for our liquidity. At the end of the first quarter, cash was at BRL 2.2 billion and vis-à-vis amortization of 2020 is BRL 5.1 billion. We're at a very advanced stage of the program of rolling -- rollover of the debt, especially the banking debt. We see that only BRL 1.8 billion will be amortized in 2020, which means we have sufficient liquidity to honor all of our short-term commitments, and we continue to work on new initiatives to increase this liquidity. Very soon, we will announce the prepayment of iron ore to reinforce our cash position. We will now speak about the details of our individual businesses as of Page 10. We see the more relevant indicators of steel, where we see an increase in volume, a sequential increase of 2% in total volume and showing you the advantages of a geographical diversification. An impact on sales domestically that had a nominal profit. We had a good performance in Europe, showing that we have resilience in Portugal and especially in Germany. Now this also had a price increase, especially in the domestic market because of the depreciation of exchange rates and we had price transfers in January, March, and we now are faced with a situation that was the increase of the foreign exchange with the margin for future increases in price. So this leads to an evolution of profitability. We reached BRL 3 billion in EBITDA. We're not where we would like to be, but this is an important test when we compare this to the high cost we had in 2019. In the next page, we speak of the productivity. We show you that the production volume has become more normal. We had low volume due to the blast furnace. And now this is normal, we have 874,000 tons, the best volume in a 1.5 years and this has led to a sequence of cost reductions in price even with the appreciation of the dollar. And although we faced some event, such as an outage in January, the plant was without electricity for more than 1 day with an impact of several million reais, intense rainfall in January and February and thus, humidity led to a drop of productivity in the blast furnace. So in the second quarter, everything will be in line with what is expected after the renovation of the blast furnace and our figures of EBITDA per ton have improved beyond the $100, which is where we would like to be at the end of the year. On Page #12, we go to the mining performance with an atypical quarter in terms of the volume due to the rains, and we weren't the only ones, of course. All of the mining companies in the southeast of Brazil had a relevant impact in mining and shipment as [indiscernible] and because of this, there were drops of over 30% that were also -- we see here on top of the 37%, not only because of the rainfall but because of delays in licensing of a new mine. The good news is that these licenses finally have been obtained. The volume is on itself becoming more normal. But if we observe the year 2020, we decided to carry out a marginal revision of our expectation for production for this year, an expectation that will be a drop of a maximum of 10% compared to 2019 and 2020, we will also reduce this and that suffices the best estimate that we have at present. Now these effects of the drop in volume are being offset with an excellent environment in the other areas of price, the exchange rates and of course, the freight. Because of our initiatives, they are at a low historical level, which means that the figures of revenues and EBITDA were less impacted compared to the volume. Revenues fell 21%, EBITDA 27%, and we got to BRL 921 million, a margin of 56%. And what we see is a good price realization because of this, the flats is at $89, practically stable, but our price realization went beyond this. It increased by 2% because we had a good performance of our quotational basket. And there was a lockdown of prices in very interesting moment. With this, we would like to end our presentation and I give the floor to Benjamin Steinbruch for his remarks before we go on to questions and answers.
A good afternoon to all of you, and thank you very much for your participation in our conference call. I would like to make some remarks very briefly, and say that we are fully respecting the pandemic that has arisen in Brazil and the entire world. We acknowledge the difficulties in economy and politics. Notwithstanding this, we do have to go through this and in the best way possible. I believe that CSN has been working arduously at least in-house to do whatever we can to reduce costs, making investments in productivity enhancements and productivity, and we're following up very closely on the market. Now I want to speak about each segment. My market perception is that from the viewpoint of cement, we're going through a very good moment. The market is stable, practically. And we believe that we will have an increase of sales for the second quarter. We're working with the production at 80% in the first quarter. We're going to obtain 90% for the second quarter. Now prices are being corrected favorably, and in truth what has made the great difference is the availability of logistics. We have been more aggressive in the market, and that is why we had a good performance in the first quarter and expect this to increase in the second quarter. In terms of long steel because of our limited representativeness in the market, we're selling full. We haven't had any problems in placing our product. And we also had a price improvement. We believe that for the second quarter, this should be maintained or improved vis-à-vis the first quarter. In terms of mining, we have opposite problems, which means that all of the conditions are favorable, when you think of price, of the dollar rate, of freight. We had one-off problems with rainfall in the first quarter, and this will not be recurring