CSN Mineracao SA

BOVESPA:CMIN3

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q3

[Operator]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for holding. At this time, we would like to welcome everyone to CSN Mineração's conference call to present results for the third quarter 2023. We have the company's executive officers with us today. We would like to inform you that this event is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]. We have simultaneous webcast that may be accessed through CSN Mineração's Investor Relations website at ri.csnmineracao.com.br/english, where the presentation is also available. The slide presentation may be downloaded from the website. There will be a replay service for this call on the website.

Before proceeding, please bear in mind that some of the statements herein are mere expectations or trends and are based on current assumptions and opinions of the company management. And performance and events may differ materially from those herein, which do not constitute projections. In fact, actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements as a result of several factors such as the general and overall conditions in Brazil and other countries, interest rate and exchange rate levels, future rescheduling or prepayment of debt denominated in foreign currencies, protection measures as in the U.S., Brazil and other countries, changes in laws and regulations and general competitive factors at a global, regional or national basis.

We would now like to give the floor to Mr. Pedro Oliva, CFO and IRO, who will begin the operational and financial status presentation. Mr. Oliva, you may proceed.

[Pedro Barros Oliva, executive]

A good day to all of you, and I would like to begin by thanking you for your attendance at the conference call for CSN Mineração. I'm very proud to convey new quarterly records in terms of sales and production in the third quarter '23. We had a strong performance that enabled us to change our production and purchasing guidance to 42 million, 42.5 million tons for 2023. We also had a sound cash generation in the third quarter as a result of the combination of better sales volumes and a stronger price realization and lower cost. In terms of ESG, we highlight something that is very relevant for the company. The conclusion of the decharacterization works of the Vigia Dam and renewal of the stability declaration for all company dams. This is very relevant for the sector, and we're proud of never having had an accident at our dams. We also underscored the hiring of the first sustainable-linked finance operation by CSN Mineração amounting to BRL 250 million.

In the next slide, the production volume that reached 11,577 tons, a growth of 4% vis-a-vis the previous quarter and 20% compared to the same period last year. We had an improvement not only in volume, but also in mix because of our own mix and the reduction of purchases vis-a-vis the previous quarter. Despite that strong production volume, we had strong operational and commercial performance, also helping us to reduce inventory levels by 3%. We now have 4.3 million tons at the end of the third quarter '23.

In the next slide, we show you the sales and FOB net revenue. We reached 11,641 tons in terms of sales, an increase of 3% vis-a-vis the previous quarter and a growth of 28% when compared to the same quarter in '22.

Here, we are able to show you that the company was able to take advantage of the favorable condition with strong Chinese demand and the dry season. And this shows you the evolution and operational excellence that has sustained these record volumes for the second consecutive quarter. In terms of the FOB revenue, we reached $75.2 per ton, a growth of 14.5% vis-a-vis the second quarter. And this reflects the trajectory of flat as well as the provisional prices of shipments that we had before.

I show you the absolute value of the revenues of BRL 4.310 million, a growth of 61.9% when compared with the same period last year, showing you that the company is truly operating at a completely different level price realization in mining, 3% of Platts, that is at $114 now despite quality adjustment associated to the company's commercial strategy of taking advantage of the high Platts. And what we had for shipments of low content, we have made efforts to reduce costs and therefore, increase the demand for these products. And this is a good window to begin to stock this and despite all of this, we had an increase of 14% in the unit revenue for the period, reaching $75.20.

We ended the third quarter with $7.3 million tons at a FOB price of $74.30, equivalent to $120 (sic) [ $120 Platts ], which is what we will have in the fourth quarter.

In the next slide, you can see our COGS BRL 2.2 billion with a drop of 4.8% vis-a-vis the second quarter, despite the increase in volume and sales. The unit drop was greater than this. We had a lower volume of iron ore purchases and lower use of third-party ports. And this was lower than in the second quarter. In the third quarter, the adjusted EBITDA almost doubled compared to the previous period, reaching BRL 2 million, BRL 1.988 million with a 46.12% margin, thanks to the increase in commercial activity and a stronger price realization and lower costs.

In the next slide, you can see the adjusted EBITDA, and I underscore that the company presented a better result in each of the line items that are part of this EBITDA compared to the previous quarter. A better volume, an improvement in mix, our own production, less purchases from third parties, a higher Platts that has an impact on those shipments that we had at the end of the second quarter, sea freight with a slight drop of $20, 3.6% and other reductions of 73, as you can see, vis-a-vis the second quarter.

In this slide, we see the information on CapEx totaling BRL 404 million in the third quarter with resources mostly allocated to current investments to maintain our operational excellence capacity, and we have made strides in our expansion projects, especially related to P15. When it comes to the net working capital, I highlight the increase in accounts receivable impacted by the appreciation of iron ore and the sales growth. Now this situation ended up overcoming the reduction in inventories and the slight increase in the line of suppliers.

