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Adecoagro S.A. (AGRO)

Q3 2013 Earnings Call· Wed, Nov 13, 2013

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. And thank you for waiting. At this time, we would like to welcome everyone to Adecoagro’s Third Quarter 2013 Results Conference Call. Today with us, we have Mr. Mariano Bosch; CEO, Mr. Charlie Boero Hughes; CFO, and Mr. Hernan Walker, Investor Relations Manager. We would like to inform you that this event is being recorded and all participants will be in listen-only mode during the company’s presentation. After the company’s remarks are completed, there will be a question-and-answer section. (Operator instructions) Before proceeding, let me mention that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of Adecoagro’s management and on information currently available to the company. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions because they relate to future events, and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. Investors should understand the general economic conditions; industry conditions and other operating factors could also affect the future results of Adecoagro and could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Now, I’ll turn the conference over to Mr. Mariano Bosch, CEO. Mr. Bosch, you may begin your conference.

Mariano Bosch

Management

Good afternoon, everyone. We are very pleased to announce our results for this quarter of 2013. Over the last quarters, we have been focusing in performing in all of our businesses, and enhancing our efficiencies which translates into attractive returns of the invested capital. In our sugar ethanol, we continue with our plan to complete the cluster of 10 million tons of crushing capacity at a strong pace where we have already planted more than 100,000 hectares of sugarcane. As of this quarter, our mix have already crushed 4.6 million tons of sugarcane which is almost 50% more than the same period of last year. We are devoted to obtain the maximum efficiencies in each link of the chain of the production that start with the seeding and planting, harvesting CCT [ph], the industrial process, and the logistics in site. In addition, our management and operating teams have been growing, and improving year after year, renewing their commitment to obtain our demanding results. With regards to the farming, our land transformation businesses, again, we have put all our focus in obtaining the maximum efficiencies, in our processes, and from there, collect results. In this sense, I would like to remark, the dairy segment which as anticipated in the previous quarter, has our entire cow herd producing milk in our two state of Via Cristo [ph]. The dairy segment results has surpassed an EBIT of $2 million during the quarter. In the same direction, our rice segment has been showing notorious improvement which are translated in our results. In this third quarter, we have started the 2013, ‘14 agricultural campaign and direction conditions, seeding and planting of our crop is being done on a timely fashion manner. Under the current circumstances, we anticipate a very good year for our farming business. Although, as you all know, we depend much on the weather during the next few months. In our land transformation business, we have sold San Martin farm at a 15% premium to the independent appraisal resulting in an operating profit of 6.5 million that will be accounted in the next quarter. We continue seeking for opportunities to monetize our land transformation and obtain effective returns, while at the same time, we reallocate our capital. Lastly, I would like to highlight that Cushman & Wakefield issued its farmland appraisal report, and valued our land portfolio at $919 million. We are committed to continue contributing to the appreciations of our farms by applying our sustainable production model, and the transformation of our land which at same improve the productivity of the land year after year. Now, I will pass over to Charlie Boero, our CFO, who will explain in detail the performance of the company during this quarter.

Charlie Boero Hughes

Management

Good morning, everyone. I would like to walk you through a few slides that reflect the main operational and financial highlights of the quarter. The chart on page 2 illustrate the monthly rainfalls and TRS at our cluster of Mato Grosso do Sul, compared with the historical five-year average. Even the rainfalls during the third quarter were below average, TRS levels were affected by excessive rainfall during the month of June, as well as crops during the mid-July throughout the Brazilian center-south region. As a result of these weather events, as you may see on the chart, TRS in sugarcane during the quarter was significantly below the five-year average. Let’s move to slide 3. As you may see in the top chart, our [indiscernible], 2.8 million tons of sugarcane during the third quarter of 2013, 33% above the third quarter of 2012. Accumulated milling mill to date, extends at 4.7 million tons, 49% above the previous year. The main drivers for these increased performance are explained in the bottom chart. First of all, the expansion of our sugarcane plantation and supply our mills with the raw material, together with enhanced operational efficiency and optimal weather resulted in a higher utilization capacity of the Angelic and Usina Monte Alegre mills. And secondly, the ramp up of the Ivinhema mill which started commercial milling operations during April, have allowed us to crush 0.8 million tons of sugarcane during the current harvest. We expect harvesting and crushing operations at our mills to continue improving at our cluster in Mato Grosso do Sul is consolidated allowing us to capture synergies and economies of scale. On slide number 4, I would like to analyze key production and [indiscernible]. In the top left chart, you may observe that as the result of substantial increase in sugarcane…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. The floor is now open for questions. (Operator instructions) Our first question is Rodrigo Mugaburu, Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Rodrigo Mugaburu – Morgan Stanley: Thank you. Hi, Mariano, hi, Charlie, I have two questions. One, looking at the ‘13, ‘14 crop land in Argentina, I see that there’s a small reduction in soybean first crop and an increase from corn first crop, I guess that this was until September 30. I wonder if this is still the case or given the weather there might be some shifting from corn to soybean in first crop? And then my second crop is – given the impressive results on the dairy business what are the plans to open a third free stall dairy, are there any plans for that? Thank you.

