Equatorial Energia SA
BOVESPA:EQTL3
Equatorial Energia SA
BOVESPA:EQTL3
Price:
31.61 BRL
4.67%
Market Closed
Updated:
May 4, 2024
Section:
Earnings Call Analysis
Summary
Q4-2023
Q4-2023
Equatorial Energia Q4 2023 Results
Equatorial Energia reports a robust Q4 2023, citing a 12.3% YoY growth in energy distribution and a 26% increase in adjusted EBITDA to BRL 2.8 billion. Investments hit BRL 2.6 billion, mainly across new acquisitions and renewable projects. Net debt reduced by 0.3x compared to the previous quarter, standing at 3.3x in covenant fuel. The company notes improved operational quality, with a noteworthy reduction of outages in Maranhao and Amapa by approximately 11 hours in comparison to Q4 2022. Forward-looking, Equatorial foresees a continued reduction in leverage via EBITDA growth and strategic actions similar to those in 2023.
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[Interpreted] Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Equatorial Energia conference to discuss results regarding the fourth quarter of 2023. The presentation will be delivered by the CEO of the company, Mr. Augusto Miranda and by the CFO, Mr. Leonardo Lucas, who at the end will be available to answer any questions you might have. Always participating in this conference are Mr. Lia Kino, CEO of Equenergia; Tatiana Vasques, Investor Relations and Financial Strategy Superintendent; and Mr. Anu Leao, Superintendent for regulations. We would like to inform you that the simultaneous translation tool is available on the platform. [Operator Instructions]. This conference is being recorded and will be available on the company's Investor Relations website, www.ir.equitoriaenergia.com.br as well as the presentation delivered here. [Operator Instructions]. Before proceeding, we would like to clarify that any forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of Equatorial Energia management and current information available to the company. These statements may involve risks and uncertainties as they relate to future events and therefore, depend on circumstances that may or may not occur.
Investors, analysts and journalists must understand that events related to the macroeconomic environment, industry and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the respective forward-looking statements. We will begin the presentation by giving the floor to Mr. Augusto Miranda. You may proceed, sir.
[Interpreted] Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for attending this event. We will now discuss the results for the fourth quarter of 2023 of Equatorial Energia Group. In the operational environment, the fourth quarter was marked by the effect of strong volumes in distribution, improvement in quality, reduction of losses and maintenance of excellent levels of collection despite the growth in consumption. And as a consequence, the cost of the electricity bill.
However, we had to face some challenges, among them, the climatic episodes in Rio Grande do Sul and the strong heat waves that affected the whole Brazil in the fourth quarter but had a greater impact on the more fragile grid of recently acquired companies. And the constraint of effects, which impacted the energy flow of EcoEnergy wind farms connected to the National Interconnected System. In the financial environment, Equatorial concluded important operations to ensure a reduction in the company's leverage and carried out a number of issuances of debt and prepayments that improved the maturity profile. In the macro scenario, we observe a downward curve in the Selic interest rate and a significant improvement in liquidity in the market, which should contribute to a reduction in the debt service costs in the coming quarters and offer opportunities to advance in the management of our liabilities at more attractive costs. We will now start on Slide 3. Starting with operational highlights, I draw your attention to the performance of distributed energy, which on a consolidated basis posted a growth of 12.3% the year -- in the comparison year-over-year.
It's another quarter of growth in all the regions where we operate. And the market was also driven by problems of cuts and high temperatures for the execution of our strategy to prevent losses. We are consolidated losses, total losses of the group within the coverage that is established by the regulator with 18.4% reduction with a reduction of 0.7 percentage points compared to the same period of last year, driven by significant reductions in Amapa and Rio Grande do Sul.
We reached BRL 2.8 billion of adjusted EBITDA in the quarter, a performance 26% higher than that in the same quarter last year with the consolidation of Equatorial and that excludes non-cash effects and also VNR, IFRS and SMTM. We invested around BRL 2.6 billion in the quarter, with the need of maintaining high levels of investments in the recently acquired distribution concessions -- and also the investments in renewable energy projects.