In the next slide, you can see the amortization of debt and our program at the end of September. CSN Mineração had a total of BRL 10.6 million in cash equivalents and has returned to a net cash position.

In Slide #10, our free cash flow that reached BRL 779 million in the quarter. It was not higher because of the increase of working capital because of the appreciation of prices in the quarter, greater disbursements for investment and also for the improvement of better financial results for the quarter.

In the last slide, we proudly show the strides that we have made in ESG. Of course, this is a priority for CSN Mineração and the group completion of the decharacterization of civil works for the Vigia Dam. This is another important step in the protection that we offer. We have never had any accident in our dams and the stability declarations renewed for all of the dams owned in September of 2023.

I once again highlight that first operation of Sustainable-Linked Finance with Banco do Brasil, allowing us to reduce our capital in the company and valuing our different activities. And with a highlight for the use of renewable energy sources, workplace safety and health 3,600 days running with 0 fatalities at CSN Mining (sic) [ Mineração ].

I would like to conclude the presentation by referring to the company's very strong performance. This enables us to continue being a strong dividend payer. And we have additional value of distribution of BRL 1.36 million, equivalent to [ 0. sum BRLs ] per share that will be paid on November 28. This additionally to what has already been paid of BRL 2.5 billion in the first half of the year, consolidating the company as a very strong payer of dividends.

With this, I would like to end the presentation and the Chairman of the Board, Benjamin Steinbruch is also participating in this call, and we're now going to go on to the Q&A session.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, at this point, we will begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Barbara Soares from Itaú BBA.

[Barbara Soares, analyst]

My question refers to 2 different fronts. At the last conference call, you had mentioned 7.5 million purchases -- tons of purchases during the quarter. What has happened this quarter as you have had a drop? You have spoken about the tighter margins because of the Chinese products, but there's another counterpart of course, that is quality. How can we look at the [ discount ] for quality in this quarter?

[Pedro Barros Oliva, executive]

Now regarding the third-party purchases for the third quarter, we had 3.4 million tons, vis-a-vis 4 million in the previous quarter. And well, we have remained at the same levels. And this represented this quarter sales going down 36% vis-a-vis the previous quarter. Now when it comes to that issue of quality, we truly did have a very assertive strategy, making the most of what was happening in the market. We increased the percentage of purchases to increase the inventory that we have. And in the fourth quarter, we're going to have a very relevant reversion of all of this, an improvement in the results, a reduction in the low-grade material that we have in inventory. And we should see that discount for quality that will be much lower compared to what we had throughout these 9 months of the year so far.

[Barbara Soares, analyst]

I wasn't able to hear the first part. So last quarter, you purchased 4 million in terms of sales, 5%? is that it?

[Pedro Barros Oliva, executive]

Yes, that was the volume, 3.4 million for the third quarter, aligned with the margin and aligned with the same level for the fourth quarter as well.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Ricardo Monegaglia from Safra Bank.

[Ricardo Monegaglia Neto, analyst]

Congratulations for your results. The first question is about capital allocation. Let's see if you can break down for us how the investments in Mineração compared with BRL 4.4 billion for CSN in 2023. The second question refers to the guidance. If this is due to a stronger real and dollars or if you have had other cost drivers that were used and if we can think about the guidance in a more qualitive way, the cash cost in dollars and how this has been evolving?

[Pedro Barros Oliva, executive]

When it comes to capital allocation, we have, of course, invested less than expected since the beginning of the year. We're looking at our schedule and assessing this, and we are still going to hold the Investor Day in December to discuss this. Now when it comes to the cash call, we do have the exchange variation and to define our guidance, we had an expectation of the real at 5.2. On the average, it has gone down. Now this impact alone led to a variation of $0.9 per ton.

And in the second half of the year, we had a strong increase in diesel, a readjustment carried out by Petrobras. And this pushed the fuel oil upwards. Of course, these are variables that were not included in our planning. These are exogenous external factors to the operation and of course, this has altered the fixed cost and through a good management, we have been able to maintain everything under control despite this inflationary pressure. For 2024, we still have not concluded our guidance, but we will be presenting estimates during the Investor Day in December.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Guilherme Rosito from Bank of America.

[Guilherme Rosito, analyst]

What is it that we can expect for 2024? Your volumes have been positive so far this year, which is your outlook of the level of purchases from third parties. What would be sustainable? And will the market be very similar to what we have observed so far here?

[Pedro Barros Oliva, executive]

Now when it comes to the question about the purchase volume for 2024, we're still working on our strategic planning to close the budget for the coming year. We believe there will be an increase in our own production because of the change of mix and a pursuit for better margins in our purchase operations, which means that we're going to work with less volume from purchases and better unit margins, so that the end result for the company will be enhanced. At least in mining, we hope to have a very strong result in terms of purchases with lower volumes associated to a more vigorous and judicious strategy when it comes to margin per unit in our new purchases.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Rodolfo Angele from JPMorgan.

