Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste SAB de CV (ASR) 2012 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the ASUR's First Quarter 2012 Results Conference Call. My name is Jashania and I will be your operator for today.

At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will conduct a question-and-answer session towards the end of this conference. For opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn this call over to Mr. Adolfo Castro, Chief Financial Officer. Please proceed.

Thank you, Jashania, and good morning everybody. Thank you for joining us today for the conference call for the first quarter 2012 results.

Allow me to remind you that certain statements made here in the course of our discussion today may constitute forward-looking statements, which are based on current management expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including those that may be beyond our Company's control. For an explanation of these risks please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Mexican stock exchange.

On today's call, I will provide an update on the operations and traffic performance for the quarter, and afterwards a brief review of the results. In terms of international expansion and strategy as anticipated on March 15 we presented our (inaudible) for the privatization of San Juan, Puerto Rico airport. And we're now one of the two participants shortly to present the final bids. We do not have a definitive date for when these have to take place, but we will leave the final bid will have to be presented sometime in May.

With respect to corporate matters as owners of ASUR BB shares, each has the right to elect two board members, while each holder of 10% of ASUR's B shares can elect one member of our board directors. As a result (inaudible) and [Fernando Chico] have nominated the following people to ASUR's board of directors -- Fernando Chico Pardo and his alternate, Fernando Chaz Peron, Jose Antonio Anton and his alternate, Dos Hernandos and (inaudible), Luis Chico Pardo and Aurelio Perez Alonso. These appointments will be made at tomorrow's annual shareholders' meeting.

Turning now to the results this was a very good quarter. Passenger traffic was up by 10.4% year-on-year to a 5.1 million record high. Global was mainly driven by the 19.8 rise in domestic traffic, which reached 1.8 million passengers this quarter, the second highest quarter following the peak of 1.9 million achieved in 2008.

All airports performed well with domestic traffic particularly strong at Cancun, (inaudible) airports. In fact domestic traffic at Cancun has fully recovered from the negative impact of the disruption of (inaudible) and the last 12 months passenger traffic now exceeded peak post in 2008.

The smaller airports however still reflect the impact of lack of domestic airline seat capacity. International traffic was up by 5.8% to 3.3 million passangers, also a record high this quarter. The share of international passenger traffic however fell to 65% of the total traffic from the 67% in the first quarter 2011.

Passenger traffic between Mexico, Canada and the United States represented 89% of the total traffic compared with the 90% a year ago. Consolidated revenues were up by 20.9% this quarter, driven by revenue growth across the board. Excluding construction (inaudible) total revenue will have increased 19.4%. Commercial revenues per passenger rose to MXN74.63, another record high.

Operating costs and expenses rose 15.9% year-on-year, mainly due to higher construction costs and cost of services. Excluding construction costs operating costs would have only risen by 11.9%. Remember that we are including this line item of the costs associated with the volume of our convenience stores, which posted higher sales and then higher costs during the period. Higher energy costs and expenses in connection with our participation in international being processes also dropped increasing costs.

EBITDA was up by 22.4% this quarter with EBITDA margin up by 66 basis points year-on-year to 64.4%. This quarter we invested MXN152.35 million and we continue with the terminal expansion in Vera Cruz, Via Hermosa, Mejia, and Oaxaca airports.

We also closed the quarter with a strong balance sheet with cash and cash equivalents up 35.3% to MXN2.1 billion, and bank debt of MXN604 million. Finally our Board of Directors has also proposed a MXN3.6 per share cash dividend for the ordinary shares B and BB shares.

What we discuss at our next shareholders' meeting that will take place tomorrow. Now let me open the floor to questions. Please Jashania, go ahead.

(Operator Instructions). Your first question comes from the line of (inaudible) from Goldman Sachs. Please proceed.

Good morning. Thanks for the call. I have two questions. The first one is referring to commercial revenues. We saw that commercial revenues per passengers grew a lot in Cancun during the first quarter. We wonder if it's a seasonal or if you see that this strong growth is supposed to continue in the coming quarters.

And the second question is regarding the five-year investment plan that's supposed to end next year. What is the status of the discussions with the government to the new plan and what are your thoughts on that? Thank you.

