Mills Locacao Servicos E Logistica SA

BOVESPA:MILS3

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q4

[Operator]

Good morning, and thank you for holding. Welcome to the earnings conference call for the fourth quarter and the year 2022 of Mills. I highlight that if you require simultaneous translation this tool is available on the platform. To access it, simply click the interpretation button at the bottom of the screen to choose your preferred language, either Portuguese or English.

For those who are listening to the conference call in English, the option to mute original audio in Portuguese is also available. We inform you that this conference is being recorded and will be available on the company's IR website, where the complete material of the earnings release is also available. [Operator Instructions] We highlight that the information presented in this presentation and statements that may be made during the conference call pertaining to the perspective and projections of the company are based on the assumptions of the company regarding Mills future. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of performance as they involve macroeconomic conditions, market risks and other factors.

With that, I will turn the floor to Sergio Kariya, Mills CEO.

[Sergio Kariya, executive]

Good morning. Mills, thank you all for your presence at another live to share our earnings. We begin our presentation on Slide 3 with the main highlights that marked the last quarter and the year 2022. We generated gross revenue of BRL 376 million in the quarter, reaching a record of BRL 1.3 billion in the year-to-date, both with an increase of 50% when compared to the same period of the previous year. The ROIC recorded for the last 12 months of 24% for the rental business units, both light and heavy, and 23% for the consolidated of the company.

As of this quarter, we'll start reporting our results, including adjusted EBITDA only with the exclusion of nonrecurring impacts when indicated. The impact caused by the adoption of IFRS 16 in the accounting of brands are no longer excluded to facilitate the comparison with both accounting members and with other companies that operate in the market.

The company had an adjusted EBITDA of BRL 146 million in the fourth quarter of '22, with a margin of 45% and a record of BRL 512 million in '22 with a margin of 47%. Net income in turn was BRL 48 million in the fourth quarter of '22 and a margin of 15%. We understand that the decrease in margin in the fourth quarter was a one-off event and income for the year amounted to BRL 216 million with a margin of 20%. Our leverage remains low, with net debt equivalent to only 0.2x Mills EBITDA for the last 12 months. The BRL 430 million raised and the [ BRL 78 million ] of debenture held in December will be invested in the growth and contribute to the reprofiling of the company's debt.

We invested BRL [ 246 ] million in the fourth quarter of '22, totaling BRL 600 million invested in the last 12 months ended in December of 2022. This move reflects the confidence in the potential of the rental market and Mills performance capacity for the coming years. We reached the mark of 55 branded, reinforce our national presence and the company's vocation for leadership in the sector. In 2022, we distributed BRL 50.2 million via interest on equity and BRL 1.2 million of complementary dividends to be distributed in '23 to achieve the statutory minimum payout of 25% of the net income with a yield of 2.5%.

On the ESG front, our Partilhar program, through which the company makes donations to various organizations and social entities, reached its third addition in '22. We also posted a record in the amount donated. In addition, on January 4 of this year, we received news of our inclusion in B3 GPTW Index, which makes us very happy. We consider that this is yet another benefit of our commitment to the well-being of employees.

Finally, we also celebrated the arrival of hybrid elevating platform that we have added to our fleet as another alternative we offer to our customers. And in addition to all of our efforts within the priority material theme of bringing operational efficiency and sustainable solution. As you can see, it was a year of a lot of hard work and great team effort, but it was also rewarded through record broken on virtually every front of our results.

Our challenge now is to maintain growth without losing the balance of our expenses or affect the health of our balance sheet. But I can say that I'm very pleased with the history with Lyft last year, and we're very optimistic, but very mindful of the year 2023.

I now turn the floor to Guerreiro, who will talk about our financial performance in the quarter.

[James Oliver Carneiro, executive]

Thank you, Kariya. So moving to the analysis of rentals earnings on Slide 5, we show that our fleet received more than 400 pieces of equipment in the last 3 months of 2022. The replacement value is of BRL 3.8 billion currently. At Mills, we used responsible management of our fleet, investing in the ideal mix to better serve our customers. We count on organic growth and the constant assessment of M&A opportunity as a growth lever. Regarding the progress of our fleet overhaul project, the Phoenix, we inform you that 392 unavailable machines have been recovered in '22 and the project is almost concluded. This products enhanced our revenue generation through increased equipment availability.

