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Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, S. A. B. de C. V. (ASR)

Q2 2019 Earnings Call· Thu, Jul 25, 2019

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the ASUR's Second Quarter 2019 Results Conference Call. My name is Christian, and I'll be your operator. [Operator Instructions]. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded.Now I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Adolfo Castro, Chief Executive officer. Please go ahead.

Adolfo Castro

Analyst

Thank you, Christian, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on our conference call to discuss ASUR's second quarter 2019 financial and operating results. As a reminder, please note that certain statements made during the course of our discussion today may constitute forward-looking statements, which are based on current management expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including factors that may be beyond our company's control. For an explanation of these risks, please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Mexican Stock Exchange.As I normally do, I will begin with a review of our quarterly performance with changes in passenger traffic at ASUR's 16 airports. Total traffic increased 7% year-over-year to 14 million passengers. In Mexico, ASUR's largest market, our passenger traffic growth nearly 5%, accounting for 62% of total traffic with domestic traffic up just over 9% while international traffic growth remained by only 1%. Year-over-year growth in our domestic traffic partly benefited from Holy Week in Mexico, which is this year probably in April versus March last year.U.S. traffic remained weak declining 285 basis points year-on-year in the quarter as this trend is expected to continue for the rest of the year. This is something that we are seeing across Mexico not just Cancun. Traffic coming from other regions is growing well with some regions like Europe up 7.3% performing above what we expected.In Puerto Rico, our total passenger traffic grew 6%, while domestic and international traffic increased 5.5% and just over 11%, respectively. International traffic remained high as last year traffic was still impacted by the aftermath, Hurricane Maria, in September 2017.In Puerto Rico, passenger accounted for 17% of our total traffic in the first quarter. Passenger…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. We will now take our first question from Lucas Laghi from Citibank.

Lucas Laghi

Analyst

I like if you would have any ballpark estimate regarding the depreciation and amortization without the accounting changing for Columbia? And second question if you'd have any indication of advanced bookings in either Quintana Roo or San Juan, which would indicate some traffic flow impact from Sargassum or Puerto Rico political tension or maybe other factors?

Adolfo Castro

Analyst

Well, as I should have mentioned we have changed our way to depreciate or amortize the concession in the case of Columbia. I do not have, right now, what will be the difference if we choose the old procedure. In the case of your question about the traffic or the effect in the traffic because of Sargassum and the case of the situation today in Puerto Rico, again, I do not have any number to provide you.

Lucas Laghi

Analyst

Okay. But at least some indication about, on another front, about international traffic flow. Maybe, I don't know -- maybe some impact that you are already seeing?

Adolfo Castro

Analyst

Well, as I mentioned during my remarks that the problem, we are seeing in the case of Mexico is the international traffic, and this, basically, due to the traffic to and from the United States, and as I already mentioned, I believe this trend will continue for the rest of the year. And it's not just for the case of Cancun. It's also for the case of the entire country.

Operator

Operator

We will now take our next question from Alan Macias from Bank of America.

Alan Macias

Analyst

Just one question on traffic in Columbia. It remained strong. Can you give us any insight for the traffic drivers in Columbia?

Adolfo Castro

Analyst

So basically, what we are seeing is, of course, a better traffic because of the current economic conditions. Also, we are seeing some kind of effect because of congestion in the case of Bogotá airport, so some of the operations have been diverted to Medellín. And finally, the case of new routes we have opened with them that is the case of one direct flight -- daily direct flight from Mexico City to Medellín and also from Cancun to Medellín, both in the case of turnover.

Operator

Operator

We will now take our next question from Alejandro Zamacona from Crédit Suisse.

Alejandro Zamacona

Analyst

Just one question from our side. We understand that -- well, the question is regarding CapEx. We understand that the commitment from the MDP for the 2019 was MXN2.1 billion, and during the first half of 2019, we saw investments in Mexico by only MXN200 million. So, the question would be, what can we expect for the following quarters? And if there is any specific reason for the significant difference?

Adolfo Castro

Analyst

Thank you for the comment. So, as you mentioned, the commitment we have for the MDP for this year is nearly MXN2 billion, and we have to comply with that commitment, and we expect to comply with that. Why you are seeing a huge difference in terms of the first half of the year, that has to do with the process -- the normal process we have to follow in the first year of the five year period, which achieves to hire the people to make effective project then to proceed with the bidding process to kind of contractor then to the sign the contract, and then they can start constructing. So, you will see a speed-up process during the second half of the year in order that we can comply with the MXN2 billion process this year.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. We will now take our next question from Mauricio Martinez from GBM.

