Cementos Pacasmayo SAA (CPAC) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Pacasmayo's first quarter 2024, earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) And please note that this call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to introduce your host for today's call, Ms. Claudia Bustamante, Investor Relations Manager. Mrs. Bustamante, you may begin.

早安，女士們先生們。歡迎參加 Pacasmayo 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）請注意，此通話正在錄音。（操作員說明） 現在我想介紹一下今天電話會議的主持人，投資者關係經理 Claudia Bustamante 女士。布斯塔曼特夫人，您可以開始了。

Thank you, Tim. Good morning, everyone. Joining me on the call today is Mr. Humberto Nadal, our Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Manuel Ferreyros, our Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Nadal will begin our call with an overview of the quarter, focusing primarily on our strategic outlook for the short and medium term. Mr. Ferreyros will then follow with additional commentary on our financial results. We'll then turn the call over to your questions.

謝謝你，提姆。大家早安。今天與我一起參加電話會議的是我們的執行長 Humberto Nadal 先生和我們的財務長 Manuel Ferreyros 先生。納達爾先生將在我們的電話會議中概述本季度，主要關注我們的中短期戰略前景。Ferreyros 先生隨後將對我們的財務表現發表補充評論。然後我們會將電話轉至您的問題。

Please note that this call will include certain forward-looking statements. These statements are related to expectations, beliefs, projections, trends, and other matters that are not historical facts and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties that might affect future events or results. Descriptions of these risks are set forth in the company's regulatory filings.

請注意，本次電話會議將包含某些前瞻性陳述。這些陳述涉及預期、信念、預測、趨勢和其他非歷史事實的事項，因此存在可能影響未來事件或結果的風險和不確定性。這些風險的描述載於公司的監理文件中。

With that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Mr. Humberto Nadal.

現在，我想將電話轉給溫貝托·納達爾先生。

Thank you, Claudia. Welcome, everyone, to today's conference call, and thank you for joining us today. This quarter, we delivered very solid results in terms of margins, EBITDA, and profitability. Although sales volumes continue to lag behind because of demand-side challenges, we were able to achieve a consolidated EBITDA of $132.8 million, a 10% solid increase year-over-year, as well as a 13.8% increase in net income. By focusing on operational efficiencies related to clinical production and our most efficient skills.

謝謝你，克勞迪婭。歡迎大家參加今天的電話會議，並感謝您今天加入我們。本季度，我們在利潤率、EBITDA 和獲利能力方面取得了非常穩健的業績。儘管由於需求方面的挑戰，銷量繼續落後，但我們的綜合 EBITDA 達到 1.328 億美元，同比穩定增長 10%，淨利潤增長 13.8%。透過專注於與臨床生產相關的營運效率和我們最高效的技能。

Northern Peru was impacted by climatic effects such as higher temperatures and increased water temperatures, which in turn affected agriculture and fishing. For example, mangoes, one of the main crops in Northern Peru, experienced a drastic decrease in production during the 202, -2024 agricultural campaign. This translates into decreased disposable income, which in turn affects self-construction.

秘魯北部受到氣溫升高和水溫升高等氣候影響，進而影響了農業和漁業。例如，秘魯北部的主要農作物之一芒果在202年-2024年農業活動期間產量急劇下降。這意味著可支配所得減少，進而影響自我建設。

Additionally, there is a general lack of safety in the country, specifically in the northern part of Peru, mainly in the form of extortions that are affecting overall economic activity, including, I will say especially, self-construction. We hope that these demand-side challenges can be reverted and we are confident that when they do, we're in the best possible position to tackle the resulting increase in demand.

此外，該國普遍缺乏安全感，特別是在秘魯北部，主要表現為勒索行為，影響了整體經濟活動，特別是自我建立。我們希望這些需求方的挑戰能夠扭轉，我們相信，當這些挑戰得以扭轉時，我們將處於最有利的位置來應對由此帶來的需求成長。

In our journey to continue developing our building solutions, we recently embarked on the reconstruction of a two-runway and the perimeter fence of the Piura Airport. Not only as a concrete and pavement provider, but for the first time directly involved in the construction as part of a consortium. The way in which we are approaching this project is different from other airport improvement projects.

