Earnings Call: Q2 2021

Aug 10, 2021

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for waiting. Welcome to Minerva Second Quarter 2021 Results Conference Call. Today with us, we have Fernando Quejos, Chief Executive Officer and Mr. Edison Tiglay, CFO and Investor Relations Officer. We wish to inform you that this event is being recorded and all Participants will be in listen only mode during the company's presentation. Afterwards, we're going to start the Q and A session for analysts and investors when further instructions will be provided. If you need any further assistance, Please ask for help by pressing star 0 to reach the operator. The audio and slide This presentation are available through a live webcast at www.minervafood.com slash IR. The slideshow can be also downloaded from the web Cash Platform in the Investor Relations section of the website. Before proceeding, we wish to mention that Forward looking statements may be made during this presentation relating to Minerva's business prospects, operating and financial estimates and calls are based on beliefs and assumptions of the company management as well as on information currently available. They involve risks, Uncertainties and assumptions because they relate to future events and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors should understand that general economic conditions, industry conditions and other operating factors can also affect the future results of Minerva and results may differ materially from those expressed in such forward looking statements. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Fernando Quiros, our CEO, who's going to begin the presentation. Mr. Keyros, you may start the presentation. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating in Minerva's earnings conference call for the Q2 of 2021. Minerva Foods reaches the end of the first half of twenty twenty one, delivering a solid operational and financial performance, thus consolidating our leadership in beef exports in South America. The good performance in the first half of the result of the resilience of our team and consistency of our strategy, which combines operational excellence with profitability, cash generation and financial discipline. The coronavirus Pandemic continues to pose difficulties and generating greater volatility to the markets. In this regard, I want to highlight one of the main pillars of our business model and also one of our main competitive advantages, geographic diversification, which allows us to quickly arbitrate markets and ends up playing a fundamental role in our strategy by reducing risks and volatility, but also pending opportunities and thus consolidating the importance of our export platform from South America, in which we hold 20% of the total volume exported. The global market of Beef continues to be growing and driven both by the consistent Asian demand and by the beginning of the cycle of resumption of global consumption and also by the rise in grains. The recovery of the world economy with the reopening of markets and growth in demand is a movement that gains strength week after week with the advance of the immunization process. The prospects for the second half of the year are increasingly more positive, with the world economy returning to normality and supporting important segments such as tourism and food service, thus consolidating an increasingly heated consumption scenario, not only in the markets on the international level, but also in the Markets here in South America. Once again, I stress arbitrage, where Brazil growing its consumption in South America, gives us the opportunity to bring products produced within Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. The global beef market continues with very solid fundamentals with firm demand and restricted supply. And now with the global economic recovery movement, We are confident there will be increasingly more opportunities for beef beef exporters in our continent. Let us now move to Slide 2 to start presenting the results. Let's start with net income, which to reach approximately EUR 117,000,000 in the quarter EUR376,000,000 in the 1st 6 months of the year. If we consider the accumulated results of the last 12 months, Minerva's net income totaled approximately BRL 5.15 million. This is yet another quarter in which Minerva Foods presents a consistent net result and in line with our strategy of creating shareholder value. Free cash flow, which is one of our priorities, was positive for 14th consecutive quarter, totaling EUR 425,000,000 in the quarter and BRL 734,000,000 in the first half, reaching around BRL1.4 billion in the 12 month period. Since 2018, the company has accumulated more than BRL4 1,000,000,000 in free cash generation, confirming Minerva Foods' consistency in its operational and financial management. Gross revenue reached a record level of BRL 6,700,000,000 in the quarter and of BRL 24,300,000,000 in 12. In the past 12 months, I would like to highlight here the performance of our experts, which accounted for approximately 70% of our gross revenue, both in the quarter and in the last 12 months, being a natural reflection of the strong international demand for beef and the export D and A of Minerva Foods. Now talking a bit about our In profitability, in the Q2 2021, our EBITDA reached BRL545,000,000 with an 8.7% margin. In the past 12 months, Minerva's Foods EBITDA totaled BRL2.2 billion, an expansion of almost 10% on an annual basis and delivering a solid 9.6 percent EBITDA margin in the period, As in previous releases, another major highlight of this quarter and one of the main pillars of our management was the soundness of our balance sheet. We ended second Quarter 2021 with the net leverage is stable at 2.4x net debt visavisbitda, in line with Minerva Foods' capital discipline. Our liquidity is also very comfortable with BRL6.3 billion in cash at the end of the period, which combined with the duration of 6.4 years of our indebtedness guarantees us great peace of mind and flexibility in face of the current challenges and opportunities. Still talking about our balance sheet, I would like to emphasize the efforts the company has made to improve our capital structure. In Q2 to 2021, I would like to highlight the completion of redemption of the 2026 notes as well as the issuance of BRL 1 point BRL6 billion in the local debt market. These are initiatives that seek to reduce growth indebtedness, lengthen the amortization cash flow and reduce the cost of our debt. Other initiatives were implemented with the same objective, to improve our capital feature. And throughout our presentation results, Edison will provide a little more