Grendene SA

BOVESPA:GRND3

Earnings Call Analysis

Grendene Reports Strong Q2 Growth

Facing challenging global and domestic markets, Grendene displayed notable growth in Q2 2024. Gross revenue increased by 3.1%, driven by a 12.4% rise in external market sales, thanks to price adjustments and strong performances in the male and kids segments. The company's gross margin improved to 42.6%, aided by lower raw material costs. Recurring EBIT soared 47.6% to BRL 42.4 million. Despite a 27.1% drop in recurring net profit to BRL 61.7 million, largely due to a reduced Selic rate, the company remains a robust cash generator, with plans for continued dividend distributions and potential share buybacks.

Navigating a Challenging Market Landscape

Grendene S.A. recently reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2024, showcasing a complex environment for the company. The internal market faced high interest rates and inflation, squeezing the purchasing power of low-income consumers in Brazil. Externally, the global economy's deceleration has diminished sales. Despite these challenges, Grendene managed to grow its gross revenue by 3.1%, with the internal market up 1.5% and the external market seeing a more robust increase of 12.4%. This growth is attributed mainly to price adjustments initiated earlier in the year and strong performance in male and kids' segments, as well as the popular Melissa line. The overall volume, however, experienced a slight decline of 3.4%.

Financial Performance Insights

The company reported a substantial increase in gross profit, which rose by 8% to BRL 204.7 million, leading to a gross margin improvement to 42.6%, up from 40.9%. This uptick in margins was credited to a decrease in raw material costs. Recurring EBIT grew impressively by 47.6%, totaling BRL 42.4 million. However, the net recurring profit saw a decline of 27.1% to BRL 61.7 million, impacted largely by lower financial results due to a drop in the Selic rate. Without the changes introduced by a new tax law, net profit would be higher, reflecting the potential for growth despite existing headwinds.

Segment Performance and E-commerce Growth

Within its segments, Grendene exhibited mixed outcomes. While exports rose, certain categories, particularly the women's Ipanema series, faced challenges. Conversely, the Melissa division displayed remarkable growth, with traffic to online platforms rising by 14.5%, contributing to its 16.7% share of the domestic market. E-commerce gross profit has significantly improved, achieving a gross margin of 69.3%. Automation and operational efficiency have played pivotal roles in Grendene’s ability to raise its profitability despite other pressures.

Dividend Distribution and Future Commitments

Grendene's strong cash generation capabilities allowed it to allocate profits effectively. In the second quarter, net results reached BRL 181 million, with BRL 93.7 million available for dividends. Following earlier distributions, the company has noted BRL 13.2 million for the upcoming dividend payout scheduled for September 4, 2024, signaling its commitment to returning value to shareholders while maintaining adequate cash reserves for sustainable growth.

Outlook and Forward Guidance

Looking forward, Grendene continues to monitor international markets closely, especially as it faces varying sales performances across regions like North America and Europe. While the economic landscape poses risks, the company maintains a positive outlook for the second half of the year, anticipating stabilization in both the domestic and international markets. Plans for product expansion and strategic marketing, particularly through renewed advertising investments, promise to bolster future growth. In light of its ongoing efficiencies and market adaptability, Grendene is poised to leverage 12.4% anticipated growth in its exports as it navigates potential market fluctuations.

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q2

[Operator]

Welcome to the video conference for the release of the second quarter of '24 and first half of '24 results of Grendene S.A. I want to remind you that those who require simultaneous translation that we offer this function on the platform. To access, simply click OK on the interpretation button through the globe icon at the bottom of the screen and choose your preferred language, either Portuguese or English. Anyone watching the video conference in English can mute the original audio in Portuguese by pressing the Mute Original Audio button.

The video conference is being filmed and will be made available on the company's IR website, ri.grendene.com.br, where you can also find our press release for the second quarter '24 results. You can download the presentation from the chat icon, which is also available in English.