在繼續開發建築解決方案的過程中，我們最近開始重建皮烏拉機場的兩條跑道和圍欄。不僅作為混凝土和路面提供者，而且首次作為聯合體的一部分直接參與建設。我們實施此專案的方式與其他機場改善專案不同。

We have provided concrete for in the past, since we are in this case actively participating in every step, beginning with prospection and ending with the actual delivery of the finished infrastructure project.

我們過去已經提供了混凝土，因為在這種情況下，我們積極參與每一步，從勘探開始，到完成的基礎設施項目的實際交付結束。

We firmly believe that our involvement in every part of the process brings invaluable insights and creates significant opportunities to promote, improve, and market our building solutions looking towards the future.

我們堅信，我們參與流程的每個部分都會帶來寶貴的見解，並為推廣、改進和行銷我們面向未來的建築解決方案創造重要機會。

I would like now to focus on something that is absolutely crucial for the future of all businesses and organizations, including our own. Artificial intelligence and machine learning. New technologies will bring a wide variety of opportunities and there is no doubt that early adopters will be the biggest beneficiaries, and we intend to be one.

我現在想重點討論對所有企業和組織（包括我們自己的企業和組織）的未來絕對至關重要的事情。人工智慧和機器學習。新技術將帶來各種各樣的機會，毫無疑問，早期採用者將是最大的受益者，我們也打算成為其中之一。

As a company, we're focusing on both developing and adapting digital tools and reinforcing the culture to adopt it. As I mentioned earlier, one of the ways in which we look to gain traction on the building solutions market is by doing prospection work. This is mostly focused on looking for infrastructure opportunities in the initial phase so we can get involved in the definition of what materials are required, hence creating, and capturing more value for our building solutions.

作為一家公司，我們專注於開發和調整數位工具，並強化採用數位工具的文化。正如我之前提到的，我們希望在建築解決方案市場上獲得吸引力的方法之一是進行勘探工作。這主要著重於在初始階段尋找基礎設施機會，以便我們可以參與所需材料的定義，從而為我們的建築解決方案創造和獲得更多價值。

We have recently developed a model that uses AI to identify all of the public infrastructure projects in our area of influence. The robot developed in this project can capture the information and feed it into a large database, allowing the team to focus on the actual development of the solution instead of spending valuable time scouting for projects. Moreover, this tool generates valuable information to guide our data-driven analysis and with it, enhance our portfolio of products and services and tailor to the needs of our customer.

我們最近開發了一個模型，使用人工智慧來識別我們影響範圍內的所有公共基礎設施項目。該專案中開發的機器人可以捕獲資訊並將其輸入大型資料庫，使團隊能夠專注於解決方案的實際開發，而不是花費寶貴的時間尋找專案。此外，該工具還能產生有價值的資訊來引導我們的數據驅動分析，並以此增強我們的產品和服務組合，並根據客戶的需求進行客製化。

I will now turn the call over to Manuel to go into more detailed finance. Manuel?

我現在將把電話轉給曼努埃爾，以討論更詳細的財務問題。曼努埃爾？

Thank you, Humberto. Good morning, everyone. As Humberto mentioned, our first quarter 2024 revenues were affected by a decrease in demand, reaching $476.5 million, a slight decrease of 0.7% when compared to the same period of last year.

謝謝你，溫貝托。大家早安。正如 Humberto 所提到的，我們 2024 年第一季的營收受到需求下降的影響，達到 4.765 億美元，與去年同期相比略有下降 0.7%。

However, the gross profit increased, achieving $173.9 million and 8.3% increase when compared to the same period of last year, mainly due to reduced production costs as we maximize the use of our most efficient skills and benefit from lower cost of raw material.

然而，毛利卻有所增加，達到1.739 億美元，與去年同期相比增長8.3%，這主要是由於我們最大限度地利用最高效的技能並受益於較低的原材料成本，從而降低了生產成本。

The consolidated EBITDA was $132.8 million this quarter, a 10% increase when compared to the first quarter of 2023 and the EBITDA margin was 27.9%, a 2.8-percentage-points increase when compared to the first quarter of 2023.

