SATS Ltd
SGX:S58
Earnings Call Analysis
Q3-2024 Analysis
SATS Ltd
The company's quarterly earnings call highlighted a 6.5% quarter-on-quarter increase in revenue to $1.4 billion, indicating a healthy demand recovery. Food and Gateway services reported growth figures of 6.8% and 6.4% respectively, pushing the company closer to pre-COVID levels in key sectors like aviation and cargo.
An EBITDA of $249.5 million was reported, which is a stellar 18.3% margin that has risen from 17% in the previous year. The company has experienced stronger contributions from associates and joint ventures, resulting in a significant boost in PATMI to $31.5 million, which is an improvement of over $31 million from just $0.4 million a year earlier.
Management provided insights into the future, expecting increasing demand for cargo in 2024, which is seen as a positive signal for the company's growth trajectory. Amidst supply chain risks concerning the food business, the expanding global network is set to offer new and resilient solutions.
The company reported a positive free cash flow before lease payments of $118 million and has plans underway for refinancing initiatives including a significant EUR 600 million refinancing in the following quarter. With a steady decline in net debt to EBITDA ratio, the company is gearing towards a stronger financial footing.
Management reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to driving profitable growth and enhancing shareholder value. With a strategic focus on repaying debt, reinvesting in the business, and resuming dividend payouts as profitability allows, the company is positioning itself for a strong and value-driven future.
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And other records of our business update. We have uploaded the materials on SGX as well as on our website this morning. I hope you have time to take a look at materials. With me here are Kerry Mok, President and CEO of SATS; and Manfred Seah, CFO of SATS. I'll let them take you through the results, and I'll start off with Kerry. Over to you, Kerry.
Thank you, Carolyn.
Sorry, I forgot. We have to take -- I'll give you time to look at this forward-looking statement. Okay. I think, Kerry, you can begin.
Thank you, and a very good morning to everyone, and thanks for attending this results briefing. Can we go to the next slide in the fleet business update. This page just shows how we have done in the third quarter. As you can see from the slide, revenue, nearly $1.4 billion, margins of EBIT of about $86 million, very good earnings from our share of joint ventures and PATMI growing positively to $31.5 million. And I think another point to highlight is EBITDA has improved also the margin from 17% last quarter to 18.3%. So overall, it reflects a strong performance this quarter driven by seasonality, but also driven by managing focus on managing of inflation costs through yield and productivity improvement. This is something that we have been working very hard throughout the year to really try and manage that has been bringing the scale of our business back to profitable growth. Next slide, please. I just want to give a bit of update on how we're progressing with integration. I think this is obviously a thought in everybody's mind. The integration is going well. We have been working very hard as a global team to drive the focus on integration. In particular, both from a commercial win standpoint, that's been very encouraging. Here you can see that we have 1 new -- well, new contract with Etihad Cargo across 12 stations globally. We've also recently won the Air China Cargo in LAX. And these are all existing customers of ours where we actually have a combined global accounts team now driving new wins with our customers. It's a very important setup that we have but one where we believe with the right sale will continue to help us get more wins with global customers across the network. So commercial wins, we are making good progress. We have also started work on collaboration. Here, you would have seen we are working closely with Saudia Cargo, Cainiao in Liege, and this allows us to process more cross-bordering product shipments in Liege. This is a first-of-kind collaboration with 3 -- 2 different parties. In fact, 3 different parties coming together to drive efficiency and new solutions for our customers. Again, a very big part of what we do is to leverage our network to drive more of such solutions. We believe this kind of solution is actually very sticky. Moving on to operational synergies. And once we talked about some of the programs and software that is in there. But I think one of the big operational synergies that we're seeing is really we are not tapping our global talent pool. We are making the organization structure where we have talents from all around the world coming together, taking up global roles, regional roles to drive the strategy that we've put in place and allowing us to showcase the talent and know-how that we have on a global basis. We are leveraging best practices, both in terms of process systems where we're sharing it across the group. One particular point, we are -- one of the systems that we're using here in SingPost now being shared in U.S. to help them drive efficiency across their network. We are also looking at 3D modeling for cargo loading, [indiscernible] something that we booked in Europe, but now we are trialing that across U.S. as well as Asia. We are working on driving standardized metrics. As we have a network, driving standardized metrics is an important part for how we work with internally, but also importantly, how we share those information with our customers as well. For the first time, our customers can have a clear understanding of their operational performance across the network that we manage on their behalf. Again, allowing us to set the foundation and basis for us to continue to drive continuous improvement.
