Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the earnings conference call of AES Brasil for the third quarter of 2024. The presentation will be made by the company's CEO, Rogério Pereira Jorge, and by the CFO, José Simão. There is simultaneous translation available in the platform. To access it, click on the interpretation button on the lower part of the screen and choose the language you prefer. This conference is being recorded, and it will be available at the investor relations website of the company, www.aesbrasil.com.br, as well as the slide presentation. All participants will be in listen-only mode during the presentation, and the questions sent will be answered later on by the investor relations team. Before proceeding, we would like to enforce that all forward-looking statements are based on beliefs and assumptions of AES Brasil's management, as well as on information currently available to the company. Such statements may involve risks and uncertainties, as they refer to future events and, therefore, depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors, analysts, and journalists should take into account that events relating to the macroeconomic environment, the industry, and other factors may cause results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. We will start the presentation by turning the floor over to Mr. Rogério Jorge. You may begin, Rogério. Bom dia a todos. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the AES Brasil's Q3 2024 earnings call. It's a pleasure to be here with our CFO, José Simão, who will share this presentation with me. Let's start on slide number 2, where we highlight the main points that mark the third quarter of the year. It is with great satisfaction that we highlight that Cajuína II wind complex, with 370 megawatts of installed capacity, is already 100% in commercial operation. All 65 wind turbines that make up the complex are already generating energy. From an operational point of view, the execution of our strategy to recover the availability of assets acquired through M&A continues to bring concrete results. We had a significant evolution in the average availability of our assets, with an improvement of 5 percentage points compared to the third quarter of 2023. Another important highlight is the discipline in costs and expenses, with a reduction in recurring expenses when comparing quarters. On the financial front, I would like to highlight the net margin, that is, net revenue minus energy costs, which totaled BRL 566 million in the third quarter of 2024. Furthermore, adjusted EBITDA for non-recurring effects of the period was BRL 378 million. Simão will provide more details about this in the financial part of the presentation. Moving on to slide 4, in the construction chapter, this quarter we concluded AES Brasil's growth cycle with the completion of wind projects and fulfillment of the expansion obligations we had with the state of São Paulo. Cajuína wind complex, located in Rio Grande do Norte, has an installed capacity of 684 megawatts, divided in two phases, both with long-term PPAs. Cajuína I, with 314 megawatts, has been fully operational since the last quarter of 2023, and Cajuína II, with 370 megawatts of installed capacity, is 100% operational, as mentioned earlier, after the completion of the tests and beginning of operation of the 13 wind turbines, as we announced in the second quarter of 2024. It's worth highlighting that there is also a full operation and maintenance contract of FSA signed with the equipment supplier, ensuring minimum availability of 98%. Anything below this level of availability would be reimbursed by the supplier, which gives us additional security for the future performance of this complex. Speaking of Tucano, with 322 megawatts of installed capacity and located in Bahia, construction has been completed, and all 52 wind turbines are in commercial operation, supplying energy to Unipar and Anglo American through long-term contracts with an average term of 17 years or more. The issues faced during the challenges in the construction and commissioning of wind turbines were solved, and the company worked together with the supplier to complete the retrofit process of the 23 required turbines in July. Tucano has a full operation and maintenance contract with the wind turbine supplier, which ensures minimum availability of 97% in the first year and 98% in the following years. Our latest highlight on the construction front is AGV7 solar complex, with 33 megawatts of installed capacity. The complex was built in an area adjacent to Boa Hora and Água Vermelha solar complexes in the state of São Paulo and was completed within budget and on schedule. With the start of operations on July 30, AES Brasil considers all of its expansion obligations to the state of São Paulo to have been fulfilled. Now, moving on to slide 6, I'll talk about the performance of our wind farms in 2024 so far. First, I would like to highlight once again the effect of our efforts to improve the performance of the farms. Looking both at the quarter and year to date, we see a significant recovery, going from an average availability of 88% to 93% in the quarter, an increase of 5 percentage points, and 92% in the year to date, up to September, an increase of 4 percentage points. The average wind speed weighted by the capacity of our wind farms reached 9 meters per second in the third quarter, representing an increase of 4% compared to the