Transmissora Alianca de Energia Eletrica SA
BOVESPA:TAEE3
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Transmissora Alianca de Energia Eletrica SA
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Good morning, and thank you for holding. Welcome to the Taesa Earnings Video Conference for the First Quarter of 2021. This event is also being streamed on the web via webcast and can be viewed at ri.taesa.com br. with the respective presentation is also available. The replay of the event will be available right after the call is over. We would like to inform you that this event is being recorded [Operator Instructions] We would like to inform you that this video conference is being simultaneously translated into English.
Before we proceed, we would like to clarify that any potential statements made during this video conference related to Taesa business perspectives, operating and financial goals and projections are based on the beliefs and assumptions of company management as well as information currently available to Taesa. Future considerations are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions as they refer to future events, and therefore, depending on the circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors must comprehend that the overall economic conditions, industry conditions and other operating factors could affect the future performance of the company and could lead to results that materially differ from those expressed in said future considerations.
Now I'll turn the conference over to Mr. Cristiano Prado Grangeiro, IR Manager. Mr. Grangeiro, please proceed.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating in the Taesa 1Q '21 earnings video conference. [Operator Instructions]
Before we begin the earnings presentation, I would like to introduce the Taesa Executive Board now complete on Slide 3. I would like to remind you all that we went through some changes in the Executive Board, which started in November last year with the election of Andre Moreira as CEO; Erik Breyer, as CFO and IR Officer; and Fabio Fernandes as Business and Ownership Interest Management Officer. And now more recently, on March 12, Luis Alessandro Alves, Taesa's new Implementation Officer was appointed through a process of headhunting as well as with the other officers, thus completing the Executive Board.
Just a few words about Luis. He's an electrical engineer, graduated from Unesp from Bauru in Sao Paulo, has an MBA in Business Management from FGV, 25 years of experience in the electrical industry, 4 of which as C-level, experience as Head of Transmission of a large company in the power sector, leading areas of planning, construction, operation and maintenance and responsible for 14 SPVs. And as I said, he's been with us at Taesa since March this year.
Now I'll turn the floor over to Andre, our CEO, to begin the presentation. Thank you all.
Thank you very much, Cristiano, and good morning, everyone, again. We're here again having this opportunity to speak about Taesa to present the results of the first quarter of 2021 and to clarify any doubts that you may have about the company. It's always a pleasure to be here to talk about this great and solid company that is Taesa. Next, Erik will present the results for the quarter, 2021, the first quarter. But first, I would like to say a few words.
In terms of results, we had yet another great quarter for the company, reaffirming the resumption of growth and continuity of our operational excellence. You will see that further into the presentation. As for our projects, we remain dedicated in giving them the utmost attention to the execution and completion of the works. And our new Implementation Officer, Luis Alves, will comment at the end on the progress of the 6 projects under construction.
I would also like to point out that last week, April 29, during the general shareholders' meeting, approved the allocation of profit for the fiscal year 2020. Therefore, until the end of this month, we will pay another BRL 562 million in dividends with the base date of May 4. That represents an increment of BRL 1.63 per unit, which accrues a significant amount of BRL 4.66 per unit in the last 12 months in earnings. Something we should really celebrate.
Now on Slide 4 of the presentation. Our sustainability agenda continues with the implementation of several actions that aim at strengthening communication and transparency on the topic, in addition to providing a continuous evolution of the environmental, social and government topics inside and outside Taesa. As part of this important agenda, we announced on the 28th of April our sustainability report, formally called the social and environmental report, which is completely redesigned following the international standards of the GRI, the well-known Global Reporting Initiative, and including the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN. The principles of the UN Global Compact, in addition to presenting relevant actions and indicators within each material theme identified as priority by our stakeholders.
The report is divided into 5 dimensions. The general dimension presents the company and the transmission sector. Our values, the highlights for the year, the awards and how we face the pandemic in 2020. The corporate governance dimension talks about the corporate structure and best governance -- corporate governance practices. In this regard, we highlight the fact that Taesa complies with several requirements of the Novo Mercado or the new market listing segment, even though it belongs to level 2 corporate governance.
It's worth mentioning that the report prepared according to international standards serves as a compulsory report called the Communicate de Progreso, or CoP, in which the company publicly demonstrates its progress in relation to the principles of the Global Compact and the ESGs to be periodically submitted to the UN. We also present the economic and financial dimension, where we highlight the solid financial and operating performance of the company in an extremely difficult year. In addition to the various economic and financial indicators and the commitment to the strategic pillars of sustainable growth and financial discipline.