Mauricio Martinez

Analyst

My question is on the Puerto Rico funds about the insurance claims. How much do you expect to recover from that insurance? Or is -- this has been fully recovered already? That will be my first question.

Adolfo Castro

Analyst

Yes, Mauricio, I do not have the exact amount that has been approved by the insurance company. From the top of my head, probably it could be close to $40 million, $42 million. A portion of that has been paid last year and a portion is what you have seen during the report of this quarter. Of course, these amounts will be paid once we are also advancing in the construction or the reconstruction process of the things that were damaged.

Mauricio Martinez

Analyst

Great. And also, on Colombia, maybe if you can update -- give us an update about the commercial? If there is any new commercial spaces to be opened this year? And if there is any change in the negotiations with the previous manager of your parking lot in Rionegro?

Adolfo Castro

Analyst

Well, in the case of your second question, the parking lot in Rionegro, we are operating directly that space as from the first quarter this year. And the second -- and the first question you raised, what we expect for the coming third quarter will be some additional -- the opening of additional food and beverage spaces, and as I mentioned, finally, the operation of the duty-free store at Rionegro.

Operator

Operator

We will now take our next question from Rodolfo Ramos from Bradesco BBI.

Rodolfo Ramos

Analyst

Just a quick question from our side. We saw cost of services decline in Puerto Rico and Colombia, mainly by these changes in your provision levels. Can you give us an indication of what to expect for this year on a more normalized level, perhaps some growth or on an absolute level?

Adolfo Castro

Analyst

Well, Rodolfo, what I see is that the current level is the one that is normalized, so it's clear that you saw one-off things in previous quarter, in the case of Columbia, additional expenses from legal fees or something like that. So, what I -- the way that I see it is that this quarter is the normalized level. Of course, excluding -- I'm talking about in terms of the amount, not in terms of the comparison with the previous quarter.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. We will now take our next question from [indiscernible] from Morgan Stanley.

Joshua Milberg

Analyst

This is actually Josh Milberg from Morgan Stanley. My first question is on your domestic traffic in Mexico. It's been pretty resilient despite the capacity constraints in the Mexico City airport, and I just wanted to ask if you could provide some updated perspective on how much those constraints could eventually limit your domestic growth in the next several years? That's my first question.

Adolfo Castro

Analyst

Well, Josh, you know Mexico City airports represents around 60-something percent of our domestic traffic. As you have mentioned, this airport is congested or doesn't have more capacity for the future. The spare part we have is the DeLuca airport. DeLuca airport, last year, round figures close to 700,000 passengers a year. It has, in my opinion, a capacity of around 9 million passengers a year without any investment. So that is a spare part we have for the future before the new project came in, in the equation.As of today, the new project should be Santa Lucía because of the cancelation of the New Mexico City airport. What the country is saying is that Santa Lucía should be in operation '22, maybe '23. So, from now until '23, or up to that moment, the only spare part we have is DeLuca airport with this additional 9 million capacity. That's what I can share with you.

Joshua Milberg

Analyst

Okay. Two related questions. I mean with respect to Santa Lucía, do you -- have you seen some meaningful evolution of that project in the last number of months? And then with respect to DeLuca, I mean, have you seen airlines in Mexico sort of moving to embrace it as a solution for the Mexico City capacity constraints?

Adolfo Castro

Analyst

In the case of Santa Lucía, I am fully aware that the government -- current government is working for the project. So, I have seen some people from their side that have been working on sort of these projects. And in the case of DeLuca, unfortunately, what I see right now is that the airline does not want to fly from there, so they do not want to increase the amount of passengers or the space that they're using that. But of course, going forward in the future, if they cannot grow in Mexico City, of course, at certain moment, they will have to start flying more from DeLuca because that is the only way to accommodate the growth for the metropolitan area in Mexico City.

Operator

Operator

That concludes the question-and-answer session portion of today's conference. I would now like to turn the call back over to you, Mr. Castro, for closing remarks.

Adolfo Castro

Analyst

Thank you, Christian, and thank you again, everybody, for participating in our second quarter results call today. On behalf of everyone at ASUR, we wish you a good day. Goodbye.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes ASUR's Second Quarter 2019 Earnings Conference Call. We would like to thank you again for your participation. You may now disconnect.