Earnings Labs

Cosan S.A. (CSAN)

Q1 2016 Earnings Call· Fri, May 13, 2016

$4.18

+4.76%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.
Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. At this time we would like to welcome everyone to Cosan S.A.’s First Quarter of 2016 Results Conference Call. Today, with us, we have Mr. Mario Silva, CEO; Ms. Paula Kovarsky, IRO, Mr. João Arthur Souza, CFO; and Mr. Phillipe Casale, Investor Relations Manager of Cosan S.A. We would like to inform you that this event is recorded and all participants will be in a listen-only mode during the company’s presentation. After Cosan’s remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session for industry analysts. At that time, further instructions will be given. [Operator Instructions] The audio and slideshow of this presentation are available through live webcast at ir.cosan.com.br. These slides can also be downloaded from the webcast platform. Before proceeding let me mention that forward-looking statements will be made under the Safe Harbor of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1996. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of Cosan’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 that general economic conditions, industry conditions, and other operating factors could also affect the future results of Cosan and could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Now, I’ll turn the conference over to Ms. Paula. Ms. Paula, you may begin the call.

Paula Kovarsky

Analyst

Good morning everyone. And welcome to Cosan S.A.’s first quarter 2016 teleconference. As announced on April 19, there were changes in the company’s management structure. Nelson Gomes who was CEO and IRO of Cosan S.A. stepped down to focus solely on his role as CEO and IRO of Comgas. Mario Augusto da Silva joined the group as CEO of Cosan S.A. and the IRO role was taken over by me Paula Kovarsky in addition to my role as CZZ IRO. Besides me and Mario, João Arthur Souza, CFO; and Phillipe Casale, IR Manager of Cosan S.A are here with us for this conference call. On slide number 3, we outlined our business units for reference and we can go straight to slide number 4, where we present the result of our Raízen Combustiveis, our fuel distribution joint venture retail. Following the trend of previous quarters, our sales volume outgrew the market average. This growth reflects the maturation of the strategy implemented around three years ago, focused on the growth of the distribution network through the conversion of independent service stations mainly on brand. Sales volume in the Otto-cycle increases by 1% compared to the first quarter of last year and this compares to the market contraction of 2% supported by the addition of 380 new patients to our network over the past 12 months. Raízen business sales grew 4% in the period as we added B2B contracts and due to the anticipation of the sugarcane crop. This compares to decline of 6% of the market. Adjusted EBITDA reached BRL590 million growing 7% versus the first quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016 was positively affected by BRL35 million worth of one-off impact, BRL46 million of diesel and gasoline price hikes and the negative impact of BRL11 million from…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. Our first question comes from Alexandre Falcao with HSBC.

Alexandre Falcao

Analyst

Hi, actually I have two questions. The first one is regarding your debt planning. Since we’re seeing a huge move on the long-term interest rates downtrend, and the fact that you guys are levered in less than efficient on the cost off of financing? Is, there any plans to take advantage of this and go back to the market and maybe try to redeem some of their market expense of that? That’s the first question. And the second question is you have [indiscernible] on the news today talking about looking at infrastructure projects. I just wanted to know if that’s going to be done in the CZZ level or in the Cosan level. And which would be those infrastructure projects that you guys would be interested in? Thank you.

Mario Silva

Analyst

Hi Alexandre, this is Mario speaking. Yes, you’re right. In terms of the market as a consequence of the change in government, the market has been improving. For the Brazilian corporates, under that side, we’ve been following and actually our bonds, they have been trading especially well in the past week. And for sure we’ll be following we’ll be following the market and in general, always looking to opportunity to see the debt to capital market. At this moment there is nothing concrete that we’re looking. But with the following the dynamics of the market, to see if any point makes sense given the debt profile that we have. Just remember we have the BRL bonds maturing in 2018. We have U.S. dollar bonds maturing in 2033. And we have the third, so we keep looking and following the markets to see if a good opportunity might show up in the coming weeks. But the answer at this moment, there is nothing concrete. But we’ll keep following the market. If very recent, the improvement in the market so, probably we’ll have to wait couple of weeks more or like at least a couple of months more to see if that trend regarding the Brazilian corporates will remain. I’ll pass to Paula.

Alexandre Falcao

Analyst

And just on that - a quick follow-up on debt. The first one would be that in the Comgas level that you guys were planning to do and of course the market did not allow it. Is that the sort of the, if those conditions are confirmed, could we assume that that’s going to be the first move that you guys are going to do? Thank you.

Mario Silva

Analyst

Look, that was the in the last time that Cosan went to the market that woke the idea. But again, there is nothing complete that we can talk about right now. For sure, one of our priorities to try to improve the tax efficiency because I mean, in terms of where the debt is located at this point is not the ideal vehicle. We know that and we keep looking for alternatives and opportunities to improve that efficiency. But I mean, maybe we don’t have nothing concrete. But last time that we went to the market, the idea was to, the new bond would go to the gas division. But again, right now we’re still looking to the market and look to the dynamics. As soon as we have anything concrete, we’ll come back to the market okay.

Alexandre Falcao

Analyst

Okay, thank you.

Mario Silva

Analyst

Paula.

Paula Kovarsky

Analyst

Okay, yes, talking about the possible investments and infrastructure, I mean, there is nothing that we can say other than this is an active group and we’re always looking at good opportunities. And we only move into the opportunities if they make strategic sense and if they use the required returns. And also if they fit into this market plan that we’ve been talking about which is de-leveraging the company, adjusting the corporate structure and so on and so forth. So there is nothing specific that I can say. In terms of where investment fit, again, conceptually speaking, we have the operating companies in the fuel distribution, in sugar and ethanol, in gas distribution. So essentially whenever the investment has to do with the business in which the operating company is participating then it makes sense to do downstairs. Whenever a brand new store or completely new business development then, we’ll probably we’ll go through CZZ. But that’s as much as I can say for now, okay.

Alexandre Falcao

Analyst

Okay, perfect. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. This concludes today’s question-and-answer session. I would like to invite Ms. Paula Kovarsky to her final considerations.

Paula Kovarsky

Analyst

So, thanks again for attending the conference call. We’ll see you next quarter. Have a nice weekend.