In the social and sectoral dimension, we list the initiatives and programs that aim to guarantee the personal and professional development as well as our employees' wellness. They are our greatest asset. The company has always stood out for its genuine care for people as the company believes that human capital is an essential asset for the development of its business. And the recognition of that is the noteworthy mention of the award, Great Place to Work as first place in the generation, transmission and distribution segment in 2020 among 41 companies that participated.
We also have a diversity and inclusion program that was completely conceived in 2020 and begin in 2021 with the aim of establishing guidelines for the respect and valuing differences, whether they be cultural, social, religious or ethnic. The program has a number of initiatives and objective goals to advance the agenda of diversity and inclusion in the company. We know how challenging that is. But at the same time, it's very motivating, as diversity alone has the power to generate great value in organizations. And we truly believe in that.
In this sense, Taesa has also adhered to the Women's Empowerment Principles, WEPs, from the UN, an initiative of UN Women and the International Labor Organization. This principle aims at supporting and promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women in the workplace, market and community. The report also provides information on the management system, help promotion programs and greater transparency of indicators.
Finally, we highlight the environmental dimension, which talks about the company's environmental management and provides an overview of the initiatives of the sustainability project that has been developed and improved in the company. It also highlights important measures in relation to biodiversity, eco efficiency, climate change, among other environmental issues.
In this perspective of climate impacts, one of the most relevant and discussed topics in the world, the company started to survey the greenhouse gas emissions inventory based on the greenhouse gas protocol, the GHG protocol and the implementation of the initial collection management and reporting system in the companies that are 100% controlled by Taesa. In addition, the report presents the first goal of reducing the consumption of fossil fuels in the company's [indiscernible] fleet, with the objective of optimizing the consumption of natural resources. So that's eco efficiency and acting responsibly, reducing the volume of emissions that contribute to climate change.
Finally, I would like to mention that sustainability is one of the fundamental vectors on which the company's long-term strategic planning was prepared and recently approved by our Board of Directors. It talks a lot about the sustainability plan and includes the goals to compensate our executives. Therefore, the execution of our strategy and Taesa's decision-making processes will always have sustainability as one of its principles. And we hope to be able to show you a little more of the evolution of this important agenda every quarter.
Thank you all. Now I'd like to hand over to Erik, who will present the 1Q '21 results.
Thank you, Andre. Good morning, everyone. I'm going to start on Slide 5 with the -- thank you, Cristiano. That's the most common word nowadays, right? We're on mute. Thank you, Andre. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Cristiano for letting me know.
I'll start off on Slide 5 with the highlights of the earnings of 1Q '21. On this slide, we can see a 3.6% growth in net regulatory revenue year-over-year. This increase is explained by the start-up of Mariana, acquisition of the Sao Joao, Sao Pedro, Lagoa Nova concessions and by the inflationary correction, the effects that partially offset by the fall in the RAP annual permitted revenues of some category to concessions.
If we exclude the nonrecurring effects of net regulatory revenue in 1Q '21, the revenue would have been BRL 395.4 million, with an annual increase of 6.1%. These effects will be detailed further into the presentation. Regulatory EBITDA achieved BRL 316.7 million in the quarter, 1.3% higher year-over-year with an 82% margin. As I mentioned before, the 50% drop in RAP of some concessions was offset by the acquisitions and the start-up of new assets and inflation correction. If we also exclude nonrecurring effects on EBITDA, we would have an increase of 6.9% year-over-year and an EBITDA margin of 84.5%. I'll talk more about this later.
Well, we had yet another strong quarter in new profit performance in IFRS, presenting a 42.1% increase year-over-year, amounting to BRL 555.9 million. Later on, I'll also explain the main effects on IFRS net income.
On the operational side. With the strong and consistent performance over the years, Taesa presented a 1Q '21 with line availability, the index of 99.96%, practically in line with that recorded in the first quarter of 2020. Additionally, the variable portion decreased by more than 30% in the annual comparison and closed below 1% of the quarter's RAP, which is an excellent result and demonstrates our operating efficiency and commitment to energy transmission to all of society with quality, efficiency and availability.
Now moving on to Slide 6, where we present further detail of regulatory EBITDA. On the left part of this slide, I would like to highlight the higher growth in net regulatory revenue in relation to regulatory costs when we exclude the nonrecurring events that occurred in this quarter. Revenue increased by 6.1%, excluding nonrecurring effects, while cost rose by only 1.6%, an important difference that demonstrates the positive effect of new projects at Taesa and our financial discipline.
