Earnings Labs

Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora Norte Sociedad Anónima (EDN)

Q3 2018 Earnings Call· Mon, Nov 12, 2018

$25.46

+0.93%

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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 Edenor's Third Quarter 2018 Results Conference Call. We would like to inform you that this event is being recorded and all participants will be in a listen-only mode during the presentation. After the remarks are completed there will be a question and answer session. At that time further instructions will be given. [Operator Instructions] Before proceeding, let me mention that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of Edenor's management and on information currently available. 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 Edenor and could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Now I’ll turn the conference over to Mr. Leandro Montero, CFO of Edenor. Mr. Montero, you may begin your conference.

Leandro Montero

Analyst · Bradesco

Thank you very much. Good morning everyone and thanks for joining our third quarter 2018 earnings conference call. First, we will focus on the main events that recently took place and then briefly review the results of quarter. As you know, you can always call any member of our team for more details on the results of the period for any doubts you might have. In first place, aiming to replace our headquarters, concentrating centralized functions and reducing rental cost, in 2015, we acquired to Ribera Desarrollos, a renowned developer in Argentina, a real estate asset to be constructed for the amount of $46 million, equivalent to ARS 439 million at the exchange rate in effect at the time of acquisition. To guarantee the payment of the indemnity contractually agreed upon in the event of termination due to the seller's breach, the company received a surety bond for up to $46 million plus interest with a Badlar interest rate in dollars plus 2%. On June 1, this year, the term for the delivery of the rental real estate asset terminated, being the milestone broken by the developer. Therefore, the company served the seller the notice of default, notifying the situation to the insurance company issuing the surety bond and collecting the fines accrued during the term of the purchase agreement and duly deposited in escrow by the seller due to its lack of compliance with the construction milestone foreseen in the contract. Later, upon the expiration of the legal terms stipulated in the agreement, on August 27, we notified the seller of its termination, demanding payment of the contractually agreed compensation. Likewise, on September 3, the company filed the corresponding claim with the insurance company and subsequently delivered the additional information and documentation that was required by the insurance company.…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And the first question comes from Gustavo Fingeret of Bradesco.

Gustavo Fingeret

Analyst · Bradesco

Hi, good morning, guys. Thank you for the call. I have one question, which is pretty similar to what I did in the previous quarter regarding losses and CapEx. When you see losses, they continue to pick up. You were not able to reduce them from one side. And from the other side, although it’s hard to say that this – you are reducing CapEx because the effects of our wages is hard to know, which is the real number in dollar terms. It doesn’t seems that it’s picking up significantly quarter-over-quarter in order to see that they’re going to be getting to a much higher level of CapEx to what we saw in the last few years. Can you give us some guidance on what are you doing? What you would be doing different in order to achieve the targets? How are you going to be increasing CapEx over time? Thank you.

Leandro Montero

Analyst · Bradesco

Hi, good morning, Gustavo. First, regarding the – your question about losses, we should say that to – we compare both quarter, we had increased – significantly increased the activity levels in the – in all the actions we take to fight against energy losses. The main issue is that the difference between the temperature in July and August last year and July and August this year was dramatically different. This year, temperature was 2.4 Celsius degree lower than last winter. And as you know, our main issue regarding energy losses is because of energy losses in the poorest neighborhoods where they use electricity for heating. So that's the main cause because we have this increase in energy losses, despite the increase we are showing in the activity related to energy losses. And on the other side, regarding CapEx, we have maintained the same level of CapEx we have estimated for the year. For sure, the devaluations have an impact on our CapEx, but we are – now, we are working or we are analyzing the CapEx for 2018. And we will see how – which is the final impact of the devaluation in our CapEx. But by the moment, we are keeping the level of CapEx we have set for the Comprehensive Tariff Review period.

Gustavo Fingeret

Analyst · Bradesco

Okay. Thank you very much. One follow-up question on that on losses is do you expect losses in the fourth quarter to be similar to last year? Lower? Higher? What are – which is the guidance here?

Leandro Montero

Analyst · Bradesco

we expect losses to be – should be a bit lower than last year but just slightly. I suppose that it will be the same level.

Gustavo Fingeret

Analyst · Bradesco

Thank you very much.

Leandro Montero

Analyst · Bradesco

You’re welcome.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And this will conclude our question-and-answer session. With this time, I would like to turn the floor back to Mr. Montero for any closing remarks.

Leandro Montero

Analyst · Bradesco

Okay. Thank you very much for joining our conference call. And as you know, the team is always available for any questions you may have. Have a nice day. Bye-bye.

Operator

Operator

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