LPS Brasil Consultoria de Imoveis SA

BOVESPA:LPSB3

Earnings Call Transcript 2021-Q3

[Operator]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for waiting. Welcome to the earnings conference call of LPS Brasil to discuss the results referred to the Third Quarter of 2021.

Here with us, we have Marcos Lopes, CEO; Francisco Lopes Neto, Vice President; Robson Paim, CFO; Matheus Fabricio, Investor Relations Officer; and Cyro Naufel, Institutional Officer. [Operator Instructions]

This event is also being simultaneously broadcast on the web via webcast and can be accessed at the address ri.lopes.com.br, where the corresponding presentation is available. The selection of slides will be controlled by you. The replay of this event will be available shortly after it is finished. We remind you that participants of the webcast can send their questions through the website that will be answered after the end of the conference.

Before proceeding, we would like to clarify that statements that may be made during this conference call regarding the business prospects of LPS projections, operational goals and financial goals are based on assumptions and beliefs of the Company's management. Future forward-looking statements are not guarantee of performance as they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions as they refer to future events and depend on circumstances, which may or may not occur. Investors and analysts should understand that general conditions, industry conditions and other operational factors may affect the future earnings of the company and lead to results that differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements.

First, Mr. Marcos Lopes will make the general introduction and presentation of operational results, followed by Francisco Lopes, who will present the results of CrediPronto. And after that, Mr. Matheus Fabricio will speak about the financial results. Finally, we'll open for the Q&A session. Therefore, I would like to turn the floor over to Mr. Marcos Lopes. Mr. Lopes, you may start.

[Marcos Lopes, executive]

Good afternoon, everyone. I would like to thank you for attending one more conference call of LPS Brasil in which we will present the results for the third quarter of 2021. Here with us in this presentation, we have Mr. Francisco Lopes Neto, Vice President; our Investor Relations Officer, Matheus Fabricio; and our Financial Officer, Robson Paim; and Institutional Director, Cyro Naufel.

Overall, during the third quarter '21, the real estate market remained at the level of intermediation close to that observed in the second quarter. The vaccination of the population became a consolidated reality in Brazil, which is positive for the overall scenario and despite the increase in the basic interest rate, interest rate for home loans still remained at levels considered attractive for long term loans, especially when compared to the level of interest rates in previous years.

From the operational point of view, I highlight that the company continues to present good results in all segments it operates. In intermediation, we see that we continue to see an uptake in markets outside Sao Paulo, such as in the south of Brazil, Fortaleza and Espirito Santo. Our franchise operation continues to grow steadily with the new operational record of sales at BRL 1.3 billion and a growth of 13% in the number of stores when compared to the last quarter of this year.

At CrediPronto, our real estate credit fintech, the volume of origination remains consistent and accelerated, building a solid and profitable portfolio. Once again, the combination of our know-how about the real estate market and unbeatable data volume, the leadership position of Lopes network and the superior performance of CrediPronto have allowed us in all segments of the company to present once again a positive contribution margin for the net income of controlling shareholders.

Lopes Labs platform continues to play a key role in the strategy of the company, benefiting from the largest real estate database of the market and the unbeatable number of transactions and the network effect of an ecosystem that has more than 260,000 properties, 134 stores and almost 14,000 real estate brokers associated that provide more intelligence, efficiency and a better experience for customers, with the purpose of boosting what we call the Tri Match, which is the match between customer, finding the desired property, the property and realtors.

After my initial remarks, we now start the presentation, starting on Slide 5 with the highlights of the third quarter of 2021. On Slide 5, we highlight the launch of PSV adjusted to the participation of Lopes that added BRL 2.2 billion, which is 36% higher than the third quarter of 2020. With that volume, the company has reached 81% of pipeline expectation for the year of 2021, as published in the beginning of the year. The total transactions closed by the company reached BRL 2.5 billion in the quarter, 3% increase when compared to the third quarter of 2020. In the 9-month period year-to-date, the company has reached intermediate volume, the same as the whole year of 2020 and equivalent to 91% of 2019.