in the second quarter. We were able to obtain the environmental licenses, which were very important for us because we're opening now 2 new mining fronts. And with this, we will not only obtain iron ore, but also good quality iron ore, which will impact our performance in terms of quality in the second quarter. And of course, the amount represents a challenge. Everything that will be produced will be sold. So in the case of mining, our problem is the opposite to have more production to make the most of the other variables. And I think that after having obtained these environmental licenses and the opening of these new mining fronts, we are on the right path to reestablish our quantities, a return to normalcy without the problem of the rainfall. In flat steel, the market did have a greater drop. I think you have followed well on what is happening in the automobile industry and the industry as a whole. The civil construction was somewhat less of an impact. And distribution wasn't so bad in terms of its behavior. But despite all of this, we had a good first quarter, and we believe that for the second quarter, we will have 60% of the deliveries. So far, we do not know what will happen with production. It is under discussion. It is stoppage of the blast furnace 2 because the working capital invested is quite steep. And presently, a good manager has the obligation of preserving liquidity. So we have an eye on production and the market, and we're also looking towards liquidity and our financial commitment. But as a whole, I would like to transmit the most realistic viewpoint possible. I see and I acknowledge all of the difficulties, but I would say that there are several positive factors. Because of the efforts that were deployed previously by CSN, we should be having a significant reduction in the production cost of flat steel because of the renovation of blast furnace 3, productivity gains as well as gains in quality, 60,000 tons that we should have as a result of this renovation. And perhaps this topic of blast furnace 2 is being considered because of the -- but we do see a gradual and progressive recovery of the domestic market, along with the potential of a resumption in foreign sales because of the exchange rate and because of the products that we produce. When I say, therefore, that the only concern is flat steel, and we are working with 60% for the second quarter, part of all of the variables of the exchange rate, the quality and the transportation of iron ore, that contribute strongly to the results of CSN as well as the fact that the 60% will have a much lower curve because of blast furnace 3 and the event of stoppage of blast furnace 2. All of this will contribute towards a reduction of cost because blast furnace 3 has a cost that is much lower than blast furnace 2. And we would have a margin gain that would be significant for CSN in the second quarter. Once again, we're considering all of the social issues. And because of this, we still have not come to a decision. When we do, we want to make sure that we have contemplated all of the possibilities to minimize the social issues that would be caused by the stoppage. Also policies that are important in the region where we work. We're attempting to support our employees and communities where we work even more during this coronavirus period. We're deploying all of our excess assets in joint work with [indiscernible] and with our internal items, what we want to do is minimize problems, referring to coronavirus. Now if there is a stoppage at the blast furnace 2, we want to have this convergence of effort. Therefore, despite of all of these difficulties, my message is that we are somewhat optimistic in terms of the second quarter. We believe that the second quarter will bring about the peak of this pandemic and then we will have a third and fourth quarter that will be better. And of course, this will depend on the management capacity of each company. We will do whatever is possible without a doubt. We are mobilized for this. We continue with our commitment towards greater deleveraging. And as soon as the market opens up again -- that we'll make possible deleveraging. This will continue to be our priorities. Now as part of all of this, the new exchange rate is very favorable. But this doesn't mean that we're not going to attempt to help the net-debt-EBITDA ratio and make sure that it's all within what we want in a more speedier way. Now if this situation is maintained as it is at the end of the year 2020, the ratio will be 3x. We must make the best of all of the operational efforts and the good results that we continue to have. An EBITDA of 36% margin in mining and an EBITDA going towards 15% for the steel segment for the second quarter, it seems to me that despite everything, we have set ourselves aside vis-à-vis our competitors in the market in general. These are my remarks. I would like to thank you, and we can now go on to the question-and-answer session.
[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Daniel Sasson from Itaú BBA.
My first question refers to the potential stoppage of blast furnace 2. Is there any period in which you plan to come back? And if you are going to stop, will this be similar to the scheduled stoppages that you had before? How quickly will the blast furnace come back into operation? And which is the saving potential that you refer to in terms of variable cost and margin improvement? My second question, set out to Marcelo, refers to the target of BRL 23 billion in net debt and 3x net debt-to-EBITDA ratio at the end of 2021. Now how much of this depends on cash generation and other investment programs? I imagine that in the last 2 months, the situation has been ever more complex. Could you speak about the potential sale of some assets?
