Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. – Eletrobrás (NYSE:EBR) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Wilson Ferreira Junior : I believe it’s a little bit about what I’ve just mentioned. The market is operation at a base below 100 megawatts hour, for sure, both to operate will have a 140, 150, with a long term such as four, five years to capture the curve, going up and expansion. I’ll give two examples in the car manufacturing and also the sanitation companies that have this demand that are using this demand of greater periods of. And this is an advantage a competitive advantage of Eletrobrás, because we have this volume. We reported this volume. So it’s a way that you can mitigate the risk, that if you’re going to sell products on the short term, the model, as much as the company could do, not to be distant from the base of the market.

So we’re looking here at a strategy that looks at consumers that have a demand for energy on the long term and that we can recapture. So these are the numbers, for contracts for last four or five years, R$140 megawatt/hour. So we have two contracts in basically closed in this direction. Jatobá, if you want to complement.

Pedro de Oliveira Jatobá: Just want to reinforce that in the long term the projection of price is always near how much this expansion will cost. And we’re seeing here an expansion due to the heating up of the demand of renewable energy by the war in Ukraine. So the expectation of prices will be greater. And remembering then we will be very competitive as we have a quantity of energy should be contracting this all right.

Operator: Thank you. Question from Guilherme Lima in the sell side from Santander. Guilherme, we will open your microphone so that you can make your question. Go on please.

Guilherme Lima: Good afternoon, everyone. I have two questions. The first Wilson mentioned many initiatives to deficiency if you’d like to comment a little bit more how the company expects the behavior of your plants in 2023 with the implementation of some measures and where the company wants to achieve in reoccurring levels that would be this level of reoccurring events and to give us an idea of the current level in this quarter and what you can achieve by the end of 2020 through 2024? And there’s another question that I had, a question that has already been answered already. So I’d like to now ask about no transmission auction interest, how do you evaluate this competitive market? Which blocks could be more interesting and how do you find a way to the attractiveness of this auction, has a important CapEx versus the accelerated the repurchase as it has been falling a lot, how attractive it is to make this option. So that’s it.

Wilson Ferreira Junior : Let me start with the end. Yes, the transmission options is a priority in our company. So the demonstration that we have put here is that in terms of applying resources into transmission is that there is a show of this. We have seen — we have been even more efficient. We have to prepare that’s in the future we have a reduction in EBITDA so that because it has a defined period. So you invest in assets, that bringing to the Eletrobrás profile, a profile that has a volatility due to the market price, but also that can have an important anchor related to the profitability on the assets on the long term, such as transmission with the generation that we are positioned in a market a regulated market, like Santo Antônio is a great demonstration showing this, and we have any interest in terms of transmission.

Now we understand that these are projects that were not in the conditions to say which, but we have a team here and our transmission team is focused on this and we are taking evaluations in terms of priorities. But evidently we have assets here that are greater value and being a greater competitiveness. There are not many people interested in this financial capacity at this moment. So obviously, we’re looking at this and we are talking with potential partners in a way that we can be in the competitive conditions. And we do to the repurchase and we report this too the process of repurchasing. We have 18 months to do. The value of this share is attractive and it’s a great allocation of our capital. Our only event here is to respect what periods and also annual relevant events in which we can identify in the period that things are happening but looking our transmission as an advance or as an asset that has a long term.

But the shares of Eletrobrás is a great allocation of capital. So related to the whole back scene, we are in the process of the MSR and maybe looking at a great application, if we look at the material, that we have a process for the purchase of synergic debt that they bring upon them to the advantage to the company. In this way, we are looking at programs that go to monitor years. So the value is that we imagined — have input potential and 15%, 20% it will happen starting in two years. So there is a curve as we already shared some advantages this quarter. We showed you in my presentation. And obviously we’re going to keep on working on this direction. Maybe you cannot see so much in CapEx because this is going up. But speaking about the price that we are acquiring the advances that have been pointed out by the first wave that we share today is something that you can look for.

So looking at a team of people, we have here two agreements related to the union to represent the employees of the company in the first movement. The one that is ongoing which is the condition of the retirees, our evaluation is that up to April we’ll have something around 2,100 to 2000 people which is not the total which is exactly our objective. There are people here that need to have a mix of diversity, is not just in not new, is not just young. We have to keep here the experienced together with us. So it’s a process of looking at this balance related to our employee chart. This program had to happen before the second which will be launched in April. For that they can offer to the employees is starting in May other employees. So the same plan.