Going to Slide 6. I'd like to remind you that this quarter includes the results of [indiscernible], and the beginning of our heavy rental operations also by organic group. We see the contribution that this move has already brought to the diversification of the company's revenue. Agri business, for example, which is a significant and resilient factor in Brazilian economic activity, increased its share by 4.4 percentage points in Mills customer portfolio, totaling now 6% in the period. Rental top 20 customers accounted for 19% of the business unit's revenue in the fourth quarter of '22. As part of our strategy, we seek to diversify Mills revenue as a [indiscernible] against cyclical macroeconomic effect. At the same time, that we look at the ability to increase our top line through cross-selling opportunities and increasing share of wallet, we are also careful to reduce the concentrate and exposure to a particular customer and/or sector seeking to enhance the resilience of our business.

With the increase in the fleet, the usage rate and the prices and the light equipment rentals as well as the beginning of our activity in the heavy segment, our net revenue increased 15% in 2022 and the combined rental units. In the same comparison, the adjusted EBITDA increased 57% with a margin expansion of 3 percentage points. Net revenue in the quarter grew 49%, while adjusted EBITDA posted a 39% increase. The margin reduction in the fourth quarter is a one-off effect, mainly related to adjustment in the provision for short-term incentives due to exceeding the target set for the year. In 2023, our expectation is that margins will be normalized.

On Slide 9, it is clear that the unit of formwork insuring is going through a very good moment. We saw a 53% increase in revenue from BRL 29 million in the fourth quarter of '21 to BRL 45 million in the fourth quarter of '22. And an increase of 185% in adjusted EBITDA with a growth of 18 points in margin in the period. In the year, net revenue was up 58% and adjusted EBITDA grew 200%, reaching BRL 61 million. The highlight in the performance of this business unit was the 74% increase in rental revenue mainly due to better prices and higher utilization rate of equipment, which indicates the good moment for the construction and infrastructure sector, an opportunity that is being tapped into by Mills as the absolute leader in formwork insuring.

Now moving on to consolidated results on Slide 11. We proudly present our record performance. Both net revenue and EBITDA are the largest in Mills history, exceeding the net revenue of BRL 738 million in '21 to BRL 1.1 billion in '22. Adjusted EBITDA in turn went from BRL 309 million to BRL 512 million in '22, representing a 66% growth in the same period. In the annual comparison between quarters, net revenue of 4Q '21 grew 49.2%, growing from BRL 219 million to BRL 326 million, while adjusted EBITDA went from BRL 98 million to BRL 146 million in the fourth quarter of '22, an increase of 48.2%.

These results indicate that the growth strategy for the rental sector, either through the rental business unit or formwork insuring is successful and promising. Demand is keeping up with Mills expansion, and we are consistent in our growth.

Moving to Slide 12. We highlight net income of BRL 216 million in '22, [ 112% ] above the 2021 result. In the last quarter of '22, income was impacted by the reversal of a deferred income tax credit in the amount of BRL 14 million with no impact on the year. Excluding this effect, net margin would be closer to the company's historical margin, in line with the 2022 margin of 20%.

Looking at the chart to the right of the slide, we see Mills cash generation shows strong growth over the quarters. While operating cash flow has quite propelled, free cash flow for the firm has fluctuated over the past 5 quarters, considering the company's investment to acquire machinery as well as the disbursement related to M&A operations.

In conclusion, we share the company's cash and indebtment positions on Slide 13, where we demonstrate that our net debt reached BRL 88 million, starting from a gross debt of BRL 885 million, almost entirely offset by the cash of BRL 796 million. In December, we raised more fund. BRL 430 million were obtained in [indiscernible] cost of CDI plus 2.05%, with a payment term until 2027. We also point that in January this year, Moody's published an upgrade of the company's rating, raised to A+ due to the improvement notice in Mills cash generation and payment capacity. S&P and Fitch ratings were held at AA- and A, respectively. We went from an average cost of CDI plus 2.34% in the third quarter of '22 to CDI plus 2.23% in the fourth quarter of '22. The average maturity of our debt was extended and went from 2.4 years in September to 3.1 years in December of '22.

