Good morning, and Welcome to Loma Negra Fourth Quarter 2020 Conference Call and Webcast. All participants will be in listen only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal the conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Also, Mr. Sergio Faifman will be responding in Spanish immediately following an English translation. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Gastón Pinnel, Head of Investor Relations. Please, Gastón, go ahead. Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to Loma Negra's Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2020 Earnings Conference Call. By now, everyone should have access to our earnings press release and the presentation for today's call, both of which were distributed yesterday after market close. Joining me on the call this morning will be Sergio Faifman, our CEO and Vice President of the Board of Directors, and our CFO, Marcos Gradin. Both of them will be available for the Q&A session. Before I turn the call over to Sergio, I would like to make the following safe harbor statements. Today's call will contain forward-looking statements. I refer you to the forward-looking statements section of our press release and recent filing with the SEC. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new or changed events or circumstances. This conference call will also include discussion on non-GAAP financial measures. The full reconciliation to the corresponding financial measures is included in the earnings press release. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Sergio. Thank you, Gastón. Hello, everyone, thank you for joining us today. First, I hope you and your family are safe and healthy. As always, I'm going to mention a few highlights of the fourth quarter, then Marcos will walk you through our market review and financial results. After that, I will provide some final remarks then we will open the call to your questions. As you saw from our release issued yesterday, in the fourth quarter, we achieved an outstanding performance on the back of our cement business. The momentum is quite encouraging as the bulk cement are showing the bagged cements on the volume expansion in the same months. The recovery pathway of cement dispatch was consolidated as cement demand in the fourth quarter experience as a strong sequential growth, and an overall volume increase of around 23%, with every division of the country undergoing a similar dynamics. Coupled with volume increase, our diligence on cost control and our pricing discipline enabled us to grow our EBITDA, expand our margin by 415 basis point, and reach our record high EBITDA per ton. Our assessment EBITDA in the quarter was $58 million, with an expansion of 33% compared to the same quarter last year. For the full fiscal year 2020, bearing in mind the uncertainty we faced along the year, I would like to highlight the resiliency and determination of our organization. Together, we were able to deliver again excellent results, an EBITDA of $171 million, with margin of 33%, while strengthening further our solid balance sheet and executing our strategic L'Amalí Expansion Project. We will expect to start producing clinker later this month and to be fully operational by middle 2021. Although we are getting to coexist with the virus, we need to stay alert and focused as our country and the world continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. We face additional challenges as Argentina economic environment remains delicate and with several restrictions. Yet, we trust that the right stimulus and signal will bring additional dynamics to the economy as a whole and the construction sector in particular. I will now hand off the call to Marcos Gradin, who will walk you through our market review and financial results. Please, Marcos, go ahead. Thank you, Sergio. Good day, everyone. As you can see on slide four, leaving behind the fierce drop of beginning of 2020, the year ended with an estimated GDP drop of 4.4% in the fourth quarter 2020 and a full year drop of 10%. For the full year 2020, the cement industry dropped by 11.5% to 9.75 million tons, needing to go back almost a decade to find similar industry volumes. During the last quarter of 2020, we have observed a sustained recovery momentum in the construction activity and the cement demand, with a volume expansion of 24.1%. Promisingly, in the first couple of months of 2021, the industry posted similar positive growth dynamic, with January and February volumes expanding by 20% and by 18%, respectively. The main driver behind this trend is bagged cement sales, which even posted a record high level in October and which is explained by a surge in self-construction and retail demand. Positively, since November, bagged cement started to contribute with positive year-on-year growth. Certainly, the economy as a whole still faces different tests, particularly on the macroeconomic outlook. Expectation about GDP growth for 2021 revolve around a mid-single digit expansion, definitely far from pre-pandemic levels. In this sense, we carefully watch the strength of different economic sectors as they are reopening for businesses. Unsurprisingly, the share of cement sold in bag increased by almost 680 percentage points, from 61% in first quarter 2019 to