Mariano Bosch

Management

Hi, Rodrigo. This is Mariano. Regarding your two questions, number one, the change – the small reduction in soya and a small increase in corn is coming from our sustainable production model. That is something we are always focusing. The long-term rotation is something we need to keep in order to increase the fertility of our own farms. Furthermore, with this planting plan, knowing this current level of prices, that’s something we were seeing on our own production. And taking that into account on a long-term view, the returns were better in farm-by-farm or a field-by-field analysis. That is how we are doing our planning or we always do our planning, is how the final numbers were. And we are not planning to change that. We are pretty much in line with completing this planting season. That is regarding your first question. And regarding the second question of our plans on the dairy, yes, on our master plan, we do have additional free stalls. But as of now and as of today, we want to prove that this result are possible, that this result are going to continue quarter-by-quarter. And once this is totally proved, we will continue analyzing further expansion. Rodrigo Mugaburu – Morgan Stanley: Great. Thank you, Mariano.

Operator

Operator

Our next question is Bella Simonato, Merrill Lynch. Please go ahead. Bella Simonato – Merrill Lynch: Good afternoon everyone. I have a question regarding the land appraisal by Cushman. I would like to know if you could provide more details on where you saw the highest appreciation versus where land do not appreciate as much for you to get an overall appreciation of the percent of your portfolio? Thank you.

Mariano Bosch

Management

Hi, Isabella. The Cushman & Wakefield appraisal is an independent appraisal and we have the figures and there’s not an important change between countries or between the different places on the increase or not increases. My personal thinking there is that in general terms, within South America, we haven’t seen an important appreciation of the land simply because of an increase of value of the land. We’ve only seen appreciation and particularly in this farmland also where we have been having land transformation or where we have been having an increase in productivity. And that is always coming because of the sustainable production model where we have land or soils that are more fertile over the years or where we have an increase on the utilization of the – or the efficiency of the utilization of water like in the land leveling that we are doing in the rice operation. So there is where we see most of the increases on the land appreciation. And finally as a final remark, according to the value that Cushman & Wakefield is putting today, we’ve been proving through the sales of the different farms, as this lot farm that we sold, the San Martin farm that we’ve always been selling at the premium of this independent evaluation. Bella Simonato – Merrill Lynch: Perfect. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question is Enrico Grimaldi, BTG Pactual. Please go ahead. Enrico Grimaldi – BTG Pactual: Hi, good afternoon. My question is also related to your updated land appraisal, okay? You mentioned in your release and also earlier in the call today that most of the 2% year-over-year appreciation, your land portfolio is related to land transformation. So I would like to know how many hectares in Lagoa’s portfolio are still undeveloped or under-utilized as you mentioned. And how is the transformation of the land playing out and at what pace right? But in difference [ph] how many – how many additional hectares of new developed land, should we expect in the coming years for it to be back without assuming acquisitions? That’s basically it. Thank you.

Mariano Bosch

Management

Hi, Enrico. According to your specific question, we still have 12,000 hectares than can be considered as fully transformation from non-productive to productive hectare. But part of this transformation or part of this important transformation is for example the level zero that we are doing in our rice field on our irrigated rice field. We still have 12,000 hectares to be transformed in the next two or three years into level zero. That is a very important change, and this – a CapEx that is required into this land transformation that we are talking. And on top of that, we still have all our productive hectares, especially the ones [indiscernible] where through this sustainable production model that includes the no till and the crop rotation that I explain at the beginning of the call. We are also increasing the productivity of that farmland. So all that means the land transformation that we are doing and make an increase on the price of the land, that is not strictly dependent on a simply land appreciation as overall of the farms. Enrico Grimaldi – BTG Pactual: Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question is Gabriel Kim, Wellington. Please go ahead. Mr. Kim, is it possible your phone is on mute? We’re not able to hear you. Gabriel Kim – Wellington: I’m sorry. Good morning, Mariano. The question I have for you is also related to the appraisal. If the appraised value is up 2% and that was driven primarily by this transformation activity, I guess the other pieces of that would be the currency and sort of the underlying local inflation on the assets. So can you kind of give us a sense for how the underlying – how the underlying price appreciation work out for the hectares that were in the portfolio? Hello.

Mariano Bosch

Management

Yes. Hi, Gab. Gabriel Kim – Wellington: Hi. I mean, so the question basically does the portfolio appreciate before currency adjustments or was it flat? How did it do on an underlying local currency basis?