So the movement related to the retirees that has already been offered. The people have already adhered and we will have here 2,500 adherent and we will have up to month of April 2,100 people being dismissed. The second is a movement that looks at the beginning of the month of May, what is the reference for the company of the — so related to last year, last year people who have left. And more these 900 people that we are putting and bringing to the company. So then you have — we can make an offer to no more than 20% of this number of people for the next year from May to April to the following year end. And I’ll say that these will make a dismissal voluntary dismissal plan or we will offer that and we’ll have this — the main distribution efficiency or the competence.

So this will be really important for this adjustment. And I would say that this should be the point of view or reoccurring point of view of the OpEx of the company. So it becomes something reoccurring as we move along. So starting April next year, so, you will see an economy of great economy for a month and then later you have any additional investment on this on this plan up to 20% of the number of people with values that will be less than that, remembering that the retirees are those people who have the main remunerations of the company due to the advanced age and also the experience, average experienced in the company of 33 years. So these are people that are on the positions on top and then here we have a paid back bigger in this group.

So would you like to say something else Elvira about this?

Elvira Baracuhy Presta : I believe that you have explained the processes in construction. We will have this reduction experiences in a gradual manner. In this first moment we start with bigger expenses due to the dismissal plan that the second one that will come up. So we only see the full effect of this on the payroll next year. And then the other expenses is very similar, because we are starting to change the process of purchasing. We have some samples of contracting of insurance that we have centralized that have shown expressed gains of 30%, 40%. And this you intensify as long as we as we negotiate negotiated this contract. But it doesn’t start from the day to night. So it’s a greater volume of contracts and this all of this has to be renegotiated.

So this takes time. So we can have 100% of the contracts negotiated. So anyway — so renegotiating this is complex. It doesn’t require this investment. So how much we need to make this plan of supply and long term and short term. And these are — so this is this samples of insurance. So it’s the first moment that the company has dealt with this before of the insurance of operational assets, life insurance. We have it in fact, as a fruit of this energy, now another issue related to volume is especially CapEx. We have — what are the volumes that have to be done, what the reoccurrence, how long this should take place. It’s better to have stock, not have a stock? And so this cost of SMR will fall along the time. So we have a important investments to make this mobilization but we also the advantages of have a payback of 13, 15 months that we will allow our allowed to verify the reduction of this cost along the time.

Our objective people wish to in fact be the company of the last OEM causing degeneration in transmission. So this is the commitment of the company we’re looking for this and I think this becomes could be a year long, year 2024, 2025. But these measures for us to reach this in this condition are taken in 2023 and then in this 24. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you Guilherme. Your next question now is Daniel Omeda, sell side analyst from — so we will open your audio so that you can ask your question. Please go ahead. So we will read the question. Okay. I would like to confirm what will be the hedge that will be used for the energy balance that is 15% that is generally do it, or if it’s another value that in the graph it didn’t mention?

Wilson Ferreira Junior : Around 15%.

Operator: So just that. Thank you. The next question is from Giuliano. Giuliano we will open your audio so that you can ask your question. Go ahead, Giuliano.

Giuliano Ajeje: Giuliano, okay. Yeah, can you hear me? Great. So it’s very interesting to see the generation of value comes from — so now — so the it’s a little part of the OpEx. And though it comes from the optimization of taxes and I think the main ones that the company is exactly those in the generation of sales of energy. I congratulate you this presentation, which is very well focused on the generation of value. But something that draws my attention, we also would like to just know, have a better understanding is when I compare the energy balance of the third quarter with the fourth quarter, I can see that there is a contraction of energy, 130 mega, 320, 158 into ’25. So making a quick math, we can estimate that the price of the contracting on these prices.

And then maybe what comes to my surprise, I’d like to hear from you is the explanation, is the price contracting in the fourth quarter 2023 will be R$80 megawatt water to 2024, R$70 megawatt water, and 2025 it falls even more to R$64 megawatts water. So like to understand more if there is something else related that negotiation that closes a disagreement with the sale of energy or something else but this contracting with the average price below becomes a surprise for us.

Wilson Ferreira Junior : Thank you for the question of evaluation. I will send your question to Jatobá but to make this consideration related to prices.