detail regarding these efforts. The Q2 2021 was also an important milestone in the evolution and maturity of our sustainability agenda. With the disclosure of Minerva's food commitments and goals in fighting climate change and protecting the environment. We announced 7 goals of our sustainable agenda with actions that involve the entire chain of stakeholders and that project investments of DKK1.5 billion in initiatives that will be completed by 2,035. It is worth noting that we have had an early implementation of one of the most challenging goals of our commitment to integration of the VisiPACT II with Minerva's proprietary geospatial monitoring system, which was originally scheduled for December and ended up happening now in August. Thus, Minerva Foods became the 1st and only company in the sector to integrate Visipak as a risk analysis tool for indirect supplier farms in the Amazon basin. Later on, Ciena will bring more details about this initiative and other matters on the sustainability agenda. Another highlight of this quarter goes to our Innovation area, which is anchored on 3 main pillars: 1st, advanced data analysis second, e commerce platform and marketplace and 3, venture capital with the objective of reducing risks for maximizing opportunity and advancing in the value chain in the food industry. In the case of Advanced at Medidics, we already have a team of 20 specialized professionals, And we are evolving in projects focused on maximizing our production matrix and dismantling the animal and also improving and optimizing our pricing tools. In addition, our recent venture capital initiatives such as Clara Foods, Shopper and Amiris are increasingly gaining operational maturity with excellent prospects for the coming quarters. And we do not stop there. We continue to evolve on the topic, seeking external partnerships with universities, research centers in addition to the recent installation of our Advisory Council for sustainability and innovation to advise the company's senior management. These are initiatives that seek to Sachin Minerva is at the forefront of the discussion of this very relevant and strategic agenda. In the first half of the year, we also have evolved with our corporate management. We started our important leadership development program and moved forward with the project to strengthen our corporate culture, which continues to be more solid every day and as an important instrument in the integration and alignment of the business strategy of Minerva Foods. Minerva Foods corporate culture is a fundamental pillar of our business model. In order to continue to evolve and go further and further, It is essential to strengthen our 5 values: result, orientation, commitment, sustainability, innovation and recognition of our team. Let us now move to the next slide to comment on Minerva's operating performance in the quarter, starting with exports. Q2 2020, we consolidated our leadership position as the largest beef exporter in South America with a 20% market share on the continent. Minerva's leading role in beef puts is the result of our geographic diversification in the region, which supported by our 16 international offices ends up providing us with a great competitive advantage and a prominent position in the international market. On the right hand side of the slide, we have the performance of the exports by region, where Asia remains its highlight, representing about 60% of export revenue in the past 12 months in Brazil, an expansion of about 10% points compared to the same period last year. It is worth mentioning that 9% of share that places in the NAFTA region as a 2nd main destination, which reflects the recent reopening of the United States of Brazilian beef. In the case of Athena Foods, the Asian market has Being the main destination for Axt was 37% of total exported by the division in the past 12 months, followed by the Americas region, which accounted 26% of the total exported by Ascena Foods. The performance of exports makes increasingly evident the growing demand internationally for beef, especially in Asia and especially in the Chinese market, where consumption habits continue to transform and benefit from beef protein, which is gaining more and more space in the local diet. Another highlight in our client portfolio is Growing exposure to the North American market, a market of high income capacity and which, due to the advanced stage of Cenicia is already showing consistent signs of the resumption of economic activity and domestic consumption. I would also highlight the increase in meat prices in local market as a result of the increase in price of grades, leaving a pressure on cost on North American producers. Finally, I would like to point out that the fundamentals and prospects of the global beef market are still very sound and attractive. We have a combination of very positive factors for the coming periods that will benefit even more South America. International demand for beef protein remains very consistent in emerging markets, especially in Asia. In addition, We have the advance of vaccination and the recovery of the global economy that gained strength week after week with the reopening of markets and prints a strong recovery movement in consumption, especially in tourism and food service segments that were heavily impacted since the beginning of the pandemic. Finally, we add to this the high prices of grades, the persistent restrictions in the supply of beef from a which continues to unbalance the world market and particularly benefiting its borders in South America. Given this Promising his size, Minerva Foods' strategy is to continue maximizing our competitive advantages, investing in innovation, niche opportunities, Risk Management and Market Intelligence to achieve increasingly efficient and profitable commercial and logistical solutions, always trusting our corporate culture, the work of our team and respecting our commitment to ethics and sustainability. Now I'll hand over to Tasciano, who will talk a bit more about Minerva's sustainability agenda. Good morning, everyone, and thank you, Fernando, for the introduction. In this first half of twenty twenty one, we reaffirmed the word that best describe Minerva Foods' positioning sustainability pioneering. Sustainability is consolidated as one of our corporate values along with the results, orientation, commitment, innovation and recognition. These are our foundations for contributing to the conservation of the Planet, the Prosperity of People and the Well-being of Animals. In April, we announced the Minerva Foods commitment to sustainability, a set of goals backed by those who work with great responsibility in the