We ended another quarter with covenants fulfilled and low indebtedness being 0.2x the net debt over adjusted EBITDA in the last 12 months. It is worth remembering that our gross debt is composed almost entirely of debentures and 90% of its maturity is in the long term.

I conclude my comments with a thank you to our team that has done a great job to advance our growth journey and to you, our shareholders and investors, for your trust and your interest in Mills history.

I turn the floor over back to Kariya for his final considerations.

[Sergio Kariya, executive]

Thank you, Guerreiro. We close today's presentation with a message that we follow the fluctuations of Brazil's economy and markets very carefully. Well, we have indications that 2023 may be a year of instability and the long period of high interest rates, we keep our feet on the ground, focused on the process that will bring a good performance in any scenario. The customer is always in the center. Our products and services are differentiated, both in terms of the product mix we offer for rent in more than one line of equipment and the premium manufacturers that make up the fleet. Our job is to ensure the efficiency and productivity of our customer in their day to day. This is our value proposition. We're absolute leaders of MEWPs in Latin America. We have the scale to stand out the negotiations and are very close to our customers, serving more than 1,400 cities.

The beginning of our operation in the rental of heavy machinery and equipment also favors the diversification of our revenue and minimizes the negative effects of macroeconomic cycles as we seek long-term contracts. We invest in getting our business to work more and more efficiently and quickly scalable. Technology and innovation are powerful tools in our activities, and we move on watching closely our digital journey to continue to delight our customers. We have also reviewed our processes and replicated strategies that bring efficiency and cost reduction.

Last but not least, we control our leverage and preserve a sound balance sheet with strong cash generation. Investments are carefully analyzed to optimize our capital structure and the returns generated. Based on these pillars, Mills continue forward on our growth journey, optimistic, but cautious. We remain available to take your questions at this time. Thank you.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Alexandre Assaf. Alexandre, we will enable your microphone so you can ask your question.

Alexandre, you may go ahead.

Alexandre has been enabled. I believe he has some technical problems. We will come back to him later. Let's move on to the next question. One second, please.

[Gabriel Rezende, analyst]

This is Gabriel Rezende from Itau BBA. Can you hear me? Kariya, Guerreiro, congratulations on strong results again. Two questions from our side. I'd like to understand a little bit more about the revenue increase in the fourth quarter, especially in the comparison with the third quarter of '22, it was almost 20% of growth. So I'd appreciate it, if you could break it down, considering the fleet increase from the third quarter that I believe had a full effect on the fourth quarter, but also the trend in terms of usage in -- rentals segment.

And another point here, you already mentioned during the call, the presentation about the one-off decrease in the margin due to stock options, et cetera. But I understand that the strategy to expand [indiscernible] on Mills physical expansion also weighed down on the margin here, right? So I'd like to confirm if I understood that correctly and understand how much of the 55 branches you have today are not completely ramped up yet?

I mean, the room margin would have to improve. Of course, you have an expansion plan, but to understand the weight of this effect.

[Sergio Kariya, executive]

Thank you, Gabriel, for your question. I'll start with the increase in revenue. The increase in revenue in the fourth quarter had 2 or 3 effects actually. The first is linked to price. We were able to evolve price from the third to the fourth quarter, especially in the light rental as well as in the volume of equipment, not only the equipments that arrived in the third quarter, in part in the fourth quarter, but we had a concentrated effect of new equipment arriving in December, specifically that ended up not generating a positive impact as of yet in the company's earnings. And there was also the effect of the yellow line, right? Yellow line in the third quarter, we accounted now 1 month. And now it comes for 2 quarters. So we had effects not only in terms of volume of rental, but also price improvement and the effect on the yellow line as well.

As for your second question, the opening of branches, what we normally do is we have an advanced post a little bit earlier to make sure that our branch opening strategy is aligned with our expectations. So we usually start putting commercial and technical people and equipment in the location first, so that we can feel confident in opening the branch. And that mitigates that J-curve, that initial curve of impact on margin. The effect on margin of these branches is balanced compared to the average margins of the older branches. So the main effect in terms of margin impact was this provision -- or most of it was the impact of the increase in the provision to be paid for the company.