same period of last year. However, looking at the year to date, we still see the effects of low wind harvest in the first quarter of this year. During this period, the average wind speed was 2% lower than the same period in 2023, reaching 7.6 meters per second in 2024. Generation for the quarter was 26% higher than the third quarter of 2023 and 23% higher year to date. In this graph, you can see the main farms responsible for this growth were Tucano and Cajuína. As wind turbines started commercial operation, their contributions to power generation also increased significantly. On the other hand, it's important to mention the increase of curtailment recorded in our wind portfolio. According to ONS data, we totaled 379 gigawatt-hours in the quarter, compared to just 99 gigawatt-hours in the third quarter of 2023, with emphasis on the restriction of 169 gigawatt-hours in Cajuína. In the year to date, curtailment volume reached 488 gigawatt-hours, compared to 125 in the same period of 2023, with 43% of this volume recorded in Cajuína alone. In comparative terms, the percentage of curtailment in the potential generation of AES Brasil's wind farms, which includes the sum of the total volume of energy generated and the total volume curtailed in these assets, reached 18% in the quarter, increasing by 11 percentage points compared to the third quarter of 2023. In the year to date, this indicator reached more than 10% of potential generation, rising 7 percentage points compared to last year. It is worth noting that, as of September 17, the ONS implemented a new methodology for restricting generation, adopting a more regionalized approach, which prioritizes areas with greater overload on the electrical system. This new methodology increases the reliability of the interconnected system and allows for a more balanced distribution of curtailments, preventing them from being concentrated on a specific group of generators or any region. In our approach, there was a significant drop in restrictions from the second half of September, especially in the Cajuína complex. In the first 16 days of the month, 53% of the complex's potential generation was impacted by restrictions. However, the restrictions volume fell to 4% during the second half of September, causing the complex generation to increase by 96% between the periods. Considering the wind portfolio as a whole, restrictions amounted to 26% in the first half of September and decreased to 14% in the second half, reaching 11% in the first half of October. Moving now to slide 7, I would like to highlight once again the operational excellence of our solar complexes, with availability maintained at 99%. Irradiance was 2% lower in the quarter, as the region where the complexes are located faced cloudier days, which negatively impacted this indicator. However, looking at the year to date, we see a growth of 4%, reflecting the lower incidence of rainy days throughout the first half of 2024. On the other hand, the generation of solar plants in the quarter and year to date was also influenced by the incidence of curtailment. Curtailment totaled 20 gigawatt-hours in the quarter and 22 gigawatt-hours in 2024 through September. If we exclude effects of restrictions, solar generation would have increased by 1% in both periods. On the following slide, number 8, we present the hydrological scenario and the performance of the company's hydroelectric plants. The upper part of the slide shows a map of the hydrological scenario until September. Looking back, we see we faced severe water crisis in 2021, followed by two years of above-average rainfall and recorded record reservoir levels in 2022 and 2023. More recently, the scenario of the last rainy season became challenging again, recording 72% of the long-term average in 2024, making it one of the worst inflows of all years. Although reservoirs started the year at much more comfortable levels than in 2021, we are proving that this condition of high reservoirs and low prices is not sustainable over many months of below-average inflow. Furthermore, we are witnessing a consistent increase in load every year, which has outpaced GDP growth. According to ONS data, the average net load, already excluding distributed mini and micro generation, was 72 average gigawatts in the quarter and 74 in the year to date for 2024, well above the levels observed in 2023. As a result of this hydrological scenario, GSF of 79% in the quarter and 90% in the year to date. The average spot price for the Southeast and Central West submarkets was 173 BRL per megawatt-hour in the quarter and 98 per megawatt-hour in the year to date. The increase observed between the months of June and September reflects the reduction in reservoir levels and the lower inflow during the period, combined with the higher thermal dispatch: 8 average gigawatts in the third quarter of 2024 versus 5 average gigawatts in the third quarter of 2023. In September, thermal generation reached the highest monthly dispatch since January 2022. Looking at the graph at the bottom of the slide, we see a reduction in the volume generated in both periods, a consequence of ONS's more conservative stance regarding reservoir preservation. In this sense, the operator dispatched fewer hydroelectric plants than last year. Before handing over to Simão to comment on the financial performance, I'll conclude the operational part of the presentation by showing the evolution of the contract level of our portfolio. In