Sorry, can I just interrupt you for a moment? Jason, you raised your hand on -- is there something with the system? Jason?
My apologies. Just testing the button, sorry.
Okay. Sure. All right. Yes, you can continue.
In terms of other synergies, including driving POCs, you would have read that we are working very closely with [indiscernible] on a global basis to see how we can drive new solutions. Pleased to say that POCs are ongoing and is showing very encouraging results for certain products that we believe can be launched soon, sometime this year, where we can actually drive more value for our customers as well. Next slide. Singapore. Singapore continues to be a very important part of our network and business. And here, I just want to highlight a few things that we've been working very closely both with agencies, but also with our customers and partners to continue to strengthen our market leadership position here in Singapore. We have been -- you have read very recently a newspaper that we have launched a pilot program where we actually help to build full resiliency in Singapore to promote full sustainability as well. We have produced 50,000 RTE meals for schools -- for 40 schools as part of Total Defence Day. And this is a nationwide exercise [indiscernible] initiative really is to firstly showcase our culinary expertise, but also importantly, our food tech that allows us to bring nutritional food to all of the supply, especially as in emergency kind of situation that we be faced with. So projects like this will be ongoing. We believe this is something that we will continue to work on and work with the agency here in Singapore. We started construction of a BUPC this month. What this does is actually allowing us to drive more efficiency, allowing us to build -- handle more capacity in Changi airport without the need for more manpower, and this also free substate our current air cargo terminal and drive more efficiency in Changi airport. We have also signed a SingPost MOU to look at setting up the e-commerce Transshipment Hub. This is an important initiative for us. We are looking to see how we can drive more e-commerce volume via Singapore and working at SingPost to actually make that happen. And this is something that we believe was able to drive more volume again through Singapore. We have also won a contract with Shun Feng Express, and Shun Feng Express as you know, is a Chinese express company. But importantly, we are looking at that to make Singapore as their regional warehousing hub for e-commerce. And this again allows to drive more value through Changi hub as well. So all these are activities that we are focusing on to continue to drive volume for Singapore and hopefully also drive the importance of Changi airport for the region. I'd like to go to the next slide. These are some of the business drivers, and this is what I'll show you on a quarterly basis. As you can see from a group perspective, year-on-year across the board, things are obviously increased because of the WFS acquisition but the numbers are all trending all nicely. Maybe I will start a little bit on the flight center on combined basis, you do see some downward quarter on quarter. But again, some of these are just due to the customers' spread that we have. I think importantly, Changi Airport continues to show good growth in both Flights as well as Meals. Meals Served part of this is also driven by our Chinese company, [indiscernible] where traditionally, summer is actually the peak, and there's a little bit of a drop in China. But in Singapore, we're doing very well, especially the year-end peak travel. Passengers Handled continues to show good growth. And I think very pleasing to say is a Cargo Tonnage is showing good growth as well. The 7.9% quarter-on-quarter continues to show that the return of our cargo growth globally is driving our performance as well. On a manpower basis, there's a slight growth, but that's primarily driven by the peak season in the U.S., where we're actually showing good wins on the ground and in unit and hence achieving more [indiscernible] to support the business growth. But everything else is by and large very much contained in terms of our employees, and we are driving more productivity by improvements across the group. The next slide, I think this slide just shows you how we've been progressing. The bar in blue is a 9-year -- sorry, 9 months to date in numbers. But here, you can see from across all metrics, everything is standing up very nicely. Revenue-wise, it's gone to almost $3.9 billion after 9 months. EBIT plus JV has also gone up to 241 million. Those are, again, nice growth numbers that we see from EBIT standpoint. EBITDA has also grown nicely to almost $650 million month to date. And we're starting to see some of these being factored down to the PATMI level as well. So we are in a good position. I think we have, from a loss of first quarter, we have then reduced our loss last quarter, and this quarter we're now into the bank. So I think this augurs well in terms of the trajectory and the path that we are taking going forward. With that, I will hand over the details to my partner in crime, Manfred.