face of the challenges of Climate Change and the Protection of Ecosystems, which are the basis of Minerva Foods' production chain. It is worth reinforcing the path that has brought us here. We are leaders in fighting deforestation, being the 1st company in the sector with 100% of direct supply of farms, geographically mapped in all operating regions: the savannah, the Amazon, the rainforest and the marshland or Pantanal. And the Federal Public Ministries ordered the main safest and most transparent audit in the sector against deforestation and ever maintains the best results among large companies, result of our commitment to fight illegal deforestation in the Amazon. We pioneers in addressing real actions regarding the monitoring of indirect supply of farms in the Amazon region. In collaboration with the University TIA of Wisconsin, National Wildlife Federation and Friends of the Earth, we sped up the integration of VisiPec, an indirect Risk Analysis 2 in the Amazon, the target scheduled for December was brought forward to August of this year, making Minerva Foods the 1st and only company in the sector to analyze the risks of indirect farms in the Amazon. Our pioneering spirit goes beyond the Brazilian border and to Paraguay, a country where we have already monitored 8% of purchases for deforestation criteria overlapping with indigenous land Environmental Protection is remembering that our goal is to reach the end of this year with 100% of monitored purchases. In Colombia, we have already started work on mapping suppliers and making geographic diagnosis through buffer zones. We became the 1st company in the Carbon Neutral Sector in scope 2 regarding our energy mix. We are also the 1st Brazilian company to receive the renewable energy seal to all our units in Brazil. The seal is issued by the Todium Institute in partnership with the Brazilian Association of Wind Energy and the Brazilian Clean Energy Association. The works in Low Carbon Production in the Chain Production Chain Program continues to advance with carbon balance management in more than 50 By far, in all countries of operation, we are confident that the scientific research using primary data that represent the profile of our producer partners will be decisive for the recognition of sustainable practices applied in our value chain, opening up commercial opportunities in importing countries and opportunities in the growing credit market with carbon. It is our commitment to support suppliers in implementing carbon sequestration practices generating benefits that include greater productivity and efficiency, greater resilience and protection of biodiversity. For the next few years, we will continue to deliver measurable and transparent results to our stakeholders, taking on the challenges that lie ahead and engaging all the links in the value chain to leverage sustainable production practices in South America. We remain confident in our carbon neutral goal until 2,035. On the next slide, we detail the advances with the integration of the ZiziPACK tool in collaboration with Amigos Datera, National Wildlife Federation and University of Wisconsin in the United States represent the results of monitoring Indirect supply of farms in our operations in Mato Grosso, Rondonia and Para di Zepag It's a traceability tool that performs risk assessment by matching data from public databases connecting direct and indirect suppliers, significantly improving Minerva Foods' decision making process. We were the 1st company in the industry to start testing VisiPec from May 2020, and we are proud to announce today that we brought our goal of integrating the tool forward from December this year to August. This means that Minerva Foods is the 1st and only company in the sector to analyze the risks of indirect supply of farms in the Amazon in an integrated manner with the capital purchase processes of this month and material evidence of our commitment to climate change and ecosystem protection. The results are motivating and support our pioneering spirit. 99 point 8% of direct suppliers indirect supplies in meat packing plants in Mato Grosso and Andoni are in compliance with The GTFI's best practices and therefore in compliance with the monitoring of deforestation in farms In the Amazon, there were 7.725 indirect supply farms, verified 2,995 direct farms, a ratio of 2.5 in our expanse for each direct supplier farm in the code or meatpacking plant. See more information, visit PAC and the Nemo Foods. You can see it on our website and also in the results release On the website is Investor Relations. Follow Minerva Foods on social media and follow our pioneering spirit. I now hand over to Edison, who is going to detail the operating and financial results. Thank you very much. Thank you, Tatiana. Let us move to Slide 6. Let's talk about operating performance and breakdown of division's Share of Minerva's gross revenue in Q2 2021 Sino Food once again increased its share now accounts for 51 Solidated gross resin while Brazil division remained with 44% and the trading division was 5%, complementing total revenues. Speaking now of capacity legislation, second Q 2021, we operated on a consolidated basis with a capacity of approximately 74%, still reflecting the operational limitations imposed by the Panmiki. At Athena Foods, the level of reserves remained stable at approximately 77%. Worth noting that even with the restrictions on exports in the Argentine market that took place in part of 2nd Q, our geographic diversification allowed us to reiterate the scale of production thus maintaining a level of utilization very similar to the previous quarter. This movement confirms one of our main competitive advantages, the ability to arbitrate, speeding up and slowing down our plans in the various countries where we operate, always in search of operating and commercial optimization. In Brazil division, Deals was 71%, benefited especially by the strong movement of exports. Domestic market is still suffering from frictions imposed by the pandemic both in Brazil and in other countries on the continent. And we believe that the first signs of recovery should start to come up now in the second half of the year. As we mentioned, consolidated utilization remained below our historical level of 80% and should be resumed over the next few periods with the advancement of the vaccination process, recovery of the global economy And when we move to the end of the pandemic, it is worth mentioning that our analysis we also always considered the concept of net utilization, reflecting working days in operation of each one of the plants in activity in our portfolio. On the right hand side of the slide, we highlight