Grupo SBF SA

BOVESPA:SBFG3

Earnings Call Analysis

Robust Cash Flow and Margin Recovery

The company closed the year with a revenue growth of 3.3%, despite experiencing pressure on gross margins from discounts at Fisia. These discounts led to a margin reduction relative to the prior year, but gross margin for the year remained better than in 2022. The company saw a significant reduction in SG&A expenses by 3.4 percentage points in the latter half of the year, reflecting aggressive cost control measures. EBITDA improved, indicating better earnings and an increase of 1.8 percentage points. Moving forward, margins are expected to gradually normalize and, along with controlled expenditures, will likely contribute to better earnings. The company's operational cash flow was BRL 540 million higher than last year, driven by inventory reduction, business growth, and receivables improvement. Investment cash flow was also better, with the company reducing leverage. Working capital investment decreased by about 10% relative to December of the previous year, allowing for a record operational cash flow generation of BRL 150 million and a significant cutback on the company leverage from 1.76x to a nominal debt of BRL 880 million, and a net debt of BRL 118 million.

Transitioning to Stronger Cash Flow and Net Income

SBF has emerged from a significant earnings phase now entering a period of increased cash flow and net income. Despite transitional challenges, the company has achieved impressive results in the fourth quarter of 2023. They highlighted a strategic reduction in net debt, facilitated by record working capital management, marked by BRL 450 million, double from the previous year. Inventory management improved, running 10% better than the previous year. Consequently, the company witnessed a leverage decrease from 3.35 to 1.35 times, marking an 8.1 percentage point improvement over 2022. Throughout this phase, the focus remained on profitability alongside debt reduction.

Strategic Growth and Strong Financial Performance

SBF has a robust history stretching over 40 years, displaying strong growth especially after its IPO. They ended 2023 with a net profit of BRL 7 billion, showcasing a transformative phase with an emphasis on strategic repositioning. They have diversified revenue streams, with Centauro contributing half of the revenue and the remainder from brick-and-mortar and wholesale channels. This multiplicity opens further avenues for growth. The company eyes translating this diversity into greater net income, evident from a BRL 600 million EBITDA in 2023. These figures, though still below potential, signal SBF's continual pursuit of sustainability and high returns.

Financial Results Highlight

In Q4 2023, the gross earnings stood at BRL 2.7 billion with a gross margin of 46%. Yearly, SBF reached a revenue growth of 11.8%, equating to over BRL 1 billion growth. Even though discount-driven margin pressures were felt, particularly at Fisia due to required inventory adjustments, the year closed with better gross margins compared to 2022. SG&A reduction by 3.4 percentage points contributed to a 31.7% growth in EBITDA and net earnings over 100% compared to the previous year. A remarkable operational cash flow of BRL 450 million was achieved, 130% higher than the previous year. Clear strategies in place anticipate future margin improvements and controlled expenditures to continually enhance profitability into 2024.

Solid Performance and Potential Challenges

SBF's cash flow generation has significantly improved, with operational cash flow better by BRL 540 million compared to the previous year, owing to inventory reductions, business growth, and receivables management. Investment cash flows are now more conservative as the focus shifts to reducing debt and leverage. The net leverage improved from 1.76 to 0.3 times with a decrease in net debt from BRL 880 million to BRL 118 million, showcasing a strategy of ongoing debt management. A strong emphasis on maintaining stable inventories and working capital, along with efficient supplier relationships, positions SBF to handle future debt obligations without relying on receivables as a buffer. While 2024 presents challenges, the company's current financial health fosters optimism for continued success.

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q4

[Pedro de Souza Zemel, executive]

Good morning, and welcome to our video conference to discuss the results for the fourth quarter of 2023 SBF. Thank you so much for your time and availability for being here today to discuss our results and to talk about our group.

I'd like to start by going back to what has been disclosed some quarters ago. Our main emphasis was on a company that would deliver a greater cash flow and a net income as we are going through a very significant phase of earnings and now going through this transition where we are building up cash flow and profits. We have been through this phase with some turbulence as any transition, but I understand that we have concluded it. And now step-by-step gradually, we are experiencing this new phase.