And this includes the construction of 2 solar plants scheduled to come into operation this year. We ended the quarter with a reduction of 0.3x reduction in net debt over EBITDA compared to the previous quarter, a total of 3.3x in covenant fuel. Since the consolidation of Equatorial Goias, we have consistently reduced our leverage, either through the increase in EBITDA or through a series of actions carried out throughout the year with the aim of improving net debt.
In this regard, it's important to highlight the initiatives to recycle our assets. We had the closing of 100% of the capital of Intesa in March, one of our transmission assets. It's another initiative to accelerate of deleveraging the company. In relation to the quality of operation, all DisCos reduced the debt in relation to the fourth quarter 2022 with the main highlight being Equatorial Maranhao, which once again fell within the deck regulatory limit and Equatorial Amapa, which reduced the deck by 11 hours.
Analysts, I highlight that Equatorial Energia has been part of B3 Sustainability Index and iDirportfolio since last year. Demonstrating our commitment to ESG best practices. Now I give the floor to Leo on Slide 5, where we will start discussing the consolidated view of the group's economic and financial performance.
[Interpreted] Thank you, Augusto, and good morning everyone. I'll quickly discuss the group's economic financial performance in a consolidated view. Here, the numbers are adjusted for non-recurring effects and also noncash effects, such as VNR in the Discos, IFRS Intervision and MTM in sales. Our consolidated gross margin grew 39% compared to Q4 '22. The growth is mainly driven by the consolidation of Equatorial Goias, which added BRL 858 million to the margin in the quarter, in addition to the growth in distribution of BRL 201 million. This is a result of the increase in the distribution segment market. The group's OpEx ex-Goias showed a growth of 7.7% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. And is due to the greater mobilization of teams to deliver improvements in quality indicators and the commitment with the cycle of revenue and collection.
And we are going to discuss the result of [ PM ] OpEx showing the discipline in the allocation of capital. The adjusted EBITDA reported in the quarter reached BRL 2.8 billion, about 26% higher than the same period of last year. This increase is due to the consolidation of Equatorial Goias, which totaled BRL 569 million. Disregarding the effect of the consolidation of Equatorial Goias, the distribution segment would have shown a drop of BRL 76 million. And the main effect being the increase in PDA in relation to the fourth quarter of 2022.
As last year, there was a reversal of this account in some companies that resulted in PDA consolidated, that is creditor predominantly. On the right side, we show the company's debt profile and the investments made in the quarter. Net debt of the company fell by BRL 2 billion compared to Q3 2023. -- and leverage measured by the net debt over EBITDA ratio for covenants showed a reduction for the fourth consecutive quarter, reaching 3.3x.
This is a result of the growth in EBITDA, combined with the inorganic actions carried out throughout the quarter, such as the sale of treasury shares, issuance of PN shares and the deconsolidation divestiture of Intesa from the company's balance sheet. Investments in the quarter showed an increase of 54% when compared with the same period of the previous year and reflects investments in the pipeline of projects of EcoEnergia that Richard did speak in November 2024 and the investments made in distribution segment, especially Goias considering that this asset was not consolidated in 2022. We are now going to move on to Slide #7, where we bring an overview of the operational and commercial of our DisCos in addition to the highlights of the quarter. For comparison purposes between quarters, operational data is shown in a Q4 '2022 view adjusted with data from Equatorial Goias.
On the right side of the slide, we show the evolution of gross margin in the distribution segment, which grew 8.3% in ex Goias view. Even with the effect of reduction of Parcel B in Marine and Para as a result of the last tariff review. We would like to draw your attention to the excellent control of expenses, even improving quality, reducing losses and maintaining high levels of collection. The OpEx, both for the quarterly view and other periods grew below inflation.
Despite the growth scenario, high level of consumption of energy that pressurizes the bill of our consumers, it was possible to continue reducing losses. The cycle of our distributors and report a level consolidated collection of 9.1% with 99.1%. This expressive growth in the market pressurizes down the level of collection. The variation of EBITDA ex-Goias presented a reduction of 4.3%.
That was driven by a reversal of the OpEx and the effect was BRL 226 million. That is offset, the EBITDA would have grown 9.5%. Now moving on to Slide 8. We present an overview of the operational quality of our DisCos. The major highlight for the quarter is Equatorial Maranhao, which once again came within the deck regulatory limit and showed a reduction of 10.6 hours last year.