Our national presence continues to grow with the network of franchises. We closed the third quarter of 2021 with 116 franchises, 47% higher than the same period of last year and 13% higher than the last quarter we published. Adding our own transactions of Grupo Lopes, we totaled 134 stores in operation. CrediPronto continues to present significant and solid results and in this quarter, it has originated BRL 1.7 billion, 97% higher in volume than the third quarter of last year. In year-to-date 9-months, the originated volume amounted to BRL 4.7 billion, 148% higher than the 9 first months of 2020. The profit sharing of CrediPronto has reached BRL 14.2 million accounted in the quarter, totaling BRL 45.6 million in the 9 first months of 2021 and the volume that is 16% higher than the same period of last year.

Finally, our net income of controlling shareholders before the IFRS effect has reached BRL 15.9 million, 51% higher than the third quarter 2020. Now continuing to Slide 7, we'll comment on the launches of the third quarter of this year. On the chart on the left, you can see that the total volume launched by the company in the third quarter of '21 was BRL 3.9 billion, with a growth of 30% when compared to the third quarter of 2020. Of the total launched PSV, 78% was concentrated in the state of Sao Paulo with the regions Northeast and South contributing with 16% and 6%, respectively.

On the right, we see that the share of Lopes in the launches reached BRL 2.2 billion, 36% higher than the same period of last year. In the accumulated data for the 3 quarters of 2021, the share of Lopes in launches adds up to BRL 6 billion, which accounts for 81% of the expected pipeline that's closed in the beginning of the year, which amounted to BRL 7.4 billion. Now continuing with our presentation, let's look at Slide 8. Now we see the results of intermediations. On the left, we see the consolidated result of the company, the PSV of our own transactions, plus the PSV of transactions intermediated by franchises. When compared to the same period of 2020, we grew 3%, totaling BRL 2.5 billion. Our franchises operation contributed with the largest portion of transactions totaling BRL 1.3 billion, an increase of 13% when compared to the third quarter of 2020.

Our proprietary transactions presented a drop of 6% in the volume, totaling BRL 1.2 billion. On the lower left, we see that both the SOS and SOL had a drop in the third quarter when compared to the same period of last year. One of the VSO Brasil decreased 13.2% to 9.3%. And the SOL from 26.4% to 11%. It's important to remind that the third quarter of last year was the quarter that started the recovery of the real estate market after the most severe pandemic period that had stopped launches and sales stands. Therefore, these operating indicators of the market and of the company in the same period of last year had been potentialized, which caused our growth in the total volume of intermediation in this quarter, still more relevant.

Now on Slide 9, we see the total PSV accumulated curves for 2019, 2020 and 2021, including our own operations and franchises, trying to show the consistent growth and accelerated pace of growth that the company has seen in its transactions. As we can see, in the 9 first months of 2021, the volume of transactions was 55% higher than the same period of last year and 28% higher than 2019. On the lower chart, we see the total PSV of the company quarter-on-quarter in the last 12 months since 2017. As you may see, the transactions intermediated by the company in the last 12 months totaled BRL 9.9 billion, looking at the third quarter of 2021.

On Slide 10, we present the results of transactions closed by region as well as our geographic presence. We ended the quarter present in 13 states plus the federal district, with 134 stores altogether, of which 18 are owned by Lopes and 116 franchises, which proves the strengthening of our network and higher efficiency in the expansion process. As shown on the lower part of the slide, we see the consistency of our growth plan, which adds up to 47% of growth on an annual basis and has had growth of stores for 3 consecutive quarters at 13% at every 3 months. On the upper part of the slide, we can see that the state of Sao Paulo accounted for 59% of transactions of our own operations in the quarter, continuing as the state with the largest representativeness in the company. South of Brazil accounted for 22% of transactions, highlighting Londrina, and the other markets accounted for 20% with a highlight to Fortaleza and Espirito Santo.

In franchises, the state of Sao Paulo also led transactions totaling 48% of PSV in the quarter. The market of Rio de Janeiro capped second most relevant position with 28% of PSV intermediated in the period. And the other regions continue to grow in relevance, totaling 25% with the highlight for Goias, Bahia, Rio Grande do Sul and the Federal District. Now continuing, let's go to Slide 11, where we can see the development of the company and important indicators related to Lopes Labs throughout the quarter. On the left side of the chart, we can see the total visitors to portal and blog of Lopes grew 70% when compared to the third quarter of 2020, again, exceeding 3 million visitors.