2 nonrecurring effects affected regulatory EBITDA for this quarter. In terms of revenue, we had a negative impact of BRL 9 million related to the Sao Joao adjustment portion related to an annual administrative proceeding initiated before the conclusion of the acquisition of this concession. This effect will extend until 3Q '21 when Sao Joao's revenue will return back to normal.
In the [indiscernible], we also had events related to the assets of Ambar, which in net terms increased one-off costs by BRL 8.6 million. It's also important to note that all these events had no effect from the financial point of view, given that they were settled via an extra account under the terms of purchase and sale agreement with Ambar. So on the right part of the slide, in summary, if we do not consider the nonrecurring effects of revenue and costs that I detailed previously, the EBITDA for the quarter would amount to BRL 334.3 million, and the EBITDA margin would be 84.5%, a superior performance year-over-year, which was 83.9%. This performance is an important indicator of recovery, even of the EBITDA margin, given the significant impact of the 50% reduction in the RAP of Category II concessions in recent years.
Now moving on to Slide #7. We break down the performance of IFRS net income in the main lines. As you can see in the chart, the main factors that explain the 42.1% increase in IFRS net income were: first, increase of BRL 241.5 million in monetary correction revenue and BRL 31.2 million in the equity method line due to the higher macroeconomic index, both inflation indices, not only the IGP-M but also the IPCA had a high quarter-over-quarter.
The most significant increase occurred in the IGP-M, which recorded 6.18% in 1Q '21 versus 2.54% recorded in 1Q '20, positively affecting the monetary correction revenue of all Taesa group concessions. I'd like to remind you here that our exposure to the IGP-M is greater, since around 65% of the balance of Taesa's contractual assets, proportionately considering all of its interest belongs to Category II concessions. You can see that on the pie chart on the right.
The second reason was the consolidation of the new assets, brownfield and greenfield, concluded last year, which had a positive impact on different Taesa income statement lines such as remuneration revenue line and with the net impact on profit of approximately BRL 30 million between the quarters. And in the opposite direction, we had a negative effect of BRL 63.7 million in the implementation margin due to the lower investments in Janauba between the periods compared. And the increase in net financial expenses by BRL 48.2 million due to the higher net debt associated to a higher IPCA.
Now moving on to Slide 8, we present the Taesa group indebtedness. So in 1Q '21, there is a net debt in the proportional consolidated vision totaled BRL 6.4 billion, reaching the leverage level of net debt over EBITDA of 3.9x. So we are at the peak of our leverage, which is already expected as we expedited investments in projects under construction in 2020, and the start-up has not yet occurred as these projects have an ANEEL completion date for 2022. So we're in a moment where the debt carries most of the investment and hasn't been carrying revenues that will be adjusted as of 2022.
So even in view of this higher level, our debt profile is quite adequate and competitive with low costs, around 4.4% actual and very long term. Currently, we're at 5.5 years an average term. So the debt situation is very comfortable. We don't have financial covenants for leverage, and we have excellent credibility with the fixed income market agents. We're even AAA on a national scale, both at Moody's and at Fitch rating agencies, so that puts us in a very favorable and competitive position to pursue funding that adds more value to our business.
It's also worth noting that in our business in a scenario without new acquisitions, leverage tends to fall rapidly due to the continuous flow of operating cash generation. And that's a great differential for, us as we can maximize the use of the balance sheet as cheaper capital to finance our growth. Obviously, always maintaining balance and discipline in financial management, which that is one of our features.
With that, I conclude my presentation. Now I'll turn the floor over to Luis. And welcoming Luis, who will end with an update on our projects under construction.
Thank you, Erik. Good morning, everyone. As I have already been introduced, I'm Luis Alessandro Alves, Taesa's Implementation Officer. It's a great pleasure to be here participating in the Taesa's earnings release, and I'm very happy to be a part of this team, interacting with you and part of this very competitive team. In a bit over 40 days here at Taesa, I've already been able to identify how unique this company is, identifying the high capability of team delivery and high level of collaboration among everyone, which is definitely a differential in this great company.
So moving on into my presentation. Let's move on to Slide 9, where I'll present the status of the projects currently under construction at Taesa. We remain dedicated in prioritizing our 6 projects under construction. As you can see on the slide, we have already obtained all the licenses for construction of the projects and we have made the respective funding. The land issues are practically resolved. And another point of importance is all of the CapEx has been contracted, materials, equipment and services, which is essential as the works evolve.