our consolidated both by region, both for 2nd Q 2021 and for the past 12 months. As Fernando mentioned, Asia continues They play a leading role representing 48% of exports in the quarter in the past 12 months, a share of the Asian continent totaled 46% of Minerva's exports, with China currently as a major global and border of beef, representing 36% of our exports and remaining the main destination for our products. Now on Slide 7, let's talk a bit about our financial Results with net revenue reached BRL 6,300,000,000 in 2nd Q 2021, strong expansion for almost 43% year on year Comparison of record amount for the company even considering seasonality that was negative in the first half. When we look From the perspective of 12 months, we'd see a robust year on year growth with an increase of almost 28% and totally BRL 23,000,000,000 in net revenue the past 12 months. Part of this revenue, as I mentioned previously, we highlight the good moment of exports, which reached a share of approximately 70% of total revenue both in the quarter and the past 12 months. Speaking of profitability, Minerva's EBITDA in Q2 reached EUR 545,000,000 with EBITDA margin of 8.7 which means an increase of 30 basis points when compared to the previous quarter. In the past 12 months, our EBITDA totaled about BRL 2,200,000,000, an an increase of more than 8% on an annual basis and with an EBITDA margin of 9.6% in the period. It is Very clear on this slide, the operational dynamics, the company that is very clear, which is a spread business. That is our profitability is based on the ability to transfer Surprise, especially when we have a cost pressure scenario despite recent increases in cattle price, the risk correspond approximately to 80%, 85 The company has been very efficient in transferring these increases to customers, especially in the export market, which is the main focus of Minerva Foods. As a result, we have been able to deliver a consistent level of profitability over the past few quarters even with the upward movement in animal prices. If we look at 2021 against 2020, certain periods we are have see a cost pressure of almost 40% reflected in the price of cattle. Even so, we managed to keep the margins at a very healthy level with the growth top line, and we are managing to deliver EBITDA in cash a lot higher than the market expected. I want to highlight Again, our geographic diversification, especially when we talk about Ascena Foods, despite a more complicated situation in Brazil In terms of CADA supply, Athena Foods has had a very highlighted situation, calmer situation and continues contributing also the growth of the company's revenue, which, as I mentioned in the previous slide, represented 51% of the consolidated revenue in this quarter. Moving now to Slide 8. Let's talk about financial leverage. Our leverage ratio measured by the net debt to EBITDA ratio Over the past 12 months, it remained stable at 2.4x. The company's net leverage indicator has remained stable since the beginning of 2020, even considering disbursement of BRL 210,000,000 in the share buyback program and another BRL 541,000,000 in the distribution of dividends throughout this period. In other words, we returned more than BRL750 1,000,000 to our shareholders either from earnings or in the form of share buybacks and given Minerva's high level of cash generation, we managed to maintain leverage below 2.5 times stable at 2.4 times at a very healthy level that allows us to continue to forecast good dividend distribution to shareholders over the coming quarters. Minerva's current level of leverage reflects our commitment to seeking and maintaining a more efficient Capital structure less costly with a lower risk profile and fully aligned to our financial strategy. On this slide, I would also like to stressed that we still have BRL330 1,000,000 in warrants outstanding, which should be exercised by the end of 2021, thus strengthening company's cash. In other words, as soon as the fiscal year occurs, these resources are added to cash. And if we adjust this cash with the effect of these resources, Our net leverage ends up being even smaller, falling to 2.3 times. Moving on to next slide. Let's talk about net results and operating cash flow. Q2 2021 was another positive period results. Net income reached BRL 117,000,000 in the quarter and have already accumulated BRL376,000,000 in the semester of 2020. If we consider the accumulated past 12 months, net income totaled practically BRL550 1,000,000. This result is a reflection of our commercial and financial strategy over the past few years, total focus of free cash generation risk management, especially on reducing our indebtedness, those that have been a priority for the company and have contributed to in a relevant related to the results we want to achieve quarter after quarter. Moving to the right hand side of the slide. Operating cash flow was positive, reaching €484,000,000 positive with if we have net income adjustment impacting €39,000,000 and the working capital variation contributing €406,000,000 in cash, especially due to the good performance in the Supplier line, we get to a cash flow of operating activities totaling BRL 2,300,000,000. Moving on to Slide 10 to talk about Minerva Top's priorities free cash flow. On Slide 10, we see free cash flow remained positive for the 14th consecutive quarter, reaching BRL647 1,000,000. It's been almost 4 years in a row with positive cash generation, Even considering the negative exchange rate hedge results in this quarter, free cash generation remains positive, totaling EUR 425,000,000 in quarter, making free cash flow build up in the quarter. We started with EBITDA before nonrecurring items, dollars 539,000,000 CapEx of approximately $69,000,000 concentrated on investments in the maintenance of our plants. Then we have the capital account and turnover that was €406,000,000 positive, as I said, benefiting from the line of By then, we have the cash based financial results, which was EUR 235,000,000 negative after the nonrecurring effect of approximately EUR6 1,000,000 Due to the social expenses and actions against the pandemic, we reached a positive recurring free cash flow of BRL 147,000,000 in the 2nd quarter, which added negative cash result of BRL222 1,000,000 related to foreign exchange hedge policy, which yielded free cash flow in the quarter of BRL425 1,000,000. Speaking now over the past 12 months, free cash flow totaled approximately BRL 1,400,000,000. We start from an EBITDA of BRL 2,200,000,000 Realized CapEx in the past 12 months of €352,000,000 which was impacted by the acquisition of the Vigil Gao plant in Colombia and now Also by our corporate venture