The hardest transitional step has lagged behind. We have already shared consistent results throughout the quarter. And for the fourth quarter, we have striking results. And as a highlight for the fourth quarter, our focus was to reduce our net debt and we understand that was just possible, thanks to our turnover where the company had BRL 450 million of working capital. This is the highest ever, 2-fold higher in comparison to the same quarter of the prior year 2022. Thanks to a strong working capital management and also due to our inventory numbers, we went back to our inventory volume numbers similar to the prior year.

So in numbers of inventory, the company was 10% running better than the prior year. So that acute issue of over stock has been solved and we closed the year of 2023 in a very comfortable and positive position. As a consequence of that, we see a reduction of our leverage net of 3.35 to 1.35 fold by the end of 2023. This number is lower than the group leverage 2022, 8.1 percentage points. That was a point for attention and additional workup, and we feel so happy to see that we are going towards the right direction and to be able to close the year with a controlled inventory and debt net with a proper level.

From a P&L perspective, we are still looking for ways to deliver good results despite price increases that we had last year. Fourth quarter of 2023, our SG&A was 3.5 percentage points lower than the same period 2022, which allowed 31.7% EBITDA growth and net growth over 100% in comparison to the previous year. Therefore, we understand that the fourth quarter has delivered very solid results.

Closing a chapter somehow and it works as an additional building block for a company, which has to deliver a cash flow generation and profit and earnings. For the current year, we have a 30-month plan for '23, '24 and '25, 3 months plan, actually, not 30, 3 months plan. So we are fully committed for the current year to improve our earnings to reduce leverage and for that, we are betting on a safe and responsible growth. We believe that consistency is key, and our company is fully believes that we are able to deliver that.

Let's zoom out and then go back to the quarter more specifically. But let's take a group overview. This is a company which has over 40 years of history. So let's start going back 4 years ago or the year of the IPO operations and the company growth has been very solid ever since. The net growth was of BRL 2.5 billion, and we closed the 2023 year with a net profit of BRL 7 billion. That's why we say that we went through a very steep growth phase.

In addition, I understand that in comparison to previous years, we closed 2023 with a much better strategic positioning and with more growth leverage. In 2019, the company had 100% of its revenue at Centauro with 83% of the revenue from physical stores, and we closed '23 with half of the revenue with Centauro and mortar stores. And I see an additional -- we see an additional opportunity to reinforce our strategic positioning and more channels where 50% of our earnings, they come from our brick-and-mortar stores with much relevance and 20% from wholesale so the company has more chance to grow. So we still have the same possibilities that we had back in 2019 and some more.

Our emphasis is how can we translate all these possibilities and this net revenue ultimately in a higher net income, BRL 600 million in 2023 EBITDA and the net income, both, they are still lower than the company's potential for such income level. And that is a way to guarantee sustainability to our company, a company with a high earnings that will be exactly the feel that we want to guarantee our next steps and to guarantee all the robustness for SBF Group.

Some figures for 2023 and some final results. How was all of that translated into concrete results. Fourth quarter 2023, the company had a gross earnings of BRL 2.7 billion, a gross margin of 46%. We see a drop of 1.6 percentage points versus '22, especially in brick-and-mortar stores. But we found our way to deliver results despite that reducing our expenditures. Our SG&A was 36%, a 3.5 percentage points, down '22, allowing BRL 211 million EBITDA, 31% higher than '22. And a net revenue of BRL 141 million. And the main highlight for the fourth quarter as it was a very significant emphasis operational cash flow, administration of BRL 450 million, 130% higher than the prior year.

Overall, gross revenue, BRL 8.8 billion, 11.8% very important growth, 11.8% revenue growth, over BRL 1 billion revenue growth. Gross margin of 47.2% superior versus 2022. SG&A overall minus 0.9 percentage points. This is a mixture of 2 very different masters, but which, after all, we're able to close the year better than we would expected. All numbers, IFRS, EBITDA of BRL 607 million, 29.4% versus 2022 and a net earning of BRL 222 million going from 1.8 going to 3.35 in June '23.