Hi. Good morning. For commercial revenues -- of course every quarter is different from the others because the people that goes to the airport is different. In terms of the history of the Company you can see that it's not the same on a per passenger basis what occurs in June in comparison with December.

Nevertheless I have to say that nothing extraordinary occurred during this first quarter and what we are seeing in our opinion could be sustained of the future of course with these different seasonalities among the quarters.

In terms of the MDP as we speak we are working on the new MDP. The process was as for started in the Company before October last year. From October through May is the moment when we are going to construct this new MDP proposal.

Then we will have to submit this to the airlines and the users for a six-month hearing period. And then we will have to present this to the government at the end of this year. And then the government will have one year to review and discuss what is there. That's what I can say.

And considering that traffic has been stronger can we expect lower or (inaudible) tariffs in 2014 on with a new MDP?

Well, the traffic is stronger, but keep in mind that when we made our mass development plan the traffic trend was what we were seeing in let's say June 2007, the end of 2007. So just imagine what has happened between June 2007 and today's traffic and you will be surprised that due to the swine flu effect and due to the financial crisis we have a huge leap in our traffic.

If you see like my comments, my initial remarks we are still talking about going back of the point where we were in June 2008. So it's --

Okay. It's clear. Thanks.

The next question comes from the line of Stephen Trent from Citigroup. Please proceed.

Hi Adolfo. Good morning, just two questions from me if I may. And thanks very much for the color on the Puerto Rico airports tender. I'm just curious to the extent that let's say the Puerto Rican airport authorities go with your with the competitive bid over yours, any thoughts as to whether sort of might look elsewhere in the region at other potential opportunities, whether it's going to be something in Columbia, something in Central America or the Caribbean?

And then my second question pertains to Mexico City itself. I guess we had Popocatetetl erupting last week. That got a lot of press up here and it now seems to have gone quiet. I'm wondering if you're aware of any air traffic disruptions as a result of that. And that's it for me.

Okay. Thanks, Steve, good morning. In the case of San Juan, Puerto Rico if we are the winners this will of course not occur from day to night. It's going to be a process where we will have to prove our (inaudible) to the government there nevertheless.

So it will occur. If this -- if we are aware this occur I would say to the end, towards to the end of this year from the beginning of next year. If after that we will continue with our international expansion -- well we will have to evaluate that situation let's say one year from now, but the first thing that we have to do is to be sure that we are able to provide what we are offering to these people -- to the Puerto Rican people.

I absolutely convinced that we are capable to offer and to comply of what we are offering and yes probably in the future once let's say the case of Puerto Rico is normalized probably we will be able to see some of the effects.

In the case of Popocatetetl -- yes it's true that if this volcano explodes and/or erupts we will have some difficulties in terms of air traffic because of the ashes. As of today none operations have been canceled nor delayed because of the recent events of this volcano.

Okay. That's perfect, Adolfo. Thanks again for the time.

Your next question comes from the line of Marco Montanez from Vector. Please proceed.

Thank you. Well, good morning, Adolfo, and congratulations on the results and thank you for taking my question. My question is also about the commercial revenues. There was a relevant increase around 39% in revenues from direct operations and well also represents the 23% of total commercial revenues. What could we expect going forward? Are you comfortable with this proportion or do you think it could be higher in the future?

Well, I have to say that this is a moving target and this is what I say every day to my budget director. We are not comfortable anytime, any moment. We have to work every day to increase this in terms of revenue per passenger.

Yes it's true that you can see a huge increase from the first quarter last year to this quarter, two comments on that. The first one is not all the stores were exactly open during the whole quarter 2011. I have to say most of them, but if we go into the details, not all of them were open during the whole quarter.

Nevertheless I have to say we have learned and we are selling much more than what we sold last year. This is an ongoing process. This is a learning curve also for each one of the stores. Not all of them are the same and it's true we are making better than the previous year, but we have and we believe that we can do better.

Okay. Great, thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Luis Willard from GBM. Please proceed.

Thank you, Adolfo. Good morning and thank you for taking my call, just has there been any update on the tax rate issue at the Cancun airport, and the second just to have a little, a quick recap on the Puerto Rico with you're already in the final round. You're now expecting you now have a formal time frame to hand the final proposal. Did I get it right?