capital initiatives, the variation in working capital was positive of EUR 547,000,000 The past 12 months and cash based financial result, it was negative of approximately BRL 1,000,000,000. We also have BRL 30 EUR 7,000,000,000 of non recurring items related to the pandemic. Thus, we reached a free cash flow of approximately BRL 1,400,000,000 in the past 12 months reflecting an excellent operating and financial performance of Minerva Foods in the period. On Slide 11, we see the bridge of our net debt. At the previous quarter, our net debt totaled approximately BRL 5,400,000,000 2nd quarter, we distributed BRL 353 1,000,000 in form of supplementary dividends to our shareholders. We also had a Positive cash flow for the quarter before the result of foreign exchange hedge, which was €640,000,000 in addition, we had impact of hedging instruments that ended up increasing our debt, which were EUR 222,000,000 in the cash concept and another EUR 73,000,000 negative in the noncash effect. We also have a noncash effect, a negative impact of the EUR 103,000,000 net related to exchange variation in a portion of our debt that is paid to foreign currencies. So on one hand, we have positive impact on the debt From the exchange variation, on the other hand, we have a negative impact on my cash in dollars from the same exchange variation, and the net effect of this was BRL 103,000,000. So adding all these accounts and setting up the bridge, Minerva ended the quarter with a net debt of BRL 5,300,000,000, a lower level both in the quarterly comparison as in an annual basis. This position confirms our commitment to reduce reducing level indebtedness and mainly gradually improving Minerva Foods' capital structure. I would like to stress that our current Hedge policy continues to impose that we have at least 50% protection for long term positive exchange exposure, and this can be seen in the explanatory notes of our financial statements. And I'm also available for any further clarifications as well as our balance sheet, our exchange exposure It's also highly protected, making us feel more comfortable to continue focusing on the execution of operation and financial performance and to continue seeking the path of generating value for our shareholders. On the next slide, we'll comment on a little more on the capital structure and on the recent liability management initiative. On Slide 12, as we mentioned before, we have Our leverage ratio measured by a net debt over EBITDA ratio for the past 12 months that ended up stable 2.4 percent. Our cash position at the end of 2nd quarter, we remain comfortable at BRL6.3 billion. Speaking of indebtedness, around 68% of our debt is exposed to exchange variation. The liability management operations allowed us to reduce part of this portion that was exposed to exchange rates. But as I mentioned A while ago, there is a commitment of the management to protect our balance sheet. So we have a hedge policy that determines that the Cabanillo must have at least 50% of its long term foreign exchange exposure hedged. And with this, we protect our balance sheet, And this policy has proven very efficient considering the exchange volatility foreign exchange Italy in Brazil currently, our duration is 6.4 years. And I highlight that over 80% of our indebtedness is in the long term, almost The percent of our amortization concentrated only from 2028 as highlighted In the chart in the slide, on the right hand side of the slide, I present to you a little more detail. All the liability management efforts and initiatives that the company has been implementing since mid-twenty 20 in Q2 2021, we highlight some initiatives such as The total redemption of 2026 bonds, which had a coupon of 6.5 percent and the issuance of CRI in the local market amount EUR 1,600,000,000 First year is €1,200,000,000 maturing in 7 years and second year is €400,000,000 maturing in 10 weeks. The 2 series were swapped. They were issued initially on IPCA plus Cuba will swap the CDI, so the final cost of the instruments was equivalent to 128% of CDI for both series. So we locked our cost The debt for 7 to 10 years at 128 percent of CDI for an amount of EUR 1,600,000,000, which is In operation, I repeat, it's quite interesting that will help us further reduce the company's weighted average cost of capital. In addition, we had the market buyback of €41,000,000 as the 2028 bond. And recently in July, we completed a 2,031 bond repurchase, raising an additional EUR 400,000,000 which are in cash that are going to be used for the rollover of more onerous debts. The result of all these initiatives, in addition to the Cost reduction of our debt and gross leverage also reflect the lengthening of our debt profile with the most relevant maturities being concentrated in 2028 and 2,031. Obviously, this entire liability management effort reinforces our commitment to financial discipline and the pursuit of increasingly healthy, less costly with a lower risk profile and especially well aligned with our strategy for generating income in the long term. Now I hand over to the operator so that we can start our Q and A session. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now start the Q and A session for Analysts and Investors. Before starting, we inform you that questions in English will be submitted via webcast and in English only via webcast. We have a question from Ricardo Alves from Morgan Stanley. Good morning, Fernando Hudson. Thank you for the call. Can you tell us about The scenario in Brazil, 2nd quarter, we're seeing prices in dollar in July quite high. Can you give us an update what you see In terms of July August, the internal market in Brazil, second question. It's a quarter, 2nd quarter. You put over 50% in price and Natura, your volume maintains quite solid. If you can talk a bit more about the domestic market, this dynamic of supply and demand, If you have anything specific regarding channels that you could comment, something more qualitative to explain The domestic market, that would help. And last question, quite briefly, Argentina. We were quite surprised with the results in terms of dollars, considering that we have had these restrictions in the country. If you can give me some color in terms of the results of the quarter, perhaps more interested in how you see the situation now in the country in the Q3. Thank you very much. Thank you for the questions, Ricardo. Starting on the international market, increasingly, markets are interrelated. And what we see in terms of the international market is the increase of all proteins Due to the increase in the price of grains, soybean and corn playing a leading role, inventory quite low that