Well, in -- regarding your first question, the stoppage of blast furnace 2, from the technical viewpoint, we have already carried out this comparison very rationally because of the cost reduction. You can calculate that the reduction of cost will be 10% between blast furnace 3 and blast furnace 2. We always operate with this cost difference. And of course, the trend is that this spread will increase evermore, but you can consider 10% difference for the steel produced in blast furnace 3 and the one produced in blast furnace 2. Now when it comes to production, I think it makes sense to do the stoppage. Why? It will allow us to sell more iron ore. We're going to use less pellets. We will have a better pet coke. And additionally, if we consider the inventory levels that we have, without a doubt, we will consider that we can place in the market this entire inventory that we have from the rational viewpoint. Therefore, if we take into account results, this is what would happen. From the strategic viewpoint that -- this is where we have a doubt. And we're working with different possibilities of allocating a large part of our production from blast furnace 2 for export. Now if we are successful in this attempt, it would make sense to continue to work with all of our equipment lines servicing both the domestic and foreign markets, awaiting a recovery for the second quarter and the end of the year, and so coming to 2020 in a good position. Now what is holding us back in terms of our decision is the social issues. To make sure that at this point in time that we do not contribute with the crisis or by exacerbating the social situation, especially in the municipalities where we are active. This is a technical strategic decision if we want to think about it that way. And the coming week, we're going to enter into discussions. And in 1 or 2 weeks, at the most, we will be able to make this decision. So the technical part has been scheduled fully. And if we truly do work with this stoppage, we're going to do it with a great deal of calmness and with a great deal of technical security. We had stoppage of blast furnace 2 twice, this would be the third time we will do it without risk and in a very natural fashion. Now between this week and the next, we will come to a decision.
The second question, Daniel, before I respond to it, I don't know the answer given by Benjamin fully responds to your question, no. Regarding the second question, we have made an adjustment of our balance from BRL 20 billion to BRL 23 billion because of the exchange rates, but we maintain the figure of 3x net debt EBITDA. And informally, we always have a target of $1 billion for divestments as divestment potential. Last year, $1 billion was BRL 4 billion. We're now getting close to BRL 6 billion. This is also helpful. So we're considering having a reduction of BRL 10 billion between now and 2021. The difference will be the cash generated by the operations.
And in terms of SWT [indiscernible], do you have anything to tell us?
Nothing different from what we said 2 months ago. In those 2 months, well given the situation of total abnormality, but there is a positive side to this. The negotiation has continued and the potential buyers, involved with their own problems because of the pandemic, are still engaged and interested. The possibility continues to exist.
Our next question from Thiago from Goldman Sachs.
My first question refers to mining that had a much lower volume this quarter. You mentioned the impact of rainfall and the lack of your environmental licenses. If you could break this down and tell us which is -- what was caused by the rainfall and what was caused by the licenses? And you have a cost of several million because of this idle capacity. Now why did you take this decision? Shouldn't we have business as usual? Now the second question, perhaps to Marcelo. On a more positive note, if you could give us more color what is happening with your debt, BRL 200 million less?
Now regarding the ratio, it is always very emphasized. So the mining, once it came into operation and marginally impact was more in March and April. 80% of the impact of the first quarter was due to the rainfall. And as of May, we will see that this will return to normal pace. When it comes to idle capacity, you have to comply with accounting rules. You cannot allocate total product costs that were not applied to production. And if there are operational costs, they are classified in other expenses. And this is what happened last year in 2019 with the reform of blast furnace 3, where some equipment was not used and the cost associated to that equipment was not in the cost of goods sold, but in another line item with the criteria that CSN owned [indiscernible]. Now for the first time, we had this steep drop in volume. And this is a one-off event. The shipment, transportation and equipment at the mine were not used. And what happened was that same practice, separating those costs for products that have not been sold. Are there any more questions?
Your debt service?
This was benefited by the positive exchange rate in cash. The financial expense, therefore, has a net characteristic. In this quarter, we had an impact and an appreciation in reais.
The next question is from Gabriel Galvão from Crédit Suisse.
Congratulations on the rollover of your debt. My question refers to your commercial target, is under a resumption of demand. What are you going to do initially, increase prices or increase your market share? What has the rest of the industry done regarding this? The second question along the same line. If you could speak about your export mix. You sold more to the international market in this first quarter. What is your strategy going forward during this year? Of course, it will depend on the second quarter. If could speak more about this, I would appreciate it.