almost 68% in this quarter. We expect this breakdown to remain rather stable in the following month. We expect bag demand continues to catch up, as lifted restriction on larger private construction works and public works are making the segment to gain some momentum again. Turning to slide five for a review of our top-line performance by segment. Consolidated revenues increased year-on-year by 20.6% on the back of our core cement, masonry, and lime business, which expanded revenues by 26.9% due to higher demand, higher market participation, together with stable pricing. As mentioned before, bagged cement continues to be the main driver behind this energetic recovery, growing in this quarter around 39% compared to the same quarter last year. Bulk cement grew mildly around 7% as previous COVID-19 restrictions in private works were being lifted. Concrete segment was also positively impacted by execution of the Metropolitan Airport expansion project in Buenos Aires City. Sales volumes increased by 12.8% year-on-year, the first positive figure since first quarter 2019. Yet, concrete revenues declined by 17% as softer pricing affected the higher sales volume. Railroad revenues decreased by 19.1% year-on-year versus the comparable quarter in 2019, as the higher transported volumes were more than offset by lower pricing mix. Aggregates decreased by 4.7% as pricing performance partially compensated the 9.5% volume decline. For fiscal year 2020, net revenues decreased 12.8% to ARS 41.6 billion from 47.7 billion in 2019, with revenues declines across all segments, with our core cement business suffering a milder annual decline of 4.7%. Moving on to slide six, consolidated gross profit for the quarter was up 46.1% year-on-year, with margin expansion by 632 basis points, an extraordinary result underpinned by the strength of our core cement business. Cement gross margin expanded in the back of higher sales volume and benefiting from cost discipline. Energy inputs benefit from early prices negotiation, together with improvements in unitary energy consumptions. SG&A expenses as a percentage of revenues decreased by 115 basis points from 9% to 7.9%, mainly due to higher sales volume. Please turn to slide seven. Our Adjusted EBITDA was up 40.8% in the quarter, reaching $58 million, and our consolidated EBITDA margin expanded by 513 basis points to 35.6%, thanks to margin expansion in our core business. This segment expanded by 604 basis points to an outstanding 40.4%, mainly due to the increase in sales volume and improved energy inputs. In a per ton basis, EBITDA stood at $37, posting a record high level and increasing around 11% compared with the same period last year, and above 17% in a sequential basis versus third quarter. Railroad Adjusted EBITDA margin deteriorated to -0.6%, mainly impacted by pricing mix and partially offset by higher transported volumes. Concrete adjusted EBITDA declined compared to fourth quarter 2019, with margin worsening to -19.2% negative as softer pricing and higher costs outweighed the increase in sales volume. Finally, aggregates Adjusted EBITDA margin decreased to -9% from -4.6%, with better pricing being outweighed by lower sales volume and higher costs. EBITDA in 2020 was $171 million compared to 172 million in 2019, which included $9 million of non-recurring costs associated to administrative, commercial, and productive structural adequacy efforts. Moving on to the bottom line on slide eight, driven by EBITDA growth and net finance gain, net income surged by 93.9% to $46 million. Income from continuous operation was ARS 3 billion compared to a loss of 1.2 billion, mostly explained by the Adjusted EBITDA expansion and lower financial expenses, driven by lower total financial debt. By contrast, foreign exchange rate was ARS 189 million lower due to lower debt position denominated in foreign currency and a real depreciation of the peso. Measured in US dollars, our net income for full fiscal year 2020 was $189 million compared to 50 million in fiscal year 2019. When excluding the income from discontinued operations related to the sale of our stake in [Non-English content], the net profit reached $97 million in 2020, or 60 million higher than in 2019. Moving on to the balance sheet. As you can see on slide nine, our higher profitability outweighed the higher working capital needs in the quarter, resulting in a healthy operation cash flow generation of ARS 4 billion, a 52% year-on-year raise. During the quarter, we made capital expenditure for ARS 1.7 billion, 45% of which were dedicated to L'Amalí Expansion Project. Additionally, we paid out an extraordinary dividend of approximately $31 million related to the sale in Paraguay. On February, we announced a share repurchase program with the purpose of efficiently applying a portion of the company's cash position, expecting to generate a greater return on value for our shareholders given the current attractive value of the share. During the year, our financial situation was further strengthened. We ended 2020 with a net debt reduction of $162 million, reaching 25 million as of year-end, with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 0.16 x compared to a 0.83 x by the end of 2019. For our final remarks, I would like to handle the call back to