the graph, the green bars show energy contracts in hydroelectric plants in light green and in wind and solar farms in dark green. The blue bars show the volume without contracts, both of conventional and incentivized energy. We already have conventional energy fully covered by contracts for this year and 2025, with only a small volume of incentivized energy remaining that enters our portfolio as a result of the energy triangulation between AES Operations and our Tucano and Cajuína complexes. In addition, we leave approximately 15% of hydropower without contracts each year as a way to protect our portfolio against the GSF. As you can see, the portfolio is well equalized in the short term. Regarding the average sales price, we have contracts between BRL 183 and BRL 206 per megawatt-hour in real terms, with a base date in September. I will now hand over to Simão, who will present the financial session. Next, I return for the final remarks. Thank you. Thank you, Rogério, and good morning, everyone. I'll start the financial analysis on slide 11, where I present the net operating margin, which is the net revenue minus the cost of purchasing energy and sector changes. In Q3 2024, the net margin reached BRL 566 million, which is a reduction of 4% compared to Q3 2023. Of these 566, hydroelectric power plants contributed 41%, or BRL 322 million, and wind power contributed 53%. When we look at the year to date, the net margin remains stable between 2023 and 2024 at BRL 1.7 billion in these nine months accumulated over the two years. The variation in the margin, both in the quarter and in the accumulated period, mainly reflects the evolution of the wind power result, which is due to two positive reasons, which are the entry into commercial operation of Tucano and Cajuína and the improvement in the availability of assets already in operation, which were acquired between 2021 and 2022. We mentioned wind, and availability increased 5 percentage points. These are positive sides, and the negative side is curtailment, which offsets it and is a topic that we have reported in the last few quarters and affects assets located in Rio Grande do Norte. We also saw high incidence in this quarter until September 17, when the ONS introduced a new methodology for the duration restriction, as Rogério mentioned. Following the bridge order, we'll comment on hydroelectric power. We have a reduction of BRL 28 million in the quarter's margin and BRL 33 million the year to date, and it's a reflection of high energy purchase costs because we do the equalization of the consolidated portfolio, looking at the generation sources that we have, and we observed that it was greatly impacted by the curtailment, with the lower wind generation ended up having to make purchases at higher prices of the hydro portfolio to honor commitments made previously. In wind power, there was an increase of BRL 15 million in the margin for the quarter and 37 year to date due to greater availability entering into operation of new assets offset by curtailment, which ended up being much smaller as of September 17. On slide number 12, we talk about OpEx for the period, which are operational costs and general and administrative expenses. OpEx totaled BRL 188 million in the quarter and BRL 538 million in 2024 until September. These two figures already exclude non-recurring effects. To talk about the quarter, I'm talking use the bridge that's on the slide. There is an increase of BRL 22 million between the third quarter of 2024 and 2023. Of these, 22 million refers to inflation. There is an increase of BRL 7 million reais, basically due to adjustment by IPCA over our cost base in the 12 months between the third quarter of 2024 and the third quarter of 2023. This additional 7 million of inflation are more than offset because our contracts and revenues are adjusted by IPCA more than 90% as of January. So it's just a matter of timing. The second block is a growth block. It's natural, as we have said, that we have more wind turbines in operation in Tucano and Cajuína when compared to the Third Quarter of 2024 and Third Quarter of 2023, and costs become higher. Obviously, EBITDA is also a positive contribution from assets, but looking at the part of the cost, we see this increase of 16 million. In recurring costs, we report a reduction of 2 million in the quarter. I would like to highlight that we continue to maintain an efficient management of costs and expenses. This performance demonstrates our commitment to operational discipline and the continuous optimization of resources always aligned with the strategy of maximizing company's value generation. On slide 13, we show the evolution of adjusted EBITDA and net income. Adjusted EBITDA is adjusted for non-recurring OpEx items. In the third quarter of 2024, Adjusted EBITDA was BRL 378 million, while in the first nine months of 2024, BRL 1.1 billion. When comparing the periods, there was a reduction of BRL 44 million between the quarters, BRL 60 million in the year. Here, this reduction is a reflection of the non-generational wind assets caused by curtailment, that is, the generation restriction imposed by ONS. We estimate that the direct impact of accumulating in the year is around BRL 70 million in EBITDA. There is a reduction of non-generation of wind power caused by the operational curtailment. In addition to this direct impact, there is an indirect impact in a consolidated portfolio because this caused the wind power