Thank you, Kerry. Good morning. I will now take you through the key highlights for the third quarter and 9 months, which shows steadily improving metrics on strong seasonality, travel, recovery and the results from the cost and yield management initiatives, which we have taken to improve the overall health of the business. Now the boxes on the top are basically 9 months number. I won't cover those. I will just go straight into the third quarter. Revenue increased by 6.5% quarter-on-quarter to about $1.4 billion, driven by ongoing travel recovery and strong seasonality impact. Food grew 6.8%, while Gateway grew about 6.4%. Excluding WFS, aviation food and flight volumes reached 97% and 86%, respectively, while cargo volume recovered to almost 100% of the pre-COVID levels in third quarter of FY '24, primarily due to the increased demand -- travel demand and seasonality factor. Now we have also been focused, as Kerry has mentioned on operational excellence, which has delivered improved margins this quarter. 3Q EBITDA came in stronger and plus SoAJV improved to $249.5 million, with margin reaching 18.3% compared to last year, second quarter numbers were 17%, lifted by revenue growth and operating leverage as well as increased contribution from associates and joint ventures. The group saw stronger contribution to its bottom line from the share of earnings of associates and joint ventures, which increased by $11.5 million to $34.6 million. 3Q FY '24 PATMI stood at $31.5 million, improved $9.3 million from $22.2 million last quarter. Compared to last year, PATMI improved $31 million from $0.4 million. The results were positively impacted by improvements in the performance of group's business units as well as strong seasonality in cargo. Overall, we see this set of numbers as a good step in the right direction, given some of the industry and macroeconomic headwinds the business still faces. Now I want to move on to the next slide very quickly. I won't go through each of these key financial metrics as Kerry has mentioned earlier, but to just demonstrate the scaling-up effect. Case in point, if you look at net debt EBITDA has dropped to about 4.2x. This is based on annualized EBITDA. And right at the bottom left, you can see the EBITDA plus SoAJV hit about $646 million with free cash flow before lease payments of about $118 million, while adjusted free cash flow is after taking lease payments is negative, but it has improved quite smartly from the half year results. Cash is -- we have a cash balance of about $540 million compared to September number of about $516 million. The diagram on the right-hand side is really to illustrate the key streams that management have been working on over the last 12 months. This is to deliver value. And the first box here, we are committed to scaling up revenue for sustainable growth. You can see that revenue has grown 3x compared to same time last year. Cost takeout, this is an important stream that we continue to look at how to drive and improve operating leverage. The third bucket here, as you can see that from our portfolio of joint ventures and associates, the share of earnings are coming in healthily. And we are very, very focused in terms of rationalizing or high-grading our joint venture and associate's investments. The last 2 boxes were just to illustrate to you that ongoing cash flow optimization is going on with the aim of aggressively paring down debt over the next 18, 24 months. And with that, I think we should be able to resume a dividend as soon as we get into profitability territory. So this is just to illustrate the key priorities that management is focused on. Moving on to the next slide. I just want to very quickly show the revenue break now. Despite prevailing headwinds, including inflationary costs, winds pressure and macroeconomic factors, we have still much more -- today, we have a much more diversified portfolio regionally as well as business segmentation. You can see that Air Cargo, at the Cargo Board contribution came in at about 49% for the year-to-date numbers. with ground contributing 30% and balance being food. As we have previously shared, the food segment is likely to grow. And cargo will remain at about 50% with food contributing anything between 30% to 35% over time. On a combined -- our combined business is showing improving trends and that come from more balanced business mix. And so in terms of business performance, we see more signs that the cargo segment has reached the bottom, and we expect to see increasing demand for cargo in 2024, which is beneficial to our business. On the other hand, food business is heavily reliant on key suppliers in certain niche markets, disruption to supply chain could affect our production, but we are leveraging on our expanded global network to develop new value-added solutions. So there's much work going on and these developments will bear fruits in the coming quarters. We remain focused on managing costs, leveraging operational synergy, winning new contracts and also strengthening our financial position for the long term. Now I want to move to Slide 13, very quickly, just to show you our quarter-on-quarter how the business improvements are being registered. While seasonality affects our business, the overall underlying performance is also showing an improving trend. So demonstrating the integration of our business gives us greater resilience, helping us to restore scale and grow