On the lower chart, we see the evolution of 0.11 percentage points in the conversion of visitors into leads when compared to the third quarter of 2020, reaching the level of 1.65%. As a consequence of the increase in the number of visits and the improvement in the conversion rate, we saw throughout the quarter, an important development in the volume of leads originated at the Lopes portal that exceeded 42,000 leads. This figure represents a growth of 160% when compared to the same period of last year.

Finally, on the lower part on the left of the slide, we can see the consistent increase of new properties captured by quarter at Lopes platform. Only in July, August and September of this year, 25,542 new properties were placed for sale or lease at the platform, which is 28% higher than the third quarter of '20. This indicator shows the power of unifying and improvement of the digital process with better tools for real estate agents and a more assertive pricing policy for real estate owners with the movement in which 134 stores participate as well as 14,000 realtors -- 14,000 brokers. We highlighted the strengthening of Lopes Labs is key to increase our efficiency and are retaining the Tri Match between customers, properties and real estate agents, providing share to the company that's higher in the intermediations of the Brazilian real estate market.

These were my remarks about the operational results. And now I'll turn the floor over to Francisco, who will speak about CrediPronto and then to Matheus Fabricio, who will present the financial results of the company. Thank you.

[Francisco Neto, executive]

Thank you, Marcos. Good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here with you again to be able to talk about CrediPronto in another quarter with a significant volume of origination, in which we reached the volume of BRL 30.9 billion and almost a double of the same quarter in 2020. This accounts for a positioning of CrediPronto as the fourth largest credit operator between -- among private banks and even higher than the origination volume of Banco do Brasil in this quarter, which is the third quarter of '21.

We noticed an important index that we keep track of, which is the replacement of new contracts for each contract that is settled now has reached 13 contracts. So 13 new originated contracts for every terminated contract. So the origination capacity shows the healthy nature of our portfolio. Our portfolio is almost BRL 11 billion and has reached that figure in September '21. And we've seen the duration increasing. So the origination as well as the portfolio reaching very interesting levels. At the same time, we see the loan-to-value stabilize that's 65%, which reflects the healthiness of the portfolio.

CrediPronto reports the quarter results and the figures accounted for reflect the months of June, July and August for this quarter of 2021. And our origination capacity has been maintained with a very effective positioning in services rendered and we try to -- we have opportunity to reach these levels that we report. Basically, these are the figures that I had to say about the -- or my comments about CrediPronto and now I'll turn the floor over to Matheus for the financial results. Thank you.

[Matheus de Souza Fabricio, executive]

Thank you, Francisco. Good afternoon, everyone. Let's start the financial results on Slide 18 where we see the reconciliation of the gross revenue of the company in the third quarter '21.

The BRL 1.2 billion and the net intermediation rate of 2.10%, [ 0.009 ] higher than the last quarter published, multiplying by the PSV of our own operations with the average of intermediations, we arrive at the gross revenue of intermediation of BRL 25.2 million.

To that revenue, we should add more segments, such a royalty from franchises and revenues from CrediPronto profit sharing and commission on new loans, all recognized on the other revenues line of BRL 35.7 million. In order to total, the gross revenue of the quarter of BRL 64.8 million, we need to add the relative amount of deferred value of CrediPronto that doesn't have a cash effect.

On the Slide 19, we see the net revenue and costs and expenses in the period, the net revenue reached BRL 58.9 million in the third quarter, which is 68% increase when compared to the same period of last year. The bar chart also shows the contribution of each segment to this net revenue. CrediPronto accounted for 48% of net revenue. Brokerage, 43%; and franchise the rest.

On the other chart, we see the cost and expenses of the company before IFRS. There was an increase of 76.3% in the expenses of the quarter, which is mainly explained by the increase in commissions from origination of loans at Lopes channels. This is part of a strategic movement that has been happening for some quarters now and results from the growing competition of other banks that is justified by the increase in the balance of CrediPronto portfolio and long-term results. It's also important to highlight the positive effect of actions taken by the company to result contingencies.

Since the information is not on the slide, there was a reduction of 52% in contingency expenses when compared to the third quarter of 2020. It went from BRL 5.8 million to BRL 5.7 million. On the following slide, we have EBITDA and the net income of controlling shareholders without -- before IFRS, it totaled 16.3% with a margin of 28%, a drop of 37% when compared to the third quarter of 2020. On the right, you have the net income and controlling shareholders before IFRS. BRL 15.9 million, 27% higher than the third quarter of '20. And the margin was 27%. It's worth highlighting that despite the positive effect of BRL 5.7 million of tax incentives that was due to the digital transformation investment made by the company.