[Operator Instructions]

We would like to emphasize that the information in this presentation, as well as any statements made during the video conference concerning the business prospects, projections and operating financial targets of Grendene S.A. are based on the company's management's beliefs and assumptions, as well as information currently available. Future considerations are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions because they refer to future events, and therefore, depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors should be aware that general economic conditions, market conditions and other operating factors may affect the future performance of Grendene S.A. and present substantially different results than those stated in such forward-looking statements.

Today, we have the following company executives with us. Rudimar Dall'Onder, Chief Executive Officer; Gelson Luis Rostirolla, Chief Operating Officer; and Alceu de Albuquerque, CFO and Investor Relations Officer; as well as the company's key managers.

Now, I'll give the floor to Mr. Alceu de Albuquerque.

[Alceu de Albuquerque, executive]

Good morning. Thank you for your presence to present the results of the second quarter and the [ first ] results of this year -- this year of 2024. We have observed, on the final quarters, it's quite challenging, both in the internal market and also in the external market, and this has been compromising the sellout of our products, not to mention the retail sales as a whole. In the internal market, interests are still high, inflation regarding food, especially pressuring the purchase power of the population of low income in Brazil, has been [ mining ] consumption of this layer of this population.

In the international market, we have a global economy that is facing deceleration, which is a result against the inflation. A context of high interests have been impacting consumption habits on the population. So within this environment that it's quite challenging, Grendene has shown another quarter of growth, both in revenue of our margins and also our operational results, which is that -- result that measures efficiency of the company in their operations.

So the volume has reached 26.7 million pairs in the second quarter, with a margin withdrawal of 4%. In the internal market, we had a withdrawal of 3.1%. This is quite concentrated in the Ipanema series. And we've had a growth of 16.6% in the general bulk for exported pairs. And even though we've been observing that the shoes sector as a whole has been retracting in the exported bulk within around 29%, as I mentioned, Grendene has displayed a growth of 16.3%, bringing a higher share in the Brazilian companies, or recovering part of the share in 6.6%.

For our second quarter, our share export has represented 20.4% of total exports. Gross revenue has grown 3.1%; 1.5% in the internal market and 12.4% in the external market. This growth in external market, we can say that it's quite related to price adjustments that we've had in the beginning of the year and to the good development of the male segment and kids segment and Melissa line.

Gross profit has grown 8%. It reached BRL 204.7 million, and our gross margin has grown 7% to 42.6%. Gross profit grows even with the taxation of our incentives that started in January this year. They've been [ taxated ]fv by PIS and COFINS their impact on the net revenue, and also influenced with the move on reducing the main raw material. The recurring EBIT grows 47.6%. We reached BRL 42.4 million. And the recurring net profit comes from 6.2% to 8.8%, which is a 2.6 percentage points in growth.

Our recurring net profit has withdrawn 27.1% and reached BRL 61.7 million. And this is impacted mainly due to the lowest financial result. This lowest result has 3 components. The first one is a lower Selic with 3 percentage points. We have the result of trade that got the financial result, but this result is compensated with an increase in revenue of export, given that we locked the currency on a level that we think is adequate for our export.

And last but not least, in the reclassification of [indiscernible] that we have that was classified as a fair value. And we understand that the best ranking is to rank that in the curve on paper, given that we're not going to have that until the due date, that's going to be December 2027.

On the next slide, I compare showing the impact of this Law 14.789/23 that impacts on ICMS incentives through the income tax and the social programs. And there is a tax credit of 25% on the depreciations of the new institutions that we have fiscal incentives. So, the net sales revenue that grew 3.6%, if it weren't for this taxation of the state incentives of PIS and COFINS, would have grown 4.4%. If we run the comparison here, if you compare to the second quarter of 2023, we didn't have the taxation. The CPV -- the COGS we have is influenced by the [ tributation ] of 25% of taxation in establishments that we have state incentives. So, to compare -- as a pair of comparison, we have to remove the credit of the COGS base. So if we've grown 0.6%, it would have grown 1.9% if it weren't this tax credit that I've just mentioned.