profitability. Group EBITDA has improved quarter-on-quarter and EBIT is also trending positively. You will see that EBITDA plus SoAJV margin continued to expand to about 18% in the third quarter of FY '24. Now moving to the next slide, Slide 14. While we have been making good progress on the operational front, our cost management and our refinancing efforts are also bearing fruit with significant financial savings and improvement in overall debt position. I shall leave this slide for you to read for reference and our focus on balance sheet management is aimed at speeding up and supporting profitability and strengthening us for the future. And very quickly, just browse through the next 3 slides, which I won't go through point by point. You will see that in this Slide 15 as revenue scales up, you see that operating leverage has kicked in. Our OpEx has actually increased -- has been outpaced by revenue growth. As a result of that, you can see favorable variances in the third column here for each of the key metrics. Slide 15 and 16 and 17, I should just leave it for your reference. I will now go to maybe the balance sheet financial position in Slide 18. I just want to focus your attention to the total debt here. The total debt of about 4.2 billion includes lease liabilities. So if we were to exclude that, our total debt stood at about $2.8 billion. And as I mentioned, the net debt EBITDA after if we were to annualize it will come to a gearing of maybe about 4.2x and we are continuing to work on how to maintain investment-grade rating with a ratio trending towards 3.5x to about 4x. Very quickly, I just want to cover the last slide here, Slide 20. And basically, if you look at our overall operating cash flow position, it has improved. This is before lease payments year-to-date due to improved performance of the business. With improved cash generation capability, we will accelerate our debt reduction efforts, giving us increased financial agility to support opportunities in our business and return value to our shareholders. And we are currently in the first set of term loan was actually refi in January when we issued USD 500 million bond to drop the interest from about 4.5% to about 3.5%. And as a result of that, we were able to save almost about $9 million of -- further savings of $9 million of interest costs. And we are now looking at the second tranche of this refinancing up to about EUR 600 million, which we will -- we are looking to do perhaps some time in the early part of the second quarter. CapEx. And as a result of the CapEx, our free cash flow has actually -- adjusted free cash flow has gone into the negative simply because we have increased our investment in CapEx. As you can see in this slide, from $85 million to $120 million -- $130 million, but we are encouraged that the operating cash flow continued to improve. As you can see from the top line here has increased to about $248 million from a negative $19 million in the same period of last year. Okay. I think with that, longer term, we remain committed to driving profitable growth and increasing shareholders' value and our key priority, just to reiterate what Kerry was saying earlier, we'll continue to look at how to optimize our cash flow for the 3 Rs. The first one is the repayment of debt, followed by a reinvestment for sustainable growth. And we have our eyes on resumptions of dividend as soon as we are able to afford that. With that, I'm going to pass you back to Kerry for the outlook and any closing remarks.
Thank you, Manfred. I think in terms of the outlook, maybe just some highlights whilst there's still some black recovery in Asia, IATA do expect the boarder industry to return in the second half. So in second half, we expect SingPost to also reach to a pre-COVID level 100%. And despite some behaving around inflation and cost pressures and all that, we remain very focused. I think as what Manfred has earlier shared. We are very focused on managing our cost by leveraging on our operation synergies. But I think importantly, we continue to focus on winning new contracts and strengthening our financial position. We believe this will give us a continued improvement in our results and delivering long-term growth -- sustainable growth in performance. Very committed around achieving commercial operational synergy. This is exactly why we have this global network, and it's really incumbent upon the team to ensure that this network is one that we continue to drive growth and obviously, create a more resilient business that we have going forward. Some of the wins that we have won to date. I mean this is just a start. We will continue to focus on getting more wins like that globally. We believe this is the best way to actually create stickiness with our customers by taking a more global approach, especially on the cargo business. We are well positioned to benefit from the recovery, both passengers and cargo. We believe cargo is on a nice growth path. IATA has expected next year to still grow about 3% to 4% for cargo, and we stand to be -- to benefit from the overall growth of the industry. As Manfred mentioned, we are very focused on profitability and practice remain on doing that reinvesting in the business and ultimately resuming dividend distribution for our shareholders. All right. With that, thank you.
I think we come to the end of our session, right? Thank you, everyone, for joining this call. Have a good day. Thank you.