Good morning, and welcome to EcoRodovias' first quarter of 2021 earnings conference call. With us here today are Mr. Marcello Guidotti, CFO and IRO, Andrea Fernandes, IR Director, and executives of the company. This presentation is being recorded, and all participants will be in listen-only mode during the presentation. After that, we will begin the question-and-answer session for analysts and investors only, when further instructions will be provided. Should you need assistance during the call, please press star zero to reach the operator. The audio and the slides of this conference call are being broadcast simultaneously at ri.ecorodovias.com.br, where you will find the presentation for download from the webcast platform in the investor relations section. Before proceeding, we would like to clarify that the forward-looking statements that may be made during this conference call relating to EcoRodovias' business prospects, projections, and operational and financial targets are based on the management's beliefs and assumptions, as well as on currently available information. They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions as they refer to future events and hence depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors should understand that general economic conditions, industry conditions, and other operating factors may affect the future performance of EcoRodovias and lead to results that differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. I will now turn the floor over to Ms. Andrea Fernandes, who will discuss the first quarter of 2021's results. Ms. Andrea, you may proceed. Good morning. Welcome to Grupo EcoRodovias' conference call, today discussing the earnings of the first quarter of 2021. We thank you all for your interest and participation. The first quarter was marked by some important events, in particular Brazil's National Ground Transportation Agency's authorization of the start of toll collection at Ecovias do Cerrado at the P3, P4, and P5 toll plazas, and as of March 20, the concession is fully operational. In April, we won the federal concession BR-153 Tocantins-Goiás to operate it for 35 years, in line with the company's growth strategy. The concession agreement and EcoRodovias' guidelines are aligned with the best ESG practices, as highlighted in our results release. In April, the company also made progress in our de-risking efforts with the signing of the agreement of Ecovias dos Imigrantes, which established the assumptions that guide the extension of the termination of concession agreement from June 2026 to March 2033, based on traffic projections using the ARTESP and marginal cash flow methodologies. More details are available in the material facts of April 30. Our ESG agenda continues to advance. We published our first integrated report, our main tool to report environmental, social, and governance indicators with the results achieved in material topics selected after consulting with our key stakeholders. We believe that part of our responsibility to create value involves building relationships with our stakeholders that are based on trust and guided by transparency and accountability. In the governance aspect, the company obtained the international anti-bribery certification, ISO 37001, which attests that the company's ethics program integrity system is capable of preventing, addressing, and identifying bribery practices. Still on the topic of ESG, EcoRodovias' stocks included the B3's Carbon Efficient Index for the second consecutive four-month period, an important recognition for companies with transparent practices regarding their carbon emissions. The emissions of the year 2020 were offset, amounting to more than 32,000 tons of CO2. The emissions were offset by acquiring carbon credits from three projects. Renewable energy generation from methane gas at a landfill, wind power generation, and the project reducing emissions from forest degradation in the Amazon region. In May, Ecovias dos Imigrantes issued BRL 600 million in debentures for a period of one year at the cost of CDI plus 1.05% per year. Moving on to operational performance on slide two, we can see the monthly traffic performance and comparable toll traffic until April 30, 2021. When we look at comparable traffic, we see a 9% increase year-on-year and a reduction of only 3.5% when compared to 2019. Compared with the fourth quarter, we see on slide three that the variation of consolidated traffic of equivalent paying vehicles posted an increase of 10.2%. Excluding the start of operations at Ecovias do Cerrado, consolidated traffic was up 2.8% in the period due to the increase in traffic of heavy vehicles, resulting mainly from the increase in soybean exports influenced by the weaker Brazilian real. On slide four, we can see the monthly traffic variation in the first quarter of 2021. This decline in light vehicle traffic in the first quarter of 2021 is due to the social distancing measures adopted by states and cities to combat COVID-19, starting from the second half of March 2020, and to the suspension of the optional extended holiday in 2021 due to the cancellation of carnival celebrations. There was a fast recovery of comparable heavy vehicle traffic throughout the quarter, as shown in the chart, especially in March, with a 16.9% increase due to the increase in exports of agricultural commodities influenced by the weaker Brazilian real. As for the group's consolidated financial performance, we show on slide five our net revenue, excluding construction revenue, which was up 