increases the competitive proteins. There is also an impact in the production system that we in the Northern Hemisphere to consignment for beef. So this only reinforces the thesis that we have at Minerva Foods that is placing itself on a more competitive platform for beef in the world being the largest and most diversified. Thus, we see in addition to the gray market, there is a large crisis in Australia where there is No, you don't see a production. Well, the production has dropped over 30%. So what's happening is that in South America and its various countries, they are taking up spaces of competitors. Demand is Positive looking to the demand side, it is positive reduction of restrictions, return to food service, increasing tourism brings a positive dynamic and only consolidates South America. It was highlighting that in the past 2 years, Even despite pandemic, there were great opening on major market openings. So South American countries are taking up more space. Regarding domestic market in Brazil, The move is interesting. We have a demand for products that are very cheap, beef The products for industries for hamburgers and processed foods is growing and products that are more prime products. Worth sharing with you that Minerva has its Distribution very much focused on special and premium segments. We are launching a campaign now that promotes Stansa, that is our premium brand in Brazil, combines Nynas and our premium brand in Argentina and the Anguismar brand in Uruguay, along with Sabina Sharpe, are going to start a stronger campaign to promote that so that we can consolidate further this work that we have within the domestic market. In Argentina, what's happened to Argentina has been positive, and we had major results in the mid long term. The government, They actually paid attention to this foreign market dynamics in which there was So there were price differences between exposures, especially some that were less formal, keeping part of the funds outside Argentina so that they could Actually materialized the difference from the official foreign exchange rate and what they had in terms of current foreign exchange. And what they did was to take measures to restrict that. So that was positive. So what we see in Argentina is a gradual formalization in the industry with clearer rules and that are equitutive for all players. This has been very positive, and we're very cited about Argentina. The product has a very positive image on the international market. And so you have very good eyes towards Argentina. Thank you very much for your answers. The next question is from Gustavo Trojerno from Itau Bank. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity. My question regarding Athena. Can you give Give me more details in terms of performance by region. Looking at consolidated revolution of slaughter has been Quite interesting. I'd like to understand the main driver for this improvement and if you said that the availability of Callon continues supporting this level of slotted that we've seen 2nd quarter moving ahead to the 2nd semester. Thank you. Good morning. On Page 23 of our release, we have a breakdown by country of Athena revenues, and you can Clearly, you see the countries that contributed most. So if you see that, Paraguay and Colombia were the great highlights. Colombia, remember, we had an acquisition in October last year, which we doubled the production and slaughter capacity. And the country, Paraguay, is actually today at a very favorable moment, both in the cycle and sales price. Uruguay, too, contributed quite a lot for this performance improvement in Argentina. The expectation is that It would the fact performance due to all the reasons that Samantha has just explained ended up being a surprise even though it was quite positive. So by region, main highlight, Paraguay, 2nd Colombia, where we see Uruguay with a quite positive outlook for the short midterm. Gustavo, just adding to what he said, This decision as to how we speed up and slow down, that's a decision that we make weekly based on our analytics data. So there is not Actually, a rule, but actually using the platform that we have to maximize Profitability and Reduced Volatility. So this is the major work that Minerva has been investing in the past 3 years. Very clear. Thank you very much. The next question is from Thiago Duarte from BTG Pactual. Hello. Good morning, Fernando, Tatiana, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to ask 3 questions. The first, I think for Fernando, if you could just describe a bit better What happened in this quarter, as Edsel mentioned just now, there was a surprise, the top line performance of Argentina because of Those temporary restrictions that have taken place. I understand Fernando when you say that from the standpoint Regulation part of the changes are positive for the operations like yours. Just to understand What was the export flow in the quarter that apparently it was not only Okay. Revenue, but also volume increase. If you could give some color, I explained there was some kind of difference in volumes May, June, there was a restriction. So it would be interesting to justify the top line performance that was quite strong. 2nd question, You don't usually do this, but if you could, even if qualitatively explain a bit The margins in terms of operation Industry Brazil and the in operations just so that we can try to You could make up how the consolidated margins break down between these two geographies. The third question more for Edson about working capital. You've led over BRL 400,000,000 Realize in working capital in this quarter, a quarter of strong revenue growth. When we The cash circulation based on the history we have here, it's one of the smallest quarter that we have heard of. If you can talk a bit As to the trade off between terms for receivables and price, If you could explain how the trade offs happen and its sustainability, that would be quite interesting. Thank you very much. I'm going to start with the last question. In terms of working capital, we have great focus In holding it, you know it, we have to be understanding that this business for you to maintain high levels and EBITDA conversion to cash and you have to have strong working capital. We have an average conversion rate of 80% in the past 14 quarters, which I think is very much out of the curve for the industry. In the case of receivables, we're always Looking for alternatives, be it of better negotiations with customers and suppliers and also being creative in operations and financial tools or instruments in this quarter. Specifically, we had a discount policy for supplies and the monthly rate that I paid for the bank