[Rodolfo De Angele, analyst]

Following along the lines of what we have discussed today, nowadays, you're operating with 30%, 35% of iron ore from third parties. Is this an option? Is this due to a bottleneck in the market? What is it due to? This is my first question. The second question, your investment plan that was discussed since the IPO, which is the next grade delivery and what is it that will change? What is it that we should expect with that next delivery in terms of production levels?

[Pedro Barros Oliva, executive]

Rodolfo, when it comes to purchases from third parties, this is due to what is happening in the market. There was a great deal of supply and the commercial and operational situation of the company to work with more volumes and margins to incrementally aid and abet the company results. Now the purchases are much lower than our own production naturally. Now given the logistic integration that the group has, we do have competitiveness to actively participate in that market and generate value for our shareholders. This has a great deal to do with making the most of our logistic infrastructure and the market situation then. Otherwise, we have had good deliveries, a considerable increase in production volumes vis-a-vis the year 2022 and we hope to continue to have margin improvements in 2024 through production.

Now when it comes to our production plan, we do have some projects that are part of that first stage of expansion. Well, most of them focus on P15. In terms of P15, we have acquired and received that first equipment package, the more relevant one for the plant. And we're about to receive the second package of machinery, and we are well advanced in terms of infrastructure, the procurement process for infrastructure. And part of this package means that we have already selected the vendor who will be responsible for working on this project. So the project is advancing well. We've covered most of the main milestones. The second step is the second package of equipment and the conclusion that will be very soon. I think P15 is more relevant in terms of volume.

Now besides this, we have a project of millions of tons to focus on the residues of our main plant. We reduced the number of residues or scrap that is piled up and include this in the production process in our main plant. And then another important project refers to dams, the recovery of B4. First of all, with B4 with 4.5 tons and [ EDs ] with 4 million, these are relatively simple plants with a magnetic concentration technology and they're all going to be put into operation in parallel.

[Rodolfo De Angele, analyst]

Now which is the expectation regarding the P15? Where do we stand?

[Pedro Barros Oliva, executive]

Rodolfo, the timing is December of 2025, and this schedule will be updated now in the Investor Day in December, the project team is fine-tuning, which is the update that we need in the program, and we hope to be able to share this information with you. We have defined this information internally and will do so in the coming months.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Matheus Moreira from Bradesco BBI.

[Matheus Moreira, analyst]

Congratulations for your results. My question is to understand the dynamic of iron ore in China. We have seen somewhat divergent news coming from China in the last few weeks. The production of steel, albeit strong, has had a reduction this month. Copper is still weak. So what is it that you foresee in terms of demand from China for the last quarter and for 2024, especially in terms of steel? We received information about the government stimulus to increase the demand, but I would like to know if this will have an impact on practice and in the use of iron ore.

[Pedro Barros Oliva, executive]

Thank you for the question, Matheus, which is a core issue, the relevance of China and iron ore. What we have observed is that the steel production in China continues strongly. They're using the capacity of their high furnace. Well, there was a drop, but it was a marginal drop. It continues at 89.3% of utilization. And the risk that we saw during the year was not materialized, the control of production volumes at the steel plants, something that happened during 2021 and 2022. This was not a relevant issue this year. And another risk that did not materialize was a greater control of the iron ore prices and a greater centralization of procurement through the state.

As a result of this, the inventories are of 3 million tons and in steel of 18 days. So the levels are still below their historical averages and there are some interesting factors that we should pay attention to, a smaller share in the use of electric furnaces and the production of steel. There was a drop of 3% last year to 10.5% this year. And some experts are pointing to a difficulty of access phase by China and the poor performance of the steel sector in India. Now that announcement that you mentioned is a debt of the central government of CNY 1 trillion and of course, this will have an impact of 7 million of tons of steel consumption.

And this will add to the demand that continues to be very strong despite the slowdown of the sector in China. The lower share of electric furnaces, I think also helps in accommodating this lower demand for long steel. At CSN, we produced long steel in our 2 plants in Brazil. And it is this long steel that has the greatest demand for properties, I believe, therefore, this can also help us explain why the demand for iron ore continues strong despite the slowdown in the Chinese property segment.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] As we have no further questions, I will return the floor to Mr. Pedro Oliva, the CFO and the IRO for his closing remarks.

[Pedro Barros Oliva, executive]

I would like to conclude by once again thanking all of you for your attendance at our results call and we underscore the pride that we have of another quarter in sales and production. And with this, we continue to have the ability to continue to be a strong payer of dividends, which is something that sets the company aside and helps us in our agenda for growth. This morning, we approved additional dividends of BRL 36 million for our shareholders besides the BRL 2.5 billion that had already been paid as interest on equity during the first half of the year. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, the CSN Mineração conference call ends here. You can now disconnect and have a very good day. Thank you for using Chorus Call.

[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]