本季合併 EBITDA 為 1.328 億美元，較 2023 年第一季成長 10%，EBITDA 利潤率為 27.9%，較 2023 年第一季成長 2.8 個百分點。

Turning to operation expenses, administrative expenses for the first quarter of 2024 remained in line with those of the first quarter of 2023. Selling expenses during this quarter increased 9.1% when compared to the same period of last year, mainly due to increase in personal expenses in line with inflation, as well as software and licenses and higher provision for the [downfall] payment.

營運費用方面，2024年第一季的管理費用與2023年第一季持平。本季銷售費用較去年同期成長 9.1%，主要是由於通貨膨脹導致個人費用增加，以及軟體和許可證以及[預付款]付款撥備增加。

Moving on to a different segment, sales of cement decreased 4.6% this quarter when compared to the same period of 2023, mainly due to a decreased sale volume in the self-construction segment, mainly because of the negative effects, as well as low levels of private and public investment.

轉向另一個細分市場，本季水泥銷售額與 2023 年同期相比下降 4.6%，主要是由於自建細分市場的銷量下降，主要是由於負面影響以及較低的私人和公共投資水平。

Nonetheless, gross margin increased 5.2-percentage-points in this quarter compared to the same period of last year, mainly due to the lower temperature production costs associated to the use of most efficient [kilns], as well as the lower cost of coal.

儘管如此，本季毛利率仍比去年同期增加了 5.2 個百分點，主要是由於使用最高效的窯爐導致生產溫度較低，以及煤炭成本較低。

During this quarter, concrete pavement and mortar sales performed very well, increasing 73.8% when compared to the first quarter of last year. This increase was mainly due to the increased sales of payments for the Piura Airport. Gross margin decreased by 2.5-percentage-points this quarter when compared to the same period of last year, mainly due to changes in the composition of our sales portfolio.

本季，混凝土路面和砂漿銷售表現良好，較去年一季成長73.8%。這一增長主要是由於皮烏拉機場支付銷售的增加。本季毛利率較去年同期下降2.5個百分點，主要是由於我們的銷售組合組成發生變化。

Finally, the net profit increased 13.8% this quarter when compared to the same period of last year, mainly due to the operational efficiencies mentioned above. In terms of depth, our net depth to EBITDA ratio was 3.2 times, which is a level we expect to reduce in the future. To summarize this quarter's results, show our ability to manage costs and focus on profitability when faced with challenges on the demand side. We are confident that we will continue delivering positive results during the rest of the year.

最後，本季淨利較去年同期成長13.8%，主要得益於上述營運效率。在深度方面，我們的淨深度與 EBITDA 的比率為 3.2 倍，這是我們預期未來會降低的水平。總結本季的業績，展現我們在面臨需求方挑戰時管理成本和專注於獲利能力的能力。我們有信心在今年剩餘時間內繼續取得正面成果。

Operator, can now we please open the floor for questions?

接線員，現在可以開始提問了嗎？

(Operator Instructions) Natalia Leo, JP Morgan.

（操作員指令）Natalia Leo，摩根大通。

Thank you. Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for taking my question. I actually have two. So I was wondering if you could tell us a bit more on your expectations for volumes for the full year. I remember last quarter you mentioned a low single digit increase, but just wondering if maybe your expectations are down a bit considering how they were in this first quarter, so maybe flat, or down.

謝謝。大家好。非常感謝您回答我的問題。我其實有兩個。所以我想知道您是否可以告訴我們更多關於全年銷售的預期。我記得上個季度您提到了較低的個位數成長，但只是想知道考慮到第一季度的情況，您的預期是否會有所下降，所以可能持平或下降。

And the other one was on gross margin. So you had like 44% gross margin this quarter, just to understand if that's the normalized level you expect for the full year, or should it be closer to the 47% that we saw in the third quarter? So, thank you.

另一個是毛利率。因此，本季的毛利率約為 44%，只是想了解這是否是您預期的全年正常化水平，還是應該更接近我們在第三季看到的 47%？所以，謝謝你。

Thank you for the question. The first part of the question, I mean, we have always experienced seasonality in our demand. And we remain confident that especially public expenses should pick up in the second semester of this year. We also think that the security issue should be tackled in the coming months.