I would also like to highlight the reduction of approximately 11 hours in CEA when compared to Q4 '2022 as a result of the turnaround that has been implemented in this company since its acquisition. Here, we bring a vision of the quality of our DisCos, separated by regions across the country and now established a percentage trajectory related to the quality limits. In relation to effect Maranhao, Paraiba, Alagoas, already are consistent with the target of 80%, which is also the case of Amapa. As to debt our companies, the most mature ones, Para and Maranhao are undergoing the process of renewal of the concessions. And that really are the ones that have moved to more ground in reaching the level. Para has already in the final target and Maranhao surpasses the target already for 2025. For the other companies, the deadlines for reaching the 80% of the groups are higher than the average of the sector because we were fortunate to make important acquisitions in the previous year.
Paraiba and Alagoas, which are companies who are in the average level of turnaround have already met the level established by Amapa already reached 80% of the group's. Goias because it's a recent acquisition, hasn't had a target established for 2023. And the final target is for 2028 of 80%. [indiscernible] was the only company in the group that has met the trajectory that was established by now.
Considering the climate events extreme that the company has undergone. Only in 2023, more than 16 events happened. And for the next years, we have investments to improve the quality so that the grid can be even more robust and increased redundancy. Even with the natural trend of deacceleration of total investments estimated for the distribution sector considering the tariff cycle for most of the companies. It's just natural that the companies that have been recently acquired demand more attention and more resources until the benefits of the investments can be collected, through [indiscernible] especially. In terms of costs and operational aspects are the ones that are rooted in the group. And that has been treated with the same assertiveness and discipline.
We assure that with the investments and with the right management, we are going to continue bringing quality improvements to the company. Now we can move on to Slide 10. Now let's look at the other segments of the group. In the transmission, we presented a regulatory EBITDA of BRL 291 million, impacted by the 50% reduction in Intesa original rep and a margin of 92% in the quarter.
We have the studies that had disclosed in the past few days. In the renewable segment, we presented an EBITDA of BRL 270 million. An increase of 11.3% when compared to the same period of last year. We also presented the quarter's generation, which reached 533 gigawatt hour and had an impact from the curtailment of 88 gigawatt hour in the quarter. It's worth highlighting the effect of MTM in the fourth quarter of '23 and the commercialization.
The company used to market-to-market all its portfolio of sales and had a positive result in the margins obtained. As of the fourth quarter of 2023, even though this positive margin remains after the review of the methodology, how to measure the fair value and the trading of commercialization, all the portfolio of the company was re-evaluated and the agreements were re-classificated or as trading our executory with the information generated by Equa Energy. And those characterized as trading are in the scope for market-to-market.
So we made an adjustment in the period of BRL 176 million that refer to the positive margin for the commercialization of the pipeline and because of the methodology is no longer market-to-market. The sanitation segment still shows the initial stages of the operation. EBITDA was negative by BRL 14 million. And the highlight of the quarter is the reduction of losses, which reduced by 6.8 percentage points when compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
It's important to highlight that since we took over CSA operations, 24,600 water meters have already been installed, and the trend is to speed up these installations this coming year. Now let's move on to the next slide. I turn the call over to Augusto for his final remarks.
[Interpreted] Thank you Leo. We are happy with the results achieved so far, but we are aware of the importance of our growth to continue delivering consistent and growing results for the benefit of all stakeholders. Regarding the outlook for 2024, since we have concessions at different stages, we will continue to make headway improving the quality and reducing losses of our DisCos paying special attention to the evolution of the turnaround in the recently acquired companies.
And this year, we'll complete [indiscernible] solar projects, which will bring robustness of our generation portfolio, increased cash generation. We will have completed the extraordinary review in Amapa and a review in Alagoas. As for capital structure, we see the trend to maintain the reduction in leverage, whether through EBITDA growth from the tariff review processes and advances in the turnaround processes or through inorganic solutions such as those already implemented throughout 2023, which will allow for greater competitiveness in the assessment of possible future opportunities for capital allocation and value generation. Now, I'll hand the floor over to the operator to open the Q&A session.
[Interpreted] We will now open the Q&A session. [Operator Instructions]. Our first question comes from Giuliano Ajeje from UBS Giuliano, you may proceed, sir.