This is Martinez. The strategy has changed somewhat compared to the end of last year, but basically, it is the same. Benjamin has mentioned that we're going to work with the blast furnace 3 that is producing full speed. This is the lower cost equipment and the more economical production will be in blast furnace 3 using the -- a minimum amount of outside pet coke and pellets. Another point that does not change that I always mention, and I always repeat this, we have maintained this during the year, 50% to 53% of our output is linked to the [ COVID ] products. The third point, which I have reiterated often, and it has become very clear in our strategy. Thanks to our strategy at present we don't depend exclusively on the automobile market. CSN has 12% of the automotive market and markets that have had less, say, trucks, such as civil construction, there we have 16% in industry in general, 16%. In fact it's 11%. There wasn't a drop, quite the contrary, 9% in house appliances and 15% in distribution. Our strategy of not having all the eggs in the same basket continues. And in export, besides other strategies that we are seeking linked to maintain the production of the blast furnace 2, we're completing this amount in the United States. We're selling fully to the U.S.A. We're selling 300,000, and we're going to produce a large amount of government projects that have been contracted until the end of the year. Presently, we have been able to close some deals in Canada, Mexico and something in Latin America. Of course, this would be nirvana. But the fact is that these markets are also suffering, but we will become more competitive because of the exchange rate. Now the recovery of margins is mandatory, 70% of the cost of a slab at present, and this refers to any plant in the world, is iron ore [indiscernible] and coal and pet coke. With the dollar prices, you have to increase the prices. It's a matter of survival. So recovering margin through a reduction of price, this has to be done. It is part of our strategy. And as part of our strategy, what is happening in the first quarter. Apparent to your consumption, was a very reasonable consumption, 3 million tons. In the second quarter, as Benjamin mentioned, this is going to materialize, it has been contracted for CSN. It will be below that of competitors. The drop will be 37% to 40%. So the market will have 1,800,000 tons for the second quarter. What I am drawing up, although, that this is negative is a drop in the market as a whole of 20% to 25%. And CSN will work with a reduction that is lower than our competitors, thanks to our distribution, perhaps 20%. Our strategy will be focused on added value, working with very economical products and recovering prices as well as margins. When we speak about a price recovery, if we consider the premium that we have in nationalized imported goods, imagine that there is new BQ [indiscernible] $407 and the dollar is BRL 585. The premium is 12% to 15% negative at present. We can now imagine not having a price correction. And CSN is going to increase prices in June. We're looking for the best phase. We're going to look at the supply/demand curve, the competitiveness of the value chain, this premium. We're going to look at the clients and see who will buy. The market needs to improve, but we have to make corrections in the price to continue to survive in the market. I think an increase of 10% to 12% in June, and we cannot flee from this. Now this is the CSN strategy for this year to return to the market in the second semester, as mentioned by Benjamin. I don't know if you require any further information?
Our next question is coming from Mr. Carlos De Alba with Morgan Stanley.
I just wanted to check, how much do you expect or do you see in terms of benefit because of the lower freight cost? I wonder if you can quantify this, particularly, you're able to monetize from lower freight? And then maybe I missed this, but can you comment on the latest -- regarding asset sales to further strengthen the balance sheet and generate cash flows. That will be great. And my last question is, as you expect to increase production of iron ore in the coming quarter, can you mention the new guidance for the year in terms of iron ore production or sheet steel [indiscernible].
Carlos, thank you for your question. Well, freight, we're working below $7 and $8, and we then began the year with an expectation of about $10, $10 higher. And this curve will remain this way this year, but with simple math $10 times the total of our exports. If we were thinking of selling 36 million and exporting 32 million, and we're speaking of $320 million of advantage that will come from this, almost BRL 2 billion. And of course, this is significant. This is not guaranteed, but it would be impactful for our profitability. When it comes to the sale of assets, I updated you in terms of SWT, this is an asset that has been debated for over a year. Now the magnitude is of $500 million in terms of debt reduction as adjusted by the present exchange rate. This means this amount would be even greater because the half of our needs. But we also have several other options such as streaming that continues to be a possibility or an even greater alternative, which will be complementary or replace this IPO of CSN Mining, not in the present day market, but the company is making some moves and we'll be ready to do this once we have an opening of the economy. As mentioned by Benjamin, I thank you for your question. I don't know if you require any further information.
[Operator Instructions] Thank you. As we have no further questions, we will return the floor to Mr. Marcelo Cunha Ribeiro, the IR Officer, for his closing remarks.
It seems that we have more questions. No. Apparently, we have no more questions. I would like to thank all of you for your presence, and we are at your entire disposal. Have a good afternoon.
Thank you. The earnings release conference call for CSN ends here. Have a good afternoon. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]