On Slide 21, we see the development of net income before IFRS in the last 12 months. Since the first quarter of 2018. As you may see, the development of the company in this aspect is quite consistent and reaches BRL 61.8 million in the last 12 months. On the following Slide 22, we see the analysis of results by segment on a quarterly view before IFRS. As Marcos said in the beginning, all segments had a positive contribution. Intermediations had a net IFRS net income of [ BRL 6 point million ] and franchises had a net income of BRL 5.7 million; and CrediPronto, a BRL 9.8 million with a margin of 35%. After deducting depreciation and amortization and taxes, we arrive at a net income of 32.6 -- 19.1% and a margin of 32.6%. And after net income attributable to controlling shareholders of BRL 15.8 million and 27% margin.

Let's see the income -- net income before noncontrolling shareholders. The noncash impacts of controlling shareholders and deferred income. The total impact coming from such restatements add up to BRL 25.3 million in the quarter without any cash effect. Therefore, we recommend analyzing our figures without this impact to better understand the figures of the company.

On Slide 24, we have the cash assessment of the company and the total cash in banks at the end. We have cash from operations, which remained positive for the 8th consecutive quarter, adding up to BRL 16.7 million, with a positive impact of income from CrediPronto and a good result from intermediation of franchises. The cash used for loans were BRL 10.8 million, mainly due to dividends paid to noncontrolling shareholders and the share buyback program. The cash balance at the end of the period, considering financial operations was BRL 129.3 million.

These were my remarks about the financial results of the company, and we thank you all for participation, and we now open for the Q&A session. Thank you.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Andre Dibe from Itau BBA.

[Andre Dibe, analyst]

Here I have 2 questions. First, regarding franchises. I see that they continue to grow steadily in the quarter. I would like to understand whether the franchises will continue to accelerate that growth next year? What is the level that you intend to reach there? And also about the marginal drop of these new franchises, where the productivity is different when compared to those you have at the base.

And the second question is about intermediation. If you could comment on whether October and November, you have seen any adjustment on SOS or if you can show about any changes in the pipeline of launches for this year and next year.

[Matheus de Souza Fabricio, executive]

This is Matheus speaking. Thank you for your questions. I'll answer the one about franchises, and then I'll turn the floor over to other people to talk about the market. In terms of franchises, our goal for the future is not only to keep the level of growth, but to accelerate it even more because we noticed that the market has very spread.

We have 40,000 realtors in Brazil. So that's a quick way to -- with a very attractive return margin to occupy some areas in which we're not present and to bring new PSV to the company. So our plan for next year will be to continue to expand franchises, not only at the same pace, but even trying to exceed it because we -- there is an organic growth that will offset any oscillations that may happen in the market.

As for the contribution margin of the new franchises, the figures that you mentioned, we cannot forget that we have 2 target audiences for franchises. One, is the sales director or experienced broker that wants to create his own real estate company, his own business, and that has a more longer maturity time because it takes some time to mature as -- and you are right about that.

But our main focus of growth of franchises is getting realtors that are already productive that already have PSV and real estate agents and properties, and they become Lopes in their name. And so they -- after the implementation period of 60 or 90 days, they start producing considerable figures in PSV. So there will be companies that will take longer to mature, but the majority of them will have a short-term maturity period because they are already operating in their own markets, and they start paying royalties in the short term. I think that answered your question about -- answers your question about franchises. So Francisco, if you could answer the other one.

[Francisco Neto, executive]

Okay. Thank you, Matheus, and thank you for the question. It's important to highlight what Marcos has mentioned in his presentation, that the main news when comparing peers SOS and SOL in the quarters is the high number of SOS in the third quarter of '20, given the reopening of stores in this quarter, then we had all the suppressed demand that we had from last year. So we had a very large growth in this period. This year was also impacted by the excessive increase in the number of launches. In Sao Paulo, only in the 9 months of 2021, we -- the market launched 87% more than in the 9 first months of 2020. So that causes conversion to be lower.