8.9% this quarter, and net revenue of highway concessions increased 6.4% in the period. Moving on to slide six, adjusted cash costs amounted to BRL 247.2 million, an increase of 4.3% below the inflation of 6.1% in the period. Pro forma EBITDA amounted to BRL 575.4 million in the first quarter, 8.5% higher than in the first quarter of 2020, with a margin of 68.8%. The concessions, Ecovias do Rio de Janeiro, Eco101, EcoPonte, Eco135, and Eco050, presented an increase in EBITDA due to the increase in export of agricultural commodities and the pulp cycle at Eco101's region. The EBITDA of the other concessions suffered an impact of traffic reduction due to the restriction measures adopted to combat COVID-19. On slide seven, we present the evolution of net income in the first quarter of 2021 with an 11.9% decrease. Net income suffered the negative impact of the higher depreciation on account of the updated traffic curve for amortizing intangible assets, the termination of concession agreements at Ecovia Caminho do Mar and Ecocataratas in November 2021, the start of toll collection by Ecovias do Cerrado, and the financial result, due mainly to monetary variation on the concession fee of Eco135 and the ventures. On slide eight, CapEx in the first quarter of 2021 reached BRL 223 million, with particular notice to the investment in road widening at Eco050 and Eco101. On slide nine, we closed the quarter with net debt of BRL 6.9 billion, stable vis-a-vis the previous quarter, and the net debt of the pro forma EBITDA indicator was 3.3x. Moving on to slide 10, we closed the quarter with cash balance of approximately BRL 1.7 billion, which together with future cash generation, makes us comfortable with the group's financial capacity. On slides 11- 13, we present the main ESG indicators. In order to strengthen EcoRodovias' financial and competitive situation, shareholders signed a dissociation agreement that included, among other events, capitalization of the company that will enable the search for investment opportunities in the Brazilian highway market. The company is currently studying federal concession BR-116/101 Dutra, the São Paulo Coast patch by the State of São Paulo's government, and the federal concessions in Paraná. Before we close, we would like to inform that we continue to take preventive and mitigation measures to minimize as much as possible the impacts of the pandemic on the safety of our employees, users, and service providers, and to the continuity of the company's business. This concludes our presentation. We would like to move on to the questions and answers session. Operator, we are ready for the questions from our analysts and investors. Thank you. Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session for investors and analysts. If you have a question, please press star one on your telephone. If your question is answered during the session, you may remove it from the line by pressing the pound key. The questions will be answered in the order they are received. We ask that you use the handset when asking the question in order to maintain excellent sound quality. Please stand by while we collect the questions. Our first question, Victor Mizusaki, Bradesco BBI. Good morning. I have two questions. The first on the results of the first quarter. When we look at the breakdown of highways, you talk about the cost increase in third-party services related to consulting services. I'd like you to talk a little bit more if this is a recurring cost or if the consulting services will generate future efficiency gains, and if you can quantify that. My second question, about some of the projects. If you can talk about the São Paulo BR-153, how we can see that for the end of the year. Good morning, Victor. Thank you for the question. About the consulting services that are the services of EcoConstruções that provides engineering, automation services, and other administration services for the concessions. They're intercompany costs. In the breakdown of the concessions, that's where they are. They're margin adjustments. In all these costs, you see that the costs are actually increasing. It's an adjustment of the split between the concessions and EcoConstruções. About the new opportunity, we won 153. We're in the obligation process, and we're looking at the main projects that will come at Dutra and the São Paulo Coast. We enter 153 with a financial partner to reduce a little bit of the equity exposure. We're monitoring cash generation and investments. I believe the company has the capacity to enter these new projects, always maintaining a comfortable, balanced situation. We announced in a material fact the follow on possibility is also on the table. We have means to plan and continue believing in winning projects. Thank you. Once again, to ask a question, press star one. Next question, Andressa Varotto, UBS BB. Good morning, Andrea Fernandes and Marcello Guidotti. One question. About the timing of the debate or the offer, what you expect for this year, and what do you think can help the leverage for 2021, 2022? Andressa, hello. Thank you for your question. About the follow on, we have a material fact on the stages of the controlling shareholders' actions. The company is monitoring it and preparing, but there's no decision made. We will have this information, potentially September this year. About the leverage for 2021, 2022, that will depend on all the follow on and winning our projects eventually. It maintains stable. With the 153, should remain stable. The new projects for 2022, we'll see