Hi, good morning. In the case of the tax rate issue thank you for your question because I didn't mention anything on my initial remarks, but the case is the following. We have presented our process for the judge so we are starting and trialing the court now, but I truly believe that the process will take from two to three years and that's how the legal system works in Mexico.

So as soon as I know where we have some news on these we will be informing this to you. For the moment what I can say to you is that we will not have -- I do not expect the final voting on these for the next one, for the next two to three years.

In the case of San Juan, Puerto Rico it's true as we speak I don't have a specific nor an exact date of when do we have to present our final offer, but this has to be published very soon. And what I believe is that this could happen during the month of May, maybe third week or fourth week of May.

Perfect. Thank you.

Thank you.

Your next question comes from the line of Nicolai Sebrell from Morgan Stanley. Please proceed.

Sorry. Good morning, Adolfo, quick question first the criteria for the Puerto Rico airport in the final round, did those change at all? What's the bidding criteria for deciding the final, wondering if you can share that? And then the follow-up on the tax question I'm a little bit confused about the write up of that.

You -- I think you said the estimate of total potential consequence if the case were to be lost would be around MXN334 million, but there was another assessment made by the government that was something like MXN865 million. How do I reconcile those two numbers?

Okay. Nic, hi good morning. In the case of the San Juan Puerto Rico the criteria is who pays more. Also, what I believe is that the technical capabilities at the end will count as well, but the thing is who pays more.

In the take in terms of the tax matter the difference between the two numbers -- it is important to understand that the government is basically telling us that we didn't have the right to amortize our concession values for more than 2%. And because of this they are basically saying you have to pay more taxes.

And this is for the year 2006 and 2007. If you remember after those years we have paid in the case of Cancun airport dividends and because we were not paying corporate tax we have to pay tax on dividends. So if now you say you have to pay corporate tax because of this then okay you pay the corporate taxes. Then you don't have to pay tax on this. So that's why the number that you said 800 number is not the same as the 300. I don't know if I am clear on --

Yes. No that's very clear. Thank you, perfect, thanks.

You're welcome.

Your next question comes from the line of Neal Dihora from Morningstar. Please proceed.

Good morning, thanks. Just trying to get a little bit more color on Cancun, I guess for domestic are there more airlines that are serving the Cancun airport as opposed to back in 2008, or is it just more frequencies? Or is it that the airlines that are serving Cancun are just using bigger size fleets and more passengers can be in there?

And I guess the same question in international too I think your traffic numbers for the quarter were the highest I guess at least in '08 maybe ever. Those are all my questions. Thanks.

Hi. Good morning. Well, it's true. Today we have record and we have seen that those numbers in general we are presenting the best numbers for our first quarter ever.

In the case of domestic of course it's not more airlines because they are not new airlines in Mexico. It's basically more passengers that are willing to come to Cancun now and Cancun. And in the case of international traffic it is the same situation.

Okay. Thanks.

(Operator Instructions). And your next question comes from the line of Fernando Abdalla from JPMorgan. Please proceed.

Good morning, Adolfo. I have two questions; first one is on margin - if you look to the EBITDA margin you released in the quarter ex-construction revenue, it was around 69%. Last year your full year margin was around 64%. I was wondering if this is level of margin, recurring level of margin going forward or you have some seasonality effect in the first Q that brought margins up.

And the second question is regarding investments outside Mexico. It seems that the government of Portugal is willing to privatize (inaudible), which takes care of the major airports in the country, just wondering is you guys would be interested in looking to this asset. Thank you.

Fernando, hi good morning. In terms of margins, yes of course it's there (inaudible) in our Company. You see the first quarter is also the highest in terms of the other three quarters. Normally the first is higher than the second one and the second higher than the third one and the third one higher than the fourth one.

In the case of investing somewhere else well for the moment we are focused on Puerto Rico. And once we finalize with this we will see what's next.

Okay. Thank you.

You're welcome.

(Operator Instructions). I will now turn the call over to Mr. Adolfo Castro for closing remarks.

Thank you, Jashania. Thank you for everybody for joining us today in our conference call for the first quarter 2012. As always do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions and have a great day. Thank you. Bye.

Ladies and gentlemen that concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.