At this time, we've been focusing on evolving the works and the schedules of each project. All of them are underway in full swing, and some of them are already at a very advanced stage with expectations of delivery before ANEEL's deadline, as Erik well mentioned, some in February '22 and the possibility of even completing these works in 2021.
We can see the investments made in the first quarter of this year and see a drop of 7% year-over-year. As 2020 was a year of major investments to move forward with the works and that naturally, in 2021, we expect less volume invested as the works reach an end and based on their evolution. It's also important to note that the company remains fully focused on the execution and delivery of its projects under construction, seeking CapEx and schedule efficiency with the objective of further increasing the returns of these projects.
Now I conclude my presentation and hand over to Cristiano, who will moderate the Q&A session. Thank you, everyone.
Thank you, Luis. Thank you for your presentation. [Operator Instructions] We have a question from [ Danilo Campos ]. He's asking if the company has plans to migrate to the new market -- a new market governance level. I'm going to hand over to Andre Moreira for his answer.
Thank you for your question, [ Danilo ]. As you saw in the presentation, in our sustainability report, we're working strongly to the highest level of governance. But that decision depends on the company and us. So we're making all the efforts possible so it could be ready for the highest level of governance. Thank you for your question.
Great. I have some themes in finance that I'm going to hand over to Erik. Let me try to summarize some of these. So it's about dividends. The company -- does the company have a strategy of announcing the dividends? When will the dividend distribution be relating to 1Q '21? Erik, could you answer, please?
Thank you, Cristiano. Well, it's part of Taesa's nature to have important dividend distribution. We have statutory policies of paying at least 50% minimum dividends. So that's minimum payout, 50%. We have 2 dividend management instrument. So it's working at 56% or advancing them and decided by the shareholders' meeting traditionally after the closing of the balance sheet. But our regulations and bylaws let -- enables us to pay out interim dividends.
So usually, traditionally, we do that on a quarterly basis and deliberate the payment. The company has always been studying the interim payments. So it is a possibility, but we still do not have deliberation for that for 1Q. But we're always studying the possibility of using interim payment to maximize our shares that's constant, and that could happen. But we still don't have that deliberated. What's deliberated? It is the BRL 562 million approved by the shareholder as supplementary dividends for 2020. And at any time, the company can study, we're setting the possibility of giving interim payments based on 2021 results.
Thank you, Erik. We have another one for you about leverage. So we have one or two questions about leverage here. So [ Augusto ], so the increase of the ratio of net debt over EBITDA almost 4x. Can you talk about that high of company leverage?
Well, most of my life, I've been discussing optimum level of leverage in the electric industry -- electrical industry and this industry. So obviously, that is an important indicator, but it's not the only one. So we also have to look at cash flow stability and the indebtedness profile. So here, in our case at Taesa, we have operating cash flow that's very robust, strong predictability and high stability.
So our challenge is not about lowering our leverage. Our challenge is to maintain leverage. We have to have investment opportunities to create value with disciplined, good operations in greenfield or brownfield operations to generate value for the company so we can maintain that. Otherwise, our leverage will drop fast with the cash generation that we have. If we don't have new investments, it drops too fast in the upcoming years.
I can't give you guidance on future leverage because we don't know what our success will be in the expansion auctions of transmission and brownfield expansion, where we're always looking for opportunities to generate value. If we don't do that, leverage drops fast. And today, we're working at very adequate and comfortable levels for the level of cash generation that we have. So it's long-term debt, very competitive debt in terms of cost, without pressure of amortization or indicators with very strong cash generation. So our strategy is to pursue new investment opportunities to generate value so that we can maintain high leverage. If that does not happen, leverage will drop drastically. And we're working to maintain that level. So that is not a concern for us.
I've been discussing for years what the idea would be for our industry, 3, 3.5. We always answered that based on the company's strategic actions and the ability to generate cash. So our ability to generate cash in relation to the debt is very tranquil. So our challenge is actually the opposite. It's not about decreasing leverage, it's about finding opportunities for growth and creating value with financial discipline so that we can maintain high -- or leverage levels that will maximize our value.
Thank you, Erik. I've been getting some questions here, so I'm trying to organize this. There's one in construction. It's from [ Cesar ]. With the completion of the works, when do the revenues come in for our AP annual permitted revenues? Luis?
Thank you, Cristiano, and [ Cesar ] for the question that usually generates a lot of doubt in the industry. This type of work in transmission auctions, as soon as we conclude the works and go into commercial operations, you're already entitled to our AP. So right after the first subsequent month, you're entitled to revenues. Thank you, Cristiano.