[Interpreted] Hello, everyone. Good afternoon. I have two questions on my side. Let me start with the first one. I want to understand the result of sale if you could provide more detail on the non-recurring effects of sale and provide more quantification in relation to the growth of load. What was that repressed demand or temperature only for us to understand the quantification of so -- and let me take advantage of this opportunity to ask a question about the renewal of the concession for the DisCos. We know that this story has been extended. But I would like to understand from you how the discussion of concession renewal is? And if this delay may cause any impact on the CapEx in the concessions that are about to come due? Thank you.
[Interpreted] Giuliano, thank you for your question. They are very timely. So, I'll start answering your question about the concession renewal. That's exactly what you have seen in the media and the minister said that he's going to issue the discrete and DCU is going to reinforce the position. And considering the importance of the sector, I believe that we cannot have any adventures in this decision. So, it's a sector that demands a lot of capital and everything that should generate uncertainties will have a serious consequence to the country. So, I believe that the Ministry of Mines and manager has already made their stand. About [ Sage ], I believe that nonrecurring effects to be mentioned, one related to the PDD. And we saw that the level of PDD associated with parcel is very low.
We understand that we needed to make a new reclassification recalculation in relation to the PDD in Goias. Another one was related to a contingency. There was a risk of probable loss of a fine that started before we joined the operation. So basically, these were the main effect among other effects.
[Interpreted] Well, can you provide a quantification in terms of growth? If there is a repressed demand?
[Interpreted] Yes, in Goias, we have seen some repressed demand. This was very clear when we face the heat waves. So it was very important to understand what where were the fragile points so that we can combat those weaknesses in 2024 and also to look at those bottlenecks of repressed demand. So, these are areas whose growth is very relevant.
And we are very focused on making balanced investments in order to address quality, but also looking at the bottlenecks for growth. To complement Leo, I would say that if you look at Goias, you see that Goias has a history that it grows above average in terms of Brazil, and this is something that we have seen. So there are loads -- heavy loads at the edges, and we have made a massive investment to meet those localized demands across the 4 corners of the state. And on the other hand, we have also been working together with the federal government to provide for that. Since the loads are heavy, we need solutions and the solutions cannot be solved in short term.
[Interpreted] So there are specific areas for us to give proper response to meet those repress demand. Okay, excellent.
[Interpreted] Giuliano, we continue observing a very strong demand in the beginning of this year.
[Interpreted] So the effects of high temperatures is likely to continue along the next few months, and it may make some changes in the base case. So it's -- we are very fortunate because we saw that the repressed demand is very high. And the repressed demands associated with expansion of the grid, and you are going to have a coverage for the tariff.
[Interpreted] Yes, naturally, naturally. If we have a substation with are overloaded, sometimes you find a solution that you have a heavy load that can be responded and you have to provide the solution that has to be compatible. So you may have a line of 69,000 volts or another one with which is stronger or you can even resort to the basic network. And if you do that, you have to do the construction works related to that, both of 108 and 69 because those are going to demand investments in parallel, okay?
[Interpreted] Okay.
[Interpreted] Our next question comes from Mr. Andre Sampaio with Santander.
[Interpreted] Good afternoon, everyone. I would like to ask a question in order to understand the information about costs for the quarter. We saw that there was an important relevant about BRL 600 million for the consolidated total loss reduction. I would like to understand what was the reason for this amount?
Yes.
[Interpreted] Yes, there is a line which is separated from the provision for contingencies. I'm not sure if this is associated with the PDA or not. That's exactly my doubt. But the amount is BRL 600 million that I can see in your spreadsheet, I would like to know what it refers to.
[Interpreted] Andre in the release, we have BRL 40 million, which are provisions related to [indiscernible] in the spreadsheet. We have to look to check whether or not it's consolidated. But the fourth quarter had an impact of only BRL 40 million.
[Interpreted] Okay, perfect.
[Interpreted] Our next question comes from Daniel Travitzky with Safra. You may proceed, sir.
[Interpreted] I have 2 questions on my side. The first is related to the leverage. We saw a reduction in the quarter of this leverage in comparison to the previous quarter. I would like to understand how this moves forward, looking into the future along the year? And if you have any other actions that you could take to speed up the reduction of this leverage only for me to understand your strategy for managing this indicator.