It's lower than what I can pay cash to suppliers. This is applicable to any supplier. I pay in advance, And we have 30, 45 days. I pay cash, and I can get a discount that is relevant. And I am funded by the financial Tushin, which lengthens the term for 120 days, on average between 60 to 120 on average So 90, the financial cost of the 90 days is below the discount I managed to get with the partner. So it makes all sense. I am really releasing cash for the operation and the margin gaining some having some positive financial revenue As a whole, enabling growth of the operation with the maintenance of a high Conversion rate, EBITDA, cash. On margins, you know that we don't usually disclose that. We may say that Athena this quarter had margins Slightly above Brazil, Athena was 31% of our revenue. The trading was practically negligible with 5% of the trading margin is a bit higher than the industrial margin, but doesn't have such relevant contribution in the final attribution. And now Argentina was better, A lot of stress or highlight to Paraguay with 2 digit margin, quite consistent sound. Colombia's margin is very close to 2 digits and the remainder of operations, 44%. For Brazil and the operations, with margins that were a bit below consolidated margin of the company. Thiago, just to add To what Edson said, Athena Operations also had as one of the major clients the very distribution of Minerva, the internal work of Minerva Brazil. So The separation by geography is very relative because when you have The margin made of the place where you sell, the place where you produce, it creates some biased in terms of analysis. Therefore, what we have shown here with the arbitrage policy is how the Ensemble becomes stronger. The internal market in South America is Brazil. Regarding Argentina, we have a There is a policy that is very much geared to exports. We have put our work very much geared to niches within the foreign markets benefiting from the positive image that Argentina has. So we are able to even with the restrictions and having within the restrictions The works that have been continued with the government that the government allowed the quota system. We since we are very well placed Within the export market in Argentina, we are able to react quickly and mitigate part of the restrictions, respecting the rules that were set by the government. As I mentioned in the previous question with Ricardo and Gustavo, we see Argentina in a very positive way with a stronger or an increasing formalization in our industry. Very clear. Thank you. Our next question is from Isabella Simonato from Bank of America. Good morning, Fernando, Eto, everyone. I think most of my questions have been answered, but I have one that I would like to ask. When we look at the slaughter and try to reconcile that with the capacity You look at working days. But looking at Brazil specifically, we see a relevant increase Year over year and the volume of slaughter drops at the same time that we have an increase and sales. Could you help us reconcile this math looking at Q2 2020? Well, hi, Isabella. Well, we look at slaughter working days and the open plants. If you remember, we had 2 plants that were for some period closed during the second quarter, one of them because of maintenance and the other one was we had some precautions regarding COVID pandemic maintenance and lack of supply of cattle and Nattogross. When we have managed the capacity, we look at the plants on the dates that were actually open. And then even having a drop in LOTA, you end up using that resource a bit more once it was when it was available. If you want to get Details call, Guillermo, Daniela, Luis and Felipe, they can provide you with the details. But the concept is this one that I've just explained. Is it clear? Yes, it is. But in terms of when we look at sales volume, this means greater Yield, is that what we can conclude? Or it's a movement of having greater inventory Over the quarter, there is more yield or slaughter than the cattle that we're slaughtering is heavier than Q1 and even more than last year. But we had regions where we had more priority revenues. We had Capacity use of over 90%. Rondonia, Rolindo Mora, which is a huge plant, on average The Q2 is operated over 90% capacity. So you have a larger plant operating over 90% with more days running and with a heavier animal. So you have a greater average on the capacity use. Okay, super clear. Thank you. The next question is from Thiago Bartoluzzi from Goldman Sachs. Hi, everyone. Thank you for the call. I have a question regarding the opening of new markets. Over the past weeks, we've seen some headlines suggesting a certain stalemate in the opening of China because of a new and the opening of new plants in Brazil. If you could comment on what has actually changed, if anything has changed, what's your outlook for this process? That would be great. Thank you. We don't see any actual changes within the process. Obviously, we follow the news, but we don't have any confirmation and in reality, much on the contrary. Speaking to the Brazilian government, the People responsible for the opening. All the processes follow normally. So we should indeed have new openings, The new market openings, new licenses for plants. And then Thiago, not only Brazil, we see that also Then other countries like Paraguay, Colombia, Uruguay itself with the stronger policy and everything is justifiable. And with the world Supply demand, thinking about the IMF, it is natural that Commercial and also sanitary agreements between South American countries and the main consumer countries, That should be intensified and actually sped up. Okay. Thank you very much. Very clear. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to move on to the web Cast Q and A. We have a question from Carlos Verde on what we think about the cattle price until the end of the year. We like to trust the market. The market has pointed to An average price of BRL330 of Sao Paulo Bay. If we see a future, it's approximately this estimate that we trust. We think that the prices should be flat for the remainder of the year. Again, we are taking for granted what The market is estimated. Another question on working capital. Actually, this is our strategy. Our strategy is to generate EBITDA operating cash flow with the smallest consumption possible of working capital. This We'll improve and maintain high rates of our EBITDA conversion for cash at the end of the line or at the bottom line. As to cash generation recently, do you think about having a share buyback? As I mentioned in my speech last year, for example, Strong cash generation allowed us to return to shareholders over €750,000,000 €250,000,000 approximately was through Share buyback over the year and a bit over €500,000,000 was through dividend distribution. Probably, there will be a mix. Unfortunately, I cannot answer it because this is a Board decision. I can give you my opinion. My personal opinion and recommendation has been to consider the part of the profits that will be distributed to shareholders this year should be made in the more aggressive share buyback. Why are the Share price not following the market process that we can see is that our responsibility is to generate value. The only thing that we control Is company's price price is something decided by the government cannot influence Sir, I may comment that value generation, we have been fulfilling our role, and this is the maximum we can influence. Any forecast to resume export market in Argentina, how much of this impacted our results? We talked a lot About it, over the call, we managed to actually curb difficulties in Argentina and generate a result that it was quite significant exports in Argentina have been resumed. So no forecast. This actually has happened. Question on SINA IPO, as I mentioned a few times, totally out of We have no need, no plan of pursuing once again Athena's Piyo, that was a situation in which we had a capital structure that was more burdensome, less balanced that Made sense from the standpoint of releasing some value and at the same time rebalancing the capital structure. This happened through the Cash operating cash generation, we have a structure that is really quite balanced and Come even at a moment that is more complicated in terms of cattle cycle in Brazil, especially. So it doesn't make Any sense for us to sell an asset, especially such a strategic asset as a team for us? Barbara also asks The relation on regarding liability management strategy, capital structure of the company, if we are Comfortable with growth in debt and cash for the company? And lastly, what we should think about capital allocation? As we said, we have a clear policy, the distribution of dividends and actually have a clear position minimum that is Compulsory distribution is 50% of net profit. So continue the scenario that we have seen in past quarters, the company should Distributed at least 50% of its net income. On liability management, we We did most of it in the Q2, and I'd say that we are practically concluded. We've managed to have now much more favorable capital structure, less but in sum, we Reduced 200 basis points in the weighted capital structure of 3rd parties. We actually put 4% rent in 20 20 In 2,031, we had a readout that we put more money in cash that is going to be used for as to pay shorter and more burdensome debt we've just had. So the liability management exercise is really ended unless we have an opportunity very much outside the curve of getting money that is cheaper and longer to refinance our debt. Growth debt and cash level, we have been reducing gross debt. If you follow our cash flow quarterly, we have been rescuing more debt and rolling them. And what we have in terms of foreign exchange and our hedge policy, we have 2 thirds of cash in dollar, and this ends up bringing an increase to our cash. And therefore, You end up feeling less the effect on the gross debt. What we have? Ladies and gentlemen, please wait for the reconnection of the speaker. Sir, your backup line is open. You may proceed. Okay. How far have you heard me and Tuwassaat. My suggestion is for you to repeat the webcast question and I'll answer it again. So the question is on gross debt, growth leverage and cash. We have been reducing gross leveraging Between EUR 1,000,000,000, EUR 1,500,000,000 of net of gross debt in the next quarters, and this should reduce 0.8% to gross leverage. And with this, In the same proportion, the cash should drop. Euros 6,000,000,000 should go below €5,000,000,000 about €4,500,000,000 5,000,000,000 And so we have minimum cash that implies 3 months at least of purchase of input. This is about EUR 3,500,000,000, EUR 4,000,000,000. Now cash should be between EUR 4000000000 €5,000,000,000 to have some room for minimum cash and at the same time contributing to reducing the growth leverage of the company. And Well, I think the other questions here, most of them have already been answered. We have a question on M and A. We have already said and the main goal Recently, the company has been to fix the capital structure and return money to shareholders through dividend payment. We are certainly open and attentive to good opportunities. We had a specific M and A in October. We bought a plant in Colombia. So this kind of specific M and A is something that we are always keeping in our radar. And any step for M and A that we take, it will be towards not complicating for not listening our capital structure that we have reached since last year. So this is it. So we end the Q and A session. Thank you. We now close the Q and A session. I would like to give the floor to Mr. Ferdinand Quiros for his final remarks. I'd like to close this conference call by thanking everyone and the entire Minerva team for their dedication and All the integration, all their dedication and driver to have results minimizing volatility and generating value to the company and shareholders despite the difficulties and challenges and regional differences. We are able we have been able to along the period to extract results from our operations. We move Even in a very challenging moment, we will continue to face this together with the way we have conducted In our business, with determination, with exports, good capillarity and being focused in distribution, getting closer to our Customers with great focus on sustainability, on innovation, as we've mentioned During our conference call and our presentation focused on increasingly improving the teams, all the places with training, especially with integrations. If we move ahead, we have a quite positive scenario on the international market based on what we've mentioned, Great, reduction of availability of countries of competing countries, and we continue to move forward on this Port agendas along with South America that is increasingly taking up space on the international scene. So we continue firm and pay attention to the global market opportunities, as always, with the financial discipline, with operational discipline, with a clear and transparent strategy for the whole market or is generating value in the short, mid term and long term. And thank you very much for your interest in Minerva Foods, and we remain at your disposal for any questions occasions that you want to further explore with our team. Thank you very much to you all.