謝謝你的提問。我的意思是，問題的第一部分，我們的需求一直經歷著季節性。我們仍然相信，特別是公共支出應該在今年下半年有所回升。我們也認為安全問題應該在未來幾個月內解決。

So yeah, we think we are optimistic that the second semester of this year will bring better volumes to the table, and that should counteract the decreasing volumes that are in the first part of the year. And concerning margins, we think that the margins we mentioned today in this call are the ones that should be sustainable looking into the future.

所以，是的，我們認為我們樂觀地認為今年下半年將帶來更好的銷量，這應該會抵消今年上半年銷售的下降。關於利潤率，我們認為我們今天在本次電話會議中提到的利潤率應該是未來可持續的。

Great, thank you. If I could just to follow up. So do you see volumes increasing sequentially in the second half of the year?

太好了，謝謝。如果我能跟進就好了。那麼您認為下半年銷售會較上季成長嗎？

Yes, that’s the case. I mean, if you see our last four or five years, it’s usually the case, and we think this year, there's no reason why it should be different.

是的，就是這樣。我的意思是，如果你看看我們過去的四、五年，情況通常都是這樣，我們認為今年沒有理由會有所不同。

Great, thank you.

太好了，謝謝。

Marcelo Furlan, Itaú.

馬塞洛·弗蘭，義大利。

Yes, hi, everyone, good morning. Can you hear me?

是的，大家好，早安。你聽得到我嗎？

Yes, we can hear you.

是的，我們能聽到你的聲音。

Okay, thank you. So guys, my question is related to capital allocation. I mean, following the conclusion of the Q number four in the last year, now the company doesn't have any major projects in the way. So I'd like to know in terms of capital allocation, if you guys thinking about distributing dividends to shareholders -- thinking on shareholders going forward, and also to the financial leverage, you guys had these 3.2 times the financial leverage.

好的，謝謝。各位，我的問題與資本配置有關。我的意思是，繼去年第四季結束後，現在該公司沒有任何重大專案。所以我想知道在資本配置方面，如果你們考慮向股東分配股利－考慮股東的未來，以及財務槓桿，你們的財務槓桿是3.2倍。

So if you guys have planned to decrease the financial leverage going forward, and what would be a sustainable financial leverage for the company? So these are my questions. Thank you.

那麼，如果你們打算未來降低財務槓桿，那麼公司可持續的財務槓桿是多少？這些都是我的問題。謝謝。

Thank you. The first part of the question of, I mean, the level of dividends is for the board to decide. That being said, and me being part of the board, I mean, the idea philosophically has always been that the cash -- that the leftover cash should go to shareholders. I think over the last year, we've had a very consistent dividend policy. And the way we look at it right now, I mean, probably that consistency will go on towards the end of this year.

謝謝。我的意思是，問題的第一部分是股利水準由董事會決定。話雖這麼說，而我作為董事會的一員，我的意思是，從哲學上來說，這個想法一直是現金——剩餘的現金應該歸股東所有。我認為在過去的一年裡，我們的股利政策非常一致。我的意思是，就我們現在的看法而言，這種一致性可能會持續到今年年底。

And regarding the leverage level, as you know, I mean, we finished Q number four last year. We don't foresee any substantial capital investments in the coming future. We have a structure, a debt in a way that we have a club deal with two main banks in Peru, and we're going to be lowering the debt over the next four or five years, according to that club deal with the banks

關於槓桿水平，如你所知，我的意思是，我們去年完成了第四季的工作。我們預計未來不會有任何重大資本投資。我們有一個結構，債務的方式是我們與秘魯的兩家主要銀行達成了俱樂部協議，根據俱樂部與銀行的協議，我們將在未來四到五年內降低債務

Okay, thank you so much, guys.

好的，非常感謝你們，夥計們。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question is a text question from David Cuenca from Compass Group.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題是來自 Compass Group 的 David Cuenca 的文字問題。

David asks, thanks for the presentation. I would like to know if you have some insights about prices of cement for this year, and maybe for next year. And if you have some info about other projects like the Piura Airport. Thank you.