And my second question is in relation to the volumes of the first quarter. We are close to the end of the first quarter of 2024. So, I would like to have an idea of how you see the dynamics of volume for the first quarter? Was it strong, stronger than the fourth quarter of last year? Just for us to understand how this dynamic is going to play out in the future?
[Interpreted] Daniel, thank you for the question. And we start from volumes. When we look at the whole year, we can see the behavior of prices in a very significant manner, and it continues growing, both in relation to losses. And even when -- in an environment where the market grows, that would increase the increase of losses. But because of the policy we have implemented, we have been implementing reductions.
So these are impressive volumes that come very strong in the concession areas. And this strong growth that we had last year, and we continue materializing the first quarter, for sure, it's a very important contribution for the management of the deleveraging process.
We continue very focused on working on this deleveraging process. Last year, we sold treasury shares. We had the sales of some PN shares and recycled some assets and except for the treasury bonds that have already expired, there are other actions that we will put together of what -- on what we're going to be focusing in terms of inorganic actions, CapEx allocation so that we can continue on this journey, opening spaces for allocating capital.
[Interpreted] Perfect.
[Interpreted] Our next question comes from Mr. Gustavo Faria with Bank of America. You may proceed, sir.
[Interpreted] Hello, everyone. I have 2 questions. One is related to pressures on costs and CapEx. We saw an OpEx per unit, which was well controlled, but an increase of CapEx on electrical items when compared to the previous period of last year. I would like to understand why no electrical CapEx has increased and what we can expect in terms of OpEx for the future, considering the targets for quality levels and other assets that have to be within the regulatory levels.
And my second question is related to the cost, which was very strong for provisions for loss in inventory levels. I would like to understand what are the provisions for losses in inventories because it was not very clear for us.
[Interpreted] Thank you very much for the question. I'll start from the end of your question. In relation to the provisions for inventories, we implemented the adjustments of the policy of the group for losses of inventories for materials that have not be used for more than 180 days and also [ VPE ]. So it's a movement that we made that started in Goias.
That's where we started implementing the policy and then migrate into Rio Grande do Sul and less intensively in the other assets. Naturally, this is a provision and every year, this provision is reevaluated. And this provision may change for more or less, depending on the findings. Costs are well controlled. We have always been focused on this since the beginning of our company. So we are always focusing on cost and CapEx so that we can also look at quality. As for CapEx of nonelectric items an additional implementation of companies. And even in Rio Grande do Sul is very common to have an integration of part of the systems -- and the demand more non-electric CapEx. But once you complete those implementations, you're likely to go back to more reasonable levels.
Gustavo, I think we have to look and see very clearly that considering the portfolio of Equatorial, you have mature assets that have been in operation for a long time, but you also have some recent assets such as Rio Grande do Sul and Goias. When I say recent events, last year was a very difficult year because you come from -- away from an adverse climatic event and then another one comes along -- so you saw that there was another climate event with high wind speeds.
And as I mentioned beforehand about Goias, many times, you have the network meeting the demands of high loads -- and we have to use the concessions and wait for the CapEx to bring the results that we expect. But as we said, we always control when we look at the OpEx and the consumer, you see that the amounts or the values are very good, especially when we compare to the market at large. And you see that the value is at control. OpEx grew less than inflation that shows how robust we have been controlling our OpEx.
[Interpreted] Okay. Perfect.
[Interpreted] Our next question comes from Mr. Marcelo Sa with Itau BBA. You may proceed.
[Interpreted] I have 2 questions -- could you talk about the tariff increase in Amapa? It was on the agenda of today? I don't know if it has already been defined and what you expect -- what are the measures you're considering taking? And the second question is in relation to the reserve of capacity. The minister said that he wants to include batteries, and this is probably going to be included in the public hearing. And when we talk about batteries, I understand that EcoEnergia might be analyzing this and how we are going to get into this market?