Sergio. Thanks, Marcos. Now to wrap up the presentation, I please ask you to turn to slide 10. Definitely, 2020 will be remembered as one of the most challenging years in decades. We are proud of the action taken to look after our people, our community, and our customers. Since the beginning of this crisis, our priority has been the health and safety of our people and their families. This is why we quickly formed an ad hoc committee to manage and monitoring the situation. Firstly, we temporarily suspend production in our plant as well as the execution of our expansion project. Indeed, during the situation, we never lost focus on the importance of securing working capital needs, optimizing costing, and reaffirming our capital spending priorities. Under this context, and supported by the resiliency and sense of purpose of our organization, we were able to deliver again excellent results. A strong EBITDA generation in 2020 of $171 million with a margin of 33%. Our solid balance sheet and the approaching completion of our strategic L'Amalí expansion project make us feel confident that we are ready to face new challenges. Forecast for the Argentine economy reveal GDP growth of around 5.5% year-on-year for 2021, which will be a partial recovery after the sharp decline in 2020. In that line we expect the construction sector will experience a stronger recovery in the first semester, leaving the second semester subject to how the economic and sanitary situation of the country evolves. One could say that up to some extent, we are getting used to coexist with the virus, yet we need to remain alert and focused as our country and the world continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. In Argentina, we face additional challenges as the economic environment remains delicate and with several restrictions. Having said that, we trust the right stimulus and signal could bring additional dynamics to the economy as a whole and the construction sector in particular. We are confident that we have positioned ourselves for sustainable growth and cash flow generation in the future. Finally, I would like to thank all our people and stakeholders, without whom this set of solid results would have been very difficult, particularly during these unprecedented times. We are now ready to take questions. Operator, please open the call for questions. Thank you. We will now conduct a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star, then one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate that the line is in the question queue. You may enter star then two if you would like to remove from the line. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset prior to pressing the keys. Once again, star, then one on your telephone keypad. We also would like you to please limit your questions to one question and one follow-up, please. If you have additional questions, you may re-queue for those questions, and they will be addressed. Also, please note that Mr. Sergio Faifman will be responding in Spanish immediately following the English translation. Please hold momentarily while we assemble our roster. Our first question is from Nikolaj Lippmann from Morgan Stanley. Go ahead. Thank you very much, and thanks for taking my questions. Congrats on the very solid, strong numbers there. My questions really relate to costs. Two elements of that. First, the sustainability of this cost reduction at a cash cost level for you as winter approaches, to what degree do you think that you can rely on local gas, vis-à-vis buying petcoke? A similar question related to the L'Amalí expansion. To what degree do you think that any cost reduction that you will have there will be basically an addition to EBITDA per ton, and you will keep that, and to what degree are you thinking of trying to invest some of that back into the market? Thank you very much, and again, congrats on the numbers. Hi, Nikolaj. Thanks for your question. [Non-English Content]. Regarding our costs, yes, we believe they are sustainable looking forward. [Non-English content]. This year, we had a considerable reduction in our variable costs in electrical energy and thermal energy. [Non-English content] We have an advantage to produce using natural gas comparing to petcoke. [Non-English content] This advantage is going to be further increased in the future once we have the L'Amalí second line. [Non-English content]. In that way, we're going to be able to optimize our working capital and to run more in winter. [Non-English content]. Regarding the benefits from the second line of L'Amalí. [Non-English content]. There's no doubt that most of those benefits we already implemented. [Non-English Content]. Those related to structure and fixed costs were already implemented. [Non-English content]. Logically, since we already have improved our thermal and electrical costs, the benefits from a higher productivity in the second line are less. [Non-English content]. Looking forward, independently from what happened in the past, we're going to have a better performance in the second line. Also the higher volumes, we're going to be able to produce them with the same structure. Thank you very much. Our next question is from Alberto Valerio from UBS. Go ahead. [Non-English content]. Sergio, Marcos, and