Thank you, Luis. I have some questions about growth, about looking for auctions, M&A. I'm going to hand over to Andre first, so he can talk about the plan. I think it makes sense to talk about strategic plan and if Fabio wants to add, feel free. So Andre, can you address the company's strategic growth?
Okay. Thank you, Cristiano. In strategy, as I mentioned, the shareholders -- the Board of Directors' meeting approved a visibility of 10 years, 2021 to 2030. And based on one of the big pillars is based on growth, mainly on 3 fronts. First of all, auctions. We're always going to look at them carefully and assess the opportunities. Not to mention that we are not just going to enter an auction for the confection, we want profitability for the company. So that's essential.
We're looking at all the opportunities, brownfield opportunities, M&A as Erik mentioned, and also opportunities for improvement. Those are the 3 areas that comprise the pillars for growth and strategy. So I've talked a lot about other things as well. That's a summary of our strategic planning and what's coming. Thank you, Cristiano.
Thank you, Andre. We have a question that although it's not related to transmission, but it's worth clarifying. We received this from [ Jair Ferrer ]. Do the low water levels impact transmissions as spoken about by the press, Andre?
Yes, that's true. There always leads to confusion in the industry. It's worth reminding that the electrical factors basically comprised of 4 pillars, so plus 3 operational. So generation, transmission and distribution, right? Distribution's at the end.
So transmission, since it's right in the middle, it's somehow protected from consumption variations or water variations. So for us, generating more energy or less energy doesn't really make a difference, given that our revenues are the annual permitted revenues and it's irrespective of the amount of electricity that goes through.
And the fourth part is the sales. So we have generation, transmission, distribution and there's also the sale. So basically, on the operational point of view, we're in the middle of the way between generation and distribution. And therefore, we do not depend on consumption levels. Thank you, [ Jair ], for the question.
We have a question about -- [ Rafael Barreto ], who's asking, when we talk about dividends, should we analyze IFRS or regulatory results?
In transmission, we have 2 accounting centers, regulatory and IFRS. Regulatory is based off RAP, IFRS follows a different concept, but it's the base for dividends. So you can observe that dividends will always be based on the IFRS.
Another question asking about our shareholder base. We can't really share that, but it's in relation to individuals. So we, in fact, have had an increment in individuals in our shareholder base, and we're very satisfied about that given that the market has been following people that are not qualified investors, we see them taking part in this process. So we're very satisfied to having that in our shareholder base.
We have a question about CEMIG. Some questions, I'll mention one of them. Has CEMIG decided to separate or sell its share? How does Taesa see that? I'm going to hand over to Andre. I think it's important for us to answer this question for the participants.
Great question. We've also received these questions from other sources outside this event. So shareholders' movements, we don't talk about that. We received the information and Taesa hasn't changed anything internally. We're still working, and we have the support of our shareholders to maintain our focus and consolidate the industry and our strategic planning, so it's good to clarify. So we still work with the same motivation and effort to increase the value of the company to all stakeholders. Thank you for your question.
Another question that we thought for Erik. Does company have maximum level of indebtedness, although you don't have debt financial covenants?
Hi, [ Philip ], thank you for your question. The answer is no. As I was mentioning, the debt over EBITDA is a good indicator. It's good to monitor, but it's not the only thing that's relevant. You have to identify what moment the company is going through. So the ratio of 2 for a company in a given situation is different than another company that has 4 as a ratio when it has predictable cash generation and can handle that sort of debt. So we don't have the covenant or leverage policies.
We discussed this a lot, and we reached the conclusion that leverage and investment are 2 sides of the same coin. So we have a clear focus of generating value to the company and maximizing the value per site for Taesa. That's our objective. And we decided that it's best to make decisions on opportunities. So if we have an opportunity for growth, I assess that, we assess the risk of that opportunity. And at that time, we decide if it's worth it or not, having more leverage for that using own capital or third-party capital. We had the freedom to do that given the opportunity that we choose.
Our company is a specialized company focused on transmission in Brazil. Its transmission is our core business. So we decided that not only the dividends, but also the leverage and using our own capital. Third-party capital is decided on a case-by-case basis, according to each opportunity. And that gives us a higher capability to create value than having predefined criteria that will not consider concrete cases. So when we consider the concrete case, we define each event.
Thank you, Erik. I'm waiting for other questions. I see some here that are very similar to what we've already answered. [Operator Instructions] So far, we have no further new questions. I'll wait another minute to give people time to ask the questions.