[Operator]

Our next question is from [indiscernible].

I believe micro -- Mauricio has a problem in the microphone, so I'm going to read his question. The question is, Kariya, what's the expectation of the G&A evolution from now on?

[Sergio Kariya, executive]

Thank you, Mauricio, for your question. We also had an impact on G&A this year, also because we've reinforced our team, not only in the technology department for all of the challenges and the strategic pillars that we have to develop in this area, but also G&A for the yellow line. So we expect and we're focusing for 2023 to see stability in G&A and a strong focus on costs and expenses. We want to seek margin improvement through less G&A impact in the revenue, to have it more offset with the revenue increase so that we get productivity gains.

[Operator]

Next question, Marcelo [indiscernible], Sell-Side analyst, BPG [indiscernible].

[Unknown Analyst]

Congratulations on the results. Do you intend to maintain an accelerated fleet increase in '23 despite macroeconomic challenges? Any priority between growing in platforms versus IL?

[Sergio Kariya, executive]

Thank you, Marcelo, for your question. I think the point here, we're a little bit more cautious for '23. The longer interest rate curve makes us more cautious and choose products with more profitability. So specifically for light equipment, we're focusing on the expansion of fleet rather than renewal of the fleet. So that would be a focus to equip the branches we opened, our estimation is to open again almost 10 branches for '23. So to stock these branches, and for yellow line, we're focused on the choice of better -- or the best projects since we have here a value proposition to deliver service differentiation to our customers choosing premium machinery, longer-term contracts. We will choose contracts or bids that offer better return so our investments will be more cautious in that sense. So we do not intend to accelerate too much at this time as it's more complicated in Brazil in terms of interest rates and macroeconomic scenario.

[Operator]

Our next question is from Brennan, buy-side analyst [indiscernible].

[Unknown Analyst]

I would like to know the size of the current size of the yellow fleet. [indiscernible] had 345 machines. The other question is, have you evolved in conversations with OEM? Will the cost due to inflation still impact acquisition value?

[Sergio Kariya, executive]

Well, we ended the year with approximately 350 machines. Almost 90 machines came in, in December. Pretty much in the last 2 weeks of December, the yellow line equipment arrived. So when you look, I don't know if I understood our question with OEMs with the manufacturers. If that's your question, we are feeling some stabilization of prices from manufacturers to -- for '23 in yellow line equipment. We don't have an expectation of decrease at this time, but of stability, so an increase of prices compared to 2022. The dynamic of lifting platforms is a little bit different. It's more focused on the global macro scenario of importing the equipment, but we made the purchases for 2023 last year. So there's a small effect, but looking at '23, there would have been a new increase, but we will not have this impact since we made the purchase last year for this year.

[Operator]

Next question, Alexandre Assaf, Investor.

[Unknown Analyst]

There's 2 questions. First, congratulations on the results. So what's the dynamic now for the utilization rate of equipment and rental rates. And if you can, please talk about new -- possibility of new M&As in yellow line.

[Sergio Kariya, executive]

The usage rate -- well, a lot of new equipment has arrived, and we're working on renting them. We have seasonality in December. In December, our short-term equipment, considering the holidays and the one, have a relatively high return. And we're stabilizing usage now to the levels before the end of the year. So we're generating about 66%, 67% usage in light equipment. Our heavy line, if you look at our -- we signed a lot of contracts and they're long-term contracts. So the volume today is close to 70% already closed. It has not been sent to the customer yet because it's a program shipments. We have the machines. We're preparing the equipment for our customers, and they will be shipped throughout the quarter. But from the invested capital, we have about close to 70% of usage rate of those devices, those equipment.

Sorry, excuse me. There was a question about M&A. I remember it now. We continue focusing on M&A. Of course, we are equally cautious in terms of CapEx and M&A. In the end, we need to look at interest rates and the meaning of the M&A. But we maintain our focus. We're very watchful. But to remember, our strategy, especially on the yellow line, if we also to look at acquisitions, it has to add knowledge in line with our strategy of premium brands, long-term contracts and also obviously bring more know-how to the company. We allocated a lot of knowledge from [indiscernible], and we also hired highly experienced professionals from the market. So we want to have this view for acquisitions in the next stage. It must be in line with the strategy, not only the long-term contracts and premium machines, but it needs to add knowledge to the company as well.