Once we open that 4 business units, Centauro had a very solid quarter. A net revenue of BRL 1.1 billion, a reduction of 6.7% in comparison to the prior year, which was an year of the Football World Cup. Once we roll out such an effect, Centauro growth 2.4% and the result of such revenue is a mixture of an adjustment of the digital channel to deliver rentability. And the place where we would see the greatest maximization of our business was still below in comparison to the prior year, but very solid business in the brick-and-mortar stores. We see a growth of 12.6% after rolling out the impact of the World Cup and same-store sales of 6.9%, a very solid performance, which just proves how healthy our business is, Centauro is.

We have expanded our gross margin to 47.8%, and we see a reduction of 2.2 percentage points. So within the suggested strategy, Centauro has delivered a very solid result as well as Fisia, BRL 1.2 billion net revenue in the fourth quarter with a growth of 26.4%, very significant. That was due to price increase and not only but also due to the hard work that we have been doing and investing on our direct-to-consumer channels, e-commerce and our own scores.

E-commerce channels, altogether, they have amounted 54%, 8.4 percentage points above the prior year. And in the last quarter, the digital channel has increased 53.5%. We had opened 12 new stores in 2023 with a total of 44 stores. Fisia is in a very positive level, allowing that in the coming future years, we will be able to have a more balanced growth even in the wholesale channel. As now, we are able to better balance Fisia's business in a healthier manner.

Direct-to-consumer growth was possible, thanks to the hard work with the hugest Black Friday ever. We had launched Nike app in December, which had amounted 50% of Fisia's all sales and by this quarter, we had concluded the nike.com [indiscernible] migration. That was done successfully with no intercurberences or whatsoever.

With a much lower operational cost and a higher NPS, both during Black Friday and Christmas. We were extremely happy with all the work done by the company and the results achieved during the fourth quarter. But this was thanks to all the building blocks that we did, but we will keep going. We are very confident about our ability to deleverage and to reach higher earnings for the group for the next quarters and years. I will now hand over to Salazar to go into more financial results details.

[José Luís Salazar, executive]

Thank you, and good morning. Fourth quarter and end of the year. Some slides will go faster. As Pedro gave us a very detailed overview already and maybe on the cash flow portion, then I may spend more time explaining that to you.

Revenue. Our growth was very positive in the fourth quarter in comparison to 2022 even though we had 7.4% growth in comparison to the prior year with the Football World Cup. In the year, 11.5%, solid growth, a double-digit growth. That is a way to show that the company is able to generate business throughout their stronger channels.

We have suffered some pressure over our gross margin due to discounts that we had to apply on Fisia. That was a concern, a concern that we all had where eventually would have to sacrifice the company's margins once that the quarters would go on to be able to bring our inventories to a proper level and the fourth quarter performance from a discount perspective was very close.

Being adjusted to the seasonality and the level of discount that we had to give on the third quarter. And even though the gross margin in the year was still better than the one we had in 2022 despite all the discounts, today we have a growth revenue of 3.3%, a gross margin that had dropped in relation to the prior year due to the discounts that we had to give at Fisia.

We had also mentioned that we had some leverages despite working on a higher discount. We had some leverages to improve company's rentability. We were working really hard on the third quarter where we saw real results during the third and fourth quarter, where we see a reduction of our SG&A in 3.4 percentage points. And in the year, we had 2 totally different semesters. Expenditures are being reduced in a much more aggressive over the second half of the year. That was possible due to a number of actions taken by the company.

As there is an increase in our earnings, we can clearly see that being reflected in our EBITDA with a much better SG&A, although the margin is lower, 1.8 percentage points increase due to that combination. And we can clearly see over the second half, the effect of the expenditures allowing a better yield from '22 to '23 although with some pressure over our margins.

But from now on, margins will gradually go back to the normal levels and expenditures are being controlled. So we see a possibility for the current year to see better numbers in our earnings due to this gradual recovery of our margins.

Throughout the year, the company has done some efforts to reduce some unnecessary expenditures. We had a tax shield due to Fisia's fiscal incentives. And we had used that incentive and in the company's results that benefit was already taken place throughout the year, whereas there are several other mechanisms and drivers, which were applied to help us to reduce that margin such as JPC that was done throughout '23. And in our opinion that we'll keep on generating some yields to the future.