Our recurring EBIT is impacted both by the taxation of PIS and COFINS and also the tax tribute that we have. So, recurring EBIT, that was 47.6%, would have grown 48%. And our recurring net profit has the impact of [ tributation ] of PIS and COFINS with that impact of 25% alone, but also suffers the taxation of income tax and social contribution. So, the recurring net profit that was BRL 61.7 million with a withdrawal of 27.1% would have been BRL 66.8 million with a withdrawal of 21.1%, hadn't it been for the impact of this new law that started to be enforced in January.

This slide is just to bring a little bit of the performance of our segments, how sell-in and sellout in our first division. As I mentioned, that's going to be quite challenging in the beginning of this year. So, the first quarter, we had a negative sellout of 4.9%. In the second semester, we were able to change that situation for a positive, but the sellout has been floating month-by-month. So, it's a very complex context for sellout. So, the performance of the first division in the net revenue, we had like a slight withdrawal of 0.5%. The volume withdraws 3.9%, and gross revenue per pair has a plus of 3.5%. It was very much impacted by the adjustment of prices that we've run in the beginning of the year. The e-commerce gross revenue has grown 20%, and the COGD share per pair of total division reached 1.6%.

Within this result of the first division, the 2 main segments that had positive performance was the male -- the men's segment and the kids line. And those lines that had like a performance, I would say, lower were women's and especially the Ipanema. Women's within the 3 brands, we had [indiscernible] having a negative impact. But on the other hand, we had Azaleia with a very good and positive behavior. In our channels, we have service and magazine, we have positive. The specific or the retail, that is traditional store -- shoe stores, they had a stable behavior. And on the other hand, the indirect that we call our distributors and wholesales, they had a performance -- a negative performance.

If we think about Melissa now, Melissa had a very positive quarter. Since July 2023, when the spring/summer '23-'24 collection hit the stores, Melissa has been showing, month after month, very good and positive results. And in the second quarter '23, the gross revenue has grown 9.4%. Volume is 11.6%, and gross revenue per pair has remained stable, but with a slight withdrawal of 1.9%. E-commerce has grown 14%. And Melissa in the online channels represents 16.6% of total sales of Melissa in internal market. So you can see here all channels of Melissa that have a positive sell-in: online channel, multi-brand, Melissa Gallery in Sao Paulo and Melissa Studios, especially, and the Melissa Clubs responsible for 408 stores, and we still want to buy 30 new stores until the end of the year.

And we saw a steady growth of Melissa sellout in all regions in Brazil, which has helped a lot with a better profitability of our franchisees because as this new collection reaches the stores, products sell, we have good selling. We had more participation of selling products in the full price, and that increases the profitability of the franchisee. The brand gains interest. They place more order and that it becomes like a virtuous circle, so to speak. Melissa sellout has a very positive growth, 25.1% in the second quarter.

External market, as I mentioned, came like on the other side of the export -- Brazilian export because Brazilian exports have withdrawn 23%, and 21% in bulk. But on the other hand, our exports have grown 12.4% in reais, 14% in dollars and 16.3% in bulk. We have a withdrawal with gross revenue per pair because of a better concentration of loading and unloading of Ipanema, especially to Paraguay and Bolivia, regions that demand a lower average ticket.

In international market, as we see, it's been like cooling down. It's a changing scenario regarding consumption and with a possibility of a more complex sellout, especially in those countries in North America, U.S. and Europe that has gone -- are going through the summer. So we had a weaker sellout. GGB, given this scenario of a weaker sellout, has presented a consistent revenue and volume, especially regarding the second half last year.

Melissa has expanded in China, both in online and wholesale, but it's still stable in the US. And RIZE that we call -- RIZE, Ipanema, Zaxy and everything else, other brands, it is rising, pun intended, in the United States, but falls momentarily in China. And we can see a negative performance in the US. But now, in the second quarter, we had the opposite, a wholesale that we have a negative volume and online, recovering bulk. So, we are taking a look at our actions to see what goes on in these regions. And even though we grew 12.4% in revenue and 16% in volume, we are still below historical levels. So, this is something that we have plenty of potential to grow. Second quarter, as I mentioned, exports represented 20.4% of Brazilian exports.