We have one here that's specific about auctions, this year's auction. So this is Taesa interested in taking part in auctions? I think Andre gave you a high-level view of that, so I'm going to hand over to Fabio to talk about our interest in the auctions this year. Fabio? The floor is yours.
Thank you, Cristiano. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking part in our conference. In Taesa, as Andre and Erik mentioned before, Taesa has the pillars -- among its pillars has growth, and we're able to differentiate ourselves in this market. So not only in the greenfield market, which are the actions that will be in June and December, Taesa's already studying them, is getting ready, so that in a very conscious manner and always observing our pillars of financial discipline and sustainable growth as well as observing the return, as Andre mentioned before that should be compatible with the level of risk associated to each event. We will take part in the competitive manner so that we can generate value for our stakeholders.
Not to mention the M&A opportunities in the secondary market, which is another pillar, as Andre mentioned. And all of that, bearing in mind our geographical capillarity, the presence of Taesa is in 18 states plus the federal district and operation centers spread across Brazil gives us very interesting differential and competitiveness for Taesa to take part in the auction. Thank you for your question. Good morning, everyone.
Thank you, Fabio. I have another question from [ Rafael Oglare ]. Does the company have plans for share buyback, Erik?
Thank you, [ Rafael ], for that question. That's a great question because it's highly related to what I explained of our growth strategy, predictable cash generation and our challenge to maintain high leverage to maximize value. So your question is very coherent. And the question is, no, we do not have that plan.
But it is a hard question to answer because if you ask me if we have a plan, I say no, but there's always a possibility of someday having that plan. Today, we do not have a plan to buy back shares, but we do believe in growth opportunities in the transmission sector in Brazil. We believe in our operating excellence capability of a player that can generate value through excellence in operations in transmission in Brazil. So we always try to maximize our value.
No, we do not have a plan. That doesn't hinder us from having a plan someday. So that's why that's a great question. Hard to answer, though. Because today, the answer is no. But someday, we may have a plan, and it's always a tool to create value that exists and is available today, though. We do trust that Taesa has a high capability of creating value in investing in transmission. We have operating excellence that is able to operate and build transmission operations with excellence. That's why we still have opportunities for growth in Brazil.
Great, Erik. I'm getting a couple of more questions. Some are the same, we won't answer them again. And any questions that we do not answer, we'll answer them individually. We also received some praise. I'll send that to the Executive Board afterwards.
We have a question from [ Paulo ]. In terms of technology, what are the next steps for the transmission sector? And how is Taesa getting ready for that? I'm going to ask Marco Faria, he's the Technical Officer for Operations.
Thank you, everyone. That's an excellent question. Technology is our major ally to support Taesa's growth to support our operating efficiency. So we've been investing a lot in those processes and new technologies, especially in management technologies and making our processes more efficient.
Given the diversity of the assets across Brazil, Taesa strongly invests in that field of technology to enable the integration of our assets in a very efficient manner. So we participate in development with many suppliers to develop our technology that can support our growth and help Taesa in that assistant in that sense because it's essential for our growth. And for the entire market in transmission. I think that's it.
Thank you, Marco. I'm getting a couple of more questions. But once again, many things were already answered. So we have no further questions. We're reaching the end of the event. I would like to thank everyone for your participation. We have very relevant participation. I'm going to hand over to Andre, our CEO, for his final remarks. Thank you, everyone.
Thank you, Cristiano. Thank you to all our officers, Luis, Fabio, Erik, Marco. This interaction is always very rich. I'm glad we received many questions. It's always very important and as Cristiano mentioned. Our shareholder base has increased a lot, and that increases our responsibility a lot, and accountability is one of them. So we're going to do that every quarter. Obviously, we're open for discussion in between. We had over 360 people taking part in this event. That's very important for us. This kind of feedback is excellent, and that will be part of our continuous improvement plan.
You can -- rest assured that Taesa is still focused on its strategic plan, and we have the sustainability plan as one of our pillars. We're aiming at integrated certification with ISO 9001, 14001, 15 -- 5001 among other ISO standards. I know it's a lot. But at the end of the day, we want to guarantee operating excellence, management excellence and the financial balance of the company. And at the end of the day, guarantee a long-lasting company and its sustainability. That is our commitment.
Well, I'll talk to you next quarter. Thank you very much, and a good day to everyone.
This 1Q '21 Taesa earnings call is now adjourned. Thank you for your participation. Have a great afternoon.