[Operator]

Our next question is from Claudio [indiscernible], investor from the small caps portal.

[Unknown Analyst]

Congratulations on the results and the boldness of diversifying the business, incorporating the yellow line into your business. This acquisition increased the expectations of investments over the light equipment rental and yellow line performance. Does the company plan to provide separate data and information of these 2 business in 2023 for investors to understand and keep back of the performance of the new business? Could you give us an idea of the share of yellow line in net revenue and EBITDA posted in the fourth quarter of '22?

[Sergio Kariya, executive]

As regards to the separation of the business units between light and heavy, we intend to release this information together as we have been releasing in this first quarter. I believe some indicators, our share -- we share, for example, in the earnings, you can see the average age of the fleet divided between light and heavy. But financial, our goal is to -- closed, consolidated as we see other players releasing.

And the second question about the percentage of revenue between yellow line and light. So when we look at 2022, heavy equipment revenue was BRL 20 million. So since we haven't yet incorporated [indiscernible], this is going to happen in -- probably in May now, we have the breakdown, and you can look at the numbers from the 2022 [indiscernible] figures separately. But as Guerreirosaid, we also had a lot of equipment arriving at the end of the year. In December, equipment of organic growth, and these results do not appear in 2022 yet. So the organic entry in yellow line will show up in the figures of 2023. '22 still has a very small reflection.

[Operator]

Great. Our next question, Carlos Alberto, Investor TC.

[Unknown Analyst]

I'd like more information about the Phoenix projects, please?

[Sergio Kariya, executive]

Carlos, we have released that in the earnings release. We concluded almost 95%. There's a little bit of equipment remaining for '23. So it's pretty much concluded. The Phoenix projects, there's just under 5% of assets, estimated for us to overhaul all of the equipment, and it will be concluded now in '23.

[Operator]

The next question, Pedro Gonzaga, Biocide analyst Mantaro Capital.

[Pedro Gonzaga, analyst]

I'd like to understand how much of the increase in SG&A in the fourth quarter of '22 can be considered a recurring event? And what would the level of this line be in '23?

[James Oliver Carneiro, executive]

So as for the fourth quarter of '22, we had BRL 11 million in extraordinary costs in SG&A in our earnings. So we showed in the presentation that if we were to disconsider the extraordinary items, it would be -- the margin would be of around 48%. So these items, as Kariya mentioned, are basically exceeding targets that we had in '22. And the adjustment of provision occurred in the fourth quarter. So if we look in '22, we also have the start-up of the yellow line operation that had some additional effect on G&A, but we see the G&A, starting in the first quarter, more streamlined than what we saw in the fourth quarter. So we're going back to our margin, to our historical levels of around 48% in terms of our EBITDA margin.

[Operator]

Next question, Alexandre Assaf, individual investor.

[Unknown Analyst]

Can you discuss the dynamics and opportunities in factors of the economy. For example, the private agenda of concessions in the AMCs sector, the Minha Casa, Minha Vida program for the real estate industry and so on?

[Sergio Kariya, executive]

Alexandre, I think we see it very optimistically, especially the bid already made in the last few years and the expectation of construction work for coming years, but we're talking about infrastructure works. In the residential side, we have almost no positive effect. Minha Casa, Minha Vida program, we don't have a presence or a share of the residential construction market for long time. We had it in the past, but now the company has been remodeled, and we're focused on the [indiscernible] market and in more perennial industries. You see that we increased our presence and our share in agribusiness and the company's revenue. So we're looking more at that. And obviously, we're going to serve the wave of the infrastructure works and the bids, which have been done in the past.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] We now close the question-and-answer session. I will turn the floor to Mr. Sergio Kariya for his final comments. Please, Mr. Kariya, you may go ahead.

[Sergio Kariya, executive]

We thank you all for participating on our earnings slide referring to the fourth quarter of '22 in the year 2022. Our Investor Relations team will remain available for any questions or doubts that you may have. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

Thank you.