So, just to show here in this slide what we had, gross revenue for the second quarter or not. So, the volume has withdrawn 3.4%. In fact, price and mix added BRL 22.7 million. Volume in the external market, it grew BRL 14.2 million in the external market, and it decreased BRL 4 million. The exchange rate was BRL 5.4, more valued than in the second quarter of 2023, and it [ added ] BRL 5 million of revenue for the company on this second quarter.

Now, looking at our COGS, we can see that our gross margin comes continuously that process of recovering margins. And since the beginning of last year, we can see, our gross margin on our second quarter, it reaches 42.6% against 40.9% of the second quarter of last year, an increase of 1.7 pp. And this advance of the gross margin is concentrated specifically -- mainly on the raw materials because of the decrease of the prices of raw materials that we have been observing since last year. This year, we also have noticed a price stability short term, but we might have some pressure in the short-term period of the price of raw materials because mainly of the rise of international freights coming from Asia. But on an average term, average period, the scenario shows stability.

When we look at the right -- the graph on the right, we can see net revenue. We can see that per pair, it grows 1.7%, and the COGS 1.4% -- pp. We can see that we have a capacity to increment our revenue -- gross revenue per pair -- sorry, net revenue per pair. It's bigger than the increment of the COGS per pair.

Looking at our operational expenses, we were more efficient than our operational expenses when we compare with the second quarter of last year, when they represented 3.7%. In the second quarter, they represent 38%. And when we look at our commercial expenses, the recurring ones, we can see that the variable expenses grew 3.7%, aligned with the growth of our net revenue. These variable expenses, they are related to the growth of our net revenue, and they represent commissions, frights and licensings. Advertising and publicity has increased an increment of 29.7% because of 2 main factors: investments in Shakira in the foreign market and a reallocation of expenses for advertising and publicity of Melissa that previously, we used to consider -- sorry, Melissa Gallery in New York, we consider an investment. And with the shutdown of the gallery last year, this resource that we used to invest there, and it was in other commercial expenses, now is directed to other investments in media, and now it's being used for advertising. This is why we can see this really strong growth in advertising, and on the other hand, a decrease in some other expenses. When we look generally to the administrative expenses, it grew 2.1% under the inflation rates. It's very efficient, we are in the management of our operational expenses.

We can also show here graphically, the factors that have impacted the EBIT of our company, the recurring EBIT of the company are those 2 blue columns that came from BRL 28.7 million, it grew to 47.2 -- BRL 42.7 million, sorry, 26% growth. And the main components that contributes for this EBIT recurring, it's the increase of net revenue, even considering the impact of the law that started to tax our tax incentives and the reduction of other commercial expenses highly influenced by the shutdown of the Gallery Melissa as I mentioned before. These resources were redirected to other media investments for Melissa.

Inside the non-recurring items, BRL BRL20.1 million in the second quarter of 2024, the GGB equivalents -- equity equivalents is BRL 220 million. Our financial results were impacted, as I mentioned before, by a lower Selic of 2.3 percentage points. So our applications decreased 17% going from [ 36.7 to 29 ]. And we have exchange rate result, sales of future exchange rates to block our exports, and as exports come back to grow, we are going to have a compensation of that in our gross revenue.

We also have results of other assets, financial assets, basically, the reclassification of [indiscernible], as I mentioned before, to classify the curve of the paper data that we are going to maintain until December of 2027. And today, in our portfolio of investments, alternative investments, we have a profit of BRL 20 million, and we have assets retail development projects.

Here, a little bit of our e-commerce. It grew 14.5%. The volume decreased 10.2%. And we grew 36.4% in number of new users, so new clients accessing our platforms in a total of BRL 5.8 million in the second quarter. Gross margin of our e-commerce grew 4.2 pp, reaching 69.3%. Recurring EBIT grew 164%, reaching BRL 1.2 million. And general participation of sales -- online sales in the internal domestic market reached 1.6%. When we look at Melissa itself, total sales on the online channel represents 16.7% in the domestic market when compared to 13.1% in the same period of last year.