[Interpreted] Thank you for the question. We have been interacting quite a lot with [indiscernible] and with the ministry to discuss this issue about Amapa. So we have this provisional measure. And for some reasons, this has been delayed, and we have been negotiating very closely with ANEEL. As you said, this was part of the agenda of today. And this is also ANEEL's agenda, and this is being analyzed. So, I can say that we have been monitoring this very closely because that is very important for that concession which is still very fragile. We have made investments, very important investments for that concession. And if you look at that, that dropped to 11 hours. This is a result of all the efforts that we have been making.
So, this negotiation that we have been making with ANEEL and with the ministry is something that is continuous. So, we are going to continue making improvements to those quality levels. So, I understand that dialog is part of the process, and we made some negotiations with the ministry, with [ Analto ]. So this is part of our everyday business. So, if you want to add anything.
[Interpreted] Marcelo, this is -- as Augusto mentioned, I would just like to add that we are very confident that we are going to comply all the agreements with ANEEL. We understand that the agreements and the contracts are going to be complied with. And it's just a matter of time to have this approval.
We are monitoring the processes, and we understand that this is going to be approved in compliance with the agreement and also what has been defined from the technical areas of ANEEL. And all the indexes have already been defined. All we are waiting for is the formalization and approval by the Board.
So, you asked about the capacity auction. I would say Marcelo that we are at the moment that we revisit our strategic planning. It has been a very fruitful process. And this is a topic which is being addressed in our analysis.
[Interpreted] Okay.
[Interpreted] Our next question comes from Mr. Victor Cunha with Itau BBA.
[Interpreted] Could you provide more detail in relation to the nonrecurring adjustments for the quarter, especially as to matrix of default rate?
[Interpreted] Well, thank you very much for the question. So this is the concept of the matrix. What do we do every year? Just to explain, we look at the fifth year before this calendar year. We are closing -- when we are closing 2023, we look at 2028.
So, for each month of 2018, each range of delay -- so there's a range of delays or brackets of delays, and we look up to December 2023. So we look at the window of 5 years. So how much you did not collect in each bracket of delay since 2018? Then you come to an average what was the percentage you did not collect for each bracket of delay of default rate of those months.
And this would be the next percentage for the values or expected losses that is going to be applied in the accounts receivable for 2023. So, we look at Goias as a highlight, which is a recently acquired company, and we are going to take a while for us to apply those criterias of the group. So, this is what we did in relation to the study of Goias -- until we finish it completely.
In the installment of Goias, we saw that there is a level of provision which is lower than the study indicated. So, it was a level of 0.2%, a very low level. So, in this segment, we came into the adequate percentage and we apply that. And this was the most important non-recurring item when we made an update of the matrix for the group in relation to 2023.
[Interpreted] Our next question comes from Mr. Vladimir Pinto with XP.
[Interpreted] In relation to the non-recurring of non-reporting fines, could you tell us whether this refers to the quarter? Or would that refer to the previous periods.?
[Interpreted] In effect in Rio Grande do Sul, we reported BRL 50 million, and the period was -- a part, 25, was related to the cyclone and BRL 25 million was related to the period before we joined in. So one before we joined in and the other one after we entered, but as a result of cyclone. As to Goias, they were related to the events that occurred before Equatorial Group that was before back when there was a different controller.
[Interpreted] Next question comes from Arlindo Sosa with Levendos.
[Interpreted] Hello, everyone. Good afternoon. Considering the deleveraging process of the company, can you provide more color in relation to the vision of Equatorial in investments and growth, especially in transmission and sanitation? Does the company have any intentions of taking part in the next transmission auction?
[Interpreted] Arlindo, well, in fact, you saw this movement of Equatorial -- but the segment that you mentioned is a priority segment. But this is not something that we will disclose. We do not disclose any specific opportunities, okay?
[Interpreted] The Q&A session has come to an end. We would like to give the floor to the company's officers for their final remarks.
[Interpreted] Thank you, everyone. And in closing, we want to reiterate once again our commitment to our agenda of continued value generation for our investors based on consistent delivery of results in the different segments in which we operate, always based on a disciplined financial management. I would also like to remind you that our Investor Relations team is available to support you -- should you have any questions after this call. Once again, thank you for your interest in the company and for being part of our earnings call. Have a good afternoon, everyone.
[Interpreted] The conference is closed. We would like to thank you for your participation and have a nice day. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]