Cash flow generation. We had a cash flow generation, quite robust. Our operational cash flow, it's BRL 540 million better than the prior year, thanks to our inventory decrease, thanks to our business growth and our receivables improvement. We also see a better investment cash flow better than '22, where our investment level, now it's closer to a more conservative level due to a need to decrease our debt, our company's leverage and the financial cash flow for the company, which is greater. Our average debt was greater than '22, which has impacted the interest payment, which we believe that by 2024, in reducing the leverage and with a more rentable company that components -- that net component will have a less stronger weight over our operations.

Working capital. Our inventory going from 191 days December '22 to 168 days in December '23 where we were able to keep it stable and where we reduced the nominal number of the inventory, but with the company's growth, we were able to reduce the number of days, the investment that we have to do in the working capital.

Another striking aspect is the NPS where we had reduced the number of our inventories and receivables. Of course, that such a reduction will always go through a fine-tuning throughout the months but we believe that this is going to be a stable situation. There will be always one or another adjustment to be done on a specific region or a store but this number represents our reality, and we have a temporary effect on accounts to be paid.

We had the 2 leverages to reduce our inventories, selling and then reducing our bills, especially in the fourth quarter. If we are able to reduce our set of accounts, we no longer finance your company with set of accounts. There were no structure to our suppliers in the company. Once you normalize your inventory and you normalize your purchase in balance to your sales, the standard of -- the way of settling accounts can you know balance the business and that is a transitory phase due to the adjustment. But if we take a different perspective, the working capital from a relative perspective and not just a nominal, we can see that there was a reduction in the working capital investment in around 10% in comparison to December '22.

All of that allows us to reach a record cash flow generation of BRL 150 million for operating cash flow and the consequence for that reflects all reducing the company leverage. The company goes from 1.76 fold to a nominal debt of BRL 880 million, and it goes to BRL 118 million net debt. With all this cash flow generation and with the cash invested in '23, we feel quite comfortable or the company feels comfortable from meeting our duties. We understand that with this level of cash flow being generating in full year, we have enough cash flow to run all the year's debt without using our receivables account buffer. Our company right now feel comfortable as we are able to reduce our leverage and to have enough cash to meet our responsibilities in '24.

So as Pedro said, we closed the year in a very good pace, but yet with some challenges that we have to surpass for 2024, which has just started. With that, I conclude my presentation. And now we are going to go for the Q&A. And as the questions will be addressed, we are going to try to answer them as they will be addressed. Thank you so much for your time and participation.

[Operator]

The first question is from Maria Clara Infantozzi.

[Maria Clara Infantozzi, analyst]

Congratulations for the results. Could you elaborate a little bit more about the cash flow conversion cycle? You had showed a great improvement in your inventory, but how about the sustainability of those trends for the coming quarters? And how about the suppliers' negotiation is taking place with this more rational shopping or purchase approach? And second, what is the new Nike purchase strategy now that your level is healthier? Your inventory level is healthier.

[Pedro de Souza Zemel, executive]

I will answer your first part of your question. Cash flow dynamics, how we are negotiating with our suppliers? And the third bit margin repositioning. This reposition or recomposition -- I'm sorry, is gradual. It's not just a matter of turning on or turning off the price adjustment. That is done gradually. We had started the first quarter with -- be much more rational with our price increase because the inventory excess is done. It's over. but that will take place gradually. It's not done from night to day. Our brands will get back to their maximum levels. But we expect that they are going to go to better levels.

The team now will be able to work to maximize the product and not just to worry about stock volume or inventory volume. And we, as a group, we want to have a healthy market where everyone will be able to compete to benefit from that. And Fisia will be in the forefront of deadline. So a gradual rec composition, but which may start now.

About the cash dynamics and suppliers.

Cash dynamic is important because our company has some seasonality as any retail company. And how can we be more efficient in time in comparison to those equivalent periods of time? The main inventory adjustment has been done with some relevant impact in the cash generation. In the second half of 2023, we did not buy in the same volume as before because we had some excess this year, we are a little bit more adjusted. So we might buy more than the previous year.