Mariano Bosch

Management

Yes, I see your point. In dollar terms that is how we are measuring. We are or my assumption is that the portfolio has not appreciated. That the portfolio has maintained this – it has maintained its value. In local currency terms of course there has been an increase of the value. But as there is inflation and as the effect have been changing or the effect in general has been – the dollar has been appreciating, in dollar terms; we assume that the land has maintained the same value or more or less the same value. Gabriel Kim – Wellington: Okay. That’s helpful. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

(Operator instructions) Our next question is Giovana Araujo, Itau. Please go ahead. Giovana Araujo – Itau BBA: Hi, good afternoon. My first question is about the agriculture in the sugarcane operations. We see that there is still a gap in the Adecoagro’s agriculture use in the Center South Evers [ph]. What we’d like to understand, how do you explain this gap? Is it more linked to cane varieties? And if you see some gap using in the median term? That’s the first question.

Mariano Bosch

Management

Giovana – hi, Giovana, this is Mariano. As you well know all our sugar cane plantations in Mato Grosso do Sul we’ve been growing to this more than 100,000 hectares that we have already planted. We are starting to see the second cycle of our sugar cane and we see much better restart in terms of yield in the second cycle of the sugar cane. One cycle of sugar cane is six years. So this second cycle is where we find a much better soil structure. The organic matter that has been contributing during this first cycle is an important improvement including the fertilization and this again, the sustainable production model that with which we try – we treat the sugar cane operation. So that’s why we do expect to narrow this gap in the following years as we start seeing more of this second cycle. And within the startup process, the quality of the planting that has been improving year-after-year is something that again, we are starting to see the results. Furthermore, in terms of all the planning of the varieties and the harvesting time of each of these varieties, as we are completing our sugar cane capacity, we are improving on all that planning. And so, we are seeing this gap narrowing in the future. And if you can see in the past there has been an evolution where we’ve been improving. Even though, the climate has not been a good climate in the last two years, especially in this last year where we have the frost and rainy June that was not the best climate you can see. So basically that would be the comment regarding the yield. Giovana Araujo – Itau BBA: Okay. Thank you. And the second question is about your planting plan. When we look your estimates for 2013, ‘14, it seems the bulk of the growth in the total farming planted area will be based on leased area, right? Is there a change in the economics, in the farming based on leasing versus last year?

Mariano Bosch

Management

Sorry – no, we are not growing in the leasing area. Giovana Araujo – Itau BBA: No? Okay.

Mariano Bosch

Management

No, we are growing – so in the planting plant, they grow on the leasing part of – the area is very, very small. It’s more important on the own sectors. Giovana Araujo – Itau BBA: Okay, okay. But is there a change in the economics of farming based on leasing?

Mariano Bosch

Management

Yes. In Argentina, there has been a slight improvement based on leasing, the leases have been reduced significantly, and a huge portion of our leases have been passed to the share in – research with the owner of the land. So it’s a different system where near 40% of our leasing area has been moved into these sharing research with the owner of the land. Giovana Araujo – Itau BBA: Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question is Martin Garzaron, City of London. Please go ahead. Martin Garzaron – City of London: Yes, hello. Mariano, good morning. Quick question on – a little bit more on the philosophical on if you want, we’re seeing U.S. oil production growing very fast. And that is something that is not going to change, so we’re also seeing the possibility that the content of ethanol in gasoline, is going to be reduced. So my question is a little bit, I mean the effects of this, you could say, could – that could free up quite a lot of corn making the corn price to stay lower than previously expected. And to some extent, that could also affect the price of ethanol. And my question is, what’s your view? Are you planning anything? Obviously, you have a competitive advantage in terms of cost. Are you going to be able to sell better in the U.S.? Are you going to move production more towards sugar? What’s your view on sugar? So that’s a little bit of complicated question, but that’s – I would like to hear your views.

Mariano Bosch

Management

Hi, Martin. How are you doing? Good question. And it’s something that we are looking at, of course. Basically, we’ve decided not to get into the corn ethanol base. We are only looking at the sugar and ethanol corn. And the sugar and ethanol cost of production, is much lower than the corn ethanol cost of production. So that is the key. And we’ve analyzed that in terms – in economic terms, and in energy terms. And in energy terms, we have a lot of analysis. They are where – it’s a price – 10 times or nine times lower, the cost of producing ethanol from sugarcane, than from ethanol. So that is a very important part of our view, and that’s why we are involved in the ethanol through the sugarcane production, and nothing through the corn ethanol base. Secondly, Brazil’s cost of production or Brazil’s cost of oil production is higher. And Brazil has a very well developed distribution of all the ethanol and the consumption of ethanol. And that’s something in the domestic market that we still see with an increasing demand. Martin Garzaron – City of London: Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

(Operator instructions) This concludes the question and answer section. At this time, I would like to turn the floor back to Mr. Bosch for any closing remarks.

Mariano Bosch

Management

Before ending the call, I would like to remark that the company’s management and operating teams are fully motivated and focused in obtaining maximum efficiencies. Always looking for excellence in all the chain of production, and at the same time, maintaining a low cost, creating value and attractive returns to our shareholders. This is our last earnings call of the year, and in the case that we don’t see some of you before our next call, we would like to wish you an excellent end of the year, full of good weather and yields. Thank you very much, everyone.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today’s presentation. You may disconnect your line at this time. And have a nice day.