Now, on the second -- on the accumulated results of the first quarter, the volume, it decreased 1.9% for 55 million pairs. In the domestic market, we had a growth of 0.6%, reaching 44.5 million pairs. And then, in the external market, a decrease of 11.1% for 10.5 million. The gross revenue reached BRL 1.3 billion, a growth of 1.3% growth. Domestic market grew 4.1%. External market decreased 7.1%. We can see on the half of the year, the same movement of recovering margins, leaping from 41.4% to 43.7%, a gain of 2.7 pp, especially impacted by the decrease of raw material prices. The gross profit reaches BRL 445 million. Recurring EBIT, it's influenced by the expenses and the reduction in COGS, reaching BRL 140.8 million, a growth of 36.3%, with EBIT recurring margins coming from 10.5% to 13.8%, a gain of 3.3 pp. The net recurring result decreases 13% to -- it's the same impact that we have the result for between -- the difference between recurring EBIT and net recurring profit because of a balance of smaller -- less resources applied in the distribution of dividends of BRL 1 billion last year. We also have the impact of decreased Selic and the financial results and also the reclassification of [indiscernible]. With that, our net -- recurring net results -- the recurring net margin is 20.5%.

Giving everything that has been presented, the net results are BRL 181 million. From that, we have BRL 87.7 million that come from tax incentives, reservations for the calculation basis of the legal reserve. And then we have BRL 93.7 million left. We directed BRL 4.7 million to legal reserves, and it's left BRL 89 million to distribute as dividends. As we have already distributed BRL 75.8 million in the first quarter, now we have BRL 13.2 million left to distribute in the second quarter. That will be paid from the September 4, 2024 onwards for the shareholders that have actions until the 21st of August for -- from the 22nd onwards, it will be ex-shares. They will be treated as ex-shares.

What I have today to say, for the second quarter, and this is a graph to evaluate our -- the distribution of interest on equity since the beginning -- became a publicly held company, BRL 11 million. When we updated this amount with the EPCA, and it's BRL8.8 million, and then with the CDI is [ BRL11.8 billion ], demonstrating the capacity of the company to generate results and distribute dividends for our shareholders. What I have to say today about the second quarter and first quarter of this year, that's it.

And, now I'm open for questions.

[Operator]

[Operator Instruction] We have a question from [indiscernible].

[Unknown Analyst]

Congratulations for the results. About the strong cash generation, what's the expectation for the second half and what's going to be its use? Wouldn't it be interesting to spread the buyback, given the level of discontinuation?

[Alceu de Albuquerque, executive]

Thank you for your question. We don't have any extraordinary events that are going to make us believe that we are going to have any alterations in our cash generation. Grendene is a major cash-generating company. So we don't see any changes in that.

Related to your questions of buyback actions -- shares, sorry, the council approved yesterday our program of rebuying actions -- repurchasing. And if the Board of Directors thinks it's appropriate -- adequate, we are going to do that, but we don't have anything in line for that.

[Operator]

[ Lucas Xavier ] with the second question.

[Unknown Analyst]

If any measurable impact on revenue related to the tragedy in Rio Grande do Sul, the floods?

[Alceu de Albuquerque, executive]

Lucas, thank you for your question. Our exposure related to the Rio Grande do Sul varies 3.4%, 3.7%. And in the second half, it's the weakest half period of the year for the company, especially Rio Grande do Sul, given that we have a strong winter period. So, the main average exposure is 3%. We observed a decrease of 30% in sales for the Southern region in the second quarter, especially in May. In April -- sorry, May and June. But we have already started to observe recovery. Given that the low exposure of the company in the South region, the total impact wasn't relevant in our sales.

[Operator]

Now we end the Q&A session. I would like to give the floor to Mr. Alceu Albuquerque for the final considerations.

[Alceu de Albuquerque, executive]

Once again, thank you so much for your presence. The IR team is available for questions. I wish you a great day, and thank you so much.

[Operator]

It's now closed, the session. The Investor Relations department is available to answer any other questions you may have. Thank you for all the participants, and have a great day. Thank you.

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