In addition to that, we have some other initiatives for cash flow and the physical inventory. There is a component here, which has to do with efficiency, with earnings, yield, B2C channels and now our emphasis is on inventories. So I think we have a chance to improve Fisia's working capital, and we have to start building up projects for that, and that's exactly what we are doing.

And last but not least, the most complicated of all. It's when we have to adjust our expectations. If you buy more than you had planned for, this is the time where there is an unfit in the process, what we try to do in '24, once we talk about health growth and one of the goals to look for health growth is to be a more stable partner to take orders that we'll be able to take and to allow it turnover. Well, in the retail market, we have products that will turn around faster and better with better performance than others. But from an aggregated manner, we are with a much better match with our purchase than before. So I guess this year is not going to be as complex as before.

[Operator]

Our next question is from [ Pedro Tine Safra].

[Unknown Analyst]

I have 2 questions. The first one about the growth level and Centauro's channels margins. You mentioned that there was an increase in yield. But have you already met your balance level? And second, there were quite many adjustments in the SG&A. Is there anything else that could be done? And when would you believe that you could have those new measures being implemented?

[Pedro de Souza Zemel, executive]

Thank you for your questions. I will answer one at a time. But the headline of the answer is exactly the same. Both drivers were done for revenue size and SG&A. We had done the main part, but there is more to be done. SG&A even more and on a year where the company's focus, it's on net income and cash flow generation. The company has to find ways to become more efficient and we want that this efficiency will advance even more. But the main gain in relation to the prior year was being done.

Of course, that we are able to compare that to the first semesters in SG&A, and our team is working on some other efficiency projects. The world has evolved right. So now we are able to operate in a much more efficient way thanks to more technology. We have SG&A present at all stores and products. And now we are able to use several algorithms to allow us in our scale with a much more store adjusted teams. We have automation at different areas and that technology is at our disposal, and it's our duty to improve SG&A reduction. This is in our radar.

Centauro has adjusted its baseline size and such an adjustment has been done. But there is still more to be done. This is an equation of freight, gross margin and ROI balance. The question now is now against a better baseline, but we are going to pursue growth net -- a digital channel works with several variable costs. So we are going to go after BRL's contribution margins. And we are not worried if the results will allow a higher or a lower revenue. Our goal is contribution margin because we are not asking our team for revenues, but for growth revenue because to increase margins, we have to work with elasticity. As long as we are generating better results. This is the way to be followed by the company.

[Operator]

Our next question is from Irma Sgarz from Goldman Sachs.

[Irma Sgarz, analyst]

I have another question about Fisia. You have already addressed that. But if you could elaborate about the evolution of the demand in the beginning of the year? And what should we expect for the end of the year? You have explained that it's not just a matter of turning on and turning off and eliminating the discount level. But now at least you are considering working on a lower discount level and the volume could go down around 24% at Fisia. And then you'll have to compensate the price increase as you are not considering to work so much on price increase. So how do you intend to reach such a balance as products will become more expensive to our consumers? Consumers that are not willing to pay more for the products.

Another question. For Centauro and the focus on efficiency and pricing. You have mentioned that in your press release, and as far as I understood that we would work and apply more for stores and expansion of net profit per square meter any stores of operational efficiency. And if you could elaborate a little bit more the initiatives that you have in your future perspective?

[Pedro de Souza Zemel, executive]

Thank you, Irma, for your questions. Fisia, let me answer that. Fisia is on a maturation phase, where we still have to cope with a growth inertia. Some stores they had been opened quite recently. They are under maturation and we had done some investments on digital channel. So we have to cope with that maturation phase.

Second, that's a very strong brand, Nike brand which, nevertheless, helps a lot. Consumers, they prefer and they like to buy such a brand. And we have planned and we expect that markdown reduction and price increase would have some sort of impact. We have planned our year with that in mind and the markdowns, it's possible when it's expected to suffer with the units due to the markdowns, but we are able to set the question. That's why we are not going to do that at once, and then we will be able to find a way to maximize our growth revenue and we have somehow to pull the market to a healthier level.

It's our responsibility to take this market to such a level that will charge a full price. Just a full price, we will allow the whole ecosystem to work fine. This is the only way to allow our retail partners to buy in the wholesale to sell themselves and to make profit.