大衛問道，謝謝你的介紹。我想知道您對今年或明年的水泥價格是否有一些見解。如果您有有關皮烏拉機場等其他項目的資訊。謝謝。

Thank you. I mean, we've been monitoring carefully the price situation. And if you see even though our cement sales in terms of tonnes are lower, our revenues remained almost flat. And I think, we've had a very successful managing of prices. We will continue to monitor the situation. It's always a fine line between keeping a substantial market share and a simple profitability.

謝謝。我的意思是，我們一直在仔細監控價格狀況。如果你看到，儘管我們的水泥銷售量（以噸計）較低，但我們的收入幾乎保持不變。我認為，我們的價格管理非常成功。我們將繼續關注事態發展。保持可觀的市場份額和簡單的盈利能力之間始終存在微妙的界限。

So that is just an ongoing situation. We always want to look for ways to maximize profits. And in the case of the question about the Piura project, I mean, there's some more airports coming on the line, not this year, but the coming few years. We are strongly convinced, like I mentioned in my speech, that the learning curve for the Piura Airport will help us in the other airports. Also, the Chavimochic next phase will should go ahead in probably towards the end of the year.

所以這只是一個持續的情況。我們總是想尋找利潤最大化的方法。就有關皮烏拉計畫的問題而言，我的意思是，還會有更多機場投入使用，不是今年，而是未來幾年。正如我在演講中提到的那樣，我們堅信皮烏拉機場的學習曲線將為我們其他機場提供幫助。此外，Chavimochic 的下一階段可能會在今年年底前進行。

There’s a G2C government agreement between Peru and Canada, and that should probably give green light to infrastructure of the project. Those are the two main things I think. Other than that, we still think that the private investment remains pretty low

秘魯和加拿大之間達成了一項 G2C 政府協​​議，這可能會為該項目的基礎設施開綠燈。這是我認為的兩個主要內容。除此之外，我們仍然認為私人投資仍然很低

Great, thank you, Humberto. We also have a question a text question from Marko Mahia from Kallpa.

太好了，謝謝你，溫貝托。我們還有一個來自 Kallpa 的 Marko Mahia 的文字問題。

Who asks, could you give us please some insights about coal prices, Thank you.

請問誰能告訴我們一些關於煤炭價格的見解嗎，謝謝。

Hello Marko. Yes, coal prices now are at the stable range, I would say around $250 per tonne. So we expect a stable price for at least this year.

你好，馬可。是的，煤炭價格現在處於穩定範圍，我想說大約每噸 250 美元。因此，我們預計至少今年價格會保持穩定。

(Operator Instructions) I'm not showing any more questions, so perhaps I can hand it back to Humberto for closing remarks.

（操作員說明）我不會再提出任何問題，所以也許我可以將其交還給 Humberto 進行結束語。

Thank you. I'll say the current political and financial market conditions have, unfortunately, I may add, made it less attractive to invest in Latin American companies. That being said, we remain firm believers in the great potential that both our company and our country hold for the future. The two tests of a successful company strategy comes through in those times where market conditions are less favorable.

謝謝。我想說的是，不幸的是，我可能會補充說，當前的政治和金融市場狀況降低了投資拉丁美洲公司的吸引力。話雖如此，我們仍然堅信我們的公司和我們的國家未來擁有巨大的潛力。成功的公司策略的兩個考驗是在市場條件不太有利的時期進行的。

And I think we have been consistently delivering very good results over the last years. We will continue to focus on our strategic goals, reinforcing digital transformation, developing, and empowering more and more our talent and operating our businesses responsibly. By doing this, we are absolutely certain that we will not only continue delivering positive results today, but be ready for to reap further benefits when the market conditions improve.

我認為我們在過去幾年中一直取得非常好的成果。我們將繼續專注於我們的策略目標，加強數位轉型，培養和賦權越來越多的人才，並負責任地經營我們的業務。透過這樣做，我們絕對確信我們不僅今天將繼續取得積極的成果，而且還準備好在市場狀況改善時獲得進一步的收益。

Thanks, everybody, for a renewed interest in our company. And as always, we remain at the disposal if you have any questions in the future. Thank you very much.

感謝大家對我們公司重新產生興趣。像往常一樣，如果您將來有任何疑問，我們隨時為您服務。非常感謝。

That concludes the call for today. Thank you and have a nice day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。謝謝您，祝您有愉快的一天。