And I believe that in the third quarter of '21, the figure will go back to normal. And we have a very robust pipeline, not only in Sao Paulo, but as well as in the main capitals outside Sao Paulo state and that is very good for Lopes because it's important to highlight the difference between business of developer and Lopes as intermediation company because although there is a drop in SOS, Lopes benefit from the growth in the market. When the market grows, my basis of operation as applied to a higher base, the trend is to have a more positive results. So we are confident on the robust pipeline we have.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from BTG Pactual.

[Elvis Credendio, analyst]

There was a question -- I have a question about CrediPronto because we see an increase in the commissions paid in the third quarter. I know it was a strategic increase because of higher competition in real estate credit. But do you see this as a one-off event? Or do you believe that these commissions will remain higher for the next quarters? This is my question.

[Francisco Neto, executive]

Elvis, this is Francisco speaking. Thank you for your question. Yes, this is a scenario of higher commissions now that we see in the market and there is a high competition, and we are very well positioned. We are very pleased with our strategy. Our strategy is to have a significant positioning in the real estate loan industry with a competitive commissions.

It is necessary to raise the commissions because there is a competition scenario. But we believe that both things will attain the results that we seek, which is the quality of service and competitiveness, both in terms of rates that are equivalent to market rates in terms of financing and lower rates and the commissions because there was a need to increase commissions. This is very current.

But overall, the customer satisfaction is high because people who are taking credits and being served by us, by our expertise, and they are very pleased because we are experienced. We know how to deal with customers that want a very simple, low end service that's very -- a service that is attentive. And then we keep track of all the steps into the housing loan procedure.

[Operator]

We continue with the questions and webcast. We have some questions. I'll try to consolidate the topics because there are many questions that are repeated. There were questions about the competitors that have high-tech initiatives. How do you think that this excitement about real estate techs will affect the industry?

[Francisco Neto, executive]

We do see the techs coming in. We separate the noise from this. Of course, these are competitors we have to pay attention to and assess how to work on that to also provide a better experience for realtors, consumers in general, because the technology is something that's here to stay in the real estate market, and we are confident that we are on the right path.

But it's important for us to look at new operational indicators that are attained with digital transactions or digital initiatives because these companies, these techs are doing everything they can and spending lots of money to try to build something that we already have in terms of strength. You see the number of historical transactions of Lopes in terms of input for machine learning, artificial intelligence, products offered for realtors and customers, we have a very robust database or land bank and real estate banks.

So every quarter, we increased 20 -- by the number of properties for sale by 25,000, and it is a large figure, but our strength in terms of the brick-and-mortar world is also very big. We have 130 stores. We see some soft techs buying real estate companies because they noticed that not having the real estate agents in the brick-and-mortar world is something that is -- makes a difference. So they want to have that and they're buying realtors.

So we're paying close attention to that, but we are continuing with our strategy to intermediate more and create new products so that we can take part in transactions in Brazil, either by providing loans or buying and selling in any new opportunities that may arise. So we continue with our strategy. And despite this new level of competition, we remain confident towards the future.

[Operator]

The other question that was asked is about the fact that, well, the market looks the company as a real estate agent that launches. Are we right to see that this is a trend that will continue towards the future?

[Marcos Lopes, executive]

I think I have answered that partially in the question of Andre. Yes, that's right. When I say market, that market has catered, the secondary market of used properties is much higher than the launches market in Brazil as a whole. So we plan to diversify our operations because this is a more resilient market and much less impacted by changes because people are getting divorced, having -- getting married, moving from town to town and having children every day.

So we plan to grow on the secondary market a lot. And we have a balanced position between primary and secondary market. So your reading is correct. And finally, just to complete about our repurchase program, we will communicate to the market on a homogeneous way according to the CVM rules as soon as possible.

[Operator]

These are the questions I had from the webcast. Thank you. Since there are no further questions, I would now like to turn the floor to Mr. Marcos Lopes for his final remarks.

[Marcos Lopes, executive]

Thank you all for attending our earnings release conference call for the third quarter of 2021. And I take this opportunity to restate our confidence on the solid fundamentals of the company and the positioning of Lopes to face any challenges that may come in all fronts -- in all types of business, CrediPronto franchises, or own operations, given these strategic movements we always made. Thank you, and have a good day.

[Operator]

The conference call of LPS Brasil has now ended. We thank you all for attending, and have a good afternoon. Thank you for using Chorus Call.

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