So we have to make such an adjustment. We had planned ourselves for that. And I would even say that what we saw in the beginning of the year from a qualitative perspective, will give us enough confidence to deliver our objectives in the bottom line cash flow generation. There is nothing else that we had seen or forecast, which will change our yearly positions so far. So this is the first package for Fisia. And the second piece, which is for Centauro. There are initiatives at both channels, digital and brick-and-mortar stores.

You had asked how we are intending to advance?

Well, in the digital channel, there are some ways to advance in multichannels, which may led to a strong impact at Centauro where we'll be able to expand the multichannels to sellers and to partners at our platform. Today, you'll be able to return a product as long as it is a product that was bought at a store and that will increase the conversion, and this is our competitive differential. We also have some other textile strategies, what sort of inventory we are going to keep at the store, and that is an efficiency element for the digital as well.

There is no silver bullet, but we do whatever we believe. We will generate results and square meters stores. It goes through a project where we would like to better display our sports brands. Centauro has developed a project together with the brands to better tell the story of brands and sports brands. Helping them to increase sales per square meter.

It also goes through a purchase process. Hedging, awareness layers where we are able to connect all the assortment available at the store to be able to understand what are the opportunities? What have I bought that didn't sell well? What have I bought that has not been delivered, I mean the whole assortment process that would push are not sales per square meter. And yet a last piece, which is pricing.

We are developing a number of pricing strategies, especially at stores, allowing mark down investment reduction. Combo dynamics, selling by combo, we are able to give a discount over the second or the third piece but -- and yet to do pricing for the semi products at different prices. We were not able to do that due to a technological bottleneck. But now we are able to do it. I don't know if I have answered to your questions.

But after all, it's a number of things that we hope to advance it continuously because our goal is to get back to our prior level of yield and rentability. P&L has been through some adjustments since the pandemic. We have to be more efficient in P&L, gross margin and to adjust sales to square meter.

[Operator]

Next question from Vitor Fuziharo, Santander Bank.

[Vitor Fuziharo, analyst]

B2B Fisia, could you give us an update about suppliers inventory? And if -- what do you expect for the market dynamic? And in the beginning of this quarter, what is your first reading for Centauro and Fisia?

[Pedro de Souza Zemel, executive]

Vitor, thank you for your questions. Wholesale channel first, our expectation is to see a gradual adjustment. The wholesale advantage is that with the presale and the sales and bookings that is done much earlier. So when we bought the inventory, we had already presales. So from an inventory standpoint, we are in accordance to our wholesale demand, we are adjusted to that demand. And we understand that inventory level has to be done gradually throughout the quarters. And with some sort of impact especially for the purchases that will be done now because that's exactly the time where our partners may see that price policy in a more healthy way. They may see the inventory level to bet on their end of the year sales. So there is no inventory unmatched, we expect gradual growth.

And third, a more significant adjustment by the end of the year and the beginning of the coming year. So both this issue and the source demand. We are here talking about the fourth quarter, right? And I don't -- I have to be careful to say anything about the first quarter, which has just started. But we have designed a strategy, which is fully aligned to our current time, which is a safe, sustainable strategy.

We have planned ourselves for that, and we had set the company's framework for that purpose, and we have to work with efficiency to reduce leverage and to deliver net income, and we are fully confident on our ability to be very consistent in our achievements with the leverage for 2024. That does not mean that we want to have challenges on the way. And this is the pathway that we had chosen to keep going for 2024.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] If there are no more questions, I hand over back to the company for their final considerations.

[Pedro de Souza Zemel, executive]

Thank you so much for the questions. And thank you to all of you who had a time to participate at our earnings results call. We are very happy with the consistency of our results because we met what we had set in terms of goals. I feel very confident with our SBF team at each business units at each sector and department, everyone is doing their best for allowing good results for the year. And I feel very confident to deliver a cash flow generation and a net profit for '24 and '25.

We hope to keep going on the same pathway to guarantee positive and fruitful results as the one that we had achieved during the year of '23. Thank you so much to our shareholders, our consultants and everyone else who participated at this call. Thank you so much, and hope to see you soon in our next call. Thank you.

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