what's going to come and when and what projects to get to a possible leverage level for 2022. In 2021, I would say that except for 153, it should remain stable. Thank you. Guilherme Mendes, JP Morgan. Good morning. Two questions. First, about the possible rebalancing of COVID with the discussions at the federal level and the state levels. It's something that we can see on a very short term. The second question is an update about a possible project with a bridge/tunnel at the Centro Sport, how this discussion's going on with the government. Thank you, Guilherme. About the COVID rebalancing in the federal and state levels, we're moving along, and with the numbers and the protocols of the letters and beginning discussions. In all levels, the developments are running at the same timing. It's a discussion that will take place over the next few months. It's important to have this negotiation and this desire to proceed with the rebalancing. What we need to do is the calculation and the letters, and we'll close the methodology. ANTT is defining the methodology that it's going to use. It's a discussion that's starting and going well. We don't foresee any surprises. It's as expected. About the project at Ecovias, the bridge between the two margins of the Port of Santos, there's no news at this point. We're having discussions with the government for the investments. It's an investment that needs to be used on the level of the federal government. EcoRodovias and Ecovias have been doing their role, improving the projects and working on them, but there's nothing new so far. We're still waiting. Thank you. Murilo Freiberger, Bank of America. Good morning. I have two questions. About the results, we see the company in the last quarters has been working strongly on operating costs, even though the macro scenario is challenging with the COVID-19. We look at margin, it's almost stable and comparable cash costs are up 4%, I think. I'd like to know in today's cost structure, is there any measure, a temporary salary reduction, a basis for comparable and recurring? We can assume that the company is being able to maintain margins at a challenging scenario. The second question is a follow-up, I think Guilherme asked. Some of the assets that the government plans for this year are rebids of existing assets, both Dutra and the competitive bids and the integration ring at Paraná, Ecovias and EcoParaná, Ecocataratas that are under your concession. What's your view of the timeline for this bidding process, if you expect an extension on the concession terms? It seems to be very short notice for the government to be able to run the bids and work on those assets by the end of this year. Those are the two questions we have on our side. Murilo, good morning. About operating costs and margins, I'd say it's quite normalized in terms of operating costs. What we're trying now internally is to work seriously on the quality of costs and how the resources are being used, and actions to improve processes and innovate so that constantly over the next few years, we can be efficient and maintain our margin. EcoRodovias is proposing the increased efficiency in the next years and looking at the cost of applications and technology solutions, innovation, processes review. It's something that is ongoing. It's continuously happening. We intend to maintain always within the limit of that operating costs and efficient. About the rebid, we follow the government's programs, and everything indicates that things are moving along well. There may be some delay in Paraná, I agree with you. We're still experiencing the pandemic. Our contracts expire in November 2021, and at this time, there's no different information when the government of Paraná and the federal government will decide how to proceed. Very clear, Guidotti. Thank you. Gabriel Rezende, Itaú BBA. Good morning. One question. If you can talk quickly about Ecovias do Cerrado, how the asset's been performing is regarding your expectation, and what can we expect in terms of margin evolution for this specific asset? Gabriel, we're being positively surprised with the highways in Minas and Ecovias do Cerrado. It's going well. We're happy, it's normal that now in the beginning of our work, the widening works that was expected in our business plan. In time, this will bring even more traffic. It will depend on the pace of investment in EBITDA, since we already have the road widening work, it will bring better margins. The traffic started at a very good level. A question from the web cast by Roberta Vigliani, Citi. Hello, any news for the Ecoporto in Santos? How are the long-term initiatives for operational improvements at Ecoporto? Ecoporto is going well. It's almost at a record. It's an asset that we've been operating for some time. We had many rounds of improvements. It's an asset that is doing very well at this time. It's an atypical moment, it's performing well. We'll see. It goes until 2023. EcoRodovias has been maintaining it operational at the best value possible, but it's going well. We're pleased. Once again, to ask a question, please press star one. We can close the questions and answer session at this time. I would like to turn over to Andrea Fernandes for her closing remarks. I thank you all for your participation. My team and myself are available for any future questions or doubts. Thank you. Have a great weekend. EcoRodovias conference call is now closed. Thank you very much for your participation, and we wish you a very good day.
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