Gastón for taking my questions. I have three quick ones on my side. The first one about that payment. I saw that the maturity is for the next year. How Loma would pay this, it's mostly in foreign currency, right? How would they Can Loma get official US dollars for those payments or must go for the blue dollar? Hi, Alberto. Thank you for your question. The maturity of our debt profile, it's not concentrated on one only maturity. There are several payments that we have to make. We are relying on getting access to official FX, yes? Obviously, the situation can change, but we are confident that we are going to be able to obtain those payments in US dollars. Perfect, Marcos. Thank you very much. My second one would be about the next steps for Loma. When L'Amalí project is gone by mid of year and the company probably reaching the net cash in the next quarter. How Loma will use its firepower? Are you thinking increased dividends, if you can distribute them? There are any expansion plan or M&A? Hi Alberto, thank you for the question. [Non-English content]. Currently we are working on our board of directors within the financial committee. [Non-English Content]. Where we are analyzing all the alternatives that going to present after the expansion project of L'Amalí. [Non-English content]. The first decision that was made, that we took last year at the end of the year, is the repurchase plan that is undertake now. [Non-English content]. The other alternatives for the use of cash, which have pros and cons are, and still under analysis. [Non-English content]. Congrats, [Non-English content]. You're welcome. Thank you very much. This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Gastón Pinnel for closing remarks. Wait, Nikolaj came back. Nikolaj Lippmann from Morgan Stanley has another question. We have another person. Okay. Go ahead, Nikolaj. Sorry for coming back. Thanks for taking another question here. I was just wondering, your rail concession will expire shortly. If you can provide a bit of an update on what's going to be the base case as you're seeing it right now, and how it potentially could affect some of your operations. Thanks. Nikolaj, [Non-English content]. 2023. The railway concession is due on 2023. [Non-English content]. The original concession had a provision for an extension for additional 10 years, and the government is starting this renewal. [Non-English content]. The information that we have and the meetings that we are having with the government doesn't have a formal entity yet. [Non-English content]. The idea would be to go to an open access scheme where the current concessionists are going to be able to operate on the current tracks. [Non-English content]. In that way, the national government should take care of the investment to maintain the railways. [Non-English content]. Each operator should take care of the maintenance of the wagons and then pay a fee to operate on those tracks. [Non-English content]. We expect that this new structure should be beneficial for Loma Negra, not only as the logistic cost should be reduced, but also the investments. Thank you very much, guys. You're welcome. Our next question is from Coleman Clyde from HSBC. Go ahead. Hi, gentlemen. Thank you for taking my question. Just had a quick one. Could you give us a little bit of color on the outlook for volumes and pricing in 2021? Obviously, you finished the year on a very strong note on the volume side. How much of that momentum do you see carrying through the year? Then as well, in terms of the bulk versus bag breakdown, obviously there's a lot more bag cement sales this year. What kind of margin benefit did that have last year, and do you expect that reversing in 2021? Thanks Hi Coleman, thanks for your question. [Non-English content]. For this year, we are expecting a GDP growth between 5.5% and 7%. [Non-English content]. We still do not have a provision for the cement industry growth, but taking a look to the history, there has been a multiplier of 2x approximately. [Non-English content]. Loma Negra. Our expectation for the price increases is to be in line with Loma Negra cost inflation. [Non-English content]. As we always mention, we consider a mix between inflation and the effects depreciation, as we have part of our costs with that has a component of US dollars. [Non-English content]. We do see a recovery in the bulk segment, which is coming from lower volumes. [Non-English content]. Also many announcements of different public works in the other provinces, which are starting to be implemented. [Non-English content]. Profitability in both bulk and bag are quite similar, so this shouldn't have an impact in the consolidated profitability. Got it. Thank you very much. You're welcome. This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference over to Gastón Pinnel for closing remarks. Thank you for joining us today. We appreciate your participation and your interest in our company. We always look forward to meeting you over the coming months and providing financial and business updates next quarter. In the meantime, the team remains available to answer any questions that you may have. Thanks again and stay safe. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.
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