energy balance, the portfolio as a whole, to become short and led us to purchase more expensive energy. Moving now to the net result adjusted also for non-recurring OpEx items, we reported a loss of BRL 72 million in the quarter and accumulated loss for the year of BRL 260 million. Both in the quarter and year to date, the explanations are similar. I'll talk about the quarter's figures and then the year to date. In the quarter, there was a variation of BRL 191 million in the net income, which went from a profit of BRL 118 million to a loss of BRL 72 million. Out of these figures, EBITDA decreased by BRL 44 million, which is mainly caused by generation restriction, but we observed a similar value of negative impact, BRL 44 million of negative impact on financial revenue, basically because we have a smaller cash balance now and lower CDI. There are lower interest rates on a smaller cash balance. Financial expenses increased by 47 million BRL in the comparison because we do not have interest expenses that are higher, but rather a lower capacity to capitalize interest on projects that were under construction. So as Tucano and Cajuína became operational, the company's capacity to transfer interest to fixed assets is smaller, and so there is an increase in financial expenses. Depreciation and amortization increased by 36 million BRL also in comparison between quarters, but this is natural because there's a larger asset base that undergoes depreciation. So without having greater. 2024 contra 9 meses de 2023 na comparação de. The The nine months of 2024 versus nine months of 2023, the explanations are the same. EBITDA is lower by 60 million BRL. Financial revenue is lower by 172 million BRL because we put the cash in to transfer the cash position here. CDI fell, as I mentioned. Financial expenses increased by BRL 135 million and depreciation increased by BRL 114 million. So these are the explanations creating a bridge between adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income in the periods. Now, on slide 14, we show our consolidated debt structure. In the third quarter of 2023, we closed with a balance of BRL 9.6 billion in net debt at AES Brasil, which is a holding company, and this led to a leverage of 6.04 times. AES Brasil does not have covenants, but we calculate this indicator, so it's important from a management point of view. At the end of September, 42% of the debt was indexed to CDI and 48% to IPCA, and the average term of our debt was 5.1 years, which is one year longer than when we started this strategy of extending our debt. The cost of debt was 11.5% versus 12.7% in Q3 2023. In addition to the issues that are already presented here on the slide, we have contracts with development banks for issues that have not been fully disbursed: BRL 143 million FDNE contracted for Santa Tereza I. That's where the PPA BRF is located. We only had one disbursement there in July of 2024 of BRL 68 million, and the balance remains to be disbursed and will happen in the next few weeks. Considering this transaction, the average term of the portfolio goes from 5.1 years to 5.4 years, and the average cost drops from 11.5% to 11.4% per year. Parallel to this, our exposure to the CDI is reduced from 42% to 39%, and indexation to IPCA increases, which is positive from a hedging point of view because it creates a natural hedge with revenue that's always indexed by IPCA. At AES Operations worldwide, the debt cap of 4.5 times, we have covenants controlled at 3.61 times and a net debt of 4.2 billion reais. That ends the financial presentation. I turn over to Rogério. Thank you, Simão. Now, moving on to our next, to our last slide, I will present the status of the evolution of the business combination with Auren. Over the past few months, we have been focused on completing and fulfilling all conditions precedent necessary for the transaction. On October 14, both AES and Auren's board of directors confirmed that all conditions precedent have been met or waived where applicable. According to a material fact published on October 14, the final value of the transaction was adjusted in accordance with the terms of the business combination agreement, resulting in BRL 11.84 per share with an exchange ratio of around 0.75. As we announced previously, today is the closing day of the transaction. As of November 5, 2024, the new Auren shares, which will be credited to shareholders who choose option one or two, will be available in shareholder statements. Finally, the payments of the redemption amount, which corresponds to the cash portion provided for in the closed options, is scheduled to take place on November 8, 2024. With that, we come to the end of our last presentation. I would like to thank everyone for attending and for being with us all these years. The journey was marked by challenges and achievements, and we are proud of what we built together. I am pleased to be able to highlight in this call the significant progress we made in the availability of our wind assets and the conclusion of the growth cycle that we began in 2017 with the entry into commercial operation of the second stage of the Cajuína wind complex. Finally, I would like to emphasize that all questions sent will be answered by the investor relations team. Thank you all very much, and I wish you a great day. The conference call has now ended. We thank you all for attending and have a good afternoon.
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